ChrisGraslie

I suppose I could say the same about SFOT. In fairness, I must applaud the efforts of Steve Martindale and SFOT Management. They always make sure that our park receives something respectable each year. If it was a Star Flyer, then it would be the 400ft version. If it was flats, then we would get the best flats money could buy. We are still the only SF park to haved received a Zamperla Endeavor ride. And ours has twice the seating capacity of the one at Coney. Say what you will about our forth coming S&S 4d Free Fly. It least it's not a Larson Loop or used bumper cars. Hopefully, SFSTL management is planning for something big in the future. Who knows, maybe that RMC T-Rex Giga is on the horizon. To be fair, we've been hearing that "something big is coming" propaganda since like 2008. It's a forgotten link in the SF chain, dependent on goobers who flock there without any actual awareness that their park is sub-par in the whole SF chain. In other words, the company has no need to add anything of value to our park, because the toothless hillbillies think a boring, one-trick Disk-O or a horrible boomerang is something special. Face it. We're stuck with this crap. Get used to it. Better yet, plan some roadtrips to actual good parks.... Clearly you guys have not been paying attention to what HWFan and myself have been saying, so I will say it one more time. Does the park need a signiture coaster, yes. But the park needed general improvements more. Lets say that in 2013 instead of Boomerang we got a signiture coaster, not the greatest thing ever but an all around good ride. People start flocking to the park that season and see all the things that need painting and repair. Many of those people would leave with the opinion that the ride was good but the park looked terrible and wouldn't return till the next big thing is built which would be years. What they instead are doing is installing small additions to replace aging and unpopular rides and taking the remaining funds and funneling it into general park improvements. This phase should be wrapping up soon just in time for the parks 50th year. I see Spinsanity as a step forward, we have gotten past the point of every addition is a replacement for something and now we are expanding the portfolio. Compare the park today to were it was back in 2012 or 2013 and it is a significant improvement. There is a method to the madness and reasons for the way things are being done. Once you figure out the method you realize that it truly isn't madness at all, but logic. You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be. As long as they keep doing small park improvements and not large ones, theyll never catch up and theyll always be 3 steps behind. Im not being negative, Im being realistic in the sense that Ive been watching it happen for well over a decade. Ask any maintenance staff, youll see.... Until they invest at MINIMUM of 4-6 million into improvements and hire a ton of contractors to help the full time maintenance staff, the park will continue to be be a semi polished turd. Except they HAVE done pretty huge things, I don't know why you insist on being so argumentative with someone who works at the park and sees what happens and how things function from a day-to-day basis. To be honest I'm getting really sick and tired of everyone constantly shooting down any actual reason and fairness on this forum and trying to counter it with a bunch of muddled nonsense. Last year they renovated the entire freaking Palace Theater, including the whole interior and exterior, which was a HUGE investment and needed to be done, and just this season they opened up a brand new restaurant where one hadn't existed for years, repainted the facade by Batman, the facade for The Boss, they're retheming Pandemonium now, there was even more theming added to Thunder River, more and more landscaping jobs are being created every year, this year having the most, and yet people like you are most likely going to keep saying that they don't invest crap into the park, give me a break. And you wonder why HWFan keeps his distance from this forum now. now I'LL be the one who says PAY ATTENTION to CHRISGRASLIE...... what does the very first line of my last message say?..... do you think HWfan is the ONLY person on here that works at the park? Do you think HWFan is the only one who speaks with management?.... if you've read these forums much, youll see that he is NOT the only one who works at the park or has very close association and business with it. SOOOO, Ill say again my first line for you in case you missed it.... "You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be." I even said that YES, they HAVE been making improvements, but theyre on pace to NEVER CATCH UP!...... just reread my last post again so that it can sink in fully please. Sorry for coming off so harsh, it just really ticks me off when people run their mouths without reading or knowing what theyre talking about!!! I know HWFan isn't the only one on here who works at the park, obviously I'm not that stupid. I use him as an example because for a while he was the guy that kept this forum from spiraling into madness, and even he's given up on replying to the crap people say on here. I talk to other employees other than him that pretty much all have the same amount of frustration with this forum, which is exactly the reason why I respond to things the way that I do, because I've gotten tired of it as well. What people like you need to understand is that they're not going as slowly as you think. It's great that you can acknowledge they're doing more things than they used to do, but those things aren't written on a little half sheet of paper with 3 bullet points. There was only so much money they could put into it before, but this year and last year is when it's started to really ramp up, and you're going to see even more in 2017. There's a clear goal in place for where they want to be, and as more money goes into improvements and refurbishments, they'll get there within the next few seasons. I feel as if I'm typing the same stuff over and over, I really just wish everyone would see the big picture so I can stop repeating myself, it's not just me that's trying to get this message across.

I think you're right, sorry about that. I thought that joke a few pages back about it being rethemed was legitimate confirmation, my bad.

I suppose I could say the same about SFOT. In fairness, I must applaud the efforts of Steve Martindale and SFOT Management. They always make sure that our park receives something respectable each year. If it was a Star Flyer, then it would be the 400ft version. If it was flats, then we would get the best flats money could buy. We are still the only SF park to haved received a Zamperla Endeavor ride. And ours has twice the seating capacity of the one at Coney. Say what you will about our forth coming S&S 4d Free Fly. It least it's not a Larson Loop or used bumper cars. Hopefully, SFSTL management is planning for something big in the future. Who knows, maybe that RMC T-Rex Giga is on the horizon. To be fair, we've been hearing that "something big is coming" propaganda since like 2008. It's a forgotten link in the SF chain, dependent on goobers who flock there without any actual awareness that their park is sub-par in the whole SF chain. In other words, the company has no need to add anything of value to our park, because the toothless hillbillies think a boring, one-trick Disk-O or a horrible boomerang is something special. Face it. We're stuck with this crap. Get used to it. Better yet, plan some roadtrips to actual good parks.... Clearly you guys have not been paying attention to what HWFan and myself have been saying, so I will say it one more time. Does the park need a signiture coaster, yes. But the park needed general improvements more. Lets say that in 2013 instead of Boomerang we got a signiture coaster, not the greatest thing ever but an all around good ride. People start flocking to the park that season and see all the things that need painting and repair. Many of those people would leave with the opinion that the ride was good but the park looked terrible and wouldn't return till the next big thing is built which would be years. What they instead are doing is installing small additions to replace aging and unpopular rides and taking the remaining funds and funneling it into general park improvements. This phase should be wrapping up soon just in time for the parks 50th year. I see Spinsanity as a step forward, we have gotten past the point of every addition is a replacement for something and now we are expanding the portfolio. Compare the park today to were it was back in 2012 or 2013 and it is a significant improvement. There is a method to the madness and reasons for the way things are being done. Once you figure out the method you realize that it truly isn't madness at all, but logic. You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be. As long as they keep doing small park improvements and not large ones, theyll never catch up and theyll always be 3 steps behind. Im not being negative, Im being realistic in the sense that Ive been watching it happen for well over a decade. Ask any maintenance staff, youll see.... Until they invest at MINIMUM of 4-6 million into improvements and hire a ton of contractors to help the full time maintenance staff, the park will continue to be be a semi polished turd. Except they HAVE done pretty huge things, I don't know why you insist on being so argumentative with someone who works at the park and sees what happens and how things function from a day-to-day basis. To be honest I'm getting really sick and tired of everyone constantly shooting down any actual reason and fairness on this forum and trying to counter it with a bunch of muddled nonsense. Last year they renovated the entire freaking Palace Theater, including the whole interior and exterior, which was a HUGE investment and needed to be done, and just this season they opened up a brand new restaurant where one hadn't existed for years, repainted the facade by Batman, the facade for The Boss, they're retheming Pandemonium now, there was even more theming added to Thunder River, more and more landscaping jobs are being created every year, this year having the most, and yet people like you are most likely going to keep saying that they don't invest crap into the park, give me a break. And you wonder why HWFan keeps his distance from this forum now.

I suppose I could say the same about SFOT. In fairness, I must applaud the efforts of Steve Martindale and SFOT Management. They always make sure that our park receives something respectable each year. If it was a Star Flyer, then it would be the 400ft version. If it was flats, then we would get the best flats money could buy. We are still the only SF park to haved received a Zamperla Endeavor ride. And ours has twice the seating capacity of the one at Coney. Say what you will about our forth coming S&S 4d Free Fly. It least it's not a Larson Loop or used bumper cars. Hopefully, SFSTL management is planning for something big in the future. Who knows, maybe that RMC T-Rex Giga is on the horizon. To be fair, we've been hearing that "something big is coming" propaganda since like 2008. It's a forgotten link in the SF chain, dependent on goobers who flock there without any actual awareness that their park is sub-par in the whole SF chain. In other words, the company has no need to add anything of value to our park, because the toothless hillbillies think a boring, one-trick Disk-O or a horrible boomerang is something special. Face it. We're stuck with this crap. Get used to it. Better yet, plan some roadtrips to actual good parks.... Clearly you guys have not been paying attention to what HWFan and myself have been saying, so I will say it one more time. Does the park need a signiture coaster, yes. But the park needed general improvements more. Lets say that in 2013 instead of Boomerang we got a signiture coaster, not the greatest thing ever but an all around good ride. People start flocking to the park that season and see all the things that need painting and repair. Many of those people would leave with the opinion that the ride was good but the park looked terrible and wouldn't return till the next big thing is built which would be years. What they instead are doing is installing small additions to replace aging and unpopular rides and taking the remaining funds and funneling it into general park improvements. This phase should be wrapping up soon just in time for the parks 50th year. I see Spinsanity as a step forward, we have gotten past the point of every addition is a replacement for something and now we are expanding the portfolio. Compare the park today to were it was back in 2012 or 2013 and it is a significant improvement. There is a method to the madness and reasons for the way things are being done. Once you figure out the method you realize that it truly isn't madness at all, but logic.

Superman has now officially reopened!

Thank you for being honest, I was just letting you know I guess. I didn't mean to sound like I was getting all up in your face about my response, though.

This poor park. It's actually really not a bad addition. Everyone else is on board with it and so am I, because people say that these rides are fun, and they look fun. It never hurts to have more flat rides anyways.

The first two yes, but I don't know if there's enough space across from Mooseburger to put it in. Plus removing part of the old Mine Train station to make room would take out a big chunk of space used for The Slaughter House during FF. Axis Chemical Arcade I think should stay too, only because I feel it ties up the Batman theming in that area nicely. Plus, being right next to Joker thematically makes perfect sense. (Axis Chemicals is where the Joker became the Joker for those of you who might not know for one reason or another)

I really don't think you're aware of how many times this exact sentiment has been repeated throughout this thread. Before this thread was created, it was repeated year after year on SFSTL.net. Yeah, but those were different times when the company as a whole was under completely different management. The post-bankruptcy days to me have shown that they are committed to making steps towards bigger and better things at all of the parks. It may feel like deja vu, but we're getting there, I promise.

That's what I was thinking. Nothing's been announced to be closing, so maybe this could go on some of the unused land near the Illinois section of the park?

Who's getting fired for letting that one slip haha, but eh. Another small ride for us, this doesn't really bother me as much as it probably will bother the rest of this forum, it does make me excited for what's going to be New in 2018 though. I was told by someone from the park recently that there ARE big things coming (although they obviously didn't tell me WHAT those were), and that 2017 was going to be the last small addition before we get another big investment, so I already had pretty low expectations for this year's announcement anyways. Their priority at the moment seems to be putting the money where it counts, fixing everything that needs fixing, repainting everything that needs to be repainted, can't go wrong with that. Once everything is done, all we need is a big new shiny B&M hyper to top it all off

LOL I can't believe I wrote that much. My apologies for that. There was just so much to cover. It is painful to see Six Flags St. Louis in their present state. Especially since they were in a vibrant and ever-expanding state prior to 2008. And Suddenly, Six Flags seems to cut off Six Flags St. Louis. Like I said, we have been spoiled by the expansion projects of the past. But I'm with you in saying the Boss needs some work. I'd be perfectly happy with RMC. I almost feel like I'd prefer GCI restructuring to preserve the classic wooden feel. I don't know if I ever recall the lines being long. So from a business standpoint, they certainly should be doing something to improve it. Even if it is just simple and no frills re-tracking. I rode the Boomerang in 2003. It was my first ordinary boomerang. It was fun, but nothing to write home about. It strangely had the longest line of all coasters in the park, for being one of my least favorite coasters there. Boomerangs are clone coasters that seem to be everywhere. I would only rate King's Island's Invertigo as slightly better . The giant boomerangs such as SFGAm's old Deja Vu, are the best Vekoma boomerang rides. If only one of those would have came to SFSTL. I may visit SFSTL for Holiday in the Park this year. It's funny how both SFSTL and SFA, both neglected parks, trying Holiday in the Park this year. Also, CGAm, one of Cedar Fair's neglected parks, is starting Winterfest this year as well. I'm wondering if they are extending the season as a last-ditch attempt to try and bring in more revenue? If so, I hope it works for them. And perhaps that would spark the start of a turnaround for these parks. Okay, enough writing from me today. haha I know I'm a bit late replying to this, but your post seemed like it came from the point of view of someone who doesn't come to this forum too often/doesn't keep track of everything that goes on at the park like most of us here do, so instead of being a jerk about it, and since no one else has commented on it, I'll provide you with some wisdom. 1. Anyone that honestly thinks that any of the Six Flags parks, especially some of the smaller parks like SFSTL were much better parks during the Shapiro days is a bit insane. (No offense) 2. We've gotten new additions every single year since 2011 with SkyScreamer, and we just got Justice League: Battle for Metropolis last year, we're far from being neglected, and we're definitely not "cut off" by any means. 3. The Boss getting RMC-ed is what we all really want and it definitely makes sense, even though people have said that it's too long for an RMC conversion, I'm sure it's being heavily considered for the future. 4. Six Flags St Louis and Six Flags America aren't really "trying" Holiday In The Park, the event coming to us was pretty much inevitable as every other Six Flags park is probably going to be getting it in the near future, but that's ok because from what I've seen it's a pretty great event to have at any park. 5. I don't know why you think for whichever reason that the park is in some serious financial danger and is in need of an attendance spike, but it's really not. Crowds during the summer are always pretty large, depends on the day that's you go. In terms of things that bring in crowds and bring in a lot of revenue though, our Fright Fest event is considered one of the best of the chain and continues to get bigger and better every single year, bringing in some pretty insane crowds (especially on Saturdays).The ongoing success and continual growth of FF is probably a big reason why we got HITP sooner. 6. HITP is also not some last-minute effort to turn around the park, because like I've said in the past, we've been "turning around" for a good half a decade. The park in terms of the way it looks as a whole is much better now than it was even back in 2012. Money continues to be poured into making sure everything is restored completely and functions properly and efficiently, with the huge instantly noticeable ones starting to happen last season with The Palace Theater and Miss Kitty's Saloon. If there's something you thinks needs work, that's issue will mostly likely be resolved within the next 3 years, trust me on that. I hope I helped you to better understand all of this, though. I tried my best to make this all make sense to you, I hope I did a good job. Oh and HWFan, if you do have some good news to share please do tell us!

I doubt SFSTL will do this just for the 'insanely packed' reason. I'm sure Fiesta Texas' decision has something to do with the attendance during the event. In terms of Fright Fest, Magic Mountain, Great Adventure, Great America, and us are regarded as the best Fright Fests of the parks by the public and even some enthusiasts, so making Maze admission free would be a shot in the foot and would mean less money for the park as a whole. We paid for two Express Slasher Passes (Unlimited visits the whole night, as well as seperate queue entry) last year and found that it was well worth it, and plan to do it this year as well. Other people must agree as even the Express entry was like a 15-20 minute wait. Not to mention that the park was fairly empty during the day, but the crowds really started to roll in after 6 PM after all of the Mazes opened. The event continues to get even bigger every year and even more popular, so I'd say no. I could see them maybe making some of the less popular mazes like Blackout free just to give people a taste of the other ones.

I contacted a supervisor of operations asking about Tidal Wave, and he told me that they aren't removing it "at this time" Which I guess doesn't really confirm or deny repairs to the splash basin or if they are planning to remove it, but I think repairs is most likely the only thing that's happening with the ride for now, given what's already been said.

I can't say whether Tsunami Soaker and Fireball really drew in crowds as much as a brand new B&M hyper coaster would, (I doubt it) but I can say that it was a good choice to put in Tsunami Soaker, a family-friendly flat, so that the rotting Hannibarrels could finally be removed. (I find that that section of the park looks much nicer without it) And whatever your opinion is about the spread of Larson loopers in SF parks, Fireball looks nicer than Rush Street Flyer did (at least in my opinion) up on the hill. The LED light package probably helps with that as well. Everything that's been added to the park since 2011 when SkyScreamer replaced Riverview Racer has taken something old that was starting to become either a bit of an eyesore or just wasn't that popular and replaced it with something shiny and new. Plus, who in 2010 thought that a ride like Justice League would be put in in just five years' time? Even though Boomerang is usually a bad ride experience and probably shouldn't be at the park, at least it looks good where it's at, and I think the way it interacts with the midway is a nice touch. The yearly out with the old, in with the new addition thing that's been going on at all of the Six Flags parks for about 6 years now was probably the best business decision they could have made where they were at. You can't just wait five years after you've gone bankrupt and then put in a huge new ride at all of your parks to hopefully get the crowds in. Going off of what you said though, I hope that in the future when refurb work is done at all of the parks and expansion slows down to maybe a bi-annual thing, Six Flags can really start rolling out the heavy-hitting corporate investments. For now though, I think it's going to continue to be little things here and there, continuing to slowly replace aging rides.

Listen, guys. We're not taking a step back by any means when it comes to improvements at the park. Pete Carmichael isn't the end of it by any means. We've so far continued the trend this season of the repainting and refurbishing that was going on the past couple of seasons when Dave was in charge. The whole Gotham City facade over by Batman was completely repainted, so was the facade for The Boss, as well as other things. The Grand Ole Carousel is also at a higher priority to be completely redone than you might think. Operations is also a whole different story on a regular day. I went in mid-July and had a completely different experience than what was described on this forum. I don't think it's incompetence by the team members or anything Pete is doing, I think it's a severe inability to handle very large crowds. (Which is an issue in of itself) Anyone working in operations at the park (and I have spoken to several myself) will tell you that making improvements is still an ongoing process, it's not like there's been a complete change of heart. The glory days of Six Flags St Louis have yet to come. To put it simply, they're working on it. For the time being, Holiday World, Silver Dollar City, and Worlds of Fun may be better options for your time and money if you so choose, but I still don't see SFSTL as a big steaming pile of crap like everyone else seems to. That's not a rose-colored glasses thing either. I browse this forum consistently and still manage to generally have a good time every time I visit the park. I've gone consistently enough years in a row to see how much it's changed even since 2012. Even if what's new for 2017 is a 4D Free Fly in place of Tidal Wave, it's not what we need, but I can live with it. It'll be new for the Midwest and if what I've heard about Batman at Fiesta Texas and Joker at Great Adventure is true, a fun ride as well. I'd rather have something new every year than nothing for 5 years at a time.

I agree the Sky Screamer tower used to light up in neon colors and looked really cool from the highway. It hasn't lit up since last year. During Fright Fest last year when they had it on some of the neon color-changing bars were burnt out as well as a bunch of LEDs on the Six Flags logo, not sure what the reason for that is, but I hope the only reason it's off is because they're planning on fixing those.

I don't think it's fair to say that Six Flags St Louis wouldn't be able to handle an event like Holiday In The Park on their own considering how much better Fright Fest gets every year, but it's still nice to see another company like Oak Island help with all of it. I'm excited to see how all of it turns out!

So according to a job opening on http://www.sixflagsjobs.com, lights for Holiday In The Park start to go up on August 8th. I hope this means that like Six Flags Magic Mountain, the lights will be used to add to the atmosphere during Fright Fest as well

This seems like a total BS review, I really can't tell though. You'd think Mr Freeze being "on fire" and causing other rides to close would get more media attention than just one guy. Is any of this accurate?

Considering it'll have been 5 years since there's been a new installation at Hurricane Harbor next year, we may be due for another. I'm still hoping next year is the year we finally get something big, but I guess we'll have to wait until September to find out for sure. Yeah, for rumors I haven't heard much at all. And the only real announcement for 2017 throughout all the parks so far is that Six Flags Over Georgia is closing their bumper cars, and afterwards they posted a picture on Twitter of something under wraps, which to me either looks like cars for a 4D Free-Spin or maybe even the ride vehicles for JL:BM, but I'm not too sure. As for us though, I hope we start hearing something relatively soon.

I think Blackout is a rename of Voided Vision, which was a rename of Total Darkness from 2013. It's not listed as a new maze, so maybe they just redesigned it again? I'm not sure how much Voided Vision/Total Darkness has changed over the span of the last 3 years since it was always the one that I skipped. The weird thing is, the only other time the name BlackOut was used was when it was a test maze at SFMM back in 2012, which is why you saw a bunch of parks in the chain get Total Darkness during the 2013 season. I don't know for sure, I might try it this year just to see how it is. I remember it having longer lines, I don't know if that's a capacity thing because of the size of the maze itself and how many groups can be inside at one time or if it's just a crowd favorite. On another note though, Insanity Alley is being replaced with Night Terrors, a maze about a town called Black Springs where a coven of witches being burned at the stake causes a curse to be set upon the town, causing demons and the undead to walk the earth? Is it just me or is that one of the coolest concepts that they've had for a maze in a while?

Awesome! This is my first year going to Fright Fest. Nice! Yeah, it's been neat to see Fright Fest improve over time. The event has been starting to get really good in the last couple of years as more time and money goes into the event's expansion so I feel like this year will be even better, and definitely a lot of fun for people that have never gone before.

Earlier than usual this year (maybe it's just me, but probably not), but the Fright Fest website including everything new for this year is now up! https://frightfest.sixflags.com/stlouis/

So besides what may be or may not be coming to SFSTL in the coming years, does anyone know what's being worked on in the off-season?