gnucksjr

Who doesn’t love an underdog story?

My family are also legacy Diamond Elite VIPs… there have been many visits where our family have spent an entire day in the park without spending a dime (outside of the monthly cost). I reached out to Guest Relations a couple weeks ago to ask about how our passes fit into the new structure and was told: “To our knowledge, your benefits are not changing. Memberships that were grandfathered once the products changed were locked into what they were offering at the time the change took place. When and if changes do occur, you will be notified.” With the way the response was phrased, I’m expecting to get that notification sometime before mid-March… and we will most likely drop our passes the day after. Trying to stay positive, but it’s tough to do.

Media Day is next Wednesday morning, May 25th. ACE is looking for six members to ride and be interviewed. Not my cup of tea, but if you want to be one of the first to ride, join ACE!

Yes… the fire was at SFoT. The photo is of some new extremely large scrapes in the siding outside of the door where they use a crane to reload trains after valleying. They were only on one train ops today, with no sign I saw of the left train. Was one damaged?

At the park today… I think I figured out why Freeze was closed for so long .

That was just completed this past season. At one point, we were going to get a vintage Batmobile (from Atlanta, if I remember right) to go on the bat-logo concrete pad, but I haven’t seen it yet.

One post mentioned an extra bunny hill near the end, but that would be a big bunny to add 300 feet! I’ve only ridden one single rail (WW at SFFT). They are a lot of fun, but apparently they have a high maintenance cost.

Another morning, another Six Flags coaster in another park. If SFMM doesn’t work out, I know a park with some available land that this could fit in… I guess I keep hoping RMC will have a “Buy One Get One Free” sale. https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/business/six-flags-magic-mountain-announces-record-20th-coaster-wonder-woman-flight-of-courage/article_03465bb0-350e-50b7-ac2b-fafe0bffd3db.html

That little mosaic looked amazing back in the day… surely it can’t take THAT much dye to bring back the full red white and blue! Happy to hear about the return of the lower entrance!!

One HUGE advantage with the membership/dining pass combo is that your membership discount applies to the dining pass! We still don’t get the top level dining pass, since we don’t visit other parks enough to make it worth it, but at as much as 50% off, it makes a single park dining pass a great bargain! And the sports bottle comes with the membership, so done and done!

I made a Photoshop image of this… kind of a mule-go-round crossed with SkyScreamer… I don’t know if I still have it, though…

I had been holding out hope for the Screaming Eagle graphic to be returned to the lift hill... still, it’s very exciting to see all the new upgrades throughout the park!

There’s only one thing I can think of that would fit this... does it involve a logo?

Hoping they’ve replaced the pea gravel too... that stuff is painful to walk on!

Yep... different theming ideas to keep the park open (without rides) through January. “31 More days of Christmas”, “Date Night”, “Renaissance Fair”... I answered it’d be tough to get people out in the middle of winter without rides. At least they are exploring ideas to try and generate some extra revenue.

Here are a couple more shots of the restored horse. The pics don’t do it justice... enameled paint, jewels, detailed carvings... it’s too bad there is no room by the Palace to relocate the whole thing in a new house. It will be beautiful!

Don't forget that "in these uncertain times" every company is "still here for you", as well. ...and remember, we're all in this together.

That would depend on your needs, really. If it is your only available day at the park, then yes... a Flash Pass could be worth it, especially on a weekend. Limited ride capacity and limited park operating hours greatly impacts what you can do in a day. My son and I visited Busch Gardens Tampa right after they reopened, and their version of the Flash Pass had a HUGE impact on what we were able to do. Even with that park running at about 20% or their capacity, most coaster lines there were running over an hour due to limited train seating and hourly cleaning breaks. SFSTL ride queues are nowhere near an hour (except maybe Freeze), but if you're hoping to ride as many rides as possible, Flash is the way to go. And, as already pointed out, social distancing (and mask wearing) is not being enforced nearly as well as it could/should be.

From what we've seen, Great Adventure and (to a lesser extent) Magic Mountain both have preferred treatment for the top membership levels too, but SFOG is the best of the bunch (that we've personally experienced). SFOT and Fiesta Texas are on our 2020 itinerary... we'll see how they do!

SFOG's treatment of Diamond and Diamond Elite members was over the top! My son and I were in the "Membership Entrance" line on the parking lot side, and one of the survey team saw our badges, said "Come with me", and took us over to the side building. This and the members welcome center inside the park really made the visit nice. I thought SFStL was going this way when they remodeled Guest Relations, but no such luck (at least not yet)! SFOG Diamond / Diamond Elite entrance building

Not sure about plans specifically, but sometimes you can pick up details through the P&Z Committee minutes. http://www.eureka.mo.us/planning-zoning-agendaminutes/ Usually a pretty dry read, though.

Photo taken by my son yesterday (11/2)... they're back, and in their original color scheme! Xcalibur cars 11/2/19

While disappointed that it's (again) not a coaster, at least it's something fresh, and looking at the selection of what other parks are getting, I'd say St. Louis is getting one of the best toys of the bunch (outside of GAdv and TX)! What has me more pumped about the announcement is the amount of land clearing that is being done, and the potential for even more growth going forward. Can anyone here confirm the return of Xcalibur and Tidal Wave for 2020?