gnucksjr

Put the Speed-o-Drome together with Old Glory, and you have a pretty significant amount of space! Unfortunately the Boss Helix cuts right through it. Massive DC Universe?

No hate here... at 48 years old, it's one of the oldest operating log flumes in the US, and the first double flume. A perfect ride on a warm Missouri day! It's great to see the amount of TLC that has been given to the rides and grounds in the offseason! Definitely a change from the past six or so years. I wonder if they got rid of the pea gravel under the tube slides...

RIDE Survey from Six Flags! I filled out my third survey from Six Flags in as many weeks today... no Flash Pass options or beards this time though. The bulk of the survey was gauging my interest in a new coaster for the park... specifically a B&M Dive Coaster! I know the odds of it happening are still slim, given the track record, but Corporate is at least ASKING about it. That counts for something, right?

Under Dave, this was happening... and at other parks, it is still happening. I made it up to Great America last weekend to see what a real Six Flags park looks like. Fantastic new coasters (especially Goliath and X-Flight), and cleaner and more "together" than SFStL in every way. Not every store and restaurant was open (last weekday in operation for the summer), but there were no lines, friendly staff everywhere, and plenty of people out cleaning tables and sweeping walkways. One even offered to clear my tray as we were getting up from lunch (and no, I'm not 80! ). Maintenance was clearly being done as well. As an example, the Demon (Ninja's close cousin) rode VERY smoothly(!) and had all of its lights and sounds still working, including the 35-year old theme song (from back in the Marriott days) still playing loudly and proudly in the queue lines. Other queues had the TVs on (and turned up) with Looney Tunes cartoons and Six Flags Trivia on display. My son lost his glasses out of his jacket pocket while on Superman... we filed a report at Lost and Found and were told they patrol the grounds at least once a week. On the way out, three shirt-and-tie higher-ups were at the front gate, complete with their own brooms and dustpans. I let them know how much we enjoyed the visit there, and (being from St. Louis) how much we wished the same attention could be spent on our park. I know Chicago is a bigger draw than St. Louis will ever be, and they will always get better toys than us. But it's much deeper than that. I had the sense that the staff had pride in their park. That spark existed here up until a few years ago... but it left with Dave. At least my membership here gets me in there (and the other parks) for free... that's one reason to keep it. I'll be looking forward to trips to Great America and Texas next year... and keep hoping that St. Louis gets their mojo back.

I'm calling it now that one of those pendulum rides will replace Excalibur if they can't get it fixed by 2020. Coaster in 2021?

At this point, I'd be happy just to get back Shazam (check), Colossus, Xcalibur, Typhoon Twister, Joker, all six cars on Superman, a fully functioning Justice League, a replacement for Highland Fling... our standards have been lowered! Who's up for Colossus: Reverse Blast?

"Bad guest... bad!" LOL! Unfortunately, the staff has to care about that at least a little bit, and this year's staff hasn't been trained to do that, in my experience. Three incidents, all within one visit to HH a few weeks ago: 1) Tube Slides: While it is not unusual for them to have only one lifeguard at the top running all four slides, The person at the top was not a lifeguard, but wearing a t-shirt that said "Attendant". He was in no hurry to make his circuit around the four stations, and said nothing to riders as they went down. No "Keep your arms and legs off the sides, face forward, don't spin" lecture that is usually so common on this ride. One person even asked to go down backwards, and the "Attendant" said "Sure." and proceeded to push him down the slide backwards. 2) Wahoo Racer: Similar incident here... "Attendant" at the top, with riders on the left side going down at different times than riders on the right. Pretty much letting family groups go when they wanted, as long as the bottom was clear. No "On your mark, get set, go" routine that used to be common. 3) Gulley Washer Creek: Lifeguards all around here (and I should point out they were at the bottom of the above rides as well), but I only saw a couple doing what I call the "Head Bob Dance"... the up-and-down sweep-the-entire-area with your direct line-of-sight procedure that works so well here. What is going on, SFSTL? Is guest safety no longer a priority? I was hoping to get a Visit Survey after this visit, but haven't gotten any yet this year for any of my visits. I've only had the one HH visit so far this year, and sincerely hope my next visit is different.

Rumor?? More like a wet dream!! Here's what Walt Disney's original "Sky-Hi Mule-go-Round" concept looked like:

Somewhere I have my "artists rendering" of the Sky Mule-go-Round developed by Walt Disney for SFSTL that I posted back on that board. I'll have to find where I saved it. RIP sfstl.net.