teacherkim

My son is there right now and says LRod is down for the day again, but all other coasters up and running.

I was about to edit my post, mine has it listed as CD now to.. they have been listing it 30 mins to an hour before opening and they open at 10 so I figured it would be soon lol Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk Bummer. He was excited about that because it was listed very early yesterday, but I'd already warned him that it might still get updated before the park opened. Oh well, I'm sure he and Grandpa will still have fun and he gets to add the other 7 coasters to his count!

TrippinBillie, I don't think people were necessarily pissed off and don't vacate the forum because you think you offended someone. We are all still allowed our opinions in this country. I wasn't angry, I was simply responding to your opinion that SFSL would lose business due to the new SDC coaster with my opinion that it would not and why I thought so. Discourse is great! It forces you to think and be able to support reasons for your opinions, that's good for your brain, lol. And for what it's worth my son and I have had this discussion and he's only 14 but I enjoy seeing him work out why he thinks as he does. Trust me even though he goes to SFSL at least monthly, he gets seriously aggravated about the lack of the big coaster. Although he does really appreciate the woodie collection. For God's sake the kid has a spreadsheet with his coaster count, I wish he was that organized in school.

I'd go in expecting LR to be closed for the day and diverting attention far, far away if possible. There's night rides on mountain coasters after DW closes if needed to hype. Oh I've already pushed that idea trust me. He knows about the mountain coasters. Rode the one in Gatlinburg last night and texted me to update his coaster count to 78. He has a spreadsheet, now that's an enthusiast

You're a good mom! Fingers crossed they can get a ride on it Ha, thanks. I'm usually with him on his coaster adventures kinda weird to be monitoring this one from afar. He already texted me this morning that L Rod was NOT listed on the app as CD for the day like it has been for the last several. I'll let everyone know what happens.

My son is totally in the enthusiast category. We are stopping in LA on the way to Hawaii just so he can go to MM and get to coaster #100. That being said he complains like all the other enthusiasts about the lack of the "hyper" or equivalent. However, he attended SFSTL 12-15 time last year. HW once, SDC once, CP and SFGAdv once (he got lucky on those two because they were on the way to and from a family vacation) Why? Well Mom and Dad are happy to aid his coaster enthusiasm BUT we live here and cannot take road trips multiple times each year. And his friends live here and are mostly only able to attend SFSL. Lots of families cannot or will not go to the number of parks we did go to. I also happen to teach in a local district that is in a very low socioeconomic area. Those kids are lucky if they get to go to SFSL once a year and the thought of traveling to another park, just for the park, is not even in their perception. The park will always have it's local base for simple logistical and economic reasons.

OK guys based on the report of testing I am hoping for a miracle tomorrow. Our home park is SFSTL but my son (who is nearing his 100th coaster) talked Grandpa into a quick road trip to Gatlinburg. They agreed on one day at Dollywood for the boy and one day of hiking in the mountains for Grandpa. So, tomorrow is the one chance to ride L Rod. I got them fastpasses, convinced him that based on what everyone was saying it probably wouldn't be open, don't get your hopes up, don't let it ruin the trip, you'll get another chance sometime we aren't that far away, yada, yada, yada.........all the things Mom's tell their kids. Now I am really hoping if they tested all day today, there's a chance it will be open. If it is, he will certainly text me asap after riding it and I will post the good news for everyone.

No We will be at MM at the end of the month. Our home park is SFSTL, they do let each gold pass member take one non gold pass member into the early entry line. Is that not at all parks? Reason I ask is my son and I are gold pass members but my husband is not (he will just be using a day ticket from an ACE coupon) We did the same thing at SFGA last summer and he was able to come into the early line with us so I thought it was standard practice. Well, I know on BAFF day, you can. At SFMM, they scan your pass before even letting you get in the early entry line. I do not see anywhere in print that states you can take a friend in early as a benefit. It most likely is not a true policy, that can be revoked at any time. You could try I guess, but I would not count on it. OK thanks for the info. We'll give it a try since I've always been able to before and if they say no I guess Dad will just have to meet up with us inside at X2 or the FP building! BAFF usually only applies to your home park so I don't know if MM has it going on that day or not. We will be there on Mon 6/26

No We will be at MM at the end of the month. Our home park is SFSTL, they do let each gold pass member take one non gold pass member into the early entry line. Is that not at all parks? Reason I ask is my son and I are gold pass members but my husband is not (he will just be using a day ticket from an ACE coupon) We did the same thing at SFGA last summer and he was able to come into the early line with us so I thought it was standard practice.

If I read you correctly you mean the 20th (the 27th will be Memorial Day weekend, so yes probably crowded) Schools will still be in around here, and my experience has been that May weekends are usually pretty crowded until school is out, but not insane.

Westbound 44 and 109 both directions now open. No word on eastbound 44, but hopefully sometime tomorrow.

Watch the news and make sure that Highway 44 is open and the park accessible. The park is not flooded but there is very limited access to it right now with Pacific being flooded, 44 closed, Eureka flooded, and 109 closed (by the weekend 109 to the outer road of 44 might be a possibility) You really have to know your backroads to get it to it from Allenton.

They should be in full season mode until the week of August 14th, that's when school starts back up for almost everyone. They often have an earlier closing on Sundays.

We were there yesterday. My son and I got first ride of the day on Eagle, we were the only 2 on for the first run. Boss felt nice and smooth (relatively speaking) once it got warm enough to get it's cranky bones going. I have to say it's about time they made some changes to the line at Johnny Rockets!!! Yesterday they had one line with 4 order stations. Each employee took the order AND fully expedited it BEFORE moving on to the next customer. Way, way more efficient than having 4 employees taking orders as fast as possible and one poor soul trying to expedite while the customers milled around the edges and argued over whose order was up. I am hoping that means some good news for food service and that maybe some thought and training went into that area over the last few months.

How about Tom's Twister... that was a Barf machine more so than the Fling Ahh, yes, Tom's Twister. Even worse because the barf obeyed centrifugal force and adhered to the walls and everyone else!

Highland Fling has been in STL since the 80's I believe. It recently got spare parts from SFFT Since the late 70's I believe. I'm pretty sure 1981 was the last time I rode it, I was 13 and I think I might have set a world record for the most barf to come out of a 5'1'' body. Ever.

Park announcements email to passholders this week said opening date is set for March 25!

We were there on Thursday as well and never waited more than 10 min for anything and that was front seat on all coasters so not sure how anyone thought it was busy, but maybe we were just lucky. Thought it was a great job for the first year and look forward to them expanding things as I assume they will. The only thing I thought needed some immediate improvement was the smores package. Half a Hershey bar for 2 smores is pretty scanty but that is a pretty minor issue. Overall, thought it was a great event to add to the yearly calendar. HWFan, we were getting off of Thunder as you were boarding (knew it was you from pics you posted) I would have stopped to introduce myself but we were being swept along by the crowd and didn't want to hold up the proceedings. I agree with the poster that said the employees seemed to be enjoying themselves!

Not to mention that I have taught middle school in the area for 24 years and see students on a regular basis, much to their dismay!

I've dropped off my son and friends when they were as young as 12 and no one ever questioned them. He even had to go to guest relations once due to a problem with his pass so it was obvious to those in authority that they were unsupervised. The meal plan is a very good idea because then they really don't need to carry any money.

Wow. That really sucks, but after 24 years of teaching in a middle school I cannot say I'm really surprised. I guess the only thing that might help is higher wages, bringing in (theoretically) higher caliber workers, but I assume that would have to be a corporate decision and obviously negatively affects the bottom line. Do you know if this is a problem across the boards at most Six Flags parks or is it unique to our area? We were at Great Adventure in July and they didn't seem to have as big an issue with too few employees in any venue but don't know if that is always the case or we just hit a good day with low attendance. It was a Tuesday when we were there.

There is absolutely no convenience factor to the food plan for Fright Fest. That was my point... why stand in line for an hour? If it's a Tuesday in July, I totally get it. We went to pick up our 2017 season passes. Since there are four of us, they were up graded to gold. All for 60 bucks a head with tax. We're planning on using the visit any park feature on our vacation to DC and Philly at America and Great Adventure. We plan on using the feature as well on short trips to Atlanta and Chicago. We bought one premium dining pass for 80 bucks just so we get the unlimited soda bottle that's good at all parks. Since our family already has coodies, we'll share the drinks. But, when I passed the Panda Express I counted a line of 50 deep to eat flavored exlax. There's just something absurd about that. I get it, no offense, we use it the same way; other parks and such. Just responding to the implication of cheapness. Yes, it's totally absurd BUT it is what it is for FF. They are not going to build extra food venues for what comes down to 4 weekends a year when the crowds are 10 times larger than any other time of the year. Does it totally suck, yes. Should they keep experimenting with extra carts and/or food trucks and/or whatever they can to alleviate the lines, yes. Will it ever reduce the lines to a really reasonable level, probably not. Do you have alternatives, not many but a couple; such as leaving the park to eat via restaurant or picnic in car. Is that a hassle, yes. FF is a hassle, lol. Is it worth it? Personal opinion for each to decide.

Can anyone tell me if the food trucks are still there and/or will be for the coming weekend? Particularly the yummy grilled cheese truck that was in front of BTR a couple weeks ago. We do have dining passes but have more than gotten our money out of them and will happily splurge on the trucks for speed and quality. And to the poster that wondered about people getting the dining plan......it's not necessarily squeezing every dollar but when you have kids that go literally once a week all summer it's not only a savings but super nice NOT to have to send cash with middle schoolers, so there is a convenience factor and on random Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the summer lines at food venues are not really an issue. So, does depend on your schedule and frequency of attendance.

This is just a complete guess, but one reason to have it closed could be to work on the track & general maintenance. They need the offseason for maintenance, but I'm sure they have a careful plan worked out. Also, I was wondering if someone would mention the food trucks. It's something interesting and at least made them put out some more tables. See my above post I talked about the food trucks on Sunday and had a conversation with one of the owners! I loved the idea! Of course they won't run flume during HITP, but to whomever said it was closed for season....it was running on Sunday.. Responding to HWfan......don't know why it didn't put his quote in the gray quote box to make it obvious

As far as everyone's guesses on what will be open for HITP. At the ACE event in September, Pete Carmichael confirmed to the group that everything inside the train tracks would be open, weather permitting; and from what I gathered weather permitting is a little bit of trial and error on what stays operational since they have never had HITP before. We were also in attendance yesterday. Did not do any mazes will go back some Sat night to do that but were letting some friends take advantage of our bring a friend free option to get some rides in. Busy but not Fri or Sat insane. JLBM surprisingly was working despite the fact that it was listed as close at park entrance, we walked right on using single rider, which is being way underutilized at this time. I explained to the group near the head of the line what it was when they questioned us bypassing the whole line. They had no idea, it always amazes me that people don't ask when they see the single rider sign but just get in line like sheep. However, several other rides went down. They closed Colossus due to wasps. And around 4:30 Thunder, Freeze, Ninja, and Superman were all down, not sure if something was going on or it was just really bad luck. On a bright note.....the food trucks! They had 2 outside food trucks that I could see. Talked to one of the guys for a while and he said they were invited everyday for FF and that outside trucks had never been allowed in before (and I certainly have no memory of them) as long as they wanted to come. Asked him if they were planning on being there every weekend and he didn't know for sure until they counted up the receipts and made sure it was worth their while but based on the fact that they ran out of food on Sat night he thought it likely. Great idea!! Because the food service was slower than ever yesterday with very long lines. Of course they don't take dining pass but a lot of FF visitors come just for that event and don't have DP so hopefully it will help alleviates some crowds. Personally, I plan on using them when we go back to do mazes even though I have DP. By now we have more than payed for them with the number of uses AND getting some fresh good food is such a treat. Hopefully they will be successful and more will be invited in.