tanthonyam

Remember that French park Big Bang Smurf? http://www.rcdb.com/id4478.htm

Hmmm, I guess the economy isnt that bad? Lots of people out spending money at theme parks.

Apparently it wasnt very cold that day. Lot's of people in shorts and t-shirts for April? That line for Diamondback looked insane. I will go on a weekday to avoid that mess.

At least the 1001 Nacht will always be "erect" for her. (I know bad joke.)

Nice pics! Why does this park still have SHockwave? People still ride it?

They get rid of The Bullet and Magnum Force yet keep that piece of crap Corkscrew?

(Apparently it has to have 18 people on the ride at one time for "safety" reasons) It was the most enjoyable ride, however, as the rain pelted your face (El Toro) If they need 18 people on the ride to run it safely, then how do they do test runs? With 18 water dummies or employees? Just curious.

http://www.coastersandmore.de/rides/rides.php?seitenzahl=1&sort=0 It is the white coaster on the left. This site has great pictures also.

To anybody who has been to this park, do you agree with this? I think this person probably went during Fright Fest on a weekend. Anyway here is the review: I went with four other people to Six Flags Saint Louis on 10/11/2008, so I thought I would take a few minutes to jot down my park review. Our group consisted of myself, my brother-in-law, my niece (>54”), my oldest kid (53”), and my middle child (48”). I left the wife and youngest child at home because my wife only likes true theme parks, and there is very little for my daughter (< 42”) to do at a typical Six Flags park. Let me just state right off that I already had low expectations for this excursion, but was hopeful that some of the changes being made at other SF parks had made it to SFSTL. The results were a mixed bag. I will start with the positive stuff and work backwards to the negative. THE GOOD Evel Knievel – this brand new GCI wooden coaster is excellent. While short and compact, Evel is relentless and fun. We rode it several times during the visit, and everyone agreed it was the best ride in the park. This coaster rivals The Raven at Holiday World, but is not on par with The Voyage (also at HW), which remains the best wooden coaster I have ever ridden. Still, a great ride, one that made the whole day a worthwhile excursion. The Ninja – this custom-built Vekoma MK-1200 was a lot of fun. Sure, you have to brace yourself before the jarring turns or risk breaking your neck, but I love loops, and the Ninja sports three of them. Short, fast, and fun, this was my second favorite ride of the day. Batman The Ride – a typical B&M inverted coaster (which is a good thing!), this ride is not as good as the Patriot at Worlds of Fun or Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Europe, but it is a fun ride, and worth several visits. THE MEDIOCRE Mr. Freeze – a Premier Rides launched coaster that loops and climbs, then does it all in reverse. 55 seconds of adrenalin rush. It is a fun ride, but short and filled with unrealized potential. It is better than a Boomerang, but still just a variation on that all-too-short theme. The Boss – a CCI wooden coaster that is long and fast. It is also old, jerky, and painful. It is worth a visit, but keep your Doan’s Back Ache medicine handy. Tony Hawk’s Big Spin – a typical Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster with a slight twist: instead of a picture at the end of the ride, this coaster sports an on-ride video camera that captures your entire trip and can be purchased once completed. The ride itself is fun, but standard. Screamin’ Eagle – an old school wooden coaster that races through the terrain quickly and painfully. The ride is so old and unkempt that most adult riders will require an appointment with a chiropractor after a single ride. Please note: this is the only coaster that is not a Flashpass attraction, so the waits can be long during the peak touring times of a busy day. River King Mine Train – the oldest coaster in the park is an Arrow runaway mine train. While boring during the day, this steel coaster comes alive at night when the drop through the tunnel becomes a pitch-black descent. This mine train ride is simple, mediocre fun for the whole family. Xcalibur – This Bussink Evolution ride is a pretty intense midway experience. However, it is not a Flashpass attraction and the line moves slower than any midway line I have ever experienced. At five minutes per cycle (load, ride, unload), this ride will suck the life out of your amusement park visit. Honestly, on a busy day, if you have Flashpass, ride this attraction first thing, and then ride your Flashpass attractions. Xcalibur is worth a ride, but not if the wait is more than about 10 minutes. Flashpass – I purchased a basic Flashpass for the whole party for $95 bucks. I know it was a lot of dough, but since our park tickets were free, it seemed like a good trade off. Additionally, the park was insanely crowded the day we visited and without some sort of fastpass system, we would have been miserable with waiting. In fact, due to less than stellar loading and unloading practices, I consider Flashpass completely necessary at SFSTL, and somewhat nice, if you can foot the bill. It is not a replacement for Disney’s free fastpass system, but it is no more expensive than what is offered at Universal. The big problem with Flashpass at SFSTL is that there are just a handful of attractions in the system. On the other hand, there are only a handful of attractions worth riding at SFSTL, so it evens out, I guess. Moreover, it is fun laughing at the plebeians waiting in line while you take their seat in the front row. The Staff – For the most part, SFSTL employees were decent folk. Some were very energetic and outgoing, some less so, but for the most part our experience with the park staff was a positive one. I dropped the staff into the mediocre category because many of the ride operators (Mr. Freeze and Batman especially) were oblivious to the height requirements on their rides. My 53” son rode Mr. Freeze (54” requirement) without question, and could have ridden Batman (54” requirement) but I did not want to take too many chances. Furthermore, my 48” son could have ridden Mr. Freeze as well, but I tried to be a somewhat responsible parent. No one was checking. SFSTL needs to be careful. Don’t they have enough lawsuits pending right now? THE BAD Midway Attractions - After the coasters, there is not much else to do at SFSTL. The park is filled with basic midway experiences and carnival rides. As I stated in my Adventureland review, I generally regard midway rides with the kind of contempt most people reserve for socially transmitted diseases, so I was not very happy with the ride selection once I completed my coaster tour. Kiddie Area – The kiddie section of the park was quite obviously an afterthought. Situated along a short, windy path, Bugs Bunny National Park is not really a section at all, just a series of mall food court caliber rides sandwiched between Britannia and Gateway to the West. I left my 5-year-old daughter at home for a reason: there is almost nothing for the under 42” crowd to do at SFSTL. Insect Problem – Not sure if there is anything SFSTL can do about this, but they have a major problem with wasps and bees at this park. Xcalibur, the River King Mine Train, and all the little roadside sugar stands were the biggest offenders. At the roadside stands, big white buckets with red syrup at the bottom were used to attract the pests away from the buyers/sellers, but I am thinking some other form of repellent can be used. Maybe not. Either way, dodging wasps while careening down a steep drop is not the kind of intense fun I am after! THE UGLY The Whole Park – SFSTL was without a doubt the ugliest, dirtiest amusement park I have ever visited. There were weeds growing everywhere. Even the grounds around the brand new Evel Knievel coaster were sprouting weeds. Mr. Freeze sits in an area of the park that should be called Weed Island. In the line for the Boss, you walk past a roof covered with years and years of gum that litter-prone visitors have spit out as if marking their territory. There was trash everywhere, except in the trashcans. Every ride, building, and sign needed a fresh coat of paint. All the decorations were washed out and bland from the lack of maintenance and upkeep. The areas around the bathrooms reeked of urine. The rides themselves (with the exception of the new coaster) were in dire need of upkeep. For those rides that had indoor queue areas, cobwebs were the featured theme. The park walkways were congested and cramped. Rides were placed willy-nilly with no thought to aesthetics or theme. Tony Hawk, The Boss, and the pay-extra Go Carts are in Britannia. Batman and the Joker are nowhere near DC Comics Plaza yet, Scooby-Doo sits right in the middle of that area. The Ninja is in the Studio Backlot. Evel Knievel is listed on the park map as being part of the 1904 World’s Fair section (which makes no sense), but honestly, it is part of DC Comics plaza (which also makes no sense). There is no rhyme or reason to SFSTL, no theme, no thought for ride placement, they just stick a ride where there is room…and often where there is no room. Worst of all, no one working at the park seems to care. The entire time I was there, I only saw one employee with a broom and dustpan, and she was not sweeping, just walking. The only thing that would indicate that the mgmt team even recognizes there is a problem is the fact that every employee sports a bright green/yellow T-Shirt that boldly states, “Please keep the park clean. My family comes here too!” I am sorry to say it, but SFSTL is the trash bin of the theme park universe. Halloween Additions – SFSTL is a pathetic park for Halloween fun. There is one Haunted House and it costs and extra $5 if you want to visit. There is also a Haunted Hayride and a Haunted Train ride, both underwhelming at best. There were a few Halloween shows, but I did not take time to visit. The one Halloween parade I saw was so short I missed half of it when I had to blink to get the weed pollen out of my eyes. The only thing scary about SFSTL is the tragic lack of upkeep and attention to theme. Restaurants – I did not eat at SFSTL. In fact, I would not eat at SFSTL. The park restaurants were all disasters. In every case, the restaurants looked like McDonald’s after a Saturday lunch rush – but without the one frantic worker trying to keep things clean. Specifically, in the Villains Cafe, not one table in the restaurant was clean. Same thing at Panda Express. Prices too were out of control, even for an amusement park - $50 for a Papa John’s pizza, bread sticks, and a side salad. We left the park to eat at a local Steak n Shake. Not great, but $35 fed five of us, including dessert and tip. Not a lot of better options in Eureka, MO, but almost anything is better then the dining options in the park. Abysmal. CONCLUSION I hate to end my report on such a down note, because overall we had a decent time on the rides we visited (coasters, mainly). However, I would not visit SFSTL again unless there was some new addition (like Evel Knievel this season) that prompted the excursion. After visiting SFSTL, my appreciation for my local park, World’s of Fun, has grown, and my love of Disney, Universal, and Busch with their attention to detail, theming, and cleanliness has reached lunatic proportion. SFSTL, as I have stated many times before, is a pit. Nevertheless, underneath all that garbage are a few fun rides. With some TLC, elbow grease, and a fistful of cash, SFSTL can be saved. There is a decent park under all that trash. Six Flags mgmt just needs to find it, spruce it up, and make it lovable again. It will take some doing, but it can be done. Otherwise, sell off the good rides, and close the place down. This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

Great pics, but have a question. Where does that path between Scooby doo coaster and Dominator go? Is that accesible to park guests and does it go around to the other side of the park?

What was that structure around the loop for?

Wow now that was a good day to visit! Deja-Vu open and really short lines! I will remember that to go end of March during the week. X-2, it seems impossible to ever see that ride without a line, ever.

Nice pics, but ughhh, way too many people! I hate crowded parks. I guess the economy is not that bad in Texas? Six Flags is not a cheap excursion.

That midway looks ugly. I would rather go over to Busch.

Line jumpers who yell out RACISM when they are caught. One train operation on coasters. Rides not opening on time. Basketballs People who still continue to sit on rails in que lines after all the warnings.

What's a Plopsa?

I'm sure the B&M will be saved. I have never heard of a coaster by this company sold for scrap. Even used, this model is a a great buy for any park.

WOW! Please save Knightmare. That's a good solid thrilling family coaster.

When did you go to King's Dominion that it was so empty? I would love to go during that time.

Is Deja-Vu closed during the construction?

Sounds good. I will be going only on weekdays to the parks. I avoid weekends.

I plan on going to KD Memorial day and the day after. Then on to Busch the next 2 days. I find the best time to go to the seasonal parks are when they start weekday operations. Is this a good time for these 2 parks? I'm sure summer vacation has not start for schools yet. How is weather that time? Lines? Any help appreciated. Thanks!

I don't understand why you dislike MF? I thought it was great. Better than the over-rated Magnum Force.

Gee another coaster built into a big hole in the ground? With probably no height at all.

From the Sahara Casino web site: http://www.saharavegas.com/NASCAR/SPEED-facts Closed for the season? I wonder if it really is going anywhere, or they are just cutting costs, since business is slow? The ride is still there as of Nov. 30