parkjunkie

Ive never seen them before either and didn't think they did, but you just never know, so I had to just double check.

The family and I are headed down to Branson next week... can't wait to FINALLY ride Outlaw Run. Anyway, the admission price is $60, but was wondering if anyone knows of any businesses or products that my have a discount coupon for SDC.

Here's my opinion on the matter and also some knowledge. First off, I would like to state that I absolutely HATE when people line jump/ skip, save places, and leave & come back. I feel once you leave a line, you start all over, and if your group is ahead of you, they can come back to you. I feel anyone who does this should be kicked out except in very rare and certain circumstances. Like many on here, I've worked at a park for many years, some of those years I worked in security. Yes all parks have in their code of conducts/ rule books that state line jumping, saving places, etc is strictly prohibited and is cause for removal from the park. Usually signs are posted and announcements are made as well. I will tell you from experience that its not always as easy as it sounds to rid the problem. First off, there is no way to man every larger attraction for line monitoring, its completely out of the question and would cost a fortune to man that much security personnel. Secondly, management wants every situation looked at differently and the circumstances (which in all cases but about 1% I feel you should be kicked out). In my daily experiences with this matter, if it was someone usually under the age of 16, they would be pulled from line and usually allowed to stay in the park, but in some cases, depending if it was more than one person, such as a large group of juveniles, their demeanor, how they jumped (ducked under railings, physically pushed their way through....), if there was more than one complainant, and if the line jumpers got into a verbal or physical altercation with anyone, they would sometimes be kicked out. 99% of the time if you were over 16 and line jumped, met your group, left and came back, etc, you were asked to leave usually for the remainder of the day, but in many cases 30 days, sometimes even the remainder of the year, but that's usually because the line jumpers decided they wanted to get mouthy with security or would be non compliant. There are many reasons why line jumpers should be kicked out immediately for their actions, and people usually don't think about it this way, but here's a really big reason why... Between 2007 and 2011 (5 seasons) at the park I worked at, approximately 80% of the physical altercations/ fights between guests were caused because of line jumping. People that line jump know they are doing wrong and if they get away with it, they get a big head and usually end up breaking other rules throughout the day as well. I will say that you should never allow line jumping. I'm not saying to take the matter into your own hands, but tell the ride operators or a worker (if possible) about the matter and request to talk to security, they can not deny calling security when requested to. Don't get into with the line jumpers, let them be the wrong ones in every way and so that nothing can come back on you... trust me, Ive had to kick out victims of line jumping too because they wanted to take matters into their own hands. If someone physically pushes their way past you, again request security, physically pushing past people, especially those who are holding their ground to not let you pass, is technically assault.

Since I never leave the US, for me it would be Lightning Rod and Mako, but otherwise Wildfire looks absolutely amazing too.

B&M Flyers and Vekoma Flying Dutchman, laying down/ flying coasters just are not comfortable for me, which sucks because before riding them I was always so excited, but ended up being so let down.

Thunderbird at Holiday World this past Sunday, I couldn't get enough of this coaster.

I know I'm not the only one, but I've been waiting a LONG time for a hyper with an inversion or 2, and this looks great. It looks like a very well put together coaster, good speed, good transitionsing, great airtime, and it seems to have a little of everything... airtime, inversions, a little bit of twistyness at the end... too bad I probably will never have a chance to ride it though. Mack looks like theyre really trying to place themselves on the map lately, hopefully some parks here in the US start picking up these great creations.

As we all get to know Mr. Carmichael and he has the chance to actually get in a full season or 2, nobody should judge. You have to remember, he's not going to come in here and just take off from where Dave left off, and he's not going to "MAKE THING HAPPEN" right off the bat. You have to give him time to adjust and get acquainted with the position, the park, and how this park operates. As much as I hate seeing Dave go, I'm excited to see a fresh new mind come in the door. No, park president's don't have a lot of say what attractions the park's get, but their input is definitely part of the process. I hear a lot of people thinking that because he's coming from a park with some great coasters that we will automatically get a new and bada$$ one of a kind coaster... I highly doubt that right off the bat, and if we would get one in the next season or 2, it wouldn't be because of him, it would be because it was already planned for the park,... and I also hear a lot of people worried that operations will suffer majorly, and I highly doubt that will happen either. We all know that not only SFSTL, but many other SF parks don't always have the best operations for rides, and just because he is coming from another park that had supposed horrible operations that he was the director of doesn't mean it will affect the operations at SFSTL. Our current Ops Director Chris Dwyer does an excellent job and I don't think Mr. Carmichael will interfere with Chris and his team. What I DO expect to see though, is a lot of infrastructure and other changes. Mr. Carmichael is not coming into a park that needs major help or changes, he is inheriting something good from the great Dave Roemer. Something tells me you will see new and fresh ideas pop up after his first full year and that it will take time for him to "learn" our park. All in all, I'm excited to see what happens and excited for Mr. Carmichael and hope he brings the same upbeat personality, enthusiasm, corny jokes, and fresh ideas that Dave had, and I ask everyone else to have just as much of an open mind with Mr. Carmichael as he will with his new position.

When I found out this morning, I was heartbroken, but knew this was coming very soon. As much as I and everyone else would love to see him stick around, I am happy for him. He did so much for our park, battled for our park, and stuck with it through it all. I will say this though, I've heard the supposed new Presidents name but don't want to to say it yet until I 100% know that's exactly who it is, but I rather see him than a few of the others that wanted this position... one of them in particular would have sunk SFSTL beyond recognition. Who knows, maybe this guy can continue on Dave's vision and goal for SFSTL. Luckily Ive had the privilege for 12 years of knowing and working with this wonderful individual. He is one of the most remarkable people Ive ever met in my career... my life. He has the greatest personality Ive ever come across, always smiling, always joking, and even in the roughest of moments, NEVER lost his cool and always had a way with his words and emotions. Those who have worked with him would say these words don't even come close to doing him justice. No amount of park services employees working at the same time will ever match up to you with your dustpan and broom! Congratulations Dave, I wish you the very best and thank you for all of your hard work, dedication, and selflessness... you are TRULY one of a kind.

When I ride Voyage, I usually sit front row of the front car car, but yesterday I didnt feel like waiting. Every time I entered the station there was only a 1 or 2 train wait for the 2nd and 3rd cars, so I rode 2nd car twice and 3rd car once, I havent ridden in the back car in years. I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on around me when in the maze, but I did see at least one help point. Im not sure quite how long it took me to get it done, but for me it didn't seem TOO difficult. I thought I was still some ways away from finishing and then before I knew it I had finished it. On a side note, just like everyone else, I'm very curious to see what Holiday World has up there sleeve for 2017. I took a lot of time looking around yesterday at different areas, and after a lot of debating in my mind, I have the strong suspicion Holiday World's next addition will be for Splashin' Safari.

Thank you,.. This was first visit to HW during Happy Halloween Weekends. I really wasn't there for the Halloween stuff, but I will say they do a great job decorating the park... they do it in a way thats not over done, but gives it a great feel. I didn't expect crowds to be as light as they were, so I took every opportunity I had to ride TB as much as I could. I would have loved to have ridden Voyage a few more times, but I pulled a muscle in my back last week and thought I had already pushed my luck enough riding it 3 times as it was. I was bummed about Legend, but its no biggie to me. A few years back after a pretty nasty storm went through and cleared out the park for the most part, myself and a few friends marathoned it for like an hour, and it made me get kind of burnt out on it... don't get me wrong, its a great coaster, but it comes in last for me out of the 4. That was my 3rd cornmaze. The ones Ive done usually arent too hard and have numerous exit points for those who just want out or if there is an emergency, and most usually have workers in them.

So I just returned home from the park... what a great day! Got to the park around 10:30, bought my ticket, and headed for the block point in 4th of July to wait to get to Thanksgiving. At 11 sharp, they dropped the rope and off we went. As I made may way across the bridge in to Thanksgiving, the first sign it was going to be a good day showed... Voyage was out test running, despite earlier reports that it would be down for the day. Anyway, a little bit further down, and there she stood in all her beauty... Thunderbird. Myself and a family of 4 were the first ones in the que and I headed for the left side, front row... first train of the day and I believe only 10 others were on the this first rain with me. As we were moved to the prelaunch, I got that chill through out my body, and I haven't gotten that from anticipation of a coaster in a long time. Then the thunder started to rumble, and the sound is just amazing, they really hit a homerun with the loudness and clarity of the sound. Then we launched, I don't think I stopped smiling the entire ride. This ride is so well designed and put together. The transitions from element to element and the pacing was perfect, although I was kind of bored with the inline twist, I thought it was a tad too slow. Either way, unbelievable, fantastic coaster. As we returned to the station, remarkably there was 10-12 people waiting, so when I exited, I asked if I could ride again and was told with some hesitance, yes. This time, 3 row, and when we returned, I hurried down the exit to ride the other side. All in all, I rode Thunderbird 9 times, the average wait was about 3-5 minutes, except the one time it was temporarily down for about 20-25 minutes for a maintenance problem. I hit up Voyage 3 times... it still stands as my favorite coaster, but the poor girl needs some TLC, she really is getting rough, but still pretty tolerable. I haven't ridden since they majorly tightened up the MCBR, but surprisingly it didn't take away from the ride as much as I was expecting. Of course Legend was down, rode Raven 3 times, Crow's Nest 1 time, Gobbler Getaway 1 time, Liberty Launch 1 time, and Mayflower 1 time. I walked a couple of laps around the park too, just to take it all in and enjoy the beautiful day. Had Lunch at Smokehouse and opted for the Pulled Pork and it was very, very good. Cornmaze was fun too, but this is the one attraction I wish I would have had someone with me for, just seemed kind of boring by myself, but I still enjoyed it. All in all a great day! I primarily only took pics in Thanksgiving since I have sooo many of the rest of the park already, but here a few of my favorites: ( my favorite is the one of the Thunderbird train going into the Immelman with the sun behind it)

Rode Thunderbird on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th launches of the day.... AMAZING!!! And my wishes were answered , The Voyage ended up opening after all! I also I am thoroughly enjoying my first solo visit to a park, very nice to do what I want when I want at my own pace.

Just entered the park and am at a holding point in 4th of July waiting to get to Thanksgiving section... Can'twait to finally ride Thunderbird. Only let down is supposedly The Voyage will be closed all day fingers crossed that just MAYBE that's not true. Either way, excited to be here!!!

Oh, I know I'll a blast. I think this is the perfect park for a first time solo trip to a park

Thanks for the info. I've been to the park 7 times, but never for the fall/ Halloween events, so I am very much looking forward to it. Also, this will be my first visit to any park as a loner. Making the 3 hour haul by myself will be the only downfall, but otherwise I can't wait... do what I want, when I want, as much as I want!!!

Thanks for the heads up advice

I'm a massive Cards fan and I absolutely HATE the Cubs and their fans... I can't believe I'm saying this, but I say let them have their name on our coaster, they deserve it, after how atrocious the Cards looked this post season, they deserved to lose.

Thanks. Ive never had to pay before... Always had the park exchange, but since I havent worked at Six Flags since the end of summer, I cant get the exchange. Does anyone know how busy Sundays have been?... Ive heard its usually pretty quiet on Sundays this time of year, but want to know how true that is.

2 quick questions. Hoping to get to HW this Sunday. How have the crowds been on Sundays, what can I expect? 2nd question... besides the $29.99 online ticket price, is there anywhere in the area to find discounted tickets cheaper than the $29.99 tickets?

I know this is kind of wrong for me to say, but some of the issues, at least at SFSTL, are due to management... incompetence, ignorance, laziness, and lack of care. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is all of SFSTL management, but there are a few, and the few people on here that are also employees know exactly which departments this refers to and possibly even the exact people. Some departments at the park run great with short handed staffs... why you may ask... because those are the departments with the good management

Staffing issues are no where near a new problem as many of us know, it started back in the early 2000's. I remember that for the longest time, before the early 2000's came along, SFSTL was the place everyone wanted to work and it was an honor and a privilege to do so. There used to be waiting lists to get hired because so many people would apply to work there, and because of this, they were able to pick the best applicants, thus having great workers. Then when the early 200's hit, it was a constant battle to get people to work out there. Then they started the "Bus Program"... they would hire kids/ people from the north side of the city and county and also would hire whoever applied, they were that desperate. Because of this, not so much the bus program itself, but the entire hiring of whoever applied, that the park started going downhill. You had employees with bad attitudes, that were insubordinate, no sense of responsibility, and no respect or courtesy. When you have workers like this, the guests get a bad experience. When the guests get a bad experience, the park suffers as a whole. When the park suffers as whole, you don't make as much money, attendance goes down, and you don't get new attractions and upkeep. When you don't get new attractions and upkeep, but want attendance to go up, you lower prices to get people in the gate. When your prices get so low that any Tom, Dick, and Harry (low lifes and thugs) can now afford to come more often... this too drives away the good attendance.... can you see where I'm going with this?... Its a giant revolving door of one problem contributing to the next until the cycle starts over. And who can you thank for the start of ALL of these problems... PREMIER... you bunch of incompetent POS's

Yes, just stated major retracking happened a few years back, but nothing major these past few. There are many woodies out there that are much older that do just fine and get maintained just as much, so why you would think it would get knocked down is beyond me. RMCing this classic would be a crime. I know Colossus at SFMM was no GREAT coaster, but I was so disappointed to see that they RMCed it, even if the RMC treatment is a decent ride. Eagle does not have the right type of course for a good ironhorse treatment anyway, but topper track would GREATLY benefit Eagle.

Eagle HAS had its off years. You have to remember that in the past 10 years, Eagle had a lot of retracking, but most of it was a few years back and hasn't seen much in the past few... So the past few years were better, but as we know with all wood, after a few years, its starts warping making the ride rougher. It definitely was rougher this year, but I wouldn't call it bad, painful, or unbearable. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being a brand new wood feel and 10 being the Boss on a bad day, I would give Eagle a 4, maybe a 5 for this year. Compared to other coasters around the same age, IMO I consider Eagle as pretty "smooth". Yes, Eagle has always been my fav at SFSTL, but I won't deny it definitely needs some TLC here and there... but I also think some of the roughness gives even more of that nostalgic feel. If they ever revamped or RMCed the Eagle in anyway except topper track, all hope would be lost in my mind for SFSTL.

Just because no one has died doesn't mean that cannot be assumed. With the negligence of this park, the horror stories we have all heard or witnessed ourselves, and the amount of accidents this park has had, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if someone ends up getting killed here someday. Ive been to the Dells at least 40 times in 30 years and amusement parks for almost as long... this is one I quit going to years ago after some of the horrific things I have seen.