A review of Six Flags St Louis found on Trip Advisor.

[tanthonyam]

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.

[WFChris]

"I didn't visit it but based on everything else I knew I didn't need to"

 

Yeah, GP trip reports can be pretty inaccurately brutal and PAINFUL to read, especially to us enthusiasts. It sucks hearing about a park (or even worse, your home park, in this aspect) in this regard. I tried to start a thread about this and it pretty quickly failed, but here it is:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47926

 

I think this is a GREAT topic and would love to see it keep going!!!!

 

Chris.

[Jew]

That's not a GP trip report. How many "GP" guests would know all that detailed info on the rides?

[robbalvey]

It reads more like a GP that has a little bit of enthusaist information than it does like someone who actually has any idea what they are talking about.

 

Personally I don't put much weight into the reviews on Trip Advisor. I've found that most of the reviews are people who just want to bitch about something.

 

I can tell you that we have stayed at some hotels that were rated "terrible" on Trip Advisor which turned out to be just fine.

 

--Robb

[WFChris]

^I agree Robb, I work at a hotel that is rated 'so so' on Trip Advisor but I KNOW my hotel is fantastic. I think anything on Trip Advisor and Yelp should be taken with a grain of salt and should be generalized.

 

Put it this way, before reviewing another park, read the reviews on your home park, THEN read one on a park you plan on visiting. That should be a fairly good GP indication of how it is.

 

Chris.

[Mechanic]

The person that wrote the review actually seemed to be writing from an enthusiast's point of view. There was no sugar coating on the complaints, but that doesn't necessarily make some of the issues they had with their visit any less valid. Was some of the complaining over the top? Sure it was, but I could easily imagine a similar review having been written about SFMM just a few years ago.

 

Six Flags management is obviously aware that circumstances such as some described in this review have been, and in some cases still are, a problem in their parks. Getting the pulse on what people don't like about the parks and then working toward correcting the deficiencies is what's really helped to improve the 2 Six Flags parks that I visit fairly regularly. Hopefully SFSL will soon see similar benefits. If scathing reviews on internet sites help to get that kick started, then so be it.

 

Criticism doesn't necessarily need to be so pointed and mean-sounding, but I believe that parks do want real world feedback about what they're doing right, and wrong, in the eyes of their customers.

[robbalvey]

^ That's kind of my problem with Trip Advisor....I don't think most people are "constructive" they just want to complain or bash. And personally when I read a review like that I believe it's exaggerated.

 

--Robb

[Mechanic]

Yes, that review definitely came across as exaggerated. I've read through reviews on Trip Advisor before, and you can somewhat tell by the overall tone of the review how much weight you should assign to it. Even the ones that are obviously exaggerated, or coming from someone that seems like they have an axe to grind, can still be useful to some extent if you throw out the emotion and read between the lines.

[netdvn]

After reading the review, I believe the review is written by a disgruntled enthusiast.

 

The person complains about the lack of solid theme in each of the different lands. The GP doesn't really care about the theming of parks much. I know I didn't when I was a member of the GP. Not to mention, most enthusiasts know that SF doesn't theme their parks very well.

 

The person knows the names of the companies that build the coaster as well as the different coaster models. Usually GP doesn't know about the names of the companies as well as the models.

 

The person literally tears the park apart in his overall experience.

 

Many coaster enthusiasts still have a grudge against SF and this person is probably one of them.

[ginzo]

I've read worse reviews on Trip Advisor.

 

Here's my favorite review:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g188084-d549964-r23057576-Eiger_Guesthouse-Murren_Jungfrau_Region_Bernese_Oberland_Swiss_Alps.html

 

This Canadian family drives up a bunch of very dangerous Alpine roads to Murren, Switzerland. Not only were they not supposed to be on those roads at all (you're supposed to take a cable car up), but Murren is a car-free mountain village.

 

So what do they do? Blame everyone else but themselves for their mistake. They should have been told! Why should a traveler have to research the places they visit?

[Hand 0f Time]

For that report, I am actually not surprised. Six Flags has been on the lower portion of productivity. Cedar Fair seems to benefit over everything Six Flags had to offer.

[larrygator]

The review isn't that harsh. The reviewer makes it clear that his family prefers theming. The reviewer enjoyed quite a few of the star attractions.

 

Although he does change his stance on the employees, initially they were OK, then later he says they did not care.

 

He appears to be knowledgable about the industry and may be dumbing down certain points for the GP to understand. I think everything he knocks the park on is fair.

 

Although people that complain about food prices at Six Flags need to understand that is the case at all corporate parks.

[Sir Clinksalot]

^ I realize the review pretty much states they like "themeing" but when has anybody ever gone to Six Flags because they have good themeing? You go for the coasters and rides and anything above that as far as themeing is icing on the cake. This guy seemed to have a rudimentary knowledge of parks, at least as far as the GCI/CCI thing goes, and should have at least known that.

 

So what do they do? Blame everyone else but themselves for their mistake. They should have been told! Why should a traveler have to research the places they visit?

 

Blaming everybody else, it's the American (and apparently Canadian) way.

 

I know people like to "escape" when they go on Vacation, but you have to do some planning, you have to do some research. Even if your getting some kind of "package" it's always best to make sure you getting the right one. And again, that takes research.

 

For me, planning and researching a vacation is just another part of the fun.

[Teacups Make Me Sick]

Moreover, it is fun laughing at the plebeians waiting in line while you take their seat in the front row.

 

What a classy guy, he sounds really mature setting a good example with two kids laughing at the plebeians.

[Hang And Bang]

Some of those complaints are pretty harsh and the first time I've heard them for SFSTL. Sure, the park is lacking in huge headliner coasters and could use a few more flats, but generally people seem to at least find it to be well-landscaped. I've never been to the park and found it to be dirty, and have honestly never heard anyone else complain about it being dirty. If SFSTL is the dirtiest park he's been to he's either not been to many parks or he has an axe to grind.

[Guest]

I completely disagree with him on Bugs Bunny National Park, IMO its one of the nicest and classiest kids areas ive ever seen. Not height checking on Mr Freeze or Batman though is a pretty big problem. I do agree overall the place could use a lot of paint but I wouldnt rate it horribly apperance wise like he did, maybe my expectations of small SF parks are different though.

[Emiroo]

A good rule of thumb when reading any group of reviews is to always throw out the best review and the worst review. The extremes are never representative of the truth.

[ChrisZer0]

Ive found that with tripadvisor things can go two different ways:

 

1)You give an sugary writeup bordering on asskissing with some folks.

2)You write up a review looking at everything wrong with said property/place.

 

Ive been on tripadvisor as long as ive been on TPR, and alot of times you'll see these jackholes who post everything wrong about a hotel because they had a "bad trip" or they just like griping. Thats life, there are people who are just so bitter they think everything is a consipiracy against them and them alone. I'll admit, ive been to places I like and I dont like. i'll be honest, yet just(nothing is "fair" in life) in my opinion.

[BeemerBoy]

I get my park reviews from TPR.

[ginzo]

I know people like to "escape" when they go on Vacation, but you have to do some planning, you have to do some research. Even if your getting some kind of "package" it's always best to make sure you getting the right one. And again, that takes research.

 

That's what TPR tour are for. I guarantee you that Elissa won't have the bus going up any dangerous mountain roads that have big signs that say:

 

NO MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC

[DBru]

Wait...is this review of the same park I visited last Saturday? I could have sworn I went to Six Flags Saint Louis, a very charming, fun, and well-kept park...

[larrygator]

^A visit early in the season can vary greatly from a visit during Fright Fest events.

[CP_RULES]

^A visit early in the season can vary greatly from a visit during Fright Fest events.

 

Well I have been every time in the season and this guy is an imbecile.

 

but I love loops, and the Ninja sports three of them

 

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.

 

Ninja only has one loop, not three (two if you count the sidewinder and four inversions total, not sure how he ever got three). Freeze has zero loops (the fact that he is calling inversions loops just shows his GP-ness) and is NOTHING like a boomerang other than the fact that it's a shuttle loop.

 

After visiting SFSTL, my appreciation for my local park, World’s of Fun, has grown...

 

As a fairly neutral person, (I am two hours from both WOF and SFStL and like both Six Flags and Cedar Fair fairly equally, admittedly finding myself partial to CF from time to time) I can easily say that SFStL's beauty kicks WOF's butt! SFStL has amazing landscaping and location and is just as clean as WOF. Also, SFStL's new kiddie zone is WAY better than WOF's.

 

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.

 

I don't see how this man can POSSIBLY complain about SFStL's "basic midway attractions and carnival rides" and then say WOF is better. WOF's flat rides are way more "carnival" than anything at SFStL, and they have all of the same basic midway and carnival experiences and games.

 

I love SFStL (and WOF too, don't get me wrong), but this guy is ridiculous.

[terrancew_hod]

Throw out his review based on this:

 

The Good:

 

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.

 

Honestly. The only thing going for it is the short line. No flashpass required. I think I walked in line and waited 5 minutes to ride.

 

Most times people will write about their negative experiences than positive ones.

 

Terry

[Carnage]

It didn't seem too harsh to me. Actually, his review is a lot like my own visit to SFSTL a few years ago. I also found the park dirty, and the staff incompetent or careless. Although it didn't help that we only had a few hours before the park was washed out by a thunderstorm.

 

Although being told by an employee that I couldn't take shelter from the downpour near the turnstiles, and that I must stand out in the rain was kind of the final kick in the ass on the way out.

 

Hopefully my return visit this summer will be more like the nice reviews I've read, and less like the one visit I've had.