Clueless needing help.

[Dick E]

Hi. I'm 40 and have not been to a major theme park since I was a child and plan to go next week with my wife. So, I'm totally clueless about planning this. We live in Memphis, TN. Six Flags St. Louis and Kentucky are fairly close. Any other suggestions not too far away? I'm not into water parks, but do like coaster and other thrill rides. We also like aquariums. We plan to drive and bring our Jack Russell Terrier and do a pet friendly hotel. He'll be kept in a day kennel during while we're away and then pick him up on our way back tot the hotel.

 

Any suggestions and insight to planning this such as places, hotels, (even kennels), deals and such?

 

Thanks,

Dick

[monsterfan99]

Hello and let me be the first to welcome you to Theme Park Review. I can give you some info on Six Flags St. Louis.

 

The park is about 30 minutes or so away from the Arch, Busch Stadium (and the national bowling hall of fame), and the Edwards Jones dome. If you want to hit a baseball game, there is a deal where you get a ticket to the park and a Cardinals games ticket for around 50.

 

With deals, it depends on how many days you go. If you do more then 2, getting the season pass would be a good idea. The best deal i know of is everyone pays kids prices and that is $31 a day. The season pass is $69.99 at the park. Also if you buy your tickets online, there will be a charge to print them.

 

I went earlier this year on the first warm weekend of the year and there were about 15k people there. Even with that and taking a very long lunch and leaving an hour early, I was able to get a lot done. I did all the coasters, the rapids ride, the train twice around the park and some flats. Here is the keys to keep in mind

-Get to the park about 30 minute before opening. This will let you get your tickets, get a map and get in the park. They do check bags before you can get to the gate

- Hit Mr. Freeze and Tony Hawk first. Lines tend to get long on both. If you hit Mr. Freeze first, you will have no wait. Tony Hawk next and it should have no wait as well

- With both Screamin' Eagle and River King Mine Train, the way you get to your spot in line is blocked as you head to the trains. The people bottle neck when more then 4 people wait for the first row (or last on River King) so just be poliet and walk behind them and you will be fine. Screamin' Eagle was sending trains with empty rows because of this.

- Save time to re-ride Evel Knievel at night! The ride is great during the day and amazing at night.

 

On hotels, there are not many options. Across the street is a Holiday Inn (might be an Express one.) The prices there tend to be around 110 and up per night. Whatever you do, stay away from the Days Inn down the road. The manager there was a jerk and the breakfast was beyond awful.

 

If there is any other info you need, ask and I can see if I can find the info.

 

Thanks

[Dick E]

Thanks for the quick info. I thought I'd give more information.

 

We're taking no kids to be concerned about (just the dog) and understand the Holiday Inn is pet friendly ($25). We will be there multiple days.

 

A big concern for me is my size. I'm 6'1" and 300lbs with my oversize being in my gut and chest.

 

Where is the best place to buy tickets and such? Are there any inside tips to getting better discounts?

 

What about the flash-pass?

 

Thanks.

Dick

[Dick E]

We can go to Six Flags St. Louis this weekend or next week during the weekdays. I'm thinking it might be best to do it during the weekdays. Any thoughts on that?

 

Thanks,

Dick

[monsterfan99]

^^

With the oversize,I'm not sure what to tell you. The only 3 rides with Over the Shoulder restraints are Batman - The Ride, Ninja and the Superman drop tower. You should not have problems on Evel Knievel. I'm only 5'7-5'8, but weight around 245. Even with a size 44 waist, I had not a single problem with any ride there. My gut was never in the way of anything.

 

The best discount I've seen is the everyone pays kids prices at $31 online. If you do more then 2 days, get a season pass. Or if you plan to do Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom even once alone with 2 days at Six Flags St. Louis, get the season pass. Don't get the parking pass if you will only do 2 days at a Six Flags park (not including Kentucky Kingdom as you have to pay for parking there no matter what.) Also, if you plan on buying sovineers, the pass gets you a discount. You also get a coupon book for the park.

 

With the Flash Pass, you should not need it. The only rides you can use it on are 5 of the coasters and 3 water rides. The Log Flume runes 2 sides, I'm not even sure if Tidal Wave is even open, Ninja has a small wait at most and River King hardly has a wait over 10 minutes.

 

With the weekdays, there are 2 problems. The first is how many schools go there and the 2nd is the hours are shorter. If you play to do something at night any ways, week days are the way to go. The kids are not too bad, but some can go nuts. Just remember there will not be too many people there over 18 that are not teachers.