Photo TR Six Flags St. Louis. The Boss is Boss!

[Coasterkid20]

Well Yesterday I took My nephew to Six Flags St. Louis. I had been there twice before (2001 and 2003) but since they had no new major rides since then, and in general the coasters were only OK I opted to spend time at HW or Indiana Beach while I visited Terre Haute, IN for my family.

 

Well It started out as a low 60s, misty drizzly day. If it was a little warmer, it would be premium amusement park weather in my opinion. I figured since school wasn't out for St. Louis it would be a perfect day for the park and it was, except for the about 1000 middle school and highschool kids at the park. Oh well the longest line of the day was Screamin Eagle (Really slow loading, and only 1 train made line about 35 min).

 

First up was Boss. In 2003 I rode it twice I believe In the very back, and maybe once in the very front, both rides were really rough with tons of shuffling, which distressed me because I believe that with a decent train The Boss would be a superb ride.

 

So this time around we rode in the very front because I figured "well its not a wheel seat, and fronts are normally smoother. It was lightly misting, which I was hoping would make it run better also but was extremely worried. So we were off.

 

HOLY SH*T It actually completely rocked! I was floored I got off and turned to my nephew and said "That was really good!" The beginning on this coaster is really second to none with a lot of airtime on the double down, as well as the hop before the second hill. Their was also lots of laterals, but were very smooth. Everything was smooth sailing except for the helix which jackhammered and shuffled its way all the way through it. I noticed that it looked like most of the top 2 layers of the track seemed new. While the airtime has nothing on the Voyage or Raven, there was smooth airtime throughout all though the last set of a couple of hills I found a tad slow but we were sitting up front. In general I as basically blown away, I heard a lot of complaints from people so I suspect the further back the worse you are, and being on wheel seats I'm sure won't help, but in general it was pretty freaking great!

 

Next we went to Tony Hawks Big Spin, and the line was about 20-25 minutes not bad. We both sat on the same side so it spun like a madman, and was in general a blast, but on the ramp we both bumped our heads pretty bad. It was fun and very reridable but with a shorter line.

 

We rode Screamin' Eagle in the Second to front car, and after waiting about 30-40 minutes I was really disappointed. I find that Screamin' Eagle can be really temperamental, it can be great, or it can suck. This time it was the later, not much airtime at all from a coaster that can have some great airtime. Would have liked to ride in the back again but didn't want to wait.

 

And Finally, after waiting so long We headed to Evel Knievel. Now I love Ozark Wildcat, find it to be one of my all time faves, and a love Kentucky Rumbler also, all though not as much as OW. Now I have never been a huge fan of Thunderhead even though even loves it, I just don't get it. I still like it a lot, but not as much as Rumbler and Wildcat. So I was hoping that Evel would be one that I really liked. And I did!

 

I would consider Evel Knievel to be the best ride in the park, although It rides like any normal GCI which is very smooth and controlled, but seems to lack that wooden coaster personality of being a runaway freight train. That is a backwards compliment though which normally means with a GCI, at least to me, they are always good but are never spectacular, the just don't have that out of control, rip it from the tracks ride that I like.

 

Having vented that little frustration, Evel Knievel is a great coaster. It isn't quite as good to me as OW or KR, but it also has the most airtime out of the GCI's I've ridden. I liked the layout a lot, and HOLY CRAP! You actually get some really good airtime on the first drop in the back! Something I thought was impossible on a GCI until now. This is a great, great wooden coaster that is a better fit for a smaller park because it is in a kind of obscure area and the general public isn't as enthused with it. What can I say, the big looming Boss just grabs peoples attention.

 

We went to the waterpark, froze our asses off, but rerode everything multiple times. Then we came back and rerode the Boss up front.

 

Yep It still kicked ass. I'm still shocked 24 hours later because it had been so bad the last time. My nephew is only 12 so he was afraid of loops, but decided he wanted to try Ninja to which I replied "the loops happen really quick so you barely even notice they happen." Well at the midcourse brake I turned to him and said "I didn't say it was a GOOD looping coaster" And its not.

 

He wanted to ride Batman after conquering Ninja (or getting the crap beat out of you if you want' to call it that). Batman rocked as the almost always do. He loved it so woo hoo!

 

Then he decided to ride Mr. Freeze, which I knew was the only one I really questioned if he could take it since it is rather intense. Well he chickened out right while we were hopping on the train, but I ended up riding. It was awesome, like always. Which leads me to the question:

 

When did SFSTL actually become an awesome Six Flags park?!? I have never been terribly impressed but this time I was, aside from the Screamin' Eagles operations everything ran really smoothly with almost no stacking anywhere! Bravo!

 

More pictures later!

Somehow after this turnaround in front of the station they manage to get some airtime in the back! Though airtime on GCIs are never what I'd call strong, they always find creative areas to place it.

It isn't quite as good as Ozark Wildcat or Kentucky Rumbler, but it is pretty damn awesome!

A low to the ground, fast turn with a lot of lats!

All the red circles are where, somehow, the guys at GCI are able to shoehorn airtime into the ride! (thank you to Martin Valt where I got this picture)

This coaster doesn't deserve any better picture....

Yay Heartline! Always fun on Batmans!

I thin kthat the Mr. Freeze entrance is actually one of the coolest entrances out their. The line is incredibly dull, and they didn't have the split station going (non of my SFSTL trips have), but the actual mouth of the entraince is neat.

It is hands down from a distance one of the weirdest looking roller coasters, but man it really is an awesome ride! Both this and the mirror twin in Texas are complete blasts! Go Ride them!

Going through this backwards is a real trip! Anyone remember this ride when it had the OTSR? Yah neither do I because it beat me so bad I blocked it out!

I don't find vertical return towers all that thrilling, but this one scores points for the mid tower LIMS which make it a hell of a hole lot more entertaining!

[Coasterkid20]

More Pictures!

Boss Really is a great looking coaster, and it spreads over so much land. If they got rid of the god Awful, plastic G-Trains then it would be such a great ride.

Dropping into the second half. If I were to rate this coaster. I'd give the first half a solid 9, and the second half would proably get about a 7 or 7.5.

On The Boss, This part was the only really bad part, it is an awesome helix, but it was rather rough.

Those last hills are great, not as awesome asthe Ozark finale, but still they are great!

 

Has anyone else noticed that this ride is almost identical to Thunderbird at Power Park? I was looking at GCI pics and noticed the uncanny resemblence, didn't even realize it.

The second drop also gives you a nice bit of airtime. Their really is airtime everywhere on this ride!

The first drop may not look like a whole lot, but in the back you get some surprising airtime (at least to me) I just saw the drop and wasn't expecting any, and their actually was quite a bit!

We spun like absolute hell. While I've been on a Gerstlauer, Maurer Söhne, and Zamperla spinning mouse ride, I think this and the Zamperla style are more fun. This one was a blast but the line is really slow moving, just like all mouse rides.