Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[CoasterGuy06]

^^ How do you think the people turned away would feel about it? Some of those would be driving long distances.

[ZeroGravity55]

Oh don't get me wrong, I know there are people who understand and totally get it. I appreciate the hell out of those type of people. It is the ones (in general) who complain/ say it is the worst service they've ever had and then threaten to never come back who drive me nuts.

[Sf-Dad]

Seeing the posts about Sunday really sucks. Honestly I hate it because it was not a great day. I'll admit that. Algorithms don't mean anything when you have 8,000 more people than you expected. I'm sorry your day, as well as the days of others, sucked. The last three weekends have been pretty steller from an operations stand point. Unofficially on behalf of the park and most of the team members who work there, we're sorry. We messed up. We (mostly) tried our best, but we couldn't keep up. You have every reason to complain. We do hope that you will come back in the future as that day was one of about five similar days throughout our long season.

Did I stop and leave a comment at guest relations? Absolutely not, I was really starting to feel ill and another 30 minutes in the heat without a drink would have finished me off. What would we have gotten for that anyway, a form letter in the mail, that says we appreciate your feedback?

However, the compliments/complaints that go through Guest Relations actually go through a system where not only departmental supervisors see them, but park directors see them as well. Did you know that Dave Roemer actually personally goes through every single compliment given, as well as a lot of complaints. Yea Six Flags is a corporation, but there are still real, good people who would take your feedback seriously.

 

As soon as I saw the complaints I figured the park had more people show up than expected. Then you weren't staffed accordingly and I can totally relate to how much that sucks. You try the best you can, but nothing goes right. I wish people would understand and recognize when it happens.

 

I clearly understood that is what happened is that they got a much larger crowd than expected and weren't staffed properly. My thought was why not close the park off at some point if it isn't staffed to handle say 15,000 people for the day. If you were expeceting 8-10,000 and got 15,000 you should expect problems. Wouldn't it be better to give 10,000 people the best experience possible than just take the money from 15,000 people and leave them with a very bad taste in their mouth.

 

HWFAN, do you know if Dave reads these boards? Just curious Because I really haven't seen him in the park much this year, probably just because we haven't been as often as in years past.

 

I get your point and on one level it makes sense. Pools and other venues have maximum capacity limits and have to throttle attendance. Fire codes, Guard to patron ratios all play a role. As a parent I sure would be upset if I showed up with my kids and was told I had to go home. That would be a very unpleasant drive home with crying kids in the back seat. Now I only live 20 minutes away. How about those who are closer to an hour or two away. Sure they could check the web site before they leave, but what happens when the park fills up on the way there?

 

Your suggestion also raised a question in my mind. Was the wave pool closed because of an bodily fluid accident or because there were to many people in it and it was unsafe especially with the huge number of rental tubes I saw? I am a Guard but not a Waterpark Guard so I have no clue what all the rules are and I am not trying to accuse the park of being deceitful. Just a thought for discussion. They can control the numbers they let into HH but it would be extremely difficult to control the numbers in the wave pool.

 

Is there any other theme park that caps attendance?

[Woodie Warrior]

I've been to SFSTL on days when the water park was at full limit. They never stopped people from coming through the main park's gates, they just stopped people from entering past the turnstiles that enter into Hurricane Harbor. Whenever somebody would exit the water park they'd let one person through the turnstile into the water park.

 

So I don't think the park as a whole has a capacity limit, but the water park does.

[theymitbgi]

The park does have a capacity limit as in the past it has closed due to capacity issues on certain concert days, see a previous post. Most these days were long before HH even opened. I remember when I was much younger seemed like all rides had at least an hour wait except for maybe the mine train and kiddie rides.

 

As far as capacity goes and lifeguard staffing. I used to be a lifeguard instructor for the Red Cross. Now that was 15-20 years ago and not dealing with waterparks. Most facilities have switched to a lifeguarding system call Ellis & Associates. When I was a guard/instructor, most facilities had a 25 or 30:1 guard to patron ratio. If you look at the wave pool, they normally have 8 guards on a busy day, which would be 240 swimmers. When we entered the wave pool on Sunday, there were much more than 240 patrons in the wave pool. Now times may have changed and ratios may have increased, but the wave pool IMO has always seemed understaffed except on the slowest days.

 

Yes, I would be upset if I showed up at a park and it was closed because it was "full". Would you get more upset if you show up at a park and then have an awful time because the service was awful? I can deal with lines for rides if they are being operated efficiently, but not when only half of a ride is operating. I also hate waiting 15-20 minutes in a concession line when I'm overpaying for mediocre food/drink.

 

Lastly, I have been an SFSL "apologist" for a long time, but my last 2-3 visits have been the worst I have had in the past 4 years since I started taking my kids to the park. It just wasn't this visit that makes me say, I'm not sure if I want to come back. Even after these experiences, I know I'll be back again.

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

Some Justice League Updates & Clarification

As has been said before, Oceaneering is making the ride vehicles. These vehicles will be exactly like, from a technological basis, the ones used in Transformers & Spiderman at Universal besides only seating 6 people and not having the ability to make it "bumpy".

 

Actually the Scooby show building is bigger than the ride actually needs it to be. The computer designing of the ride has allowed it to be nice and compact. At the same time, the ride will be the same length (roughly). Scooby is just a lot of huge, partially empty show scenes.

 

For those wondering about a Fright Fest overlay of the ride: The ride will close to the public of September 14th. On September 15th, demolition begins. While most components of the ride are already mid-construction in facilities outside the park, the building itself needs to be gutted. Besides that, one of the most time consuming parts of the project is the filling in of the trough as well as taking out all of the plumbing, etc.

 

One really cool thing that I got to see was a video that shows a simple layout of the ride with how the cars will move scene to scene. The pneumatic doors allow more intimacy like you are part of the ride while other vehicles move around you. It's super cool.

 

I believe that some quoted the price of the ride at WB as around $7million. Our new ride won't be much off of that. One great thing is that SFOT & SFSL were able to split the cost of filming the scenes. Is it Transformers or Spiderman? No. However, it will be super cool, especially here in St. Louis.

Will you be able to post pictures on here for us?

[Sf-Dad]

^^^I would love to see pics of the demolition. That ride has history.

[ZeroGravity55]

Algorithms don't mean anything when you have 8,000 more people than you expected.

 

I feel like this needed a bump. Just curious, how many people were you guys expecting?

[TNT]

Deleted 

[RSHSLax]

Of course they still only had one OP on Big Kahuna so it was running at half capacity as usual.

 

Until they allow the riders at the top to start going down the slide before the prior riders reach the bottom, it doesn't matter. The OP at the top of the ride is consistently waiting for the people at the bottom to clear the ride before sending them down. I understand being safe but this seems like overkill on this ride.

[Sf-Dad]

Of course they still only had one OP on Big Kahuna so it was running at half capacity as usual.

 

Until they allow the riders at the top to start going down the slide before the prior riders reach the bottom, it doesn't matter. The OP at the top of the ride is consistently waiting for the people at the bottom to clear the ride before sending them down. I understand being safe but this seems like overkill on this ride.

 

I don't doubt your experience with to the ride and fast efficient OPs, but mine has been much different, it takes forever for the OP to pull the raft off the belt, get 3-6 people in the raft and balanced and holding onto straps and then their whole safety speech. By that time the previous raft is emptied and the riders are long gone. It doesn't take more than 30-40 seconds for the raft to go down the slide and it takes much longer than that to load a raft.

 

I have been to HH at least 20 times this summer. If that line gets any shorter than the split on the tower the second OP is pulled very quickly.

[SteveStL]

With Twisted Collossus and Wicked Twister getting Iron Horse next year, where does that leave SF with potential woodies left to convert? ...seems to me that the Boss' number has to be soon. I think I read somewhere that SF has a contract with RMC - wonder if that agreement had a specific number of Conversion attached to it.

[RSHSLax]

I have been to HH at least 20 times this summer. If that line gets any shorter than the split on the tower the second OP is pulled very quickly.

 

Do they ever let the line get that long? They only let enough people on the tower to get to the split. The line yesterday was out past the flash pass entrance and up towards the other queue line. I wonder if the line wouldn't seem so bad if people could wait on the stairs instead of watching the swampland that's created by the leaky slides. I know once I hit the tower it won't take long at all but winding around on the concrete takes entirely too long.

[HARLEYGUYJB]

They make it that long so you'll go buy a flashpass

[prozach626]

^ Knowing SF corp, that wouldn't surprise me.

 

As far as the RMC contract goes, I know that the contract was for SF to have exclusive rights to the iron horse treatment. I'm not sure if the contract included a guaranteed number of projects per year. I thought that contract was set to expire at the end of 2015 or 2016.

 

Here are a list of possible candidates throughout the chain:

Georgia Cyclone @ SFoG

American Eagle @ SFGam (yes I could see this before the Boss, despite Goliath)

 

OK... so I ran out of candidates. Basically if the boss doesn't happen by 2016, it probably won't happen at all.

[Sf-Dad]

I have been to HH at least 20 times this summer. If that line gets any shorter than the split on the tower the second OP is pulled very quickly.

 

Do they ever let the line get that long? They only let enough people on the tower to get to the split. The line yesterday was out past the flash pass entrance and up towards the other queue line. I wonder if the line wouldn't seem so bad if people could wait on the stairs instead of watching the swampland that's created by the leaky slides. I know once I hit the tower it won't take long at all but winding around on the concrete takes entirely too long.

 

Water torture isn't my thing so I have never waited in the swamp. From my experience this summer once you hit the split on the tower it is a half hour wait regardless if one or both sides are open. I am sure it can vary depending on how packed people choose to be and the policy of the OP that day on allowing half full rafts. A good OP could surely speed things along as well but the job does look tiring.

 

That is one reason I refuse to but a flash pass. Spend all that money and still have to wait 1/2 hour on the tower.

[SFSTLMO]

 

OK... so I ran out of candidates. Basically if the boss doesn't happen by 2016, it probably won't happen at all.

If the Boss doesn't get redone next year, we will probably get a coaster.

[ZeroGravity55]

^ I'm hopeful on Iron Boss, but I wouldn't expect a big new coaster. Wasn't there talk about the park getting a kiddie coaster?

[prozach626]

I know for me personally I haven't been back to SFSL because there is nothing there that I really like, except for Freeze....

 

Batman - Great ride yes, but I don't need to go to SFSL to ride this.

Ninja - Terrible

Mine Train - Terrible

Boss - Terrible

Screamin Eagle - Mediocre at best

Mr. Freeze - GREAT!!! Love this. But I'd rather go to SFOT or SFGadv to ride something similar.

 

So IMO, probably one of the worst coaster collections at a Six Flags park with the only decent rides being clones.

 

I actually think SFSL is a really nice LOOKING park, but I've gotten the credits and really there is no need for me to go back until they get something major.

 

--Robb

 

I was just looking at this post from an expert, over nine years ago. So aside from American Thunder, what's changed? Where's the draw?

 

 

OK... so I ran out of candidates. Basically if the boss doesn't happen by 2016, it probably won't happen at all.

If the Boss doesn't get redone next year, we will probably get a coaster.

 

Dude... Wake up!

[HARLEYGUYJB]

I asked this a few pages but no one knew exactly for sure.. What type of repair has RMC done on The Boss? This was taken off RMC website

[Sf-Dad]

Haven't you noticed the how much better it is this year than last year? That's the kind of work a company should brag about on their website.

[HARLEYGUYJB]

Honestly I didn't ride it much over the last few years, but now that my daughter loves roller coasters we ride it several times each visit.

[ZeroGravity55]

OK... so I ran out of candidates. Basically if the boss doesn't happen by 2016, it probably won't happen at all.

 

No offense, but why does everybody assume that RMC and SF will stop working with each other once this "exclusive contract" expires (still don't understand how they have this contract if RMC has been advertising their I-Box track at IAPPA since they invented it, but can only sell it to SF)? RMC is expanding their manufacturing warehouses and their full time staff. Who says they won't be able to manufacturer 5+ coasters in one year? Plus, RMC will probably still give priority to SF considering there would be no RMC coasters without SF.

[prozach626]

SF will likely make the most of the conversions while under the supposed contract. Seeing as how we are seeing most of the bad woodies converted, if it doesn't happen within the contract time frame, it don't think it will ever happen or at least not for a while. It just seems most likely that it will happen within the contract window.

 

Considering how popular the conversion is it wouldn't surprise me if the contract rumor is legitimate, since no other companies have obtained an I-box treatment.

[Sf-Dad]

Season Pass Sale Extended Until September 3

 

Noticed this morning the SP sale has been extend until today and the free sport bottle with meal pass extended as well. They also extended the processing date to 9/28 for the free sport bottle offer. I received a survey yesterday and one of my main complaints was the 9/1 processing deadline. So Kudos to them for fixing the problem albeit to late for me.

 

On another note, a tip from my experience. I was about 16 months into my gold membership and saw the new offer was about $2 per month cheaper than I was currently paying so I decided to cancel and purchase a new one but it required a $20 deposit for the 4.15 price and I at wasn't sure if it included the free fright fest tickets so I just purchased the passes outright. Then I went to cancel my membership. It was like the Comcast calls that went viral a few weeks ago but in a good way. After canceling, it popped up a screen "Are you sure? We really want you as a customer, how about we lower your rate to 4.xx". No, I had already purchased the SP. "Are you sure? We looked at our records and you are one of our best customers. We really, really want you to stay. How about $3.30 per month?" That was after sales tax, so the total cost of a Gold SP would have been $39.60 per year tax included. Lesson learned. Cancel your membership first and see what they offer.

 

Granted we have been to the park the past two summers more than most people do. HH is a lot more fun than the subdivision pool. We average about 2x a week and might have been more if the weather wasn't so flakey. Given the business model of get them to the park and then sell, sell, sell, they may not offer this to everyone. But all we have purchased this year is a $5 drink wristband each day and occasional mammoth waffle cones the boys can never finish, but you should see their eyes when you hand it to them. The local custard stand and DQ charge nearly $4 for a kiddie size so the price is not really that outrageous.

 

The plus side of all of this is I have one more payment of $26.xx on my membership to make and it will deactivate around 10/23. So I have a total of six active meal plans until then (3 on membership and 3 on passes) as long as we scan in the park, "leave" and scan back in with the new passes. I had to do this Sunday to process my new passes and activate my tube rental SP on my old membership. I see nothing wrong with sharing my double lunches and dinners with my bring-a-friends.

 

Have a Six Flags Day!