Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[Floydsheating]

Does anyone know if the dining pass times are different fire fright fest?

 

1:00 - 5:00 for lunch. 1:00 - 9:00 for snack 5:00 - 9:00 for dinner.

[Floydsheating]

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.

 

I do not want it RMCed either... I used to love the ride, and it was my favorite ride in the park, but it really shocked me how far downhill it has went. On a roller coaster you should not be thinking how much longer till it stops... Leave the PTC's alone and just retrack the entire thing but leave the iron horse track for a different coaster!

[CustomMadeGJ]

Some of you guys are pretty delusional when it comes to Eagle. I love it as well, and I think a retracking would be great for a few years. But haven't they retracted in the past? Boycott the park if they do anything else, are you serious? Do you expect this thing to just keep running and running for the rest of time? Six Flags is going to get to a point where they are tired of dumping money into a ride, No matter how great it is/was. I'd personally rather see it RMC'd than knocked down

[parkjunkie]

Some of you guys are pretty delusional when it comes to Eagle. I love it as well, and I think a retracking would be great for a few years. But haven't they retracted in the past? Boycott the park if they do anything else, are you serious? Do you expect this thing to just keep running and running for the rest of time? Six Flags is going to get to a point where they are tired of dumping money into a ride, No matter how great it is/was. I'd personally rather see it RMC'd than knocked down

 

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.

[RollerManic]

Some of you guys are pretty delusional when it comes to Eagle. I love it as well, and I think a retracking would be great for a few years. But haven't they retracted in the past? Boycott the park if they do anything else, are you serious? Do you expect this thing to just keep running and running for the rest of time? Six Flags is going to get to a point where they are tired of dumping money into a ride, No matter how great it is/was. I'd personally rather see it RMC'd than knocked down

 

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.

Agreed. If SFI does contact RMC for Eagle, I hope they come to their senses and retrack with Topper Track, not Iron Horse. I wouldn't call it a crime though if it came down to Iron Horse or knocking it down.

[bbmchl]

The wasted space that I was referring to is the abundance of extra space in the que line. On the inside of the building there is a bunch of extra room for cool props and other effects that they could add to make the que more interesting, but instead until you get to Cyborg/the station all you have are some pillars with rope light and some flags. There is so much potential.

 

I had this very same thought when I first rode Justice League. The large amounts of unused space at the front of the queue looks odd, almost like they planned on putting a bunch of stuff there but ran out of money. But we do really like the ride and feel it is worth a one hour wait (but not a two hour wait).

 

Mike

[HWFan]

The wasted space that I was referring to is the abundance of extra space in the que line. On the inside of the building there is a bunch of extra room for cool props and other effects that they could add to make the que more interesting, but instead until you get to Cyborg/the station all you have are some pillars with rope light and some flags. There is so much potential.

 

I had this very same thought when I first rode Justice League. The large amounts of unused space at the front of the queue looks odd, almost like they planned on putting a bunch of stuff there but ran out of money. But we do really like the ride and feel it is worth a one hour wait (but not a two hour wait).

 

Mike

When I had my last construction tour with Dave Roemer, he didn't know why they did it that way either (although he might now). One theory I have is that there are two outlets in the room. Of course you need outlets in case you had to use a shop vac or something sometime. Well, the queue just happens to end with the outlet just out of the reach of Guests.

 

By the way, I had my 20th ride on Justice League tonight....it was terrible. Out of the twenty I've had, I've gotten stuck at some point 14 of the times. When you get stuck on dark rides at any major park, an announcement is made to let people know to just stay seated. Then another is made to warn Guests that the ride will be starting back up....what happens at Justice League? Nothing. You are closed in a black room with closed doors and a projector that is just showing gray. Sometimes you hear random sounds or your vehicle starts spinning. I've mentioned the importance of an announcement before, but I guess they didn't feel it was necessary. My friends had one chance to ride the ride. They had to miss all of the last three scenes. Were we offered a chance to ride again after the ride was rebooted & recycled? No. At any park like Universal or Disney, they make sure you get to experience the attraction if you get stuck. It's like they don't even care that you waited 100 minutes to ride. They can't make comparisons to Universal & Disney when their operations are poorer than Haiti.

[TNT]

Deleted 

[HWFan]

First, I have gone through the proper channels multiple times. My post was very blunt but the criticisms were not unfounded.

 

Second, I will clarify that when I say poor operations, I mean the ride's technical issues, not the staff operating it. Some of my favorite rides staff are assigned to it and always do an extremely professional job.

 

EDIT: Also, JLBM still remains one of my favorite rides in the park, and my complaints were from the perspective of a Guest, enjoying the attraction.

[Woodie Warrior]

Heard from somebody I know that they actually SHOCK you in Insanity Alley this year? I find it hard to believe but can anybody confirm or deny this?

[RKO]

Heard from somebody I know that they actually SHOCK you in Insanity Alley this year? I find it hard to believe but can anybody confirm or deny this?

 

Yes, there has been a shock effect in there for several years now as well as Slaughter House.

[Woodie Warrior]

Heard from somebody I know that they actually SHOCK you in Insanity Alley this year? I find it hard to believe but can anybody confirm or deny this?

 

Yes, there has been a shock effect in there for several years now as well as Slaughter House.

I've never noticed anything like that? When do they do that?

[Zcev5454]

Insanity alley is in the garden area, in that building. Not sure about Slaughterhouse, but blind fury has it in the second half.

[Woodie Warrior]

Okay Six Flags... 4 actors in Insanity Alley??? I feel bad for the people waiting an hour plus in the regular line, at least it was only 15 min for us. Hoping Camp Killamore is better...

[Woodie Warrior]

Few thoughts from tonight...

-Camp Killamore was done extremely well, it just had an extremely low amount of scareactors (same with every maze at the park). The path also was a bit weird to follow, they just kinda sent you off into the woods. It's a cool concept, having a spread out outdoor maze, totally unlike the tight indoor mazes we're used to, but it wasn't executed very well. It was still probably the best house of the night (not a very hard title to claim), but it could've been A LOT better. It did have a good number of startles, which is harder to do in such a wide open environment, yet they pulled it off, and by far the most enthusiastic actors. Just not enough of them.

-Insanity Alley really sucked. Maybe 5 actors in the maze? Was done well last year with plenty of actors, but this year it fell flat. Another disappointment.

-Slaughter House, just like last year, stops you 4 times throughout the layout to handle the crowding and to space people out, which kind of takes away from the experience. Didn't get a single startle in this one. Once again, not enough actors. And once again, a disappointment.

-Voided Vision was a waste of space once again. Got a startle, but it was the only actor we saw in the entire maze. Even as low capacity as the maze it, it still had a very short line, which says something about its popularity.

-Biggest disappointment? Wreckers Salvage. Way to spread out, no real theme (We're in a salvage yard, with lots of dogs, a cop car on fire, a girl looking for her missing dog, the whole thing made zero sense.) Two of the actors actually jumped on the hayride and tried to scare people (which freaked out the girls across from us) but the rest just yelled at us stuff like "Oh the employees here are just dying to see you" and later "Oh get ready for the grand finale" which turned out to be a drive through a garage without any actors straight into the exit platform. In other words, the most anticlimactic ending ever for a haunted attraction. This was the biggest disappointment of the night as far as attractions go, still better than Voided Vision, but I was expecting that one to suck anyways.

-I never got to Blind Fury, which I'm kinda bummed about, but I was told by the rest of my group it was terrible this year.

 

Some thoughts about the event in general:

-As much as I love the amount of attractions this year, the park is running out of scareactors. I mean, in a city with Darkness, Creepyworld, Abyss, Fright Fest, and countless other mazes, there are only a certain number of people willing to give up every October weekend to work at a haunted house. Six Flags really should just scrap Voided Vision, Wreckers Salvage, and one of the scare zones next year, and spread out those workers to other mazes. 4-5 actors in each maze is pretty much unacceptable.

-Park was jam packed. Decided to cancel plans to visit again next weekend, will probably go to Creepyworld or Darkness instead. Not worth bearing the crowds for the same haunted houses.

[RollerManic]

I always found SFStL's Fright Fest to be very good. SFGADV's was tame, especially for a park of the budget.

 

The best years of SFStL FF were 2010 and earlier, IMO. Very good memories, at least.

 

I havent been to SFStL this year or Fright Fest since 2013 (went to SFGADv's instead last year like I mentioned). I will get to judge next week when I make my only visit this season.

Edited October 11, 2015 by RollerManic

[Woodie Warrior]

Last year's Fright Fest and 2013's were good. Not too many attractions, so there were plenty of actors in each one. With 3 new attractions this year (Killamore, hayride, and trolls) they've really stretched out the amount of actors in each one.

 

At least the park attempted to be different with Camp Killamore. Just needed a ton more actors. And why did it not open until 8:00 tonight?

[RollerManic]

But they dropped the train ride, so isn't it more like +2?

 

Point still taken, though. I thought SFGAd had a scarce amount of scare actors for a park it's size. They also had "scare zones". I'm not sure if SFStL does this, but IIRC from years past like 2013-2010, they roamed the entire adult park (everywhere but Looney Tunes).

[HARLEYGUYJB]

I think SFSTL has a huge employee shortage issue going on. The restaurants need to have more staff, waiting for almost an hour for food is absolutely ridiculous. I know more and more people are buying the dining pass, so with that the restaurants need more staffing. The last 3 times I've been to the park, the hot dog restaurant has been closed.

 

I know SFSTL is also short Fright Fest actors as well, Most scare zones only have a few actors. When I worked zombies last year we had 9-10 zombies......

[KBrylczyk]

I think SFSTL has a huge employee shortage issue going on.

 

Every Six Flags park has an employee shortage issue. It's their business model. Get by with the least amount of humans necessary. I've seen coasters with a 2-man crew recently. Disgusting.

[kjpotter]

My family and I attended SfSTL on Sunday. It was bad. Hour line to purchase tickets (2 members of our party needed them). Hour wait to purchase/activate season passes and dining passes. 45 min wait for lunch.

 

Floors were disgusting in all buildings. Mooseburger freestyle area literally had puddles and was very slippery.

 

Over 30 minutes for ice cream. And the Burrito place workers (at the end of the night) had no idea what they were doing. I don't think they were trained at all. They could not roll a burrito. We walked them thru the entire process and that was after waiting 40 mins in line.

 

I kept telling our family members that "we've never seen it this bad" and "it's normally so much better". I don't blame the workers, they were just extremely understaffed. They are desperate for help.

 

Kelly

[LiftThrill]

We got the chance to spend 3 hours at the park on Saturday, and we had a blast. We got there at park opening, and it was completely dead. The first ride we hit was Justice League (the line took half of the total time at the park, but my dad hadn't ridden the one at SFOT yet). I wished we could have gotten there sooner so we could beat the line for it, but my dad insisted on visiting the Gateway Arch and Ted Drewes (both worth it). From the highway, the park looked absolutely packed, but once we got in the parking lot, we could tell that it was completely dead.

 

My dad liked Justice League, but we were ready for some coasters, so we headed to American Thunder. I liked how close you could get to it in the queue line. It was a walk-on, so we grabbed the fastest rows near the front. One thing I didn't know about these trains is that the restraints go down by themselves, which is really cool. I was a big fan of this ride. I'm sure it's better near the back, but the laterals, twistiness, headchoppers, and airtime on this thing are amazing. It's also easily the smoothest wooden coaster at the park, with only a very slight rattle even in wheel seats. Definitely a winner for the park.

 

After that we headed to The Boss (since we wanted to hit the unique coasters first). I was afraid that it would be too rough and would have to be the last ride of the day, so we waited a little extra for rows closer to the front. The setting of this ride is awesome. You can't really see it from most of the park. The first drop was awesome, since the train really gains some speed in the turnaround. After the first drop, the jackhammering begins. To be totally honest, the roughness added to the ride for me. I'd still prefer it smoother, but there's something characteristic about a rough ride through the woods. The double down off the first drop gives some nice quick ejector airtime, and the ride just seems to never lose speed, even in the high-altitude turnarounds. I really enjoyed all of the curved drops. The only really bad spot for roughness was the spot right before the station flyby, but after that comes one of the most awesome parts of the ride: the helix. I'd heard things about CCI laterals, and I'd gotten a taste of it in the turnarounds and curved drops, but holy crap this helix. I was completely pinned to the left side of the train the whole way through. My main complaints with this ride were the extreme roughness in some spots and the ugly and uncomfortable Gerstlauer trains. I still don't understand the hate for this ride. I can't wait to try it's smaller brother The Legend next summer.

 

After The Boss, we attempted to find the entrance to Screamin' Eagle, which is hidden in the corner of a little shaded plaza. My dad had actually been on this ride opening year. I'd heard mostly neutral things about this ride, mostly words like "boring." I was a big fan of Judge Roy Scream, so I was pretty hyped for this. I was a little excited when the lap bar locked at its lowest position a few inches off my lap, but the real excitement started at the top of the lift hill. Like The Boss, the turnaround here builds up so much speed you feel like you're already at the bottom of the first drop, except you're not. After a brief moment of ejector-esque airtime, you just fly down the first drop. There is a bit lateral force as the ride pulls left, then you fly up an airtime hill. This is where I got my first taste of how this ride was going to be. It wasn't ejector airtime, but I was floating up out of my seat the whole way up and down the hill. Lather, rinse, repeat. Blissful floater airtime over every hill. Then you hit a turn that gives some awesome laterals. The whole trip back is more floater airtime, then you hit the brakes. This ride has the best floater airtime I've experienced. It also has some headchoppers with the forest, and it feels incredibly fast the whole way through.

 

After that we had some time left, so we queued for River King Mine Train. It wasn't much besides straight track, small dips and insane unrestricted laterals, but the final drop was awesome in the back of the train. It seemed to go on forever.

 

After that we only had a few minutes left, so we got in line for Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast since my dad hadn't gotten to ride the one at SFOT. It was fun, but I think I prefer the SFOT one, which is smoother and has more hangtime.

 

The wait times were very decent, besides JL:BFM:

JL:BFM (10/10): 1 hour 30 minutes

American Thunder (8/10): walk-on (but it looked longer later in the day)

The Boss (7/10): walk-on

Screamin' Eagle (8/10): 20 minutes

River King Mine Train (5/10): 15 minutes

Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast (9/10): 15-20 minutes

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Woohoo, another Boss fan! Totally agree with your assessment. There are parts of that ride that kick your butt, especially that helix. If you liked it, you'll love Legend. I wrote a trip report here earlier this year, and I believe I wrote something like "I only thought Boss's helix was forceful until I rode Legend." It's a great ride, and the other three are even better! Have fun!

Edited October 12, 2015 by ytterbiumanalyst

[parkjunkie]

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

[HWFan]

I think SFSTL has a huge employee shortage issue going on.

 

Every Six Flags park has an employee shortage issue. It's their business model. Get by with the least amount of humans necessary. I've seen coasters with a 2-man crew recently. Disgusting.

I'm sorry, but this is just not true; it's counterintuitive. While blatant over-staffing would be just as counterintuitive to almost any business model, a well staffed park runs better, which results in better business success. None of what I'm saying is inside information, because let's take any theme park out there:

 

If you purposely understaff food locations, for example, it will result in longer lines. Line for coasters are one thing, as a theme park probably has a monopoly of that commodity in its immediate surroundings. However, within a five minute drive of most mid-to-large-sized parks, you may have 6-12 restaurants (e.g. McDonalds, Lions Choice, Taco Bell, Steak n' Shake, White Castle, Culvers, another McDonalds). If people can go out to eat and still even come back to the park if wanted, they very well might do that, and if people choose to eat elsewhere, the park would be missing that potential revenue.

 

When you see Dave Roemer spending a lot of time working front line positions in the park, do you really think there is intentional understaffing? It just doesn't make sense. Feel free to go online to http://www.sixflagsjobs.com and apply.

 

Note: While I was not present when you talked about just a couple team members running a coaster, I'm guessing that wasn't ideal in the minds of that park's management either. But similarly, thanks to the hard work of the SFSL ride operations department, I believe the Boss was running three trains most of the weekend, which requires a full staff of three-train-operation certified team members. Cheers to them.