Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[RideofSteel]

^And SFNE has a really great atmosphere. It's extremely well kept up for a Six Flags park; and it has a great water park. I think this can lead to great things for SFSTL.

[RollerManic]

^^ & ^^^ I am not entirely familiar with the selection process of new rides in the Managment positions. This is just off context: I don't think the Dir. of Ops had much to do with the proposals themselves. Next time I met up with the Directors, I'll prompt this question.

 

To be fair, he would defiantly know the appropriate attendance/popularity/reputation figures of said investment though. Doesn't mean he could persuede cooperate just because of SFStL's lesser demographic in the chain.

 

At this point, I DO NOT want an transformed RMC. I fear for Eagle.

 

Random thought: Could they lower the height of the Boss's MCBR slightly and turn it into a short LSM booster? LSM technology has gotten much cheaper and reliable since Mr. Freeze. *cough* own power grid *cough*

Edited October 21, 2015 by RollerManic

[HWFan]

Let's not throw the new park president under the bus already. Since SFNE has a RMC coaster maybe he can help SFSTL get a RMC coaster...think positive.

Amen! From what I've heard, he's great. While it's not his decision alone or anything, you know Dave wouldn't leave his park in the hands of someone he didn't believe shared his vision. I look forward to meeting and getting to know Pete in the coming months. He'll be doing a lot of commuting back and forth until the final move to Missouri where he officially starts his new job on January 1st.

 

However, I don't know how much stock I would put into the whole RMC thing in terms of him having better luck than Dave would have.

[LiftThrill]

I'd be up for an RMC Boss. It's a good ride as is, but RMC could make it great. I don't see how SFStL's terrain is any worse than Dollywood's or Kolmarden's.

[Vonni]

I feel very sad today, selfishly, and I am trying to feel happy for him. So, it is with very mixed emotions as I type this now:

 

At the end of this season/year, Dave Roemer will be retiring. His impact on the company will live on.

 

His replacement is currently the Director of Operations at Six Flags New England.

 

 

Good for Dave. But, I would be lying if I said I were not a bit nervous.

[Woodie Warrior]

If anyone who has ever met Dave, worked with Dave, or enjoyed the park he cared so much about, you can send him a happy retirement card or letter at the following address:

 

Dave Roemer

c/o Six Flags St. Louis

P.O. Box 60

Eureka, MO 63025

 

While it is by no means expected, I thought it might be nice. If you want to say hi to him at the park this weekend, your best bet would be to go to the Freaks Unleashed show in the Palace Garden each night. You can pretty much expect half a dozen members of management to be there wearing construction-type vests.

Is there a way to send him a direct email?

 

I'm pretty saddened by the news as I've seen him around the park plenty of times but always have been a bit nervous to say hello, and now I'll never have the chance.

 

Good for him, though, his whole life was basically dedicated to the park, I just hope the new president does a good job. I'm a bit worried, since he's coming from SFNE...

[Password121]

One man from SFNE makes little to no difference in how that park is run overall. It's the culture of the park and the staff and management as a whole that determines how a park is run. It's almost insulting to say that one man, who wasn't even Park President, is responsible for SFNE to have slow operations or be responsible for the removal of flat rides over the last decade.

 

Seriously it's ridiculous to think that, and I wouldn't be worried at all about how St Louis will be run in the future.

[HARLEYGUYJB]

One man from SFNE makes little to no difference in how that park is run overall. It's the culture of the park and the staff and management as a whole that determines how a park is run. It's almost insulting to say that one man, who wasn't even Park President, is responsible for SFNE to have slow operations or be responsible for the removal of flat rides over the last decade.

 

Seriously it's ridiculous to think that, and I wouldn't be worried at all about how St Louis will be run in the future.

 

 

I totally agree with that 100%!!

[Woodie Warrior]

One man from SFNE makes little to no difference in how that park is run overall. It's the culture of the park and the staff and management as a whole that determines how a park is run. It's almost insulting to say that one man, who wasn't even Park President, is responsible for SFNE to have slow operations or be responsible for the removal of flat rides over the last decade.

 

Seriously it's ridiculous to think that, and I wouldn't be worried at all about how St Louis will be run in the future.

I'm not saying this one man is going to completely ruin the park, he could improve it for all I know, but it's not wrong to be nervous considering that he used to be Director of Operations at a Six Flags park known for their horrendous operations.

 

And it's not just that he's from SFNE. It's just that Dave has been at the park since it opened, starting in the mail room and making his way up the chain to president. This new dude has never worked at the park before, so it might take him a while to get used to everything.

 

However, if HWFan says he's a worthy replacement, I'll take his word for it. And I'm sure SF knows what they're doing, I am just a bit nervous. The new guy could be just as good (or possibly even better) than Dave, I think I'm just kind of upset to see Dave leaving after all these years, which is why I'm so doubtful.

[JonR]

I visited both SFNE and SFStL (old home park) this year. If the new guy gets SFStL to look like SFNE, its a great thing. I'm sorry to see Dave go, but SFNE has made huge strides forward and the park looked great. Now to get a Superman/Bizarro clone for SFStL. None of the B&M hyper nonsense, Intamin all the way. (The operations I saw at SFStL were the worst of any parks I visited. I'll just mark it up to a tough couple of weeks.) SFMM had the best look and feel of any of the parks. (I've been to SFGAdv, SFNE, SFA, SFStL, SFMM this year)

[HWFan]

I'm excited to get to meet with Dave and Pete tomorrow. Talking to Dave briefly today, I can tell he genuinely likes Pete.

 

Also, I can't give out Dave's email address, but if anyone wants to either PM me or email me (jrr1118@hotmail.com), I'll forward all of those messages to my work email. Then, I'll print them out for Dave. That way he has something tangible that he can enjoy. If anyone is interested, you can follow this link to a Facebook post that I put up, which generated hundreds of likes and plenty of comments & shares. Just reading the comments says a lot about him.

 

When it comes to moving a Director of Operations from one park to be the Park President at another, this happened last year with SFMM's Director of Operations becoming SFFT's Park President. I got to know Neal Thurmond when I stopped at SFMM on my Make-A-Wish trip in August of 2013. We've exchanged plenty of texts & emails since then (including some rivalry with JLBM vs. SFFT's Batman), and he's another special guy. To quote him, being the President of a Park is everything he dreamed it could be and more. Each day he is amazed more and more and subsequently loves his job more and more. A few other posters have been spot on with their comments in support/defense of Pete. It takes a special person to be a good park president, and I have no reason to doubt Pete. If anything, he brings new ideas and insight from another park in another market.

 

I'll be posting more in the coming days & weeks. I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm up, but it's really gotten hard. I had never asked to leave work early before yesterday. I probably spent at least 90 minutes quietly crying with most of that time just sitting outside with a roll of those rough paper towels. (I gave Dave trouble for not giving me a heads up so that I could have brought tissues that wouldn't make my nose and eyes hurt after a while.) But to be honest, I really surprised myself with my reaction. I've cried twice in the past two years. But the other time was for about 90 seconds. It told me a lot about how much I valued him that the news was enough to make me lose my composure that much.

 

EDIT: It looks like SFGAm and SFGAdv have their own bet going now, but they've definitely raised the stakes: http://patch.com/new-jersey/brick/could-great-adventure-be-renamed-six-flags-great-cubs-mets-fans-hope-not-0

[RollerManic]

I want to give Pete trust (not that we can already judge). He does bring in a new market and perspective, but how cooperate will respond still matters. A hyper just won't happen (but if one can dream, S:ROS fits perfectly in that storage in the far east / HH expansion area. The overbank could even go over the HH expansion!)

 

The thing with Pete is that he is the Dir. of Ops. from the park with horrible operations. BUT! I am not going to throw him under the bus. There's so many variables that come from lower levels and the demographics of the operators themselves that none of us know what combination(s) or factor(s) created those reputably bad ops. SFNE is also a much bigger park.

[LiftThrill]

Southern hospitality is what I'd hand to the SFStL ops. Even compared to Texas, Missourians are very people-oriented. I never saw an atrocious dispatch time (average was around 90 seconds-2 minutes, faster for American Thunder).

[parkjunkie]

As we all get to know Mr. Carmichael and he has the chance to actually get in a full season or 2, nobody should judge. You have to remember, he's not going to come in here and just take off from where Dave left off, and he's not going to "MAKE THING HAPPEN" right off the bat. You have to give him time to adjust and get acquainted with the position, the park, and how this park operates. As much as I hate seeing Dave go, I'm excited to see a fresh new mind come in the door. No, park president's don't have a lot of say what attractions the park's get, but their input is definitely part of the process.

 

I hear a lot of people thinking that because he's coming from a park with some great coasters that we will automatically get a new and bada$$ one of a kind coaster... I highly doubt that right off the bat, and if we would get one in the next season or 2, it wouldn't be because of him, it would be because it was already planned for the park,... and I also hear a lot of people worried that operations will suffer majorly, and I highly doubt that will happen either. We all know that not only SFSTL, but many other SF parks don't always have the best operations for rides, and just because he is coming from another park that had supposed horrible operations that he was the director of doesn't mean it will affect the operations at SFSTL. Our current Ops Director Chris Dwyer does an excellent job and I don't think Mr. Carmichael will interfere with Chris and his team.

 

What I DO expect to see though, is a lot of infrastructure and other changes. Mr. Carmichael is not coming into a park that needs major help or changes, he is inheriting something good from the great Dave Roemer. Something tells me you will see new and fresh ideas pop up after his first full year and that it will take time for him to "learn" our park.

 

All in all, I'm excited to see what happens and excited for Mr. Carmichael and hope he brings the same upbeat personality, enthusiasm, corny jokes, and fresh ideas that Dave had, and I ask everyone else to have just as much of an open mind with Mr. Carmichael as he will with his new position.

[Vonni]

I just wish he could work alongside Dave for a couple of Seasons while he learns the park, and the position.

[HWFan]

^I really don't think that would be necessary. He has a few month, and Six Flags has learned to handle these transitions smoothly.

 

I got to meet him today and make him his brand new Park President name tags. He's a very nice, personable guy, and even communicating by email later today, he's seems like a really great guy.

[HARLEYGUYJB]

I'm at the park right now and the new park president is here. Saw him when I was getting off of Screaming Eagle.

[HWFan]

There's a lot of little fun things that happen when you work at a theme park. One thing that is freakin amazing is that Dave has a folder on his work computer that is full of Microsoft Word documents...containing corny jokes. Now, Dave has a special one full of only Halloween jokes. Poor Pete had Dave and I (not knowing each other had given it to Pete) gave Pete the document.

 

Well, as I was headed out around 9:15pm tonight (which felt early), Dave was on his way to HR to talk for a bit. While it was a curtailed conversation, I found out that Dave gave Pete an assignment: Tell one of the corny Halloween jokes to most of the full times at the daily ParkComm (park communication) meeting. This was Pete's first time meeting a lot of the people in the room, and Dave has flat out told Pete, "you HAVE to start using bad jokes. It's not a choice." So, here are a few things I want to mention and get your thoughts on, should you want to opine.

 

(My phone is being sketchy, so I'm putting it in a second post below. Trust me: I will punish myself for the double post later.)

[HWFan]

I'm trying to find the best retirement gift for Dave to say thanks. Something with a personal touch. Here's what I have so far:

 

1. Nine or sixteen name tags, all placed together (arranged in a square) in a single frame, and each would say Dave Roemer on it. What would change though would be the position under each name tag. They could include things like Comedian, Retiree, Mentor, Friend, Old Guy, Not My Problem Anymore, Park President, Corporate Purchasing Director, Mail Room Clerk, Grandpa etc. Basically, it would be something he could hang on his wall that would reflect what he has meant to many different people over the years.

 

2. One of my biggest talents is writing song parodies (I know, it's impressive lol), and I was thinking about doing one to the Billy Joel hit, We Didn't Start the Fire. I haven't put much thought into it yet, but you could rhyme fire with retire and fill the song with all of the things Dave has done, all the rides added to the park, etc. I'm going to talk to our marketing director about it to get his input, as he's just as goofy as Dave and I (Ron was behind all of the Cubs marquee captions and bet). I was also thinking about it being a music video with a couple dozen people, from the CEO to Coaster Enthusiasts, having little five second parts of the video. A compilation of sorts.

 

Moving on the the anti-Christ...oh, uhh...I mean Pete Carmichael, I'm going to ask him if he's willing to do something like this, and if he is, if you all would be interested:

 

We allow anyone to submit questions for him (hell, maybe Dave could join him) in the way that Robb did for the ride manufacturers at IAAPA that one year. While they are a very small minority of Guests, enthusiasts are a big part of the industry. Dave has answered some of your questions via me posting in the past, but it wasn't very direct or comprehensive. I'll shoot them both an email tomorrow, but feel free to give me your input sooner.

 

Finally, if anyone plans to be at the park tomorrow, I plan on enjoying the Freaks Unleashed show in the Palace Garden with Dave (and hopefully Pete). I'm sure they would both enjoy meeting some of you. As soon as it's over though, I'm back to my grind as a Slasher Pass tent volunteer.

[Peeps28]

Thinking about doing the turkey trot on thanksgiving. Has anyone on here ever participated in this event?

[HARLEYGUYJB]

I gotta say the park was firing on all cylinders last night. The park was pretty crowded last night, you couldn't ask for better weather for Fright Fest. The ride ops on all of the rides had them dispatched very quickly. The Boss was running 3 trains last night and it seemed like they had the 3 train operation running perfectly. Also, the crew at JB's Smokehouse had food out very quickly. My only complaint is why can't the park have these darn Coke Freestyle machines ready and stocked to go when the park opens. I ate dinner at JB's last night right when they opened and the Coke Freestyle machine was pretty much out of everything except water. This happens a lot to the other Coke Freestyle machines too. I like the machines because they offer tons of different flavors of drinks, it's just annoying when they're empty right after the park opens.

[prozach626]

 

1. Nine or sixteen name tags, all placed together (arranged in a square) in a single frame, and each would say Dave Roemer on it. What would change though would be the position under each name tag. They could include things like Comedian, Retiree, Mentor, Friend, Old Guy, Not My Problem Anymore, Park President, Corporate Purchasing Director, Mail Room Clerk, Grandpa etc. Basically, it would be something he could hang on his wall that would reflect what he has meant to many different people over the years.

 

This one. Have them mounted on a small tasteful plaque. Something He'd want to hang. Maybe align them from top to bottom with the funny ones up top leading down to the more serious ones. End with friend.

[Password121]

 

1. Nine or sixteen name tags, all placed together (arranged in a square) in a single frame, and each would say Dave Roemer on it. What would change though would be the position under each name tag. They could include things like Comedian, Retiree, Mentor, Friend, Old Guy, Not My Problem Anymore, Park President, Corporate Purchasing Director, Mail Room Clerk, Grandpa etc. Basically, it would be something he could hang on his wall that would reflect what he has meant to many different people over the years.

 

This one. Have them mounted on a small tasteful plaque. Something He'd want to hang. Maybe align them from top to bottom with the funny ones up top leading down to the more serious ones. End with friend.

I second this. If it's possible you could do 10 or 17 with "Friend" in the middle of the square. I think that would mean a lot.

[RKO]

 

1. Nine or sixteen name tags, all placed together (arranged in a square) in a single frame, and each would say Dave Roemer on it. What would change though would be the position under each name tag. They could include things like Comedian, Retiree, Mentor, Friend, Old Guy, Not My Problem Anymore, Park President, Corporate Purchasing Director, Mail Room Clerk, Grandpa etc. Basically, it would be something he could hang on his wall that would reflect what he has meant to many different people over the years.

 

This one. Have them mounted on a small tasteful plaque. Something He'd want to hang. Maybe align them from top to bottom with the funny ones up top leading down to the more serious ones. End with friend.

 

By George he does have a heart and has feelings! But seriously, I like his idea. Try to make friend stand out just a little somehow. We do expect pics of the finished product.

[prozach626]

 

By George he does have a heart and has feelings!

 

Just don't tell anyone. I don't want that sh*t to get out.