Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

Also, this is totally unrelated to that conversation but if a POV is clearly taken without park permission then please don’t post it here. Also please don’t post any POVs that look like they were filmed with camera made out of a potato. Thanks everyone.

[jamesk25]

I went to the park Sunday, we got there a little after 12pm, and  it was very crowded for opening weekend. Their was little to no social distancing in lines, every food place had a line extending into the walkways with some like the Turkey Leg stand near Pandemonium and by Colonnades was almost near impossible to pass with the amount of people over there. Mr Freeze was running in reduced capacity with lines extending well outside of the building, River King Mine Train and Sky Screamer was well outside of the entrance. I did not pay attention to all the coasters, but I know for sure American Thunder and Screaming Eagle was running two train ops with no cleaning of the train or stations observed. The Grand Carousel is starting to look great, and I saw some work being done by Catwomans former(?) spot. The now former Moon Cars has all signage removed with the cars still sitting on the rails behind Thunder, nothing done around Superman which makes me wonder when they are going to start demo of the area since Catwomans whip is to open next year in that spot. Also someone pointed out while standing in Screaming Eagles line, that there looked to be like one of Ninjas trains sitting behind Boomerang. Another observance that the Go Fresh Cafe by the Looney Tunes section has all of its signage removed, not sure when that happened; and also there is now a snazzy new deck by Fireball looks really nice.

One last thought, with Catwomans Whip now moving by Eagle, I kinda wish that the Arcade there would be removed and open that section up and give Screaming Eagle a new (better) queue with the possibility of another flat squeezing next to Catwoman down the line. That area looks so worn and dated, no matter how much paint they apply, again I just wish that area would be cleared of that ugly building and opened up. Also with the old Pizzeria now a Employees Diner, I hope that they will redo the facade and blend it more with the surroundings, instead of shouting former restaurant.

[JonR]

Totally agree about cleaning up the Old Chicago area.  With the two restaurants closed, Superman closed, the games closed, and the Eagle queue looking like a run down alley, it's time for a total rework.  Maybe Catwoman will force that, but won't happen until next year. 

Glad to hear about the carousel! That almost makes up for everything else they are pulling out.  Now if I could just hear about the pre covid plans for the park anniversary to dream of what could have been. 

Oh well.  They still have one of the best 3 woodie combos anywhere! I'll just continue to enjoy that bonus anytime I get back to St. Louis. 

 

[Danrarbc]

Few photos.

The fountain looks nice for spring break.

 

New fencing in several locations.

 

They are in fact replacing the entire closed deck by Fireball.

 

And yes a Ninja train is behind Boomerang. Likely an organ donor.

 

Not sure if these are the old Hook's Lagoon slides but they're definitely replacing the Hook's structure with something.

[prozach626]

Thanks for sharing the photos. Digging the new wood work.

[Bradley Klouzek]

Well I guess it's officially official, now my small glimmer of hoping that it isn't true is gone. Along with the moon cars.

 

 

 

Photo cred - Alexander Street

[CP_RULES]

Hmph. 

I guess it is a better location for Catwoman. Wish I could have gotten a last ride in though.

Surely it is in good enough condition to be refurbished and moved somewhere again? Surely Six Flags needs the money enough to try to sell it instead of scrapping it... right? Right?! I am not holding my breath.

[prozach626]

Crossing my fingers for an explosive demolition, so I can go watch...

[JonR]

I just don't get why they couldn't get Superman running reliably.  SFGAm seems to have a reliable Intamin drop tower of the same generation.  I'm guessing something was never right about this unit after being transferred from Houston.  Maybe something about how they dismantled rides at Astroworld.  Ultratwister never survived and Viper and Arrow suspended got scrapped.  Both would have looked great at SFAmerica.  How many rides are left from Astroworld? 

[bert425]

1

Mayan Mindbender -it's an outdoor coaster now called "Hornet" at Wonderland Park in Texas.  (Canobie Coaster was there recently)

and there is one slide complex left from Waterworld - at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

[castaway_kid]

2 hours ago, JonR said:

I just don't get why they couldn't get Superman running reliably.  SFGAm seems to have a reliable Intamin drop tower of the same generation.  I'm guessing something was never right about this unit after being transferred from Houston.  Maybe something about how they dismantled rides at Astroworld.  Ultratwister never survived and Viper and Arrow suspended got scrapped.  Both would have looked great at SFAmerica.  How many rides are left from Astroworld? 

Even if they got it running reliably, it comes down to ridership. If it cost x amount to constantly maintain a ride that guests don't really care about that much it just doesn't make sense anymore. I really wonder how many of the people that are really upset about moon cars and Superman leaving actually ride them multiple times a visit. 

[bossstl]

29 minutes ago, bert425 said:

1

Mayan Mindbender -it's an outdoor coaster now called "Hornet" at Wonderland Park in Texas.  (Canobie Coaster was there recently)

and there is one slide complex left from Waterworld - at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

It also hasn't been a very lucky ride, coming in part or in whole from two different parks.

[JonR]

I'll always do a drop ride multiple times if the lines aren't too long. To me and my family they are a staple at the parks.  Love the Intamin towers. Heck, I'll marathon them. Done several on the order of 10 times in a row. The unique drop pattern of Superman was great as well. Removal leaves a hole in the ride offering. It's not just about the number of rides, ride balance is important. 

Pulling two rides in one season with no replacement on the 50th anniversary is  a bold move.  With everything else going to shit might as well make some hard decisions.  Hopefully this will be the end of pulling rides for awhile. Moon car removal was inevitable due to the catering move to it's previous location.  The track was just too small to be interesting.  Driving through American Thunder was fun though!  But you lose another family ride.  Maybe it will show up someplace else with a bigger track.

Catwoman  Whip doesn't thrill me, but a refurbished carousel is awesome!

I do think the strength of the park is the 3 woodies.  I worked at the park for 4 summers in the 80s and had season passes for multiple years before that.  I get to the park 1 or 2 times per year when I'm back in the St. Louis area to visit family. 

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

On 3/29/2021 at 4:00 PM, JonR said:

I just don't get why they couldn't get Superman running reliably.  SFGAm seems to have a reliable Intamin drop tower of the same generation.  I'm guessing something was never right about this unit after being transferred from Houston.  Maybe something about how they dismantled rides at Astroworld.  Ultratwister never survived and Viper and Arrow suspended got scrapped.  Both would have looked great at SFAmerica.  How many rides are left from Astroworld? 

A few still.

Serial Thriller (Located at La Ronde)
Mayan Mindbender and Gunslinger (Wonderland Park)
Big Kahuna (Six Flags Darien Lake)
Runaway Rickshaw (Six Flags over Texas)

These are the few remaining rides that I know of off the top of my head.

[swfan1988]

41 minutes ago, SixFlagsAstroworld said:

A few still.

Serial Thriller (Located at La Ronde)
Mayan Mindbender and Gunslinger (Wonderland Park)
Big Kahuna (Six Flags Darien Lake)
Runaway Rickshaw (Six Flags over Texas)

These are the few remaining rides that I know of off the top of my head.

Isn't Greezed Lightnin' (or whatever their Schwarzkopf shuttle loop was called) in storage at Wonderland as well? I thought Cliff's owned it but for some reason it's still in Texas.

[jamesk25]

Trip Report from Friday April the 2nd

We got to the park around 11am, the parking gate was slowly crawling cars through with the parking lot already quite busy for a 49 degree morning. All coasters, expect for River King Mine Train and of course Boss, were running. Screaming Eagle was hauling today, more so than on opening weekend, which was quite pleasant flying through the newly budding/flowering spring trees. Boss didn't open until around the last 2hrs of park operations, which was our last ride before the park closed at 6pm. Boss also gave a great ride, even though it was running "cold", though I agree the mid course brake is horrible. The moment we hit the MCBR, the train gave a horrible screech as it was slowed to a crawl. River King Mine Train had a bucket lift stretched to the first hill, with maintenance crawling all over it, the ride was not operational today.  Though I did notice new wood on the base of the supports of River King, so that was a plus to see. Thunder River and Log Flume were still not operational though I heard they are suppose to open this weekend, which is supported by the fact that the Flume has it logs in the trough and I saw staff moving the Thunder's rafts from the holding pool into the lift area. All coasters that were running, from what I could tell, were running multiple trains which helped moved a lot of the crowds in the very long lines. Mr Freeze no longer had a reduced cap. sign. but I couldn't tell if it was operating multiple trains so someone who had a chance to ride would have to chime in about that. In terms of Covid, they are still not managing it well. I didn't see no cleaning going on around the park until closing when I saw a operator spraying down Shazam. Bathrooms were for the most part, at least in the Men's, dirty. Stalls and urinals were pretty well used, some stalls no toilet paper, and we encountered quite a few empty soap dispensers. Ride wise, the operators were not enforcing distancing. But at least on the Boss, they did make sure people kept there masks up, which was the only instance where I saw staff enforcing masks rules. Otherwise lines were long and close, but I really don't know how else they can fix that, besides enforcing a electronic queue. But this is Six Flags, and I don't ever imagine that happening, or like in the case of their mobile food ordering being used efficiently.

So besides a hiccup at the food stand, I can say I had a good day, I love my local park even with its flaws. My kid is just getting into the age where he can start riding the big coasters, and while I wish we had a SFGA Little Dipper as part of our collection, he really warmed up to Screaming Eagle and got his first ride on The Boss which might be his next favorite in the park. Ninja is still quite scary for him though, and American Thunder is too rough for him

 

New wood fencing as pointed out by Danrarbc, which I noticed they replaced quite a bit over by the Kids Area:

 

I wonder if they will open a new restaurant in the old Go Fresh location, the park is really lacking in food options:

 

This area looks quite dead, please SFSTL, revamp this area and open this section of the park up:

 

Forgot there used to be a food stand here, looks like it hasn't been used in many years:

 

Superman's old queue, almost striped of its old theming:

 

Except for this:

 

Two closed restaurants, one shot:

 

Need to blend the Employee Restaurant facade with the area, instead of screaming closed restaurant:

 

Boom Lift on River King Mine Train:

 

New wood spotted at the base:

 

Spot the nesting goose :

 

Ninja:

 

Something I noticed in Ninja, that was not common park wide, was the Covid "shields" in queue:

 

Moon Cars are no longer hiding behind American Thunder:

 

Took over an hour to get our food, which we ordered mobile from Colonnades after 1pm:

 

Mobile Orders are the middle line, which they have a this tiny sign under the awning giving the only direction:

 

Only two employees are manning the counter, which consists of three separate lines, one for drinks, one for mobile orders, and the last for ordering:

 

We got in line at 140pm, didn't our food until 240pm , by then this is what the heat window looked like:

Six Flags about had a mob going of frustrated customers, most of us were waiting since 1pm to get our food. That heat window had orders backed up into the kitchen. This was the only negative on our trip.

 

[jamesk25]

Continued Trip Report, 4/02/2021

Xcalibur got stuck around 3pm, it was unloaded shortly after:

 

Interesting View:

 

Long lines for Turkey Stand near Xcalbur:

 

Pandemonium:

 

Did you know that the Queue used to be a dolphin show back in the 70's?

 

Supergirl:

 

Work has not resumed since opening weekend on the Carousel from what I can tell:

The Boss closed most of the day until the last few hours:

 

Former Go-Carts. Future use unknown:

 

Spring is in the air:

 

Wouldn't this be a great area for a new flat, or better yet a smaller Kids Coaster in tune of SFGA Little Dipper?

 

That old queue needs to go, it looks horrible next to such a good coaster:

 

 

Think Six Flags will ever turn this beast back on?

 

Unlike Ninja, Screaming Eagle does not get dividing Covid "shields", or for that matter any control of how close people are:

 

Beautiful shot of Screaming Eagle, Boomerang, and Ninja joining in for the shot :

 

Look at all the potential for opening up the area:

 

New deck by Fireball is open:

 

Six Flags hasn't updated their signage in a while (2019):

 

I still wish I got to see River King Mine train running its clone next door:

 

One thing I hate about Six Flags in so many unused building dotting the park:

 

Fowl Ball is still closed instead redirecting you to Moose Burger:

 

Found some leftover Christmas theming:

 

Train is suppose to reopen by spring 2021, but I don't think that is going to happen any time soon:

 

New bridge for Train, but track is still not installed:

 

Thunder River getting ready:

[Danrarbc]

Most of the buildings are used - just not for customer-facing operations. Yes there should be a bit more effort in making them look like more than empty buildings. And yeah the Illinois section is just sad and almost to the point where a rework of it is more important than a new coaster. 

As for the shields on Ninja - they weren't there opening week. I guess the park is transitioning to opening every row with shields in place like other parks in the chain have done - we'll see if more appear next week.

[DrewK]

On 3/25/2021 at 8:41 PM, Danrarbc said:

Not sure if these are the old Hook's Lagoon slides but they're definitely replacing the Hook's structure with something.

They do look like the Hook's Lagoon slides. The new 2021 park map posted online says "Adventure Cove - New" in the Hurricane Harbor section. The map online still shows what looks to be the Hook's Lagoon slides and the pirate ship. I have not seen anything in the news or on social media about this. Anyone know more? Is the water play structure being fully replaced or will this be more of a new activity pool or splash pad?

[jamesk25]

2 hours ago, Danrarbc said:

Most of the buildings are used - just not for customer-facing operations. Yes there should be a bit more effort in making them look like more than empty buildings. And yeah the Illinois section is just sad and almost to the point where a rework of it is more important than a new coaster. 

As for the shields on Ninja - they weren't there opening week. I guess the park is transitioning to opening every row with shields in place like other parks in the chain have done - we'll see if more appear next week.

I understand that most are used in some capacity, like I know the hut by River King was used for the Santa Claus meet and greet and the Mercantile used to be the old candy store (which I miss seeing) , but it is starting to look run down with so many "dead" areas. Which in fairness, Covid and lack of workers doesn't help either. But I do hope SFStL has plans in the future for the areas.

I would love to see them rework, open up, and maybe add a flat to complement next to Catwoman. It would also nice to see the old queue are of Screaming Eagle removed, and some land reworked, to install a junior coaster because this park is really lacking one. And that area would be perfect since it is in the kids area, you can call it Little Eagle, and be our parks 4th wood coaster

And it is nice to see active solutions being put in place for them to expand there rides capacity. Like yesterday the Boss line was packed all the way back to the long bridge over the remains of the go cart, and we were barely moving even with two train ops. 40mins later and we got to the station to find out they are doing 30sec dispatches which was fun to see, but barely moving people because they can't fill every row.

[teacherkim]

Yes, I do remember when the queue for Pandemonium was a dolphin show and then a diving show. That whole depressed area was a giant pool. 

Hopefully, they are making the shift to the station partitions and loading every row. That was what they are doing at SFOT, we were there a couple weeks ago. However, the ride op that lives in my house did not know a thing about it yet. Although he did report that they are indeed not requiring lockers and that MT now has cubbies ala Eagle in the station.

As far as the carousel, you won't see much while they are working. Most of the refurb is taking place backstage. We saw a presentation on it last fall. They aren't going to put it all back together until they are about ready to open in up, hopefully next year. They never planned on having it done before 2022. They one completed horse that is on display is in a climate controlled display case. 

I think there will be several areas of the park that are in a kind of dead zone until next year when operations are back 100% and the chain has had a year to recover a bit from the Covid set back.

[SharkTums]

So what do we think the problem is that EVERY six flags park in the chain cannot get food service down!?  And more importantly, how does it get fixed? I applaud you that you were willing to wait an hour, but something really needs to get fixed. 

 

Thanks for the Trip Report!

[jamesk25]

33 minutes ago, teacherkim said:

As far as the carousel, you won't see much while they are working. Most of the refurb is taking place backstage. We saw a presentation on it last fall. They aren't going to put it all back together until they are about ready to open in up, hopefully next year. They never planned on having it done before 2022. They one completed horse that is on display is in a climate controlled display case. 

Thanks, I was wondering when there estimated date of completion would be, I'm happy to see the carousel get some love. I know it would be a lot to ask SFStl, but I would love to see the completed carousel moved into a more central location in the park. A offshoot idea would be if they redo the rest of the front plaza they could incorporate it there as a showoff piece, but now I'm making it sound like SFGAM

Any word on the estimate of the train being completed, there sign says spring 2021, but they look like they still have a lot of work to do before they can reopen.

 

43 minutes ago, teacherkim said:

I think there will be several areas of the park that are in a kind of dead zone until next year when operations are back 100% and the chain has had a year to recover a bit from the Covid set back.

I agree that we should see some life in these areas after Covid, but it also shows areas where they know they can close/shutter things without really affecting operations. It would be nice, like I said earlier, to re-profile those areas like for example the old worn arcade by Eagle, and open them up. Give a modern/clean look to those areas, instead of worn and tired.

 

15 minutes ago, SharkTums said:

So what do we think the problem is that EVERY six flags park in the chain cannot get food service down!?  And more importantly, how does it get fixed? I applaud you that you were willing to wait an hour, but something really needs to get fixed. 

 

Thanks for the Trip Report!

 

They really needed to separate the operations, make mobile orders exclusive, and maybe add a couple of Kiosk outside of the building, kinda like McDonald's, to do on site orders for people without phones. Drink refills also needed there own operator instead of relying on the two attendants taking and filling orders, because the moment 5 large member cups came through that line was at a standstill again. I was close to just walking off a few times and be out 20$, but it was worth it for the entertainment and madness of the situation.

[bert425]

^ oh. .it's NEVER just 5 large member cups.

Friends (or kids) come up, and hand their cups to the people in line as well.

So frustrating!

[teacherkim]

The food thing really does seem to be a chain wide problem. I waited 20 minutes for a soda refill and then 1 hour for food at SFOT a couple weeks ago and we didn't even eat until 3pm just trying to avoid the worst of the crowds.

 I think it mostly comes down to lack of workers paired with the system could probably use some streamlining. I mean look at it from a worker stand point, if you are just going to work a fast food job (which most park "restaurants" are) why would you drive all the way to an amusement park, mostly on the city outskirts, when you probably have a fast food joint within a couple miles of your house that pays the same. I don't think the perk of free entry to the park is probably worth that for most people. Ride ops and lifeguards and such that's a little different because you are doing a unique job that you cannot do at too many other places. 

Now SFSTL just raised their pay to about $12 per hour, not sure if that is chain wide or unique to them but we will see if that gets them more employees. Clearly parks do have a severe labor shortage overall and food service is probably the hardest area to staff.