Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[Danrarbc]

1 hour ago, Dan the Coaster Man said:

According to the website, here is what will be open:

• American Thunder
• BATMAN the Ride
• Bugs Bunny National Park Train Station
• Bugs Bunny Ranger Pilots
• Elmer Fudd Weather Balloons
• Foghorn National Park Railway
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis
• Taz Twisters
• Tommy G. Robertson Railroad
• Yosemite Sam Tugboat Tailspin

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/events/holiday-in-the-park-lights/rides#things-to-do

 

This feels like an incomplete list given how spread out the non-kiddie rides are. I bet it ends up a bit longer. I find this acceptable.

 

1 hour ago, castaway_kid said:

Did anyone notice that along with all the other improvements this year, Boomerang has started to get repainted in recent weeks. It's looking really bright again!

Makes sense. With the rest of the area getting attention it would have suck out like a sore thumb.

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

1 hour ago, castaway_kid said:

Did anyone notice that along with all the other improvements this year, Boomerang has started to get repainted in recent weeks. It's looking really bright again!

I thought I was going crazy or something! Boomerang’s spikes definitely looked brighter halloween weekend.

[teacherkim]

Well that list blows my thoughts on Thunder and I am happy to be wrong on that but I agree it seems incomplete. I showed it to the ride op that lives in my house and he doesn't believe that is all that will be open, also thinks the list is incomplete. That list of 9 rides would require only somewhere in the neighborhood of 17-20 ride ops for all of them. I can't believe they are losing that many for the end of the year. Just the rides that were open when I was there a couple weeks ago for FF (and I thought quite a few were down) needed at least twice that many and that is not taking into account that the hours were long enough to require two shifts on Sat and Sun so really quadruple that. Hours are short enough during HITP that there will be only one shift of ride ops needed each day.

And it is weirdly spread out. I mean why would you open JL and not Shazam which only needs one ride op?

It may be a combo of being incomplete and/or mistakes on the web site. There is already a mistake on there because they have the train listed twice. On the other hand it's been a weird year and a half so who the hell knows.

As soon as they post the schedule and the boy knows what ride he will be working for the first weekend, that may give me some new info.

[coasterbill]

I feel like it's complete but they may under-promise and over-deliver...

That's really disappointing. It's the only park that was open last year that has cut back like this. Their staffing situation must be atrocious.

[Danrarbc]

I don't think the list is complete. At all.

They really won't operate a single flat ride outside of Bugs Bunny National Park? Not one? That's hard to believe.

Gotta think there's zero chance Colossus will be closed.

[prozach626]

On 11/2/2021 at 8:17 PM, CP_RULES said:

This seems very SFFT of them... but corporate likes SFFT so that makes no sense. Then again, Boomerang is in the new dirt area... but that would mean they are investing... Does. Not. Compute.

This is the worst news yet. It means we're keeping that piece of shit for years to come.

[CP_RULES]

54 minutes ago, prozach626 said:

This is the worst news yet. It means we're keeping that piece of shit for years to come.

I will have it over a stupid S&S free spin for all of those years, and more. 

[Canobie Coaster]

On 11/3/2021 at 1:07 PM, coasterbill said:

I feel like it's complete but they may under-promise and over-deliver...

That's really disappointing. It's the only park that was open last year that has cut back like this. Their staffing situation must be atrocious.

This is why I'm impressed Great Adventure has actually added rides this year when we've seen cutbacks at a few parks now.

[Woodie Warrior]

Repainting Boomerang makes sense considering Tidal Wave's location will probably have a new ride soon. As well as Catwoman being put nearby, that area should look pretty nice soon. Obviously Boomerang isn't my favorite, but it's paint job has looked horrendous for the past 5 years so I'm glad it's getting some love.

And yeah, Colossus is for sure going to be open. It was listed in a pass holder email.

[prozach626]

It's lime green and bright orange paint job has looked horrendous from the beginning.

[liltrekkie]

On 11/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, prozach626 said:

This is the worst news yet. It means we're keeping that piece of shit for years to come.

[teacherkim]

So they have posted ride ops schedules for the first weekend of HITP and the ride op that lives in my house is listed for "training" on a new ride (which he was told would probably happen as they move ops around for HITP and more rides are closed) but it doesn't say which ride, so even he doesn't know where he will be at this point. Since they have no reason whatsoever to be secretive about what will be open I am guessing the HITP ride situation is highly fluid right now and the 8 or 9 they listed are the "for sure's" and the rest they just don't know yet and may change from day to day depending on how many and which ride ops are available on any particular shift.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

^ I will still take this over SFGAm's no coasters*

[Danrarbc]

On 11/10/2021 at 8:59 PM, Dan the Coaster Man said:

^ I will still take this over SFGAm's no coasters*

Well technically one coaster.

The indoor wild mouse is open

[Dan the Coaster Man]

^ That is why I put the asterisk 

[Dan the Coaster Man]

A positive sign, Colossus has been added to the ride list

[Dan the Coaster Man]

Triple post oops, but I went to the park today, I’ll have a trip report out later, but FYI… Shazam was open and Batman is only running one train for the year

[teacherkim]

Justice League was also added to the list and a supervisor told my son that Freeze would be open but he was working Colossus and the Train and never saw it go, so take that for whatever it's worth. I stick to my original thought that the ride list will be somewhat fluid for all of HITP depending on weather and/or available staff.

[Danrarbc]

Wanted to get out there this weekend but the warden said no.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

5 hours ago, teacherkim said:

Justice League was also added to the list and a supervisor told my son that Freeze would be open but he was working Colossus and the Train and never saw it go, so take that for whatever it's worth. I stick to my original thought that the ride list will be somewhat fluid for all of HITP depending on weather and/or available staff.

Justice League has been on the list the whole time. Shazam has never been on the list, and still isn't, and it was open Saturday. I did not notice anything else open that wasn't on the list.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

Trip Report from yesterday, 11/20/21, opening day for Holiday in the Park. It was my 7th ever visit, and my first for Holiday in the Park 

Rope dropped American Thunder and spent the first hour there, I was able to get 6 rides. The back row on blue train was closed. Then I switched over to Batman, only to see that they are running one train for the rest of the season for routine maintenance. Line was fairly long, around 40 minutes. I waited it out.

After Batman I went to Fowl Ball to try the chili cheese dog. I try to eat unique food (to SFGAm) while visiting other parks and it caught my eye. This was the best food service I’ve ever had at Six Flags. The line was not long, but it moved fast. The food was extremely fast for Six Flags – I waited less than a minute, and it was HOT. I was pleasantly surprised. The length of line I waited in would have normally taken at least 15 minutes, I was in and out of the building with hot food in 5 minutes.

I did a couple more rides on American Thunder after “lunch”. After a few rides it was dark, so I wanted to walk around and see the lights in the back. It’s a shame there’s no rides for thrill seekers open in the back, because the best lights and atmosphere for Christmas is in the back near the kid’s area and train station. Even if something like *gulp* Boomerang was open, because right now there are only two extreme rides, and the walk between the two is lackluster in lights and atmosphere. More on the Christmas aspect below.

After walking around, I decided to redeem my 2 skip the lines for Batman because I had waited 40 mins for one ride on Batman compared to 9 rides on American thunder within 90 mins. I was forced into a membership when Six Flags dropped all parks access to the season pass, and decided to go big for the diamond elite. However, I had used my membership twice at SFGAm and was not able to retrieve my skip the line passes either visit because the flash pass HQ line was ridiculously long. I was so happy to see not a single person in line at SFStL’s Flash Pass HQ. I redeemed 2 for Batman, went straight there through the flash pass line, and when I got to the station there was no attendant. I was even more amazed to find that it was only a station wait now, so I snagged my 2 rides without using my pass and called it a day for Batman.

The rest of the visit was walking around, American thunder rides and one ride on Colossus. I also got a shake from johnny rockets as my snack as its not on the meal plan at SFGAm for whatever reason. I used mobile ordering and it was extremely smooth and fast. I was too full for a dinner, so between my snack and lunch, this was the best food service I’ve ever seen at Six Flags.

Something of interest I heard/witnessed. While in station for American Thunder, the ride operator pointed out and was talking to another employee who was not working for the day. The ride op was like “what are you doing here?” and the other person / employee said “they didn’t schedule me. I would have worked if they scheduled me, but they didn’t so here I am”. I found this interesting to hear considering there has been speculation there aren’t many rides open because of staffing. I know this was just one individual, but SFStL is not staffing everyone who is willing to work. This could be for a variety of reasons… but they are leaving something on the table here. Or maybe it’s part of their plan, like open more rides as the event progresses so people come back? I know if Mr. Freeze started running this year, I would travel back ASAP (this is mostly due to the fact I’ve been to SFStL 7 times and only have 2 rides on Freeze to show for it). It was just interesting to hear firsthand after all the staffing issues parks have had this year, that someone wanted to work and they weren’t scheduled. The park is only open 2 days a week. I thought they would be scrambling to bring in anyone for the most part.

Overall thoughts – Rides aside-  Holiday in the Park was alright. Like I said, I wish there was more of a reason for everyone to be forced to walk through the middle/back of the park. When I went to HITP SFOG 2014 & 2016, you were forced to walk the entire park and see everything. The layout for SFStL is different, no question, but still. Open Fireball or Boomerang or Screaming Eagle or Pandemonium or Xcalibur so that everyone has to see more of the park. The Mr. Freeze / American Thunder corner of the park was pretty bad. No music and lots of cheap cardboard cutouts (especially the stretch by American Thunder in front of where the car ride used to be). The batman area was alright. The lights there weren’t that pretty, but at least they had music, and I loved that they turned their 3-point shootout into a hockey shootout type game. The buildings by the train station were beautiful. The area on the bottom of the hill by the mine train was also pretty.

As for the rides, I came in knowing only American Thunder and Batman would be open. I was not expecting one train on Batman. For most of the night, that did not cause any problems. But considering they only have two coasters open, it’s kinda a shame one of them only has one train. When it gets busier it’s going to pull a long line. I would not visit Holiday in the Park if American Thunder or Mr. Freeze were not open as one of the two, so I’m glad American Thunder was open and I got 15 rides. I heard numerous times from guests that they felt they did not have a lot of options, and with 9 rides plus 2 coasters open, they are right. I felt like it was enough with American thunder because I love that thing and the line was a station wait half the time, but obviously more is better. If more rides don’t open, I would not visit again by myself. I would if I brought some friends though. If they opened Mr. Freeze or 2 more coasters from the rest of the field (include Xcalibur to) I would go again!

[teacherkim]

I was pretty sure JL was not on the very first list, but frankly it doesn't matter/not going to argue over that/I could certainly be wrong.

It IS very interesting that you relayed that conversation about the employee. My son was only scheduled two out of three days next weekend even though he said he was willing to work all 3 (he's starting school in Jan so has the time) and he said there was at least one person looking to add a shift yesterday and that they had more than enough ride ops on Saturday. To be fair he did say that they have had issues all year with people calling in at the last minute. So maybe admin is a bit gun shy about offering too many rides at the moment? Not sure.

I do agree that the lights are not very evenly distributed and also heard that they weren't having Mrs Claus read "Twas the Night before Christmas" on the train this year like last year, which I thought was strange. While this year is still less than normal operations it seems odd to downgrade anything from last year. That area by Thunder is never decorated well with flume closed and now no cars. Seems that would be a good spot for some seasonal food/drink booths or food trucks.

I think that if they are going to continue to offer a small ride lineup, which may have as much to do with anticipated poor weather as staffing, then they will need to really up the game on lights, food, shows, activities, etc, etc Although I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt this year since it is still a snafu. 

Another thought that just occurred to me is that if they have a shortage of maintenance staff they may need a longer downtime season for some of the rides in order to get necessary work completed. Dunno. Just a thought. 

[prozach626]

On 11/21/2021 at 10:25 PM, Dan the Coaster Man said:

Six Flags dropped all parks access to the season pass

Seriously???

[ALT2870]

Yes, we have been discussing this in the Six Flags Corporate thread on and off since August. They have finally done an about face and at least until next week you will get "upgraded" to a Gold Plus Season Pass which is the same as the membership which brings back the original season pass benefits.

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/store/tickets

[ALT2870]

Just as an additional note here even though they are calling it a season pass in reality you are just paying for a year of membership which of course is more then fine. So you will get all the perks of a membership and get a membership card. So best of both worlds here.