Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[SteveStL]

3 hours ago, Sportsdude360 said:

It would make more sense from a financial perspective to simply build a new coaster.

I would argue that point.  A new Hyper would be in the 20 million range... Moving a Hyper, much much cheaper.

[Danrarbc]

3 hours ago, SteveStL said:

I would argue that point.  A new Hyper would be in the 20 million range... Moving a Hyper, much much cheaper.

These days I don't see how you do a new hyper under $25M. Not even a Chance hyper. Moving Superman could be half that.

[Sportsdude360]

3 hours ago, SteveStL said:

I would argue that point.  A new Hyper would be in the 20 million range... Moving a Hyper, much much cheaper.

If they do decide to relocate S:ROS then I would definitely want to see it go to SFSTL. The park is in desperate need of a major new attraction, even if it's relocated from another park.

 

[Sportsdude360]

4 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

 Um, what?  CF has historically had NO issues relocating coasters.  Off the top of my head:

Stealth (CGA)->Nighthawk (CW)
X-Flight (GL)->Firehawk (KI)
Invertigo (CGA)->Stinger(DP)
Dominator (GL)->Dominator(KD)
Head Spin (GL)->Flying Cobras (CW)
Steel Venom (GL)->Possessed (DP)
Thunderhawk (GL)->Thunderhawk (MI)

Most of those were relocations from a park they owned and closed (Geauga Lake) to other parks in the chain.  There is no reason to think that moving a coaster from SFA to any other park is off the table for that reason.  If anything, I'd say it's substantially cheaper to relocate an existing ride, especially given the current tariff situation going on.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the info. I ,for one, do hope that something big will come SFSTL's way. If S:ROS is to be relocated then hopefully it will come to this park.

[parkjunkie]

Id rather have a flat ride than that garbage SROS they call a coaster. Not to mention, it would be cheaper to build a brand new one. The amount of land grading, support modifications and all that due to the terrain at our park compared to where it sits now is vastly different

[SteveStL]

Stupid question - but will there be any 2026 announcements in August?  or this Year??

[Danrarbc]

1 hour ago, SteveStL said:

Stupid question - but will there be any 2026 announcements in August?  or this Year??

Six Flags Mexico announced a family boomerang already. I guess there are still rides that will be announced for the chain.

The success of AlpenFury in driving sales and visitor numbers may well drive how they add attractions though. Despite being a bit over 3000ft in length. Siren's Curse seems to be doing well despite being right at 3000ft long too. Good midsize rides really seem to be performing well even at their big parks.

[TrippinBillie]

Take it for what you will, but over at another "site", it's reported due to the poor numbers after the earnings call, SF will cut CapEx for 2026.  We're seeing little/no work on SFMM's coaster and also GreatAdv.  I want to say it was projected to be $475ish mil for capital next year and is reported to be sub-$400 mil now. 

Given our park not being even mid-tier in the larger portfolio, I'd expect more "landscaping and infrastructure" for 2026.  As we all know, we're desperately due for SOMETHING coaster-wise.  Meanwhile, SDC is adding more to their park (we see clearing happening), WoF got a new woodie and Holiday World should be brewing something in the next year, as well.  I hope we can get something that helps draw more people to our spot.  But we've all been saying that for years.

With the way Cedar Fair was taking out Arrows, I thought when they merged Ninja would be next to be removed.  Such an old, terrible ride.  I know it's not extravagant, but a single rail from RMC would likely go well there, bring some new people and look good in the front of the park.  Those are also on the cheaper side.  No clue how expensive it is to clear out a plot and remove Ninja.

[Danrarbc]

Well the GAdv coaster to 2027 thing already seemed to be a budget move - a reasonable 2026 opening was still possible with them pouring footers in August. The problem is they’ve left that park in a sorry state of affairs so keeping it in that state is only going to make it worse. And it’s likely responsible for a large amount of the attendance drop as it is. I’m a bit shocked they decided to abandon a 2026 open for it considering the importance of replacing TWO coasters. 

There’s also a non-zero chance that political issues surrounding import costs and international tourism collapse play into this too.

The thing is I could still see them investing in dining upgrades. Potentially even fast tracking them. 
 

PS: I’m about 90% sure RMC uses imported steel. And with domestic steel production experiencing a factory explosion I’d expect domestic steel’s already paltry market sheet to fall even more. It’s a bad time to build coasters. 
 

PPS: I understand how taboo that topic is. But the drastically increased costs of building rides cannot be ignored. 

[Sportsdude360]

Yeah, the merger is seeing some early setbacks. Obviously, there will be some growing pains and adjustments will have to be made to the chain to cut costs. But, I think in time this new merger will iron out it's problems and get back on track.

PS: I shudder to think what the new SFOT Giga-Dive is probably costing. But, so far so good, construction appears to be on schedule.

[Danrarbc]

I’m not sure what the per park attendance is I don’t think they released that in the call. But I’d still wager the bulk of the loss is indeed at Great Adventure. That was an avoidable collapse - people have very much noticed the ride closures. That’s not necessarily an issue with the merger itself because Cedar Fair was already doing this in their own parks, but instead overzealous cost cutting with the company in general. We know Wonderland numbers are up the park itself wanted to brag on it.

The drop is probably heavily concentrated in the 2-5 US parks with the highest typical international visitor counts. Make of it what you will the 2 closest to DC saw a closure and the removal of Winterfest respectively - plus the NYC and LA coasters being pushed to 2027, those are three huge international tourist markets. And those rides plus the Carowinds water ride are rumored to be imported from Mack and Vekoma which now will have increased import costs. 

Meanwhile the only newly announced ride is in Mexico, not the US, where import costs and tourism haven’t changed. That could have easily have originally been planned as another Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers. SFOT’s dive is already largely fabricated, and is fabricated in Ohio. I wouldn’t be surprised if only that, Mexico and the Canadian parks received 2026 rides. 

PS: Given the current climate it’s also not surprising that IF tariffs and tourism are the reasons for the changes they’d choose to not announce that as the reason. Companies have been attacked for calling those factors out. 

[Danrarbc]

Best I can tell from the financial statements Cedar Fair if IP deals are considered CapEx declining to extend the PEANUTS deal could be a chunk of the CapEx cut too.