Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[PhantomPoster32]

Based on what I have been told, I wouldn't be surprised if Superman doesn't reopen this season... And that is being optimistic.

 

That's ok. They can use it as giant Christmas tree of lights for HITP. Get a head start stringing the lights

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

Based on what I have been told, I wouldn't be surprised if Superman doesn't reopen this season... And that is being optimistic.

 

I figured that too. It's recycled from Astroworld after all...

and it still looks like a castle

[Woodie Warrior]

Although I would love STL to get a unique steel coaster, after riding The Joker at Great Adventure I would love for one to come to our park. They're a ton of fun.

 

This is why Americans are so easy to brain wash. You starve people to the point where they will be thrilled with any bone you throw them.

 

I would hardly call a 4D Free Spin a "bone". It's a fun and crazy ride that would be a hit at our park.

 

Our park is hardly being neglected. Other than RMCs, no other Six Flags parks are getting huge, unique coasters lately. Full Throttle in 2013 was the last one, I believe.

[Password121]

2011 was the last time any Six Flags park built an adult roller coaster without inversions. Just something to think about that I think says quite a bit.

[prozach626]

In terms of modern thrilling steel roller coasters I feel pretty neglected.

[Password121]

^Thats what I'm getting at. Coasters with inversions are great on occasion but if you were to ask anyone their favorite ride at a park or their five favorite coasters anywhere, most of the time they don't have inversions. RMC's are great and they can be the standout ride at a park but sometimes traditional steel coasters are necessary from time to time and Six Flags isn't doing that anytime soon. Six Flags parks are becoming filled with looping coasters and I'm interested to see if that's going to change anytime in the near future.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Headed to the park soon... what's the park's rain policy like?

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Pretty standard. Coasters run in the rain, not with lightning. Mr. Freeze will probably run in the rain, since the LSMs are indoors, but it can close if the rain affects the holding brake at the top if the spike. It's really the only iffy one.

 

Also, I've heard that New Revolution doesn't operate in the rain. No personal experience with this, as strapping a cell phone to my face is not going to get me to go back on Ninja.

[TNT]

Deleted 

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

"Oh sh!t, brake"

 

I love that name!

 

Sounds like the perfect name for those brakes

[TNT]

Deleted 

[DoinItForTheFame]

Ouch.

[Mad Hatter]

^ Half the time those signs are way wrong. All they are there for is to try to entice you to buy the Flash Pass.

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ Half the time those signs are way wrong. All they are there for is to try to entice you to buy the Flash Pass.

 

You're right. . . It was wrong. It was only a 25 minute wait!!

[RandomSparklez]

^Thats what I'm getting at. Coasters with inversions are great on occasion but if you were to ask anyone their favorite ride at a park or their five favorite coasters anywhere, most of the time they don't have inversions. RMC's are great and they can be the standout ride at a park but sometimes traditional steel coasters are necessary from time to time and Six Flags isn't doing that anytime soon. Six Flags parks are becoming filled with looping coasters and I'm interested to see if that's going to change anytime in the near future.

I agree with this. While I enjoy inversions myself, not everyone can handle them without getting sick.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Okay, so we tried "The New Revolution" VR thing on Ninja today. This was our first VR coaster, and yeah, it pretty much sucked. First off, I had never been on the coaster prior to VR so I had no idea what was coming from element to element. Whoever thought strapping a phone to your face, and throwing you on a coaster that is rough as hell was an idiot. (Or maybe that's just my opinion.)

 

Thoughts on the VR experience itself?? The video/story line was decent. The synchronization was about a car off on my headset. So things would happen in the VR headset before the train actually did the element. However, something happened to my partners headset, and the entire time he was on the ride his VR headset never left the "launch pad" that you sit on while in the station. There was also one point on the ride, maybe entering the first corkscrew where the ride was so rough it pulled the headset halfway off my face, so I had to sit there and try to get the headset back on right mid ride.

 

Also, I know the operations at the park suck (at least they did today) but we got curious and started timing dispatches because they were taking so long. They would send out 2 trains with no VR riders, and then they would send out 2 trains with 5-8 VR headset riders on each train. The trains with the VR headsets had between 12 and 15 minute dispatch times. (Compared to the 5-8 minute dispatch times without headsets.) I think the VR on coasters has the possibility to be amazing, but it's got a long way to go. Looking forward to trying out a "good" VR at Cedar Point this weekend.

 

That's all for now. More details in a full trip report when we get back home.

[Kevin Long]

full disclosure - I haven't ridden the ninja in about 15 years and certainly not with the new VR System. Further I have ridden no Vr coasters so what follows is just my opinion.

 

everything stated in the post above came to my mind when I first heard about this new development.

Back in the old Days( forgive me I am old and crotchety) if a coaster lost its thrill and could not keep up with the new "Coaster" advancements - it was demolished and something better and newer was put up in its place.

 

if a coaster is so stale or boring that it needs a TV to be attached to your face in order to make it "better" don't you think it should be retired?. I think the reason that this VR on coasters fad will be short lived is quite easily seen in the above post and other descriptions I have seen.

 

Long dispatch times, synching errors, Poor fit, equipment problems. these are to be expected when you ad a technology to a medium that was not designed to use it. VR might be better if it was specifically designed into a brand new coaster or VR specific ride -

 

we are 1/2 way through the first season of this new tech ride advancement - any comments on Will it last or not? the best I can tell it is not living up to its hype as a new wave in coaster thrills - seems like you might be just as well off putting on a blindfold and riding a coaster.

 

I look forward to the trip report update -maybe its just a SFSL problem

 

Kevin

[Password121]

^On the same note, I enjoyed my night ride front row on The Beast infinitely more than I did my VR ride on Superman. So, maybe putting a blindfold on is better than taping a tv to your forehead.

[Baelfael]

First off, I had never been on the coaster prior to VR so I had no idea what was coming from element to element.

 

Actually, I feel like this is a good rule - don't ride something with a HMD if you haven't ridden it vanilla.

 

everything stated in the post above came to my mind when I first heard about this new development.

Back in the old Days( forgive me I am old and crotchety) if a coaster lost its thrill and could not keep up with the new "Coaster" advancements - it was demolished and something better and newer was put up in its place.

 

if a coaster is so stale or boring that it needs a TV to be attached to your face in order to make it "better" don't you think it should be retired?. I think the reason that this VR on coasters fad will be short lived is quite easily seen in the above post and other descriptions I have seen.

 

I think you're romanticizing the past here. I doubt there was ever a period of time in which parks were tearing down rides constantly because they weren't quite maintaining the queues of whatever was the new hotness that year. Maybe way back before the great depression, when roller coasters were entirely new so they could just level some ground and plop one down, without having to worry about opportunity cost of another roller coaster. Not to mention headline-style rides are almost certainly more expensive now, even after inflation.

 

But I'm definitely no historian. If I'm wrong I'd love to know.

 

I think that parks should do what it takes to maximize return on investment. I say this as a shareholder (tee hee) and as someone who recognizes that more money means more potential for capital spending. If a ride with a 10 year "exciting life span" can be extended another year or two by partnering with Samsung and throwing on a gimmick for relatively low cost? Yes, do that (and again, I think parks should stay away from rides that already command good waits, like Raging Bull.)

 

As for whether VR on roller coasters stick, I think it depends almost entirely on whether VR catches on overall. If it does, people will become adept at dealing with HMDs. If VR becomes reasonably ubiquitous, people are less likely to view it as a gimmick (whose novelty will wear off) and more like another form of entertainment (so it sticks around). Lots of pixels have been typed about whether VR is A Thing this time around, but it certainly seems more likely than it did back in the 90's.

 

I will say that I don't think it has much to do with whether any particular VR installation is good or bad. If its generally well received, some VR experiences at theme parks will become normal, just like roller coasters at theme parks are normal.

[bbmchl]

[responding to DoinItForTheFame's posts on JLBFM]

Generally our wait times on JLBFM have been around 35 minutes once we are in the building (if there are no breakdowns). We have had no breakdowns and all effects have been running smoothly on our last several visits. Whatever work they did some weeks back really seems to have improved reliability.

 

Mike

[Kevin Long]

 

I think you're romanticizing the past here. Maybe way back before the great depression, when roller coasters were entirely new so they could just level some ground and plop one down, without having to worry about opportunity cost of another roller coaster.

 

 

As for whether VR on roller coasters stick, I think it depends almost entirely on whether VR catches on overall. If it does, people will become adept at dealing with HMDs. If VR becomes reasonably ubiquitous, people are less likely to view it as a gimmick (whose novelty will wear off) and more like another form of entertainment (so it sticks around). Lots of pixels have been typed about whether VR is A Thing this time around, but it certainly seems more likely than it did back in the 90's.

 

I will say that I don't think it has much to do with whether any particular VR installation is good or bad. If its generally well received, some VR experiences at theme parks will become normal, just like roller coasters at theme parks are normal.

 

please don't misunderstand me - I am all for newer and more exciting rides and new technologies on these rides. I just think the addition of newer tech ( VR in this case) that doesn't yet have all the bugs worked out of it, to an existing "thrill ride" is un-needed. it seems to only increase guest dis-satisfaction in a lot of cases. like lipstick on a pig to reference a depression era saying.

 

I think the reason SFSL has been passed over for any type of hyper or mega is a pure economics.

the Climate in St Louis limits operating seasons (gotta close at least 3-4 months)

St Louis region population draw is far less than other more northern parks -( the above would not be the problem if there was a population of 4-5 million nearby)

The St. Louis metropolitan area estimated population of 2,916,447,

Chicago region - 9,554,598

 

SFSF seems to be the red headed stepchild in the SF family - (no offense to redheads or step children)

 

Kevin

[SteveStL]

I feel SFSTL isn't neglected, we always seem to get something every year and Justice League is a great addition. It just seems to me that Corp does not want to expand the park outside of it's current boundaries. A massive Steel coaster would definitely need to go outside of the Park's current boundary lines. I am not sure there is any truth to my hunch but if you think about it The Boss (2000) was the last addition which expanded the footprint of the park.

[Sportsdude360]

You guys could be next up to recieve a Zamperla Giant Discovery and/or Zamperla Endeavor ride. Those don't take a lot of room and are great additions to any park.

[RollerManic]

You guys could be next up to recieve a Zamperla Giant Discovery and/or Zamperla Endeavor ride. Those don't take a lot of room and are great additions to any park.

We have two similiar rides already.

[Sportsdude360]

^ I presume you mean Excalibur. Actually, a Giant Discovery, while similar, would be different enough to warrant adding one to the park. Also, the Discovery would be brand new as opposed to a ride that's been relocated several times. I assume you already know Excalibur was originally a European carnival ride and was far from new when you recieved it. As for Endeavor, the only ride I can think of that would be similar is a Huss Enterprise. If you have one, then no, you won't likely recieve an Endeavor.