Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[castaway_kid]

Back in the summer of 2012 Six Flags St. Louis tested Batman backwards very early in the morning. They told certain employees to get to the park around 3-4am to test something. For the test they just turned the middle two seats on the last row backwards and maintenance had to manually release us. After riding we had to fill out comment cards on what we thought of the ride. After testing they put the train back in storage to get things back to normal before the public would see. It was a more intense ride but a lot of us said we didn't like it as much, felt a lot more jerky. Anyway after testing it in the wee hours of that morning in 2012, they announced it for other parks. I've been curious if we were the only park that did the initial test for all parks or if other parks did as well. I feel like we were the test dummies as they had several corporate engineers there to watch.

[prozach626]

I thought I remembered something like that. I think I was in full hater mode at that time. Thanks for the information.

[coasterbill]

Is this park usually open daily through Labor Day (mainly that last week before the Holiday weekend)? Asking for a friend.

[Danrarbc]

Is this park usually open daily through Labor Day (mainly that last week before the Holiday weekend)? Asking for a friend.

No. It wouldn't be open daily at that point.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Danrarbc

[ALT2870]

Thinking outside the box here, could it be possible that the helix removal is to prepare the Boss for Millinuem Flyers? Knocking out sections at a time would certainly save money. They still have a couple sections to do so it probably wouldn't be until after 2020. Just thinking outloud...

[teacherkim]

Is this park usually open daily through Labor Day (mainly that last week before the Holiday weekend)? Asking for a friend.

Yes. It'd be open daily until at least that point.

 

Not usually. Schools will start the week of August 13th around here and I'm pretty sure they go down to weekends only at that point (or shortly thereafter). I would certainly not count on daily after that week.

[Danrarbc]

Is this park usually open daily through Labor Day (mainly that last week before the Holiday weekend)? Asking for a friend.

Yes. It'd be open daily until at least that point.

 

Not usually. Schools will start the week of August 13th around here and I'm pretty sure they go down to weekends only at that point (or shortly thereafter). I would certainly not count on daily after that week.

You're right I had a brain fart. The park relies on high school students too much to stay daily.

[coasterbill]

That complicates things, but it may still work. Thanks guys.

[prozach626]

Thinking outside the box here, could it be possible that the helix removal is to prepare the Boss for Millinuem Flyers? Knocking out sections at a time would certainly save money. They still have a couple sections to do so it probably wouldn't be until after 2020. Just thinking outloud...

no

[TNT]

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[SteveStL]

[Danrarbc]

Have the recent retracks and reprofiles been overbuilt to be robust enough to support heavier trains?

[prozach626]

How common are the trains used on Boss? I can't recall seeing that type of train anywhere else. Something about them seems different.

 

 

I wouldn't rule out the idea completely. Anything with better padding on the seats will help the ride experience. The earliest new trains could arrive would probably be 2020 has it would be easy to promote for the Boss 20th year.

 

How effective do you think this would be? I think you're right that it would help. I just can't imagine this being too much of a game changer, since Gwazi was constructed by GCI and the MF trains didn't seem to do much to help. Granted, I don't know how much track work was done prior to the switch.

[FeelTheFORCE]

The Boss is unique in that it's so bad and out of control, that it's actually kind of fun. They could easily call in RMC and create something world-class (and it will probably happen eventually), but with this one I'm glad they're trying to preserve that experience for now.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I don't know what they can do with the Boss. They literally had RMC retrack the entire thing back in 2013, and within a couple of years it was back to its old self. Admittedly it was great right after the re-track, felt like it did in 2000 again. Boss just tears itself apart.

[TNT]

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[TNT]

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[prozach626]

They could easily call in RMC and create something world-class (and it will probably happen eventually),

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but my money says it will never happen. Six Flags has already kicked the idea around and from what I understand it's not in consideration, anymore. Removing the helix just supports the argument that SF is going to try to make this ride work in its current form as opposed to spending a ton of money to go full flown iron horse. SFSTL management has commented that it would cost too much to RMC The Boss, unless a very significant portion were removed, due to its length.

[TexasParkman]

The Boss is the youngest of the major wood coasters that SF built. Any SF park is only going to get "just so much" money. If they can reasonably fix The Boss and save the money for new attractions down the road- they will. As I see it- they have at least 3 new rides they are in line for: S&S Free Spin, An Endeavor to replace the Fling and probably a Raptor. They could almost get 2 of these for what it would cost to RMC The Boss. I agree it would be an un-believable attraction- I just dont see Corporate doing it. A market the size of St. Louis would probably turn out for new attractions better than a rebuilt one. I hope I am wrong. The Park could really use a shop-stopper. An RMC'd Boss or a Hyper would be just that.

[Kevin Long]

another thing to consider is that you guys are all coaster nuts - the general public doesn't know or really care about RMC'ing a coaster or what it means.

 

SF knows this, if they aren't going to go all in and redo the entire thing and make it into a total re-brand and big capital improvement project, they realize they will never recoup the costs. Their money is better spent on smaller projects or a new coaster over all. The days of BIG new flashy coasters in St Louis are no more. you won't ever see a coaster bigger than American Thunder or batman size ever again. but you can keep dreaming.

 

thinking they are going to make that kind expenditure without a REAL and measurable increase in park attendance is a pipe dream.

 

my 2 cents

 

Kevin

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Might I remind everyone that we're getting an AWESOME and unique waterslide in about 3 months?

[FeelTheFORCE]

They could easily call in RMC and create something world-class (and it will probably happen eventually),

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but my money says it will never happen. Six Flags has already kicked the idea around and from what I understand it's not in consideration, anymore. Removing the helix just supports the argument that SF is going to try to make this ride work in its current form as opposed to spending a ton of money to go full flown iron horse. SFSTL management has commented that it would cost too much to RMC The Boss, unless a very significant portion were removed, due to its length.

 

Maybe, maybe not. We've seen crazier from Six Flags. Time will tell.

[ALT2870]

How effective do you think this would be? I think you're right that it would help. I just can't imagine this being too much of a game changer, since Gwazi was constructed by GCI and the MF trains didn't seem to do much to help. Granted, I don't know how much track work was done prior to the switch.

 

People tend to forget that Gwazi was completely retracked but the park decided to continue to run PTC's for some years after. They finally realized the trains were doing the damage and switched them out. But by that time it was too late as the trains already beat the track up again.

[CaptainUnknown]

Might I remind everyone that we're getting an AWESOME and unique waterslide in about 3 months?

 

It's not an RMC Intamin Aqua Giga Hyper Trax with three miles of track and at least 100 inversions and ejector air on the lift. The internet won't care about the slide.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

another thing to consider is that you guys are all coaster nuts - the general public doesn't know or really care about RMC'ing a coaster or what it means.

 

SF knows this, if they aren't going to go all in and redo the entire thing and make it into a total re-brand and big capital improvement project, they realize they will never recoup the costs. Their money is better spent on smaller projects or a new coaster over all. The days of BIG new flashy coasters in St Louis are no more. you won't ever see a coaster bigger than American Thunder or batman size ever again. but you can keep dreaming.

 

thinking they are going to make that kind expenditure without a REAL and measurable increase in park attendance is a pipe dream.

 

my 2 cents

 

Kevin

My boyfriend is a St. Louis native and absolutely adores Boss. He likes RMC coasters too but would not be happy if they did that to Boss. I rode it with him last year for my first time and actually thought it was fine, except for that helix.

 

I don't know if I'd say "never gonna happen" because who knows years from now, but I do agree that I don't see it happening in the near future. Could be wrong. I do think Boss would make a great RMC, if they really invested the money in it. Otherwise, it would almost be a waste.