Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

^Those were also 'the days' of hour long waits. (side note)

[bossstl]

Between now and the 5th I am going to post a random fact about the park.

 

- Red steam engine was originally named "Eureka". Can anyone tell me when was the name changed to Tommy G and who was he?

- Green Steam engine was named "Little Rock"

[SixFlagsOMA80]

15 hours ago, bossstl said:

Between now and the 5th I am going to post a random fact about the park.

 

- Red steam engine was originally named "Eureka". Can anyone tell me when was the name changed to Tommy G and who was he?

- Green Steam engine was named "Little Rock"

1989? He was an engineer?

wasn’t green train sold to Bush Gardens Tampa?

[BigJoe123]

Concept art for the new Adventure Cove Splash Pad replacing Hook's Lagoon.

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/attractions/adventure-cove

[castaway_kid]

21 hours ago, bossstl said:

Between now and the 5th I am going to post a random fact about the park.

 

- Red steam engine was originally named "Eureka". Can anyone tell me when was the name changed to Tommy G and who was he?

- Green Steam engine was named "Little Rock"

He was the parks director of maintenance. 

[Woodie Warrior]

It's nice to see investments made into the water park, and Hook's Lagoon has been in bad shape for awhile. Buttt this looks like a downgrade.

[bossstl]

Todays fact is, the park had a Mule Go Round.  I just wanted an excuse to post this picture. In 25 years it's the best picture of the ride I have seen.

 

[ytterbiumanalyst]

1 hour ago, Woodie Warrior said:

It's nice to see investments made into the water park, and Hook's Lagoon has been in bad shape for awhile. Buttt this looks like a downgrade.

I have to agree, this looks smaller and more generic than Hook's Lagoon. But if everything works, it's technically an upgrade.

[SFDallas]

>>> Tommy G Robertson was SFOMA's Park first Director of maintenance. My Dad was Maintenance Manager under Tommy. In 1977 Tommy moved to Great Adventure after the acquisition of that Park. In the 80's Tommy moved back and was promoted to VP. Tommy just died about 6 months (?) ago. Tommy was loved by his employees. My  Dad was promoted to DOM and New Construction  after Tommy left. Dad and Tommy worked together on Screamin Eagle. That is how I got to ride Train #2 from the station on first run and how I met Mr. Cobb and Mr. Allen. I have a picture (somewhere) of the Eureka on the flat bed trailer when it arrived in 71. The green train was named Lil' Rock. My first year at SFOMA I lubricated the Train(s) every other day. Learned a lot about Propane fueled steam driven Trains. Good days!

[bossstl]

Colossus not only made its international debut at the 1984 Louisiana Worlds fair before calling  SFSL its home in 1986, but it is still the largest Ferris Wheel in a US theme park. 

[Danrarbc]

1 minute ago, bossstl said:

Colossus not only made its international debut at the 1984 Louisiana Worlds fair before calling  SFSL its home in 1986, but it is still the largest Ferris Wheel in a US theme park. 

I had looked at this before.

 

It appears to still be in the top 5 tallest theme park wheels worldwide.

[SixFlagsOMA80]

1 hour ago, bossstl said:

Colossus not only made its international debut at the 1984 Louisiana Worlds fair before calling  SFSL its home in 1986, but it is still the largest Ferris Wheel in a US theme park. 

Now if they could only fix the clock and pumpkin program and drop the slow motion they use today. I much more enjoyed it when it went around 5 times with speed then the turtle slow one time. 

[Danrarbc]

I don't think continuous motion is going away. It's become pretty standard for large wheels and is more efficient. They also spent a ton of money making the wheel capable of doing it.

[bert425]

yeah.. every large wheel in Japan is continuous motion.

I loved my ride on Colossus. . but I really do think almost every wheel I rode in Japan was bigger.. so I'd think Colossus is no longer top 5 - but very likely still in top 10

(he says without bothering to google to check). .LOL

[WillsMominMO]

Can someone confirm that the last day the park is open this year is Labor Day? No Frightfest? No Holiday in the Park? 

[AmyUD06]

Unlikely. Many parks from multiple chains have yet to announce their fall calendars.

[castaway_kid]

3 hours ago, WillsMominMO said:

Can someone confirm that the last day the park is open this year is Labor Day? No Frightfest? No Holiday in the Park? 

The park is definitely open for FF and HIP. You are probably confusing when the park goes back to weekends only operations around Labor Day. This happens every year. When schools start back the parks go to weekends only.

[CP_RULES]

7 hours ago, WillsMominMO said:

Can someone confirm that the last day the park is open this year is Labor Day? No Frightfest? No Holiday in the Park? 

I can confirm that it is not even Memorial Day and that no one, not even SFStL employees, know what the last day the park will be open this year. Confirmed. (Yes the calendar ends, the intern hasn't finished deciding what to enter this week because their boss hasn't told them.)

[teacherkim]

They will be open through New Year's Day. Just are holding off a bit to see what the hours/events will be based on Pandemic conditions. Although at this point I will say I think it is looking good to return to normal operations. If at all possible they want that for FF, it's their biggest money maker of the year. They will go to weekends only after August 22. Pretty much every school district in the county starts the next day.

On another note apparently it was super packed today. I'm guessing partly due to the colder than normal weather forcing the opening of HH to be delayed. Some stupid woman was complaining on FB that her poor son would be disappointed and why o why didn't Six Flags have heated pools like Volcano Bay, and I only got on there in the first place to see if they delayed the opening 

[Nrthwnd]

^ I envy you, having these park options.

I'm still waiting for Playland (PNE) in Vancouver, to finally re-open. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks.

<sighs> In time ..........

[Chiselphane]

14 hours ago, teacherkim said:

They will be open through New Year's Day. Just are holding off a bit to see what the hours/events will be based on Pandemic conditions. Although at this point I will say I think it is looking good to return to normal operations. If at all possible they want that for FF, it's their biggest money maker of the year. They will go to weekends only after August 22. Pretty much every school district in the county starts the next day.

On another note apparently it was super packed today. I'm guessing partly due to the colder than normal weather forcing the opening of HH to be delayed. Some stupid woman was complaining on FB that her poor son would be disappointed and why o why didn't Six Flags have heated pools like Volcano Bay, and I only got on there in the first place to see if they delayed the opening 

That reminds of the time a woman complained to our little local water park in Cape Girardeau about getting wet on the lazy river. 

[teacherkim]

45 minutes ago, Chiselphane said:

That reminds of the time a woman complained to our little local water park in Cape Girardeau about getting wet on the lazy river. 

Seriously the entitlement is getting ridiculous. Joel said that some adults actually cursed him out yesterday when he was doing some rides in Bugs because they were over the height limit allowed and he of course could not let them on. WTF?

[liltrekkie]

25 minutes ago, teacherkim said:

Seriously the entitlement is getting ridiculous. Joel said that some adults actually cursed him out yesterday when he was doing some rides in Bugs because they were over the height limit allowed and he of course could not let them on. WTF?

The entitlement is absolutely crazy. I got yelled at in line because I let a disabled girl have the entire front row to herself, she thanked me, while the people behind me cursed at me. Like you can wait another 10 minutes calm the heck down. 

[prozach626]

Emily and I stopped by the park Friday for a couple beers and rides, after we were in the area for dinner. Here are some proofread highlights:

It was cold and raining, but the park seemed pretty steady. The parking entrance was 5-10 cars deep in all rows. We were kind of expecting walk-on rides, because of the drizzle and cold, but that wasn't the case.

Batman's queue was past the tunnel on the first drop, so we passed on that. The new queue entrance is nice. I was really hoping to see the station lighting.

The lights on American Thunder were a nice touch, but on the Ninja they looked phenomenal against the white supports. Shall I say Cedar Fair'ish? I'd love to see this continued. We didn't get to see the lights on Freeze, due to wait times. We didn't check, but we saw a steady line of people entering the queue.

Screaming Eagle was running great in the safe seats, as per usual. Middle cars, first row, as we ride most wooden coasters that are not GCI's. Eagle is still a shining star. I'm glad our coaster tastes have matured into really appreciating it. The jog through the woods is great.

American Thunder actually had a little rattle to it, not to be confused with roughness. Hopefully it stops there. I'm wondering if it was a maintenance budget thing in the off season, or if it will just be due for some tracking, sometime soon.

Speaking of tracking, it would make my year to have RMC use their brand new track replacement instead of giving it the I-box treatment. I understand that would be a lot of money for little marketing return. I'd gladly take it over a new coaster. Crazy, right?

It was nice to see Xcaliber running, and Boomerang. We seem to almost always catch Boomerang when it's closed closed. We didn't ride either, but they're fun to watch cycle.

JB's was really looking cleaned up. There's a DJ booth in the DC plaza, so we drank our beer and laughed watching kids get down to the music. They have no shame.

Log Flume and Thunder River were closed. Cold weather.

Superman was... closed... I'm not going to beat a dead horse with how the area looks.

The crowd was way more tame than I thought it would be for a late night closing. I saw a lot of families... and an idiot family pushing around an infant in a stroller during cold drizzle at 11pm. It makes me feel like a good parent. (our toddler was in good with my In-laws for the night. #datenight)

Bring back Budweiser products on tap, please.

We'll make the 50 minute drive for a return visit this year... sometime. Nights alone are a rarity, anymore. I never realized handing off Eve for a night would come with such a mixed bag of feelings like guilt, joy, regret, and freedom. wtf

Cheers.

[teacherkim]

Zach, you think handing her off for a night makes for a mixed bag of feelings, wait until you take a vacation without her or she goes off to camp for a week or the track you will make in the floor pacing when she takes the car for the first time, lol.

Glad you had a nice visit!

Shout out to the park. Yesterday not only did they treat the employees to free (and I am told fresh and "better than normal") burgers, dogs and other traditional Memorial Day food in the catering grove BUT they also gave them an employee ride night on Thunder and Freeze for about an hour and a half after close.