Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

Six Flags today. With a two-year-old. (almost)

Antique cars: ate shit, right?

Ferris Wheel: closed. great

Carousel: Literally has been being refurbished since my child was within her mother.

Shows? Nope.

I had no idea the other kids rides had little to no height limits, as long you ride with an adult. At 33" tall we did the boat thing, the balloon thing, the rocket ship thing, the little train thing, and she did the small swings thing. We rode the "big train" she's obsessed with. She was pretty stoked when she yelled "Easter Bunny" and pointed to a statue. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was only Bugs Bunny, so I let her touch it as per her request. (All rabbits have graduated to the Easter Bunny title, in her book, since Easter.)

I saw like.. some flowers for the spring thing they have going on. The chicken strips were just out of this world amazing the best chicken strips I've ever had. (Six Flag Corporate's big idea to turn the chain around.)

Xcaliber was closed, which would have been cool for my kid to watch... cool. Antique cars and carousel tho...

She had a blast, which is all that matters. But... only 3 more inches until it's worth going somewhere else...

When we rode the train we saw Hurricane Harbor. Man, it just looks like it's in tip-top shape... They're going all out on the Six Flags New Orleans theming. 

Our daughter doesn't know the difference, which is all that matters. She rode the "big girl rides" in my book. She even rode the kiddie swings by herself, which was the first of three attempts since she's been on this planet. The most disappointing part of the trip was her wanting to ride Boomerang.

As such, we had a blast... and we'll be back to "wide wides" later this year.

As an adult, I'm looking forward to seeing the new Eagle area and ride. Although, I doubt we'll go alone anytime within the coming years to experience it. Seriously though... fix the fucking Merry-Go-Round. I'm sure it will be fantastic when the ride is finished, but it really is inexcusable at this point.

 

Sincerely,

Karen's Husband

[teacherkim]

12 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Six Flags today. With a two-year-old. (almost)

Antique cars: ate shit, right?

Ferris Wheel: closed. great

Carousel: Literally has been being refurbished since my child was within her mother.

Shows? Nope.

I had no idea the other kids rides had little to no height limits, as long you ride with an adult. At 33" tall we did the boat thing, the balloon thing, the rocket ship thing, the little train thing, and she did the small swings thing. We rode the "big train" she's obsessed with. She was pretty stoked when she yelled "Easter Bunny" and pointed to a statue. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was only Bugs Bunny, so I let her touch it as per her request. (All rabbits have graduated to the Easter Bunny title, in her book, since Easter.)

I saw like.. some flowers for the spring thing they have going on. The chicken strips were just out of this world amazing the best chicken strips I've ever had. (Six Flag Corporate's big idea to turn the chain around.)

Xcaliber was closed, which would have been cool for my kid to watch... cool. Antique cars and carousel tho...

She had a blast, which is all that matters. But... only 3 more inches until it's worth going somewhere else...

When we rode the train we saw Hurricane Harbor. Man, it just looks like it's in tip-top shape... They're going all out on the Six Flags New Orleans theming. 

Our daughter doesn't know the difference, which is all that matters. She rode the "big girl rides" in my book. She even rode the kiddie swings by herself, which was the first of three attempts since she's been on this planet. The most disappointing part of the trip was her wanting to ride Boomerang.

As such, we had a blast... and we'll be back to "wide wides" later this year.

As an adult, I'm looking forward to seeing the new Eagle area and ride. Although, I doubt we'll go alone anytime within the coming years to experience it. Seriously though... fix the fucking Merry-Go-Round. I'm sure it will be fantastic when the ride is finished, but it really is inexcusable at this point.

 

Sincerely,

Karen's Husband

If it's any consolation, and it probably won't be, they are doing a deep and complete renovation of each and every horse plus the chariots which they knew all along would take a long time but preserve the carousel much longer. When we were there for an event in September 2020 and were given the presentation on how they do the refub they showed how they stripped each and every piece down to the wood, did any necessary repairs (legs get broken off a lot because people use them to "mount up" instead of the stirrups), applied primer, applied a base coat, then had an artist do all the final design and painting that made each horse unique.

The artist at the time said they hoped to have it done in two years but they could not pinpoint a date due to not knowing the extent of damage to each piece yet. Plus we all know there might have been supply chain issues and clearly there are a limited number of artists talented enough and able/willing to work on it. 

So......I totally get that it's frustrating, particularly with a toddler that can't do a lot of other things yet and is missing some prime riding years BUT the length of the refurbishment is within the range that they had always planned. Good news is it should be AMAZING when it's finished. So much so that several of my friends from my equestrian competition days have expressed a desire to have a group outing to go ride it when finished, lol.

 

P.S. on the cars. I'm not terribly bummed that they took them out because frankly they were so short and such a shadow of their former selves that I thought they kind of sucked. Would be kind of fun if they ever had the funds and inclination though to see a whole new course put in with fun updated but retro theming. There's a whole lot of empty space where there used to be a stupid paintball course, just saying.

[teacherkim]

Also, I can report without doubt that Thunder River is now operational. Although at the moment the water "blasters" controlled by the ride ops in the two towers along the route are currently not operational and I have no details on why or when that might get resolved.

[Danrarbc]

They'll probably get the first group of blasters going again that section is dry when the pumps are off. It's a simple enough system just needs the pipes repaired.

[liltrekkie]

18 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Six Flags today. With a two-year-old. (almost)

Antique cars: ate shit, right?

Ferris Wheel: closed. great

Carousel: Literally has been being refurbished since my child was within her mother.

Shows? Nope.

I had no idea the other kids rides had little to no height limits, as long you ride with an adult. At 33" tall we did the boat thing, the balloon thing, the rocket ship thing, the little train thing, and she did the small swings thing. We rode the "big train" she's obsessed with. She was pretty stoked when she yelled "Easter Bunny" and pointed to a statue. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was only Bugs Bunny, so I let her touch it as per her request. (All rabbits have graduated to the Easter Bunny title, in her book, since Easter.)

I saw like.. some flowers for the spring thing they have going on. The chicken strips were just out of this world amazing the best chicken strips I've ever had. (Six Flag Corporate's big idea to turn the chain around.)

Xcaliber was closed, which would have been cool for my kid to watch... cool. Antique cars and carousel tho...

She had a blast, which is all that matters. But... only 3 more inches until it's worth going somewhere else...

When we rode the train we saw Hurricane Harbor. Man, it just looks like it's in tip-top shape... They're going all out on the Six Flags New Orleans theming. 

Our daughter doesn't know the difference, which is all that matters. She rode the "big girl rides" in my book. She even rode the kiddie swings by herself, which was the first of three attempts since she's been on this planet. The most disappointing part of the trip was her wanting to ride Boomerang.

As such, we had a blast... and we'll be back to "wide wides" later this year.

As an adult, I'm looking forward to seeing the new Eagle area and ride. Although, I doubt we'll go alone anytime within the coming years to experience it. Seriously though... fix the fucking Merry-Go-Round. I'm sure it will be fantastic when the ride is finished, but it really is inexcusable at this point.

 

Sincerely,

Karen's Husband

The carousel is being redone by hand mostly. They are spending a metric butt ton of money on this already. There are very few qualified people who can even do the work to begin with, on top of that it's being done in the middle of a pandemic. Which I'm sure slows down work even more. 

When it comes to restoration jobs like this. You either do the job right or you don't do it at all. Let's appreciate the fact that the park is spending this kind of money on a carousel rather than just replacing it, which would have been far cheaper. 

[prozach626]

I get it. Trust me. It's going to be great. It's going to be the best carousel across from a generic Super Woman flat that anyone has ever seen. People will drive for miles. Or at least maybe like 4 people.

But... how many guests REALLY care? I would bet heavily that the majority of guests would rather have a mediocre carousel open right now, especially guests with families, rather than waiting two years for one with hand crafted animals almost no one will care about.

We have a mediocre park, with (mostly) mediocre roller coasters, and a mediocre atmosphere... with one hell of a carousel, until the guests tear it up again within a couple seasons. When I went to the park with a 33" kid, I had no Ferris Wheel, no carousel, and no antique cars. People notice that more than quality horses.

Go back in time to two years ago poll families what they would rather have. Would they prefer a mediocre carousel they could ride with their families throughout the next two years, or one with really great horses that wouldn't be open for over two years? How would that turn out? I promise you the vast majority of people don't give a shit.

My child has taken her first breath, learned to sit up, roll over, crawl, eat solid foods, walk, run, and say her ABC's. Meanwhile, the carousel hasn't been open.

I'm not really butt hurt about it. It's just funny the amount of emphasis placed on something that will make almost no difference in the overall experience to the majority of guests.

KI is, or was refurbishing their carousel. I'm sure it will take them two years to do it.

[liltrekkie]

And people called me a pessimist when it comes to the park

Our park is far from mediocre, sure I think there are a ton of areas that could use improvement and bigger investments, but it's by far not mediocre. 

American thunder, Mr freeze, and The Boss are some of the best coasters in the chain. They aren't hyper coasters with record setting inversions, speed, or length but they are absolutely incredible.

And with the massive maintenance done that was, well let's be honest, way overdue, we've had new decking, new rails, new paint, queue improvements. And the entire section over by Catwoman being redone. The park now is way better than 4-5 years ago. It's got more to go, but even little ol corporate hates us me can see the vast improvements and know we aren't mediocre.  

[prozach626]

It's a fine park, but if you were to have it fall into one of three categories, poor, mediocre, or outstanding, which would it fall into? Consider Indiana Beach in its worst years as poor, and Cedar Point as outstanding. Where would SFSTL fall? Will it make you feel better if I say "average," instead of "mediocre?"

Same thing here for roller coasters. Consider a SLC as poor, and Fury 325 as outstanding. Where does American Thunder and... The Boss... fall? Shit, Screaming Eagle is one of my favorite coasters, but it's still pretty mediocre by today's standards, and completely forgettable by anyone who visits from out of town.

The point is... open the ride. Aim to please the masses, which is what Six Flags does best. I have no idea how a park filled with Takis adds and generic super hero themeing decided to put so much focus into something this insignificant to the masses, while neglecting other areas. It's a perfect example of not having your priorities straight.

[SteveStL]

SFSTL does lack Family and Kids attractions for sure... you would think the park and corp knows this.  Bumper Cars, Moon Cars, Ordinary Swing Ride (replace by Sky Screamer, definitely not a family attraction), Carousel (SBNO), Junior Coaster (from the old Kid's area).   what else am I missing?

[Danrarbc]

10 hours ago, prozach626 said:

 

KI is, or was refurbishing their carousel. I'm sure it will take them two years to do it.

 

You're right - theirs will probably take less time. But there's two reasons for this.

 

The first is they've likely kept up on the maintenance for it and it probably isn't in near as bad shape. Our carousel wasn't just mediocre - it looked bad.

And the second reason theirs could take less time is they might be sending the horses over to PTC for renovation. This costs more but there's a whole team over there that does nothing but build and repair horses. To save money our park is doing this in house with one paint artist and 1-3 carpenters depending on labor availability.

The horses they have put on display don't seem to be suffering on the quality front even though they aren't being done at PTC.

[thisdougsforu]

After years of following this thread, I'd like to officially welcome Zach to the grumpy Theme Park Dad's Club. That post (and subsequent grumbling ones) are legit endearing to see. My kids are just now graduating to the big stuff (they are 11, 9, and a brave six year old), but I've spent the last few years in the situation you are in (and given my youngest isn't 48 inches tall yet, she's limited on what she can do). A park having crappy family attractions, at least one that's billed more as a family park (versus Cedar Point, or something), seems baffling to me. No moon cars, no carousel, the pirate ship has been down all year....there just isn't much for young families to do. 

I think it's cool they are taking the care to do the carousel right, but yes, taken with the other stuff that's been removed or not working, if I had all very young kids I would definitely not be happy. This is why Holiday World is my favorite family park. I feel like they absolutely have nailed down how to do a family park right.

Anyways, I was at the park yesterday sans-kids (for the first time in forever), and given there were like less than 1k people there, it was nice to walk on to EVERYTHING. I think this may be the first time in many years where I've visited that every single roller coaster was in operation. Best ride on the Boss in ages. And yes, Thunder River is open as I was on it yesterday. I saw that a lot more has happened to the Catwoman area as far as clearing/construction. They get that done, and the backside of the park will be much improved. 

 

[grsupercity]

This park is missing a young kids coaster. A chance big dipper like joker's fun house coaster would work. Otherwise if they can get a good deal on a new skyline P'Sghetti Bowl coaster (assuming it only has a 36 inch height requirement) 

[Chiselphane]

27 minutes ago, grsupercity said:

This park is missing a young kids coaster. A chance big dipper like joker's fun house coaster would work. Otherwise if they can get a good deal on a new skyline P'Sghetti Bowl coaster (assuming it only has a 36 inch height requirement) 

They do have the River King Mine Train

[grsupercity]

21 minutes ago, Chiselphane said:

They do have the River King Mine Train

first off that coaster is trash lol. Secondly I believe you have to be 42 inches for that ride? They really need something around 36 

[KBrylczyk]

This park is missing a giga.

This park is missing an RMC.

This park is missing an aquatrax.

This park is missing fans.

[thisdougsforu]

1 hour ago, KBrylczyk said:

This park is missing a giga.

This park is missing an RMC.

This park is missing an aquatrax.

This park is missing fans.

I don't really understand the point of posts like this. In this specific instance we are talking about realistic things this park could use like kiddie rides, but even if not and it was about a hyper or something, so what? Are we supposed to not discuss this kind of stuff on a theme park message board in a thread dedicated to this actual park? 

Anyways, in an effort to provide content, yeah, a legit kiddie coaster would be nice. Mine Train is a good kids/family coaster as is Pandemonium, but the height requirement for both is the same as Screamin' Eagle. Bumper Cars, a tilt a whirl, some other mid range carnival style flats would go a long way for the family demographic. As-is right now, you have either the big thrill rides or the baby rides, not much in between save for the Scrambler and Log Flume. 

[Danrarbc]

Spinsanity is tame enough to be a good family flat too. If we were getting packages of 2 or 3 flats like the Over parks the family flat selection would probably look a bit better. But that wasn't in the budget.

Joker is also family friendly but it hasn't been opening consistently. It was open on my visit but it sounds like it hasn't been for others this year.

I do think a P'Sghetti Bowl would be a good idea to expand the family options. The Model C could fit in the same place the playground is in now and that thing hasn't been open since 2019. If you demolish Go Fresh Cafe instead which has been closed even longer you'd have room for Model D. Not sure how people would react to the first coaster in a decade being a P'Sghetti Bowl though, know what I mean?

[thisdougsforu]

1 hour ago, Danrarbc said:

Spinsanity is tame enough to be a good family flat too. If we were getting packages of 2 or 3 flats like the Over parks the family flat selection would probably look a bit better. But that wasn't in the budget.

Joker is also family friendly but it hasn't been opening consistently. It was open on my visit but it sounds like it hasn't been for others this year.

I do think a P'Sghetti Bowl would be a good idea to expand the family options. The Model C could fit in the same place the playground is in now and that thing hasn't been open since 2019. If you demolish Go Fresh Cafe instead which has been closed even longer you'd have room for Model D. Not sure how people would react to the first coaster in a decade being a P'Sghetti Bowl though, know what I mean?

Spinsanity would be a nice family attraction, yes, but it has a 48" tall requirement. 

[grsupercity]

Even something like merlin's mayhem only has a 39 inch height limit. Nice new plot of land where the shoot the chute used to be 

[SteveStL]

with the 1st Queue House from the Eagle removed, maybe they can expand the Kidde Land there.  Bumper Cars,  Junior Coaster etc

[Danrarbc]

51 minutes ago, SteveStL said:

with the 1st Queue House from the Eagle removed, maybe they can expand the Kidde Land there.  Bumper Cars,  Junior Coaster etc

The location of that queue house combined with Old Glory is pretty big. Like Batman's plot big. Old Glory is only storage now and you can toss up a steel frame storage building nearby for pennies.

There's so much potential in all kinds of places. Room has never been the reason new things don't get added. Even within the current kiddie land footprint there's room for addition (a ride or two where the playground is would be a clear case of addition through subtraction).

[teacherkim]

23 hours ago, prozach626 said:

I get it. Trust me. It's going to be great. It's going to be the best fucking carousel across from a generic Super Woman flat that anyone has ever seen. People will drive for miles. Or at least maybe like 4 people.

But... how many guests REALLY give a shit? I would bet heavily that the majority of guests would rather have a mediocre carousel open right now, especially guests with families, rather than waiting two years for one with hand crafted animals almost no one will care about.

We have a mediocre park, with (mostly) mediocre roller coasters, and a mediocre atmosphere... with one hell of a carousel, until the guests tear it up again within a couple seasons. When I went to the park with a 33" kid, I had no Ferris Wheel, no carousel, and no antique cars. People notice that more than quality horses.

Go back in time to two years ago poll families what they would rather have. Would they prefer a mediocre carousel they could ride with their families throughout the next two years, or one with really great horses that wouldn't be open for over two years? How would that turn out? I promise you the vast majority of people don't give a shit.

My child has taken her first breath, learned to sit up, roll over, crawl, eat solid foods, walk, run, and say her ABC's. Meanwhile, the carousel hasn't been open.

I'm not really butt hurt about it. It's just funny the amount of emphasis placed on something that will make almost no difference in the overall experience to the majority of guests.

KI is, or was refurbishing their carousel. I'm sure it will take them two years to do it.

BUT people that don't care will come to the park anyway, you might complain about it not being open but you will still come to the park and bring your daughter AND as I said I happen to know some people that will come just for that. People that will spend money and buy carousel merch if they choose to sell some. Plus the park saves something of historical significance. I think there is great value in showcasing one of the earliest types of rides, one that has a particular history to a much beloved company in PTC, and true craftmanship. It's a kind of community service to renovate something so beautiful. Improvements like this one make the park a much classier, more beautiful place which does affect how people view their experience even if they don't pinpoint the exact reason why. Part of the reason people love HW so much is the overall atmosphere, also why Indiana Beach was considered so poor......I mean the place is kind of a shithole, although hopefully making steady improvements. Beautification matter IMHO.

[SteveStL]

Old Glory no longer has concerts?  

[Danrarbc]

41 minutes ago, SteveStL said:

Old Glory no longer has concerts?  

Haven't seen one on the calendar in years.

[SteveStL]

Bummer... seems a waste of space and revenue stream