Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

The finished product is going to be amazing. People who don't even like theme parks will go for it. It will bring in crowds. It will be worth the wait. They're doing it all in house. It's a major project. There's only one guy doing it.

[CP_RULES]

20 hours ago, Danrarbc said:

The answer to this question is no.

I am genuinely curious, how was SFStL able to get operational approval for a project that included ADA upgrades which were not completed? My knowledge is limited to the traffic engineering world where any work that is done on an existing roadway facility must upgrade it to ADA compliance. I know of specific instances where a City deferred maintenance (a simple asphalt mill and overlay) because the overlay was in the budget, but the cost of all of the necessary ADA ramp upgrades for the sidewalks at every intersection was too much.

[SteveStL]

On 10/7/2022 at 8:11 PM, Danrarbc said:

The answer to this question is no.

Unbelievable, I think speaks volumes.   And you all are hoping for an RMC Boss Conversion, ooof!   They can't even finish a wheelchair ramp which began, what? 6 months ago.

[castaway_kid]

On 10/9/2022 at 3:48 PM, SteveStL said:

Unbelievable, I think speaks volumes.   And you all are hoping for an RMC Boss Conversion, ooof!   They can't even finish a wheelchair ramp which began, what? 6 months ago.

Or perhaps Corporate and the CEO pulled all the money for this project and threaten to fire anyone that works on these "now unapproved" projects.

[bbmchl]

Well this might be it for us.  We have had season passes every year since 2005.  I had not been paying attention until Lance posted it over on Screamscape.  Next year's gold pass, on sale now for $55, does not include Hurricane Harbor or Frightfest.  You need to at least buy the platinum pass to include those.  No HH, no FF, no HITP.  Sadly looks like it is time for our family to move on from SFSTL.  I have not been one of the naysayers, but I do now think our park is dying.

Mike

[bert425]

^it's chainwide. . not just SFStL

Fiesta just did it too. . .   the gold pass on sale?  (tiny print only good thru Labor Day 2023. . so no FrightFest, HitP, or admission to Whitewater Bay).

[SteveStL]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:12 AM, castaway_kid said:

Or perhaps Corporate and the CEO pulled all the money for this project and threaten to fire anyone that works on these "now unapproved" projects.

Pulled the money away for an accessibility ramp?  which is half-way complete??  

[SteveStL]

15 hours ago, bbmchl said:

Well this might be it for us.  We have had season passes every year since 2005.  I had not been paying attention until Lance posted it over on Screamscape.  Next year's gold pass, on sale now for $55, does not include Hurricane Harbor or Frightfest.  You need to at least buy the platinum pass to include those.  No HH, no FF, no HITP.  Sadly looks like it is time for our family to move on from SFSTL.  I have not been one of the naysayers, but I do now think our park is dying.

Mike

Yup.  Removing something which has been Free with paid admission for over the last 20 years is just simply a bad idea.  

I am sure you will not be the only family pulling your Membership.

 

[castaway_kid]

27 minutes ago, SteveStL said:

Pulled the money away for an accessibility ramp?  which is half-way complete??  

Trying to understand the reasoning behind anything from the current CEO or what's left of corporate is pointless. Once the mentally unstable CEO is removed, hopefully sooner rather than later, we should start seeing a lot of delayed projects continue. 

[SteveStL]

5 minutes ago, castaway_kid said:

Trying to understand the reasoning behind anything from the current CEO or what's left of corporate is pointless. Once the mentally unstable CEO is removed, hopefully sooner rather than later, we should start seeing a lot of delayed projects continue. 

Honestly my outlook for SFSTL is bleak, and for the other smaller SF parks as well. 

[Stlouisguy]

Did anyone else see the addition of Thursday night frights for the rest of fright fest? If you are getting a gold pass next year or are choosing not to renew I heavily recommend going. It is a scaled back version of fright fest. It includes almost all the coasters(minus boomerang), haunted houses and scare zones. The scare zones are, sycophants, troll bypass, and sinister clowns. There are two haunted houses open INCLUDED with your admission or pass. The two are Jingle Mangle and Slaughter house. Six flags hasn’t posted anything that i have seen besides on their instagram, it is also on their website. I think it will be free of crowds. I think this addition is fabulous and I hope they do it next year. It doesn’t have any entertainment listed or any ride’s besides coasters. Though I am surprised they are doing this since they are always short staffed, but it is nice. 

[teacherkim]

I honestly have no idea what is going on with the ada ramp and agree that is a project that needs to be done quickly once they started so F on that. 

As far as the lowest level pass not including HH and FF. I'm really not sure how I feel about that. I mean at one point a lot of people on various threads (not just this one) were complaining that they were "giving away" season passes and it was too crowded/too many teens, so that would theoretically address some of that and maybe justify the more expensive passes with more perks; but I get that in essence something is being taken away and will make some grumpy. Also, there are some people that could really care less about HH and are fine with an option that cuts that out, although they might be the minority. I'm honestly waiting to see what happens with the memberships that are still on going. A team member in guest relations at SFGAm on Monday strongly implied to me that they would be going away soon, so .....?

I have to say about HITP though, and partly because people on FB are losing their shit about it. For all those that claim it was the ONLY reason that they have a pass (again not necessarily here but a lot of the FB crowd are claiming this) Really? You got a pass just because of HITP? Not buying that. I mean put in in perspective. This is an event that cost a lot of time and money to set up and tear down, plus all the extra pay to performers for rehearsal time on shows and such for maybe 18 operating days. Minus the 2-3 that almost always got canceled for weather AND the fact that a good chunk of the rides didn't operate. Plus the park basically not making any money on it. As well as the fact that it was hard for employees to rely on those hours because they were short shifts, bad weather conditions, and sometimes got canceled at the last minute. I agree the current CEO is making some head scratcher decisions but not sure I blame them on this one. 

 

[teacherkim]

41 minutes ago, Stlouisguy said:

Did anyone else see the addition of Thursday night frights for the rest of fright fest? If you are getting a gold pass next year or are choosing not to renew I heavily recommend going. It is a scaled back version of fright fest. It includes almost all the coasters(minus boomerang), haunted houses and scare zones. The scare zones are, sycophants, troll bypass, and sinister clowns. There are two haunted houses open INCLUDED with your admission or pass. The two are Jingle Mangle and Slaughter house. Six flags hasn’t posted anything that i have seen besides on their instagram, it is also on their website. I think it will be free of crowds. I think this addition is fabulous and I hope they do it next year. It doesn’t have any entertainment listed or any ride’s besides coasters. Though I am surprised they are doing this since they are always short staffed, but it is nice. 

The funny thing is, employees were sent an email a couple weeks ago about this and told to put their availability for it in the schedule, but it never opened up. So.... I have no idea who is staffing this thing, lol. Very curious how this ends up working out.

[Stlouisguy]

1 hour ago, teacherkim said:

I honestly have no idea what is going on with the ada ramp and agree that is a project that needs to be done quickly once they started so F on that. 

As far as the lowest level pass not including HH and FF. I'm really not sure how I feel about that. I mean at one point a lot of people on various threads (not just this one) were complaining that they were "giving away" season passes and it was too crowded/too many teens, so that would theoretically address some of that and maybe justify the more expensive passes with more perks; but I get that in essence something is being taken away and will make some grumpy. Also, there are some people that could really care less about HH and are fine with an option that cuts that out, although they might be the minority. I'm honestly waiting to see what happens with the memberships that are still on going. A team member in guest relations at SFGAm on Monday strongly implied to me that they would be going away soon, so .....?

I have to say about HITP though, and partly because people on FB are losing their shit about it. For all those that claim it was the ONLY reason that they have a pass (again not necessarily here but a lot of the FB crowd are claiming this) Really? You got a pass just because of HITP? Not buying that. I mean put in in perspective. This is an event that cost a lot of time and money to set up and tear down, plus all the extra pay to performers for rehearsal time on shows and such for maybe 18 operating days. Minus the 2-3 that almost always got canceled for weather AND the fact that a good chunk of the rides didn't operate. Plus the park basically not making any money on it. As well as the fact that it was hard for employees to rely on those hours because they were short shifts, bad weather conditions, and sometimes got canceled at the last minute. I agree the current CEO is making some head scratcher decisions but not sure I blame them on this one. 

 

I am one of the people upset about HITP. I due agree that six flags owes the people under the impression that they were getting holiday in the park, some money back. But there’s nothing they could do about it. It’s cooperates doing, so they need to stop yelling at Six flags St. Louis social media manager and to guest services. I talked to a security guard about Holiday in the park, said they already sold the majority of the HITP decorations, or used them mixed with the blind fury props for Jangle Mangle. He said they really only had some stuff such as, the big show trees, The Majesty of Christmas set, and the tinsel tones/Winter wonder set. He explained that they really didn’t want to see it go and they tried to push to have it. Though not to worry Christmas celebration is still coming to Six flags! A cosmic sleigh ride, drive thru is coming to the parking lot. I believe Six flags rented it out to illumations, the light company. Honestly looking forward to it their drive thrus look awesome! But will not take the place of HITP, #bringbackjimreidanderson

[teacherkim]

1 hour ago, Stlouisguy said:

I am one of the people upset about HITP. I due agree that six flags owes the people under the impression that they were getting holiday in the park, some money back. But there’s nothing they could do about it. It’s cooperates doing, so they need to stop yelling at Six flags St. Louis social media manager and to guest services. I talked to a security guard about Holiday in the park, said they already sold the majority of the HITP decorations, or used them mixed with the blind fury props for Jangle Mangle. He said they really only had some stuff such as, the big show trees, The Majesty of Christmas set, and the tinsel tones/Winter wonder set. He explained that they really didn’t want to see it go and they tried to push to have it. Though not to worry Christmas celebration is still coming to Six flags! A cosmic sleigh ride, drive thru is coming to the parking lot. I believe Six flags rented it out to illumations, the light company. Honestly looking forward to it their drive thrus look awesome! But will not take the place of HITP, #bringbackjimreidanderson

Hmmm, that's interesting. Like I said I get that people are upset, I was just kind of talking back to the people that were claiming it was the be all and end all of their season pass existence and that yes it wasn't the decision of the local park leaders.

[prozach626]

I can say a large portion of our season pass purchases the past few years, especially this last one, was because of HITP. We actually said since we go to HITP every year, we could just buy the pass and stop in another time to make it worth it.

We went to the park once this year.

Get rid of the unruly crowds. Jack the prices up. Good with it. But, if you're not going to add anything new, at least fix the broken shit, or run down areas. Neither will be accomplished next year.

[Chiselphane]

We had considered getting a pass and yeah it was intended for HITP, with the thought that OK since the pass is so cheap, we'll go see that and maybe use it at least one other time so it 'pays for itself'.    Never did it though, I just don't enjoy the park enough to make the effort,  its about an hour +45 min drive for us.  Being closer would have made it more worthwhile though.

[prozach626]

Oof. I thought an hour drive was bad. We used ours once when we stopped by for a few hours with the kid.

HITP may not bring in as many people as a refurbished carousel, but I would imagine it was a factor in a lot of decisions for families to purchase passes. My in-laws were the same way.

[teacherkim]

Ok, I get it, HITP is all awesomeness for you guys, lol. Guess I'm just not into spending several hours wandering around freezing my ass off with not much to ride, like the Halloween shows much more (yes I am a complete Pagan), and their smore's sucked because they used cheap chocolate. Christmas at the FL parks where I can be warm is much more my speed. Honestly HH has always been more of a motivator to me than HITP, so to each their own. BUT personal preference aside I just don't think it was worth it from the park/employee perspective. My son hated working HITP as it was not consistent since they closed often for weather and he never knew how much he was going to work, plus 7 hours was a long shift in the cold.

FF has way more upcharge stuff than HITP doesn't because they clearly don't have any confidence they would be profitable or they would have done it during past events. Bottom line they were losing money and it's probably not coming back, although I agree it is kind of douchey to have advertised it when passes were on sale and then take it away, THAT is on corporate as far as I am concerned. 

And I never compared crowds between the carousel and any event .....so don't go there. Although apparently they did tell the attendees of the ACE event in Sept that it would be re opening in 2023, no not a specific date, but 2023 as originally planned.

[CP_RULES]

On 10/11/2022 at 6:53 PM, bbmchl said:

Well this might be it for us.  We have had season passes every year since 2005.  I had not been paying attention until Lance posted it over on Screamscape.  Next year's gold pass, on sale now for $55, does not include Hurricane Harbor or Frightfest.  You need to at least buy the platinum pass to include those.  No HH, no FF, no HITP.  Sadly looks like it is time for our family to move on from SFSTL.  I have not been one of the naysayers, but I do now think our park is dying.

Mike

Welcome to the club. Chainwide price hikes doesn’t make them less obnoxious. Bye Six Flags.

[coasterbill]

On 10/13/2022 at 5:35 PM, teacherkim said:

Really? You got a pass just because of HITP?

Honestly, I have a Great Adventure pass only for HITP.

[Danrarbc]

I just don't see how the event could have been unprofitable. Sure, not as profitable as Fright Fest but it did drive crowds. Given the reduced ride count you had a smaller staff too.

And they really haven't had to close that many days for it - in the 6 seasons it operated I can only see announced closures for 5 or 6 days. Total.

If they kill or probably even increase the cost of my existing memberships I'm out. I even still usually spend money in the park every visit even though we have dining plans. 

[thisdougsforu]

Hopping in here to say that my family will be going to FF tomorrow night on a Friday as with our thrillseeker pass, saturdays at FF aren't included with it as they are blocked off (at least if I remember right, they are. I can't find a SFSTL blockdate calendar). Not a big deal for me since we would always go on Friday nights anyways to beat the crowd.

Anyways, this will be our last visit for the foreseeable future. We aren't renewing our passes. Just not worth the money, IMO. We've decided that money is better served going towards tickets to SDC or KI for a single day of fun versus a day or two of meandering around SFSL next year.

And to explain the HITP thing from my POV, I used HITP moreso as a way to intermix going to see Christmas lights with the kids with a bit of amusement park fun mixed in. I didn't view it as a standard trip to SFSL. It was also, as many have said, an extra little visit to help justify the pass cost.

This park appears to be in serious trouble. Like, actual trouble. I mean, the whole chain is in trouble with the awful leadership, but at least some of the other larger parks have more legs to stand on. I know several other families making similar decisions to the ones that are being discussed here. 

[prozach626]

Same. In-laws will not be renewing their passes. We're still on the fence, but I don't know if we'd even go more than once. Like... what's the point?

HITP brought a different crowd. There weren't any turkey leg fights. I saw a lot of families. I can see a lot of people like that buying passes strictly because they know they're going to go to HITP, and also another day during the summer.

[teacherkim]

On 10/19/2022 at 8:33 AM, coasterbill said:

Honestly, I have a Great Adventure pass only for HITP.

Ok, if you say so. I don't really get it and find it hard to believe you would have gone only maybe one other time outside of HITP but to each their own. I guess I assumed the weather was more of a factor for most people. I have no idea how many rides they are able to run in the New Jersey winter, maybe more than I think.

 

On 10/20/2022 at 12:00 PM, Danrarbc said:

I just don't see how the event could have been unprofitable. Sure, not as profitable as Fright Fest but it did drive crowds. Given the reduced ride count you had a smaller staff too.

And they really haven't had to close that many days for it - in the 6 seasons it operated I can only see announced closures for 5 or 6 days. Total.

If they kill or probably even increase the cost of my existing memberships I'm out. I even still usually spend money in the park every visit even though we have dining plans. 

Well as far as the profitability I truly believe almost all of the attendees for HITP were passholders, I mean many of you have stated that's why you had them, so they already had food, parking, etc included and weren't spending a lot of extra money.  Whereas FF draws in people that don't normally do a lot of amusement parks and are willing to pay a lot for the experience. As far as closures my son worked 3 seasons of HITP and I know there were at least a couple days each year they closed for weather (or closed early) but sometimes they would "open" without being fully open, for example I can remember going one year on Dec 30 (when he was younger and wasn't working there yet) and it was so bitterly cold that they couldn't even open mine train, it was just the shows, JL and a handful of kiddie rides which most people with little kids weren't there because it was so cold and then they made that the last night of the season even though it was supposed to be open through New Year's Day based on the forecast of super cold weather continuing. We walked around, looked at the lights, ate some soup (included on our pass), maybe watched one show and left after an hour or so. No extra money for the park, that was just the perspective I was thinking of. I mean yes lots of nights were busier but then those nights happened. And yes, reduce ride staff needed but more entertainment staff than on an average summer operating day. Also, I believe that last few years they were contracting out for all the lights to be put up, not doing it in house, that is expensive.