Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[Danrarbc]

20 hours ago, jamesk25 said:

Not at all redundant, more pics the better I think, very fascinating everything happening around the park. Did you get any pics of any of the roller coaster trains? I heard ninja had a new wrap and possibly others. Also any sign of the new coaster or even what's left of Xcalibur?

I also wonder if the days of the arcade games are almost done, SFStL looks to have removed a good chunk of the selection that was still there. But I really like what they did with Ninjas old arcade.

Oh and did they remove Evil Knievel ramp sign? Is there a new one if they did?

Overall like the changes, small but refreshes some ares.

No pics of the trains but I noticed some looked way better. The bright blue trains on Freeze really accentuate how faded the track is though. I didn't really think Ninja looked bad last year though so I didn't really notice a new finish. Mine Train definitely looks fresher and some of the tunnel has been redone (some of that in a photo).

 

American Thunder's ramp is gone and it's a Log Flume log with flowers in it now.

Anyone notice Empire Theater now has Ninja's colors?

[thisdougsforu]

There are pics of the new Mr Freeze train wraps on facebook in the six flags junkies group. They look very sharp.

I'm assuming Boss's queue is still the same?

[jamesk25]

11 hours ago, Danrarbc said:

Anyone notice Empire Theater now has Ninja's colors?

I wonder if Ninja's area is being rethemed to it. Probably the next thing would be the arcade/sky lift station next if they have any paint left.

 

[jamesk25]

2 minutes ago, thisdougsforu said:

I'm assuming Boss's queue is still the same?

I don't believe Boss been running all weekend cause of the weather but I don't think they modified it any.

I did hear that the ADA ramp on eagle is finished though.

[Danrarbc]

Boss' queue is definitely the same still. Having the high turn at the far end of the Rookie Racer's layout go over the railroad tracks means they can fit it in without touching that queue. This is going to give Racer a pretty long queue too.

[LegendLover]

I’ll be interested to see how that ride looks in the area. I heard that construction will begin in May in hopes for a late June/early July opening. 
 

I’ll be excited to watch this ride get built. I bet it’ll be noticeable from the interstate since it’s 40ft tall and on a hill. 

[prozach626]

On 4/2/2023 at 6:30 PM, jamesk25 said:

I don't believe Boss been running all weekend cause of the weather but I don't think they modified it any.

I did hear that the ADA ramp on eagle is finished though.

Wait... they're still working on the Screamin Eagle queue?

[teacherkim]

I wonder if they are going to make an attempt to have the grand opening of the new coaster and the grand re-opening of the carousel on the same day? It would kind of make sense, they are close to each other and geared toward kids/families. Make it a big media event, draw people out for the second half of the summer.

[jamesk25]

9 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Wait... they're still working on the Screamin Eagle queue?

Looks like they are done with the ramp at least.

Credit: Facebook

[jamesk25]

5 hours ago, teacherkim said:

Make it a big media event, draw people out for the second half of the summer.

If they can finish either one of the projects on schedule that would be interesting.

[prozach626]

I just think it will be interesting to see how many months it will take to construct a new coaster versus how many years it took to refinish some wooden horses.

[Danrarbc]

Your reaction to the carousel has become the meme at this point. They aren't simply refinishing it - some of the horses literally needed parts of them rebuilt.

[AmyUD06]

2 minutes ago, Danrarbc said:

Your reaction to the carousel has become the meme at this point. They aren't simply refinishing it - some of the horses literally needed parts of them rebuilt.

Nah, the meme is still a multi-year refurbishment of a carousel, even if some horses needed woodwork.  Any other park/chain building a new carousel from scratch would take less time.

[bert425]

^ not if they were lovingly, and accurately, "restoring" it.

Otherwise they would have just purchased plastic horses and put the damn thing back.

i'm surprised they didn't' drop a cheapie carousel into one of the many open spaces in the park just to HAVE ONE while they did the extended restoration.

but yeah, a true restoration can take years.  

I'm a Carousel fan (my favorite flat), if you don't recall.   I don't care how long it takes, as long as they do it correctly.

but yeah, they should have temporarily brought in a carnival version to give the smaller kids something to ride for a few seasons.

[teacherkim]

14 minutes ago, bert425 said:

^ not if they were lovingly, and accurately, "restoring" it.

Otherwise they would have just purchased plastic horses and put the damn thing back.

i'm surprised they didn't' drop a cheapie carousel into one of the many open spaces in the park just to HAVE ONE while they did the extended restoration.

but yeah, a true restoration can take years.  

I'm a Carousel fan (my favorite flat), if you don't recall.   I don't care how long it takes, as long as they do it correctly.

but yeah, they should have temporarily brought in a carnival version to give the smaller kids something to ride for a few seasons.

Which they are, I already explained the process as it was shown to us so not going to rehash that; but in addition to extensive repair they are making each horse and chariot a completely unique and creative artistic piece.

[bert425]

^ I THINK you're agreeing with me? 

 

[teacherkim]

1 hour ago, bert425 said:

^ I THINK you're agreeing with me? 

 

Totally! I was just corroborating your statement that they are lovingly and accurately restoring it. Sorry if that wasn't clear, lol. The local artist that gave us the presentation was so passionate about making the restoration high quality and making each piece truly unique that it was clear they were choosing the longer but better quality path with this. Which I for one am glad they are doing it well rather than fast as possible, although it probably would have been a nice gesture to add a temp cheapo one for practical purposes. However, for locals there are  other carousels that can be utilized. Nest time you are in town I do have to take you to Faust Park to see their historic carousel, very close to my house and was originally at the Highlands, an local amusement park that was destroyed by fire in the  60's

[teacherkim]

5 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

Nah, the meme is still a multi-year refurbishment of a carousel, even if some horses needed woodwork.  Any other park/chain building a new carousel from scratch would take less time.

Yeah but they are not treating it just as a ride but rather an historic work of art and craftmanship. Which carousel nerds like Bert and history nerds like me really appreciate!

[SteveStL]

So the restoration will done so well it will become a museum piece?  Once it reopens it will get dinged up in the first week.

A flawless restoration is not needed here.

[bert425]

if you're bothering to do it?  do it correctly, and perfectly.

 

y'all are just looking for something to bitch about.    If you wanna complain that they didn't get a cheapie carousel in to fill a space in the park while they worked on the restoration?  I'd agree.

but this constant whining that it's taking too long?  yeah. .it's gonna take as long as it takes.

[teacherkim]

55 minutes ago, SteveStL said:

So the restoration will done so well it will become a museum piece?  Once it reopens it will get dinged up in the first week.

A flawless restoration is not needed here.

But by that logic there would never be a reason to update or restore anything. Don't bother painting or cleaning it will just get dinged up and dirty again? Don't pull any weeds in the flower beds because they will just grow back? No need to update bathrooms because a toilet is just a toilet? No reason to repaint coaster track or waterpark slides because the stupid sun will keep shining and just fade them again? No reason to restore historic homes because tourists will just mess them up? Nah, not buying it.

The St. Louis Carousel in Faust Park that I mentioned is over a hundred years old, survived a theme park fire, then was restored like 30 years ago and it still looks good, I mean people have wedding photos taken there, although it is inside in a climate controlled building which certainly helps....but still.

[SteveStL]

3 hours ago, teacherkim said:

But by that logic there would never be a reason to update or restore anything. Don't bother painting or cleaning it will just get dinged up and dirty again?

No, that's not what I meant.  I think I was rather clear so I won't repeat myself

[prozach626]

13 hours ago, bert425 said:

Otherwise they would have just purchased plastic horses and put the damn thing back.

And how many people would have noticed over the past two seasons who could have been riding it?

It's not whining. We passed that point and we've long been mocking.

Calling it: In just as many years they have taken to restore the ponies they are going to look like trash again.

  

8 hours ago, teacherkim said:

But by that logic there would never be a reason to update or restore anything. Don't bother painting or cleaning it will just get dinged up and dirty again? Don't pull any weeds in the flower beds because they will just grow back? No need to update bathrooms because a toilet is just a toilet? No reason to repaint coaster track or waterpark slides because the stupid sun will keep shining and just fade them again? No reason to restore historic homes because tourists will just mess them up? Nah, not buying it.

You have to be a little more calculated on what's going to pay off. You're resources are already limited and this is a game of logistics. Is the juice worth the squeeze on this particular project? Maybe for 1% of the guests. If that. Imagine how many weeds could have been pulled with all of the man hours spent on this project. TTD will have almost killed someone, gone SBNO, and reconstructed as a record breaker in less time than this project has taken to finish.

[CaptainUnknown]

@prozach626 I wonder if you would be this up in arms about the carousel I'd you weren't the father to a toddler?

Yes, making the carousel look good is important, but it's taking an egregiously long time and I wonder if it's really worth all the effort.

[jamesk25]

Adding my own two cents into the whole debate about the carousel, I agree that the carousel needed the love; I don't agree with the length it's took to complete, I know covid slowed down it's progress but we should've gotten somewhere a lot quicker. But I say my biggest complaint is that I wish that they would gave the same amount of love also into relocating the ride somewhere more center and visible into the park.

As it stands it's in a corner tucked behind a coaster and not highly visible from any major view of the park, I think something as timeless as a carousel should be front and center to any park. I know many people that just blaze past it to get to the next thrill, I think of it as the smokers corner as they watch their kids go around and around as they sit across smoking.

Why couldn't they have spent the money to move it next to the ferris wheel or maybe a more radical move, redesign the whole front plaza around the carousel? They could've put it next to the tracks across from Spinsanity, the options endless, instead it is stuck hiding, beautifuly restored. I see both sides of the argument