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Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread


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I was there on Sunday and every coaster was open. That is more then I can say about most six flags I go to. Only notable rides I saw closed were shazam and excalibur. Sadly I was not able to check out the water park. It was at capacity most the day

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I was there on Sunday and every coaster was open. That is more then I can say about most six flags I go to. Only notable rides I saw closed were shazam and excalibur. Sadly I was not able to check out the water park. It was at capacity most the day

They put those signs up pre-emptivly. Was there a line?

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Went on my Florida trip last week to both Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World Orlando. BGT was an amazing park, Sea World was eh (Mako was freaking incredible though, outside front row on that is KILLER). Mako had me thinking about our home park, as even though the ride was absolutely top notch, the fact it's just sort of sitting out in open is fairly dull. Made me really appreciate the wooded scenery and hills back home. I can only imagine what a steel coaster zipping through the dense areas of foliage and hills would be like in the back of the park.

 

Also, as I was enjoying the various steel rides at both parks I did find myself missing a woodie. Makes me really appreciate our collection of them.

 

I really hope we get a Raptor though!

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I was there on Sunday and every coaster was open. That is more then I can say about most six flags I go to. Only notable rides I saw closed were shazam and excalibur. Sadly I was not able to check out the water park. It was at capacity most the day

They put those signs up pre-emptivly. Was there a line?

 

There was a line. Was my first time at the park. Me and my wife had flash passes and hit every coaster. We went in with lower expectations and blown away by this place. We had a great time (though it was ceazy hot)

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I was there on Sunday and every coaster was open. That is more then I can say about most six flags I go to. Only notable rides I saw closed were shazam and excalibur. Sadly I was not able to check out the water park. It was at capacity most the day

They put those signs up pre-emptivly. Was there a line?

 

There was a line. Was my first time at the park. Me and my wife had flash passes and hit every coaster. We went in with lower expectations and blown away by this place. We had a great time (though it was ceazy hot)

 

Your TR post was great!

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I wonder why Hurricane Harbor keeps on opening later every year. It used to open up at 10:30am when the main park opened. Now it doesn’t open until 12pm.

They are switching between opening at 11 and 12 depending on day.

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I wonder why Hurricane Harbor keeps on opening later every year. It used to open up at 10:30am when the main park opened. Now it doesn’t open until 12pm.

They are switching between opening at 11 and 12 depending on day.

 

Actually, on the park hours it is listed as 12-5 this week and next and then switching to 11-6 weekdays the rest of the summer. Open an hour later on Saturdays. I think it is probably a staffing and past weather/attendance issue. Usually, it is not quite this hot the end of May, beginning of June and so probably not quite as crowded right off the bat as this year.

 

Anybody has info on the new slide let us know? I am hoping the park would send out an email to passholders when it is ready to go but......!

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Actually, on the park hours it is listed as 12-5 this week and next and then switching to 11-6 weekdays the rest of the summer. Open an hour later on Saturdays. I think it is probably a staffing and past weather/attendance issue. Usually, it is not quite this hot the end of May, beginning of June and so probably not quite as crowded right off the bat as this year.

 

The ridiculous part about that is the park opens at 10:30, the line for the water park forms right then. So people are standing in line for an additional hour and a half waiting for entrance to Hurricane Harbor. If you don't get in that line, you might not get into the water park.

 

I think they should let Diamond and Diamond Elite members with reservations for the Diamond Member Beach head straight in once Hurricane Harbor opens. Instead of having to wait in the line. Makes no sense to have to wait if you've got a reservation. That should be accounted for in their capacity headcount.

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Been awhile posting, so this could be a little long.

 

Made our first visit of the year to the park last Thursday. Overall thought: 4 Flags out of six of course.

 

Greeted by the closed rides list: Excalibur, Shazam, Justice League. Really Justice League? One of your newest multi-million dollar attractions is closed? Really Six Flags? Really? As far as Shazam goes, why not just but another Scrambler, those rides aren't that expensive. Seems like rehabbing a ride that old may not be cost-effective, but what do I know.

 

Didn't realize all the school groups that would be there. The good news is they had 6 people working the turnstiles, one of which was working the "members only" entrance. We tried the "members only" entrance just to find out it is for Diamond? members only. Need better signage! Took almost 30 minutes to get in.

 

For anyone that hasn't read my posts before I really don't ride much, i'm a bit of a scaredy cat, but I take my two teenage sons that ride everything.

 

Line for Batman was about 20-25 minutes, disappointed they didn't still have backwards train. I ASS-U-ME-d they would extend beyond the originally announced date.

 

Ninja even had a line down the stairs.

 

Headed to mooseburger for lunch, typical wait of 30+ minutes. Food was "meh" as normal. Biggest complaint is why do they put people at registers that can't speak English. Not to bash or be political, but a front line position like that needs communication skills.

 

Since my oldest son didn't get a food pass, I sent him to guest relations to purchase one while my other son and I were in line. I saw a deal online for $56 so i sent him to purchase that. Well turns out that is an "online only" offer. He came back with a $120 food pass. He didn't get back with us in time to use it and I went straight back to guest relations to figure out what could be done. There I was greeted by a very friendly young man with a very bad stutter. Once again, please put someone in this position that can communicate. He was unable to help but sent a supervisor named Adam over to help me. He explain the "online only" price and helped me purchase it on my phone and then refunded the $120 dining pass my son had purchased. Really appreciated his help and apologized to him after since I approached him with quite an attitude.

 

Kids headed to Skyscreamer, which i believe was a one ride wait. It broke down while they were returning to the bottom. Had to a maintenance person come over and lower the ride. Luckily they were nearby as Boomerang was down also, it looked like the catch car hadn't pulled the train all the way up the lift hill. Skipped Superman and Screamin Eagle as the lines were too long. My boys are spoiled as we normally go on summer weekdays and anything over a station wait for them is too much.

 

They did decide to ride the Boss which was at about 30 minutes also. I think during this time I decided to head to Miss Kitty's to catch the Red Garter Revue. I'm normally a big fan of the shows and that's how I'll spend my days, but this show disappointed. The singing was tolerable. It was pretty funny and the air conditioning was cold, so I'll take it.

 

At this point I think we decided to head to JB's to try their Chicken Wings. Upcharge with dining pass of course, but figured we'd give them a try. I must say they were as good as any bar in the area and the sidewinder fries are great too. For the value probably one of the best "meals" in the park.

 

As 5pm approached many of the school groups were departing and lines were becoming manageable. I decided to head to Thunder River on my own. NIce the band-aids they have put on it in recent years, but someone must realize it's spelled Bagnell not Bagnall. Still a good ride a nice too cool off on a hot day. Always enjoy the group experience on this. As our boat returned there was no line and they offered us another trip through but I passed.

 

I headed off to get an ice cream cone finally meeting back with my boys as the park closed at 6pm. They had ridden 4 coasters in the last 20-30 minutes that park was open. So they left happy.

 

As we were leaving we also noticed all the slide parts still sitting in the parking lot. At this point if it opens by July 4th, I would be impressed.

 

Overall thoughts, early in the year, seem to be working out the kinks of ride maintenance/operations. As usual food service and getting drink refills were awfule, but pleasantly surprised by the wings. The number of food stalls open was disappointing.

 

I welcome your comments/questions.

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Not sure why you would have thought Batman would still have a backwards train. They were pretty clear about it. The chain only owns one, and it's needed at a different park as soon as the last one is done with it. Those are precise schedules for a reason.

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Actually, on the park hours it is listed as 12-5 this week and next and then switching to 11-6 weekdays the rest of the summer. Open an hour later on Saturdays. I think it is probably a staffing and past weather/attendance issue. Usually, it is not quite this hot the end of May, beginning of June and so probably not quite as crowded right off the bat as this year.

 

The ridiculous part about that is the park opens at 10:30, the line for the water park forms right then. So people are standing in line for an additional hour and a half waiting for entrance to Hurricane Harbor. If you don't get in that line, you might not get into the water park.

 

I think they should let Diamond and Diamond Elite members with reservations for the Diamond Member Beach head straight in once Hurricane Harbor opens. Instead of having to wait in the line. Makes no sense to have to wait if you've got a reservation. That should be accounted for in their capacity headcount.

 

In the past they have always had a separate line for the Gold pass members who get early entry and they let that line go in first. Not sure if they have changed that or not with the advent of the memberships. And there was no one policing the line, nor were they checking as you entered the water park, so all sorts of people just hopped into the gold entry line when they saw it going in first Seems they need to tighten up that system a bit.

 

I'm not really super upset about the new slide not being open yet. I just wish they would communicate with us on what is going on and if they can give us a likely date so we can make plans with some friends who want to go.

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Been awhile posting, so this could be a little long.

 

Didn't realize all the school groups that would be there. The good news is they had 6 people working the turnstiles, one of which was working the "members only" entrance. We tried the "members only" entrance just to find out it is for Diamond? members only. Need better signage! Took almost 30 minutes to get in.

I welcome your comments/questions.

 

Yeah it was the last week of school for almost every district in the vicinity and many plan a fun end of the year trip to the park during the last few days. It will be like that every year. Just plan on the week before Memorial Day to always have a lot of school groups, unless we just have a crap ton of snow days and districts have had to add days.

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The food ops at this park consistently baffle me in that whether you want a bag of cotton candy or to use your food pass, it seems like there is always a 20 minute minimum wait, even if the line is super short. It's really bizarre. When I visited BGT and SWO the most shocking difference to me wasn't the coasters, it was that you could actually get something to eat quick, even for my family of 4. We do not eat at Six Flags ever because of how poorly things are run.

 

I understand folks need training, but anytime we've absolutely needed to get food, whether it was in April or mid summer, it's always terrible. It seems like many employees are completely baffled by what to do with the food passes as well, despite this being a heavily marketed thing.

 

I don't like to make overtly negative posts. I get no enjoyment out of it and there is enough of that on the internet, but good gosh how can food ops be so consistently bad? It costs them money! The ride-ops are are generally awesome, so it makes for even more of a contrast. Sorry for the rant, but that post above sort of set me off.

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^^^^^ Oh my- where to even start with this one...

 

Greeted by the closed rides list: Excalibur, Shazam, Justice League. Really Justice League? One of your newest multi-million dollar attractions is closed? Really Six Flags? Really? As far as Shazam goes, why not just but another Scrambler, those rides aren't that expensive. Seems like rehabbing a ride that old may not be cost-effective, but what do I know.

 

I admit that there were a lot of closed rides when we visited a few weeks ago, but I already knew about Shazam and Excalibur being down for refurb. The rest I chalked up to early season hiccups.

 

As far as Justice League - when you look at the high tech rides that are coming out these days, is it really that much of a surprise that a ride would go down time to time for maintenance or to replace a part? Just check out all the posts about Steel Vengeance in the CP thread or Lightning Rod in the Dollywood thread - this stuff happens ALL THE TIME with new rides/technology!

 

I really don't understand your logic on Shazam. Would it make sense for you to go out an buy a new car because it needs new brakes? Of course not, so why would the park invest in a new Scrambler when they are likely refurbishing this ride for half the cost of buying a new one. And I am sure that folks at SF are smart enough to do a cost analysis of replacing old with new or doing a refurb.

 

Andrew already commented on Namtab, and he is absolutely spot-on.

 

Headed to mooseburger for lunch, typical wait of 30+ minutes. Food was "meh" as normal. Biggest complaint is why do they put people at registers that can't speak English. Not to bash or be political, but a front line position like that needs communication skills. There I was greeted by a very friendly young man with a very bad stutter. Once again, please put someone in this position that can communicate.

 

So you are calling out foreign kids AND a young man with a disability? If you know anything about businesses in America, they are not legally able to profile anyone for race, religion, sexual preference, disability, gender or age. This isn't the 1800's where American's scorn or "shelter" people of difference ethnicity or someone with a disability.

 

He explain the "online only" price and helped me purchase it on my phone and then refunded the $120 dining pass my son had purchased. Really appreciated his help and apologized to him after since I approached him with quite an attitude.

 

This is why I dislike people. READ what the deals offer (and don't offer) before looking like a douche in front of your kids, other guests and management. You have no one to blame but yourself on this faux pas. All you needed to do was speak with him in a friendly attitude and admit that you didn't see that it was online only and is there a way that we could refund the money? I applaud this young employee for being such a professional in this situation.

 

I think during this time I decided to head to Miss Kitty's to catch the Red Garter Revue. I'm normally a big fan of the shows and that's how I'll spend my days, but this show disappointed. The singing was tolerable. It was pretty funny and the air conditioning was cold, so I'll take it.

 

Soooo...what was disappointing about the show if the singing was tolerable, it was funny and they had A/C? Most theme park shows aren't the 2nd coming of Broadway, but they ARE normally fun to watch and offer a great way to beat the heat on hot days. Given that it's still the beginning of the season, I am sure that there are kinks to work out.

 

So basically the only thing in common that I see with my report and yours was the comment on the poor food service. And I chalked that one up as another early season hiccup, that should probably get better as employees gain more experience with their jobs.

 

Other than that, we actually enjoyed EVERYTHING about our day (well, except for the beating that I took on The Boss). We knew going in that it was early season and that there would be kinks and bugs to be worked out, so there really was no disappointment.

 

We went and had a great time and really enjoyed our first visit to this park. As others have said, they are really only one big coaster away from being a REALLY great park.

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^ Yep, nailed it.

 

I will say that the member entrance has not been handled well. We have a Gold membership, and they let us in once with that, but the next time they said you have to have Gold Plus or above. One time there was an employee "saying members this side, regular season pass that side." I said we have a membership, but then he quizzed us about how much we pay for it, then determined we have a regular season pass and told us to stand in the other line. Not to argue with him, but I said we have a membership, because we do, but he insisted what we had is actually a regular season pass and wouldn't hear otherwise.

 

I don't care if they want to keep that entrance for a certain group of people. It's just that after 3 visits this year, I still don't actually know what group can use that entrance!

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I love the people who demand that the parks hire better people as if there's a giant line of people willing to work odd, sometimes grueling hours on their feet for minimum wage at temp jobs with no overtime or benefits.

 

Basically every regional park is having insane staffing problems this year. Cedar Point was staggering ride openings and currently has the midway lined with outside food trucks because they have nobody to work food service (despite the bonuses and huge incentives they've been offering to get people to start in May), Great Adventure has been ridiculously understaffed all season, Morey's can't even open all of their piers half the time and reports like this are coming out from theme parks all over the country. Telling Six Flags to "just hire more people" is like telling every Cavs player not named LeBron James to "Just stop sucking". Yeah... good idea. Thanks for that. It's not that simple.

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Telling Six Flags to "just hire more people" is like telling every Cavs player not named LeBron James to "Just stop sucking". Yeah... good idea. Thanks for that. It's not that simple.

 

At least I haven't encountered J.R. Smith at Six Flags. That was hysterical last night.

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I'm not trying to put down anyone's opinion or the park when I say this. Six Flags is a budget friendly chain that offers an experience at a very low cost. It's best to have budget friendly expectations. Don't go to McDonald's and expect steak for the price of a hamburger.

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I wonder if the food truck idea will be the answer to food service in many of the parks. Quality of food trucks has risen in the last several years, while choices at many parks has not. I get that the parks get a huge markup on food; BUT if they just can't get the workers and many choose to leave and go to some fast food place and then return to the park instead of buying in. It would eliminate a lot of headache for the parks to vastly reduce their offerings and then have a variety of food trucks available. Just a thought.

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You know I was just talking to my son about the McDonalds a couple weeks ago. It was where Mooseburger is now for those that don't know. I was middle/high school age, but I just cannot remember how the pricing compared to a regular McDonalds. Surely, it had to be more but I have no memory of how much more. I can tell you that the Subway at Cedarpoint is 2-3 times more than a regular Subway.

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