Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

True, but many parks have said that before eventually removing a ride.

[TNT]

Deleted 

[tanthonyam]

These new cars on Xcalibur will be from who I wonder, since the original manufacturer no longer makes this ride.

[teacherkim]

Went to HITP yesterday. All the rides that were supposed to be open were. Lines reasonable. There was a line at JL but we did single rider and only waited about 10 min, Batman, Thunder, and Mine Train were station waits. Freeze was a walk-on. Didn't feel like having concussions for Christmas so we didn't do Ninja. Looked like they had everything running in Looney Tunes and all the little kids were having fun. Really I think everything inside the train tracks, other than water rides and Excaliber was up and running last night. Pandemonium did go down about a half hour before close.

 

The lights looked the same quality/quantity as last year to me. There was one small tree in front of Thunder that was not lit as well as one strand along the railing of the Moon Cars, but everything else was great.

 

Some of the coasters were running one train due to the annual maintenance already underway on the other trains but did not impact waits much. Thunder was handling the cold well and the super slow crawl from the brake run to station was not as bad as in year's past, although we rode that one when it was still about 40 degrees so it might have slowed down later in the evening. We liked the new continual load on Colossus and the train was decked out nicely. The petting zoo was a good idea. Glad to see they had the animals under shelter and they all looked healthy and well cared for. The pens were generously sized; no overcrowding and no nervous animal behavior as a result of being penned up for too long.

 

We got the bread bowl soups and they are actually pretty tasty. A nice temporary food for HITP.

[prozach626]

We were also at the park with my brother/sister in law last night. We had a 20 minute wait on Freeze and it was riding really well, except for one jarring moment before the return on the overbank. Aside from that, it was fast and smooth. For some reason it seemed really well lit by the floodlights last night. I really like the 90's Batman music in the station. Takes me back. Batman was also incredibly fast last night. When we walked through the queue it looked snappy. Emily hates it, but it was running so well that she actually had a good front row ride. It was a good way to close out the season. Those are the only two rides we rode. We tried to ride American Thunder before Batman, but it closed for cold temperatures as soon as we sat down.

 

I noticed a few shortcomings. The colored flood light on American Thunder's structure wasn't there. Most of the blue outline lights near DC Plaza were out. There probably needs to be some changes on the Christmas tree show. I'm probably wrong, but didn't the natural lighted trees flash during the show last year? JB's badly needs a new bar top and some changes to make the bar less cluttered. The bathrooms could use some changes, but if we're putting them on Cedar Point level they're probably on par, just a bit smaller. Other than that, the Main Entrance area looked great. The staff went out of their way to be friendly. A tree was out near the Palace show and it was fixed quickly.

 

But, I think the park hit a low point this year since our return. I'm not going to go on a tangent, but it seems like after years like this SFSTL usually bounces back. I hope next year will be a lot better. If guests notice it, management notices it. We should all remember that all parks are based on budgets. I'm sure a good deal of this year's budget went toward unforeseen ride repairs. I doubt SFSTL will turn into a shithole. I think things will get better, as they have in the past. Then again, I'm completely pulling this out of my ass.

[teacherkim]

Zach! I wish I had known you were there. Too bad about Thunder, best to hit those woodies first thing when the temps are getting low. I agree Batman was running great, I always prefer it at night anyway because I am much less likely to get queasy.

 

I do agree that the Christmas tree show could benefit from a change every couple of years. The trees did flash during the show I caught, but I think it was only one or two songs. Maybe not every show was the same? Did not catch the outages in DC plaza, but that's why it always good to have a couple of reviews of the same event.

 

I definitely enjoyed going before Christmas this year. Last year we didn't make it until the 30th which due to extreme cold turned out to be the last night of HITP, hardly any rides were open and they were out of most of the special food items. Much more enjoyable this year but I think a lot of that was our timing.

[ChrisGraslie]

So some people have mentioned throughout the year that it seems like there's been less money to go around for certain things around the park this season, and that's exactly the case. Six Flags St. Louis has had some budget cuts, but I think that management is doing a good job with what they have this season. It's nothing to worry about.

 

I haven't been told this exactly, but I assume it mainly has to do with how much money Six Flags has been putting into Six Flags Dubai and their other projects this year. However, 2019 will be a big year for the park, and there will be a lot more happening than just Supergirl and Chop Six, thought I'm not allowed to say exactly what yet. There will continue to be some much needed refreshes for some areas of the park as we get closer to Six Flags St. Louis' 50th anniversary!

Edited December 29, 2018 by ChrisGraslie

[theymitbgi]

Well guys, I made a trip to Silver Dollar City the other day. I am now so impressed with what a theme park can be. Quick trip report posted in that thread if interested.

 

My wife and I have finally decided that we will not be continuing our memberships into 2019. I honestly still feel it's a good value. We moved to Alton a couple years ago and what was a 40 minute drive is now almost an hour, our boys are 16 and 19 and really getting bored with the park, just disappointed with the overall lack of customer service and food quality. We just haven't gone enough to make it worth it.

 

My boys will probably purchase their own passes/memberships but it will be on their $. Still look forward to following the park and hope we do get some much needed improvements for the golden anniversary.

[prozach626]

We moved to Alton a couple years ago

Hello, neighbor. Emily and I live in Godfrey. If you see an APD Ford Explorer with blacked out reflective graphics, no light bar, and a push guard in front, that's me. I'm part of our street crimes unit for now, so I have the only one like it.

 

You're right about the drive. It's exactly an hour for us.

[ChrisGraslie]

According to Six Flags St. Louis' website, March 23-24 will be the opening weekend of the 2019 season. The dates for the seasonal events should be announced soon.

[Vonni]

^ Another reason to love HITP! It makes for a much shorter off season lol!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Looks like SFStL is going to the Strickers Grove model for next year. According to their 2019 calendar that is really on their real website right now, they're open on June 20 and July 3.

 

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/plan-your-visit/park-operating-schedule

 

Go look at it right now before they fix this.

[theymitbgi]

All because I cancelled my mebership..

[ChrisGraslie]

That's hilarious. Just one of the many errors and consistencies throughout all of the park's sites, though. Holiday in the Park was accidentally listed on their events page as opening on the 17th instead of the 23rd, and it stayed that way right up to the day it opened.

[SFOG1991]

That’s hilarious!

 

I remember on Over Georgia’s site they had a page all about Holiday In The Park.... except they clearly recycled the Fright Fest Page because with all the holiday cheer was a zombie apocalypse themed Mind Bender!

 

Seriously as someone who does QA for a website with many more pages than Six Flags, I wonder how so much goes unnoticed. They should have a staging website, QA that, then go to live and QA that again just in case.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

We are talking about Six Flags though... you just have to appreciate it and laugh.

[ChrisGraslie]

That’s hilarious!

 

I remember on Over Georgia’s site they had a page all about Holiday In The Park.... except they clearly recycled the Fright Fest Page because with all the holiday cheer was a zombie apocalypse themed Mind Bender!

 

Seriously as someone who does QA for a website with many more pages than Six Flags, I wonder how so much goes unnoticed. They should have a staging website, QA that, then go to live and QA that again just in case.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

We are talking about Six Flags though... you just have to appreciate it and laugh.

It's just strange how much oversight there is for such a large company. Years ago I remember hearing a rumor that the people who design and maintain the websites for all the parks are just a couple of guys down at the corporate headquarters in Texas. Not sure about the legitimacy of that, but it would certainly explain all the errors

[prozach626]

I arrested another drug dealer with a Six Flags season pass, tonight. Comforting. I see these all the time when I bring people into jail and inventory their property. There are a lot of people with extensive criminal histories walking around with $50 season passes.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I arrested another drug dealer with a Six Flags season pass, tonight. Comforting. I see these all the time when I bring people into jail and inventory their property. There are a lot of people with extensive criminal histories walking around with $50 season passes.

[ChrisGraslie]

I arrested another drug dealer with a Six Flags season pass, tonight. Comforting. I see these all the time when I bring people into jail and inventory their property. There are a lot of people with extensive criminal histories walking around with $50 season passes.

And that's why you don't price season passes that low. Those types of people don't deserve to be in a place that's supposed to be safe for everyone. You shouldn't even be able to buy a season pass let alone be allowed to enter the park if you have a criminal record.

[Woodie Warrior]

I arrested another drug dealer with a Six Flags season pass, tonight. Comforting. I see these all the time when I bring people into jail and inventory their property. There are a lot of people with extensive criminal histories walking around with $50 season passes.

And that's why you don't price season passes that low. Those types of people don't deserve to be in a place that's supposed to be safe for everyone. You shouldn't even be able to buy a season pass let alone be allowed to enter the park if you have a criminal record.

This argument really annoys me every time it comes up on here. Poor people aren't criminals. Making season passes more expensive doesn't magically keep criminals from visiting the park. I'm sure there are plenty of drug dealers making more money than people with white collar jobs.

 

Also why should a criminal record keep somebody from going to an amusement park once they're released? We already have metal detectors and bag checks, do we need to add background checks as well?

 

Edit to add: I understand that Six Flags is known for having far more teens on the loose or whatever compared to other parks. I think that has less to do with the price and more to do with the nature of the park. A park with thrill rides is gonna attract more obnoxious teenagers than Disneyland would.

[ChrisGraslie]

This argument really annoys me every time it comes up on here. Poor people aren't criminals. Making season passes more expensive doesn't magically keep criminals from visiting the park. I'm sure there are plenty of drug dealers making more money than people with white collar jobs.

 

Also why should a criminal record keep somebody from going to an amusement park once they're released? We already have metal detectors and bag checks, do we need to add background checks as well?

 

Edit to add: I understand that Six Flags is known for having far more teens on the loose or whatever compared to other parks. I think that has less to do with the price and more to do with the nature of the park. A park with thrill rides is gonna attract more obnoxious teenagers than Disneyland would.

My apologies, I didn't mean that ALL people with criminal records shouldn't be able to be in the park. If the rowdiness ever got to a certain point that they needed some kind of extra safety measure, they'd probably just bump up security rather than requiring background checks. Six Flags St. Louis and the rest of the Six Flags parks aren't even close to needing that though. And yeah, most poor people aren't criminals.

[prozach626]

I do want to clarify that never did I say that poor people are criminals. Never would I say that poor people are criminals.

 

As far as your response goes, you blew everything out of proportion. I'm not willing to waste my time explaining my first hand experiences and knowledge of criminal behavior vs. what you think you know. You wouldn't want to walk a mile in my shoes. It's both frightening and depressing.

[SFStl Fan]

I'm with Zach on this. I get what he is saying but everyone always tends to jump on the "did he just say poor people are criminals" wagon.

 

Also "A park with thrill rides is gonna attract more obnoxious teenagers than Disneyland would" is only partially true because a ticket to Disneyland costs twice as much as a season pass to Six Flags does (at $50). Therefore, those teenagers aren't going to spend that money to run amok for a day within the streets of Disney. Instead, they'll spend their fifty bucks on a season pass to act stupid all year long at Six Flags.

 

Anyway....did anyone notice the new version of the Six Flags app has an "order food" button on it for the 2019 season?

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Those types of people don't deserve to be in a place that's supposed to be safe for everyone.

What do you mean by "those types of people"? Please elaborate. I want to hear your answer to that.

[TNT]

Deleted