Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[RollerManic]

I wish we were treated like a Cedar Fair park. I enjoy myself more at even the lower-tier CF parks than I do most Six Flags. Despite having the inferior coaster collection, I think WoF is the overall better park over SFSTL.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

SFSTL makes a small profit each year, enough that small investments each year make sense. We don't get giant new coasters, but we do get fun, small rides. And there is a combo ticket of sorts: Six Flags always pushes Gold season pass sales by saying Great America is included. Those typically go for $6/mo., or $72, which is about the same as the CP/KI combo pass anyway.

 

Obviously none of us know the impact of Covid, but up to now SFSTL has been sustainable.

[grsupercity]

Isnt SFSTL the park six flags owns the most of? I doubt its going any where

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

Six Flags is more likely to drop Frontier City and Darien Lake than StL.

[ALT2870]

Isnt SFSTL the park six flags owns the most of? I doubt its going any where

 

Six Flags completely owns the park, only one as far as I know. I think that speaks volumes what they think about the park.

[SixFlagsTimeWarner]

Six Flags St. Louis is the only park of the 3 built from the ground up by Six Flags Corp that remains fully owned by the company. OT and OG are owned by limited partnerships and Six Flags is hired to manage the parks. The other parks for the most part were purchased after they were built, ie Great America owned by Marriott Hotels and purchased by Six Flags in the 80's (this is also how Six Flags got the rights to Looney Tunes and Batman), Six Flags owns the land, others like FC are a lease type style. I'd say the company owns more than it leases.

[sfkk]

SFSTL makes a small profit each year, enough that small investments each year make sense. We don't get giant new coasters, but we do get fun, small rides. And there is a combo ticket of sorts: Six Flags always pushes Gold season pass sales by saying Great America is included. Those typically go for $6/mo., or $72, which is about the same as the CP/KI combo pass anyway.

 

Obviously none of us know the impact of Covid, but up to now SFSTL has been sustainable.

 

 

Em, the only pass you can buy that will get you into both Cedar Point and Kings Island is $200.

[prozach626]

I wish we were treated like a Cedar Fair park. I enjoy myself more at even the lower-tier CF parks than I do most Six Flags. Despite having the inferior coaster collection, I think WoF is the overall better park over SFSTL.

I agree. I can really only comment on WoF as a lower tier park. When I've visited, it's been very well maintained. The area around Patriot looks great. The new thrill rides are nice, but it 'seems' that a park like WoF focuses more on improving the overall environment to reflect a higher quality of product. I actually enjoy Cedar Fair's clean-lines corporate feel.

[RollerManic]

I wish we were treated like a Cedar Fair park. I enjoy myself more at even the lower-tier CF parks than I do most Six Flags. Despite having the inferior coaster collection, I think WoF is the overall better park over SFSTL.

I agree. I can really only comment on WoF as a lower tier park. When I've visited, it's been very well maintained. The area around Patriot looks great. The new thrill rides are nice, but it 'seems' that a park like WoF focuses more on improving the overall environment to reflect a higher quality of product. I actually enjoy Cedar Fair's clean-lines corporate feel.

These were exactly my same thoughts. Don't forget there aren't ads on every surface too.

Edited May 14, 2020 by RollerManic

[ytterbiumanalyst]

SFSTL makes a small profit each year, enough that small investments each year make sense. We don't get giant new coasters, but we do get fun, small rides. And there is a combo ticket of sorts: Six Flags always pushes Gold season pass sales by saying Great America is included. Those typically go for $6/mo., or $72, which is about the same as the CP/KI combo pass anyway.

 

Obviously none of us know the impact of Covid, but up to now SFSTL has been sustainable.

 

 

Em, the only pass you can buy that will get you into both Cedar Point and Kings Island is $200.

No, that's not true. They sell a pass that is one day at CP and one day at KI for $65.

 

https://cf-ki.secure-cdn.cf.accessoticketing.com/packageDetails/10057672/keyword/coastercombo?_cid=1592168972.1588206762

[sfkk]

SFSTL makes a small profit each year, enough that small investments each year make sense. We don't get giant new coasters, but we do get fun, small rides. And there is a combo ticket of sorts: Six Flags always pushes Gold season pass sales by saying Great America is included. Those typically go for $6/mo., or $72, which is about the same as the CP/KI combo pass anyway.

 

Obviously none of us know the impact of Covid, but up to now SFSTL has been sustainable.

 

 

Em, the only pass you can buy that will get you into both Cedar Point and Kings Island is $200.

No, that's not true. They sell a pass that is one day at CP and one day at KI for $65.

 

https://cf-ki.secure-cdn.cf.accessoticketing.com/packageDetails/10057672/keyword/coastercombo?_cid=1592168972.1588206762

 

 

Thats called a ticket not a pass but ok if you are comparing a whole season at one park with a day at another I think that’s indicative of a pretty significant quality difference or a better pricing model.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yeah, it's significantly better. I was responding to Coasters & Lamps who mentioned the KI/CP combo ticket/pass/whatever (I have ZERO interest in arguing semantics), and was wondering why Six Flags didn't do the same thing with St. Louis and Great America. I brought up Six Flags' Gold Pass as a superior product at basically the same price point. Make sense?

[sfkk]

Yeah, it's significantly better. I was responding to Coasters & Lamps who mentioned the KI/CP combo ticket/pass/whatever (I have ZERO interest in arguing semantics), and was wondering why Six Flags didn't do the same thing with St. Louis and Great America. I brought up Six Flags' Gold Pass as a superior product at basically the same price point. Make sense?

 

 

I think if the only way you can sell a Six Flags St Louis pass is by saying that you get Great America too then there is something majorly wrong with that. Six Flags has pricing integrity in all the wrong ways. A one day guest without pre-purchased tickets can not get in and out of the park for a day with 2 meals for under $120 dollars. Thats why Spanos said they need to get day ticket holders back. All the people who were open minded enough to give Six Flags a try for a day were probably royally pissed off. It doesnt help when you see people walking around with their diamond lanyards too cutting the line for the ride you are about to ride. As a passholder I love it, but as a normal person (who is what they need, families with disposable income instead of teens and people that use the dining plan 56 times a season for dinner after work) I would feel beyond worthless. At least ill remember to hold onto my buns though (yeah, that was a real six flags ad).

Edited May 1, 2020 by sfkk

[SteveStL]

I love to see Six Flags St Louis owned locally, then it will get all the undivided attention it needs. Remove all the current nonsense theming ... ie American Thunder in World's Fair ??? it is obvious they did this to keep all the crappy Evel Knievel Motorcycle props. The Comet, paying homage to the old St Louis Highland's Coaster in Forest Park would be an excellent name. I doubt any Six Flags brass would know about the Highlands.

Anyhow... Hope that made sense, just my 2 cents

[sfkk]

I love to see Six Flags St Louis owned locally, then it will get all the undivided attention it needs. Remove all the current nonsense theming ... ie American Thunder in World's Fair ??? it is obvious they did this to keep all the crappy Evel Knievel Motorcycle props. The Comet, paying homage to the old St Louis Highland's Coaster in Forest Park would be an excellent name. I doubt any Six Flags brass would know about the Highlands.

Anyhow... Hope that made sense, just my 2 cents

 

 

Attention to detail is important if you want to make mom happy. Mom is the one who decides what the family is going to do, and most importantly if they are going to go back and do it again. Cedar Fair seems to understand this. This is the newest bathroom update at Valleyfair shown below. Valleyfair is ROCK BOTTOM of the Cedar Fair chain and it still gets additions and improvements like this. When is the last time you have seen a Six Flags restroom look anything close to this? People notice details. A theme park is an experience you are selling, not a collection of 10 different 2 minute experiences on the the best rides in the park with mediocre/average experiences the other 7 hours you are in the park.

[prozach626]

^This. I'm not trashing SFStl. I've really come to appreciate it for what it is. But, it's not what I would prefer.

 

Cedar Fair parks offer better opportunities for relaxed adulting. CF usually has decent patio and dining areas which are nice places to relax, enjoy a beer, people watch, and absorb the atmosphere. CP, KI, and Carowinds do this really well. The closest comparison I can make at SFSTL is JB's. It's decent, but last year the bar area was cluttered a shithole.

 

I guess if I were a teenager I would prefer SF over CF. But as an adult, I'd rather bring my family to a CF park, even if I have to pay a little extra. I like our ride collection better than WoF, but their atmosphere is great.

[thisdougsforu]

^This. I'm not trashing SFStl. I've really come to appreciate it for what it is. But, it's not what I would prefer.

 

Cedar Fair parks offer better opportunities for relaxed adulting. CF usually has decent patio and dining areas which are nice places to relax, enjoy a beer, people watch, and absorb the atmosphere. CP, KI, and Carowinds do this really well. The closest comparison I can make at SFSTL is JB's. It's decent, but last year the bar area was cluttered a shithole.

 

I guess if I were a teenager I would prefer SF over CF. But as an adult, I'd rather bring my family to a CF park, even if I have to pay a little extra. I like our ride collection better than WoF, but their atmosphere is great.

 

 

I am very late to this discussion having actually not visited TPR since this covid stuff started, so apologies for chiming in two weeks later.

 

The things brought up here are things I've been thinking about but couldn't really define. The CF parks feel less chaotic, even when there are a lot more people. It's not even a ride-ops thing or employees running the booths thing (well, it kind of is but i digress), it's just that that everything feels more professional.

 

The constant licensing of things at Six Flags has always been confusing to me. I would assume it's quite expensive to license Batman/Superman etc and not only does it seem completely unnecessary to spend it (i.e. a good ride is a good ride- Millenium Force would not be made better if it was licensed after the Flash or something) but it also actively hurts theming as the SF parks are a mess of themes/heroes.

[prozach626]

I actually feel like the licensing makes the park feel a lot more juvenile. That's just a personal dislike, though. I'm nearly 35 years old and riding rides themed to a superheros... I have a bit of a bias.

 

I'm a lot more into landscaping and cleanliness than I am themeing. Sea World/Busch seems to do a good job of having the maximum amount of themeing, but just shy of feeling corny or juvenile. The presentation is of higher quality. The parks are beautiful. Cedar Fair makes a similar attempt.

 

SF has its place. I can't expect everything to be catered to us. The closest analogy I can think of is, "Even bad pizza is still good." Most days I'd rather have a good local wood fired pizza. But, I'm still down for some little Caesars and I almost never regret it. I've had some real shit experiences at parks, more often at SF parks, but I've rarely walked away thinking that I wish I'd been at home watching Netflix.

[SharkTums]

^Well put.

 

...and now I want crappy pizza!

[Vonni]

^^

[tanthonyam]

Who is this Nina person?

[Lotologist492]

I visited this park with friends last summer for the first time in 14 years and I admit it was a better experience than I remembered from years' past. It looked like the park was actually trying to improve - but still had a long way to go. I still say we need to give Spanos & Co a chance to make a difference. They have their hands full with a post-COVID world right now, but I have hope SF is listening. I do not expect to see VF-quality bathrooms overnight but at least we are seeing some improvements to dining / seating areas.

[teacherkim]

Don't know what this means as far as an opening date but employees got a survey today regarding their employment status and feelings on masks, temps be taken, hand sanitizer, etc etc. Didn't see it, got the second hand account.

[teacherkim]

So this story was on the local NBC station

 

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/after-six-flags-announces-safety-changes-families-demand-refunds/63-20da165f-5811-4da6-b1cf-4ab22f48c06a

 

I'm guessing these two are in the minority but still not great PR to go out to the gp on the evening news. Hoping not so many people cancel memberships/passes as to have a big negative impact but of course some people will. I know parks are hesitant to announce a date until they are absolutely sure, and I get why, but at this point I feel like they really need to bite the bullet and put a date out there so people at least know they are opening back up. I'm guessing they have a date in mind and just have not made it public yet.

[prozach626]

Those two Karens can STFU. The first Karen said she's paid for a membership she hasn't been able to use for four months... The park would have been closed for the majority of that time. "I'm not really... sure... if we will get memberships again next year." LOL ooookay.

 

The second Karen is complaining about the masks, but she's not going to the park regardless... because of safety... but she doesn't want to wear a mask... uh.

 

WTF is the news going to talk about when (if) all of this is over? I guess there'll always be the nightly shootings.