Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

[STLSPINSANITY]

I miss SFSTL.net... Hard to believe its be gone almost 10 years.

 

[Dan the Coaster Man]

Me and some buddies are planning a trip to St. Louis September 17-19. Does anybody know of the park is generally open this weekend? The schedule they released does not go out that far, and I know some parks close for a weekend or two before fright fest, or used to... I know last year and this year are different than any other, but historically what has the park done?

[teacherkim]

It has always been open weekends between Labor Day and FF in the past. Most likely a 8 or 9 pm close on Sat and a 6 or 7 pm close on Sun but that is just a guess based on past years. They generally do not open on Fri nights those weekends. That will most likely be the weekend before FF starts and should be a good weekend for  hitting optimum rides, good weather and lighter crowds ahead of FF. 

I am sure they are holding off on fall hours until we get into the summer and see what is happening with the virus.

[prozach626]

On 1/17/2021 at 12:27 AM, STLSPINSANITY said:

I miss SFSTL.net... Hard to believe its be gone almost 10 years.

 

Those were the days. Think of all of the new coaster construction pictures we could have posted on the site since then.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

On 1/17/2021 at 11:22 AM, teacherkim said:

It has always been open weekends between Labor Day and FF in the past. Most likely a 8 or 9 pm close on Sat and a 6 or 7 pm close on Sun but that is just a guess based on past years. They generally do not open on Fri nights those weekends. That will most likely be the weekend before FF starts and should be a good weekend for  hitting optimum rides, good weather and lighter crowds ahead of FF. 

I am sure they are holding off on fall hours until we get into the summer and see what is happening with the virus.

Music to my ears. Thank you!

[Danrarbc]

On 1/23/2006 at 7:48 PM, St.LouisBOI said:

Yeah, just think of the veiw at the very top looking over the whole park.

 

Here's a picture of the 4 sections up already....3 more + the top to go.

Soon to be Acrophobia

Just a reminder - if Superman is our removal it should be incredibly visible.

[DBru]

Also a reminder of how beautiful Screamin' Eagle looked without a big orange and green monstrosity in front of it.

[CP_RULES]

8 hours ago, Danrarbc said:

Just a reminder - if Superman is our removal it should be incredibly visible.

Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true... 

 

[Danrarbc]

17 minutes ago, CP_RULES said:

Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true... 

 

That is what prompted me to say what I did.

That was the speculated removal. It finally clicked in my head that's going to be just as easy to see being removed as it was when it was installed.

[RKO]

On 1/15/2021 at 10:46 PM, bossstl said:

Given that this is the 50th, I thought you guys might enjoy some history thanks to the way back machine.

Park history

https://web.archive.org/web/20101127215406/http://sfstl.net/index.php/park-history

Ride history

https://web.archive.org/web/20101208130801/http://sfstl.net/index.php/ride-history

 

 

Oh man, I forgot about the old sfstl.net site. I really miss it. There were some awesome pictures of various construction projects on there.

[parkjunkie]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:43 PM, CP_RULES said:

Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true... 

 

Holy crap, I never paid any attention to those... Here's some more pics that I took from that day. GOD it was an awful paint scheme

[liltrekkie]

Man those are some good shots of the screaming eagle. I wish it had a fresh paint job with a super bright white, something brighter than what it is now. It could use a retrack in places as well, but given how old it is, it could be much worse

[parkjunkie]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:43 PM, CP_RULES said:

Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true... 

 

 

Heres some of many other pics I took from over the years. These are all from 2006-2009

[Danrarbc]

Man I miss the Freezer launch tunnel lights.

[SixFlagsOMA80]

The good old days when Eagle had it's chaser lights. Thanks for sharing the pictures. 

[TrippinBillie]

7 hours ago, SixFlagsOMA80 said:

The good old days when Eagle had it's chaser lights. Thanks for sharing the pictures. 

Always loved those chaser lights, too!  Not sure why they can't do them again......there's not much of a cost there.

[parkjunkie]

6 hours ago, TrippinBillie said:

Always loved those chaser lights, too!  Not sure why they can't do them again......there's not much of a cost there.

Easy explanation, because corporate Six Flags just doesn't care about anything anymore unfortunately

[prozach626]

Look at all that fresh paint. Was that during the Shapiro days? Wasn't he less concerned with more attractions and more concerned with park maintenance and presentation?Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[parkjunkie]

2 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Look at all that fresh paint. Was that during the Shapiro days? Wasn't he less concerned with more attractions and more concerned with park maintenance and presentation?Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Yes, the majority of these are from the Shapiro days when Shapiro was brought in to get the parks back in shape. His short stay was all planned ahead, then once he got things to where they needed to be, the new top dogs would then be brought in to continue building on what he started... instead, they demolished what he started and put them further behind than what they were before he came in. He went to each park before the start of the season for a conference with all the dept managerial teams, I was there, and he said "EVERYTHING IS GETTING FRESH PAINT, TULIPS ARE COMING BACK, LIGHTS WILL BE ON, COASTERS WILL BE RESTORED... WE WILL BRING SIX FLAGS BACK TO THE TOP!" He was a man of his word and really pushed for all that, but sadly, the new corporate bigwigs after him had other thoughts in mind....

[Danrarbc]

Out of curiosity I ran the numbers on what an addressable RGB LED system could cost for Eagle a couple weeks back. Which would be overkill for chasing alone (much more complex effects could be run, and you could do seasonal colors).

For 12V RGB LEDs a DIY system is less than $6000 in parts. Including all of the 11.5ft strands needed, the ESP32 boards needed to drive them all and 4000ft of ethernet wire. Enclosures for everything and weatherproofing can likely be done with the tools the park already has on hand. There are alternatives to the ethernet runs since this kind of distance would need switches to deal with the ~300ft length limit of ethernet and I didn't price switches into my estimate (WiFi-only boards are actually cheaper, but then you need enough access points to cover the layout and ethernet would likely be more stable).

 

From what I can tell this is actually price-competitive with the cost of simple white chaser hardware. Commercial basic light strands cost more than you'd think, chasers would be even more. You can imagine the scale of this project though. At least 330 strands of LEDs - with one ESP32 board needed per 20 strands and power taps every other strand. At least 182 connections to weatherize, along with the 17 boards.

[parkjunkie]

19 hours ago, Danrarbc said:

Out of curiosity I ran the numbers on what an addressable RGB LED system could cost for Eagle a couple weeks back. Which would be overkill for chasing alone (much more complex effects could be run, and you could do seasonal colors).

For 12V RGB LEDs a DIY system is less than $6000 in parts. Including all of the 11.5ft strands needed, the ESP32 boards needed to drive them all and 4000ft of ethernet wire. Enclosures for everything and weatherproofing can likely be done with the tools the park already has on hand. There are alternatives to the ethernet runs since this kind of distance would need switches to deal with the ~300ft length limit of ethernet and I didn't price switches into my estimate (WiFi-only boards are actually cheaper, but then you need enough access points to cover the layout and ethernet would likely be more stable).

 

From what I can tell this is actually price-competitive with the cost of simple white chaser hardware. Commercial basic light strands cost more than you'd think, chasers would be even more. You can imagine the scale of this project though. At least 330 strands of LEDs - with one ESP32 board needed per 20 strands and power taps every other strand. At least 182 connections to weatherize, along with the 17 boards.

Don't forget SFSTL maintenance workers are union, so don't forget about the 100's of hours in labor at about $30 an hour lol

[CP_RULES]

That new paint job on Freeze was so welcome, and it was great to see it wasn’t red track like SFoT went for. I remember thinking when you posted that test swatch: “Yuck please, no!” Nothing says frozen cold quite like RED!
 

I am realizing as you post these I might be old enough now to post some pictures of my own that will feel nostalgic for some... strange. *Goes searching for old floppy disks*

[prozach626]

On 2/3/2021 at 10:21 PM, parkjunkie said:

Yes, the majority of these are from the Shapiro days when Shapiro was brought in to get the parks back in shape. His short stay was all planned ahead, then once he got things to where they needed to be, the new top dogs would then be brought in to continue building on what he started... instead, they demolished what he started and put them further behind than what they were before he came in. He went to each park before the start of the season for a conference with all the dept managerial teams, I was there, and he said "EVERYTHING IS GETTING FRESH PAINT, TULIPS ARE COMING BACK, LIGHTS WILL BE ON, COASTERS WILL BE RESTORED... WE WILL BRING SIX FLAGS BACK TO THE TOP!" He was a man of his word and really pushed for all that, but sadly, the new corporate bigwigs after him had other thoughts in mind....

I remember those were the days I was really jaded and the typical enthusiast who just wanted bigger and better. I was pissed when Shapiro wanted adults and families to come back, instead of catering to the thrill seeking crowd. Over the past several years, I would have greatly appreciated his strategy. Now, I feel like Six Flags primarily caters to teenagers. (I personally hate how everything has to be superhero themed.) 

[liltrekkie]

3 minutes ago, prozach626 said:

I remember those were the days I was really jaded and the typical enthusiast who just wanted bigger and better. I was pissed when Shapiro wanted adults and families to come back, instead of catering to the thrill seeking crowd. Over the past several years, I would have greatly appreciated his strategy. Now, I feel like Six Flags primarily caters to teenagers. (I personally hate how everything has to be superhero themed.) 

I'm actually fine with the superhero theme. Superheros make a ton of money so it makes sense to use the theming. 

Honestly I just wish the park would add a new coaster instead of a flat rides every year. I think 2013 was the last coaster we got, and it was just the boomerang that was relocated from SFoT if I recall. 2008 was the actual last good coaster we got. Based on history, we are due a coaster in the next 2-3 years. But knowing how much corporate seems to hate our park, I highly doubt we will ever get another coaster. 

[coasterbill]

I never thought I'd see the day that people looked back fondly on the Shapiro days.