Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread

Deleted

If a tourbillion ran like in the animation videos, it might be more popular. I don't understand why SF doesn't want it ran at its best.

Deleted 

Seriously, it looked terrible. The expressionless faces of the riders after the cycle finished was hilarious. There wasn't even a full cycle wait in the queue. On top of that, there were a few rows of sun exposed permanent spectator benches set up in front of the ride with not a single person sitting in them. I really hope we don't get one. I'm curious if Six Flags is satisfied with the outcome.

I'm curious if Six Flags is satisfied with the outcome.

Easy way to be find out if they are satisfied would be if they announced another Tourbillion.

I am still curious to ride it, I wonder if the GP soaks it up even they know its a bad ride (Boomerang anyone?)

Second, ABC changed the design of the Tourbillion between the prototype and the construction of the models Six Flags purchased. The original ran using hydraulic motors to move the ringy dingy ding-a-ling dings of the ride. This gave the prototype more torque allowing it to flip more like the animation. The ones Six Flags purchased use 3 phase motors which have less torque which prevents the ride from flipping as easily.

I wonder if any park in the US would install the hydraulic version, I guess cost is the reason Six Flags used 3 phase motors.

Most of my peers 'like' roller coasters. But, being so close to SFStl they don't know what a good park is. Also, our most modern ride is 20 years old. More than that, the focus of our peers is elsewhere. My friends are raising families and they don't have much spare time. Going to a place filled with rowdy teens and large crowds isn't appealing to them. Even the people our age without kids would much rather spend a relaxing evening having a couple drinks on their patios, going out somewhere nice for dinner, or if they're feeling adventurous, going to a baseball or hockey game.

From what I have seen most people in our area would rather travel to Holiday World than Six Flags, whenever I bring up SF they immediately turn to HW as they like the more family aspect of the park (and free things). Six Flags Corp. is not doing enough in our area to attract more people outside of the city, the lack of the "big" attraction definitely hurts. Have you see the absurd amount of Holiday World billboards there are in Saint Louis, but barely any for Six Flags? On that note, Saint Louis is not a "tourist" destination, we have some wonderful things but not much know about them, City Museum has noted this problem a few time due to the lack of a advertising budget but the Premier Parks buyout is supposed to fix that.

Deleted 

Six Flags Corp. is not doing enough in our area to attract more people outside of the city, the lack of the "big" attraction definitely hurts.

And crowds and long lines is why I despise going to the park during the summer

How can you argue that SF isn't doing enough to attract more people, then complain about more people being in the park?

Six Flags Corp. is not doing enough in our area to attract more people outside of the city, the lack of the "big" attraction definitely hurts.

 

And crowds and long lines is why I despise going to the park during the summer

 

How can you argue that SF isn't doing enough to attract more people, then complain about more people being in the park?

The food here is terrible! And such small portions!

How can you argue that SF isn't doing enough to attract more people, then complain about more people being in the park?

The crowds are mainly coming from people in the city and surrounding metro, and the crowds are only really bad in the summer because school is out and the park is cheap to get in. The beginning months heading into June are never really crowded if you have to wait in line it is mostly around 15-30m unless it is a Saturday/holiday, and Holiday in the Park I have yet to see a 15+ wait in line on any ride.

Now I argue that SFStL is mostly a one and done for a while park for many traveling, most enthusiasts are not willing to make the trek to our park if it is not already in the path of their next park (like SDC or HW). I also think that SF corp. is still not doing enough outside of the city to really promote the park, like for instance I live 2hrs outside of the park and the only billboards I ever see is for Holiday World.

Why spend the cash in Advertising around STL? Everyone knows SF is here and there is nothing to really advertise about. I would hope they advertise elsewhere though, like Memphis or other smaller cities around the Midwest. ...and Holiday World does just that. I am sure they don't advertise locally, no point.

Now I argue that SFStL is mostly a one and done for a while park for many traveling, most enthusiasts are not willing to make the trek to our park if it is not already in the path of their next park (like SDC or HW). I also think that SF corp. is still not doing enough outside of the city to really promote the park, like for instance I live 2hrs outside of the park and the only billboards I ever see is for Holiday World.

part of the reason we booked our trip to St Louis was SFStL (the other reasons were City Museum and the Gateway Arch).

we didn't go to any other parks, we went to Six Flags.

The crowds are mainly coming from people in the city and surrounding metro, and the crowds are only really bad in the summer because school is out and the park is cheap to get in. The beginning months heading into June are never really crowded if you have to wait in line it is mostly around 15-30m unless it is a Saturday/holiday, and Holiday in the Park I have yet to see a 15+ wait in line on any ride.

That's typical for any regional park. Carowinds is essentially dead until the schools are out, and even then the weekday lines are typically short. Come on a Saturday or Sunday and you're going to see longer lines.

In the same vein, I was at Busch Gardens Tampa this past Friday. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes for any ride. Granted, we didn't go to Tigris, but the app wasn't showing anything longer than 60 minutes at any point.

Deleted

Here's the band lineup for Flagstock. I'm not familiar with any of the bands (I'd assume they're all local), but seems like a fun event!

Deleted 

Deleted

Why spend the cash in Advertising around STL? Everyone knows SF is here and there is nothing to really advertise about. I would hope they advertise elsewhere though, like Memphis or other smaller cities around the Midwest. ...and Holiday World does just that. I am sure they don't advertise locally, no point.

Where I live, the next major city is Mount Vernon IL, they have at least 3 billboards along the highway promoting Holiday World and that is 2hrs away, SFStL on the other hand has no such promotion this far out. Taco Bell, the local grocery store, and even where I work all offer some sort of discount to Holiday World, Six Flags none that I am aware of. That's what I am trying to say.

Holiday World does advertise locally, I have see billboards as close to 30mins from the park, even driving back I saw at least one billboard telling me to turn back around.

That's typical for any regional park. Carowinds is essentially dead until the schools are out, and even then the weekday lines are typically short. Come on a Saturday or Sunday and you're going to see longer lines.

 

In the same vein, I was at Busch Gardens Tampa this past Friday. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes for any ride. Granted, we didn't go to Tigris, but the app wasn't showing anything longer than 60 minutes at any point.

I get what you are saying, but Carowinds and Busch Gardens are better destination parks, even when SFStL park is "busy" it really ain't that bad compared to lets say SFGAm. The point I was making was highlighting what prozach said about all the rowdy teenagers roaming the parks, and why are park is such a blast to enjoy during the early opening months.

This would only be an issue if they deliberately used AC motors that produced less torque. A correctly sized 3 phase motor could run the ride exactly the same.

 

Pound for pound nothing can out perform hydraulics. Example, the lift motors on Boomerang are more than 4x the physical size of the hydraulic motors they replaced and weigh significantly more as well.

Just by watching the original prototype and Cyborg Cyber Spin, the prototype goes so much faster, the prototype is already in full spin by the time it is halfway raised while Cyborg is still rocking and continues to rock until the other arm starts to move. No wonder while people are bored, they are being rocked to sleep

Just pushing more advertising our won't do the trick. Six Flags is a local park. Holiday World is a destination. The two are hard to compare.

Yes, Six Flags is larger and can offer more thrills and attractions. But, the people I know who go to Holiday World do it for cheap trips with their families, which is exactly the kind of experience they advertise and offer. You and the kids can spend a couple nights at the campground and visit a small, clean, and friendly family oriented theme park that entices parents with things like free sunscreen, free soft drinks, and free parking. It's a quick getaway that is always a hit with families. What a simplistically brilliant way of making families want to visit the park, since things like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Haloween are already intertwined with the concept of spending time with family and making great memories.

You can't put Batman: The Ride up against that. It's not a fair comparison. Holiday World's advertisements here will be a lot more effective than our advertisements in Santa Clause. You have to change what the park is and change what it's known for in order to reach beyond the local area. But, that's not going to happen and regardless of what enthusiasts say, it doesn't need to happen. The park is making a sustainable predictable profit. There's no reason to change anything or add the abstract idea of what enthusiasts would consider to be a 'signature attraction.'

I'm also not really sure how SFSTL vomiting deals all over my email inbox isn't advertising. "Come to our park next Wednesday, bring four people free, and receive a ten dollar bill just by walking in the gate."

You have to change what the park is and change what it's known for in order to reach beyond the local area. But, that's not going to happen and regardless of what enthusiasts say, it doesn't need to happen. The park is making a sustainable predictable profit. There's no reason to change anything or add the abstract idea of what enthusiasts would consider to be a 'signature attraction.'

That is actually a pretty good way to sum things up

Of course Six Flags doesn't advertise as far out geographically as Holiday World. They've got 2 million people right there. You know how far out from the park HW has to go to get to the same population as St. Louis? Evansville is a pretty small city.

When you have to convince every visitor that your place is worth a significant drive, you do things differently than when people can just pop in for an evening after work.

I'm also not really sure how SFSTL vomiting deals all over my email inbox isn't advertising. "Come to our park next Wednesday, bring four people free, and receive a ten dollar bill just by walking in the gate."

So any activity, markers, survey equipment , etc. at our park? any indicators at all for 2020 ???

So any activity, markers, survey equipment , etc. at our park? any indicators at all for 2020 ???

Not that I know of. Which would suggest nothing large incoming (not a big leap of a prediction for this park anyway).

Not that I know of. Which would suggest nothing large incoming (not a big leap of a prediction for this park anyway).

Not necessarily true. It's Six Flags. It was almost December before they really started doing anything with Maxx Force at Great America. However, this is also Six Flags St Louis so most likely nothing major.

Reopen Excalibur and Tidal Wave and advertise them as new rides