Quick Trip to Six Flags St. Louis on May 18th

Moved back in with my parents after 11 years in the Air Force to save some money before I start my GS job at the end of June. My mom is going through Chemo and impulse bought the entire family season passes was like lets go right now. So we loaded up the van and took the 50 minute drive to the park to get a few rides in and process the passes. It had been around 12 years since the last time I went so I was excited to check out the new additions.

Got to the park around 1:30 and it was pretty dead. A few field trip groups but that was it. Made our way over to American Thunder and basically walked right on. I took my 6 year old niece on with me so we took the shortest line which was a middle car. Despite being understaffed and running 1 train the crew of 2 was working their butts off and was getting the train unloaded and reloaded and dispatched very fast. The ride itself was short but it was smooth and I was surprised at how much airtime it provided which scared my niece to tears unfortunately. It replaced the Boss as my favorite coaster in the park.

Afterwards my niece wanted to ride the log flume so my sister took her on it while my mom and I watched my younger niece. Then we hit up the smokehouse BBQ place where the food was underwhelming and the drinks were flat. Afterwards we hit up the scrambler on our way to pandemonium and it reminded me on why I loved parks before I started riding coasters. After that made our way to Pandemonium and walked on and my niece loved it so much we got a few more laps on it before making our way to the Boss. After American Thunder my niece was terrified so my sister said she would ride it with me. The walk to the station was longer then the wait. We got the second to last row and this coaster hasn't aged well from the last time I rode it in 04. It was very rough and unpleasant. Closer to the front might be a smoother ride but my head was hurting so bad afterwards I decided to try it again the next trip.

At this point we had been at the park around 2 hours and my mom was starting to not feel all that great. We tried to convice her to leave but she's stubborn and said her grandkids were having to much fun so shes staying lol. We played a few buckets of the ring toss before going back to Pandemonium for 2 more laps then my 6 year old niece wanted to ride Screaming Eagle so we hoped on in the front seat and it gave a great ride filled with some nice floater that my niece actually loved. Then we let the kids hop on a bunch of the rides in the kids area while I got another lap on the Screaming Eagle before we made our way to Batman. Superman was up and down all day so I'll catch it next time I go. Waited maybe 20 minutes for Batman and the rides just as intense as ever.

Afterwards we decided to head back home. Overall it was a great trip despite on being at the park for a little over 3 hours. Got a lot of rides in and it got my mom out of the house.

Looks like you skipped my personal favorite at the park, ezeerF .rM.

No, not Reverse Blast, but because it's a mirror image of the one I've ridden hundreds of times at SFoT.

Sounds like a fun little visit. I'd love to go back to this park and check out the 2 new (to me) woodies. I went to college in St Louis and used to frequent this park often, but my last visit was a 30 minute drive by for a single ride on Mr. Freeze back in 1998, after I'd already moved away.

I may meet with some resistance here, but I have always found The Boss to be one of the most unpleasant wooden coaster experiences ever. I rode it early on, and again after several track-work improvements- but no. Which is a shame, because on paper it looks awesome. It's got height, length, and what should be some thrilling moments. But for me it's backbreaking, tongue biting torture. Maybe it's that old "too large, too fast, bad idea" thing that rides of that era seem to suffer from. Or maybe it's the trains, but those trains never bothered me on other rides. I dunno, but every time I've ever tried it I've been sorry, and the wait time involved just adds insult to injury.

American Thunder, however, is one of my favorite GCI rides. It may seem a little short, but that's ok. It's fun, and a lot more rideable.

I haven't tried bass-ackwards Mr Freeze yet. I think the backwards launch would be thrilling and when I ride I'll be sure to sit in the back for maximum face down experience on the first spike. It seems like it would be an improvement to me.

I visited Six Flags Mid America during its inaugural season when there was a total of nine rides. (Most of them double track rides, in other words two sides of everything. Odd.) In fact it was my first Six Flags park ever, and after reading the details of the Texas and Georgia parks for so long my day there was a little disappointing. It's fun to see the changes since then and the way it's grown in the meantime.

I still sort of see it as the red-headed stepchild of the SF chain, though.

Tommytheduck said:
Looks like you skipped my personal favorite at the park, ezeerF .rM.

Yeah we skipped it and planned on double back to ride it before we left but with the kids being tired and my mom being sick I figured Ill catch a few rides on it the next trip. I haven't rode it since the OTSR were removed and the ride reversed. It will be on my to do list along with Superman.

I'm going there on Saturday June 3rd for the 1st time after flying over from England. I hope it's not too busy when I go (don't we all). Little concerned about Boss but will give it a good go.

Coaster-Robin said:
I'm going there on Saturday June 3rd for the 1st time after flying over from England. I hope it's not too busy when I go (don't we all). Little concerned about Boss but will give it a good go.

It will busy but I don't think it will be super crowded. The park is hilly but not a very big park. I'd go for the front on the Boss and try to ride it later in the day just incase it induces a migrane and it won't ruin most of your day.

As I said, I haven't ridden The Boss, but since I cannot find a POV of it on YouTube that doesn't cause epileptic seizures, I guess I'm not surprised. I haven't heard much good said about it either.

I've heard that American Thunder is really good though.

When I last visited the park (2009, if I remember correctly), I wouldn't ride the Boss anywhere but the front. I believe I rode it twice, and I have to say that I thought the ride was nothing short of spectacular. I wasn't about to ride it anywhere else for fear that I'd get jackhammered, but at least up in the front, it was a very solid ride.

American Thunder was pretty spectacular as well. I find it to be one of the best GCIIs for airtime.

I've never had huge problems riding any woodie in the front. Even the roughest and worst like Texas Giant (never rode SoB) was tolerable in the front and actually enjoyable in front at night. <- That's probably the most elitist sounding thing I've written in a long time.

Not at all. I think it's common knowledge among Coastertools that the front of a wooden coaster will provide the best ride. It's the go-to seat for "gotta get that credit even though we know it's going to suck."