Six Flags St. Louis 7/15/18

It's been a while since I posted here, but figured I'd post a trip report from my first trip to SFSTL this past Sunday. I had driven past this park several times over the years, but up until this past weekend, never worked out a time to actually stop for a visit. I feel like this park generally goes under the radar, not having any mega coasters, but overall I thought it was pretty decent.

I pulled into the lot right at park open to find a very small number of cars, so I knew I could tackle a lot of rides, which was good. I only planned to spend about 3 hours in the park. I walked in, and went to American Thunder (formerly Evel Kneivel) which is a really solid GCI. A lot of really fun airtime moments on this thing, and to be honest it kind of caught me off guard. Solid start to the day.

Then I headed to Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast, which definitely looked like it had seen better days. The entrance was pretty weathered, and the area around the ride was pretty bare. But as for the ride itself, the vertical top-hat element is a really unique sensation, and I thought it was a really fun shuttle coaster.

Next was Pandemonium, a family spinning coaster. Not much else to say, but it was a lot of fun.

Then came The Boss, which was the coaster that I'd heard the most about, but only that it was a wooden coaster, and it was kind of in the woods. As I was approaching, I realized 2 things. First, that queue line is ridiculously long, and it takes forever to get to the station. Second, this is a pretty big coaster, and it's on a hillside, so it's pretty long. I walked into an empty station, and picked a seat about 3/4 of the way back, and we were on our way. So... The Boss is a really strange, crazy coaster. The first drop plummets you down to a long straight-away, when you're really still going downhill, and then drops again even farther, which I was not expecting at all. Then there are some big hills, one of which has brakes that slow the train to a complete stop before releasing you again. And the rest of the ride is a pretty intense jaunt back to the station. The park was so dead that I re-rode twice in a row, but after that I had to call it quits. I think the track could use some work, as it's pretty shaky, but that's certainly a unique coaster. I enjoyed it, but it's a little too rough to really love it.

After The Boss, I got my credit on the Boomerang, and then hit up Screamin' Eagle, which was another pleasant surprise. It's a standard out-and-back woodie with PTC's, but that thing really moves fast through the woods, and has some good airtime moments. I rode the drop ride, which was pretty cool atop the hill, and then rode the mine train. Nothing special there.

Then came Ninja. And let me say this. I have no problem with Arrow loopers. Sure they're jerky, but for the most part I can handle all of them that are still standing. I learned that this, however, is the marriage from HELL, in that it's a Vekoma looper with Arrow trains. And wow does it show it. The reverse dive-loop thingy after the first loop took my neck and spine on a trip down BoneCrusher Alley, and it didn't get any better after that. What a terrible, terrible ride. And to cap it all off, when we got back into the station, some brave souls a few seats back asked if they could re-ride, while there were literally 2 people in the station, waiting for the front row. Godspeed, folks. For me, that's my first and last ride on that Hellion.

It was getting to the time when I was wanting to leave, so I quickly hit the Batman clone on the way out. Again, that ride has a ridiculous winding queue that makes you walk for about 5 minutes to get to the station, but I'm a fan of the Batman rides, and also a moderate credit whore, so it was worth it. :)

Overall, I thought SF STL was a pretty charming little park, in terms of Six Flags parks. There's certainly a desire for a really big coaster, but I did like a few of their unique coasters. My list of rides, from favorite to least favorite:

American Thunder

The Boss

Mr. Freeze - Reverse Blast

Batman

Screamin' Eagle

Pandemonium

Superman Drop ride

Sky Screamer (Starflyer)

Mine Ride

Boomerang

...

...

Parking lot tolls

Ninja

How was ride availability overall? Sounds like they have been struggling to get everything open each day.

On our recent visit I feel the same way about the park that you do. It was actually one of my favorite Six Flags parks. I think that was because of the lack of crowds. It almost reminded me of Dorney Park in that the crowd goes to the waterpark until later in the day. We were leaving around 5 to 6 PM, the ride side kept getting busier.

We did the coasters in the opposite order and went to Batman first. I said to my wife "why do I put myself through arrow and vekoma boomerangs?" I know what's going to happen, and I still put myself through it for the credit. My wife rode the arrow, but skipped the boomerang.

I think the Boss could be better if it had PTC trains. That was the only coaster with a wait because they were only running one train.i only got to ride it once in the front row. I wasn't expecting those big elements. An RMC conversion could be epic for that ride.

Good TR.

a Vekoma looper with Arrow trains.

Yikes, didn't realize that was legal.

Thanks for the detailed report.

Rick_UK said:

How was ride availability overall?

I thought it was decent for the most part, although their Larson Looper and large flat (Excalibur) were both down for what appeared to be an extensive time. The looper didn't even have a train on it, and the flat ride had a sign saying it was down for refurbishment. Other than those two, just about everything was running, from what I could tell.