SFStL/St. Louis Trip 6/16/16-6/18/16

[Gabe]

I recently returned from a quick trip over to St. Louis, mainly to check out Six Flags, but also to explore the sights as well.  Day 1 was spent all day in Six Flags.  Their park has shorter hours than KI-10:30-9.  I arrived about 10 and was allowed into the park up to the end of what I'll call their version of International Street.  The park has no icon like the Eiffel Tower, so there is no central location.  At rope drop I headed to Justice League, which wasn't open yet.  It opened about 10:45 and I walked on.  The ride was really good! From the animatronics to the 3d effects, this ride really delivered.  Let's hope Ouimet taps Sally to tear down the Boo Blasters building and build something like this for 2018.

 

The rest of the park's rides, in my opinion, were either underwhelming, or felt much like other coasters that KI has.  In particular, The Boss was a slightly scaled down version of Sonny-fast, super rough, and bone-jarring.  The Screamin Eagle (their John Allen coaster) had better airtime than The Racer, but i like Racer's layout better.  American Thunder (their 3rd woodie), could be something along the lines of what KI could be getting -a nice, smooth GCI coaster with good airtime and an excellent layout.

 

Perhaps the biggest letdown was the VR on Ninja.  My gf and I arrived at 12, and received a return slip for 1:30-2:15.  We arrived back at 1:45 only to wait almost an hour to board.  My headset did not display the program (it's supposed to begin when the ride does), so I basically was riding the ride blind. After telling the ride op upon exit, they allowed me to re-ride again with only a 2 train wait.  I did so and AGAIN the program didn't work.  I again told the same ride op and assured him I wasn't lying in order to secure a quick re-ride.  He said the VR has been nothing but trouble since Day 1 and that roughly 10% of riders in each train have a non functioning headset.  I was allowed to ride a 3rd time and this time the program worked for the first 30 seconds then cut out after the first drop.  I didn't want to endure a 4th ride on that head-banger (it's an Arrow looper much like Vortex, but smaller-still just as rough), so we left.  My gf said her ride was great and she enjoyed the VR.  I personally think the technology is too new and that any large scale deployment of the technology should wait a couple of more years. (the graphics on the headset weren't crystal clear and the adjuster knob didn't help much).

 

The River King Mine Train is basically an older, longer and more boring version of Ad. Express.  It's orig to the park (1971) so that may explain its lack of a wait.  Fireball was an 80 min wait.  They call it a coaster, but its a state fair staple carny ride, so I didn't ride it.  Boomerang was still down as was Superman, so those were out.  Mr. Freeze had a long line and so I didn't wait.

 

Batman was a great ride (I've been on some of the others across the US), but Banshee is basically the newer and better version of this ride. To make matters worse, the last portion of the que runs inside a huge storm drain structure, which was HOT!!  Luckily the entire wait was only 20 mins and I wasn't inside for too long.

 

The food service there made KI's look amazing.  slow lines, understaffed, uncaring employees.  The worst offender was when I went to the frozen lemonade stand to buy 2 bottles of water and was told the fridge was locked and could only be opened by a supervisor who was nowwhere to be found.  Total fail.  The coasters were all running only 2 of 3 trains, which made for longer lines.  The park was busy, but didn't feel crazy busy like it does at KI on a similar day.  All in all, I'd skip this park as its obviously one of the lesser lights of the chain.  Gurnee is much better.

 

The next day we began with the zoo in Forest Park, which was great! best of all, it was free! it really is a must see.  Parking is $15 if you park in the zoo lot, but there is plenty of street parking nearby if you arrive early enough (which we did and took advantage of). We next headed to the Anheuser Busch brewery for their free tour.  If we'd had more time, I would have enjoyed taking one of the more in-depth, paying tours, but we did the free tour, which we enjoyed.  You see the Clydesdales and their stables (their horses live in nicer quarters than a lot of people do), followed by a trip to the Beechwood aging tanks, after which you get a free 6 oz sample of day-fresh Bud (or Bud light) if you're 21.  It tasted like Bud lol..the last stop was one of the production rooms, where they show you the basic process of how the beer goes from farm to table, so to speak.  You then get a wood chip you can redeem for a free pint of any AB product in the Biergarten located next to the plant.  The tour then ends back at the Biergarten, where we ate lunch and I enjoyed a Shock Top Lemon Shandy (meh-had way better, but hey it was free!).  My gf doesn't really drink, so I ended up with her samples as well.  After a nice buzz and a big lunch, we headed to see the Cardinals play the Rangers.

 

Busch Stadium is similar to GABP in terms of food options and amenities, but with an obvious emphasis on Budweiser lol.  The in game promos were good (Family Feud and Press Your Luck) and our seats were high up, but along the 1st base line.  Its a clean, friendly park and features a "village" next door on the site of the previous Busch Stadium, featuring overpriced food and entertainment options.  After the game we headed home.  We didn't do the Arch, mainly because the grounds around it are being transformed and the resulting construction walls made it very difficult to get to (and, it was HOT!).

 

All in all, I'd recommend Looie for a 2-3 night stay.  Lots of free amenities around town, friendly locales and lots of character.  

[robbieg123]

Perhaps the biggest letdown was the VR on Ninja.  My gf and I arrived at 12, and received a return slip for 1:30-2:15.  We arrived back at 1:45 only to wait almost an hour to board.  My headset did not display the program (it's supposed to begin when the ride does), so I basically was riding the ride blind. After telling the ride op upon exit, they allowed me to re-ride again with only a 2 train wait.  I did so and AGAIN the program didn't work.  I again told the same ride op and assured him I wasn't lying in order to secure a quick re-ride.  He said the VR has been nothing but trouble since Day 1 and that roughly 10% of riders in each train have a non functioning headset.  I was allowed to ride a 3rd time and this time the program worked for the first 30 seconds then cut out after the first drop.  I didn't want to endure a 4th ride on that head-banger (it's an Arrow looper much like Vortex, but smaller-still just as rough), so we left.  My gf said her ride was great and she enjoyed the VR.  I personally think the technology is too new and that any large scale deployment of the technology should wait a couple of more years. (the graphics on the headset weren't crystal clear and the adjuster knob didn't help much).

I went to Six Flags America this weekend, and the virtual reality option on Superman Ride of Steel was disappointing as well. It was nice to do once; would I opt to do it again on this ride? Probably not.

 

The calibration of my headset was off, so by the end, I had to look all the way to the right to be looking straight in the headset. The riders' headset in front of me never advanced from the starting either.

He said the VR has been nothing but trouble since Day 1 and that roughly 10% of riders in each train have a non functioning headset.

That's re-assuring...

So, I've gotta ask: how was the loading and unloading for Ninja?

Here's my thoughts after talking with friends the last few days:

At Superman Ride of Steel, you are loaded/unloaded on the same platform and are set up with the headsets, while the train that just went through the ride sits on the final brake run for 10 minutes before the loading train takes off.

 

This ride was 2 trains running at a time with 8 cars, 4 seats per car, so total of 32 seats per train. 2 seats were out of commission because they still needed to install the "black box" sensor. It took a total of 5 trains for me to get on; so, my verdict is it's not worth the hour+ wait, in my opinion.

[King Ding Dong]

SFSTL was my home park until we moved to Columbus last year. Been going since it opened in 72 when I was 5. It sure has had its ups and downs like many parks have had. Certainly more effort was put into theming, landscaping and maintenance when I was a kid. It's not a bad park and certainly better than no park at all, it just isn't in the same league as what you have here in OH and doesn't really have anything to make it a destination. Glad you had at least an OK trip.

For locals a $55 Season Pass + $80 Season Dining Pass we sure got a lot of bang for our buck.

The past few years my boys and I went at least two times a week in the summer but spent 80% of our time in the water park. It was only 20 minutes away.

We moved right before Justice League opened, but from what I have read Sally still can't get the bugs worked out of it.

Btw the mine train used to have two tracks but one was taken out at some point, you can still see portions of it.

Hope to have our first CP experience tommorow or Thursday.

[Gabe]

Ninja loaded and unloaded from the same platform.  Everyone who got headsets was assigned one of 2 ride ops who adjusted everyone's headset. Only after everyone was ready did they dispatch.  It was a laborious process to say the least.  As for Justice League, I walked by it sev times throughout the day and it seemed to be up and down constantly.  glad I rode it first thing.  It can only hold 6 at a time, so capacity is horrible.  KI would never stand for that.

[matt112986]

It holds a lot more than that, the route is long enough for multiple cars to go through at once. Also Boo Blasters is pretty similar.