Day 8 - Six Flags St Louis, Holiday World
Day 8 - Six Flags St Louis, Holiday World
Holiday World night now added
Mats Hummel
Another hot and sunny day that started off with an hours ERS on Screaming Eagle, a great coaster. Nice that the group got the first ride on the Tony Hawk. Managed to do all the possible coasters in the park. As a finale we got to see the first run of Evel Knievel, the red train made it around the track safely. Thank you Six Flags! Time to meet Voyage again...
Ole Bredesen-Vestby (or Brendensen, as my season pass says)
Hot... I'm melting.... Good ERS on the Screaming Eagle this morning, but I liked the other woodie, The Boss, better. Another great day. Thanks.
Jonas Aastroem
Six Flags St. Louis is the second oldest of the Six Flags parks and is really nicely themed. But the continous copies of rides from this chain are making them commodities and not unique like other and much more exciting rides on this journey. Still, the park was friendly and hospitable and served us a delightful park day. We continued on to Holiday World and it's most amazing rides which I'll describe further.
Cal Jones
Holy humidity, Batman. I don't know if today was the hottest in terms of temperature, but it certainly felt that way. Fortunately St Louis was a great park with plenty of trees and shade. The ERS on the Screaming Eagle was fun - this is still a wonderful coaster and I enjoyed it a lot. It's hard to describe The Boss without using expletives but suffice to say, it's absolutely mental. In a good way.
Gordon Taylor
Started well with the 1st ERS then started to (six) flag(s) in the heat. Couple of ibuprofen and several frozen lemonades later was back on form and riding... deciding on Mr. Freeze and Batman if only to queue indoors in the cool air. Best ride was Scooby Doo, fun, funny and air cooled. Off for a sleep now on our 3hr plus journey to Holiday World.
Andy Dewar
A great day at St Louis, ERS on Screaming Eagle was brill, I experienced my first roll-back (or 'short-shoot') on Mr Freeze and particularly loved Boss once the pace picked up through the day, I don't really recall having screamed so much on any coaster I've ridden to date.
Matthias Pies
Netter Park mit 2 brilliannten Woodys. Wetter war unertraglich heiss und schwuel. Gut gfallen hat mir der "Scooby Doo"-Boot- Darkride. Ninja war einfach nur Grotte. Nie wieder steige ich da ein. Jetzt wird geruht denn heute Abend steht die Gottin aller Achterbahnen auf dem Programm The Voyage".
Paul Orsmond
Another lovely park, and thanks to superb operations on the rides and coasters, queues were quite light despite it being a Saturday, Batman was the only major ride where I had to queue at least 20 min, otherwise all other rides were less or nearly walk on (even Mr. Freeze). Our ERS on Screaming Eagle was great, a lovely coaster, and Mr Freeze was again superb, but not as good as the Texas Version, lunch again was nice, and overall despite limited time here, it was a great day.
Chris Simon
This was a really hot & humid day! ERS on Screaming Eagle, lovely smooth out & back woodie, really enjoyable. Got one ride on Mr Freeze before witnessing a rollback which then closed it! Batman was business as usual. Ninja comes a close second to the SFoG version for being the worst Vekoma/Arrow multilooper ever! As I write this on the coach, we are currently crossing the Mississippi in front of the Gateway Arch at St Louis.
Nick Christensen
The ERS on Screaming Eagle was good, and I've got surprised by how good the coaster actually was, keeping in mind that the coaster is 30 years old.
The walk back to Evel Knievel was a very cool and surprising experience, for us that got to go on it.
Lars Soerensen
The ERS at Screaming Eagle was good, and a good coaster considering it's age. The tour behind Evel Knievel was awesome, that was a wonderful opportunity. It was nice to see Chris and Dan again, just a shame that they had to work, but they are working on a coater so I guess it is okay :)
Stuart Cosgrove
ERS on Screamin Eagle was a blast. The coaster still runs as good as I remember it 15 yrs ago. The Boss is as unique in layout as say The Beast and rode great especially in the back. We had a nice lunch and the only down side for me was being locked in Excalibur for 15 mins by a idiot of an operator who thought it was funny. Case of little Hitler syndrome. Needless to say he was reported. Otherwise a lovely day.
Kim Varde Lassen
Not too impressed by the park. Nothing wrong with it... just didn't have the special atmosphere some of the other parks have. I might be biased by the scorching heat today.
Nice to ERS on an old woodie. It certainly was a good ride. Picked up speed during the hour we were there. The Boss is a very special ride, liked the first "drop", or rather "first drop, straight ahead and turn" part of it.
Steve Fagin
We kicked off with an ERS on Screaming Eagle, a well-designed and unexpectedly smooth 1976 woodie. The group was treated to a tour of GCI's latest, Evel Knievel. It was very unfortunate that this had to remain closed until media day, since a new GCI is always an exciting experience. The hospitality was once again very good, continuing the trend set by Six Flags since the start of the trip. The park was nicely laid-out, although the undulating paths were pretty tiring to navigate in the baking heat. There were some good rides, but nothing particularly spectacular.
Nina Kleppe
Good start of the day with an hour ERS on Screamin' Eagle, a really fun old woodie. Best in the front seat. Then we got to do all the other coasters. Nice lunch. Shame that Evel Knievel wasn't open yet, but cool that we got to see the very first test run. Way too hot and sticky today. Now of to Holiday World.
Mette Doving
What a hot and humid day today. A lot of people, but guess that's what you get when going there on a Saturday. Started the day off with a nice ERS on the old woodie, Screamin Eagle. Then off for the first ride on the Tony Hawks coaster. A nice collection of other rides as well, expect for the Ninja, which just where painful. A nice lunch as well. Just a shame that we where too early for the opening of Evel Knievel. We'll have to go back. Now off the Holiday World. The big question, do we loose an hour or gain one, an how will we get it back:-)
andycoasterboy
A very hot day today. Screamin' Eagle running superbly well - the big man getting his 1200th coaster having a behind the scenes tour of Evel Knievel and watching the first ever run of Evel Knievel. Scooby Doos Scary Swamp still retains its place as the number one shoot-em-up. Off now to Holiday World need I say anymore.... V O Y A G E ...
Chris Hull
An enjoyable day especially as there was concern we might not have enough time to do all the rides. By 11-ish we'd Screamed, Spun, Boss'd, Ninja'd, Batman'd and done the mine train. Scoody Doo followed after lunch followed by a dry log flume but very wet water cannons! After confronting the woman who 'shot' me rounded off the day on the big wheel and observing a first run of Evel Knievel. Well done to the guys at GCI for what looks like another great ride. Many thanks also go to the staff at Six Flags and 'Dave' the Boss at the park! Now on to Holiday World to be reunited with The Voyage! :)
Paul Greenwood
The most humid day of the trip so far - the heat was insane and involved drinking gallons of water!! ERS on Screamin' Eagle was a great start to the day - a really fun old woodie and very re-rideable. The Boss is still enjoyably agressive and you definately know you've been on a roller coaster when you get off! I just wish it didn't use those awful trains... There is a very amusing arguement going on behind me in Danish about whether we lose an hour or not with the time zones! Hopefully we'll all synch our watches at some point!
Christof Muehlan
Approaching the end of the River King Mine Train ride, it looked as though Ninja's double corkscrews were part of the mine train ride. At least the woman riding behind us thought so; and freaked out! That was funny.
No, I did not point at the corkscrews and shouted "Oh my God!"
David & Susan Ellis
Today was Six Flags St Louis, and a short day to get in a lot of rides. Most days we have had a lot of time to get the coasters ridden, today we had just a few hours to do 7 coasters, but we got them all in. The heat and humidity made it hard work walking around the park, due to it being quite a hilly park, with sloping paths everywhere. We started with an hours ERS on a classic John Allen out and back, the Screamin' Eagle, and it is a great coaster. We got to see the guys from GCI who were building the new Evel Knievel wooden coaster. It had its first run today, but sadly we missed seeing it run around the track. Pleased we got the coasters done, but equally pleased to get on the cool coach, and now we are off to Holiday World.
Andy Costin
Today we hit the ground running! No time to waste! Six Flags St. Louis, 7 coasters, and only the morning to do them in-and it's Saturday! And we hit it fast with an ERS on Screamin' Eagle, a great out & back woodie with some good airtime, followed by 4 more coasters in quick succession before lunch at 11:30. More great hospitality, including a tour of the new coaster. Then after lunch we hit the last 2 coasters, then relaxed-job done. After a couple of other rides we watched the first test run of Evel Knievel, the new G.C.I.I. woodie, and it ran perfectly! Can't wait to return in the future to ride it. At 2:30 pm, we had to leave for Holiday World.
Steve Gzesh
I was last at Six Flags St. Louis two years ago to participate in Screamin' Eagle's 30th birthday celebration by being one of 20 riders to marathon on the coaster for 30 hours (only 14 of us finished the marathon). The coaster is still running very well and is extremely re-rideable! Today, I also managed to add two new coaster credits (Tony Hawk and Mr. Freeze). But best of all, seeing the inaugural coaster train running on the almost-finished Evel Knievel ride was way cool! A shame the ride won't open for another couple weeks, because it looks quite good! Well, off to Santa Claus, Indiana now to visit Holiday World. We don't know what time it is there (do they observe daylight-savings time in that county??), but we'll arrive some time!
Paul Hindle
Yet another hot day - humid too. Enjoyed an hour on Screamin' eagle, then rode the other woodie, The Boss (much faster & more aggressive). Will say nothing about Ninja - just one to be ticked off the list. Pity we were a few days too early to ride Evel Knievel.
David Elvy
I was a little worried that we would not be able to ride all the coasters today at Six Flags St. Louis, what with it being a weekend, and lack of time. However, we had an ERS on Screamin' Eagle, then we were escorted to Tony Hawks Big Spin. Once we hit the remaining Coasters, the queues were not too long, so, a great day. The Boss is quite a ride. Another great day, and now we are off to Indiana.
Mark and Jenny
The great Six Flags operations continued today, with two trains running on everything we rode. Not being counters (apart from maybe counting rides we can't be bothered to ride) we didn't feel the need to rush around the park which helped in the heat. Loved Screamin' Eagle, very smooth and rideable. The Boss was fantastic! Also loved the non-existant left hand queue on Mr Freeze! Another park full of nice coasters, but now it's on to our favourite.
Chris and Lisa
Hot and incredably humid today, 7 coasters, with limited time, but we managed to get them done with time to spare. ERS on Screamin' Eagle was great, and was quite re-ridable as long as you were sat in the right seats. The Boss was real quick and wild, while Ninja may of well been an abbreviation of Neck injury :-) Evel Knievel was teasing us in its last stages of testing and contruction, but won't open for another 12 days. DOH!
Yvonne Janik
I loved riding John Allen's Screamin' Eagle - so smooth and fun for our morning ERS. I greatly appreciated the hospitaltity, flexibiility, and fun of the SFSL team: Leanne, Elizabeth, Dave, and Ron (and others). What a joy to see Evel Knievel make its first fun around its track!!! I have never seen the very first fun of any coaster, and I will get back to SFSL this season to ride that coaster.
Lorna & Adrian Dade
Another very hot day, Screamin' Eagle & The Boss great rides very rerideable. Big Wheel Gave us good views of the Park, It's a shame we did not have more ERS as we had to run around the park to get all the coaster credits.
Bob Clark
Front Seat - Left Side - Blue Train - Screamin' Eagle - Wonderfully smooth 32 year old John Allen Woodie - A Masterpiece - very well maintained and a joy to ride and ride and ride.
The Boss - an awesome woodie that goes on and on.
Another very tiring, hot and sweaty day.
Owen & Alan Rees
Screamin' Eagle a nice, smooth coaster - but more gentle than expected. Conversely, "The Boss" front seat left my brain like scrambled egg... but what a ride!! Raw power - we loved it. Mr. Freeze was not as smooth as expected, but - when launched with just one rider (me!)... WOW!! Liked the Mine Train, too, but Ninja too rough to "enjoy" more then once.
Malcolm Marr
Phew, what a scorcher!! The humidity is really making the parks a challenge to get around but we're still managing it somehow, although we thought Martin had broken Mr Freeze for the rest of us (it re-opened soon after). Some nice rides at St Louis with The Boss being the big surprise. I'd heard it was pretty rough but I got a really good ride out of it. I've now ridden three Tony Hawks rides and Han Katten is still the champ. Heard this amusing conversation on the mine train.
"I'm scared"
"Why?"
"Because I'm Catholic"
Now en route for Holiday World for a little coaster called The Voyage.
Jeppe Nygaard
Once again we had great hospitality from the park today and a great coaster in Screamin' Eagle for the ERS this morning. It was great to see the new GCI coaster Evel Knievel but it was a shame that we did not get to ride it. The humidity is draining the energy from us. We're now heading towards what we hope to be one of the highlights of the trip; The Voyage.
Darren and Mary
Screamin' Eagle was a lovely smooth ride to have an ERS on this morning, despite the intense heat and humidity we managed to do all the coasters except Evel Knievel. Staff were friendly on the ERS and made this an enjoyable fun time
Lee Bennett
Wowzers another scorcher, we started the day with another ERS on the magnifcent Screamin' eagle lots of airtime and very smooooth. We followed that with a ride on Tony Hawk's which was Martin Valt's 1200 ride (Well done).
I also did the Evel Knievel tour which is looking great! I also managed seven rides on The Boss which is running good too, quite smooth at the moment but very aggresive!
Martin Valt
OK, so 1200 on Tony Hawk's spinning coaster. Thanks to everyone who made it much more fun than it would otherwise have been. Evel Knievel would have been more fun, but there's always next time. Boss still running very well, a hugely underrated wood coaster. Oh, and a roll back on Mr Freeze - that was fun too. I love cheerleaders rah-rah-rah.
Holiday World night
Andycoasterboy
Holiday World always delivers and sitting on The Voyage until park closing riding with fellow members who were Voyage virgins and hearing how their coaster opinions changed after one ride � really underlines what a great park Will and Pat have. Thanks.
Chris Hull
Outstanding! Voyage was quite simply as awesome as it was in 2006!
Mats Hummel
Since being here 2006 I know what to expect. What can I say, I really like The Voyage. Coming back to Holiday World is one of the highlights of this trip. Even I believe it's one of the best wooden coasters in the world if not the top Woodie!
Ole Bredesen-Vestby
The Voyage is still the best woodie. I had ridden it before, so I knew what I was in for, but all I can say now is: wow!!!
Cal Jones
I hadn't been to Holiday World since 1999 so I was looking forward to riding both Legend and Voyage. If I thought The Boss was insane, The Voyage is even more so. The course is full of surprises and the pace never lets up. Would be my favourite were it not for the fact that it gave me a screaming headache. Perhaps I'm getting old.
Legend was really smooth although not as exciting. Finished off with two backseat rides on Raven in near darkness. Still superb, though it seems a bit short now, by comparison.
Gordon Taylor
Return here after an eight - yes - eight year absence, and looking forward to The Voyage with many apprehensions considering what I had read/heard about it. Well kind of lost for words here. WOW! First ride near the back with Joesaphine Public and her screaming friends behind me with Jonas beside me. Well I have not laughed like that for AGES. My chuckle muscle got a real good work out. Fantastic ride. Straight in there in the top five with a bullet. Truely stunning, which considering it's a hybrid is incredible... you can guess the rest. The Citizen Kane of rides perhaps? Ended a perfect day with 1 on the Legend and 2 on the back seat of Raven Incredible
Mette Doving
Wow - that was totally insane, intense and fun. Talking of The Voyage of course. A few hours before the park closed. Also got one ride on the Legend. That was a lot of fun as well, as I did not expect it to be so good.
Nina Kleppe
Had a great night at Holiday World. So good be ride Voyage again. WOW. That ride is just insane. So much airtime, especially in the back. I love that coaster.
Paul Greenwood
First time riding The Voyage and I still can't believe it - WOW!!! AIRTIME... INSANE SPEED... CRAZY TURNS... MORE AIRTIME... WOW!!! THE BEST COASTER EVER!!
Lee Benoit
Le Voyage c'est fantastique!
Stuart Cosgrove
Absolutely insane airtime heaven this evening. The Voyage blows every coaster on this trip so far away by a country mile. Must have had the widest smile on my face as other co-enthusiasts were laughing at me!
Andy Dewar
I spent most of the evening at The Voyage, it became my number one coaster, and I don't think I've ever seen so many lit faces and elated looks in one place, the atmosphere really was fantastic there.
Matthias Pies
Was soll man sagen? Holiday World war einer der Gruende an der Tour teikzunehmen. Sind direkt nach der Ankunft zu Voyafge gegagen. die Bahn ist genauso genial wie 2 Jahre zuvor und immernoch meine No.1
Chris Simon
Late entry into Holiday World for a quick blast before going to bed. Raven flying as usual, remarkably smooth even in back. Legend (of Sleepy Hollow) off its head as usual, a bit rougher but then again it always was, yet still immensely rideable. I'm sure the helix is banked the wrong way. The 2 airtime hills halfway round seemed more powerful than I remember them. Then Voyage. OMG, every bit as aggressive, powerful, and generally intense as it was a couple of years ago. Possibly now my number 1 woodie, since I haven't ridden Timbers for many years.
Paul Orsmond
A short evening in Holiday World for a few rides, Voyage has got worse slightly, and so has the other woodies, they are still fairly re-rideable coasters, but not as enjoyable as I remember them 2 years ago, shame.
Kim Varde Lassen
Feels like being home again - riding Voyage. Few words really describe this coaster, but I'll give it a go: Beautiful, fast, mysterious, out of control and just fantastic. Best wooden coaster in the world - to my knowledge. Maybe the best coaster, period. We got to ride it round closing hours when the dark crept in... bloody marvelous!
Steve Fagin
It was great to get plenty of goes on Voyage when we hit Holiday World at about 18:30, and even better to spend an evening at the Santa Claus motel. The smell in the tunnels is like fresh newspaper print. I'd almost forgotten how eccentric the place is, but the early Christmas decorations soon reminded me, and in case I needed any more evidence of the unfamiliar, the sight of a colony of rednecks through their (wide open) room door did the trick. One of them was reclining in a tub in the centre of the room. (I'm not joking). Larry, the owner, was as efficient as ever, serving about 50 customers at once.
Lars Soerensen
I rode Voyage back in 2006 and it became my favorite coaster, and guesswhat! It still is! That ride is amazing. I have nothing more to say than great awesome and magnificent.
Christof Muehlan
Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very good!
Dirk Lather
Bezugnehmend auf Ihre Anfrage teilen wir mit, dass sich bei den Achterbahnen Voyage, Legend und Raven noch immer das selbe Gluecksgefuehl einstellt wie vor 2 Jahren. Ein Besuch ist daher dringenst angeraten.
Adrian & Lorna Dade
Great front ride on The Voyage, also did the Turkey Gobbeler and had a great meal in the Plymouth Inn. Great hospitality as always.
Malcolm Marr
I rode Voyage 10 times today. It's not as good as it was but even so is still better than most!
David & Susan Ellis
Tonight we hit Holiday World for a couple of hours, and a chance to ride the top coaster, The Voyage. It was flying, and riding as good as it did two years ago when we last rode it. We also rode the Raven and I rode the Legend, and both of these are still top coasters, despite being dwarfed by their newer relative. A great couple of hours, but exhausting in the humidity.
Andy Costin
After a long drive we arrive at Holiday World. Already looking forward to riding The Voyage, little did I know how far I was going to be blown away by this absolutely superb ride! What a ride! Totally mental - like every top coaster rolled into one - on acid! Also rode the superb Legend coaster - another great ride. We stayed at a Christmas-themed hotel a stones-throw from the park.
Steve Gzesh
I haven't been back to Holiday World for several years and was quite pleased to see Raven and Legend are running as well as ever. I got to add two new credits, the more noteworthy, of course, being Voyage. Oh! My! God! What an incredible ride! I've held Kings' Island's Beast in my top spot for years, but it has been dethroned. Voyage has everything going for it. Tall, steep drops. Check. Breakneck speed. Check. Massive airtime throughout the ride. Check. Wooded terrain setting. Check. What's not to love about it? All I need now is dark night ride on this gem and I'll have experience the absolute perfect ride!
Paul Hindle
Return to Holiday World! In 2006 I had a bruised rib (courtesy of Thunderbolt at Kennywood) and didn't ride Raven or Legend. So started off with those two before tackling Voyage. All great rides, each one better than the prfevious. What can you say about Voyage? - it's just perfect - it has everything you could dream about in a woodie (and more). Finished up on the last train at 8-30 - almost in the dark. Great!
David Elvy
It was great to be back at Holiday World, I rode Raven and Legend twice, I love Raven, Legend was better than I remembered and Voyage is still THE BEST Wooden Coaster.
Mark and Jenny
Wonderful to find The Voyage is still the stunning ride it was two years ago. We stayed on Voyage all evening - which is conveniently located next to a restroom and a drinks station! Why go anywhere else? To celebrate such a great night, the bar at Santa's Lodge was just the ticket.
Chris and Lisa
OMG at The Voyage!! This was our first time on and we went straight to the back as we were told it it was the best. Ohhhhhh yes! Now the only problem is whether that or El Toro is better. Tough decision. The other coasters are great here too. The Legend and Raven are very enjoyable. The lady operating The Howler was amazing. She made the otherwise mundane little coaster that much more enjoyable and the kids we were riding with loved her enthusiasm.
Owen & Alan Rees
We were told we'd love all 3 Coasters at Holiday World - and we certainly did, BIG TIME!! All 3 are brilliant, and yet different to each other. Great rides in a wonderful setting, and the high level of maintenance apparent in smooth, FAST, complex rides.
We found Santa's Lodge to be a big disappointment: brilliantly crazy idea, but our very 1st US example of a very weak theme development, and a kitchen determined to show how you can overcook good food to the point of destruction, AND mess up the service totally. Nice orange juice, though...
