Following a slow-paced day of travel which saw Sam earn her 200th credit on the Runaway Mine Train at Miner Mike’s Adventure Town, followed by our final mountain coaster of this trip at Aerie’s Resort in Illinois, it was back to one of the larger parks we would visit on this trip – Six Flags St. Louis (SFSL).
Sam and I were looking forward to this stop for a few reasons. We had heard mixed reviews on the park, just like we had with Worlds of Fun, which kicked off our trip. We ended up loving Worlds of Fun, so we wondered if this would hold true for SFSL as well. This visit also happened to fall on my birthday and I would also be getting my 450th credit while in the park. But on which coaster?
The Good
With my birthday falling on a Monday this year it meant we wouldn’t have to battle large crowds. It was a much hotter day than it had been so far during this trip too, so we walked on to most rides and even got some re-rides without having to walk back around. Things were looking good and even got started off on the right foot.
American Thunder
We have had some luck riding amazing GCI’s during our recent trips. Some that come to mind are Mystic Timbers at Kings Island, Thunderhead at Dollywood, and Prowler a few days prior. This had me super-excited to ride American Thunder and later on this trip, Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend.
We took two rides on American Thunder, with one front and one back row ride. I enjoyed both and wish we could have rode it again later on in the day. It ran well, but I wonder if it would have warmed up even more. It did have some bite to it, but it was not rough. I’d say it wasn’t as smooth as the GCI’s I just mentioned.
If you ask me what other GCI’s this most reminds me of, I’d say a bit of Thunderhead mixed with Lightning Racer at Hersheypark. This coaster goes through and over itself just like both those coasters, but it is certainly more intense than Lightning Racer. It’s not as intense as Thunderhead though. The laterals were great on our ride and we did get some airtime, though so it was a fun experience.
All in all, this was our favorite woodie at the park. We’ll get onto the others in a bit.
Batman: The Ride
Who would have thought that our favorite ride in the park would be a Batman clone? No, seriously. We loved this ride and it’s one of my two favorite Batman The Ride clones I’ve experienced, with the other being the one at Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG).
These small B&M Inverts are known for their intensity and this one had it droves. We rode this three times and on each and every ride my feet felt like they weighed 50 pounds each and tingled as the blood rushed throughout my body. I’ve felt this sensation before, but it was much more intense on this one than say the Batman clone at Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv), the one I have the most experience riding.
Make sure to give this a ride when you go. Don’t pass it off as just a clone that you can skip. It’s a great ride!
Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast
Years ago I rode Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast at Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) when a friend and I went down to the Dallas area for Wrestlemania years ago. We waited forever for that ride and it was running both trains. I got in one ride and thought it was pretty awesome.
Now I was getting the chance to ride its sister coaster at SFSL and to say I was excited would be an understatement. We’d have a little bit of a wait for this one too, not due to crowds in town for Wrestlemania though. Nope. SFSL was only running one train. The wait was still much less than at SFOT though, so it could have been worse.
So, here are my thoughts. I didn’t particularly love the ride this time. It felt more janky than I remember the SFOT installment being. I don’t know if I’m just remembering things wrong, or if this one just rides worse. In all fairness we were both hungry and feeling the heat by time we got to ride this. It was closed when we first arrived. Maybe my body just wasn’t having it. Overall, I did enjoy the ride, but just not as much as I thought I would. I expected this to challenge for the best ride in the park, but I liked the two coasters I just reviewed much more.
We ended up getting in a second ride on this as Sam enjoyed it. Again, I didn’t hate it and that is why I put it in “The Good” portion of this trip report. I just didn’t love it. For Sam though, it was one of her two favorites at SFSL with the other being the Batman clone.
The Bad
Aside from the two rides I am going to talk about here in a minute, traversing this park was a bit of a challenge, especially on a hot day. There is black top everywhere in this park and you WILL feel it. Both Sam and I felt the heat coming off the walkways all over the park. We could even feel the drops in temperature when making our way off the black top areas, which I can honestly say, was a first. It was definitely noticeable.
There are also long walks to get to rides throughout this park. The queue for The Boss is borderline absurd and the one for Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast isn’t far behind. There is also a hill you have to walk up for rides like Screamin’ Eagle. Wear comfortable shoes.
Another thing that was rough at this park was trying to find water. We walked up to numerous food stands only to be told that they didn’t have the free water cups. I think only two food stands we asked had them and we walked up to a lot of them. This was a first for me at any park in the Six Flags or former Cedar Fair parks.
Anyhow, onto the rides.
The Boss
For years I have heard all the comments about how bad The Boss is and how it needs to be either torn down, re-tracked by GCI or the Gravity Group, or even converted into a hybrid by RMC. Well, after just one ride, because that was all we could take, I’d say those feelings are mostly true. I don’t want to see it torn down though as it has promise.
Honestly, I thought the hate for this coaster was going to be massively overhyped when we began our ride. The first drop into the covered portion below the ride structure was amazing. We rode in the front seat, so we had a great view of everything coming our way and it was off to a promising start. Then, as soon as good began, it was replaced by the bad. And all I have to say is I’m glad we rode in the front. Ouch!
These trains were not comfortable at all. We were tossed all about and bumped up and down violently throughout the majority of the ride’s long course. It was terrible experience for us even being in the front. We got off hating every second of our ride. I couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like riding in the back. We weren’t about to make that long walk back to find out either.
Screamin' Eagle
The final coaster we had to grab to complete all the park’s coaster credits was Screamin’ Eagle. I never heard a bad thing about this ride, but to be honest, I hadn’t heard much about it at all. I guessed it would just be a nice supporting coaster and one that we’d hopefully enjoy.
We ended up sitting toward the back of the train for this ride, which might have been a mistake? Again, I didn’t hear anything about this ride or how smooth it is before our trip. I just saw what looked to be an airtime packed layout so we thought it best to head to the back.
I don’t know if it was a combination of the heat and us being tired/hungry, but this ride also beat us up, but nowhere near as bad as The Boss had earlier in the day. It wasn’t potholes or the ride throwing us about in horrible trains this time either. It just felt constantly bumpy. It rattled the brain, if you will.
I would love to give this a re-ride sometime to see if we just had a bad ride or if it were just not feeling ourselves. But with this one ride that we did get, we were not enamored by the experience. And with the long uphill walk to get back to the ride, we didn’t want to try it again later in the day after we ate. It’ll have to wait until another visit.
Fighting Ninjas for Credit 450 on My Birthday
So if you were wondering which coaster I decided to make my 450th credit, it was none other than the classic, Arrow, ehh, Vekoma looper, Ninja. Now this was a coaster I had heard a bunch about heading in and none of it was good. Since Sam had reached a milestone with a kiddie coaster the day before I decided to get mine on what most people declare to be the worst coaster at SFSL. Let me just say, it’s not the worst. It’s just the most “huh?” coaster I’ve ever ridden. Talk about a layout that just does… stuff. Pacing is off, elements are random. It’s just there. It was perfect and I’d totally ride it again without hesitation.
Final Ride Counts
American Thunder (2)
Batman the Ride (3)
Boomerang (1)
The Boss (1)
Justice League Battle for Metropolis (1)
Log Flume (1)
Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast (2)
Ninja (1)
Pandemonium (1)
River King Mine Train (1)
Rookie Racer (1)
Screamin’ Eagle (1)
My Thoughts on Six Flags St. Louis as a Whole
As much as I wanted to love SFSL like we did with Worlds of Fun, it didn’t have the same charm. It has more coasters for sure, but the stand outs just don’t well, stand out. The park is missing that draw that I’m sure The Boss was supposed to be when it was built. Maybe giving it some TLC can turn it into that or maybe an all-new ride addition could give the park that spark it needs.
I would like to visit this park again, even if those things don’t happen anytime soon. These are just my feelings after spending my 46th birthday here in 2025. It’s a good park, but one that could use some attention from the Six Flags chain to take it to another level.
Six Flags St. Louis Photo Gallery - June 2, 2025
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CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): American Thunder, Batman the Ride, Boomerang, Boss, Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast, Ninja, Pandemonium River King Mine Train, Rookie Racer, Screamin' Eagle
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): American Thunder, Batman the Ride, Boomerang, Boss, Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast, Ninja, Pandemonium River King Mine Train, Rookie Racer, Screamin' Eagle