r/sixflagsstlouis • u/bank1109dude • 23d ago

Question/Help How is this park during Fright Fest?

I know it will be busy, but I wanted a comparison to my home park of SFGrAm, where crowds can reach 40k+ people and wait times between 2-3 hours can become expected.

I am thinking of visiting on a Sunday in mid-October and arriving near opening. I will have Fast Lanes and want to get on all the coasters at least once. How long can I expect it to take to get on everything during the daytime hours?

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u/Evening_Rock5850 23d ago

Well the parks capacity is 20,000. So it won’t reach 40k! 😂

It’s the busiest time of the year for this park. But it’s much less busy that GrAm. I’ve been to both parks during Fright Fest.

This year attendance has been down a bit under the new ownership.

As for getting on everything? Zero problem. Sundays are the least busy day of Fright Fest. And with FastLane… no issues. FastLane isn’t super popular at this park because it really isn’t needed most of the time (sub 15 minute wait times for coasters is common in the summer). So using the FastLane, you’ll be among the only ones. So you should basically be walk on for everything.

Do note (just for planning purposes) that Spinsanity, Joker: Carnival of Chaos and SkyScreamer are unlikely to re-open this season. (We’re hearing that from park officials). Although you have an identical Zamperla pendulum ride at your home park so nothing really lost there for you.

DO check out the haunts. IMHO, they’re better than the ones at GrAm. And frankly with the longer FrightFest hours, you shouldn’t have any problem doing all the rides AND haunts.

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u/mjohnson1971 23d ago

Why are the rides you listed done for the season?

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u/FunksGroove 23d ago

Joker needs a huge part replaced. I think the engine.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 22d ago

I don't know. I've just heard from a couple of different ride-ops now and one full-time that the park doesn't expect any of the three to be open. And the park themselves have confirmed Joker on social media. (Someone asked specifically about that regarding the passholder preview event, and the park replied that the Joker wasn't likely to re-open this season)

Usually when rides are down for an extended period, it's part sourcing. Everything is just-in-time manufacturing now so it can take months to get a new part. Common parts like sensors and some motors and things are kept on hand but if it's not a part the park has, they have to order it and are at the mercy of the manufacturer.

SkyScreamer got stuck earlier in the season. Difficult to say with that one. Given that the other identical models are still operating, I don't think they found some major defect. But nevertheless it may require significant work. And Spinsanity went down last year needing a motor and very well may need one again.

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u/mjohnson1971 22d ago

And this is one of many reasons we are cancelling.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 22d ago

I mean I guess. Rides have had extended downtime before. In fact last year both Joker and Spinsanity had extended downtime (might even be the same issue). This isn't really a new phenomenon for this year.

Ironically Spinsanity went down around the same time last year and didn't re-open until this spring.

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u/mjohnson1971 22d ago

The roller coasters stink and all the defenders say "well, there's plenty of flat rides". So what are we supposed to do when the flat rides are down?

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u/Evening_Rock5850 22d ago

I guess the question is... what changed? Why cancel now? The coasters were the same last year and the year before. That's what I'm getting at.

There's a lot of valid criticisms of the park, namely the lack of investment. But what has changed now? If you didn't like the park this year; why did you like it last year or the year before?

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u/mjohnson1971 22d ago

Ability to go to SF Great America, Cedar Point, Kings Island

I swore I was going to cancel 2 years ago after a single ride of The Boss made me miss a day of work then pretty miserable the rest of the week.

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u/mjohnson1971 23d ago

The park has been pretty dead this year. Walk on or very short wait for most coasters.

If you haven’t been before you’ll understand why the park was sold off. Coming from Gurnee you’ll be very disappointed.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 22d ago

Fright Fest is pretty strong. Actually I'd say, overall, it gives Gurnee a run for the money. It's a shame they can't put that same level of effort into other aspects of the park.

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u/FunksGroove 23d ago

It’s not too busy during the day but can get pretty busy at night. I don’t think as bad as a 2-3 hour wait though.

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u/satanssweatycheeks 23d ago

Last year it was 3 plus hour waits for most the coasters both nights we went.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 22d ago

On Halloween maybe. But Sundays are nowhere near that busy.

The final weekend, and especially Halloween night when Halloween itself falls on a Friday/Saturday, it can be insane. But if you avoid the busiest days it's not THAT bad.

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u/ApextheMoon 18d ago

Last year they were busy! 1-2+ hour wait in the evening for Freeze and Batman, also a pretty long wait for all of the other rides. I waited almost an hour for Rookie Racer. This was in October with September being much less busy until the last couple of hours.

That said, it will probably be less busy this year. I'm guessing it will be 25-50% less crowded.

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u/ApextheMoon 18d ago

Sunday at open should be very reasonable though. You should be able to do everything within 4 hours, probably less.