The St. Louis Metro as a whole is not declining. The very small part of the metro that is St. Louis city is the area with the population decline. The metro area is still growing, just not fast. It’s around 2.8 million people and slowly increasing, not shrinking. Some area counties, such as St. Charles, Lincoln, and Warren Counties are growing quite rapidly. The population decline in the city and the Metro East areas are responsible for the slower growth of the metro population. Those areas are also further away from Six Flags, so the growth is happening closer to the park than ever before. The reason the park isn’t as well attended is due to the lack of big investment. A lot of people have boycotted going there until they add something big and worthwhile. We see parks like Silver Dollar City add great coasters, and Six Flags needs to take notice and try to compete. People will return if there’s a reason. This is the Show Me State. You have to show us something worth coming back to experience.

RMC boss is what everyone locally wants the boss is a favorite but has become too rough most people don’t want to ride it anymore

Allegedly, the park's new general manager is pushing for The Boss to be RMC'd for 2025.

1:33 Actually, the St. Louis metro population is pretty stable with a little growth. Although St. Louis City has been hemorrhaging residents for decades. I'm from the St. Louis area and there's lots of small and medium sized construction around here. I've seen entire neighborhoods go up St. Charles County and I've seen decent growth in Jefferson County. And St. Louis County's population is also looking healthy. The St. Louis area and Missouri are both seeing population growth. The reason why our metro has fallen from 18th to 70th in terms of population isn't because of population loss, it's because other metros are growing significantly faster. And if they RMC Boss, I'd be able to ride it! Literally everyone I know who's been on it has warned me to NOT go on it do to its extreme roughness. It's the one coaster there besides Rookie Race that I haven't ridden. (Although Ninja, Boomerang, and Pandemonium aren't prizes either IMHO. Pain, mediocrity, and nausea respectively. I like or love all the other ones though.)

Nelly seriously is one of the best rappers of all time. Country Grammar is such a great album.

This started off with a terrible interpretation of what a metro area is. 2.8 million people live here, and the park is within the metro area. The metro population is not declining and is substantially larger than the Kansas City Metropolitan area. So, the first third of this video is null.

I feel if you don't invest in a park then no one is going to return to the park. Look at Great Adventure. It's not exactly in the middle of a big city and it's a hike to get there. But tons of people go because they take care of the park. I think if SF invested in SL and updated it and the water park and invested in a few new rides it's fortunes would change. It takes money to make money. The impression of, "no one is going so we shouldn't spend money on it" is actually perpetuating the cycle of no one actually going.

Come on guys... do your homework. St. Louis metro area is 21st in the U.S. in population. Downtown St. Louis has very little to do with Six Flags success or failure. Being 40 miles from downtown is actually a good thing! Most of the population lives 20-40 Miles from downtown anyway.

An RMC'd Boss would be so epic and hopefully it happens before next time I go back home to visit. It was a really great ride when it was new and an I-box treatment could put it up there with Iron Gwazi and Steel Vengeance. I don't think the park is too far from the city, SF Great America is even further from Chicago. And after they do that, they should replace Ninja with a B&M looper that doesn't headbang the crap out of the riders.

A lot of people I grew up with,have moved out of the city, but have not moved far away, just out of the metro,if they would RMC the Boss, they would all come out for that, I disagree about weather if it would be worth it or not,it is because six flags hasn’t gave this park any major investment in almost 15 years

Six Flags Great Escape of all parks getting a new coaster should increase the chances of Six Flags St. Louis getting something.

Living in Chicago, if you RMC the Boss, you will bring Chicago peeps to the area (4-5 hour drive). Because like you Brandon, I do love the charm of the park but there is not enough draw from a ride perspective.

Love you guys , but 21 st metro area, the city is shrinking, but the metro isn’t

there was noticeable investment in park atmosphere this year but ops were still lacking, I think that would help too. Consider that when you leave the park the first billboards you see are for Holiday World (which is closer than SDC). That's the competition. You have more coasters than flat rides. Get the ops to run two trains or at least have groupers or SOMETHING. Have all the rides actually running. Make the place appeal to the customers you already have, to keep them coming back rather than looking for alternatives. St. Louis' overall region can support a park if you keep all the peripheral money local.

I went to Six Flags St Louis for the first time back in July and I thought it was pretty decent park. I will admit the scenery and location of the park on the side of the hills is my favourite thing about the park. When I was at the park one thought I had is what if the park could build and RMC single rail interacting with the hills in the park to give it a “mountain coaster” feel. Not sure how realistic that could be or if it would be the right fit but it is a fun park to speculate about its future. Hopefully St Louis’s economy will improve one day to justify six flags doing bigger investments into that park.

I have six flags STL as my home park and last time I was there I was talking with an employee about how six flags hates this park and she said that we are actually one of the higher earning parks because we make our own ice which saves a ton of money while the other parks have to buy a ton of ice. I would definitely want to know peoples thoughts on this I think it makes sense because they wouldn’t invest in a park that already makings them tons of money not because of the rides, but it definitely sucks because even the GP are complaining about not getting good rides anymore and it’s frustrating having it as a home park. I would also love to own that park and give it the love it so desperately needs. They kinda hinted at rmc boss in their 2024 teaser so maybe 2025.

St. Louis is shrinking but basically every town for an hours drive out from St. Louis is growing at a steady pace. Stop investing in a park and people will quit going. Duh.

The Boss is NOT popular. Everyone complains about it and the roughness. And if they did RMC the Boss, it’d be immensely popular. People literally don’t go there bc they don’t re-invest in the park and why go with nothing new? Also, annual pass purchase would explode with that investment. Born and raised in STL and 37 years old. Let’s not forget there was RMC Boss agreements in place before Covid. I have faith.

Brandon, I've said since 2017 that The Boss is a prime RMC Conversion candidate (whether it's IBOX or their new ReTrak; we shall see)

Cedar Point is near nothing. Worlds of fun is near nothing. Great America is near nothing AND its better its no where near downtown St. Louis. RMC the Boss, tear down Ninja for a hyper and you will have a top park with an amazing 1234 punch. I wish another company would buy this place and make small changes that would elevate this park to top status.

Six Flags St. Louis is my home park, and I’d say Ninja usually never has more than a station wait. Every other coaster usually has a much longer line. I think it would be good and cost effective to tear it down and put in a raptor clone.

Price used to the a huge draw for the park. It still is when passes and tickets are on sale, but things like food and parking are so expensive now that it’s pushing a lot of people away.

Fun fact after the rookie and the new joker being implemented into the park it has attracted more and more people to the St. Louis area and at Louis population declining has not increased but decreased a little and now lots of people have been populating the park

Nothing has changed in this park or updates since I was a kid in the 80s. It’s almost like we were abandoned. Very sad for locals.

How much does a Giga Discovery cost? Because Iron Gwazi cost 9 million, right? 9 million is chump change for a new coaster, and they could get something GREAT!

STL is actually the 21st largest metro in the US with much of the “STL” population not even accounted for in those statistics as those metrics stop at st Charles which is ~25ish mins from downtown. SFSL has so much potential, but SF turned a blind eye in ~2013 and quit giving this park anything. My educated guess is SF tried saving their financial hell by solely focusing on their big parks and gave up competing with SDC and Holiday world in the area. Let’s be real, they knew they lacked the management or expertise to compete with Golden Ticket level parks. They could have a top tier coaster lineup with just a few investments too, that’s the sad part. RMC boss has the potential in size and scale to be the best RMC out there and good be the parks “hyper” with a slight height increase.

Six flags stl is my "home park" even though i say silver dollar city is even though its twice as far away. I remember hearing something about boss not being a candidate for rmc due to how it sits in the hills. Like i think the park is concerned that the hill isnt solid enough in parts for the rmc treatment. But thats just hear-say, so take it with a grain of salt.

Six Flags St. Louis is a great park as of June 2023. has room for improvement but it seems like it is going to start getting additions cause it's been starting to get some attention. Maybe one day it'll get up to what it once was. my favorite coasters there is Tony Hawk, then Mr Freeze Reverse, then Evil Knievel

Being from there it’s been a long sad road. The last 5 or so years as an enthusiast I just go to Silver Dollar City or Holiday World. I wanna hope that they will do a new ride. But so far for years they haven’t invested in this park. This video is so good and so on point. If your in Missouri you still have Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar and Holiday World really close. 🤷🏾‍♂️ 🤔. That’s what I’ve had to do.

As someone who lives close to six flags st louis i think the two best options for the park is either rmc the boss or replace the ninja with a rmc raptor

Very inaccurate description of the metro area. The drive out to Eureka 40 years ago was very rural. Now, the suburbs have filled the entire drive.

I’ve been to Six Flags St. Louis even though my home Six Flags is Over Georgia and I agree it needs some sort of major investment. Maybe since Six Flags is working with Vekoma they could get a Vekoma Bermuda Blitz, Hyper Space Warp, Renegade, or Wildcat models to replace Ninja.

St. Louis Six Flags is the third one overall, that's why they'll probably never get rid of it and also what you don't know is they store all the rollercoasters that failed from all other Six Flags at Six Flags, St. Louis and if they wanted to put a new roller. Coaster in. They'd have to take parking away which would be a big problem

I always enjoy the population argument of STL. If you look at the city it is a steady decline but you also need to view the surrounding counties St Charles, Jefferson, St. Louis county all these counties are seeing consistent growth. On top of all of this there is ideas to bring new life into STL. I think with new life breathed into the city we will see big growth not only at the city but at Six Flags especially with the CEO now investing in thrills I’m excited for what is to come and Im almost 100% certain we see a big new thrill open in the next 3-5 years!

loved the casual format of this video! It was very organic and funny. Great to see your personality

Boss is NOT the popular coaster there. This is my home park. Everyone says it is the WORST coaster there

Six flags St.louis has a new general manager, and he's in the works of RMC, the boss, for the 2025 season

I went to all 3 Missouri parks 3 days in a row this spring. Enjoyed them all and got on all the coasters. SFSL was the least of the 3 and yes RMC Boss would be amazing.

I'm from northeast Kansas and I hit up Six Flags St Louis every so often. I think geographically, it'll make more sense to invest in WOF. I really hope they invest in SFSL too. At the very least, convert the Boss and replace the Ninja. I'll gladly drive 4 hours to ride an RMC monstrosity.

Six Flags HATES this park so much! That’s why they gave them a Fun Time Booster! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? And then, they gave them a family coaster that they really needed in their lineup! HOW RUDE!And then in the following year they had the NERVE to give them a high capacity expensive flat ride! UNREAL!

Take out Ninja and replace it with a RMC Raptor

Bro the Metro is NOT declining how I know because I live here and see it

This was a great conversation! Thanks for making me smile today Brandon. Keep riding coasters mate.

You might want to get your facts straight. You are referring to the City of St. Louis not the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. The St. Louis Metropolitan Area is the 21st largest Metro in the country and is the largest Metro in the State of Missouri (Bigger than KC) The city of St. Louis isn’t the population center of the St. Louis Metro. The bulk of St. Louis residents are within a 20 minute drive of Six Flags.

Never been to the park of the metro, but I'm guessing this is an 'Over Texas' situation. There's a better park in a more touristy area to the south that people in your metro find more desireable to make a trip to. Over Texas is in the fastest growing metro in the US which is now the 4th largest metro in the US. The park is even smack dab in the middle of the metro. The problem is San Antonio as a whole is just more popular as a tourist destination. People are willing to take weekend or even week long trips to San Antonio, which has multiple parks and is surrounded by touristy towns, and is close to Austin. So similarly, this Six Flags is likely deemed as, just do enough to keep families happy, and stay open. I think people think of smaller parks on the chopping block, but I think redundancy is going to be a bigger factor. These two parks are redundant to Six Flags.

While it may be because of the population of st.Louis it does surprise me as an employee how many people travel from out of town to come to the park!!

They're getting the Giga Discovery, it's a great ride, always very popular, every park should have one. That's all they need if St. Louis is still in decline.

The Boss is the roughest GD coaster I've ever been on.

SFSTL, SFGE, and SFA are clearly the low tier of Six Flags’ chain

But yeah, SFSTL needs a modern Vekoma looper to replace Ninja ASAP. A Boss overhaul can wait 5-7 years. This can't.

The metro is like 24th, not 70th, you mixed it up with only downtown

This is a really great park! Just needs a bit of love here and there for the weirdness of it, but most people underrate it. Great video and thoughts on the park!

Honestly, the main reason it hasn't received huge investments is its proximity to Great America. Six Flags America has received the same treatment compared to Great Adventure. When a chain has at least two parks in a region, it's to their advantage to develop one as a thrillseeker paradise with lots of big coasters, while the other focuses on smaller family attractions. That's how you diversify your portfolio. It's a sad situation since St. Louis was the chain's third park, but the reality is that Six Flags considers it more like Michigan's Adventure than Kings Island. So the best we'll probably see for Boss is Gravity Group precut track and a zero-g roll or two. Just as Cedar Fair wouldn't RMC Shivering Timbers to rival Steel Vengeance, Six Flags won't do anything that upstages Great America's Goliath.

A hyper coaster should be better than this.

the ninja is not garbage sir

Selim I guess actually likes this park. It has been said that the park originally was going to get a flat ride or something even smaller than Rookie Racer for 2023. Six Flags was able to get their hands on Rookie Racer fairly last minute, and Selim had been so impressed by a recent Six Flags St. Louis that he gave them the opportunity to take the coaster.

I feel like this park will get a small coaster every 5-10 years

tell me you dont know the area, by talking about the area -- the "north side" LOL

I really appreciate Six Flags in St. Louis having just been to Six flags in Chicago. Its just a giant parking lot. Sure it has roller coasters but not much else. St Louis is in such a great location with the trees and environment. It really adds to the visit. I dont mind the new flat rides. Its clear Six Flags is investing in the park. Personally I would rather rather see a bigger longer log flume ride upgrade/theming and maybe an indoor mouse coaster type thing to cool off or a family float ride like Castaway Kids was. It doesn't have to be all thrill rides.

are we not talking about the say no to crack shirt

I like the content but lose the background music. It's extra annoying honestly but good work

I have a small trip planned for the St. Louis area. SFSL maybe in the books but it’s a time issue as I’d be going to Springfield IL for the Lincoln Half Marathon and all the Lincoln stuff up there. But SFSL is near General Ulysses S. Grant’s home so I keep thinking I can do both. Maybe. The arch is also on my to do list.

Take out ninja and put in a wild moose!

Lmao at 45sec!

Mabe single Rail RMC

This is a good video, but no need for the annoying music in the background.

Yeah I wish Six Flags America got something that wasn’t a handy down

I dont care, i visited this park once and it was beautiful. Beautiful setting, beautiful paths, everything was amazing. The coaster collection was solid having a ridiculous wooden coaster (the boss) and the stand out coaster MrFreeze. I didnt get to ride the GCI sadly but i hope to get there again to try it out.

Parkway Central 1

Yes

I predict a mini dive or wing for sf st louis

Well unfortunately I call it how I see it. But St. Louis is dying unfortunately and being so far away from the metro doesn't help it. Kansas City is growing, especially in the surrounding areas. Not to mention, we have a lot of things that bring people to our town like for example, the upcoming FIFA event in 2026 which is rumored to be the reason why worlds of fun is finally gotten something since 2009. I don't know. Honestly, it doesn't look good for the park when surprise me if they tried to sell it, but even then the new owners would have the same problem. I really don't think you could put any ride there and track more people mainly because of its location

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All ride is fun and enjoyable and u say my favorite ride is trash I love the ninja like st Louis is enjoyable I ask every day to my mom can I go to six flags so I can go on ninja like even my mom likes rookie racer it is not trash it is great for kids to practice going on mine train and bigger rides like that my little cousins love rookie racer like I wanted to go to screaming eagle but my little cousin Etta insisted on me and her going on it again and she was all alone when I went on the screaming eagle with my 11 year old cousin Vivian and my 6 year old cousin went with his dad and six flags has great rides like justice league shazam American Thunder screaming eagle boomerang and ninja and mine train and rookie racer and log flume and thunder river From 9 year old girl Rowan who loves six flags

Replacing Ninja is a smarter decision then RMCing Boss.

It’s hard to decide because they need something badly but St. Louis is declining

I was at SFStL first time last month. I was hoping for the best and expecting the worst. My opinion finally falls halfway in between. Of the woodies, I truly thought that, in their current condition, the best among them was American Thunder. I rode that one several times (6 maybe?), and loved it every time. That and Mr. Freeze were, for me, easily the best two rides in the park, followed by Batman. BUT - Despite the fact that my body could only withstand one ride each on Boss and Screaming Eagle, which are two of the roughest wood coasters I've been on (I am 64 years old and starting to feel the roughness ;-) ), I recognized that these, like Grizzly at King's Dominion, have really good bones. Screaming Eagle has an excellent classic feel, and Boss feels like it could be among the very best rides CCI ever built, on par with Boulderdash and Ghostrider (I thought the layout was amazing and inspired - I wish I had the chance to ride Boss when it was new 20 years ago). If it were me, I'd do retracks of both coasters, with something like Titan Track on all the most severe points of intensity to help preserve the rides and save money over the long term. These two rides are *good enough* on their own terms so that RMCing the ride would obviously create a terrific new ride, but something valuable would be lost. If I had to pick one to RMC, as long as the other could be retracked, I'd pick Screaming Eagle for the RMC treatment, and let Boss be rejuvenated. I wish they had their railroad operating. I love parks with operating steam trains, but even if SF only had a diesel or steam outline running, it would have brought something to the park. Of course, every park can benefit from a good hypercoaster, and the new Vekomas and Intamin launchers all are or look seriously terrific. Any of these would instantly become the best coasters in the park. I am not familiar with the demographics of the greater St. Louis area, but I trust your take on this and can only lament that this city continues to experience what so many aging cities do. I do know that unless a city has an inherent charm, urban sprawl will eventually both extract the best from a downtown AND leave a hollowed out core that will eventually adversely affect the urban sprawl too. I'd call it a vicious cycle, but sadly, it does not yet seem to come around again, at least in the good old US of A. As it was, I was completely satisfied that I'd done everything I wanted to do there in just 4.5 hours - it was not a crowded day - and I was content to make tracks to Branson, and a new-for-me park from which I left completely thrilled and stoked about. Of the three major MO parks, it was SDC, WoF and SFStL in that order, with the first two being fairly close and far above the last. I thought SF was mediocre, and given other options I would probably not return unless a new good thrill ride were placed there. Brandon, as always, terrific video.

Hell🎢

Been dying inside since 2005

I really don’t want the boss RMCed. I feel like we are running out of these extremely large woodies from dinn and cci. And nobody is going to build rides anything like them. This is because the craze is airtime and these Things focus on the lats with some airtime. I’d rather see a ground up RMC where RMC can let their brilliance take over and do something off the required structures path. And I feel like some titan track or rmc 208 would do the boss wonders.