Negative-G - Six Flags St. Louis Daredevil Daze 2012 Page Five

Six Flags St. Louis
Eureka, Missouri
Daredevil Daze American Coaster Enthusiasts Event
September 22, 2012
Page Five

The Grand Ole Carousel at Daredevil Daze at Six Flags St. Louis, Eureka, Missouri

"Want a carousel cheep" is what Dave Roemer, Six Flags St. Louis' Park President said to us out of the blue during our night time ERT session. We were really were kind of shocked by his caviler tone about getting rid of this classic ride. My question is why not just paint it and get it restored since Six Flags has not painted it since what, the early 1980's. His answer was "Well we need to paint Superman and that costs half as much as painting the carousel so just removing it is one of the options that we're seriously looking at".

I like Dave but a classic carousel is the heart and soul of any park and I guess the heart and soul of Six Flags St. Louis is abused, neglected and expendable since it's been the victim of decades of budgetary abuse at the hands of Six Flags Corporate bean counters. The Grand Ole Carousel the only ride that every park guest can ride together. The old guests, the just born guests, the healthy guests and those special needs guests like my nephew. This is the only ride they ALL can get on and take a spin on and smile together and Six Flags St. Louis just wants to throw it away.

After a couple of minutes I just had to politely excuse myself from the conversation from shock and anger. Letting the Grand Ole Carousel rot, leaving the parking lots to get more pot holes than the Dan Ryan Expressway, leaving a broken down Hannibarels for almost two decades without removing it and putting in a "new" 24 year old coaster is Six Flags turning a once regional park that drew over two million guests a year in 2000 into a local park that gets barely over a million a year. That's not worth an hour not alone a two and a half hour drive we have to take to visit.

If you see Dave around the park tell him to keep the carousel and to restore it. Heck they could take the horses off and put on the well cared for ones from Six Flags Great America's Ameri-Go-Round that are sitting in storage while they restore these over a few years but I doubt they will. Instead they'll sell it for a fraction of what a fully restored Grand Ole Carousel would be worth for a quick buck while the park loses a key ride.

The Grand Ole Carousel at Daredevil Daze at Six Flags St. Louis, Eureka, Missouri

Here's Carrie and me taking a rare ride together.

The Grand Ole Carousel at Daredevil Daze at Six Flags St. Louis, Eureka, Missouri

Here's John (aka: Johnny.Ink) and Chris (aka: Dicegods) taking a spin on the Grand Ole Carousel.

The Grand Ole Carousel at Daredevil Daze at Six Flags St. Louis, Eureka, Missouri

I hate getting negative about a park. I pushed off writing this because I really don't like having to bitch about a park taking an obvious wrong turn but when someone wants to drive off a cliff you've got to say stop. Maybe if more people said something Six Flags might bring this park back from the edge. Well at least I have Silver Dollar City, Holiday World and Worlds of Fun to be the places where I go when I need a coaster fix.

Ok enough negative stuff. Back to the fun.