Aerial Antics: Six Flags St. Louis

Did you know that Six Flags St. Louis, formerly Six Flags Over Mid-America, was the last park in the chain to be built and opened already branded as a Six Flags property? It opened in 1971, during a decade that saw several large corporate parks constructed across the country.

From the history of the park to it's most recent big addition - the Great Coasters designed Evel Knievel wooden coaster. You could plop one of these down just about anywhere and I think it would look great. I hear the ride is not half bad, too.

Another of the wooden coasters at the park seen here, the Boss. It opened back in the year 2000 and stretches over 5,000 ft. of track. It has one of the more unique layouts for a wooden ride I've seen, curving down along the terrain then back around itself several times.

Looking rather dapper in his recent cool blue paint job, this is Mr. Freeze. The Premier launched ride started rocketing passengers up that huge top hat tower back in '98. The 70 m.p.h. launch sends the train over the twisted course only to then do it backwards.

Tony Hawk's Big Spin fits nicely in this area, don't you think? For a ride with a 'standard' layout, Six Flags has done will with making each ride look and feel somewhat different at their individual parks. The coaster was designed by Gerstlauer and involves a hefty dose of spinning along the way.

Six Flags St. Louis actually moved this ride, Ninja, from Expo '86 in Canada where it only operated for well under a year. The ride was designed by Arrow, but had to be completed by Vekoma when Arrow fell into bankruptcy.

The park offers lots of thrills, and some of them are all wet. The park's Hurricane Harbor water park opened in 1999, spread out over a big piece of land. You can see last year's addition, Wahoo Racer, under construction on the right side of this photo.

Finally, we have another transplant ride and yet another big wooden coaster! The free fall, named Superman: Tower of Power, was relocated from Six Flags AstroWorld when that park closed. The wooden coaster, Screamin' Eagle, stretches along most of the back of the park and opened in 1976.

For Bing's Six Flags St. Louis aerials, click here.

And for those who left comments with suggestions for future Aerial Antics, don't fret! I've made a list and some ideas will be used soon!