The Boss is a massive wooden roller coaster that has been operating in Six Flags, St. Louis since 2000. It was designed by Custom Coasters International. The Boss is one hot mess of a roller coaster. For everything that I love, there is something that I think desperately needs work.
The Boss at Six Flags: Overview and Analysis
The Boss was certainly built to impress. It’s a massive terrain coaster. Built from the ground up to use the terrain that it currently sits on. The Boss is for better or worse, one of the signature rides that Six Flags St. Louis has in its coaster lineup.
My favorite elements are everything in the first half prior to the mid-course brake run. The element that impresses me the most is right after the first drop. You head into a very small straightaway which goes directly towards a massive part of the structure of The Boss. As soon as you enter inside the track it does a small dropdown which gives a nice pop of airtime. I can really beat up on The Boss, but night rides are legendary. It is back in the very dark woods away from the rest of the park. It is the best way to experience The Boss.
The Boss is Rough
Now to the things that I have big trouble with. The Boss was first advertised as faster, longer, and smoother than at the time, the only other wooden roller coaster at Six Flags St. Louis, The Screaming Eagle. That was true when it premiered in 2000. It is not true now. Some wooden roller coasters get a little rougher with age, but it just adds to their charm. The Boss can be overbearingly rough. I love to marathon coasters, but with The Boss, I usually can only ride it once if I take the back, or twice if I ride in the front. When I feel the need to punish myself, I will ride in the back, because the back gives some crazy airtime.
In 2018 they removed one of my favorite elements of this coaster. It used to end with a 580° helix finale. Oh man, was it was intense! It must have also been extremely hard on the track, and the trains because they removed it. Coasters are built with all other parts taken into consideration. Removing that much track of The Boss means you need to account for all that momentum not needed. The solution was to instead of giving the trains a little slow down at the mid-course, they would either almost or completely stop the trains. Nothing will ruin the momentum of a coaster like pausing it.
Final Verdict
I have complained a lot here, but let me be clear, I still have a lot of fun riding The Boss. Whether or not you will think that it is a torture device or a classic will depend on how much punishment you can handle and still have a good time. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the Boss a 6.5. If The Boss was still the same Boss I rode back in 2000 when it opened, I would give it a 9.
Pros: Fast, Great first half, night rides
Cons: Rough, Not aging well
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