The Boss is the wooden “terrain twister” that carved a name for itself in the wooded hills of the Britannia section, using the natural landscape instead of steel supports to launch riders through six track crossings and a 150-foot first drop.
This guide covers everything you need before you ride: the current height requirement, what the layout actually feels like, the 2025 track upgrade that changed how it rides, and an important update — the park around it now has a new name.
Quick Answer
The Boss is a wooden terrain coaster in the Britannia section of the Eureka, Missouri park long known as Six Flags St. Louis (now renamed Mid America Adventure). Riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride. It reaches 66.3 mph off a 150-foot first drop, stands 122 feet tall, runs about 4,631 feet of track, crosses over itself six times, and has zero inversions — its thrill comes from sustained airtime and abrupt terrain-driven direction changes rather than loops.
Six Flags St. Louis Is Now Mid America Adventure
If you’re researching this ride using its old park name, here’s the update: EPR Properties acquired the park in April 2026 and brought in operator Enchanted Parks, which officially renamed the property Mid America Adventure on August 27, 2026, ending its run as Six Flags St. Louis. The Boss itself hasn’t gone anywhere — the ride, its layout, and its Britannia location are unchanged, only the park’s name and ownership have.
Search engines and older articles (including maps and reviews) may still reference “Six Flags St. Louis” for a while, so both names currently point to the same park at 4900 Six Flags Road in Eureka, Missouri.
The Boss at a Glance
Park: Mid America Adventure (formerly Six Flags St. Louis), Eureka, Missouri. Manufacturer: Custom Coasters International. Designers: Dennis McNulty and Larry Bill. Opened: April 29, 2000. Height: 122 feet. First drop: 150 feet at a 52-degree angle. Top speed: 66.3 mph. Length: about 4,631 feet. Inversions: 0. Track type: wooden terrain coaster with a partial steel-topped retrack added in 2025.
Trains run three per operating cycle, each with six cars seating 24 riders (two across, two rows per car), giving the ride a stated hourly capacity of roughly 1,400 riders.
Height Requirement and Who Can Ride
Riders must be at least 48 inches (122 cm) tall to ride The Boss, the standard minimum for the park’s larger wooden and steel thrill coasters. There is no published maximum height restriction specific to this ride, but like most wood coasters with tight lap-bar restraints, riders with larger body types should check the seat/restraint test available at the ride entrance if unsure.
Because the ride is built into ravines with steep drops, sharp directional changes, and no seatbelts beyond the standard lap bar, it’s classified as a high-intensity family/thrill coaster rather than a kid’s ride — younger riders who meet the height minimum but are sensitive to sudden drops and airtime should be prepared for a rough, aggressive wooden-coaster experience.
The Ride Experience: What Makes It a “Terrain Twister”
Most wooden coasters are built on graded, flattened land. The Boss does the opposite: its roughly 12-acre footprint winds through existing wooded ravines and hillsides, so the track dives into natural dips and climbs back out using the land’s own contours. That’s what earns it the “terrain twister” nickname, and it’s why the ride produces sharper, more unpredictable pops of airtime than a coaster built on a flat lot.
After the 150-foot first drop, the layout repeatedly dumps into ravines and launches back up the opposite bank, crossing over its own track six times along the way. There’s no single signature element — the ride’s identity comes from that relentless rhythm of drop-climb-drop rather than one big feature.
History and the 2025 Track Upgrade
The Boss opened April 29, 2000, as the park’s second wooden coaster, quickly earning attention as one of the more intense terrain coasters in the Midwest. Prior to the 2018 season, the park removed the ride’s original 570-degree helix finale and replaced it with a shorter, 180-degree banked turn, trimming about 420 feet of track — a common move for aging wood coasters where maintaining a long helix section is costly.
In 2025, the ride got a more significant update: about 215 feet of steel-topped Titan Track from Great Coasters International was installed in the ravine section between the first drop and the first elevated turnaround, in partnership with Skyline Attractions. Titan Track is a steel running-rail overlay used on rough wooden-coaster sections to smooth out the ride without converting the whole structure to steel — riders in 2025 and 2026 should notice a smoother transition through that stretch compared to earlier years.
How The Boss Ranks Among Wooden Coasters
In its early years, The Boss placed as high as #15 on Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards list of the world’s best wooden coasters (2001), and it stayed inside the rankings through the 2000s and 2010s as one of the larger, faster wood coasters in the Midwest. Like most terrain coasters that don’t receive frequent retracking, its ranking slipped over the following decade as newer wood-steel hybrid coasters (using GCI Titan Track or Rocky Mountain Construction topper track) raised the bar for ride smoothness — part of the motivation behind the park’s own 2025 Titan Track installation on The Boss.
Within the park itself, The Boss is typically ranked alongside American Thunder and Screamin’ Eagle as one of the three signature wooden coasters, with The Boss generally considered the most physically intense of the three thanks to its terrain-driven layout and ravine drops.
Planning Your Visit
The park (now Mid America Adventure, formerly Six Flags St. Louis) operates seasonally, typically April through November, with hours that vary by day and season — including extended hours in summer and event-specific hours during Fright Fest. Because operating days and hours change throughout the season, always check the current calendar before you go rather than relying on a fixed schedule.
Tickets are sold as single-day admission, season passes, and multi-park passes that also cover sister parks in the Enchanted Parks family (including Worlds of Fun and Valleyfair). Pricing tiers generally reward buying online in advance over paying at the gate. For current hours, ticket prices, and any ride closures affecting The Boss, check the official Mid America Adventure site directly before your visit.
The ride sits in the Britannia section of the park, one of eight themed areas, alongside other Britannia-area attractions — a handy landmark if you’re mapping out a coaster-focused route through the park.
The Boss Photo Archive: June 2002
These are original ThrillZing photos of The Boss taken at Six Flags St. Louis on June 29 and 30, 2002, restored and upscaled from the original camera files. They show the Custom Coasters terrain woodie in its third season: the entrance archway, the lift hill above the station sign, riders leaning into a banked turn, the track crossing itself in the woods, an on-ride look down a drop, and the station with the flame logo. All photos are free to reuse under a CC BY 4.0 license with credit to ThrillZing and a link to this page.
The Boss roller coaster FAQs
Is Six Flags St. Louis still called that?
No. As of August 27, 2026, the park was officially renamed Mid America Adventure under new operator Enchanted Parks, after EPR Properties acquired it earlier that year. The Boss and the rest of the park’s rides are unchanged — only the park’s name and ownership changed.
How tall do you have to be to ride The Boss?
You must be at least 48 inches (122 cm) tall to ride The Boss.
How fast does The Boss go?
The Boss reaches a top speed of about 66.3 mph coming off its 150-foot first drop.
Does The Boss have any loops or inversions?
No. The Boss is a traditional wooden coaster with zero inversions — its thrills come from terrain-based drops, sharp turns, and airtime rather than loops.
How many times does The Boss cross its own track?
The layout crosses over itself six times as it winds through the ravines and hillsides of its roughly 12-acre footprint.
Was The Boss’s track recently changed?
Yes. Before the 2018 season, its 570-degree helix finale was replaced with a shorter banked turn. In 2025, about 215 feet of steel-topped GCI Titan Track was added to the ravine section after the first drop to smooth out that part of the ride.
Where is The Boss located in the park?
The Boss is located in the Britannia section of the park in Eureka, Missouri (the park formerly known as Six Flags St. Louis, now Mid America Adventure).
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