Is SFGadv That Bad?
I think SFGAdv is one of the best parks there is, not because I'm only 40 minutes away, but because there are so many Different Types of rides offered and Class A coasters now. The employees even seem to be kinder and more personable this year. My only complaint is that the park is so dirty. They do have people walking around picking up after the slobs, but I don't mean that. Paint is needed on many things, and lots of things just need a darn good scrubbing. There's black mildew/mold growning on some things, and the vents in the ceiling of the bathrooms have dust stalagtites growing down from them...eek! It just irks me that when they charge top dollar for everything they sell, they could certainly afford to keep the appearance of the park up. Oh well. But, I'm playing hookie from work tomorrow and going again! Sat. (opening day) was great...no lines to speak of! Nitro's first drop is so cool from the first row!
I'll agree with the idea that Great Adventure suffers from long lines during the weekends. In general, the park is very good. There are a nice variety of rides, the guest service is (contrary to popular belief) very fast and friendly, and the coasters are excellent. I will agree that the coasters have improved as of late, but even back in the Shockwave/Lightnin' Loops days, the rides were amazing.
The park really needed four things:
1) a hypercoaster (which they solved with NITRO!)
2) a truly world-class woodie (let's face it: Rolling Thunder may have some decent airtime, but it just doesn't compare with some of the other woodies out there)
3) just a little more variety in the thrill ride department (bring back a stand-up, maybe put a suspended over the lake, add a gyro-drop...these little touches would truly bring out the best in the park)
4) better all-around theming (sure, the entire Six Flags chain generally suffers from this, but still...)
In general, the Six Flags chain treats Great Adventure as the Magic Mountain of the east, and it really is. It is only a few coasters short of a world record collection, and it's got an excellent variety of family and intermediate rides. Why it gets a bad rap, I don't know. Maybe it's the close proximity to other parks, like Dorney, Kennywood, and even Hershey, all parks that are extremely clean and hospitable, and home to great thrill rides and excellent family-friendly theming. In that respect, sure Great Adventure is a little lacking.
But to answer the question, is it really that bad? No. If you look past the little things, Great Adventure is a fantastic park.
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NITRO kicks it into high gear...only at Six Flags Great Adventure!
Got to be Goofy -- June 29, 2001???
The park really needed four things:
1) a hypercoaster (which they solved with NITRO!)
2) a truly world-class woodie (let's face it: Rolling Thunder may have some decent airtime, but it just doesn't compare with some of the other woodies out there)
3) just a little more variety in the thrill ride department (bring back a stand-up, maybe put a suspended over the lake, add a gyro-drop...these little touches would truly bring out the best in the park)
4) better all-around theming (sure, the entire Six Flags chain generally suffers from this, but still...)
In general, the Six Flags chain treats Great Adventure as the Magic Mountain of the east, and it really is. It is only a few coasters short of a world record collection, and it's got an excellent variety of family and intermediate rides. Why it gets a bad rap, I don't know. Maybe it's the close proximity to other parks, like Dorney, Kennywood, and even Hershey, all parks that are extremely clean and hospitable, and home to great thrill rides and excellent family-friendly theming. In that respect, sure Great Adventure is a little lacking.
But to answer the question, is it really that bad? No. If you look past the little things, Great Adventure is a fantastic park.
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NITRO kicks it into high gear...only at Six Flags Great Adventure!
Got to be Goofy -- June 29, 2001???
Thats what I used to say about SFGA,, it doesnt get any credit,, I have never been to SFGADV,, but friends of mine that used to live out there say its a real nice park,, they say SFGA is better , I think cause they live down the street from it now, but they did say the rides there arent as good,, but really,, I think the park looks pretty good, and I would like to go there someday,, id probably go there and SFWOA, Cedar Point, instead of going to SFMM,, im so sick of hearing about that park..
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AMERICAN EAGLE!! (RED TRAIN)BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's so bad about Great Adventure? New York and New Jersey patrons. Sorry, it's not a blanket statement, but the attitude is definitely a lot rougher up here. The crowds also kill any enthusiasm I have for this park. I was there on a Tuesday last year in August and every major coaster had lines of an hour or more. It took half-an-hour just to get through the toll booths on the Jersey Turnpike to get to the road leading to the park. It was another hour just to get my sister through the ticket booths and security gates because she doesn't have a SF season pass. So what's right? The flat ride selection is excellent. I challenge anyone to find a better selection of modern and older flat rides in America. Some of the coasters are also very good including one of my favorite woodies Rolling Thunder. So there you have it.
What are the crowds like this time of year? I was thinking of going sometime this week and I wondered how much time I would spend waiting in line.
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Joe Cernelli
Head Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com/
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Joe Cernelli
Head Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com/
The park overall does not have a good relationship with the largest local newspaper. After a fire that killed I belive 3 people in the haunted house and two coaster accidents that involved fatalities the local news really hammered the park for many years.
Given the location of the park to major population centers NY 1.5 hrs., Philly a little over an hour, Boston 3 hours, Washington DC & Baltimore MD just over 2 hours, the park tends to get quite crowded especially on weekends and holidays. When Time Warner took over the park in the early 90's they basically did little to maintain the park and actually did nothing more than maximize the profit with the least amount of capital expenditure.
Now Premiere (Six Flags Corp.) owns the park and seems at least for the time being ready to spend what it takes to put the park back into shape and do the maintaince required to get everything back to where it should be.
This year in addition to the new coaster the boardwalk has been completely painted. The entrance area is already planted with spring flowers. The main gate looks cleaner than I can remember it. There is new landscaping throughout the park (landscaping and theming are not the same.)
Belive it or not Six Flags even calls this park it's "Flagship Park" and like was already said on this thread being treated like Magic Mountain East. In the few years that Six Flags has owned the park there have been many overall improvements and It appears from the news releases that the corporation is committed to improving the park and it's overall reputation.
A few things my wife and I have found useful in the past are:
1. Get to the park early (open it) You can usually get about 2 hours of good ride time because the Safari opens an hour before the theme park and most people go there first. BTW don't skip the safari it is in fact worth seeing but do it later in the day when the park becomes crowded and you need a break.
2. Make a plan, Medusa is on one end of the park and Nitro is on the other they are the most popular rides in the park. Medusa has great throughput. Last year it wasn't near as long a wait as in the 2 years before. I think people are looking for the new attractions and they are the ones that are crowded.
3. Rainy or rain threatening days are a boon living less than half hour from the park we go on dreary overcast days and are never faced with the long lines. Likewise Monday and Tuesday seem to be quiet days as well.
In general SFGADV is no better or worse than any of the other Six Flags parks. Each seems to be unique to a point and yet you still have the familiarity of the name. I have been to SFGA,SFA,SFDL, on busy summer days and while have seen those parks a little dirty as well. I will agree however, that the lines are in general not as large as they are at SFGADV with the exception of SFGA. The worst lines I ever experienced were in Gurnee I didn't know that Chicago and Milwaukee could generate that kind of crowd but then again the park seems to want their ques filled so don't add trains etc. until they are packed to the gills.
Given the location of the park to major population centers NY 1.5 hrs., Philly a little over an hour, Boston 3 hours, Washington DC & Baltimore MD just over 2 hours, the park tends to get quite crowded especially on weekends and holidays. When Time Warner took over the park in the early 90's they basically did little to maintain the park and actually did nothing more than maximize the profit with the least amount of capital expenditure.
Now Premiere (Six Flags Corp.) owns the park and seems at least for the time being ready to spend what it takes to put the park back into shape and do the maintaince required to get everything back to where it should be.
This year in addition to the new coaster the boardwalk has been completely painted. The entrance area is already planted with spring flowers. The main gate looks cleaner than I can remember it. There is new landscaping throughout the park (landscaping and theming are not the same.)
Belive it or not Six Flags even calls this park it's "Flagship Park" and like was already said on this thread being treated like Magic Mountain East. In the few years that Six Flags has owned the park there have been many overall improvements and It appears from the news releases that the corporation is committed to improving the park and it's overall reputation.
A few things my wife and I have found useful in the past are:
1. Get to the park early (open it) You can usually get about 2 hours of good ride time because the Safari opens an hour before the theme park and most people go there first. BTW don't skip the safari it is in fact worth seeing but do it later in the day when the park becomes crowded and you need a break.
2. Make a plan, Medusa is on one end of the park and Nitro is on the other they are the most popular rides in the park. Medusa has great throughput. Last year it wasn't near as long a wait as in the 2 years before. I think people are looking for the new attractions and they are the ones that are crowded.
3. Rainy or rain threatening days are a boon living less than half hour from the park we go on dreary overcast days and are never faced with the long lines. Likewise Monday and Tuesday seem to be quiet days as well.
In general SFGADV is no better or worse than any of the other Six Flags parks. Each seems to be unique to a point and yet you still have the familiarity of the name. I have been to SFGA,SFA,SFDL, on busy summer days and while have seen those parks a little dirty as well. I will agree however, that the lines are in general not as large as they are at SFGADV with the exception of SFGA. The worst lines I ever experienced were in Gurnee I didn't know that Chicago and Milwaukee could generate that kind of crowd but then again the park seems to want their ques filled so don't add trains etc. until they are packed to the gills.
if it is such a bad park then why is it always soo crowded? ive never been their but that just doesnt make sense to me. i bet other parks wished they were treated like that. i agree that every park needs a good woodie(even cp) and isnt wuite complete without one. just imagine if cp had a woodie like shivering timbers with a few extra elements at the end. WOW! what a park it would be. and the same goes with sfmm.
Bubala said:
"I live in New Jersey, and I personally hate the crowds attitude. No offense to the nice people, but all the "gangster" teens that come from all over really annoy me. They vandalize the stations and act like morons."
I couldn't agree more!!This actually makes me think of something my husband spotted on Saturday.While standing in Line for Nitro my husband looked at the wall to the station house and noticed three wads of gum stuck to it.He said he couldn't believe the park had only been officially open for one day and somebody already wants to start making things look crappy.As far as the park having to be good because it is so crowded,like i said,look at the surrounding cities,where else can they find this many rides and attractions?The crowds at this park will never go away simply because of the location and to a business man,it's a gold mine so who cares what they do to the place as long as their paying and still pouring into the park.Crummy attitude but,it's the truth and it stinks!
One of b&m's newest,tallest,and fastest has been practically a walk on since saturday and people are still trying to cut this place up. Has anyone ever seen the lines at cedar point and magic mountain on the weekends? Has anyone ever seen the gum on the walls there? It's no worse than the other big parks. Aren't there punk kids at all parks?
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"One good thing about all this, with all this fresh air were gonna sleep like babies"
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"One good thing about all this, with all this fresh air were gonna sleep like babies"
Actually, no.
What Cedar Point excels at is two things: One, keeping you more than arm's length away from things to vandalize, and two, keeping the line moving so you don't have time to vandalize. They aren't perfect, but when there is a problem they're pretty good about addressing it quickly. (See Millennium Force queue, last two switch-backs. Because they were next to the brick wall of the ramp, people were putting gum there. They closed those two lines. They also removed the paint from the railing and put plastic on the red station beams. Problem solved.)
The other thing that has a huge impact on crowd quality is admission. Cheap season passes are a bad idea, plain and simple. Kids aren't going to spend a lot of money to hang around and cause trouble. $100+ season passes show the way. That's a lot of money for a baby sitting service.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
What Cedar Point excels at is two things: One, keeping you more than arm's length away from things to vandalize, and two, keeping the line moving so you don't have time to vandalize. They aren't perfect, but when there is a problem they're pretty good about addressing it quickly. (See Millennium Force queue, last two switch-backs. Because they were next to the brick wall of the ramp, people were putting gum there. They closed those two lines. They also removed the paint from the railing and put plastic on the red station beams. Problem solved.)
The other thing that has a huge impact on crowd quality is admission. Cheap season passes are a bad idea, plain and simple. Kids aren't going to spend a lot of money to hang around and cause trouble. $100+ season passes show the way. That's a lot of money for a baby sitting service.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
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