Flash Pass at SFGA this Saturday (4/17)?

Hi everyone,

I'm going to make a one day trip to SFGAdv and want to make the most of it but also don't want to waste money on a flash pass if I don't need it. The weather is supposed to be in the high 50s so I don't know if that plus the fact that it's April will keep crowds away - what do you guys think?

Let me get my Magic 8 Ball...

It says "Cannot predict now".

Which SFGA do you mean? Great America or Great Adventure?

Sorry! Great Adventure. I know that no one knows for sure, I was just wondering what people who know the park better than me thought.

Given that his User name is Westchester, I assume he's from NY and talking about GAdv.

The first piece of advice is go, look at the parking lot and the lines (and how many trains the rides you want to ride are running) before you make the decision. Don't make the decision now, because anything can change between now and then.

That said, I've almost never had trouble doing GAdv. in a day before schools are out, especially if the weather is crummy. I did end up waiting quite a bit for some of the rides, but it was managable.

Budget for it then pull the trigger if you need to. If you don't find the waits too long then save your money for dinner.

I've always had problems with long lines at GAdv. I lived in PA, and I suppose that I didn't figure out that school is out in NJ when school is in in PA.

I doubt you will need it, I expect crowds to be light but not walk ons based on this past weekend. The only reason I could see getting a flashpass if you want to ride Kingda Ka, Superman, El Toro or the Log Flume many times but I wouldn't think those lines would be more than 20 - 30 minutes.

It also depends on operations, last Sunday Nitro would have been a walk on or short wait in the late afternoon but since only 2 trains were running it was a 15 minute wait (not that 15 minutes is that bad)

They actually were running two trains on Nitro at park opening but added the third train around 1:30. The line went from 15 minutes to 5 minutes after adding the third train. They must have taken it back off later in the day. The difference between running 2 and 3 trains on that ride is enormous.

My experience is that the third train actually isn't that huge. Especially if the crew isn't busting its butt, the third train will often end up stacking behind the second train or pulling in just as it enters the station and waiting on the final brake for the full load cycle.

That may be true, but most people don't factor in actual capacity in determining their level of happiness. Once they are on a train, they are happy. In other words, it doesn't matter to most if the trains stack when the wait to board is only 5 minutes.

Having three trains on can also (and should) motivate the crew to work faster, but at Great Adventure especially, that doesn't always happen. ;)

So it's now the 20th. Did you have a Six Flags day? ;)