Great Adventure - Family Trip - Saturday - August 16 - Not T

I will try not to make this painfully long and boring.

School is coming up so it was time for a family trip from a family perspective.

Weather - Picture Perfect

Got there by 11. Used free tix to get in and my punched card for a freee bot for two. I upgraded it to gold. It was nice that I could use all of my solo bots and get a freebie for two. (This year all 2008 frequent rider bot punch cards must be used in 2008)

Congo Rapids - preflux (now 48 inches) and I like doing this togehter. We both got some water on our knees and the rest of the tube got likewise except for two people who took most of the saturation. Two "security folks" along the way wished us a nice day. Very pleasant ride.

Note: A sign is now up saying the attraction closes at 8 PM. (Minor grumble)

Dark Knight - During the pre show, preflux was laughing when Dent's voice was altered, but he was a bit scared when hte lights went out with the compressed air effect. He did not want to see his face on the screen with the joker's mask. The ride was ok for him. (We are not letting him see the real movie due to the violence aspect.) He liked the ride, but didn't fully understand it. Honestly, I don't either. He would have much rather gone on the Boat Soaker.

I wanted to take him on Skull Mountain, but he beged us to take him to his favoite attraction - The Looney Tunes Fun Factory. He was in there over an hour. Good news - no line and there weren't any big kids in therethis time. The bad news... Remember how I mentioned last year that the balls were filthy? Well I don't think they have been washed since then. I don't want to get into another "Bud Lite Salutes You...Mr. Theme Park - Foam Ball Washer" bit, because he doesn't work at Great Adventure. The kids (and to a lesser extent) the adults were having a blast in there...but look up at Elmer's boat. When Mr. Fudd dumps his balls...there is an after drop of dust.

During this time, I took the bot and hit Nitro. Back seat...pure bliss. I pulled a one-cheak-sneak and did it again from mid train. Good Ride.

Note 1: Three trains - all day. I rode in A. Later on I would take a sunset ride on train B and I had the only bad Nitro ride I ever faced. It was shakey and headache inducing. Very un-like Nitro. Perhaps the wheels on that train need replacement.

Note 2: Now there seems to be another adjustment to the what can you take and what can you leave policy. You can leave flip-flops. That's all.

I also hit Batman The Ride in the back right seat. (A few people were trying to sit together and they asked me if I would move up. Happy to oblige. Again, there was one op on the ride who was hustling like crazy to keep everyone and everything moving.

Note 1: Batman The Ride has aged well.

Note 2: The old announcements "Sensors indicate that you have activated yada yada yada" has been replaced with a generic warning about brining articles onto the ride.

Skull Mountain - We dragged preflux out of the factory with the promise that he could return. For whatever reason, it had a bit more kick than we remembered. It was a nice dark ride.

More water rides were requested so it was onto the skyway and over to the flume. THe line was about 20 minutes and it would be the only ride for Mother Fluxer...or so we thought. It went down. Only one side was working and this ride would stop a couple of times during the day...once with all the cars placed on the side-tracks. We would return later.

Flume - It's nice though a little bumpy. Pre likes to lean as close as he can to the front and to get soaked. The people we were riding with obliged us, as on of their on-lookers paid a quarter to soak us at the end.

Note: There was another sign saying this ride operates only until Labor Day (Grumble grumble...)

Runaway Train - This one also had a bi tmore zip that I remember. There was a decent ride op who tried to get everyone on each train to say "Chooo Chooo" during each departure. Most of the peeps obliged.

El Toro - After the very embarassing incedent at Rye Playland in July (We measured and past the first two 48" marks with no problems, but wer still deneyed entrance to the Dragon Coaster - which ruined our whole day) I wanted to make sure we could do this.

We measured and were able to go. The request came for a front seat, so we waited about 20 extra minutes (which later we found out made my wife frantic as to what was taking us so long). Well people on the platform were high-fiving my son and saying things like "Hey...if he is going to do it...you have to go too." Again the pole came out and yes we were good to go.

I don't remember much about it because I was looking at his face most of the time. The view, the hills, the rip-up into the infield and the sweet "S' curves. Mid ride, he started yelling. (This is rare for him) His eyes were like headlights and his face was getting red. When we pulled in, we had to wait for the next train to launch, but he said "On a scale of 1 to ten - he would give it an 11." That was one of the best father-son moments I ever had. He asked why his eyes are teary. "Mine are too...but for different reasons."

We would ride again at night in the back seat after more congratulatory wishes from peeps, more double - checking from ops, and more wrestling from dad to get the seatbelt on. Sometimes you can be both: an enthusiast and a decent parent.

On the way home I thought El Toro would be his favorite part of the day. No it was the Fun Factory. But not for me.

FOOD: PIzza: Three slices - two small sodas - One bottle of water - slightly over thirty bucks. OUCH! Mrs Flux was saying how she didn't like Popa John's and wanted different pizza. Not here. It was the first time I had to use my credit card to get something to eat.

I am sure to get flamed here... Free Tix, Free Regular Bot, etc. Why am I complaining? I am complaing because the pizza was awful, there were few alternatives and if I am going to spend 30 bucks on Pizza...it had better be a Famus Rays in Greenich Villiage. (Extra Cheese Pie there was about 20 bucks and worth every penny). The food server felt a little uncomfortable telling me the total when she rang me up.

Buckaneer - Nice ride - more intense then remembered, but short cycle.

Jolly Roger - Fun - Short Cycle. As soon as it got up to speed, it started slowing down.

Tea Cups - Beautiful Ride - some cups spin much more than others. I could sit on these things all day. What's not to like?

Fly Me To The Moon - My son liked it, but was reluctant to go in since he didn't see the movie yet. If he liked it, I'm happy.

Note: The ride op (Movie Op?) remined the audience to ride the tea cups as it is the best ride in the park. They're good, but not the best ride in the park. Did you ever notice that some people just talk and have little to say. Like me.

Big Wheel - What a great view. Bot users got to use the end cars on each section. When we stopped for loading at the 90 degree mark, it was neat to look into the axle of the mechanism. Very nice ride (that still needs more paint)

Note: The head ride op informed each cycle when it would be there last time around.

Sky Ride - We made it on just as the sun was finished for the day. It would be the only ride of the day that we all did together. It was cool up there and just perfect.

Those guys work hard as there are no breaks...there is always another bucket coming in.

Tango - we were joking that we are riding in a salad bowl and that the crazy lady up there is throwing pineapples at us. Fun ride - though short.

The other stuff we care about...

Security - Very Good! One of the older guards we encountered early in the day was an older gentleman, who would not be the best at confronting potentially threatening wilding gangs, did a magic trick where a scarf disappered and ended up in my son's shirt.

Cleanliness - The park was very clean and I didn't see any gum piles all day.

Operations: There were no bad ops all day and quite a few good ones. Even with the skyride down twice, they didn't give up.

Preflux was VERY upset that the Fun factory (along with the rest of the seaport) closed at 8 PM. You know what...he had a right to be angry.

When I go to a park - I want everything up ready to go when the rope drops and closed when the last man standing on line at 10 PM has ridden. End of story.

I mentioned the claw game in another thread. It was amazing how much money people were dropping.

I miss the flying wave, the bumper cars, the boat soaker and the music express. family fun rides that are gone forever.

While I did sneak away for shots on Nitro and Batman, I didn't go on Supes, Ka, Scream or Kethup. With El Toro under our belt, I didn't feel such a sense of loss. We didn't do the Bayleen splash thing because it was getting late and it was actually cooling down at that point in the day. Preflux likes to sit on the gound and have water pour all over him.

Going back to the main gate during the parade was a difficult task. We had to cross over the parade route as the initial actors were high-fiving the crowd.

Dinner - Heros on the road from WaWa! (Yum!)

Overall - It was a great family day- but we still needed the gold-bot to do it right.

Thank you for reading this and have a great night (morning, day, evening).

So now the rapids close at 8? It used to be 9, and I also agree that it is messed up both the rapids and log flume only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There were quite a few warm days in April and May where it would have been nice to ride both of those rides and it is still warm in September. Especially when so many rides were removed the past 2 seasons.

I noticed the Looney Tunes Seaport closing at 8 as well. I think the kiddie area in the Golden Kingdom also closes at 8 which leaves Wiggles World as the only kiddie are open until 10. I think LTSP should have been the kids area to be open until 10 since many of the rides seem more like family rides than kiddie rides even though they are all geared towards kids.

How was Batman the Ride running? When I was there about a week ago it borke down two times when I was in the line and then once more right after I finished my ride on it.

YosiFan ---> There were quite a few sad faces comin gout of the seaport area when it closed (My son's included). The Fun Factory is still a popular draw for the tweener and younger set. Again...you don't go a fast-food place at 10 PM and hear "Sorry, we stop making the burgers at 9:30." Usually people on this board aren't too concerned kiddie rides closing, but if you were younger than ten years old or if you have children of that age, you would care a lot. (Opinion not fact!)

GigaForce01 ---> I wasn't always near or close to it, but whenever I passed by, it was doing it's thing. Nitro, Ketchup and BTR are usually among hte most reliable coasters in the park. (Again, Opinion not fact!)