Great Adventure 11/6/15

It was a little strange to go to Great Adventure today. Normally it is the offseason by now and going to the park on a weekday in November when it was in the mid 70's out was different. I thought it would be completely empty even with NJ schools closed and a lot of people showed up, although the coaster lines were short for the most part.

I got my 2016 pass at the gate and thought I had to go to season pass processing to add parking and the dining pass since the paper said to go to season pass processing with the parking pass voucher except it was already added at the gate. Since I was right next to the ride I went to Green Lantern first with 2 trains running. It was a station wait and the ride was running well today. Some days it feels rough, other days not so much.

There were no attendants at the ride entrances because of the lack of employees and Flash Pass was not in use.

Zumanjaro was next and there was also no attendant at the turnstyles where they direct you to a gondola from the regular line, single rider line and Flash Pass line. It was basically just go to whatever gondola had a few people waiting since it was just a wait for the next cycle. Zumanjaro has easily become my favorite drop ride and I understand why people like Intamin towers more than S&S towers.

After getting 3 rides I went to use my dining pass for lunch since lunch expires at 3:00. The only food places open were a couple of places in the Boardwalk area, the ones near the fountain and Granny's in Adventure Alley. I waited 25 minutes at the Main St. Deli which I later heard was one of the shorter waits. A lot of people were in line as it was getting close to 3:00 and I'm sure they missed out on being able to use the dining pass for lunch.

Nitro was next running 2 trains with the 3rd train already being taken apart under the station. The B and C train were running and the C train is a little smoother. I rode 5 times waiting around 10 minutes each time. Batman is still running backwards with 1 train. I'm hoping they run it facing forwards for Holiday In The Park.

The Dark Knight was not running the pre-show. I don't mind that it wasn't running after seeing it to so many times. It was a 10 minute wait.

Skull Mountain was closed because they are decorating the outside with lights for Holiday in the Park. During the last few weeks of Fright Fest the waterfalls were running again which was nice to see.

I went back to Nitro for another ride with a station wait and back to the Golden Kingdom. Kingda Ka's line was at the 30 minute sign and was a 20 minute wait. This was only my 5th Kingda Ka ride of the season because it usually has a long line with the capacity cut in half because of Zumanjaro and also because the ride has gotten very rough. After riding Top Thrill Dragster earlier this year, I see why it is usually ranked higher than Kingda Ka.

Zumanjaro was still a walk on and they were offering re-rides if no one was waiting for the gondola you were riding in. I got 4 rides and went to Superman that was also a walk on with 2 trains running.

I didn't get a chance to ride El Toro because had heard that it was running 1 train with multiple breakdowns and had an hour wait most of the day. I was going to try to get there right before closing but ran out of time.

All of Frontier Adventures was closed as well as Bugs Bunny National Park, the Skyway and Blackbeard's Lost Treasure train.

It was nice to get an extra trip in before Holiday In The Park starts and I'm really looking forward to another 2 months of coaster riding before the offseason really begins.

Nice trip report Yoshifan. We have been contemplating a trip to Great Adventure since we have our season passes SFNE.

Thanks

If you are considering a trip to Great Adventure for this year, Holiday In The Park looks like it is going to be amazing. They are putting up lights and decorations everywhere and the ride list is good for this time of year (Nitro, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, The Dark Knight, Skull Mountain plus flats).

Saturday was amazing with walk-ons for almost everything. Never made it over to Ka with family, but all coasters were riding really well. Toro even had both trains running by the end of the day. Blackbeard's was open both days of the weekend. Thanks goodness Dark Knight movie was off. Sad not to get another ride on Bizarro, which has run great all year. Still don't get the hate for GL- awesome ride yesterday. Superman still a snorefest after the pretzel loop. What a weather weekend! With Holiday in the Park through January, it means the only down month through these back to back years is February- sweet!

Saturday the 7th was indeed amazing. Chilly and overcast but a good day to go due to low attendance. Kingda Ka has never been one of my favorite coasters but I like the rush of adrenaline and usually have to skip it b/c of the excessive wait time. Yesterday when I got to the park the line for Ka was only about 10 minutes long. From the loading station I could see an El Toro train stuck on the lift hill so that did not bode well but they got it sorted out and I got my last 4 rides on Toro with almost no wait. I later returned to Kingda Ka and this time there was no line at all. Amazing! Unusually, Nitro had a longer wait than Ka but only about 20 minutes when I got there. Batman was one I had to skip b/c they were still running it backwards with only one train missing a row, hence a wait. A ride on Bizarro would have been pleasant but I knew in advance that that section of the park was closed. Anyway, it was nice that SFGAD extended the regular season by one week but saddening to have roller coaster season in this area essentially over for the year. Goodbye, El Toro! Of all the coasters I've ridden, wooden, steel or hybrid, this remains my favorite.