Great Adventure, 3/24/13

After almost 5 months of the offseason and no coasters I was really looking forward to opening day this year especially with it almost 2 weeks earlier than last year. I knew it would be cold but didn't care how cold it was as long as it wasn't raining or snowing.

I got to the park a little after 12:00 and now at the metal detectors they are asking everyone wearing a belt to take it off and put it in the bin before you walk through the metal detector. My belt never set off the metal detector last year so it's kind of annoying.

I went to processing first to add the dining pass to my season pass before the line got long. My pass still says Premium on it but the new pass just has it printed under the picture compared to the pass I got at the end of last season where it said Premium actually on the pass and not printed by the computer.

At the ticket booths, there were signs up saying Kingda Ka was closed but I saw it running so I went there first and saw the line was in the station. They were only running 1 train since one train was on the transfer tracking with the restraints missing from some of the seats and the other train was being worked on. It was still less than 15 minutes which isn't too bad. It was a great way to start the 2013 season.

I went to Bizarro and then walked through the empty queue and found a mostly empty station. The last few years, the Bizarro crew was really slow with double stacking with 3 trains and stacking with 2 trains even when the trains were less than half full. Today the crew was awesome with no stacking at all with 2 trains running. It was very nice to see and will help keep the line moving on days when the park is more crowded.

Runaway Mine Train was next, and was a walk on. Since no one was in the station the ride op at the microphone asked if the whole train wanted a re-ride and everyone said yes. From the ride I saw El Toro was cycling trains with water dummies and Rolling Thunder was cycling an empty train.

I was going to stop at Blackbeard's but it was closed with the train partially in the station.

Skull Mountain was a 4 train wait for the last row.

Nitro was running 2 trains with a station wait. It was great to be riding Nitro again and for some reason, it didn't really make me feel like the season was really starting again until I rode Nitro.

I went to the Great Character Cafe to try the dining pass. I ended up getting a grilled chicken sandwich and I noticed that the menu board showed a $9.99 price but on the register it was $10.99. For $74.99 for the entire season, I'm not going to complain but if I had paid $10.99, I wouldn't have been that happy. The fries were cold and the roll was stale which didn't make sense since it was only the 2nd day of the season. Next time I am trying Best of the West.

Next was Green Lantern. I was surprised to see the single rider line was open since it was a walk on. I got 2 rides and then went to Superman which was a 2 train wait. Dispatches were slower than normal with it taking around 5 minutes per dispatch.

The parachutes had less than a 5 minute wait and 6 out of 8 parachutes were running which was nice to see considering how low crowds were.

I went to The Dark Knight with a 2 minute wait to get into the pre-show and then got a re-ride since no one was waiting.

I was going to go back to Nitro for another ride but felt like I had enough rides today since I never power-ride on the first trip of the season since I usually need to get used to riding coasters again after the offseason.

Overall it was a good trip to the park and much better than my first trip to the park last year.

We rolled out there today. Little chilly and not to crowded. I'm shocked at the price of parking. $22 reg and $32 preferred. You gotta be kidding me! I got mine parking with season pass but $22 is insane!

Glad you had a good trip. I'm thinking of adding the meal plan to one of my passes.

More importantly, how was Ne-Yo?

The concert was yesterday, I stayed away because I thought it would be jammed but I read the park was dead yesterday too.

^^ They raised the parking mid season last year. I agree it is ridiculous especially with no trams and the condition of the lot. My season parking pass cost as much as the season pass

I actually debated going to the park today, but I figured most of the rides wouldn't be open, so except for pass processing, it would be a long trip with not a lot of benefit. I'm glad I didn't go because although I like the other coasters, my trip always feels a little wasted without Toro.

I am always jealous of slow days like this. Kennywood just doesn't have them!

Yeah, Great Adventure on a slow day is a gift. They're usually not too bad in May, and that's my favorite time to go. It is too cold for me right now. Heck, there is snow on the ground again today. No thank you! Lol

Thank you for the trip report! I'm confused why you didn't take advantage of the short lines more than you did.

I have to get myself used to riding coasters again after the offseason. I don't feel well if I start to marathon coasters until a couple of trips into the season. If this had been a trip in a few weeks, I would have probably gotten 30+ rides in. Also because of the weather, it was ok walking around but was a little uncomfortable on the rides with it being so cold out.

For me, a perfect theme park trip is 60 degrees, and a 15% chance of rain

I was there Sunday, too. Yoshi didn't mention that the audio/speakers on Medusa (I don't use the B-Word) have been removed and the back row has been restored to four seats, as nature intended.

Nitro went down for a chunk of the afternoon, re-opening around 3:45. I got three rides. Only got one on Toro, but considering the temps, it was outstanding. I went back to try for another, but with one train, the line looked to be about 40 minutes. Without a TIVO or working VCR, I had to get home for Walking Dead, so I split.

I was told to remove my belt all last year, too. Annoys the crap outta me.

I got the meal plan, too, and the sport cup, which was discounted to $10 with the plan. They screwed up my new pass, so I waited while that was squared away. I got chicken strips and fries at for lunch Yum Yum Palace (I don't use the C-Words) Later, I got..for the first time ever at GAdv..a slice of pizza. A sausage slice from Primos, it was actually much better than I expected.

I'll be there Easter Sunday, as my tradition dictates..done it since my Mom passed in '05..including my 90-ride day on El Toro a couple years back.

Foreigner...well, Mick Jones and whomever he's paying these days...will be there June 16th. I'll probably go, but won't make the mistake I did LAST time they were there. I went late in the afternoon after spending the day at the beach. Park was wall-to-wall people, and I got on one ride (Runaway Train) before the concert.

Tyler Boes said:

For me, a perfect theme park trip is 60 degrees, and a 15% chance of rain

This is oddly, disturbingly specific.

I'm not going to start a new thread just for a small report from today so I'll just post it here:

The park was less crowded than I expected. I guess the cold weather kept people away.

I got to the park right before 10:30, the new handheld scanners were not working so they were manually writing down everyone's pass number in the Premium Pass line. I entered the park right at 10:30, the other lines still had the gates down at 10:30.

Nitro started with 2 trains, then went down to 1 train and later in the afternoon, went back to 2 trains.

Skull Mountain had 2 trains with a 0 - 2 train wait both times I was there

Blackbeard's was closed and the control panel area was covered, they were cycling the train but not for the full circuit. It stopped on the lift when I walked by the ride.

Superman had 1 train with what looked like a 45 minute wait and walking out of the park a little before 4:00, around a 25 minute wait

Green Lantern had 2 trains running with no line

El Toro was closed in the morning, it opened later with I think 1 train

Rolling Thunder had just the left side open with I think 2 trains

Kingda Ka was closed until at least 1:00, 1 train was running. It was a 25 minute wait for a middle row but there was a 10 minute breakdown right before I boarded the train so it was just over 35 minutes. After that the line looked like it was around 45 minutes.

Runaway Mine Train had no wait with 2 trains running.

Bizarro had 2 trains running with no wait, like Sunday dispatches were fast with no stacking.

The Dark Knight had no wait other than to get into the pre-show room.

Fender Benders had a 1 cycle wait around 12:30 and a 2 - 3 cycle wait later in the day.

Mike Gallagher said:

I was there Sunday, too. Yoshi didn't mention that the audio/speakers on Medusa (I don't use the B-Word) have been removed and the back row has been restored to four seats, as nature intended.

I'll miss the last row having 2 seats since it was fun to sit in one of those seats as they felt more open with no other seat next to it. It's just too bad they wasted the money on the Bizarro transformation in the first place and now having parts of the additions removed.

Wait, what about all the long lines and closed rides?!

Raven-Phile said:

Tyler Boes said:

For me, a perfect theme park trip is 60 degrees, and a 15% chance of rain

This is oddly, disturbingly specific.

Well here is my reasoning,

Pros about 60 degrees:

• It's warm enough to be comfortable.
• It's cold enough to scare away local park visitors.
• It's warm enough to still ride some water rides.
• It's cold enough to not look like an idiot when you sweat pants to the park.

Pros about 15% chance of rain:

• Enough chance of rain to scare away visitors.
• Enough moister in the air to make wood coasters nice out of control.
• Not a high enough threat of rain to close rides.
• A low enough chance that it probably won't rain.

There is my explanation.

I like about 70-75 degrees, but if it warms up just another 5 or so degrees around here, I'm SO going to Great adventure. *laugh*

15% is such a low chance, I would highly doubt it's keeping anybody away..

You'd be surprised...

There is never an appropriate temperature to wear sweatpants anywhere.

^Unless you're going to Wal*Mart...then, it's considered formal attire.