Associated parks:
Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey, USA
After the shortest offseason in Great Adventure's history I was happy to be getting to the park less than 3 months since my last trip at the end of the December, I arrived at thepark at around 1:30 on Sunday and with the cooler weather and it being Easter the lot didn't look very crowded.
Sky Screamer was first with no wait. The music was Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra that I hadn't heard before at the ride.
Nitro had all 3 trains running which was nice to see. In past years the 3rd train wasn't ready until late April or early May so 3 trains this early in the season was great in itself, add that 2 of the trains ran until January for Holiday in the Park made it even more impressive to have all 3 trains ready. I went to row 9 and moved to a middle row for a re-ride. Even after getting so many Nitro rides during Holiday in the Park (usually 7 or 8 per trip), I could still ride this coaster multiple times each trip to the park and not get tired of the coaster.
Skull Mountain was next with a 1 train wait for the last row. The blacklight track at the bottom of the first track was not being used and instead there was a red or orange light in this spot.
The Dark Knight was running well with the effects working that sometimes weren't working towards the end of last season like the clowns in the subway car. With no one waiting in the station, I got a re-ride here as well.
The Joker looks impressive and so does Blackbeard's new theme.
Superman had 1 train running with the line to the end of the 1st set of switchbacks which was at least a 30 minute wait so I skipped it for now and went to Green Lantern that had 2 trains running with the line in the first few switchbacks. It was only a 5 train wait and I got to skip ahead a train when they called for someone to fill in a seat in the front row when 2 people from the exit boarded the front row and no one in the front row line had 2 or less people in their group (I was in line for row 2). The parachutes had 2 sides open even with the low crowds.
I was really looking forward to Zumanjaro except while walking in the line I saw it had stopped with the riders around halfway up the tower. I went to Kingda Ka instead which was temporarily closed until the riders from Zumanjaro could be lowered. It was around 15 minutes from the time I got in line outside the entrance until boarded the coaster train in the 2nd row. I was considering a 2nd ride until I saw they cleared Zumanjaro's line and most people were going to Kingda Ka. I really would like to see Kingda Ka get the soft strap restraints that Maverick got last year. They are much more comfortable.
Safari Discoveries was nice to walk through to see the lion cub and sea otters after it not being used much if at all the past few years. It's also the easiest way to get to Plaza Del Carnaval from the Golden Kingdom rather than walking through the Boardwalk.
El Toro had a station wait and was great as always. I walked around for a 2nd ride both times going towards the back of the train.
Bizarro had 2 trains running with no wait except for the front. The flames at the bottom of the dive loop weren't working on this trip.
Runaway Mine Train was running 1 train with a line down the stairs. I didn't see a 2nd train on the transfer tracks and hopefully a 2nd train will be running soon since it will probably be more popular than normal until Blackbeard's reopens.
I took the Skyway back to the other side of the park with no wait and rode Skull Mountain again and went to Nitro to find an almost empty station except for 2 people waiting for the front row. It's not often you can walk onto the front row of Nitro even on a low crowd day. I got 2 re-rides after that moving to row 5.
Zumanjaro had reopened so I went back to the Golden Kingdom getting gondola 1. With only 2 others waiting for the gondola and they went to the middle, I got my favorite seat, the end seat on the right closest to the downward spiral of Kingda Ka. There was no one waiting and I got to re-ride. Zumanjaro has become my favorite drop tower and one of my favorite non coaster rides in the park.
I finished the day at Kingda Ka that was a walk on.
In the Boardwalk arcade, the last DDR machine the park had is now removed. I remember when DDR was really popular in the US the park had at least 4 machines in 3 different arcades. They also removed some of the video games from the Boardwalk arcade and got more redemption/prize games. The Studio 28 arcade usually had more redemption games with the Boardwalk arcade having fewer of them but now the ratio of video games to non video games is about the same.
An early season trip to the park is almost always great and this was no exception.
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