Great Adventure 4/15/12

I didn't think I was going to the park today since it was supposed to rain all day today but when I woke up a little before 10:30 and saw they changed the forecast, I decided to go to the park. I didn't get to the park until 11:30 and was hoping the earlier forecast would keep crowds away.

I saw Green Lantern had a long line and it looked like 1 train was running from the parking lot so I went to Nitro instead. I was able to get 3 rides with no wait, having to switch seats once. I stopped at Batman and waited 2 trains and then went to Skull Mountain waiting 1 train for the last row and getting a re-ride.

The Skyway had a long line and I haven't ridden Blackbeard's yet this year so I went there next not waiting at all and I got my favorite row, row 20. It was weird having almost 10 rows in front of me empty.

I saw Green Lantern was now running 2 trains and a lot of people leaving the line and found out the ride had broken down. I got in line and figured if it didn't start up again in 15 minutes I would leave. The end of the line was in the middle of the switchbacks before the station. The ride started cycling empty trains, then about 4 trains of riders were dispatched and the ride broke down again. Since I was now in the station, a 3 trains away from riding I decided to wait but after another announcement of the ride still being down, I left after about 40 minutes total in line. I probably shouldn't have gotten in line in the first place since the park was now more crowded so next time I won't make that mistake.

I went to Kingda Ka which looked like it would be about a 15 minute wait, until that broke down too. The breakdown was probably close to 15 minutes and the ride was running again. I noticed the Flashpass employee at the merge point wasn't letting many people go into the station at once, so once you got to the station it was a 2 or 3 train wait. I was going to wait for the front since it was only a 4 or 5 train wait but I decided I had better not wait longer in case the ride breaks down again and went for row 2 which turned out to be a smart decision. When the train got back to the station, the ride broke down again. The 2 trains waiting to launch went back into the station, 1 to the loading area and the other train to the front left side of the station that isn't used anymore. We unloaded from what was the back station behind the loading area.

The Log Flume was running and had a very long line, it was almost a full queue. There was no way I was going to wait that long since I figured it had to be around an hour and went to Runaway Mine Train and got 2 rides waiting a few minutes for each ride. Bizarro's line was just past the stairs and was a little less than 15 minutes.

Rolling Thunder's line was past the stairs and was around 30 minutes so I skipped it and went to Tango. After Tango I saw the Skyway was running after breaking down earlier in the day. By the time I walked back to the Fort, it had broken down yet again. Both Kingda Ka and the Skyway have had multiple breakdowns every trip to the park I have had this season.

Since I was there anyway, I went back to Runaway Mine Train waiting 3 trains for the front row. I walked back to the other side of the park and saw Blackbeard's had around a 15 minute wait, went back to Skull Mountain waiting 3 trains and then to Nitro. The line was a little past the 60 minute sign and took just over 25 minutes.

I finished the day at The Dark Knight which took around 15 minutes total.

It was a good trip to the park except the time waiting for the breakdowns, I hope Kingda Ka can start running more reliably since it's a shame to see it having so many problems after being closed so much of last season.

No El Toro?

Kingda Ka sounds like its a maintenance nightmare!!!

On Easter Sunday, Ka was was running as consistently as I've ever seen it. Didn't see any breakdowns..highly unusual, although I was not there the entire day.