Great Adventure, 4/20/13

What row you sit in makes a big difference in how rough the ride is. The front row is almost smooth, the next couple of rows back are a little rough but not too bad. After that, it can be uncomfortable but not bad enough for me to only ride in the first few rows of the train. Although I usually go for the 2nd or 3rd row since with the station set up, most people seem to be waiting for the last few rows or the front row and the 2nd - 5th rows usually have less people waiting.

Yeah, that must be it. I rode in the 2nd row, and it seemed like a great ride to me. Is the roughness a maintenance problem, or is it the same at the start of the season with fresh wheels?

Gonch: good catch on the "included with price" pop at Holiday World. I often will go to SF Great America and roll my eyes when the park announces their FREE water park. I think they may say "Free with park admission" or something like that now. On a related note, they also say the water park is the best waterpark in the country.

Tyler Boes said: The Voyage has RIDICULOUSLY fast pacing throughout the ride. I wonder if they should remove the mid course brake run. Then it'd be even better!

I need that 3 second time-out. Then the triple-down (in the dark) sort of mimics the first part of the ride; 3 drops then all hell breaks loose.

So how bout that Great Adventure :) Skull Mountain rocks!

No Superman Ultimate Flight? I'm beginning to think I'm in pretty rare company amongst the members of this board in that I find SUF to be an absolutely wonderful ride. I power-rode the SFGAm version once because the park was so dead, and that was one of my favorite memories of my park-going career. I love that coaster.

Of course, I don't get all the love for Skull Mountain, so yeah, I must indeed be in rare company.

bunky666 said: Gator, I keep getting confused by "pop" too. I was thinking to myself, "a free pop of what? Cocaine?"

That would be a "bump," which Voyage has plenty of as well. Pop is what we call soda pop on this side of some magical and mysterious pop/soda line somewhere east of Indiana. If you go into Texas, they call it all pop or soda "coke." Which kinda brings us full-circle here.

Jeph, very good point about all the B&Ms making it feel generic at GrAdv. Maybe that's what makes me a little "meh" compared to other similar parks (although one could say something about Hershey and Intamin, but Intamin varies their ride quality, feel, etc so much from coaster to coaster that it would be a more difficult argument). I can't really pick out anything bad about Great Adventure, but I am usually more wowed by other parks, even with less to do or lesser rides. Interesting theory!

Yeah! Skull Mountain!!

Regarding what do we call soft drinks in our area....I present to you one of the greatest maps ever: http://tinyurl.com/crd3cue

^Very interesting Gator! Yay for POP, we win :)

That is weirdly accurate, at least in PA.

Sirloin, Superman: UF was probably my favorite B&M of the trip. It was my first time on a B&M flying coaster though, so it was exciting to try something new. Had I ridden all 5 breeds, I'm not sure if that opinion would change.

Anyway, this is one of the reasons that I've avoided B&M Wingriders before riding GateKeeper. I want GateKeeper to be a special WOW moment like Raptor once was.

rollergator said:

Regarding what do we call soft drinks in our area....I present to you one of the greatest maps ever: http://tinyurl.com/crd3cue

Man, that map is 10 years old now. Not sure how many times we've linked to or referenced it.

I think a lot has changed though. There was a time when you'd get blank stares asking for 'pop' and I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. An updated map is overdue.

We call it pop in Chicago, but I was a soda jerk once. In Chicago. Whatever it is, I drink too much and need to stop.

Skull Mountain actually is one of the best coasters at Gadv. Last time there, they had lights and music on. I love that ride :).

I also really like Skull Mountain. That first drop in the last row has some really great air time. It was nice this past weekend to see everything running. Earlier this season the blacklight track and tiki mask and skull figure weren't on, and last year the 2nd tiki mask and pumpkin weren't on. With such fast dispatches it's also one of my go to rides when the the park is crowded since it rarely has more than a 10 minute wait.

Sadly, they really ruined the theme of ride with ads all over the outside queue, banners inside the indoor queue, ads in the station and ads covering the inside and outside of the station, all for some kind of snack bag they are selling in the park.

Jeph said:

Yeah, that must be it. I rode in the 2nd row, and it seemed like a great ride to me. Is the roughness a maintenance problem, or is it the same at the start of the season with fresh wheels?

I don't ride it that often early in the season but this year I have ridden the coaster on every trip to the park except this past trip and it has been rough on all visits.

sirloindude said:

No Superman Ultimate Flight? I'm beginning to think I'm in pretty rare company amongst the members of this board in that I find SUF to be an absolutely wonderful ride. I power-rode the SFGAm version once because the park was so dead, and that was one of my favorite memories of my park-going career. I love that coaster.

Of course, I don't get all the love for Skull Mountain, so yeah, I must indeed be in rare company.

I think SUF is ok but I only ride it 4 or 5 times a season now. I can't stand the line because dispatches are so slow and on opening weekend a 3 train wait took close to 15 minutes. The biggest problem for me with the slow dispatches is when 2 trains are running, you are stuck on the brake run with your head tilted down and after a few minutes it gives me a headache or makes me dizzy. When it runs 1 train and there is a short wait, I try to stop at the ride. I don't blame the ride ops for the slow dispatches though, they need 4 people checking the train with how complex the restraints are compared to a ride like Nitro where it's just the lap bar.

I don't understand the love for Skull Mountain. I've been on it twice and it seems like a kids coaster in a dark room with some random lighting and sounds.

I think Skull Mountain feels crazy fast for a junior coaster, and that tiny little drop from the back seat actually ends up being quite the little stomach swooper. I kind of question their need to have three junior coasters, but I would never say get rid of SM. I'd say the mine train (I hate that mine train).

eightdotthree said: I don't understand the love for Skull Mountain. I've been on it twice and it seems like a kids coaster in a dark room with some random lighting and sounds.

Yup, and that's more fun than most B&M's I've been on. I'm being honest. It's good to like different stuff... It would stink if we all liked the same coasters just as much as one another. Think about that doomsday scenario in a RollerCoaster Tycoon game! No matter how many great rides you have, there will always be a certain number that still rate Granny's Gran Prix over Goliath and Mind Bender (even if they've been on them all). That's a good thing.

For example, my favorite coaster at Holiday World is Legend. It doesn't matter all the reasons that it's better to me than the other 2, it just is. But I love Raven and Voyage as well, just not as much as Legend.

And since this is a Great Adventure topic, darn I miss Chiller ;)

^^ I'm still pissed I missed the Chiller era.

I recently made a no-limits coaster similar to El-Toro in a few ways.

GayCoasterGuy said:

Yup, and that's more fun than most B&M's I've been on. I'm being honest. It's good to like different stuff... It would stink if we all liked the same coasters just as much as one another.

I don't think the problem is that you think that. The problem is the broken record nature of you reminding us how you think that B&M's aren't that great...and every restraint beyond an old-skool buzzbar is horrible...and uplift forces aren't airtime...

It's not your opinions, it's the way you're so persistent with them in an almost challenging way.