Great Adventure, 5/11/18

I went to Great Adventure yesterday for my 2nd trip of the season. Even though I had already been to the park once in April and gone to Hersheypark twice as well, it didn't feel like the season had really started for me yet since I missed the "big 3" coasters at Great Adventure last month. That was because was Nitro closed all day, El Toro running 1 train with an hour wait and Kingda Ka closed because of the wind. As expected crowds were really low. For some reason the first 2 or 3 Friday's in May are always empty even with all the school groups when Hershey get very crowded on those same days (I checked Hershey's app and some coasters were 75 minute waits) and Dorney somewhat crowded too.

Even with the low crowds, Nitro, Bizarro and Kingda Ka were all running 3 trains. El Toro was running 1 train but was a station wait later in the day (and maybe earlier than that too). The Parachutes had 2 sides open. The longest waits of the day were 10 minutes for Kingda Ka, 3 cycles for Sky Screamer and 10 minutes for the Skyway.

I took advantage of the low crowds to ride Justice League 5 times. One ride I had my own car which I didn't think would happen that often. I am now up to 15 rides total and still am finding new targets to go after, partially because I stopped to look at the point signs this time that I usually miss using the single rider line. When I was near Justice League, I kept watching Cyborg Cyber Spin as it was moving up thinking it might start testing. Then when I saw it stopped for a few minutes, I went to Justice League and checked back, repeating that a few times but it never did test.

The Sawmill Log Flume is having the final drop replaced. It's usually not open this early anyway but it looks like it may not be open by Memorial Day weekend. I'm glad to see the park fixing up the ride when so many parks seem to be removing their log flumes.

Some of the snack stands are now selling sandwiches and wraps that can be used with the dining pass. That should be helpful on days when the food lines elsewhere are bad. Some of the gift shops also now allow the snack on the dining pass to be used for ice cream, bags of candy and other items.

With the low crowds, and the old pathway from Golden Kingdom to Plaza Del Carnval open, yesterday's trip reminded me of visiting the park from 2008 - 2010 when I would visit often early in the season on days that were usually empty and before the path closed.

Besides the 5 Justice League rides, I ended up riding every coaster except Road Runner Railway, Superman, Green Lantern and Joker with 4 rides at Nitro and 2 at El Toro. I also rode Zumanjaro and Sky Screamer twice, Parachutes and Skyway once each.

Nice TR. We usually would've visited by now and haven't. Early season has always been hit or miss for us. The light crowds are nice. We are thinking about memorial day weekend.

Next weekend we are going to Cedar Point and Waldameer(for the first time.)

Thanks

Memorial Day weekend could be bad for crowds. I was there on Memorial Day a few years ago and it was hour waits for the major coasters.

Good TR. Interesting that Nitro was down; El Toro was down when I went on Easter but on my next visit everything was running. I need shooting lessons! Don't do a lot of flat rides but have become addicted to Justice League. And am I ever a lousy shot. The 1st several times I rode it I scored zero and although things have improved slightly since then, I have a long way to go.

Must be that night vision thing.
:)