Great Adventure 5/1/15

I decided to go to Great Adventure on Friday for my 5th trip of the season expecting low crowds. There were around 60 buses for Music In The Parks and Phyiscs Day and maybe around 200 cars so a guess is 5000 people at the most.

Nitro was first as usual with a station wait. It was just crowded enough to walk around where I got the C train and was able to stay on the train for 2 re-rides. The C train was running great and very smooth. The B train has also been running well and the A train has been slightly more rough compared to last year.

Skull Mountain was a 3 train wait for the last row. I hope they can keep all the effects working. On opening weekend, there was no music and not all the props in the ride were not lit up.

Blackbeard's was loading with no wait so I stopped there and went to El Toro. The line was in the first switchback but the station in the back was not crowded and the total wait time was under 10 minutes.The more rides I get at El Toro, the more I like the coaster and although I still like Nitro better, El Toro is a close 2nd for my favorite coaster in the park.

The line for El Toro had gotten a little longer so I decided to go back to it later and went to Bizarro but they had temporarily closed the ride to take a train off. Runaway Mine Train which was a station wait and I walked around for another ride and went back to Bizarro. Dispatches were fast with no stacking and I think the ride runs better with 2 trains compared to 3 trains since the 3rd train almost always is double stacked.

El Toro was now a station wait and I got 3 rides only having to change rows once.

Green Lantern was running 1 train with a 2 train wait and even though Superman had a station wait, I skipped it today since I wanted to ride Kingda Ka and still have time to go back to Nitro.

Kingda Ka had been running on and off since I had gotten to the park and had just reopened after a breakdown with the line right at the merge point. Since Zumanjaro was closed the entire time I was at the park, the line moved fast and the line took around 10 miutes, my longest wait of the day. I got the 3rd car and it wasn't a good ride with it being very rough. From now on, I'm only going to ride in the front two cars, and try to get the 2nd row of 1st row of the 2nd car. The line had gotten to the end of the first switchback so I decided against a re-ride.

Unfortunately I have not had good luck with Zumanjaro this year. My first trip to the park it ran without issues. The 2nd trip it broke down when I was in the loading area and reopened about 10 minutes later. The 3rd trip it broke down while in the gondola waiting for the dispatch and was closed for a few hours after that. It was closed the entire time I was at the park last week and on Friday. This has caused Kingda Ka to have longer lines.

Batman had no wait and I went back to Nitro to finish the trip getting 3 rides in having to change rows once. Going up the lift on Nitro, I saw there was a music awards ceremony in the stunt arena. I also saw they were testing something new at Nitro. They have these harnesses that attach to a of a modified seatback in the middle of the row. It looks similar to the attachment I have seen pictures of at Busch Gardens where an amputee is able to ride. An employee was wearing the harness and clipped it to the attachment. There is also now a bench in the station with a green fence behind it probably to give anyone using the device, an area to sit and wait and put on the harness.

Some people didn't know the park closed at 6 and when leaving I saw a family going up to the metal detectors surprised they couldn't get in. I know a 6:00 is early compared to other parks in the area but it made sense for the park to do that. Many school groups either left by 5 or were at the award ceremony and the rides were running with half empty trains during the last hour except for Kingda Ka and it was still a great day to get a lot of rides in without waiting.