Great Adventure 6/20
Associated parks:
None
We checked out shortly afterwards, and began heading towards the park with fingers crossed. Unfortunatley, the rain wouldn't let up until just after noon, so we stopped at Taco Bell for some tasty Cheesy Gordita Crunches. By the time we were done eating, the rain stopped, and we drove to the park. Wow. I really miss the sight of a massive Arrow Megalooper greeting you as you park. The lot was empty, just as we thought it would be. In addition to minimal kids at the park, the rain scared other would be park-goers away. So anyways, onto the park.
Great Adventure always seems to be crowded, even with very little people in the park. The entrance, and fountain area seem crowded. Not a glamorous entrance, but not bad either. This was only my third time to GADv, and since my last visit, they had only added Superman, which I'm not too fond of. No matter, we still have 3 great Beamers, a great launched ride, and GASM which I was really looking forward to. I was also curious as to how Rolling Thunder might have improved with the recent re-tracking. It was looking spiffy with the new paint job. We took a quick left after entering, and headed to the Boardwalk area.
...And I thought Great America was wrong to put Superman in Orleans Place...tsk tsk. Our first ride of the day was The Great American Scream Machine- the ride I was looking forward to the most. I was dissapointed to find one train operation on GASM, and it would be like this the entire day. No matter, I ended up getting walk-ons later on anway. On my last visit to the park, I thought this one was rougher than Shockwave. I came off the ride amazed. I rode in the very back, as I always did with Shockwave, and found an incredibly smooth ride, moreso than Shockwave. Aside from the trims after the first loop, and the longer than usual pause on the MCBR, it felt just like SW. (surprise) The layout, well, that was never impressive, but with that incredible curved drop, and slooow corckscrews, I'm missing Shockwave more than ever. 8/10
Next up was Pretzel Loop: Ultimate Flight, just for credits. This was the shortest wait I've had for this bummer of a ride, about 5 minutes... I like GADv's queue better, but then again, it's just a queue, right? Same ride as in Gurnee, the pretzel was great, as always, the rest of the ride was designed to help riders recuperate from that amazing inversion... 6.5/10
After PL:UF, I took a few quick shots of GASM, and some nifty shots of Superman, which I will post as soon as I upload them. By this time, I was in the mood for some airtime, and it was decided that we head over to Nitro/B:TR/Chiller. As we walked by Chiller, I saw Robin speeding through it's course. How could this ride ever valley? This would be my first time on Robin since the retro-fitting. Those are some odd lapbars... The crew was amazing, making people laugh. Very talkative... I opted for a last row ride, and the wait was only about 15 minutes. Much better than last time I rode this thing. As for the ride itself? Wow. I love Premier. Until I ride TTD, this will be my favorite launched ride, not because fo the launch itself, but that damn zero-g roll was incredible. I'm so glad these trains were retro-fitted, as it really has given the ride a second chance. I was dissapointed that Batman was closed, because I was really looking forward to experiancing a Top Hat without OTSR's, but I'll wait until August and SFSTl... 8.5/10
Next up was B:TR. Great America's Batman has been my favorite ride at the park this year. I found that if you ride it after the weather starts cooling down, around 7-ish, it really kicks your ass. While this one was a little more rattley, it was intense as hell. Not a single calm spot to be found on any B:TR. Best Inverter Ever. I noticed that GADv was finally taking pity on our eyes, and there seems to be a strip of purple paint on the first corckscrew. While I'd rather see it retain it's black color, anything is better than rust. 9/10
We stopped to get some fries near Batman, nothing special. They were a bit cold. After the little snack, it was time for my airtime fix.
I wasn't too impressed with Nitro when I rode it last time. I had only ridden it once before, and I thought both Apollo and Bull were better. Well, Bull has really been a letdown lately, and I haven't ridden Apollo since '99, so I came on with an open mind. Another walk-on, took row 9. 3 minutes later I had a new favorite hyper-coaster. The feeling of being lifted out of your seat is great, especially when you're 200 feet in the air. Floater air rules. While I think Bull's first drop is untouchable, the rest of Nitro dominates all other aspects of my former favorite. While it is an out'n back, I haven't been this excited about a ride since riding Millie for the first time. The airtime was amazing. This is how I felt on Bull during it's first two years. Enough with the rambling. Nitro #1. 9.5/10 (I even caught air in the final break run :))
A quick ride on Skull Mountain helped us regain our cool after Nitro. Skull Mountain was running two trains, but one of them was being dispatched with no riders. Beats me... This ride has a nice pop of air on the first drop. A fun indoor coaster, but nothing to write home about. I could really see this ride fitting into IOA, BGT, or Disney, down in Florida. 5/10
Next up was the Western Themed area of GADv. After a nice stroll along the water, we saw that Viper was down, and Medusa was a walk-on. I never quite got how Medusa fits into the western theme, but then again, we have Superman roaming the boardwalks at the same park... This is a great floorless. I only managed to get one ride, in the very back, but it was nice to ride a floorless coaster in which I felt the forces, unlike the aqua-colored goldfish down in SWO... I still think Batman: Knight Flight is the best of the batch, but this one ain't too bad. The Dive Loop was incredible, as was the zero-g roll. I caught a pop of airtime off the MCBR, but the interlocking corckscrews weren't much of a big deal. I even thought Kraken had a better corckscrew. No matter, it's the overall ride that counts, eh? 8/10
With Viper being closed, we backtracked it to The Runaway Mine Train. I like Arrow Mine Trains. Not too intense, but good fun. 6/10
Next up was the surprise of the day, Rolling Thunder. After a slight delay because of someone standing up on the lifthill, (They were escorted off the ride, into the hands of security) we took a last row seat, and I was hoping for the best. I was surprised at how terrible this ride was. The only airtime I caught was in the potholes in the valleys. This was the worst beating I've ever taken on a coaster. I want Great Adventure to get some new wood, because it's the one departament that it really lacks in, but after riding this beast, I'm scared to think of what might happen if they did. The positives? Well, we saw a squirrel on the lifthill, and it did look pretty... 4/10
We spent the rest of the day getting re-rides on Nitro and GASM. Even with one train operation on GASM, I managed 13 re-rides. I like GADv's re-ride policy... They weren't all glass smooth though, I found a rough spot in the row before the last, but it was great for the most part. I don't know how people can hate the megaloopers. Must be that damn Arrow bias going around... After two farewell rides on Nitro, it was time to head out. Great Adventure is a great Six Flags park. While I didn't have much interaction with employees other than ride-ops, they were good for the most part. Friendly, efficiant, etc. The park wasn't tidy as hell, but I'm not complaining.
Overall Rating: 8/10 Good Times! :)
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Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.
*** This post was edited by BullGuy 6/24/2003 6:11:05 PM ***
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Mike T.
RCT2 Wizards-Medusa99
Current track record: 25
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