Great Adventure, 6/29/10 Goodbye to Scream Machine

With Scream Machine said to close for good either tomorrow or Thursday,I wanted to get to the park before it closed to get my final rides in.I got to the park at 3:30 and saw the lot wasn't as crowded as I was expecting. With an 8:00 closing, I thought 4 1/2 hours should be more than enough time to get a lot of rides in.

It was a little strange pulling into the lot and seeing the ride running as always and knowing it would be the last time I would see it running as soon as I get into the parking lot.

I went there first since I didn't want to take any chances of it closing later. 2 trains running and it was a2 train wait for the front row. It was running great as it has been all year, especially the red train. I moved to another row for a re-ride,walked around and got 2 more rides after that. Even in the 2nd to last car, it wasn't that rough compared to last year and the year before.They got rid of car 6 as being for Flashpass and let Flashpass users pick any row they want, sometimes they were allowed to get the front.If the ride wasn't closing soon, I could see this being a problem since the front row line would never move if Flashpass can get that row.Superman looked to have around a 40 minute wait.

I saw Kingda Ka had a station wait from the top of Scream Machine's lift hill so I went there next. 4 trains running and the right side of the station was packed, the left side not as much. It was around a 10 minute wait for a middle row.

Rolling Thunder had a line down the stairs and then around 15 feet past the stairs. Knowing how slow the dispatches are, it had to be around 30 minutes. Not worth it so I skipped it and went to Bizarro. 3 trains running with faster than normal dispatches thanks to a 3rd person checking restraints. It was just over 10 minutes for the last row. The sound was not working at all and the mist at the shields at the bottom of the first drop was not turned on. I hope the problem with the sound isn't anything major since after they went to all that trouble to get new trains with speakers, it's a shame to not have it working.

Runaway Mine Train had 2 trains running, 2 train wait. Now instead of Flashpass merging at the stairs which seemed stupid because the line very rarely gets that long (twice in close to 40 trips to the park have I seen the line to the bottom of the stairs). they have the middle row of the 3rd car chained off for Flashpass.

The Log Flume had a huge line and I went back to Scream Machine. This time I got the white train which wasn't as smooth as the red train but not too bad. I walked around again and got the red train. It was a little after6:00 at this point and I went to the other side of the park.

Skull Mountain was a 2 train wait for the last row. The 5th car is no longer closed off for Flashpass users and I am guessing it is like Scream Machine where Flashpass can choose any row. Nitro's line was just past the 30 minute sign and was a little over 10 minutes with 3 trains running. I walked around for a 2nd ride with a 5 minute wait. Batman's line was just out of the station and was around 10 minutes. They reallyneed some fans in the tunnel with the stairs since it was horrible standing in that part of the line even though I was only in the tunnel for less than 2 minutes. I got a seat on the right side of the train and forgot how intense the zero g roll was sitting on that side of the train.

I decided to finish the trip back at Scream Machine.Just the red train was running and it was a 1 train wait for the 2ndcar. I decided to walk around and wait 2 trains for the front row and that would be my final ride. It was hard to think that it was my last time going up the lift hill, down the drop, through the 3 loops,batwing and double corkscrew. As much as I am looking forward to Chang,I am really going to miss the ride. I am just glad I was able to get some final rides in before the ride closed.

Ride Count:
Scream Machine, 8x (65 total rides since 2007 when I first rode the coaster)
Nitro, 2x
Batman, 1x
Kingda Ka, 1x
Runaway Mine Train, 2x
Bizarro, 1x
Skull Mountain, 1x

That seems more than a reasonable ride count for a small amount of time in that park.

You've mentioned in the past that once you get to July 4th there that it becomes insanely busy for a while. Do you generally stay away from the park until mid to late August or will you still do weekday visits there before then?

Last year I went on Monday July 6th, it was very crowded and I didn't go back until Labor Day. In 2008 I went twice in July, it wasn't jammed but lines were longer than I was willing to wait in for the major coasters and I went during the last week in August, it was very crowded then.

This year I will probably go once or twice in July and either get there at opening or stay from 5 -10 when people start to leave. Lines aren't always horrible during week for them but the problem is I am used to 0 - 10 minute waits and really am not willing to wait even 20 - 30
minutes for the same rides I have been on so many times so I really won't start going on a regular basis until September.

I usually go to Dorney instead since it's rare to wait more than 5 minutes for a coaster during the week before the waterpark closes for the day

YoshiFan said:
With Scream Machine said to close for good either tomorrow or Thursday,

Maybe you know by now, July 18th will be ORGASM's last hurrah. I don't use Facebook hardly at all, but that date was announced there. I was at the park today and that was the date given when my companion asked a staffer. She and I split a Gold FP, because we knew it would be beastly hot and we would only be at the park 5 hours or so. That helped avoid standing in line, but I'd be willing to bet no line, save KK, Congo Rapids, and the Flume, would have exceeded 45 minutes.

We did ride ORGASM first, not knowing the official closing date. Our mid-train on the red train was quite nice, except for that bleeping TOTAL STOP before the corkscrew finale. We tried to ride it again before leaving a bit before 5, but it was down.

Nitro was running better than on my two previous visits this season. Toro was flying, and my front seat ride on KK (three total) was terrific.

Yoshi,
I said my good bye today. I got 2 quick rides on it before I left. I took a ton of pictures. GASM was running real decent today too. 1 train wait if that. I have to ask though. Do you feel something special about the GASM Q- line? I don't know what it is about it. I was looking for a GASM shirt today but they only had 2 and they weren't that great. Bastards even marked them up.

I like the line because of the pictures in it (I liked the old pictures even better with the rides at other SF parks) and it is also nice how you walk right under the corkscrew. Every time I walk past the empty switchbacks I think about how those must of been full in the late 80's and early 90's. The few times I have been to the park when it is jammed, the line usually gets close to the switchbacks but never in them.

I wanted to try to get to the park this week to get another set of final rides in (this time the real final rides) but it looks like there will be thunderstorms the days I am able to go to the park.

I'm going to try and head up on Friday evening for a bit.

Crashmando said:
I'm going to try and head up on Friday evening for a bit.

I may go Friday, too. I get off work at 1pm. I'm worried about crowds, though. Instead, I may hit Dorney Saturday morning for a few rides before heading to a cousin's barbecue in Bethlehem.

Hey Mike,

I'm actually not going to be able to head up Friday. I got work then a 7:30pm hockey game. I might head up Saturday with the family. My 4 year old wakes up every day asking to go to rollercoasters. She loves Lost Treasure Train.

Crashmando said:
Hey Mike,

I'm actually not going to be able to head up Friday. I got work then a 7:30pm hockey game. I might head up Saturday with the family. My 4 year old wakes up every day asking to go to rollercoasters. She loves Lost Treasure Train.

Your daughter has good taste. I think BLTT is the best junior steel out there...with the longest train. I rarely skip it. I doubt I'll be going tomorrow, though. Where do you live, Doug?

Blackbeard's is a really fun ride, especially if you sit in the last row. You get thrown around a lot more than I would expect for a small coaster I guess because there are no seatbelts or seat divider.

We head up atleast 3 weekends a month. Even if we go for a few hours just to put her on rides. She is 4 years old and 41inches tall. Everytime we get to the park she points to GASM and says am I big enough. He favorite coaster is Avalanche at KD.

I live in Delanco, NJ out by Delran, Cinnaminson, Moorestown area. South West of the park.

Crashmando said:
We head up atleast 3 weekends a month. Even if we go for a few hours just to put her on rides. She is 4 years old and 41inches tall. Everytime we get to the park she points to GASM and says am I big enough. He favorite coaster is Avalanche at KD.

I live in Delanco, NJ out by Delran, Cinnaminson, Moorestown area. South West of the park.

Again, good taste. She'll grow up to become quite the coaster connoisseur, I'm sure. I love Avalanche, but I've skipped it my last coupla visits due to long lines with one train ops.

I've lived in Jersey all my 45 years. Don't believe I ever heard of Delanco. I'm in Bayonne.

A little river town on the banks of the Delaware River. 15 minutes from down town Philadelphia. 40 minutes to Six Flags.

Crashmando said:
A little river town on the banks of the Delaware River. 15 minutes from down town Philadelphia. 40 minutes to Six Flags.

Ah..ya learn something new every day.

If all goes as planned, I'll be at GAdv next Sunday, following Compounce on Saturday.