Great Adventure 8/1/08
Associated parks:
None
I didn't mean to buy the Flashpass, but when I got to the park and saw that it was going to take 15 minutes to buy a six-visit pass and another 15 to get it processed, and yet another 10 to just get IN to the park, I started to get really agitated. Mind you, I had about an hour of sleep and had already driven to Staten Island as a favor to a friend, so I was already stressed. Still, when we saw how crowded the park was (lines to enter the park were backed up to the actual sales booths), me and my girlfriend decided to see if any flashpass were still available.
We waited for about another 45 minutes at the Flashpass station, but it was well worth it. 124 painful dollars later, we had the magical little beeper and started to play with it to see what it could do. Hmmm, I heard TDK was really lame. How much does the gold Flashpass benefit this ride? WELL! Makes riding a mouse in a box trouble-free. Don't feel like waiting for 1.5 hours to ride Nitro? Why not walk on? And the list goes on and on. No sooner would the hosts check our Flashpasses to delete our current ride than we would be scheduling the next one up for grabs. As we passed by all the mobs of people, I couldn't decide whether I felt more pity or shamefully gloaty glee. I DID hear two women saying, "Those a$$holes shouldn't be allowed to have passes like that. They should wait in line like everyone else. I feel like an a$$hole watching them go by." Really bitter. I thought of snipping out a snide remark, but decided to just keep on walkin' to my waiting seat on BTR. LOL
El Toro was still down, but they were running test trains left and right. It looked like it was coasting just fine, and my whole visit felt a little empty without my Toro. We never got to ride, but they said it would likely be up 8/2 (Saturday). Ask me how that is helpful. I commented to the girl standing by the line entrance that I found it ironic that Toro, a wooden coaster, was struck by lightning when there is a 450+ metal tower about a block away that was left unscathed. She replied, "How did you know it was struck by lightning? It hit the top of the lift. Please don't tell anyone that." I said, "I belong to a coaster website. We find out EVERYTHING." I didn't quite get the big deal about Toro being struck by lightning as opposed to what? The whole population of amusement park goers thinking that it has some horrible undiagnosed tech problem? Could someone explain the logic to me? Is there some superstition or something that makes this a bad thing for the public to know? I'm not being sarcastic, I really want to know.
Okay, so here's the actual trip report now that I'm done babbling:
1. As we know, Gold Flashpass is the way to go.
2. TDK: Pre-show was lame. Aaron Eckhardt sounded like he couldn't even remember the lines. Did they just throw this little bit together in one take? Ridiculous. This is where they could have really taken a cue from Disney and done some smoke and 3-D work in the pre-show room. However, I'm in the minority that actually liked this ride. If I had waited two hours to ride it, I likely would have been a little irritated at what I found inside the box, but once the hype dies down, I think this will be a great little walkon coaster. The cars were very cool, little subway cars with "broken" glass windows and bulletholes peppered throughout. Not a lot of braking for a mouse, and many "near miss" props at each whipping turn. There are crashing noises and creepy Joker comments coming at you from everywhere, and I SWEAR there was a spiral helix in there somewhere that I don't remember on any mouse I've ridden. Plus, the theming in the loading station was dreary and a little intimidating, and there was even a huge fake rat on one of the signs that made me jump when I first saw it. My girlfriend from New York was even fooled on first glance and she's seen rats the size of cats. I had fun, I really did. Would I wait for two hours to ride it? No way, but again, once the excitement over all this dies, it will be a good ride.
3. Rode Nitro three times: First seat, last seat, and third to last seat. First seat was INSANE today, filled with moderate and very smooth airtime. Last seat was the most airtime packed ride on Nitro I've ever gotten. Third to last seat had a few jerky moments in the final brakerun and at one other element that really jolted me.
4. Medusa ran a little more forcefully today than the last two times I visited the park. I still think this ride is a little boring, but I still love the layout.
5. Superman last seat, twice. Same as usual. Nuff said.
6. Skull Mountain twice. Why does this ride always shock me with its drop? From the last seat or two, it's quite a fun surprise. Not the most intense ride, but I still like it. Perhaps I'm just not hard to please.
7. Nachos grande at the Cocina weren't bad. 8 bucks, but easily enough for two hungry women. We didn't even finish them, and I can EAT. LOL
8. Batman the Ride felt insane today as well. I had my head banged around something fierce, but it was worth it for the wild ride I had.
9. Log flume. Blech...bumpy, scary, ancient looking, crammed in with three other people, thought we would weigh too much with me in the back, was scared to death that I was going to die.
10. Canyon/raft ride thinger: My pants got soaked, but that was it. I'm used to the other raft rides where there is not a part of you that is not beyond drenched. Was disappointed a little, but I find it very hard to complain about getting on any water ride as a walk on, especially when the whole queue is filled. I heart Gold Flashpass again.
11. Cherry icees huge, good, refreshing, gone too quick. :)
12. Ted's cheesesteaks are way to expensive for the little steak you get, but they use real cheese and not just Cheese Whiz. 8 dollars bought me a tasty snack.
13......KINGDA KA!!! I promised Ivory that I would ride it with her, but we were both too chicken for most of the day. We kept saying we just were NOT going to wait in line all day for a 26 second ride, but we also both kept saying we were scared anyway. You see, we were trying to Flashpass it, and Ka kept going down, creating a no Flashpass atmosphere. Finally though, Ka came back up on our little technological wonder, and we made our reservation. Being that I have absolutely no luck, Ka went down for the umpteenth time right after Ivory strapped herself into the restraints. The employees announced that they had no idea when Ka would be back up. I have not punked out of a ride since middle school, but I almost did today. I kept saying, "This ain't worth it. It's gonna be broke for a while. Let's go do something else. You love Superman, why don't we hit that or Nitro?" She looked at me and said, "I'm stuck. We ain't leavin." Not even five minutes later, the trains were locked and checked, and we lined up behind the next train to launch. I was so scared that I thanked Ivory for being a great friend and told her that when I died, I was coming back to haunt her for this one. Ivory said to me, "Well, I think it's gonna be fine. You always get all scared, and then we do the ride and you love it and say you want to do it again. I'm fine. This is gonna be fun." Then the other train launched, and her eyes goggled, and she went "Oooohhhhmmmmmyyyyyyygggggoooooddddddd, Jax! We're gonna DIE." I managed one moment of amused clarity and said, "Yeah, you're cool, calm, and collected, aren't you?" Then we both started with the ohmigodohmigods that you see on the YouTube videos, and the announcement to hold on and keep your head back came on. I knew to count down at this point and got a good scream going as we hurtled towards the beast in front of us. We were both screaming like banshees, and by the end of the ride, I was like, "THAT WAS AWESOME!!! WE GOTTA DO IT AGAIN!!!" Ivory said, "See? What did I tell you? That wasn't sh**!" We did Ka once more in the daytime, then waited until nighttime for a MUCH better backseat ride. I really thought we were gonna have a rollback because it was cool and very damp outside by this point, and the train slowed waaaaaay down at the top. Bummer, no rollback. I couldn't do this ride anymore than three times though because the vibration is HORRIBLE. I had to ride the crappy trains because that's what the fastpass line was being queued to, so all the suggestions for smoother trains were in vain. I can't wait to ride TTD and see what a stratacoaster can REALLY do.
Oh, one thing I noticed about line jumping: People were REALLY verbally outspoken to line jumpers this time around. I believe one of the phrases I heard was, "Hey, you little punka$$, back of the line and wait your turn like everyone else." I heard a lot of similar stuff as well, and thus, most line jumpers were being turned away by the angry public. Yay public!
Got to do some flats today as well. Rode the Buccaneer (meh) and Twister. Twister's got the same crummy program as all the other Top Spins. Meh as well on that one. That about covers the flat rides. LOL
I really enjoyed the Glo in the Park parade. Kind of cool with the Big Wheel in the background with the pretty flower lights on it.
All in all, with the trial of the Gold Flashpass, this ended up being a very successful, very pleasant day. I don't know that I'll be returning to Six Flags anytime soon just because I can't see going and waiting in THOSE kind of lines when I know Dorney's around the corner, but Six Flags isn't doing too badly with this park. I enjoy it every time. When El Toro comes back, I'll think about my second out of six visits. :)
"Look at us spinning out in the madness of a roller coaster" - Dave Matthews Band
Certain victory.
bunky666 said:I didn't mean to buy the Flashpass, but when I got to the park and saw ...how crowded the park was...
As we passed by all the mobs of people, I couldn't decide whether I felt more pity or shamefully gloaty glee. I DID hear two women saying, "Those a$$holes shouldn't be allowed to have passes like that. They should wait in line like everyone else. I feel like an a$$hole watching them go by." Really bitter...
...Oh, one thing I noticed about line jumping: People were REALLY verbally outspoken to line jumpers this time around. I believe one of the phrases I heard was, "Hey, you little punka$$, back of the line and wait your turn like everyone else." I heard a lot of similar stuff as well, and thus, most line jumpers were being turned away by the angry public. Yay public!...
All in all, with the trial of the Gold Flashpass, this ended up being a very successful, very pleasant day. I don't know that I'll be returning to Six Flags anytime soon just because I can't see going and waiting in THOSE kind of lines...
The reason the lines were so long is because a lot of people were not waiting in line. In order to enjoy your day at SFGAdv, you NEED a Flashpass, which makes a visit to the park way too expensive.
Imho.
The discussion doesn't have to "go there". I just wanted to give another point of view to balance out the "Flashpass is great" comments. It's what I do...
Sounded like you had a great time though. Nitro is really fun. The park has a lot of potential, but something has to be done about the long lines. That park is very busy. Maybe they would benefit by adding a lot more rides and becoming a "megapark" to provide more overall ride capacity...
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
LostKause said:
Maybe they would benefit by adding a lot more rides and becoming a "megapark" to provide more overall ride capacity...
They tried that in 1999.
I agree that to go to Great Adventure in August, it seems as if you NEED the Flashpass. OR VIP treatment. That looked even better than Flashpass.
KTS: I'm sorry to hear your wife may be seeing Flashpass on the sly as well. LOL Flashpass is a player!! ;)
You know what's strange? I didn't see as many school-age kids as I thought I would. Many older people were riding the coasters. Sure, the kids were there as well, but I'd say 3/4 of the guests there were full-grown adults. This only struck me as weird because you would think that if the park attendees were mostly adult, the park would still be super crowded in June (which it's NOT). Maybe people have to ease into Great Adventure. LOL
"Look at us spinning out in the madness of a roller coaster" - Dave Matthews Band
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
Good stuff. ;)
Oh, and nice report.
bunky666 said:124 painful dollars later, we had the magical little beeper
Wha??? It was only $110 for me and Laura...do they jack up the prices on busier days??
As we passed by all the mobs of people, I couldn't decide whether I felt more pity or shamefully gloaty glee.
Imagine how rock star you feel walking past a FULL El Toro queue!?! And then getting your qbot scanned right in front of the big group of people behind the chain just salivating to enter the station!
I commented to the girl standing by the line entrance that I found it ironic that Toro, a wooden coaster, was struck by lightning when there is a 450+ metal tower about a block away that was left unscathed.
From what I've read on other forums, Ka was NOT unscathed, and got struck like 3 or 4 times that night...however, apparently it's much more capable of handling lightning strikes, unlike a structure made of wood.
I wonder if it ran for Rise and Scream today??
and by the end of the ride, I was like, "THAT WAS AWESOME!!! WE GOTTA DO IT AGAIN!!!" I couldn't do this ride anymore than three times though because the vibration is HORRIBLE. I had to ride the crappy trains because that's what the fastpass line was being queued to, so all the suggestions for smoother trains were in vain. I can't wait to ride TTD and see what a stratacoaster can REALLY do.
Seriously, congrats on riding!! I told ya it was nothing!! ;) Usually on Ka or TTD before launching I fake yawn and act like I'm asleep if there's bystanders watching just to mock how non-thrilling it really is!
I won't beat you up over not getting on orange, since if you do have a Flash Pass it is a little tricky getting to other side of the station if you don't know where you're going/what you're doing, BUT moving down to the dark green (which I'm presuming is still less rough than reg green) is completely legitimate, but that'll just give you something else to try for Ka...and btw, TTD is much better and smoother than KK!
I'm actually going back to GrAdv August 23rd or 24th for my second visit, and my girlfriend who has never been to Great Adventure EVER is going to split the cost of Flashpass Gold with me.
Oh, I forgot my other Ka story: There was a guy in front of us on the last ride of the night that kept telling his girlfriend that he hated her and they were breaking up and he was just pouring obscenities from his mouth left and right. I said, "Oh, I take it you haven't done this yet?" He said, "NO!! First time. I'm FREEEEEAKING OUT!!! How bad is it?" I should have said it was no big deal, but my friend Ivory responded first with "it's really bad." I couldn't help it, I played along. The guy's girlfriend whipped her head around and said, "Oh my God, really? Is it that bad?" I said, "Well, it's not like, HEINOUS or anything, but it's pretty bad." The girl just grimaced and both of them got really really quiet. Ivory and I are mean! LOL Anyway, we rode the Ka, and the ride wasn't even completely over before the guy was yelling, "THAT WAS FANEFFINGTASTIC!!! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!"
Tig, for my next Ka/TTD rides, I'm going to prop my chin on my hand like I'm sitting in a boring classroom. :)
"Look at us spinning out in the madness of a roller coaster" - Dave Matthews Band
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