New York Area - Oct 2024

I'm in New York this week, I didn't come with any specific plans to do anything coaster related, but I've relented and booked to go to Great Adventure over the weekend. I'll do a TR.

I haven't been down to Coney for a few years, I was thinking I'd like to go to the museum but unfortunately it's closed this weekend. Also, the new thing at American Dream is a 20 min bus ride from my hotel, but their big Gerstlauer thing is closed and the other rides seem to operate sporadically.

Anyone had any joy there ?

I haven't been to American Dream yet because every time I check the schedule there are at least 2 of the coasters are down. Would hate to drive that far to spend that kind of money to be disappointed

Luna Park in Coney Island is doing some sort of fall festival which I think is more kid-friendly. And the Cyclone is open again, at last report. Might be a little chilly at the shore especially in the evening.

We were on the Staten Island Ferry last night at sunset and it was definitely a little chilly, down from highs of (converts C to F ....) 68 in the day.

I checked Nickelodeon's website again this morning and now their crazy Intamin thing is down too. Maybe we'll head to Coney tomorrow.

Went to American Dream shortly after it opened. We thought it was very expensive for what you get, (you got a 4 hour window) but every coaster except Sandy was open. Shellraiser was fun, but still a Gurst law er, (shaky and nauseating.) But coaster-wise, it's the reason to visit. I say this because Sandy is basically never open. Like I said, I haven't ridden Sandy, looks fun though.

If you can go to the Statue Of Liberty, that's a good attraction. Crown tickets can sell out months in advance, but I bought one 3 days in advance when I visited, a Tuesday in November, so worth looking into. You absolutely want a Crown Ticket! That crazy spiral staircase is an attraction in itself.

The website is now suggesting that Sandy's is open. I think I'll still skip though, we'll be back at some point, maybe they'll be running everything by then ...

I did go up to the Liberty crown a few years ago - very cool, as you say.

Spent the day in Brooklyn today. Used Coney as a bit of a base, but also headed elsewhere for meals and also to the Brooklyn Museum.

Since my last visit

There's quite a bit new to see. Zamperla's Scream Zone area has seen a few larger rides added, including a new coaster that wraps around a (closed) flume ride.

Deno's have added Phoenix, I didn't ride - but have ridden other rides of that type. Solid rides. It doesn't feel fully integrated with the rest of the park, but it looks fun - didn't seem to be massively popular, perhaps due to the location, but I also wondered how many people buy the Luna ride pass and spring for the Wonder Wheel ($10 separately) - certainly unlike anything else, whereas the coaster is a $10 coaster ... you can ride 5 or more coasters with your Luna pass. That might not be a fair read, not sure.

Cyclone & Wonder Wheel

Those two rides are magical. Cyclone was running incredibly well, very smooth but with some great forces - that might be one of the best coaster layouts ever. I recall the first time I rode it (nearly 20 years ago), I wasn't really taken with it - but I enjoyed it so much today.

Wonder Wheel is again, brilliant. I like its rough and ready presentation and its general oddness. Very difficult to take photos from ...

Coney Island History Project

I didn't know this existed, but spoke to Eric in there for a while and bought a book. They have an original Steeplechase horse - which is fascinating to me, comparing it to our Steeplechase horses at the Pleasure Beach.

Zamperla's Coasters

I am sure that they will fix up TT2 and it'll all be great, but all their coasters at Coney really demonstrate that they can build things ... but there is almost zero elegance in what they build (I haven't ridden the new one). The Volares in particular are dreadful. The Steeplechase (Motocoaster) is slightly less offensive - if you're an engineering nerd, it's easy to watch a flywheel launch up close.

Thunderbolt ... no desire to ride that again either, but the lighting package is awesome.

Overall

I feel glad that I didn't see the area at its worst. If you want the sketchiness, there are still bits of it - literal wastelands between the vendors. The stretch from Surf up to Deno's, with some games and sideshows is the worst part - parents were visibly grabbing their kids tight as they walked up there - if the whole area was like that, it'd be horrible.

It's hard not to conclude that you wished that you had seen it in its prime, but equally, even if you're vaguely aware of the history, it's somewhat miraculous that there is anything there at all.

*... sorry the photos are of poor quality, my phone has all the photographic capabilities of a potato.

Heading out to the Meadowlands for Nickelodeon Universe felt like a lot of effort, expensive, without much guarantee that anything would be open, so I decided not to do that. We did however, head out to Great Adventure on Sunday. Last visit was in 2019.

Fright Fest Extreme was the order of the day (although we didn't get the ticket with the mazes), the weather was glorious and it was almost certainly going to be rammed. Therefore, we didn’t expect to ride loads – we were just looking forward to spending a day in the park, for a break from the city.

TLDR – it was a great day, the park is obviously ‘absorbing’ some changes, but overall they have a great product we had a great time.

Travel

We had the option to either get a rental car or take the bus that the park advertise on behalf of a third party. It used to be offered via NJ Transit, from Port Authority, but alas, no longer. Getting a car would have allowed us to work on our own timescales, but it did mean either trekking out of Manhattan on the subway to a car rental location or battling our own way out of Manhattan in a rental car.

We opted for the bus, which was probably cost natural (car rental + gas + parking) and easier, plus it allowed us to sample some of the craft ales on offer across the park. $60 return each.

Rides

As I said, we didn’t expect to ride a ton of things and we didn’t, in fact we rode some things many times and ignored other things.

Nitro – such an amazing ride and the stand out in terms of operations. Running 3 trains with zero stacking(!), the crew were berating people who were slow to get into the train. Early on we did 4 laps without leaving the station and returned later for a night ride.

Kingda Ka – this was a bit of a faff to get on as it kept breaking down, however we opted to wait. Then … as we were about to hop on the front row, we were told we’d have to wait another cycle because there was a VIP hopping in … who might that be I hear you ask … Bugs Bunny ? Richard Zimmerman ? Nope … YouTuber ElToroRyan … Irrespective, It's an incredible rush, I am not sure I'd like to have to maintain it, it's much more intense than Formula Rossa, for me.

Batman – looks great with its paint job and it rode well. I am curious to see how much life these have left in them, after watching Nemesis get replaced piece by piece.

Giant Wheel – they’ve made some improvements to this, looked nice at night.

Skyscreamer – not much to say on this, enjoy these rides, still can’t believe we haven’t got a ‘proper’ one in the UK.

Fender Benders – I don’t recall this being here last time, nor am I sure if this is their old ride moved here – but always enjoy the bumper cars.

El Toro – a couple of laps on the bull. Riding really well – such an amazing ride. I don’t rank them but it’d certainly be up there.

Jersey Devil – not much to write about, pretty much the same as the one at Magic Mountain, far less frantic than the prototypes. Running two trains so the queue did

Twister - It's getting more and more difficult to find operating Top Spins. This isn't a great example, but I am shocked to see it's still there. One of the few hold outs from 1999's War on Lines.

Medusa – as per my Magic Mountain report with regards to Scream, it baffles me how these huge $10m+ rides are merely a sideshow. They seem not to be popular, not sure if that’s down to the ride itself or their respective locations. Very fun ride though.

Flume – someone deserves a pat on the back for what they have done with that ride, it looks and rides like it was built yesterday. With so many parks seemingly desperate to retire their flumes, it’s great to see a park taking the opposite approach.

Runaway Mine Train – such a great Arrow mine train. I like that it doesn’t have the dead spots often associated with the multiple lift hills. There is some serious air and laterals and what Arrow built 50 years ago it tracks far better than anything Zamperla have built in Coney.

Justice League – same of the Magic Mountain one I think, these are great dark rides for regional parks. I’d like to see something like this in the former Cedar Fair parks.

Closed – Cyborg, Sky Ride, Parachute Tower, Zumanjaro, the main arena is seemingly abandoned too.

The kids on Reddit said Superman only had one train this year, it was running two. The kids on Reddit also seem to be of the view that Green Lantern is on its way out, but that was still not enough to make me want to hop aboard for a beating.

Food

I’ve put an example of the pizza place menu below, the prices were pretty much in line with Magic Mountain in June, but I dare say the food was maybe slightly better, but not served at speed.

Other Observations

There is something fairly RCT about the place. Some of the decisions that are made seemingly make sense in the moment, but are made without awareness of a long term plan – or perhaps there is isn’t a long term plan. For example, the park built an arboretum last season – seemingly lots of money and effort poured into it, but a year later it’s been ripped out for the new coaster.

I am not sure that there is much that they can do about the layout of the park, but it does slightly baffle me every time I go. The original parts of the park are so well presented with all the mature trees, but the newer areas – particularly around Kingda Ka and even over towards Nitro are just odd. You end up at a dead end.

And to end on a positive ... Harry who founded the brilliant greatadventurehistory.com died earlier this year. The park has put up a tribute to him on Dream Street, alongside ones for Angus Wynne and Warner LeRoy

Some photos to follow.

Forgot the menu :

Rick_UK:

as we were about to hop on the front row, we were told we’d have to wait another cycle because there was a VIP hopping in … who might that be I hear you ask … YouTuber ElToroRyan

The flume was open? I was there in August and it wasn’t clear how close they were.
I’m amazed by your description of the Mine Train - I find it harder and harder to take those Ron Toomer transitions.
Nitro: every time I’m there, that crew is kicking butt and taking names. Not sure why they’re so much more impressive.

The park’s layout was clearly designed without much thought to traffic flow. I feel like I’m constantly walking back and forth across the central plaza through dead zones to get to coasters at the extreme ends. And yes, dead ends everywhere (which I’m sure is why Medusa never has a line).

Yes - Flume was open, very popular it was too. They're such great rides. I have only ridden it once before, but curious as to whether they used to run a lot more boats on it than they were at the weekend - there was a fair gap between them.

Here's another shot of it :