Six Flags Great Adventure

I just Got back from my 2 day six flags trip, and WOW. I must say the GOLD flash pass is the way to go! El Toro is unbelievable, and very smooth for a wooden coaster! My favorite has to be nitro, especially at night going into the woods! Am I the only one that starts to black put when Nitro does the upward swirl at the end? Anywho onto my questions and comments:

Whats up with Rollin Thunder? Why does only one side run and why does it seem ready to fall apart?

Kingda Ka: Not operating for the 2 days I was there (kinda expected though)

Great American Scream Machine: Not operating my two days there...whats wrong with that?

Madusa was advertised to close at 6pm...why?

Batman the chiller was closed, and I heard some rumors why, but would appreciate info from anybody with some info!

All in all it was well worth it for the superman experience, El Toro!!! and my fav NITRO!

Anybody with answers to my questions would be appreciated!!!

Gary

Gary - sometimes Medusa closes at 6:00 or there-a-bouts due to shows / concerts in the arena.

Rolling Thunder hardly ever has both sides open. Richie is right about Medusa. What 2 days did you go. Check there site and see if any events were going on at the North Star. El Toro is amazing and Chiller has been closed since may.

Why is chiller closed?

Gary B, I'm not sure why Chiller was closed, they were having problems with it when I went about a month ago. It hasn't been having such a great... um.. mechanical or operational year. But i'm glad you loved Nitro, it truly is one of the best. Look at the bottom.

Chiller's been closed all season. Premier LIM's aren't having a good year.

I'm just throwing this out, but about Medusa at SFMW, it is supposed to be getting a Nitro theme next season. Was there last weekend and the signs all said "Nitro" but the queue and map were all Medusa.

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Austin the Ninja said:
Chiller's been closed all season. .

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No, just since June. I went early June and rode Batman five times, my first rides ever (it f'n rocks). Robin was open in the morning and Batman in the afternoon. A few days later, Robin valleyed because of a cracked axel or something and it hasn't been open since. *** Edited 7/23/2006 10:51:42 PM UTC by Willh51***

Sounds like a great park with all of the rides closed or closing early and with an add on Q-Bot being the way to go. Sounds like a very good value for the money.

I still will argue that this SF park is one of the worst. What's the use in building rides year after year if you can't keep them running?

They won't see me there any time soon. HP keeps their rides open on a regular basis.

The robin isde of the chiller had an accident. Something with one of the cars caused it to coem to a grinding halt.

It is possibly closed for the rest of the year

Also rolling thunder on the left side is either closed for finishing the track replacing or staff issues we are not 100 percent sure.

Dexter - I can't compare it to other 6 Flags parks, becaise I haven't been to any other.

I just feel though that Great Adventure has the potential for greatness. They have to a few things to take care of that have been listed on these boards for many years.

Even if they don't add anything major next year, how great would it be if:

1) All of the rides opened at 10 AM and a few more flat rides were added for kids & parents to ride together.

2) The number of QUALITY employees matched their needs. (Especially in security and Ride Ops)

3) Hurricane Harbor was upgraded with mor epeople-eaters and was included with the Safari and Theme Park.

4) They priced the food, parking, season passes appropriately.

WHEN WORKING properly, This park has a nice coaster collection, several kiddie areas, a beautiful lake, woods area (It is especially pretty in the fall)

One last thought (which I touched on in an earlier Trip Report, but wasn't addressed)...

Do you think that the Haloween events that bring in the teens in droves, will be altered this year to make room for more "Family Type" attractions?

^The thing that I am worried about the most is the altering of Fright Fest. I could have sworn I read in an article a while back that they were indeed planning on changing Fright Fest. I find this to be a shame since I felt this was one of the things Six Flags actually got right. I'm really hoping the do not change this event all that much.

Goliath Freak ---> I have never been a fan of Halloween. I personally don't like a holiday where the focus is on being scared. I also understand that many people don't feel that way and I am clearly in the minority on this issue.

I just thought that if 6 Flags is trying to cater to family units, Fright Fest, by its very nature will need to change...but how?

I also realize that Fright Fest is a huge money maker and a busy time for many parks / especially Great Adventure.

I used to like Octoberfest. The weather was perfect, the crowds were light and coastering with cool winds is a nice effect.

I don't think you can sucessfully have it both ways though. Is it going to be silly or scary? *** Edited 7/24/2006 5:30:47 AM UTC by Richie Reflux***

I visited back in 02 and was very impressed by the operations of the park. All the rides were open except the batman side of chiller. Dispatched times were good (Nitro didn’t even stack 3 trains) and running max trains. Rolling Thunder was even racing. It was by far the best Six Flags operations I’ve seen.

Now I’m reading from various posts throughout the year they’re not running max trains, thunder seldom runs both sides, rides are not working or opening, and dispatch times are poor.

I don’t want to poop on Shapiro’s parade quite yet, but I’ve always felt that the core issue with SF was poor operations stemming from bad cap ex and management decisions. It seems if anything this park has regressed in the operations department. I really like Shapiro’s ideas, but screaming “families come back” isn’t going to help if when they show up the rides aren’t working, opening, or running poorly.

The problem I have right now is they are dishing out Disney pricing but the quality of operations doesn’t seem to be there right now. Wouldn’t it make more sense to get these parks up to quality standards and build value, then increase the price as the quality of the product increases?

Not to beat a dead horse.

1) Did Shapiro decide this year's cap ex? NOPE! Burke and friends did. Cap ex next season will be done by Shapiro and group.

2) Shapiro did what he could quickly with what money he could use. See the adding of more characters. Contracting food to known chains. Starting to work on employee attitudes.

I have always said that this season is the beginning of a many step process. I just hope they have time to get done what needs to be done without losing too many quality parks. I don't like that Magic Mountain may go but I can understand why it may go. And I wouldn't be surprised if after the 2007 season Great Adventure is on the block if the things wrong with it that can be fixed quickly don't turn around by next summer.

Richie Reflux maybe you can have it both ways. I remember at Worlds of Adventure, they had both Octoberfest and Fright Fest. Maybe they could extend Octoberfest to more than just weekend (I'm assuming it's the same). Maybe the first half of October be for Octoberfest and then the second half for Fright Fest. Or maybe they could use the daylight hours for more family friendly activities and leave the nights the way it is.

You make a good point...and Great Adventure is large enough to successfully create seperate areas of "seasonaly appropriate fun" for both groups.

I guess we will have to see how they handle it and how they will market and promote it this year.

First off great adventure will not be sold. (thats a reply to the person who suggested it).

Also Shapiro stated he knows that maintanance needs mroe ful ltime staff but he cant add any now because the money was already decided before they got there.

Also dont blame it on them. It just so hapopened that a couple of rides broke down at once. the scream machine is getting a rail replaced on the drop ,chilelr had an accident and el -toro has been having some capacity issues.

Wait till next year to see what the new management will be doing .

They have been doing a great job with what little they have to work with . I give them credit for that .

with chiller, i heard a rumpr of the ride losing 4 wheels with people on it and comming to a hault in the middle of the track. People were removed with a cherry picker, and one guy was so badly injured he had to have a leg ampitated. Like I said this is a rumor, but it came from a young park employee, which I was shocked to be hearing from an employee! any validity to this claim?

From the look of a picture I saw, it did look as though something happened with one or more of the wheel assemblies. At least one of the cars was partially off the track and/or tilted in a way that it isn't supposed to.

As far as anyone being injured, I haven't heard anything. Either that is ridiculous and false, or they are keeping things very hush-hush.

There is supposably a design flaw in the wheel bogies for the premier LIMs (hence the wheel bogie that broke on Robin's side of Chiller, thats why they are closed. I presume that hey are designing and making new ones.