Six Flags Great Adventure, 10/10/08 Who Says Frightfest Is Crowded?

I wasn't sure what to expect with crowds today since I heard lots of different predictions from the park being dead, to somewhat crowded to packed and because I had never been to Fright Fest before. And I have read enough TR's of Fright Fest from 2006 and 2007 to know it is the most crowded time of the year. Thankfully crowds were on the lighter side.

I got to the rope drop at 4:50. Instead of letting you go further into the park, they now stop you at the fountain.

Kingda Ka was first. Only the right side was running, I walked onto the middle of the green train for the first set of dispatches for the day. The front seat lines were very long and by the time the trains got back to the station, the front seat queues were almost full and the station was packed. No 2nd ride today.

I went to Superman next. Walk on and I was able to stay on the train for 5 rides in a row. Since Scream Machine was empty with 3 trains running I went to that. It was the worst ride I ever had on Scream Machine. After the first loop it was rough the rest of the ride. I didn't go for any re-rides. While on the ride, I saw Kingda Ka's line was into the switchbacks. In less than an hour it went from being a walk on at opening to probably a 45 minutes line (since only 2 trains were running).

Nitro was running 3 trains. It was a station wait so just crowded enough that you had to walk around each time. I got 3 rides and went to Batman which had a half empty station. I got 2 rides and went to the Dark Knight. It was a little less than 20 minutes total. There was a girl with 2 little boys in front of me, one of which who was scared so she asked me if I would ride with them. I sat next to the scared kid and he had his face covered almost the entire ride. I felt bad for him but the girl and the other boy both said the ride was horrible. So much for families liking the ride. I only saw a few bad reactions/comments today.

I went back to Nitro, in around 30 minutes from when I left it went from a station wait, to a little past the 60 minute sign, meaning around a 20 minute wait. I didn't feel like waiting and went to Skull Mountain which was a 5 minute wait but broke down so I took the sky ride with a 10 minute wait over to the other side of the park.

Runaway Mine Train was sending out almost full trains but I was able to stay for 3 rides in a row. Medusa was also running 3 trains, the giant spider is no longer on the entrance sign and is near the Northern Star Arena. The line was into the first switchback. 10 minute wait but the trains were stacking and double stacking.

Frontier Adventures is Bone Butcher Terror-tory which I saw 4 actors scaring people. Something I didn't like about that was that you had to see where they were to avoid them which was difficult with fog. I could see people not wanting to get scared getting annoyed since with the bridge near El Toro closed, you have to walk in the scare zone to get to all the rides in Frontier Adventures.

Rolling Thunder only had the right side running, 2 trains and dispatches were 2 - 3 minutes which is about twice as fast as the 5 minute dispatches all season.

I stopped at Tango since it was a 30 second wait. I took the skyride back to the Dream Street station which was another 10 minute wait.

Jolly Roger and Buccaneer were both walk ons so I stopped at them and went to Blackbeard's also a walk on (maybe 12 riders total). Skull Mountain was running again, 2 train wait for the back and I finished the day with 2 rides at Nitro. 7 minute wait. I also went up to the Chiller queue just to see it since it had been closed off most of the year. Even though the park was open until 11:00, I had enough at 10:30 and left early.

Ride Count:
Nitro, 5x
Superman, 5x
Kingda Ka, 1x
Medusa, 1x
Batman, 2x
Runaway Mine Train, 3x
Scream Machine, 1x
Rolling Thunder Right, 1x
Blackbeard's, 1x
Skull Mountain, 1x
Dark Knight, 1x
Jolly Roger, 1x
Buccaneer, 1x
Tango, 1x
Skyway, 2x

FrightFest is extremely crowded on Saturdays not Fridays (or most Sundays from what I've heard). Obviously, this is due to work and school.

So I guess I need to ask - we went to GAdv the day after PPP, and Toro went down around 4-6pm. Never did come back up. Has something major gone wrong with The Bull (or is it typically not running for FF, and we just caught it on a bad day)?

I was there on Saturday 10/11/08, and the crowds were light until dark. The park got crazy packed then. We got a Gold Flash Pass, and all day long the longest wait to get on a coaster about 15 minutes for Superman. We went to eat lunch and upon returning those waits had gone to 30 minutes for less major coasters. We really got our money's worth out it for the day.

Gator when I was there Saturday El Toro ran all day. It did show going down 1 time for about 10 minutes on the Flasspass, but other then that it see to run perfectly. I finally got some nightrides, and it is insane at night. Was flying compared to earlier in the day. We decided to keep riding it until the ned of the night, and got 3 laps in.