Six Flags Great Adventure, 3/28/10

After not being able to go to the park on opening day and with rain early next week, today seemed like a good day to start the season.

I got to the park around 10:20 saw the season pass processing line outside the park had a short line but wasn't moving so I went into the park, and thought I would just go right to the processing center inside the park. I quickly changed my mind when I saw how few people there were at the rope drop area.

Now in addition to no running of the bulls, each guard goes to a specific ride and anyone wanting to go to that ride has to follow the guard by walking. They warned you that if you ran or passed the guard, you would have to wait for everyone else to enter the line or possibly be ejected from the park.

I was around the 15th person in line for Kingda Ka but it wasn't open yet because they were still testing. About 10 minutes later we got to enter the line. Only the right side was open and the left side just had 1 train with about 10 ops watching the right side (maybe watching how the ride is run and they are future ride ops?). Almost everyone went to the front part of the station and I saw it was only a 1 train wait for the front row of the back train and decided to take advantage of it.

The ops warned it was very cold at the top of the tower (it was in the low 40's outside) and those in the front row were going to be freezing. It was quite a different experience to try the front row in such cold weather but wasn't too bad. The front row line was at least a 6 train wait after that so I went back in line for a 1 train wait for a middle row.

I went to get parking added to my season pass and couldn't believe how long the queue they had set up was. Thankfully it was less than a minute wait. Superman was a walk on except for the front so I went there next. New this year are TV's in the queue. The Superman theme wasn't playing and they had some country song playing instead. 2 trains were running. Scream Machine also had 2 trains running and not surprisingly was a walk on. I actually had the entire train to myself. The white train still has those hair gel ads but the banner in the station is gone.

Runaway Mine Train was closed with a train right near the lift so I went to the Saw Mill Log Flume. Hardly anyone was riding since it was so cold out but because you don't get that wet I took advantage of the lack of any line. Thankfully no one was near the water cannons since you get drenched from the shower head type one after the bridge.

Bizarro also had 2 trains running and now has a test seat at the entrance. The misters and lights on the shields were off.

Rolling Thunder had just the left side open with the yellow and red trains running. Slow dispatches as usual.

It was starting to rain and I thought I better get to Nitro next in case the decided to close it. I stopped at the now opened Parachutes. You now barely stop at the top at all, maybe 2 or 3 seconds and the ride is very short. They closed it due to the rain and wind as soon as the parachute got back to the loading area.

Nitro was running 2 trains, a little slower loading than usual but that was partly because people had bags with them and tried to leave them on the side of the station. It was a 1 train wait for the last row The rain really hurts on Nitro and I didn't go back for another ride.

Skull Mountain was next, 2 trains running and the skull figure and pumpkin in the helix are lit again with the soundtrack playing. 1 train wait for the last row.

The rain was really picking up and I wasn't feeling too great since I was very tired and the first trip of the season I never feel that well I think because I have to get used to riding coasters again. I would have left regardless because it was miserable out there with the cold weather and rain.

Ride Count:
Kingda Ka, 2x
Superman, 1x
Scream Machine, 1x
Parachutes, 1x
Log Flume, 1x
Bizarro, 1x
Rolling Thunder Left, 1x
Nitro, 1x
Skull Mountain, 1x

YoshiFan,

Sounds like your experience was somewhat like mine from yesterday. But you didn't mention Toro at all. Was it out of commission, or did you simply bypass it?

Mike

It was running, I can't ride it

Yoshi and Mike, you indirectly make an important point about el toro here and I believe that the size restriction on it is absolutly absurd and it is the only coaster in the world I believe that has such a small restraint size, plus the operators smash those bars into your legs real hard. I've had friends who arent that big who can go on any ride but cant get on el toro and its a shame because its one of the best rides in the park. I wonder if there is any way the park could loosen up on the restrictions on the ride or possibly redesign the trains to be either more accomadating or more comfortable

Jimmy Boy said:
I wonder if there is any way the park could loosen up on the restrictions on the ride or possibly redesign the trains to be either more accomadating or more comfortable

Sure, they can retrofit the ride with OTSR's :-)

Yoshi, how bad are crowds usually on Easter weekend? We'll be heading up Saturday and want to know whether we need to get there right at rope drop or if we can cruise in at a more leisurely pace.

I think they are going to be bad, nice weather after the past weekend of bad weather and the park closed yesterday and today and since it is the day before Easter I am guessing it will be very crowded. I'd get there at opening if you want to ride Kingda Ka and El Toro without long lines. Sunday will be crowded too since the park is having a buyout but is also open for passholders but not as bad as Saturday.

Easter Sunday, as Yoshi said, is for Season Passholders and a large Jewish Community group. Last Easter. it wasn't bad. The group is VERY large, and causes bottlenecks at some rides, but I didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything. I'm going Sunday, armed with my hard-won Front-Of-The-Line Pass Funatics Reward Voucher. Since I didn't bother with Kinda Krap on Saturday, I'll probably use the pass for a spin on that.