Six Flags Great Adventure 4/13/08 w/Pics

I woke up Sunday morning, and read the trip report that YoshiFan had posted. My girlfriend and I decided that was all the convincing we needed to make the trip.

We left our house in South Central PA at 1230, and made excellent time getting there at 245 pm. We knew when we arrived in the parking lot that pretty much everything was going to be a walk on. Better yet no Flash Pass needed to have an enjoyable day at a Six Flags park.

Walking up to the entrance plaza they make it very clear that there isn't any smoking allowed except for in designated areas. Being a smoker they have plenty of smoking areas throughout the park, and very easy to find. I think they added a few more since my visit last year.

First ride of the day was a front seat lap on El Toro. Running 2 trains. Waited about 15-20 minutes, and it would have been faster if they didn't have to throw a person or 2 off each train for being to big to fit in the lap bar. Each coaster at Great Adventure has a working test seat, and I can't believe that people don't take the time to see if they fit before they get in line. What a great ride.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081803.jpg

Next up was Kingda Ka. Running 2 trains. 15-20 minute wait for the 2nd row. It was my girl's first lap on that, and she loved it. I was really surprised how short of a wait it was for Ka.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081616.jpg

We then rode went into the boardwalk area and rode GASM, and Superman. I know that GASM doesn't normally get huge lines, but this picture give you an idea of just how short the wait was. I was waiting for the front seat when I snapped this.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081625.jpg

I don't know if they did some work to GASM, but it was running really smooth compared to previous years. Another big difference was that the midcourse hit hard almost to the point that it stopped the train altogether. One train wait for the front seat. Running 2 trains.

Superman was running great as expected. I love going through the pretzel loop in the back of the train. That was also my girlfriend's first flying coaster. Running 2 trains, and walk on.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081647.jpg

Even with no major crowds they still had a lot of costumed characters out on the midway. Bugs, Daffy, Marvin The Martian, Sylvester, Tweety, The Flash, and Batman are the ones that we had seen throughout the day.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081707.jpg

We went over to the Movietown section of the park to check out the progress being made on The Dark Knight Coaster. I am not really that excited to ride since it is a standard mouse, but I am anxious to read the reviews of the theming and effects. Will they be on the level of Disney or Universal? Or will they just end up forgetting the theme like Six Flags past?

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081743.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081746.jpg

We then hit up Batman the ride. Running 2 trains, and no wait. Good ride as always, and still one of my favorite B&M inverts.

Nitro was next up. Running 2 trains, and no wait. Great ride. I don't know why people give this coaster a bad rap. No it's not as forceful as others. It is a B&M, and it's what I expect from them. Just a fun smooth ride.

Skull Mountain was running 2 trains, and no wait. Fun little ride. I am hoping this would be one of the rides that Six Flags decides to refurbish. It has a lot of potential to be better with added effects and theming.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/emoppin/0413081731.jpg

Took a lap on Blackbeard's Treasure train on our way over to the Frontier Adventure section of the park.

Runaway Mine Train was running 2 trains, and walk on. Still one of my favorite Mine train coasters.

Medusa was running 2 trains, and no wait. Another good addition. Took 3 laps without getting off the train.

We then went back to re ride El Toro and Ka, and finished the night off with a lap on Rolling Thunder. Running the right side only with 2 trains. It was running much smoother, but less aggressive then last year. Really needs a paint job.

Security were all over the place. We let a single rider up in to the front of the line with another single rider, and security came out of nowhere to see if everyone was ok with that. Big change from a few years ago when we told the security about line cutters, and his reply was, "I am not saying anything they'll be waiting for me in the parking lot."

Where are the flats? How about a train? Maybe a Sally dark Ride? That is my biggest gripe about the park. I think it's a ploy to sell more Flash passes. ;)

It was an excellent day. They had all the managers waiting at the exit to slap hands and thank us for coming. Some major improvements over last few years.

I'm surprised lines were longer than Saturday especially since it was so much colder on Sunday. Not that it sounds like the lines were bad especially for Great Adventure but nothing was close to 15 - 20 minutes on Saturday. Nice to hear they were running multiple trains. On rides like GASM, they took off a train due to the lack of crowds, though I really can't blame them for that. *** Edited 4/17/2008 3:49:57 AM UTC by YoshiFan***

Reading TR's like this when living in Indianapolis, and then realizing the large crowds and upcoming hundred's spent on Flash Passes this June, July, and August!?!....[sigh]... :(

Thanks for a great trip report. I have a question that maybe you or YoshiFan can provide some feedback for me. What kind of crowds regardless of what the weather will be for a Monday in mid May? I plan to be at the park Monday May 19th. I have never had the opportunity until now to visit the aprk, so any info, or other useful knowledge would be appreciated. Thanks

I'm glad to see that there is more security. I have never been to SFGAdv before so I have nothing to compare, but having seen the lack of security at other SF parks in previous years makes me hope that they will put an emphasis on security throughout the chain.

^^It depends on school trips. I don't know if they start taking them that early or not but I expect it to be more crowded then it is now but not as crowded as a typical summer day.

The problem is if there are schools there, they start to leave at 5:00 or so which makes the park dead but with the park closing at 6:00 on weekdays until the end of June, that won't give much time for no crowds if many schools are there.

RllrCstrDude187 ---> The season is young and usually begins promising. I hope the number and intensity of the security stays at the same level by mid-August. Somehow, it usually doesn't.

Security seemed the same in May as it did in July, August, and September last year to me!!

I was very impressed...

Yeah they have made a lot of great changes to the park, and it really is starting to show. Everything from the way the coasters are ran, the employees, security, the addition of several kids sections, and on on. I was very impressed.

Now I have to see how SFA is in a few weeks. In the past few years their progress isn't as evident as it has been in New Jersey. I'll go there one time and have a great experience and then go there another time, and it's just the same as a few years ago when it was really bad.

I think the big difference between the two is that crowd that they are drawing from. Great Adventure doesn't have any problem throwing out people that can't be civilized, and America doesn't seem to have adopted that same philosophy yet. Maybe they'll get there, and maybe they wont.

^^ Yoshifan the only wait that was really that long was El Toro's front seat. Ka wouldn't have been that long, but they shut it down for a little while because there was a light sprinkle of rain. Other then that you could stay in your seat if no one was waiting for it.

Its been a long time since I have been there with light crowds like that. Think the last time is when Batman & Robin and was new. I really have to start making it a point to visit early in the season.

It was nice with that deal they had last season at SFA of buying a pass in October for next season. With my pass processed already I was able to go. America opens even later this year then in the past. Next weekend is their opening weekend. Normally I would have my pass processed then. I have to make it a point to buy, and have them processed earlier.

^^^ Xremecoasterguy my experience in May on a weekday even with school groups are very light compared to a regular operating day. That's when I used to visit all the time because of the light crowds. You have a good time I am sure.

They run Kingda Ka with two trains?

I don't even think Top Thrill Dragster would be able to run with only two trains. I know Maverick gets confused when it runs less than four.

^^Ka has the side by side loading platform like Storm Runner at Hersheypark. The difference with Ka is that they load 2 trains on either side. It's easy to run 2 trains on there. Only run one side.

Still seems pointless when the ride was designed for four.

I've only seen TTD run with four once only because one of the trains were down and the extra train was down as well.

^^ It's all that was needed. The wait was just barely out of the station. Didn't need to run all 4 trains. They would have had to have at least 4 more ride ops to do that, and the crowd didn't justify that. It was only a 5 train wait for the front seat.

Many coasters in the past that would have only been running one train were all running at least 2. The pic above of GASM station is a good example of what every other coaster looked like except for El Toro, and Kingda Ka. My 2nd lap on Toro I rode in the back seat and it was only a train wait.

If you go to Cedar Point even on a slow day their popular rides still have a longer wait and justify the additional 3rd and 4th trains. There just wasn't a need for that at Great Adventure.

^Alright, I'm just trying to get my head around it all. Guess I'm just used to the way CP is when there a light crowds.