Skull Mountain, hyped up for its debut?

My friend was telling me that she went to Great Adventure in 96 (skull mountain's debut year). She was so excited about Skull Mountain, had heard that it was gonna be great, newest coolest thing, or whatever. She ended up having to wait 3 hours for it, and she came off soooo disappointed, she never rides it anymore ever since her big disappointment. Anybody else remember the debut of Skull Mountain? Was it hyped up? Were there long lines?

Skull Mountain was very popular when it opened. There used to be additional nicely-landscaped and well-themed queue lines where Wok and Roll is right now. 2h+ lines were common on busy days in 1996. Skull Mountain can be a people eater though, and it used to move people as well as Nitro does. They ran 3-train in 1996. They used to be painted orange, which was much nicer than the weird colors the "expedition vehicles" are currently painted.

The ride was heavily marketed when it opened. It wasn't necessarily marketed as a thrill coaster, but it wasn't called a family coaster, either. I think the park wanted to trick people into thinking it was a thrill coaster, though. It has been called a family coaster since the 1996 season.

1996 was the year of the indoor coaster. Skull Mountain opened at Great Adventure, Runaway Mountain opened at SFoT, Outer Limits: Flight of Fear opened at PKD and PKI, and the Nightmare opened at Darien Lake.

Runaway Mountain might be the more intense attraction, but Six Flags knew that Great Adventure needed a ride with higher capacity, so they called Intamin to design their coaster. I think Skull Mountain is an excellent attraction. It works very well for families, it's high-capacity, tastefully-themed, and quite fun. The first drop is insane (and proves Intamin can never behave themselves) and provided the best airtime in the park prior to Nitro.

ITs a great family attraction, but most guests 'flimm-flammed' into thinking they were riding something that was not meant to be.

Great Adventure had no choice but to B.S. the public, as Morey's Piers was getting ready to unveil the Great White, which, well was great. And they came off the '95 season with the Great Nor'Easter, and Great Adventure unveiled 'Viper', which plainly is a stinker.

Therefore, Great Adventure has since stopped B.S.'ing the publice and built better attractions.

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"Step on that lapbar and make it nice and tight!"

Great Adventure could take a giant dump in the middle of the midway, give it a queue line, and guests would come in record numbers to line up for it.

*** This post was edited by Prone Coaster 10/26/2003 9:57:56 PM ***

I remember a big deal being made about it when it 1st opened. I remember the commercial pretty well, and it was hyped as a thrill coaster. I remember we went to GADV for my 8th grade trip the first year it was open and I remember loooooooong lines and huge disappointments. I recall remarks like "that s*kd", "that so wasn't what I thought it would be", and "that was just a kiddie coaster enclosed." Yes, huge dissapointment. Disappointment only due to Six Flags' bad marketing and BSing.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules at Dorney Park 5/89-9/03

What coaster isn't hyped? It's called marketing.

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Exactly!
What were they supposed to say? Come ride our kiddie coaster in the dark.
Plus I never knew that Great Adventure and Morey's Piers were in direct competition. Frankly I never even heard of Morey's until I joined these boards. Viper may have bombed, but an SLC (an old one too) is nothing to gloss about.

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Mamoosh said:
What coaster isn't hyped? It's called marketing.

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Yeah, bad marketing. Also, there is a difference between hyping and BSing.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules at Dorney Park 5/89-9/03

What do you expect them to do?

"Come to Great Adventure! We're opening a really mediocre coaster that will have the general public asking why they waited in line and spoiled coaster enthusiasts calling it a waste of space!"

It's not BS, it's marketing. The goal is to bring more people to the park and, yes, good marketing forces you to exagerate and overembellish just a tad.

Well , they could've easily marketed it has a help to them becoming more of a family park.

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