Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

^Do what my dad did: Stuff balled-up socks into the bottoms of her shoes

As i have never been on TTD or KK, I always thought you at least got SOME airtime on them... Am i wrong?

I've gotten a pull of airtime going over the top hat on Kingda Ka (I've also gotten good airtime on TTD). Then again I'm one of those crazy people who is willing to sit very close to the back. I honestly still like the ride a lot!

^Do what my dad did: Stuff balled-up socks into the bottoms of her shoes

Please do not even make these suggestions in jest. Theme Park Review does not advocate breaking ANY park rules.

My questions are mostly do you think she would be able to ride any of the other coasters being an inch away from being tall enough? Like I said above I haven't been to six flags great adventure in years and I've never treated a child(well 9 turning 10 soon)to an experience like this and I was never interested in coasters as a kid so I never encountered this personally. Not sure if they would be able let her on with being only an inch off? I remember some kids getting turned away at Nitro even though they were tall enough back in 2009 or 10 (I can't remember when I was there last) I just worry that this would happen to her with being just an inch away. I know El Toro and Sky Screamer shouldn't be a problem and she showed interest on both of those.

It is very nice that you are treating your god daughter. Six Flags Great Adventure is diligent about checking the height of children close to the height minimum. I know it sometimes doesn't make sense when similar looking coasters have differing height requirements but safety is paramount, followed by the park listening to their lawyers.

However, when all is said and done if you know your god daughter doesn't meet the height requirement I wouldn't recommend even chancing it being bringing her into the station. I know my sister did this with my niece a couple of years ago and all it did was embarrass my niece leading to a lot of tears.

I got married recently and my husband has a god daughter that we plan on taking to the park this coming monday and she absolutely LOVES roller coasters! Her mom however is not in best health and can't ride most of them and doesn't really like amusement parks(mostly crowds) so my husband and I are treating her this coming Monday to six flags(she has already been to other parks in the area Hershey and Dorney). She unfortunately is about 53 inches so she probably won't get to ride most of the big coasters but she can ride EL Toro! After telling her about it she seemed more than excited to go with us.

 

My questions are mostly do you think she would be able to ride any of the other coasters being an inch away from being tall enough? Like I said above I haven't been to six flags great adventure in years and I've never treated a child(well 9 turning 10 soon)to an experience like this and I was never interested in coasters as a kid so I never encountered this personally. Not sure if they would be able let her on with being only an inch off? I remember some kids getting turned away at Nitro even though they were tall enough back in 2009 or 10 (I can't remember when I was there last) I just worry that this would happen to her with being just an inch away. I know El Toro and Sky Screamer shouldn't be a problem and she showed interest on both of those.

Is she 53 inches in shoes or without shoes? If she is without shoes, she might be tall enough, and if she is bring her to guest relations. They give special wristbands according to height, so that she doesn't get turned away on one ride, but allowed on another because different people will check height in different ways.

Thanks guys!

I understand the rules and I'm not interested in breaking them just thought if it was just an inch they 'might' let her on but it seems they are probably still strict on this these days. I know of the whole wrist band thing and I plan on doing it as soon as we enter the park. Even though she may not be tall enough for say 'Nitro' I'm assuming if I get a Parent swap pass(even though she isn't our child)my husband and I can still ride them and have her wait with one of us at the exit and vice versa? I just worry with it called 'Parent swap pass' they wouldn't let us do this. I don't see why it would be a problem but you never know!

At the time we measured her she was wearing shoes so I'm pretty sure she isn't tall enough but we promised if she liked it there we would take her next year when she should be tall enough to ride everything!

Any other advice is still appreciated! I'm use to going to the park alone or with my husband but never took a child that wasn't tall enough to ride everything but again she is most certainly tall enough for El Toro and I often say if that's all I got to ride I'd be happy, hope she feels the same. Although the Mine train and Skull Mountain are fun too! I honestly think Skull Mountain is more fun than 'The Dark Knight' even!

^ I think as long as you have a child that isn't tall enough to ride certain rides they will let you use parent swap.

^ I think as long as you have a child that isn't tall enough to ride certain rides they will let you use parent swap.

Thanks! That's what I'm thinking too, I just worry because the website mentions the word 'Parents' when describing it and the pass is called 'Parent swap pass'.

^ I think as long as you have a child that isn't tall enough to ride certain rides they will let you use parent swap.

 

Thanks! That's what I'm thinking too, I just worry because the website mentions the word 'Parents' when describing it and the pass is called 'Parent swap pass'.

You will have no trouble using the Parent Swap with your god daughter.

Some interesting news from the park....

Six Flags Great Adventure Invites Guests to Take Last Drive Through Wild Safari Animal Park

JACKSON, NJ – August 20, 2012 – After 38 years of operation and more than ten million drive-through visitors, the Six Flags Wild Safari will discontinue allowing guests to drive their own vehicles through its gates after September 30, 2012.

Described as the world’s largest drive-through safari outside of Africa, the 350-acre animal sanctuary is home to 1,200 animals from six continents. Although park management will not release details about the safari’s future until August 30, the park’s president assures guests that all animals will remain at Six Flags and continue to receive first-rate care and attention.

“Animal preservation and education has been a cornerstone of Six Flags Great Adventure since we opened our gates in 1974,” said Park President John Fitzgerald. “While significant changes are on our horizon, our veterinary and animal husbandry staff will continue to provide excellent care for the more than 70 species of exotic and domestic animals that live here at Six Flags.”

Fitzgerald declined to release any further details.

“Six Flags Wild Safari has been an institution for many families whose first glimpse of exotic animals was with their faces pressed up against a car window. That chapter of our history is now drawing to a close,” said Safari Director and Chief Veterinarian Bill Rives.

Six Flags Great Adventure will release the details of its 2013 season August 30. For park information, visit http://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure.

^ When I read that, i was like...

Interesting. Are they making the Safari into a guided tour?

I haven't been through the Safari in years. I would do one last ride-through, but I'm not terribly excited about having monkeys jump all over my car. Maybe that's why they're doing away with the self-driven aspect.

EDIT: I'm guessing this is what the 2013 announcement will be about?

Interesting. Might be making a trip to Great Adventure this weekend.

Wow, This kind of sucks. My first memories of the park were in the wild safari. Hope its official guided tours. NOT a hotel

We seriously thought about doing the add-on safari when we were at the park a few weeks ago. Hope the Safari is staying and it just won't be a self-guided thing anymore.

Because it specifies that guests will no longer be able to drive "their own vehicles", it seems to imply that it will still be a drive-through attraction, but probably guided (as everyone is already guessing).

This may seem lame, but last time I drove through the safari (which I've always LOVED doing), the animal lover in me got sort of bummed out at realizing how much car exhaust the animals must be exposed to on a daily basis during the operating season. This announcement makes me relieved in a way that the animals aren't going anywhere, and they will hopefully have cleaner air while we still get to enjoy them...

That being said, three of my favorite vacation memories ever are from this safari--both monkey related, and comedy gold:

* Monkey peeing on the car hood of our rental.

* Monkey "pleasuring himself" up against our windshield.

* Monkey taking off the antenna of the car in front of us.

^Which are exactly the reasons I have always skipped it. I really have no desire to have monkey-related damage to my car.

I wonder if it will be like an upcharge guided safari excursion. It would be a good idea. Alot of parks have their train ride and the attendants are doing speils the entire trip or theirs an automated speil. This would be a cool spin off of that.... going on a excursion in some Rhino Rally like vehicle with some skit/speils into the wild safari. I am just wondering it would be free or an upcharge... They could also incorporate such with both the dry and water park.

Seems like the rumors elsewhere point to Bizarro getting moved (maybe to SFGAm as a mea culpa for stealing Green Lantern) and building the new entrance to the Wild Safari back in that area, which also preps the area of the park for guest traffic when they inevitably build the drop tower on the side of Kingda Ka.

Can't say I'd be too sad about the potential loss of Bizarro. Hindsight shows that Medusa when it was first built was likely B&M's first step down the "forceless wonder" path that would come to full fruition by the early-mid 2000's. Atleast it is glass smooth which is more than can apparently be said about Scream at SFMM.

Incidentally, I just bought two $25 tickets to GADv good til October using the online promo code MILITARY. They included free admission to Wild Safari with the Theme Park as well as two extra guest tickets to Wild Safari so it seems like they are really pimping it out before the makeover.

^Which are exactly the reasons I have always skipped it. I really have no desire to have monkey-related damage to my car.

In recent years (5 or 6?) the monkeys have been fenced in. By removing the self drive through aspect of the attraction and requiring guests to take a guided tour, I see this as having the potential to make the safari a low budget version of killimanjaro safari at ak. A themed spiel, closer contact to the animals (currently the tigers are fenced off, monkeys are fenced off, bears are kept far away), a host who can point out animals and share information, and a more intimate setting (possibly removing all the asphalt) is exactly what this attraction needs.

From a revenue standpoint it also allows the hundreds of people that arrive via bus to take advantage of the upcharge attraction without paying for an expensive vip tour.

Glad I got to do this back in May thanks to ClubTPR when I used the discount they gave me free safari tickets.

However on my visit I seen alot of people breaking the simple rules that have and watched someone almost hit a giraffe. So this change doesn't surprise me but i'm looking forward to seeing what happens for next year.

I think this will be for the animals best. With employees guiding you they will have control an supervision as to what people do and avoid situations like feeding animals batteries. This could also be an insurance move as well like some people have mentioned. I'm excited!

Yesterday, as I was going through the safari I saw some people climbing Kingda Ka. Is this common? The ride opened as soon as they finished.

Is this common?

The track is inspected periodically. Not sure exactly what the interval is (daily, weekly, monthly etc) but if they were doing it in the middle of the operating day, then yes I'd say that's a little suspect and not a normal occurrence.

That's an awesome job by the way. I'd love to do that.

Seems like the rumors elsewhere point to Bizarro getting moved

Yes, but this doesn't necessarily validate those rumors at all. I think the only reason that Bizarro has low ridership is because of it's awful location. Hopefully if they put some kind of drop tower or Safari Entrance back there they keep Bizarro because it will probably get a huge bump in ridership. Bizarro is a great coaster and it would be a real shame for them to remove it.

For whatever reason, Bizarro doesn't draw people and now with Green Lantern (despite one being a standup and one being floorless) the park has a big multi-looper drawing big lines, so Bizarro feels almost extraneous which is why I am prone to believing these rumors. I haven't waited longer than a few trains to get on it since probably the year it opened as Medusa, even the Bizarro transformation barely made a blip it seems. It would probably be more appreciated in another part of the country and I would bet SF feels similarly.