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I know that the world isn’t exactly clamoring for another Jersey Devil coaster review but I figured I’d do a brief post with my thoughts. We went yesterday and got tons and tons of rides all over the train in the morning and at night (the park stayed open an extra hour since they were so busy). Let’s set some expectations: If you’re expecting Wonder Woman, you’re not going to get it here. I actually feel like the best way to look at this ride is that it’s more similar to the pacing of a regular RMC than one of those old batshit single rails but people positively lose their shit over regular RMCs so that’s not a bad thing. First off: The ride area and queue are very nice. My expectations for this park in that department are always low and none of it will change your life but it’s better than I expected so kudos on that front. As for the ride, it was running all four trains and when it got in a groove it’s capacity was better than you would expect. I’m sure it’s capacity is realistically higher than rides with higher theoretical capacities like El Toro and Bizarro on a lot of cycles since the restraints are very forgiving and the boarding never stops. It’s not like El Toro where the train is loaded and then it’s that “recheck 3,5,6... we got 6, lost 6, now just 3 and 5... we lost 2... now just 6... verified” bullshit. As for the ride itself, I guess let’s just go element by element. - The view from the lift is great. It’s a really nice view of the lakes and of Nitro. At Sunset, it was crazy. This is where Six Flags should take all of it’s Nitro social media / website / marketing photos from. - The first drop delivers insane ejector in the back and even solid ejector in the middle. - The first inversion is nuts everywhere and just an awesome element overall. - The next hill is an ejector hill with insane ejector airtime everywhere in the train. This will probably be a lot of people’s favorite part of the ride. - The stall following it is a blast. If the ride is running fast it’s wild, if it’s running slow then it might even enhance this element. - I thought that the turnaround would be a throwaway element but it’s absolutely not. In the back maybe it is, in the front it made me yell out an involuntary expletive. That’s RMC single rail pacing at it’s finest. - The next inversion is the most underrated thing on the ride. Throw your hands up and just enjoy it. It’s a really cool element where it feels like the world is in slow motion. I guess it’s not that forceful compared to everything that came before it but it’s just as much fun. I’ll admit that from this point forward, the ride definitely chills out a bit. The pop into the midcourse is nice but nothing crazy. The best way thing about the second half is the visuals. The headchoppers are great. My favorite element of the second half is the left turn after the midcourse because it just feels like there’s no clearance there and the turn is very tight. Every airtime hill on the second half provides mild floater air. Think “Nitro’s final camelbacks in December” airtime... maybe. The people complaining about this ride are probably judging the entire ride on this 10 second stretch, which is dumb. I firmly believe that the designers expected this part of the ride to run faster and it’s possible that they can tweak it to get it that way, maybe even just by dialing down the timing and having it sail through the midcourse. Even as-is though, it’s still fun. Despite ending the review on a low note with those last few hills, the ride is insane. The pacing on the first half is awesome and if the midcourse would have been the final brake run everyone would be blowing this ride. It has ejector air, it has “oh shit” moments, it has a forgiving restraint and a low height requirement and it looks great. It fills a nice niche for Great Adventure. Everyone is going to love this ride from the regular day-guests to the extreme thrill seekers (unless they’re just jaded as hell). At most parks in the northeast, this would be the best ride in the park. It would probably be my favorite ride at Lake Compounce, Dorney, Six Flags America, maybe Hershey (or at least top 2), Nick U, La Ronde (except it would run one train), possibly Busch Williamsburg... you get the point. I think most complaints about this ride are due to people being spoiled as hell by the fact that it’s not the most intense ride in the park with the strongest ejector airtime in the park but it’s still super intense and has crazy airtime. The problem is that across the park you have the tallest coaster in the entire world that goes 128 mph and one of the best, if not the best Intamin airtime machines ever built. We walked in with lowered expectations after reading the reviews but after riding it I realize that every enthusiast in New Jersey is just comparing everything to El Toro which means they’ll just end up hating everything forever. Go in expecting regular RMC Ibox pacing but with the unique ride experience of a single rail and you will love it. Ranking isn’t my thing, but I’d say that El Toro is clearly the best ride in the park but after that depending on my mood this might be my second favorite. It could also be Kingda Ka or Nitro at any given time. God, we’re spoiled. Ignore the haters, come out and ride this. It’s wonderful. We love Jersey Devil! A few general park updates: - Great job by the park staying open an extra hour because of crowds. They filled the parking lot which I’ve never seen outside of Fright Fest. How busy were they? Well... (we walked by, it was not a typo). - Now that Kingda Ka can run independently of Zumanjaro, the gloves are off. The crew yesterday was the best I’ve ever seen on that ride. They were practically running. Also: There is no longer a station grouper and you are free to wait for row one no matter what. We did, as we always do. Amazing ride... - I’m so used to riding Nitro in the winter that I forget what this thing can do when it warms up. That hill before the swoopy hill into the helix (I named that element just now) was providing borderline ejector air all day long. - We rode the Flume. We asked if we could not be grouped, we were denied. I should have just jumped in the lake to get less wet. Please stop doing this, nobody likes it. - The new temporary dinosaur thing was cool. After 6:00 you can pay 5 bucks and do it as a walkthrough rather than a drive through. It’s better than Dinosaurs alive was. The animatronics are pretty solid. Overall we had an awesome day (thanks to Flash Pass). Come out and ride this thing, you won’t regret it. Just don’t do it on a Saturday unless you’re getting there at opening, but if you do you should rope drop the Flash Pass building, not Jersey Devil. Flash Pass lines stretched back to the Joker entrance yesterday. They really need to improve that system.

They brought a crane in to work on the lift. Anyway, after getting kicked out of the Devil line around 11, hopped in a quick 10 minute line for Nitro. Unfortunately I couldn't recreate the Diamondback magic from last week, but it's still a great coaster and they were absolutely cranking trains out today, almost always by the time the next train dropped off the lift. Headed across the park, seeing huge lines for Joker and FlashPass. Was surprised to get over to El Toro and find it a walk on! Rode it twice, fantastic airtime as always. Getting a little bumpy in the sharp turns but not really that bad at all. Headed over to Kingda Ka next but found a line almost to the entrance. Walked around to Zumanjaro and waited about 15 minutes. Not the greatest freefall ride but the height is worth the price of admission and the drop goes on forever. Also got what used to be an impossible visual of a Kingda Ka launch right as we hit the top. Headed back across the park and saw the crowds are really on the rise. The Boardwalk was mobbed, Joker, Buccaneer had lines out the front, and FlashPass line was stupid considering the park closes in 6 hours. Just made my way over to check out the Jersey Devil scene and got the above crane picture. Security confirmed its closed for the day. Wanted to get on Nitro which didnt look to have much of a line but all the lockers are sold out in the area. Probably gonna call it a day, I get here enough when it's dead to wait in long lines all day. Early departure should mean a couple rides on Wooden Warrior on the way home!

Ohhh. Huh. I just figured they'd bought some of the Pickin' On CDs to play. So, if they can't sell the queue music, there's at least a really good variety of bluegrass covers through Pickin' On and The Cleverlys and The Beef Seeds and more. So if you ever wanna groove to bluegrass covers, there's plenty out there even if it isn't the exact versions in the TT queue.

They’ve been over compensating wait times. Even today Steel Vengeance was 45 minutes and listed it as 2 and half hours. Many rides were walk ons and shorter waits. It was busy today, but CP is getting back to normal. Some hiccups and reduced hours still, but staffing is much less of an issue. EDIT: Also, do NOT go to Maverick or SV first. I know it’s tempting, but you and everyone else has the same idea. I would highly recommend Raptor, MF then Maverick and finally SV since it’ll be open and the crowd will have moved on. Noon to 1pm are really good times for it every day we’ve been there. Follow the same strategy with FL and hit Iron Dragon if you have FL on the way and CCMR earlier on. They tend to get lines later and don’t offer FL. Early entry does nothing for FL so Raptor is a nice easy walk on.

Poltergeist will be down after July 4th. New queue sound awesome. Should be done by Labor Day and read for Freight Fest the following week. Teased today is a "new signature attraction" for 2022. Scheduled to open behind those doors on Memorial Day. Coaster Rodeo 2022 will be June 10 weekend. This has been in planning for 5 years. Also selling bricks for the path to the new attraction coming. On sales next couple weeks.

The convenience store at the Montvale rest stop on the GSP needs to update their mural.

The parking gates open at 8:30. You want to be there at that time. Get FL+. Sorry. For the double post; can't figure out how to edit to include a quote on mobile.

Everyone is a single rider on Jersey Devil!

... and everyone in the parade will be making $20 an hour so I expect about 2 floats.

Ah but here's the thing, we get that...it's less not zero and ofc 45 mins is better than 2 hours. Problem is it seems that, at least thus far, they have kinda bungled how they've been doing it and the FL was not that much less than normal. THAT is a problem, like 45 mins vs 120 is clearly a huge difference and worth it, some are making it sound like that hasn't been the case though....but I do assume it's still early season bugs that will work itself out. Least I hope. Bc yeah bad news i305isdaddy but for SV it was deff more than 15-20 mins lol It's till Cedar Point, like I don't think people always seem to grasp that and like, ya gotta understand crowds are part of it. But if ya wanna go it is what it is. I know I am excited as hell esp that weather should be perfect. Since I'll be arriving tomm night gunna pop in the park (since I got the platinum pass ) I know rides have been closing early but maybe can grab some of the not big names. EDIT: Oh btw how do we get the actual fast pass? Can we just pick up at the gate/conveniently or do we need to go to some place?

Standing in a line to get into the line. Employee just came by to say it won't be open for at least another hour with guys working on the lift. That's a...uhhh...good start on the first day open to the public. Edit: They've changed their wording from "extended delay of over an hour" to "major delay, we recommend you don't wait for it." GREAT! Edit again: Closed for the day! Guess I'll ride whatever doesnt have an insane line and head out. Sounds like it ran fine for all 4 days it's been open. Figures once I make a 4 hour drive it shits the bed.

I swung by the park today at around 4:30, to find the main parking lot 80% full, Flash Pass sold out (they were giving all-season FP holders 2 skip the line passes,WTF?), And Jersey Devil with a 2 hour line. Yeah I'll try another day LOL.