coasterbill

Vortex at Carowinds is complete crap and it doesn't seem to be all that popular but for the most part I agree. Meh... that's even debatable I do think B&M is a great company... I just think Intamin is better. Still, I have 5 B&M rides in my top 10 (though only 2 were built in the last 15 years). They make great rides, but new B&M's don't blow me away like their old rides do or like Intamin or RMC rides do.

Well... one problem is that they're understaffed... they only have one person on each side checking the train. But the bigger problem is that they talk to eachother and screw around all the time to the point where they don't usually even open the gates until the train on the course is in the mid course. I wish they'd just run 2 trains because they stack for so long that they don't even need the third. Luckily that's not typical of Great Adventure. Most of the crews are great and usually they seem to enjoy their jobs. Nitro generally has a great crew (though last year it was just okay) and rides like El Toro and Kingda Ka are always on point. Unfortunately Kingda Ka gets slowed down by Zumanjaro and El Toro gets slowed down by the lap bar sensors that require the operators to constantly go back and re-check entire cars to make sure the bars are down all the way. They do the best they can though.

Depending on the crews they can send 2-3 but every time I've gone it's been 1. This is a testament to the Zumanjaro crew but unfortunately I wish they'd slow down a little and let Kingda Ka send at least the 2 trains that are loaded and ready between cycles. When we were there last year they were averaging 3 trains every 10 minutes... I swear I'm not exaggerating and it was no fault of either crew. Overall I think Great Adventure has great operations. They're not as fast as a park like Cedar Point but that's more a staffing issue than anything. The operators they do have are almost always really good and every coaster usually runs all of it's trains (except Kingda Ka which doesn't have a reason to). Bizarro is the one exception, that crew is flat out brutal.

What????? Cedar Point (which has the dumbest wind policy ever) doesn't even shut the Sky Ride down until it gets to about 15 MPH and Raptor, Gatekeeper and Dragster don't close until about 25? Why do they need to close X2 for 12 MPH winds? That seems insane to me. 12 MPH winds are basically just a light breeze.

Yes... but waiting for the front will add an hour to your wait time at least (even with the Flash Pass since it's all in the station) with the new operating procedures which is why I'd book it to Kingda Ka as soon as the park opens so you can avoid that. But seriously... ride it in the front, even if you do have to wait an extra hour.

^^That all depends on if the park can get Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro to run together. If not... then Kingda Ka has horrendous operations as they can only launch about 2-3 trains every 10 minutes. You should immediately head to Kingda Ka at opening even before getting a Flash Pass if you want a front seat ride (which you do because it's amazing in the front and mediocre and rough everywhere else... seriously, you want a front seat ride. Riding it anywhere else is a waste of time). Then get the Flash Pass and lines won't be an issue for the rest of the day. Superman always has a long, slow moving line but with the Flash Pass it doesn't really matter... especially because when you're waiting in the station you can be virtually waiting for something else. Operations are generally very good at Great Adventure and the longest you'll wait for anything besides Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro is probably 45 minutes to an hour even on the busiest summer day. Keep in mind that Safari Off Road Adventure is a cool experience but if you do it you need to set aside at least 90 minutes to 2 hours once you get on the ride so whether or not you ride it is totally up to you and what you want to see while at the park. I can't recommend it enough but if you only have one day and coasters are your focus then I understand skipping it. As far as non coaster rides (besides Safari) I highly recommend Houdini, Sky Screamer (though the same exact ride exists in a lot of other places), the Log Flume, Zumanjaro and for their historic value the Skyway (which is the only operating double Skyway in the U.S. and came from the New York World's Fair and the parachutes as it's the only parachute drop left in the country.

Some enthusiasts are whiny. Some of us love super intense rides and others hit their head on the restraint one time or hear a slight rattle and it's the end of the world. I've heard people complain about Batman (which I consider to be one of the smoothest coasters ever) being rough (and if you don't believe me go do a search and you'll be amazed). Some of us love awesome B&M coasters like Kumba and Batman that rip through every element with ridiculous intensity and speed but there are plenty of other people that complain about Batman being rough (lol) or Kumba's corkscrews being rough (lol) and that drives down their overall rankings. Batman I think also falls victim to being a clone which for some reason causes it to be overlooked even though without fail it's one of the best rides at every park that has one (in my opinion it's the second best coaster at Great Adventure after El Toro and the second or third best at Magic Mountain after Tatsu and Apocalypse if they actually re-track it). Everyone says they want more intense coasters but they don't because people find something to complain about whenever we get one. People don't like Maverick's restraints, or I305's first turn and with old B&M's god forbid you hit your head once on any ride with an over the shoulder restraint. Now B&M builds rides with no intensity at all like Griffon or Wild Eagle (both of which I still enjoy) and people complain about them too because they're forceless... so people complain no matter what. My guess is that Kumba isn't ranked higher because of the amount of people being over-dramatic about hitting their head once or twice despite the fact that it's a ridiculously smooth and awesome coaster. Kumba is easily the best B&M I've ever ridden (though I'd love to ride Nemesis one day).

I really don't know why I'm not more exited for this ride. I'm sure it's going to be amazing and it's only 2 hours away but for some reason I'm paying way more attention to rides like Fury325, Rougarou and Impulse which won't be nearly as good but are located in parks I enjoy visiting a lot more. I'll say this though, I do get a little more excited with every new picture I see. I know this ride will be amazing I just wish I could say the same for the rest of the park.

Great report... personally after visiting this past summer I just feel like this park needs to be put out of it's misery. I thought Blue Streak was terrible and even though we bought a wristband we only rode it once... this park really doesn't have any redeeming qualities except maybe the tumble bug. You can tell that it was a really nice place once but those days are long gone.

According to that rumor (and I should stress that it's a rumor though Screamscape seems really confident in this one), there are no plans to tear it down... just to close it and leave it there. That's the part I don't really like... I'm all for removing this horrible death machine.

^I'm excited for this ride and all and I never like to judge rides before they open but this ride reminds me in no way, shape or form of Maverick. I expect Fury 325 to be about speed with a nice flowing course and some moments of floater air thrown in. Maverick is all about insanely quick transitions, sudden changes of direction and ridiculous ejector airtime. Fury 325 looks great but I don't think a Maverick style ride is what they're going for here. If you're comparing this to Maverick I think you're setting yourself up for extreme disappointment.

This rumor just appeared on Screamscape and seems to be gaining a lot of traction on Social Media. Screamscape I hope this isn't true. While the ride is absolutely brutal I would expect better from this park than just leaving a wood coaster in such a prominent location just rotting away. I know they've done this before with Drachen Fire in Williamsburg and I know that the chain is in a lot of financial trouble but I wish they were able to cut costs in less high-profile ways (though I know they've already had quite a few layoffs and have probably explored hundreds of other options). This whole situation is just a shame.

Casino Pier wasn't damaged by the fire but thanks to Hurricane Sandy I believe they're down to 2 credits... one is a kiddy coaster and the other is terrible. Funtown Pier no longer exists as it was destroyed during Sandy and the tiny pieces that remained were destroyed by the fire. Hitting all of the parks you mentioned shouldn't be an issue though. A few comments on the route 1) You'll be passing right by Lake Compounce on I-84. I'm not sure if you've ridden Boulder Dash but if not you should absolutely stop. Wildcat is running great also which is a huge change as that ride used to be brutal. 2) If Iron Cyclone is one of the major reasons for this trip then it's very risky going in early June. It might be open... but this is Six Flags New England we're talking about here and I could easily see this ride opening in late June or maybe even early July. 3) If you're a dark ride fan it would be a shame to take the Cape May Lewes Ferry and not visit Rehoboth Beach to ride the Haunted Mansion (it opens at 6:30 PM). It's awesome. Actually if you have any spare time at all on this trip I'd suggest visiting Rehoboth Beach since you're so close to it. It's probably the nicest beach / boardwalk on the east coast (in my extremely biased opinion). 4) Assuming you're renting a car, make sure it has an EZ PASS. You'll need it a lot on this trip.

I'm sure if they take down the bleachers they do it for a reason... they don't just do it for fun. And while you may be right, I doubt the position of the webcam is an indication of whether or not something will be removed in the near future. Sometimes they just like to move them around.

I'm actually kind of liking the way this coaster is looking. I was skeptical at first but it looks pretty nice.

This just frees up such a huge amount of space... especially if you factor in the old Wildcat pad and the Turnpike cars (which you could either remove or build over). Very exciting...

Check out those lights...

I like the way you think... this ride is completely overlooked but from a historical perspective it's a gem. Any Von Roll skyride is great experience, but to have a double sky ride from the 1964-1965 World's Fair is pretty awesome. Too bad they don't still run it like they did at the World's Fair though... now this is a high capacity ride (They no longer use these cabins though so they now have about half as many as they did at the fair). Anyway great report! I'm surprised to hear you're not a fan of Batman though. I love that ride and think it's on par with the other Batman clones I've ridden if not slightly better. I've noticed that the ride really does get noticeably faster as the day goes on though. This is common on wood coasters and some larger steel coasters but to see such a big difference on an invert based on the time of day is kind of strange.

Does anyone else convert keychains into Christmas Ornaments? Whenever we go somewhere new (a park or otherwise) we try to get an ornament, but we've found that keychains are much easier to find so if a park doesn't have ornaments we've started buying keychains and putting ornament hangers through them. You'd never know the difference...

When I rode Banshee I didn't even notice that it had a trim.

It's hard not to be impressed with that kind of progress. They're really moving along with this ride.

^ Honestly I don't think Knoebels is missing anything. They just love to put awesome icing on the already awesome cake. They've been my favorite park in the country for years but they keep getting better. "Hey look... we're already amazing and have the best collection of flat rides anywhere but just for fun here's one of the best drop towers in the country". "We already have the best classic style dark ride in the world... here's another one with some coaster drops in it". "We already have Phoenix and Twister... how about the world's only flying turns ride that enthusiasts have been begging for for 40+ years". "We just opened a new coaster and an awesome drop tower in the last few years so we really don't need anything but here's a steel looping coaster with a vertical drop that of course has lap bars to make it extra awesome". ... and on top of that when they add new rides they very rarely remove anything of value. The same can't be said for a lot of other parks.

We just marathon our favorite coaster until they tell us we can't anymore. The only exception is at Great Adventure where we get in line for Kingda Ka 30 minutes before park close, that way we get a front seat ride which won't happen if you show up any later. We always ride this last because once Zumanjaro finishes cycling it's riders Kingda Ka is finally able to operate normally. Combine that with the lack of Flash Passes because the park is closed and you end up with a line that moves pretty well. Unfortunately Great Adventure closes ride lines whenever they want now so if that policy comes back next year I'll just go back to marathoning El Toro... or just visiting parks like Dorney and Knoebels that don't have such idiotic policies. I agree. I thought they only did this for major rides but earlier this year we rode Iron Dragon right at park close and were happy to see that even they had the grace period. Don't judge us, they had passholder ERT on Maverick that started once the line ran through so we didn't want to get in line for something like Millennium Force that might cut into our ERT because of it's long line. We didn't really make Iron Dragon the last ride of the night. lol

Really? That's the best news I've heard all day. I was a little disappointed when this ride didn't offer quick queue last year.

I'm so happy for Knoebels. This is going to be a great addition for them.