coasterbill

Kawasemi looks great. I really wish Mega Lites were popular in the US.

This ride is looking great!

Technically... Quassy: 1 Hour Rye Playland: 1 Hour Lake Compounce: 1 Hour 20 Minutes Parks I frequently visit... Six Flags New England: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes Six Flags Great Adventure: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes Dorney Park: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes

They can try all they want but it's probably not going to happen. Let's look at the track record. I may be leaving out some kids rides here but I'm not sure. In 2013 the park opened Safari Off Road Adventure: This was not open on Opening day. It was a pile of dirt. In 2012 the park opened Sky Screamer, Air Jumbo (which was just relocated from storage), Bumper Cars and Deja Vu. These were all empty pads on Opening Day except for Sky Screamer which wasn't open either but at least there was a tower there, the Bumper cars were a concrete path on Opening Day with no hint that there would be a ride there. Four new rides... none of them were ready for opening day. In 2011 Green Lantern was not open for opening day. In 2010 there were no new rides. In 2009 there were no new rides, but they changed Medusa's name to Bizarro and pretended it was new. And guess what... they couldn't even get that ready for opening day! It opened at end end of May! No, I'm not kidding. In 2008 they opened the Dark Knight. This didn't open until May 15th. In 2007 there were no new rides. In 2006 they opened El Toro and Tango. El Toro didn't open until the Summer, Tango was also not ready for opening day. In 2005 they added Kingda Ka which was not ready for opening day, neither was the rest of the Golden Kingdom except for the small part that used to be Frontier Adventures and contained no rides. In 2004 they didn't add anything. In 2003 they added Superman... it didn't open until April 18th (a few weeks into the season). In 2002 they added nothing. In 2001 they opened Nitro on Opening Day. That was 13 years ago and it was the last new ride they managed to open on opening day. Combine this track record with the fact that it's an Intamin ride being built ridiculously far away from the current pathway and there is no chance that this ride is going to be open on time. That doesn't necessarily mean Kingda Ka won't be open, but it's not likely. I don't mean to complain here. I like Great Adventure and I'm really lucky to have El Toro less than 3 hours from my house but getting rides open for opening day isn't their strong point.

I would think they're making plenty of money at Wildwater Kingdom. I don't see them closing it.

Great Adventure is guaranteed to be open on the 12th because they have events listed for that day on their website. I'd think this will be their opening weekend... it's not looking like they're going to open earlier. I'm expecting Kingda Ka to be closed at the beginning of the season but I'm basing this only on the fact that it's Six Flags. Still... El Toro will be open and that's really all that matters. Who knows... they might surprise us and have Kingda Ka open but I seriously doubt it. They have an entire offseason to work on it and if we were talking about Dollywood or Cedar Point I'd have no doubt that the ride would be open in plenty of time but we're talking about Six Flags here. Even without Kingda Ka you'll love Great Adventure. Nitro, Batman and Bizarro are all great coasters and El Toro will make you forget that Kingda Ka even exists. It's by far the best ride in the park (maybe the best ride in the world according to last year's Mitch Hawker results)... Kingda Ka doesn't even come close. Seriously... don't stress over Kingda Ka potentially being closed. Look on the bright side, that's just more time you can be re-riding El Toro. Also, just a few random tips. - As far as Flash Pass, don't buy it before you get to the park. Even if money isn't an issue it might not help you at all on opening weekend because depending on the weather it can be pretty dead. If the lines never get beyond the merge points then it won't help you. - Be sure to check out Houdini's Great Escape while you're here. It's easy to miss but it's a pretty cool ride. - If Kingda Ka is open take your first ride in the second row because it's going to have the shortest line since most people bottleneck and don't realize that row is empty. Then ride it in the front... it's much better in the front but I'd suggest riding in row 2 first because it's an unreliable piece of crap and the longer wait for the front gives it more of a chance to break down. Better to get 1 ride in row 2 than no rides because you're waiting for row 1. - On El Toro, ride in the back car (I prefer one seat from the back). Once you pass the garbage can in the station there won't be long waits. For some reason nobody passes the garbage can. - With the Flash Pass you can reserve your next ride as soon as you pass the attendant at the merge point who checks your Flash Pass. Don't wait for the ride to be over before reserving El Toro again (I mean whatever ride you're going to reserve next), it's a waste of time.

El Toro just won again as the press release / GA history post just came out but I may have linked to an old article on about.com. For some reason it wasn't referenced in the press release (unless I'm blind).

Agreed. Only parks in my opinion that have "Outstanding" food is Busch and Disney Parks . You are forgetting Herschend And Knoebels (Since you said parks and not chains I'm assuming that counts).

They're all terrible.

It must be. Try reinstalling your operating system.

I'm really confused by Medusa's transfer / brake run area and how it's supposed to work. Is this a Time Twisters park?

I'm late to the party but I didn't see this posted. About.com voted El Toro the #1 wood coaster in the U.S. Congrats to the Bull! Here's Great Adventure's press release. Asbury Park Press: Courtesy of Great Adventure History Daily Record Article

I really, really like this coaster. Is that weird?

I actually kind of like this idea. The ride is really compact and is actually pretty intense for a floorless coaster. It's the kind of ride I could see being cloned just because of the compact layout.

You answered your own question. Personally I'd prefer a B&M to an Intamin with Skyrush trains. That being said if they did something with trains like the ones on i305 or Millennium Force / Superman that would be incredible.

This is actually a really good one. The first time I went to Dorney I was far from an "enthusiast" and had only ridden a handful of coasters. When I saw Thunderhawk dwarfed by Steel Force like that I was amazed and actually pretty scared to ride it. The funny thing about that is that Thunderhawk is the better ride (though it's starting to get really rough).

Great pictures. Despite it's reputation I really enjoyed this park when we visited early last year.

This is a pretty interesting concept. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm no RCT3 expert but it's there a Boomerang CT where the lifts meet like they're supposed to? I'd strongly suggest using that.

That sign is awesome.

This thing looks completely insane. Hopefully I'll get to ride it one day.

Not really... Banshee is going to cost 25 million and while we haven't ridden it yet it's going to be a cold day in hell before it comes close to El Toro in any polls whatsoever. Wild Eagle at Dollywood cost 20 million and again... it's nowhere close to El Toro (and I actually really like Wild Eagle). I know those are steel coasters and they have a lower cost to maintain but it still seems like a great value for what it is.

This has to be intentional because it's just too easy. Right?

I couldn't agree more about the El Toro thing, I'm so ready for more Intamin wood coasters. I can't understand why there is only one of these in the US. It's been voted the #1 wood coaster in the world, it's incredibly popular, it's aged well and like Robb said it's relatively inexpensive for what it is and it's pretty reliable. Why is there only one of these in the US?

If it's a B&M giga I'd think they would put the classic B&M giga trains on it to make it a little different than Intimidator... just like they did with Leviathan. I'd still consider it to be incredibly redundant though.

I'm loving this.