BuddyChrist

Thanks! The addition will surprise a lot of people I think thanks but its nowhere near the level I'd like it to be Good guess, but that's not it! Thanks a lot! Halloween is my favorite holiday, next year the event will get something even cooler! Sorry to put a damper on your guess, but it won't be a rapids ride! It will be pretty cool once you see the renderings! Thanks! I really enjoy doing these Season updates, I'm glad that you read through them all so you can see just how much a park can change over the course of a few years!

Illum Hills: Fall, Year 4 (Fall Fest) Sun:12pm-10pm Mon:Closed Tues:Closed Wed:Closed Thurs:Closed Fri:4pm-11pm Sat:10am-12am Ticket Prices: Adult General Admission: $20.00 Child General Admission:$10.00 Spectator:$10.00 Under 3: Free Season Pass: $45.00 Attractions: Eagle's Nest Pioneer Super Swinger Wonder Wheel Galaxy Grand Carousel Double Take Dino Run Scramble Inferno Rotor Plunge Games Square Fall Fest Attractions: Horror at the Hills Haunted Walkway Pick a Pumpkin Park News: The return of Fall Fest has made headlines across the papers as larger crowds are anticipated for the Park's Halloween bash! Mr. Illum siad there was a lot of work done during the Summer to make Horror Hollow more acommodating to large crowds with a new entrance, wider walkways, and new bathroom facilities. Other props have been added to the park as well and Horror at the Hills is all set to scare the living daylights out of guests again! In other park news, Warner Communications is upping their financial contribution to the park, but this number has yet to be revealed. It is thought that they may want some kind of branding in return for the money they invest. The offseason checklist has also come in and Mr. Illum noted some important things around the park that need to be completed before next season: -New Ride and Area surrounding it -Landscaping improvements -Ride relocations -New Walkways/Walkway improvement -New eating facilities -A new Show area -Double Take repainting -Pioneer retracking That's all the news for now! Here is the photo update! A memorial to guests just dying to get in is now in front of the fountain Skeletons line the fountain This friendly face now dominates the main walkway, Warner provided it from their studios since it was a movie prop Horror Hollow's relocated entrance during the day And at night Some more props courtesy of Warner An overview of how the Horror Hollow area was expanded The Haunted Walkway also returned this year over by Lumberjack Falls So did the fog around Inferno's helix And from the top of Inferno's lift, you can see them construction some kind of rocky scenery for next year's attraction.

^There are tons of garbage cans that run through Movietown, Fantasy Forest, Main Street, and Boardwalk to mark off the route for the new Glow in the Park parade! They have rings on the top so they can attach chains to each other and keep the GP from interfering with the parade.

It was actually up and running today, though I hear it was getting stopped on the lift a couple of times! I have a photo update from 5/27 for you to enjoy, I got tied up and wasn't able to put it together until last night! My brother and I took a trip to the park on Tuesday, I'm only going to post photos and captions since I don't want to write a full TR, enjoy the captions! Superman Sideshot Nitro when it was working Nanananananana Batman! Uh-oh the Wiggles have lost popularity, time for a retheme! Crowds were LIGHT Where be the people? Log flume was up and running! Medusa, we got stuck on the brake run since someone got sick on the train in front of us and we had to wait for them to clean it up Wheee! Shadows It may not make sense, but at least its some sort of theme I swear this looks like the head of a cobra, maybe they should call this element a cobra! Where's the line? I'm scared, there's no wait 3 Coasters in one shot, I deserve some sort of award! For giving us your money! I seriously think they can squeeze something in here if they wanted to Gun Safety by Six Flags! WHERE ARE THE CROWDS? MORE FLAGS, MORE FAIL! Arrows look good So good But they hurt! Parking has limited cars in it So many garbage cans, at least ours serve a purpose! 2 coasters and a flat, variety! Dream Street Out in the lot eating lunch They did a great jobs revitalizing this little spot Skull Mountain wants more attention, it will resort to eating babies if it doesn't get it! Build a structure and put the bumper cars here, please! Glue or secret alien message? You decide! Ok! There you go! Blue M&M strikes the BuddyChrist pose Due to the collapse of the housing market, Houdini's sub-prime mortgage bankrupted him and he was evicted, he moved up north i think Jon points out more fail! I leave you with Scream Machine!

^^That's ok, it will be revealed soon! Thanks for the comment! ^They wouldn't place a major coaster there, but yes, another water ride is needed!

A bit of bad news, Nitro has been down for a few days, this photo shows a crew working around the crest of the lift, so they may be having lift chain problems like SROS had last year.

Thanks everyone! I would do the David Walsh cheat, but when I crop them it's more like a photograph, thanks though! I've been very busy lately, so I haven't completed the Fall Fest update, but I do have a picture that's sure to spark some speculation They're moving around a lot of dirt around Inferno's area, I wonder what could be on the way! Update soon!

Hey Everyone, I just have a general park update for you from Saturday, May 24th. They had debuted the new Glow in the Park parade on Friday, so I went out to see it. I hung out with my friends Amanda and Josh and saw a few things around the park. First off, In one word, Glow in the Park is: AMAZING I was expecting a good parade full of lights and music, but it totally blew me away. The music was perfect, the costumes were awesome, the performers were energetic, and the floats were fantastic, and the public seemed to love it. It was very Disney-esque and as soon as they organize the route a little better, it will be perfect. I'll have a video up soon if my computer will behave. Pictures won't do it justice, you just have to see it! Around the park, everything is going well. The staff is very friendly and efficient, they even greet you and ask how you are when you walk into a store. Even at the parking gates they seemed happy and smiled! The park management is doing a great job. They have kept the park clean and they are fixing the little things. Skull Mountain has Strobes, lights, it's original queue soundtrack, and music playing during the ride. Kingda Ka was running all 4 trains and dispatches were quick. Now on to the Dark Knight. I really wish people would ease up on The Dark Knight, it really is a good ride. The public is really spoiled with our coaster line-up. Unless it goes 70 mph or upside down, they hate it. I really wish they would stop saying that it was a terrible decision. A terrible decision would've been just to plop down a wild mouse with no theming whatsoever. They took the time and effort to add a preshow, enclose it, and put different scenes around the different turns. I also caught a new scene at the bottom of one of the drops, Batman breaking through the wall on the Batpod. This scene was not there last week and I swear they must have just put it in. It's a great ride and I wish everyone would stop saying it sucks. At least it's not like Mulholland Madness so don't say Disney could do better. Ok, enough ranting! Time for the photos! Ads for Glow in the Park are up everywhere, Everyone should go see it! Nitro was stuck here Then here Then it cleared the lift. Batman looks like a mess of steel in this photo The Dark Knight has helped bring crowds into Movietown Epic Fail Good Wood Medusa doing its thing Is it really worth the wait to get a train in this shot? No Lift Hill enthusiasts rejoice Intamin rocket Scarecrows, ye be warned, you will be hanged from a games stand My meory may just be really fuzzy, but I don't remember Granny's Country Chicken lights being on for years Sunset Steel LOOK! A marking for next year's Dive Machine with Gravy Splashdown effect, sweet! Big Wheel all lit up More Sunset They have a truck with chains that hook onto the garbage cans. At least our garbage cans serve more than a purpose than just a scenery element Here are some photos from the Glow in the Park Parade by my friend Josh (his camera actually takes good night pictures). To see all of the photos, go to this link(http://www.gadvonline.com/photogallery/thumbnails.php?album=40), but I'll show you most of them! The parade begins The first float with Drummers Close up It really is sight to see You have to catch the dragon! you need more Heroin Hero training first! It even has a fog cannon Batman was the best Gotham glows The Wiggles had their own float too A look at the parade heading down Dream Street Don't forget the Looney Tunes! That's all Folks! The pictures don't do it justice, so go and see it for yourself!

Thanks for the coverage Robb! I think they actually did a good job with redoing X. The paint scheme is much more appealing and fitting, the trains look more reliable, and the onboard audio looks great! Taking an old coaster and redoing it with new effects and new equipment really shows me that the management really cares about how the parks are run. If X2 runs smoothly consistently for the rest of the season, I really hope they will consider bringing a 4D to the East coast at Great Adventure. I haven't ridden X yet, but I hope to soon. For everyone complaining that it isn't smoother, that wasn't the purpose of the redesign. It was said in interviews that it was meant to make the ride run more efficiently and not be plagued with problems due to design flaws with the original trains. It may not be as pleasing to us, but the GP will take notice at how much better the operation of the coaster will be.

Thanks everyone! Thanks for following the park! Illum Hills: Summer, Year 4 Sun:12pm-11pm Mon:10am-10pm Tues:10am-10pm Wed:10am-10pm Thurs:10am-10pm Fri:10am-11pm Sat:10am-12am Ticket Prices: Adult General Admission: $18.00 Child General Admission:$8.00 Spectator:$9.00 Under 3: Free Season Pass: $40.00 Attractions: Eagle's Nest Pioneer Super Swinger Wonder Wheel Galaxy Grand Carousel Double Take Dino Run Scramble Inferno Rotor Plunge Games Square Park News: Plunge has been well received by the public and drew long lines all summer long. It brought some well needed foot traffic over to the park's enterprise, Galaxy, and some foot traffic into the new Games Square. Park Manager Roger Bryant pointed out that the money that was invested by Warner Communications has allowed for many things to happen such as new signs going up around the park, updating equipment and facilities, and bringing new technology into the park. He is being shadowed by Warner employees so they can learn how to handle the day to day operations of the park and what goes on behind the scenes. Mr. Illum, however, is being put under pressure from Warner to help advertise the company and add attractions that could be themed off some of Warner's movies and shows. Mr. Illum would like to keep the park free of such things: "I'd rather have the park be a place to make memories and offer families a place to relax and get away from the stress of the world, not be a giant advertisement, we have enough of that already." On to the photo update from the Summer! Double Take has a new sign, and the lights have been changed to blue! I really hope this was just because of the timing of the lens on the camera, I REALLY hope it's not what it looks like Inferno is still drawing in crowds Plunge is experiencing first year glitches, they'll be fixed and ironed out Pac-Man Fever has hit, the old gift shop on Main Street is now an arcade Patriot's Corner Cafe was redone with new food preparation facilities Pioneer has a new sign, and it appears that they've closed off half of the queue. Inferno has installed a camera system, so now you can bring that experience home on film! Taking a look out from the top of Plunge before plummeting back to Earth! Fall Year 4 is coming soon!

Kingda Ka was only running 2 trains, which was kind of surprising as the park was really really crowded with all of those school children all over the place and it being TDK's opening day. Advice on the Dark Knight, it IS a wild mouse but enclosed and with theming! People have come out of it disappointed because they were expecting an El Toro in a box, which its not. That being said, this wild mouse is insane as I don't remember the trims being on at any point. It really whips you around the turns and you even get a little ejector air coming down one of the hills.

Haha, it's actually quite the trick. There is a scenery pack that I used that has Demon Drop Pre-Made, so I used a billboard to cover all signs of Demon Drop and the ones I couldn't, I just took pictures that cut them out. Inside the main tower structure, I put an S&S tower so people will actually ride it! You can find the Demon Drop pack here Pretty soon, I'll post all of the CS packs I'm using (I'm warning you, it's a ridiculously long list!) and you can download the park. This won't be until the end of year 5 though! Thanks for the comments!

Thanks, I actually had a hard time trying to put it in a good place! Illum Hills: Spring, Year 4 Park Owner: David Illum and Family Park Manager: Roger Bryant Park Opening Date: April 8th, Year 4 Park Hours (Spring): Sun:10am-8pm Mon: Closed Tues:Closed Wed:Closed Thurs:Closed Fri:4pm-10pm Sat:10am-10pm Ticket Prices: Adult General Admission: $16.00 Child General Admission:$8.00 Spectator:$7.00 Under 3: Free Season Pass: $40.00 Attractions: Eagle's Nest Pioneer Super Swinger Wonder Wheel Galaxy Grand Carousel Double Take Dino Run Scramble Inferno Rotor New Attractions for Year 4: Plunge Games Square Park News: Plunge has opened to the public and has been very well received! The sensation of having the earth drop out from underneath you is unreal, and Park Manager Roger Bryant is proud of this addition to the park. He commented "The first time you go on it, you're scared as you scale the tall tower and then you lock into place at the top and boom, you feel weightless and out of control before hitting the brakes. It's quite unforgettable and it was worth every penny!" Along with Plunge came a brand new games square right across from the tall tower. Mr. Illum explained "The Games Square was sort of spur of the moment as we had really a lot of money leftover from Warner's interest in the park, so we decided to add a brand new games square for the public to enjoy!" The Warner deal has been great for the park as more employees have been hired to handle the growing crowds and operations are consistent within the park. We spoke with a representative with Warner who commented "They have a phenomenal park down there and we are learning so much from them, I can say with a lot of confidence that we are looking to expand into the amusement industry over the next few years. We want to familiarize people with the Warner brand and Mr. Illum has been very cooperative and helpful to us! He will allow us to put things that only Warner has the rights to in the future so keep a look out over the next few years!" Attendance has set new records across the books as more and more people hear about the park and want to experience it for themselves! Here is the photo update from the Spring!: The new Entry Plaza layout, more flowers and foliage Looking towards Plunge and the new Games Square The new games square Entering into Plunge's queue A car of people heads up The lines were long all Spring! Looking down at the new section The rest of the park is doing great, almost all of the parachutes were in use! Horror Hollow is, by law, unable to operate until the Fall Looking at the park at night, so photogenic! Summer Year 4 is coming soon!

Using the Flashpass on the Dark Knight does not cut the preshow out of your ride. Their is a separate line for Flash Pass users that I was in yesterday and you were let in first to the preshow area. I suggest getting the gold flashpass so you can reserve it from anywhere in the park and then walk right up into the ride.

The rest of the photos! For some reason, I feel compelled to take a picture of Batman and include it in every TR I do. Oh tradition! I think it should open earlier than Memorial Day since it was so hot today under the sun! Numero Uno, on my list Floater Air is the little bro of Ejector, it just wants the same attention! Look, Hillary Clinton's Happy Time Campaign Coaster! It suffered a real blow to the head though, I hope it doesn't affect its momentum Beemers Benches aren't a good sign, remember when they benched Chiller? Broken! They should really prune back that tree, those people came out with branches and leaves in their hair 12 FLAGS! The glory of Intamin Wood Go ahead, soak in its brilliance Perfect! RT right was disabled Who cares, El Toro is open! Wood Pain Speed Air? Sure, let's say there's air Awful, I know someone agrees with me! Back to perfection This is not your day, Superman! All about the Batman Go fly away to your arctic fortress! I think I hurt his feelings, cause it broke down after these pictures were taken Stacking, 2 FLAGS! But they're running three trains? Ahh there's your problem 0 FLAGS!! NO FLAGS, NO FUN!!!!! Hey, Superman Returns! Hey kiddies, come into the dark tunnel, you'll meet a guy named MJ who wants to ride with you! Big Grey Box? This looks like last year More Intamin goodness I liked the way the Parachutes looked 60 FLAGS!!! 3 FLAGS!!! I think Batman is eyeing me, he struck a mating pose Indoor Glow in the Dark Mini-Golf, AWESOME, 6 FLAGS! Jay looks happy, don't he? And a skyline shot to end it, thanks for viewing! For more photos and coverage of The Dark Knight, vist GAdv Online to see Josh's photos! http://www.gadvonline.com/photogallery/thumbnails.php?album=39

^Yes, There is a Batman statue on the Gotham Times rooftop, but you go by it so fast that you may miss it the first time around. Uh-oh, pre-packaged 2-hour lines Steel skyline Today's the day! No buildings on the wall, I hope they put them up! G4 was there reporting, of course they taped me shouting "Dark Knight WOOOO!" I'm sure when I run for some political office they'll use it against me I see you Dainan Huge crowd restrained by a small chain All the hubbub Park President Mark Kane Streamers that fell onto the crowd Nice Random Nitro Shot Going into the Preshow Inside the Preshow room The newscast that's playing Theming! Last year's lost and found loot is now theming The exit to the station platform Ticket booth, look a rat! Harvey Dent Joker leaves his mark He really went to town Elevator to hell? Josh say "Look, theming!" Sure enough, there was theming Old Chiller switches? For a while, no mask would show on my face, guess it's scary enough as it is! Wayne Knight sponsored this station Joker Cards were everywhere See? that won't last long with the GP Sorry for the blur Coaster Car They're in constant motion so don't trip! Creepy Ride's exit If you look up, you can see the ride! Papers outside by the photo booth I vill rule you all, any qvestions? The public fills the queue And the rest of Movietown Hardcore landscaping Artsy That's all of the Dark Knight pictures, I'll post the general park photos in another post

Dark Knight Opening and Park Update 5/15/08! Rides The Dark Knight-3 Batman-1 Nitro-2 Kingda Ka-1 El Toro-2 Superman-1 Hard Rockin' Skull Mountain-1 Medusa-1 Runaway Train-1 I took another trip out to the park today to see The Dark Knight open! I got to the park around 9:30 and saw a ton of buses in the parking lot, it was student council day! So there were a lot of students in the park all day. At 10:30 the ribbon dropped and word had got out that the Dark Knight was opening today, so there was a rush of people over to Movietown. We arrived to find a chain holding us back and were told the Public wouldn't be allowed to ride until 11:20. We sat through the Media Event and watched as Mark Kane opened the ride. I had to sit down due to medical reasons, so I told security and they let me sit on the bench in front of the chain. My friend Josh, who was invited to media day, came over and told me to go with him, so I did. I'll split this into three sections: The Outdoor Queue Despite there being no buildings on the exterior of the walls (I really hope they add them soon, plain blue sky just doesn't cut it, I want to see Gotham City!), the queue was very spacious and VERY landscaped. It was nice to look at and had a switchback to accomodate the crowds. The Preshow When you reach the Gotham City Rail building, you enter and find a terminal for Gotham. It has a big screen with a news report playing and two screens scrolling updates from the city. You see a newspaper dispenser with the headline "CITY AT WAR" next to you and a ticket booth. They even have a fake rat in there! You sit through a news conference with Harvey Dent, who goes through his plan for bringing justice to the mob and he starts talking about Batman at which point, the feed gets interrupted and the Joker laughs and you see a very quick and random assortment of clips flash on the TV, ending up with the words "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" on the screen and HAHA all over the walls. You then see flashing lights and enter into the station: The preshow is my favorite part of the whole ride. The Ride You enter into the station and see a bank of screens and telephones, joker cards all over the place. They have a neat monitor towards the end of the walkway that superimposes a clown mask over your own. The cars never stop moving, and loading and unloading moves fast. You get into your Gotham Rail car ( which is quite comfy) and head up the lift. Flickering lights are all that you see, except for one of the hairpin turns that sticks out over the lift. You drop off the lift and go past the Gotham times building, then down a corridor with HAHA scrawled all over. you then see joker's goons on screens and then you see them with an RPG and a Gotham Police Station in flames(not real though). You drop down a level and go past a truck that has strobes and gunfire sounds. Then you go over the hills and there isn't much more after that. All in all, it's a pretty good mouse ride and I'm glad Great Adventure put it in, I just wish there was more theming in it, but I'm satisfied with the amount in there. Overall, the whole ride/preshow is 8/10 in my book. I rerode it 3 times throughout the day and caught most of what was to be seen. It's great for older kids and families and what Great Adventure needs to appeal to. After leaving the Dark Knight, Josh introduced me to Park President Mark Kane and I talked with him. He's a really nice guy and he's doing a great job at turning the park around. He asked me if I missed Water Effect and with how good TDK came out, I really didn't. If you ever see him around the park, be sure to stop him and say hello, he's really good to talk to and he's willing to listen to your opinion! Josh, his father, and I headed over to Nitro and rode. Always a great ride, I'm a sucker for floater which explains why it's my top coaster. After that, we headed to go to the skyride, but it broke as soon as we got there. We headed down Dream Street and then I split off from Josh. I went over to El Toro and grabbed a ride in the back, full of ejector as always! After that, I headed over to Kingda Ka and found it broken down and only running one side of the station. I headed over to Superman since I hadn't ridden it yet and got on in the 5th row. I will say that Superman is fun, but I just want to go on a bigger flyer like Tatsu. I headed over to Scream Machine to find all the trains sitting on the break run and in the station, so it was broken. I decided to head to Kingda Ka and try to get on again. I got on the Green train in the 4th row and it rattled around a bit, but it was still a pretty good ride otherwise. I went over to Medusa and got on the second row, really smooth today! The queue was packed so you know the park was really crowded! So I head across the park, crowds everywhere, but happy crowds I might add! Everyone was having a good time despite the hot weather and operations were going well, Scream Machine was back operating again, but I saved my neck the pain of riding. I decided to head over to TDK and get another ride on TDK. As I'm heading over, I run into Jay (ElToroExtreme). It seems Jay was supposed to be part of media day but had something come up, but that fell through, so he was at the park by himself, so I told him to tag along with me! We went over to TDK and went into the awesome preshow again and went through the ride a second time. I like Batman alot so I think this coaster is cool and perfect for the little ones who are still watching Batman and Justice League. After that, we head over to the always intense Batman and get on second row. After Batman we went onto the Skyride and decided to do RMT for the credit. It smashed my arm pretty good, but I'll live. We went onto El Toro and got on the 5th car, always tons of Ejector air. We started off to go to TDK another time as I had to go soon. Jay realized he lost his wallet, so we went to lost and found but it wasn't there, so we went back into the park and rode TDK again and from there I had to leave, so I bid farewell to the park and I hope to be back there soon, maybe even in its employment I'm sorry, but I have to post the pictures in a little bit, I have to resize them all!

We got official word from the park when we heard that the opening may be pushed back. An e-mail said that it is still opening on the 15th and that the camp out has been canceled because not enough people had signed up for the event.

Most of our major show venues are empty like the Batman Stunt Arena, Showcase Theater, and Great Lake Grandstand. The only places with shows are the Temple of the Tiger in the Golden Kingdom,the Dolphin show in Fort Independence, and music concerts in the Northern Star Arena, that's it! They have little sideshows around the park like at the Gazebo, but not a major show. The only time there are shows in these places are during Fright Fest. But, the park will have the new Glow in the Park parade to address this lack of major shows and I hope that it is received well and is maintained through the years. Some Huss rides would be nice, but we already have a Top Spin! The park has an awesome coaster lineup, but it needs more flats and shows to compliment it and round out the park. A drop tower being one of them since we lost Freefall. Don't get me wrong though, I'm very satisfied with how management is improving the park and I'm sure that they are planning to address these concerns.

From the Westworth Press 10/28/YR3

You're welcome, always glad to help

It's looking pretty good, makes me miss RCT2 a lot. Can't wait to see more, my only suggestion is to add some trees along the outside of the park. Otherwise, keep building!

There was actually this whole group of children wearing these shirts. Every time I looked at them it gave me a headache. With them all around the park, it was harder than usual to spot an employee. ^^The Gotham skyline will be painted on, they're just painting on the sky first. Here you can see the paint plan in the hands of a worker. The Chiller station is just staying up, though there are no plans for it at this time. Think of it as a scenery element. ^^^Indoor mini-golf is located in the old Castle Arcade. They have this big mega-putt game outside of it. If you play the game, you get a free round of mini-golf. Thanks for the comments!

Edit: Rather than create a new thread for trip reports every week or few days, I'll just post them in this thread for you to view. You can put any general questions or discussions about Great Adventure in this thread as well! I and any other members will be glad to answer them! Trip Report 5/10/08 Rides Kingda Ka- 2 El Toro- 2 Batman- 1 Nitro- 1 Medusa- 1 Skull Mountain- 1 GASM- 1 Teabags...Teacups-1 I took my first trip to the park yesterday after getting off work. The sky was overcast, but it didn't rain at all. I used the season pass that was mailed to me and got in quickly. After getting into the park, I went over to Season Pass Processing to get a new pass with a new photo. It has "Premium Pass" printed on that but I'm still not sure what's so "Premium" about it. The processing center was very efficient with all of the terminals having someone and they got me in and out quickly. I then decided to head over to see the progress on The Dark Knight. The big grey box is sort of an eyesore in comparison to the mangled steel of Chiller, but from what I'm hearing, the inside is awesome. They have most of the queue finished up, still putting up railings and plants, but not much more to do. They have begun painting and right now they're only painting sky and no buildings. I thought they may not be painting the buildings at all, but I saw someone holding the paint plan and it clearly showed the buildings. I decided to make Batman my first coaster of the year. Batman is a great ride, I just wish they would've kept the theming of the junkyard and cop car, but they had Danny Elfman's score blaring in the station and the lights on in the station as well. Batman is one of my favorites, if it wasn't cloned so many times, I think people would rate it higher. After getting off Batman, I headed over to my #1, Nitro. Nitro had a line only at the stairs because of an awesome crew and 3 trains running with no stacking. They were going at an insane pace. As soon as one train dropped off the lift, they dispatched the train in the station with the other train just coming into the break run. Very impressive and props to the Nitro crew. I walked around the park. The lack of flats is very noticeable, people wondered what happened to the Flying Wave (swings) and why there were so many smoking sections. I walked through the park, everything was clean and staff was friendly every where I went. I saw people asking staff questions and they all answered them with a smile on their face. I walked down by the Lakefront since there were no crowds down there and towards Medusa. Runaway Train may have been running 3 trains, but I wasn't really paying attention.They paved a huge area where the Teepee used to be, I still think a drop tower should go there. Medusa was running 3 trains as well and also firing trains out of the station as well. They had a recording in the station that gave instructions about the restraints and no loose article policy and it's status as first floorless coaster. Oh, and don't forget, if it's not Heinz, it's not ketchup! The op had to say it after every train unloaded, and the people on the train loved to say "It's not ketchup!" so the Heinz corporation must be ecstatic. Medusa is really looking shabby though, it needs a new coat of paint ASAP. I headed over to El Toro by way of the bridge, which got new lights by the way, and saw it running very well. The crew was really moving fast, to the point where the train would dispatch out of the station as the other train just hit the brake run. Rode in the back seat, airtime galore and still smooth as glass. Rolling Thunder was only running the Right side, but I didn't feel like getting rattled around. I headed into the Golden Kingdom, and stopped by the tiger exhibit. All of the tigers were asleep though, so I moved over to Kingda Ka. It was running all 4 trains and really working well, until I got on. I sit down on the orange train and get locked in. Unfortunately, the trains were out of position and they have to do a station reset. It takes 10 minutes, but we get launched and make it over the top and back to the station. It was very very shaky and unenjoyable, I wish they would find a way to make it smoother. Some people I knew saw me in the station before I launched and they laughed at how my long hair was blown back and standing up. I got off and yelled "We need 1.21 jigawatts of electricity!" I walked around with my friends for a while, we rode El Toro together and then went to get something to eat, settling at the Boardwalk and getting Butterfly fries. Someone thought it would be a good idea to do the teacups so we did and spun the world around us. We stumbled out and then proceeded to Movietown.We stopped off at Skull Mountain, which had its original queue music going and music on inside the building. There were lights illumintaing the huge skull and pumpkin on. I think the only way to make it better is to add some fog. We went and did the new indoor mini-golf. It was 9 holes and pretty cheesy, but it kept us entertained. I then split off from the group and went over and got another ride in on Kingda Ka. I got on the Blue Train but it too was rough. I decided that I was too tired to really do much else. I decided to take a ride on Scream Machine, believing it wouldn't be too rough. I got up to an empty station and people coming up asked if the ride was closed. I said "No, it's just old, unpopular, and rough" I rode in the front row and got knocked around pretty good. The park was beginning to empty out, but my legs were hurting and I was tired, so I left. Overall, despite what many people are saying, I think the park is in good hands. Granted that they have taken many rides out, I still had a good day regardless. The staff was efficient and friendly, I couldn't find trash laying anywhere, Security was taking line jumpers out at El Toro, and the line's weren't too bad. Not once did I hear anyone complain about the locker policy. Everyone used them and didn't fight the people who told them to use it. It really does make unloading and loading faster. I brought cargo shorts and was able to fit my hat, wallet, keys, cell phone, camera, and extra batteries, so if you don't want to use a locker, wear cargo pants or shorts. Well, on to what people want to see, the pictures! Pulling into the parking booths, I saw Ka was running I parked right next to Scream Machine Hmm, something's missing There, that's better No train in this shot because it was broken down Houdini can't escape from being closed What happened to the Flying Wave? Now only 3 people can go on it? Movietown is ruled by B&Ms But Mack is going to change that They've begun to paint the facade, which I hope lasts long. They've landscaped Chiller's old area nicely What's left of Chiller is just chillin Though not having that tangled mess of steel gives a nice view of Nitro They now have people our front of coasters to make sure you're tall enough and that you have no loose articles Batman was running great Oh boy, two trains in one shot! Give me an award How are people scared of this Skull Mountain turned 12 and is too old to cry its waterfalls. In one more year, Michael Jackson will lose interest in it And parking is still 15 bucks?! Cloudy blue skies Still some work left to be done before Thursday's opening Big, open spaces Big, open spaces Everyone just wants to see El Toro Obligated to take this shot Some air here Keep on rollin, rollin, rollin A little paint and people will think it's new A drop tower, anyone? Fine, more El Toro Here's the other Intamin in the park The public loves it Ow Hey look, El Toro! Air The Dark Knight opens Thursday Indoor Mini golf! It may not be a great ride, but man does it look cool I leave you with a shot of Dream Street For all of the pictures I took of the Dark Knight and its area, click here Thanks for reading!