Nitro1118

I've been thinking about this all night, so I figured I'd make a post to get 'em out here. I really feel GADV is about 5 years of additions to become the chain's first CP-style resort. Here are a quick rundown of why this is sensible... -Location. It is THE park in the NYC/Philly/NJ area, which is one of the most densely populated, wealthy and tourist raided (NYC, Jersey shore, AC, etc) areas in the entire country. -Space. It is the world's largest amusement park in the world in terms of physical size. It's plot of land is enormous, with an already big dry park with a huge chunk of undeveloped land. -Variety. It already has one of the best coaster collections in the world, just added some major flats in Skyscreamer and Zumanjaro, a nice sized waterpark, and most importantly a completely unique safari attraction. -They have the world's tallest coaster, world's tallest drop ride, and the #1 coaster in the world that's acknowledged as such by the biggest polls. In other words, they have, like CP, rides that even the GP will travel quite far for and stay at multiple days. To me, it's a park they will see massive returns on if they invest the necessary cash into it. SFMM has been the park the company has put those kinds of investments into, but competing with Disney and Universal makes a resort experience quite a bit more difficult. So, thinking about it, here's the best plan I came up with to get the park to that proper level. 2015- Refurbrish main street, add 1-2 family flats on the Ka/Toro side of the park, and detail throughout the park (some paint here, landscaping there, etc). The key to me is transforming from the entrance to tge boardwalk. I am talking new concrete paths, getting rid of those nasty ice cream-style buildings near Houdini and replacing them with more charming exteriors like those at SFNE, lanscaping, etc.. To me, main street is very important as it can create an immersive and quality first impression, and right now it looks dated and forgettable. Besides that, the park is imbalnlanced flat-wise, and a simple flat or two on the west side would help that. I'd expect all this to push $8-10M. 2016- A new coaster to replace Chiller. I feel a multi-launch LSM coaster that stretches to the front entrance (partly because of my previously stated importance of 1st impressions) would be perfect. In terms of manufacturer, it'd be Intamin or Mack, with the ride experience being between Cheetah Hunt and Helix (I feel it should be somewhat geared to riders not looking for Maverick intensity).. However, these types of coasters push $18-25M, so keeping SF's insistence on cheaper capital investments in mind, that might be pushing it. Two other alternatives with one being a shorter, but well-themed coaster with pre-ride section like Superman Escape (around $15M US I believe). And the other being either a family wooden by GCI, or a medium-sized, ground-hugging, fast-paced RMC creation ($12M or less). Also, open back up the Movietown loop. 2017- Total Movietown overhaul. First order of business is retheming it to Gotham City (DC doesn't make sense due to S:UF, GL and Bizarro scattered elsewhere.). This would include new shops, theming, walkways, refurbishing and reopening the Batman arena, repaint Nitro, and add a few flat or two. I'd suspect a cost of $10M or so. 2018- Begin groundwork on an on-site hotel a little past the old Safari entrance. I feel this would be great location as its isolated from the park while still being close tram to the entrance, and it could overlook the safari which would be stellar. I'd include a jungle theme with an on-site Rainforest Cafe, hige children's play area, tiki bar outside at the pool area. I'd stretch the process over 2-3 years as the cost will be very high ( $20-35M I'd presume). Assuming they could break up the payment to allow some cash for park improvements, I'd add a slife at HH, and putting some work to give the waterpark some more character. 2019- Updating FA with some new shops and maybe an interactive dark ride themed to a Western shootout. 2020- Open hotel! While these plans may need to be stretched an extra year or 2 due to cost (although I feel this isn't totally impossible), that is only 6-8 years of development to make GADV a quality resort destination. The park has so many things already going for it and could be the chain's centerpiece, it just needs a few flats, a coaster and touching up what's already there. Sorry, needed to get these ideas out !

Okay cool, cause people complain just as much about El Toro's restraints and it doesn't take away from the experience. I just wanted to clarify that lol. The issue with Toro's restraints isn't comfort, it's the restrictions they place on bigger riders. Skyrush's restraints are way more uncomfortable due to the small surface area and where they position on the thigh. I still really liked Skyrush on my one lap back in 2012, but the restraints definitely did take my focus off an otherwise stellar experience.

KK has been like that for years. In my completely uneducated opinion, it is more of an issue with the train design than its upkeep. They are way bulkier than TTD's trains, which cause them to track more poorly in the high speed sections.

Gave the park a quick visit last night. It was packed between 4-8, with wait times for Toro and Zumanjaro hitting an hour each. KK went down shortly after arrival and stayed down the rest of the night. As mentioned in my post last night, KK being down does not effect Zumanjaro's operations besides increased efficiency. While in line for Zumanjaro, I was surveying RT's spot for potential future additions. What struck me was the land directly behind the top hat. It is basically an empty, unused parking lot area with pretty good size. If you couple that with RT's old footprint and the old entrance to the safari, you got a really nice chunk of land. With that said, they have planted a bunch of plants in the RT footprint with sprinkler systems everywhere, which leads me to believe any additions in that area aren't imminent.

Edit- wrong thread.

Don't know if it's been confirmed yet, but I'm at the park and while KK is closed, Zumanjaro is still infact running.

Of course the park needs some work, but I feel you guys are overstating it a bit. The state of Movietown drives me nuts, but I'd take the park now over what it was 10 years. No longer are there any coasters down for months and months at a time (Chiller), no more painful coasters with low ridership (GASM, RT and Viper), ugly and abandoned children's areas (BBL), a major safari is no longer neglected, and there aren't dozens of flats SBNO anymore. And the attractions the park has been receiving are exactly what you guys have been begging for. Another family coaster with TDK, an addition to HH, a family flat with Skyscreamer, a drop tower, and they turned the safari into a very well-done attraction. Some people here are incredibly spoiled and have expectations that are way too high.

You will not run into any problems at all. Like Elissa said, the only dry ride that consistently has a line is the Wild Mouse. Everything else is basically a station wait most/all of the day, usually 1-2 trains. The S&S towers can sometimes reach 15-20min due to low capacity, so maybe make that a priority. Around 3pm, some of the waterpark crowd may migrate over, so you might see Talon with a 20min line. I've always re-rode everything multiple times on my visits so I've never stayed past 6pm. Night time could see longer lines with the waterpark closed.

I'd go to Dorney the first day. There it makes no difference what time you arrive, and it'll be easier to enjoy after the flight and driving. As for GADV, if you get there at opening, 6 hours or so is plenty of time. Due to the technical issues I've been hearing about Zumanjaro, I'd head there first. Ka has a short queue so what may look like a long wait is usually managable. Barring any breakdowns, it moves pretty efficiently as well. The non-Boardwalk B&M's either don't get huge lines and/or are major people-eaters, so timing is not a priority there. Toro also has a pretty short queue that only takes 45min to get through when full. Basically, Zumanjaro, Ka, S:UF and GL are the only rides that you gotta feel out line-wise.

I'd say Tuesday or Wednesday is a good bet. I went the 5th and Zumanjaro was only a 45min wait (at about 6pm) via the single rider line. If you don't mind going this route, there is no reason you can't get on every coaster, with multiple rides on a couple of them. Especially if you hit up the GL single rider line as well, which can cut about 20-25min off the regular wait time. Toro, Nitro, and B:TR all have quick moving lines, and Bizarro rarely ever has a line. That leaves only S:UF and KK as potential roadblocks.

Just got done riding Toro...as train was leaving the fireworks started! Not only at the park but all the surrounding towns/counties as well. Add in the fact that it's mid-summer and it created the recipe for possibly the best ride I've ever had on Toro.

At the park now. Waited 45min in the single rider line for Zumanjaro. Some thoughts: -They did a very nice job with the queue. It's landscaping was well-done and the open views of El Toro are amazing. -They were giving an entire gondola to FP customers, so figuring 2-3 single riders get on every rotation, that means only 12-14 people from the main queue get on. To compound that issue, waiting for Ka to launch 2 trains eats up another 2min every ride cycle. So, my suggestion would be to make use of FP (obviously) or the single rider line. -I love the restraints. They are comfortable and very open. -The ride up is very pleasant. It isn't taken too fast and allows for some amazing views. If you look over by Nitro you can actually see Philly, which is many, many miles away. -The drop was...disappointing. Felt more controlled than an S&S and the airtime was nearly non-existent. Overall, it's a great addition to a park in desperate need of flats. Despite a disappointing drop, and some capacity issues, I still thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. Now I'm burning some ime with my gf and step-son before I get on line for Toro in the dark!

The way you get around that is you have the entire group enter the line and take a ticket. Then some of the group leaves the line to go eat/use the bathroom/ride something else/whatever. Then they finish, re-enter the line (maybe even taking new numbers to avoid arousing suspicion), and re-join their original group near the front of the line. They have the valid ticket numbers in order, so there's no reason to think they're doing anything fishy. Watched that happen at X2 at SFMM. And if your 'aha' moment is to have the ticket checker be before the station, that won't stop people from line-jumping *after* the tickets are taken. I witnessed that happen firsthand with YOLOcoaster at SFMM. There really isn't a great solution. Too many people think it's okay or don't care enough to do anything about it. To your first point, if a guest is to leave the line, they must hand the ticket back to the attendant at the entrance. There could be loopholes to this in certain queues, but in theory it should be pretty effective. Of course no system is perfect, but any decently thought-out plan will cut the number of line jumpers down significantly. That is the goal.

To me, it's a simple solution at the more organized parks- hand out tickets in numerical order. Then the op collects these tickets near the entrance to the station, paying attention to each ticket number. GADV did something like this last year with SORA (maybe this year as well, haven't been on it yet), and everything seemed to be pretty orderly.

I live 20min away and it's been pouring all day. Maybe the intention was to open it, but due to the weather I kinda doubt it. Hope it is, though!

His designs are custom. That's all he is...a designer who sells his ideas to the manufacturer. Golden Horse is shady, as Camiel said himself, but that doesn't make him shady. He's a young kid who simply found his big break in the industry.

The only area of roughness I've found on Toro is the turnaround, which is only in the wheel seats. Non-wheel seats are still butter-smooth.

Read my post on the last page. If you want specific wait times that's nearly impossible. Weather, summer camps, and other variables make it too difficult to predict. Also, lines vary throughout the day.

^^Great TR! Obviously that would be ideal if you want to get in as many rides as possible. However, if you get there at opening, you should be able to get multiple laps on most coasters without much issue. Zumanjaro is an x-factor as I'm not sure of its capacity, operations, popularity and reliability yet (I'd expect a long, slow line with the occasional breakdown). I'd say a regular flash pass should be sufficient enough to do what you want to do.

I'd say about 45min for Toro, and a little over an hour for Nitro.

I don't understand the hate. You can blame the park for many, many things... but coaster operations isn't one of them. They almost always run their coasters at full capacity, even during less-crowded months. They aren't CP, but for a regional amusement park they do a damn fine job.

I prefer back on both, but they are also tremendous front row coasters, too. I like Nitro's back row because you get floater airtime on the first drop, while Toro gives you crazy ejector on the first drop, as well as extended ejector on the camelbacks as the front of the train rips you down the drops.

I went yesterday for 3 hours and it was not open. In better news, El Toro was running very fast in the afternoon. I hadn't been to the park since Jersey warmed up and almost forgot how intense the ride can be.

This is not true, the ride runs just as fast as it did when it opened. The ride still hasn't hit its full summer time speeds yet this season. We haven't received high enough temperatures and the ride has not run enough. During the summer time, the ride will average about 35mph past one of the last sensors into the break run but we still haven't gone that fast yet. The ride will though as it does every year, just give it some time. El Toro is heavily affected by colder weather (more so than the rest of the roller coasters in the park) and the cold nights we've still been having have taken blows at the ride hitting its full potential. Hope that answers all of your questions. I know all this, you're missing the point. I was referring to the fact that they slowed down the top of the lift by at least 10mph. That definitely hurt the first drop intensity, and also slowed the rest of the layout just a tad bit. Since the change, however, the ride has only run below average is in the morning.