Canobie Coaster

Six Flags Great Adventure This summer I had been planning a Tour de Whore down the Jersey Shore (wow that's a lot of rhyming) to hit several of the boardwalks I've just never gotten to. Whenever I cross the New York Bridges, I usually divert to Pennsylvania and if I do enter New Jersey, I spend almost all of my time at Six Flags Great Adventure. This time I would see the shoreline so famous it has a trashy tv show named after it. My trip came early when I was sent to Pennsylvania for work. What better way to start the trip than to take a side-trip through New Jersey. My trip began with Six Flags New Jersey. I couldn't enter the state without stopping there. It also helped that it opened at 10:30 while all of the boardwalks opened at noon or later. Going in, I knew I would have a short visit so I had a very focused plan of attack. Get the elusive Joker credit and get as many rides on El Toro that I could in an hour. As I rolled into the lot, there were overcast skies and I got a great parking space up front. With hardly any security line, it looked like I shouldn't have any lines to deal with. The only question I had was whether or not Joker would be open. I went 0/3 trying to get on Great Adventure's version last year. Then I also have gone 1/2 with SFNE's Joker and 0/1 with Great America's. According to the water tower I'm at Six Flags Great Adventure. I only see one ride in this photo I'd be riding today. I walked over to Joker and got behind 7-8 other people who were waiting by the entrance. I didn't see any activity by the ride and then I heard the clickity clack of a car going up the lift. I finally got on a coaster as elusive for me as Lightning Rod. Now I know Lightning Rod is a better coaster and I'll throw a siesta once I finally get on that beast, but today it was a little victory. Speaking of Lightning Rod, I think the ride op is a coaster enthusiast since he saw my Goats on the Roof shirt and asked if I got on Lightning Rod. I was on the second train of the day on the green side. I left the station going forwards, as I prefer that direction since you have two levels of the ride where you travel in reverse. Having been on New England's a few times, I knew what to expect but I still really enjoy this ride and it's one of my favorite clones out there. I only rode once, but my one ride had less flips than SFNE's (I also noticed it barely flipping during testing). I got 2 flips, but the whole ride was smooth and it's a nice compliment to the B&Ms and Intamins. 8.5 out of 10 Hey what do you know? Joker was actually open! I really like the ride's placement in the park and it looks great as you walk through the entrance. Not as many flips as SFNE's, but still a very fun ride. A light drizzle was now coming down so I hoped El Toro would be running. After walking down a desolate path and getting a little lost, I eventually made my way over to the Bull. I saw a quarter full train rolling out of the station so I knew it would be a walk-on. As eager as I was to get into line, I first had to give Bugs Bunny a George Washington to store all of my loose articles since not even the ever-reliable zippered pocket is sufficient for Six Flags. I know there have been pages of comments on the park's locker policy, but my quick thoughts are I don't mind having to empty everything from my pockets as this is a very intense ride and not everyone will have zippered pockets. What does irk me is how Six Flags charges for the lockers. I know it's only a dollar but Universal, Morey's, and a few other parks don't charge for lockers if they enforce a no loose article policy on an extreme ride. With my Joker credit, I spent the rest of the time riding El Toro. Still as awesome as ever. Enjoy this photo. It's the last I got before my phone took a nap in the nearby locker while I rode. Speaking of an extreme ride, I got 4 fantastic rides on El Toro without even having to leave the station (Thank you Great Adventure for being awesome like that. SFNE I know it's futile, but please do take note). I took 3 in the 2nd to back and one in the very front. The first drop is still my favorite outside of giga coasters . I know everyone talks about the Rolling Thunder hill, but I think the 2nd and 3rd hills give equally as epic sustained ejector air as well. Last year during ERT, I remember there being a pretty pronounced jolt after the turnaround but I noticed it missing this year so the Bull was back to giving smooth but bat out of hell rides. 10 out of 10 After my fourth ride, there were riders waiting for the back car so I went down the exit ramp. It was extremely tempting to stay since the park was still as empty as Michigan's Adventure, but I decided to stick with the plan. No Nitro, Batman, or Zumanjaro for me today. No Kingda Ka either but that wasn't entirely by choice. Of course it was down with less than ideal weather conditions. It was also tempting to check out the recently opened Battle for Metropolis, but I also skipped that since I had ridden Great America's version last month. Though if it's anything like Great America's, it's definitely a win and a much better dark ride than I thought Six Flags could and would pull off. With my Joker credit in hand and some rides on one of my favorite coasters, I was ready to begin whoring and departed for the one, the only, Seaside Heights.

^ I didn't realize they had a 4th of July carnival there. Fiesta Shows has started listing which rides will show up where on their site (which I think is an awesome feature) but the midway looks pretty weak for Franklin. My next stop will likely be my first ever visit to the Brockton Fair. I've heard they have the best ride midway of any New England carnival so I'm eager to check them out...and also hope my car will still have all its tires when I leave.

I remember operations being pitiful my one time at the park. Viper was the only ride where they sent trains out quickly, but Arrows also have one of the easier restraints to check of any coaster.

I wouldn't exactly call airline seats comfortable either so I'm not sure how that helps with neck pain. Maybe try one of those neck pillows while you drive?

Skydiver was easily the best ride in the park. Lakemont has the only Toboggan I've ever ridden. I'm not particularly tall, but I smacked my head on the final bunny hills so I cringe what that experience would be like for anyone taller than me.

When I rode it a week and a half ago, the airtime still felt just as intense. This is still one of the only rides I can't keep my hands up for because of the sheer intensity.

Hopefully Crossbow can find a home somewhere. As far as family coasters go, it's a really good one.

This is exactly how I broke up my trip coming back from Erie, PA last week. I also find I'd rather make a long drive starting fresh in the morning than the evening.

Wow that would have been very disappointing after hiking all the way up there. We purposely scouted the weather for the clearest day on our trip and we reaped the benefits once we got to the top. We also really lucked out since the weather was only around 70 degrees which is a far cry from the 95ish degree weather we had last year on the TPR tour there.

^ I know what you mean on Great Nor'Easter. Some of those transitions are aggressive but with the improved track they aren't painful. I wouldn't quite compare it to Steel Force though in terms of smoothness. While Steel Force gets ratted on a lot on these boards, smoothness is one thing that ride has going for it.

I find the restraints annoyingly bulky and don't like where they ultimately rest, but they aren't painful.

Pigeon Forge Tourist Traps Pigeon Forge is really the Vegas of the southeast. This town is littered with tourist traps. Everywhere you look, you will see brochures and flashy billboards trying to lure you in. I for one can appreciate a good tourist trap and had plenty of time to explore Pigeon Forge in between visits to Dollywood and the Smoky Mountains. Speaking of the Smoky Mountains, they really were impressive. We stopped by both the Newfound Gap and Clingman's Dome. The latter gave the most impressive views of the mountains since this was the highest accessible point to pedestrians and you could rotate 360 degrees and see mountains everywhere. The hike to the Clingman's Dome wasn't too difficult, probably about a half mile and 10-15 minutes long and the views were certainly worth it. The Clingman's Dome is a must if you want to admire the Great Smoky Mountains. Usually I skip big tourist places when I'm touring parks, but I'm glad I stopped by the Smoky Mountain National Park. The mountains really were beautiful. Hello Gatlinburg. The Island is one of the newer complexes in Pigeon Forge and is really nice. It combines rides with food and shopping. The marquee attraction of the complex is the almost 200 foot tall Great Smoky Mountain Wheel. I passed on the Ferris Wheel since I think Drop Line gave me comparable views, but the wheel did definitely look nice. The rest of the rides were mostly of the kiddie variety, but they did have one of those SBF Wave Riders under construction and it honestly may be open now at the time of this writing. They also had a decent looking ropes course, but I also skipped that since I prefer the ropes courses in the woods. There were a ton of restaurants and I had to pick the Mellow Mushroom. Who wouldn't want stone fired pizza. Despite looking like a tourist trap, it was actually really tasty. The marquee attraction of the Island is definitely the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel. It looks great by day and even better at night. I was interested in riding this, but unfortunately it wasn't open yet. It looked nearly ready to go though. I prefer the wooded ropes courses I find in the northeast, but this did look like a pretty solid course. This is an awesome name for a store. This may be one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen, and I recently just watched Ghost Rider 2. How can you resist stone fired pizza? Pigeon Forge is one of the mini golf capitals of the world. I tried two courses- Hillbilly Golf and Ripley's Old MacDonald Farmhouse Golf. Hillbilly Golf was fantastic. The inclined railway to the course perfectly captures the quirky atmosphere of the course. Every single hole had some kind of obstacle to hit your ball through and that's my favorite kind of mini golf course. I'm not a big fan of the adventure style mini golf courses that rely more on landscaping than obstacles. I think the most impressive thing is how Hillbilly Golf survived both the Gatlinburg Fire and a major wind storm earlier this year. While playing the course, you could see the scorch lines along with many fallen trees. This is my kind of mini golf course. Your experience begins with a unique inclined railway. Going up. Hillbilly Golf must have a golden horseshoe somewhere considering the fire stopped right at the edge of the course and they survived a major wind storm. Since I suck at golf, I love the obstacle holes. It evens the playing field. Old MacDonald Farm mini golf wasn't quite as good as Hillbilly but still fun. Rather than placing obstacles on the course, Ripley's positioned interactive elements around the outside of the course. If you miss a shot, they will let you know. If you make a shot, they may also let you know. Or you could have my luck and get hit with a geyser after sinking a put. Most of the holes themselves were straightforward and actually far too easy. All of the holes were concaved inwards so if you hit the ball anywhere remotely close to the hole it would automatically sink in. The course also has a very interesting pricing scheme. If you only play one course, it's $16 which is insane for mini golf. But you can add each of the other two courses for $1 each. This was probably the best maintained of the mini golf courses I saw. I'll win a game of mini golf the day pigs fly. Pigeon Forge is also the go kart capital of the world. I had never been on an elevated track, so I did some research to find the best one. That led me to Fast Tracks. The Elevated Track was really fun and definitely the best track I've driven. The upward helix actually had some laterals because of its compactness and then the track ends with a double down that almost gave some airtime. Fast Tracks also had two thrill rides- a Skyscraper and a Bungee Jump Tower. I passed on the Skyscraper since I didn't want to pay $20 for something I can ride with a wristband at the state fair. Then the Bungee Jump Tower looked sketchy and awkward. On any jump, you had to hug a punching bag the whole way down. Fast Tracks was the go kart track I picked and I was very impressed. This double down was quite fast and almost had some airtime. Helix of death. Skycraper had a long cycle, but I wasn't going to pay for it. That poor due went butt over tea kettle on the way down. The Bungee Jumping just looked so awkward. I was also able to cross zorbing off my bucket list on the trip. The Outdoor Gravity Park has 3 zorbing courses- one twisted, one straight downhill, and one with a mix of both. I tried the latter. I am definitely glad I tried it and did enjoy it, but I definitely preferred the mountain coasters. Because of the murkiness of the balls, I couldn't really see anything outside of the ball which took away some of the effect of rolling uncontrollably down the hill. The zorbs meander pretty slowly for most of the course, but there were two brief moments when they got a full head of steam going. Zorbing was a cool experience, but not necessarily something I need to try again. I also stopped in the Hollywood Wax Museum and thought it was a pretty good one. The figures were on par with the Tussauds wax museums and the really cool part about this museum was props. For most of the characters, you could grab props to get some great family photos. For example, most of the western figures had cowboy hats positioned nearby. It was a small touch, but something I hadn't seen before. The wax museum a second building next door with 3 upcharge attractions- a 3D shooting dark ride, a mirror maze, and a haunted walkthrough. I tried the shooter, the Castle of Chaos, and thought it was below average. It was nearly impossible to tell who was shooting or what you were shooting. One positive was the movement. Usually on these rides only the seat moves a little, but on this one of the whole platform spun and moved around the room. This was actually a pretty good wax museum. Thanks Arnold for paving the way for celebrities to become politicians... This MagiQuest esque building holds the 3 upcharge attractions. Dollywood may have good food, but I found even better offerings in town. My two favorites were Mama's Farmhouse Kitchen and the Old Mill. Both had colossal portions and delicious fried chicken. I also had some great burgers at JT Hannah's, the Smoky Mountain Brewery, and the Local Goat Brewery. The latter was weird since the outside sign said Local Goat Tavern, but every inside sign said Billy Goat Tavern. I also had to stop at Try My Nuts. They had a lot of interesting varieties, but the ones I sampled were too sweet for my tastes. I like my nuts salty . I didn't spend too much time in Gatlinburg, but I stopped here. Tennessee seems to have a major goat fetish. Identity crisis? Local Goat on the outside but Billy Goat on the inside. I want you to try my nuts. This store is everything that's right with Pigeon Forge. And yet again the south loves their Jesus. They had the Biblical Times Dinner Theater along with the Christ Museum. As tempting as these places were...yeah who am I kidding. They weren't tempting. If you want the Seven Holy Feasts of the Lord, this is the place for you. Too bad the interactive exhibit isn't the crucifixion. I don't think I'll feel the need to indulge in as many touristy things in my next trip to Pigeon Forge, but it was definitely worth checking out all that the town had to offer in my most recent trip.

In some ways I kind of prefer it like that since you have less of an idea when the drop is truly coming.

I wasn't expecting the launch. Looks better than Lightning Rod in that category .

Thunderbolt is a great ride. I was bummed to find out they had seat belts added, but the laterals are still that ride's bread and butter. I have a new king of the small hill, Cornball Express. The world's top roller coaster in 2002 according to ThemeParkCritic.com (a fact the park is very proud of lol) is absolutely amazing. I hadn't heard much about that coaster in a long time, but that ride gave some of the most intense air I've encountered and it was all just with buzz bars.

Even when the park was dead a few weeks ago, I think they may have had fast mode on too since it never stopped.

It's also one of the best river rapids rides out there. Good landscaping and tons of rapids that build up to a massive soaker at the end. If you get hit by that one, you'll be wet all day.

Glad you loved SFNE's big 2! I go back and forth which ride is better this year. Wicked Cyclone always runs like a bat out of hell but Superman is running better than I can remember this year. I agree SFNE specializes in disaster theming. The less they maintain it the better it looks. I'm guessing Part 3 may include some Vekomas.

I pray the train doesn't rattle like GaleForce did during the launch. That would be horrifying going that fast.

Yeah it was pretty embarassing on Saturday. Since it had a longer line than the Comet, the operator was pairing up single riders. I was paired up with a little kid who didn't speak English. When the kid sat down and wouldn't move his lapbar to let me in, his dad basically had to serve as a translator between the ride op and his son. Sad thing is I'd do it again to get the credit since I didn't actively have to search out a kid. I draw the line there.

Budapest has some amazing architecture. I can't wait to finally see some of Europe this fall.

I've never actually been there, so if I got a dining plan in the future, I'll be sure to try them.

^ Thanks for the clarification. Aside from the rides/slides they could add in that area, I really want them to complete the loop so the River Rapids area is no longer a dead end.

Well I am guessing this will be something for the water park based on the beach ball. I still can't get over how weird the Boardwalk's placement in the park feels.

Macho Nacho isn't too bad, but I do agree that Six Flags tends to have little variety between their food stands. I mean that's good if you like chicken and fries, but not good if you want anything else.