Zand

It's motorized swan boats that go up and down a small creek. There's a miniature train on the riverbank next to you and the Skyride crosses overhead. It's funny that Great Escape still has a Skyride considering that the incident that led to some other parks closing their Skyrides happened there. But yeah, the place was totally dead so we got a boat to ourselves and it's just a really peaceful experience and it feels like there's no way you're in an actual Six Flags park. Like I said, this park sucks from a thrill standpoint (aside from having two good woodies and an awesome skyscraper ride) but it's a park I would love to have as a home park as it's just a great place to have a relaxing day for a few hours. You almost experience withdrawal not having to deal with roving groups of teenage douchebags acting like idiots everywhere. For example... Fully operational freestyle machines right out in the open with no employees nearby to monitor them. Meanwhile, 200 miles to the south at Great Adventure they took all their freestyle machines and had to move them to where only employees can access them. Because New Jersey. I would love to see this park take out Steamin Dump and replace it with some kind of family launcher like SFNE is getting. But otherwise it doesn't bother me at all that their lineup is what it is. It's a nice family park.

I was at a wedding over the weekend in Albany and figured I should take a ride up to Great Escape today to check out the new hotness. I went into the day with a splitting headache and therefore didn't ride much (it was already building before the wedding and I can assure you the open bar did NOT help cure it ) but we still had a really nice day. Arrived around 1:00 and it was clear that mother nature was going to take Oktoberfest literally. While the forecast for most of the area was mid 60s and sunny, anyone from Northern New England or the Adirondacks knows a sunny but cool day in the fall really means it's probably going to rain anyway, and there were no less than 3 heavy showers that blew through with strong winds and would immediately drop the temp to the low 50s when they hit. So it was pretty much late October feeling in the park today, which to me just added to the festive atmosphere. After hanging out in the shops up front during the first heavy shower of the day, we headed up to Bobcat which was only running 1 train and had about a 15 minute wait at that point (and would grow longer through the day) and rode in the 2nd to last row. Like all family Gravity Groups, this thing is an absolute blast and glass smooth. It's zippy, has a few good ejector hills, and is just a total home run for a park like Great Escape. Kudos to them for being the only Six Flags park that managed to open their 2024 coaster in 2024. The ride and entire area looks great and I can't wait to go back on a random weekday next summer when 4 people are in the park so I can reride it over and over. Dodged the next shower by having lunch in the Festhaus, and then headed back to Comet. Running 1 train here also, but only about a 4 train wait for the front. Last time I was here I think I zen-rode this solo 4 times in a row, so it was weird riding with a full train. It rode a lot faster with some decent airtime and some pretty significant positives in the valleys. Even though the ride is perfectly smooth, it brought my headache back with a vengeance but what a great ride. Not sure why it says "world's best roller coaster" on the front of the train but it is really damn good and it's great that this park has two awesome wooden coasters now. Kind of moseyed around for a while, trying to get my headache to go away. We got some Oktoberfest food offerings and dodged yet another rain shower before walking towards the front. We hopped on the Skyride which was almost a downright cold ride in the whipping wind behind the rain shower, but is a nice ride over the pathways and I really started to appreciate just how much this park oozes charm. We further appreciated the charm by getting a zen ride on the Swan Boats next. This part of the park is absolutely gorgeous and it's such an unreal feeling knowing you're in a Six Flags park. Headed out after this as my head wasn't going to allow me to ride any of the thrill rides and it was hurting just to walk around at that point. Sad I missed ADK outlaw, rerides on Bobcat, and some of the other flats but we had a great day anyway. I would love to have this place as a home park. While there isn't much for thrillseekers and the place has the worst assortment of steel coasters anywhere, it's just such a relaxing and peaceful park and it's the kind of place that nice to just walk around and take in the atmosphere, which is in stark contrast to my home park SFNE and its blacktop pathways and lack of shade.

Today's featured wiki article I'm still sad that I've been to BGT twice and it was closed both times. Definitely the most unique drop tower I've ever seen.

Per the app, Log Flume has reopened. If they're going to debut the Flume the week before Labor Day, perhaps they can give us a sneak preview of the Flash in December?

So Cedar Point can give a months notice to ride a water ride before it closes, but Busch Gardens only gives 9 days for a classic coaster that I'm sure has been in the plans for months. Okay. I really need to ride Shockwave at SFOT, feels like it may be the last Schwartzkopf with intensity left (that hasn't been neutered by Six Flags).

That ballpark will have a roof....I think? I hope?

I mean I see people with hooded sweatshirts at parks when it's in the 90s but I see your point .. Honestly the summer heat doesn't really bother me that much anymore but I still can't stand those stretches when it won't go below 75 at night. Glad to have these 45 degree mornings back and humidity gone (for a few days anyway). I love fall.

The whole idea that they closed perhaps the 2nd most famous (and still very busy) casino in Vegas (only behind Caesars IMO) to replace it with a generic Hard Rock is sad to me. Treasure Island is right next door, a shell of its former self and usually a ghost town. Why not tear that one apart instead? The Trop closing was sad enough although that place was pretty dead and kind of a dump. But the freaking Mirage. I'll never understand the logic.

Hit the park for a few hours this afternoon to set up my season Flash Pass which came in handy as the park was pretty busy by Tuesday standards. Weather was gorgeous in the upper 60s and it's definitely starting to feel fall-like! If I had no Flash Pass today I would've just lapped Superman as it was a walk on the whole afternoon. Everything else I rode (Pandemonium, Skyscreamer, Harley Quinn, Riddler, Joker, Batman) had waits of 30 mins to 1 hour. Everything that could was running two trains but the dispatches on most of the rides we're definitely on the slow side. Skyscreamer was rotating about 270 degrees at the top with a pretty solid breeze! Meanwhile, on one of my rides on Superman they were dispatching us just as the next train was hitting the 2nd helix and that crew was flying the whole night. Wicked Cyclone had some breakdown problems as I encountered the line being dumped two separate times as I walked up. 3rd time I finally got on in row 2. Usually ride this in the back, so it was nice to get a different perspective. Always a great time, but when the train got back to the brakes they hadn't even opened the air gates for the next train. Kind of marched right back to Superman after seeing those kind of operations. Checked out that new (maybe? I honestly have no f*cking idea if it's actually new) bar under the Superman lift hill which had a really good selection of beers and I settled on a Del's Summer Shandy which is probably coming up on the end of its season. It was nice to actually spend some time in the park as my last few trips have been very brief. Good to see them running pretty much at 100% (other than Scream only running 1 tower) with nothing closed as far as I could tell (except some stuff in the waterpark apparently). Nothing new happening in the Quantum spot yet, hopefully they get going on time and don't follow the Great Adventure construction schedule! Also...how long have the M&M ads on the steps been gone?

I thought it pretty clearly said "admission and parking only" for the all park passport on the site but I was looking at everything closely so maybe it gets missed if you're only briefly looking at it.

I just think it's crazy to put a Maserati inside a 3 foot tall fence at Great Adventure and not expect it to get vandalized

I lifted this off Facebook. The Batmobile was replaced by a Maserati to advertise some show coming to Max. I personally think they're out of their minds. Not that they're advertising, but that they put a Maserati inside a 3 foot tall fence where there is a 99.9% chance it will get vandalized or broken into.

Finally got the add on to the legacy membership to work. $99 Cedar Fair season pass sounds like a deal to me They also suckered another $300 out of me for the national Ultimate Flash Pass which is good the rest of this year as well. That deal seemed too good to be true. I hope to take advantage and hit some new Six Flags parks (and it will also come in very handy on the new coaster at SFNE).

I'm kind of terrified of the capacity of this thing especially considering the park it's in. The Darkoaster line crawls at BGW, in all likelihood the ops here will be even slower, and hourly throughout with 18 passenger trains will probably be 300-400 per hour. Pandemonium and Thunderbolt often have the longest lines in the park for coasters due to their family nature and poor capacity. This thing will probably be incredibly popular and that is frightening to me.

I think a lot of people would actually welcome the change to separate gate considering the type of crowd and how big of a crowd f(r)ight fest usually brings in. They just need to be more up front about the change so people actually know. And make sure the upcharge is actually worth it (I have high expectations that they will make the haunts more Cedar Fair-esque and not try to keep getting away with the pitiful things they've been doing for years).

How are you all even getting far enough to see that info? I still can't get past this screen... When I put in the pass number and hit next it just reloads this page. This is on the app. When I try to do it on SFNE's website I can't even find where the legacy membership add on can be purchased.

I've tried on the app and website and no luck yet. I do see they are offering national season flash pass for $299 instead of $999 which is a hell of a deal. May come in handy if Great Adventure decides to keep running Medusa with 1 train lol.

I got to the part where you add the season pass number, hit next, and then it just reloads the same screen over and over.

Definitely worth going to once (do the whole shore, or at least do Ocean City and Seaside for the better coasters). As far as Wildwood, the boardwalk and town are as much fun as the piers themselves. Just wish prices weren't so insane. As far as single riders, I think there was a suicide on a wheel in NJ (it even may have been Morey's IIRC) but it's only a rule at Morey's, no such rule at any of the other shore parks from what I know. One time on the Flume I even tried walking up and asking if I can wait for a party of 2 so that I could ride in the back of their log, and the ops said no. It's frustrating as hell.

Well in that case, I'm sure there will be many others who aren't paying enough attention (like me apparently) that will be in for quite the surprise if they show up with a day ticket during fright fest. Anyway, I did stop by for a few hours yesterday. Just from the parking lot I observed KK sending test runs and Superman completely deserted. Went to El Toro first where...you guessed it...cycling empty trains. Thankfully it opened up pretty quick although what the app reported as a 5 minute line was really 20 (2nd half of switchbacks totally full). Nice ride in the magic seat although based on the reactions of the people in front of and behind me, the wheel seats are getting pretty brutal. Even got to meet eltororyan heading over to ride his pride and joy. Foreshadowing? Headed over to Medusa where there was more app f*ckery going on. 5 mins was the reported line, but the queue was half full AND only 1 train ops meant an easy 30-45 minute line so I skipped it. I've seen the reports of a lot of 1 train ops this year and I don't get it. Great Adventure has never been a park to run 1 train during peak season. I've always bitched that Medusa usually runs 3 trains which is unnecessary and results in getting baked on the brake run for 5 minutes. Now we're down to one. Is it a requirement to run an odd number of trains here or something? Hit up Mine Train next which was also running one train, though with a much shorter line just on the stairs. In 30 years I don't think I've ever seen 1 train ops on this. I know I'm not a local and not there every day, but something about this just feels off to me. Anyway, got the magic seat (back row of the front car) and was treated to the typical fare of being thrown all around on the ridiculous transitions and then being launched to the moon on the best airtime hill at Great Adventure. This thing is way more insane than it has any right to be. Made our way across the park, stopping at the saloon in Golden Kingdom for a drink (and enjoying those nice rocking chairs for way longer than I needed to) and checking out Dream Street which really looked fantastic. I have to give the park credit that it looks better than it has in years. I just don't understand why ops are suddenly falling off when that's been their one strong point all these years. Checked out Rave Mountain for the first time (since they decided they didn't feel like doing it last year) which was interesting I guess. A quick 2-3 train wait anyway. This won't get fixed in our lifetimes lol. Nitro was about a 25 minute wait including a quick breakdown and a couple test runs. Always weird riding it in the summer when it absolutely hails through the course. But it's weird not flying over a frozen tundra instead. Soon. Two trains ops here and typical lightning fast Nitro dispatches. Finished up with Batman which was a walk on with two trains (so again, wtf is up with Medusa) and was batshit crazy as usual. On the way out we tried doing some shopping for some 50th anniversary merchandise and we were quite disappointed at the lack of said merchandise. There were a few shirts left in the tent on Dream Street but almost all small/medium and a few XXL. I was really looking forward to picking up a couple shirts, hopefully they'll restock later this year. The stores up front had absolutely nothing. Oh boy I bet that new 50th anniversary coaster is going to be amazing! Oh. We'll just pretend you're not there for now. Hopefully be back in November for the true start of Great Adventure season!

When till the membership add on go on sale? I want to purchase before they change their mind about how cheap that add on is lol.

Did I miss an announcement that Fright Fest "Extreme" is a separate ticketed event? If you look at the hours for GAdv in October it shows that they close at 5pm every day. However, if you look at SFNE for instance, the closing time is 10pm during October. Do I live under a rock or are they about to implement a separate gate for Fright Fest without telling anyone till the last minute?

Annual Wildwood trip has come to an end. Best part of today was learning they have a brand new tiki bar complex right across from our hotel which was super nice and a great addition to this part of town. There's also a new Honky Tonk bar facing the street on the block as well, which took over the space of the former arcade in the Boardwalk Mall. Didn't get a chance to check that one out. Kind of getting disappointed in the operations of the piers considering they charge $120 for a full day wristband. If you're going to charge Disney prices then you need to have as much open as possible. Mariners is the only pier open before 5 and they had a grand total of 5 adult rides running: Sea Serpent, Ferris Wheel, Pirates, Rollie's, and the Bumper Cars. It just seems like highway robbery to charge that much and then run the place like a higher class carnival. I don't know if I can justify doing this year after year anymore. When 5:00 came, everything got up and running except Moby Dick and the Swings. Honestly I paid for my wristband with Atmosfear and Sea Serpent alone (considering it costs about $13 per ride). Larson towers are just the best and with the beautiful clear skies and no haze today, the view all the way to Atlantic City to the north and Rehoboth Beach to the South was incredible. Also that boomerang is 100x better than any other boomerang and I kind of just lapped it for hours since nothing else good was open. One ride on Zoom Phloom was great as always, would love to ride it more but Morey's has that atrocious no single rider policy on this, Pirates, the Ferris Wheel, and I'm sure other rides as well and my wife doesn't want to do a lot of these things so I kind of just get screwed. Great White and Screamin Swing were excellent but very busy at 8:00 when I was over there, so one and done on both. Swing was only running one side for some reason. Ghost Ship STILL only half open which is kind of getting old. I wouldn't complain if they didn't charge an absolute premium to partake. Nor'Easter still pretty good and fast ops rolling two trains. It running a good long program tonight but it did NOT have quick ops. Never had time to hit the usual haunts like Joe's rooftop and Jack's patio because both closed before their advertised 10pm closing (was gonna hit both when I got to Surfside around 9:45) which is amazing because the boardwalk was packed tonight. As much as I would miss lapping Atmosfear I really think next year will just be an enjoy the boardwalk and beach and drink the day away type trip. Maybe pay for a single ride or two.

It's not like it's some huge prototype either. It's a clone...they could've started building it in March and had it ready by July 1st and I just don't get how this is explainable other than they had a legit issue with the integrity of the steel or something. But the only explanation I think I can believe is "we're Six Flags." Also shout out to Great Escape who hasn't built a new coaster in 21 years for actually remembering how to do it and do it timely. They're on a pedestal above the rest of the chain as far as that goes.

Made my annual Gale Force stop in Ocean City tonight, but of course most of the focus was on Gillian's. I popped over to Gale Force first and that thing just blows me away every time. I wish it wasn't such a shitshow when it first opened because they should be building these everywhere and not Sky Rockets. It just blows me away that a top 3 coaster in NJ is located in a dinky seaside park behind an arcade and candy store. Went down to Gillians during their $25 Sunday evening wristband promotion and only had time for four rides because it was actually really damn busy! Frisbee and Music Express were the only major things I saw closed down although there were a couple kiddie rides also down. Started with the Flume which was closed last time I was there, and I was blown away at how much character this thing has and I'm really sad that it may not be long for the world. It's not Zoom Phloom quality, but the job they did shoehorning it into the corner of the park with a good amount of theming was really cool. This has a good 15 minute wait. The Dark Ride was next which had an even longer wait. And all I have to say is, what in the f*ck was that? This thing is up there with the Pirate Coaster for worst ripoff on the Jersey Shore. Like...you go back and forth in a rather brightly lit room with weird pictures, make a couple turns, and all of a sudden you're popping out the exit wondering where your $5 and the past 25 minutes of your life went. Good riddance to this stupid thing lol. Waited two trains to whore the Wacky Worm in order to fulfill my wife's mission of getting every Wacky Worm credit in existence. I love how ghetto this thing is, especially when the op has to push the train out of the station in order to start the ride. Final ride was a nearly 20 minute wait for the monorail Thomas train whatever the f*ck that thing is ride. The line filled the switchbacks and went down the ramp and they weren't exactly quick about it, although I got to see many performances by Gillian's own version of the Country Bears. It was actually a nice little tour of the whole park on the inside and outside and cool to have something like this in a little boardwalk park. This place is undoubtedly a dump but I was kind of sad walking out knowing how many generations of people walked through those doors and those times are coming to an end. I'm glad that they're able to finish out the year so that people can check it out one more time.