Zand

Why is everyone all up in arms? Once Six Flags officially merges in, there will be no more free lockers anyway. Cedar Point will basically be Great Adventure without the Saturday night fistfights

There is a new(ish) casino called "Ocean" that took over a few years after Revel closed. The giant escalator and rooftop terrace are pretty cool but otherwise a pretty forgettable property IMO. And no there is no giant water park or ferries to Manhattan or whatever other pipe dreams they thought of 10 years ago. From a casino standpoint, other than Borgata, there's nothing really worth visiting in AC anyway. And if you're not a casino fan, just wave as you drive by on your way to Ocean City and Wildwood.

I just got the email today. It doesn't really say what happens when you have dining as part of your pass, so I'm curious to see what it goes up to.

We did After Hours on Monday and it was a really great event, but somehow even 6 hours, 3 of which were in a totally dead park, didn't feel like enough! Part of that was our fault, the wife insisted on dinner at Be Our Guest which was at 9:00 and kind of ran over into the After Hours portion of the night. Also we watched the second fireworks show, then rode Astro Orbiter before heading to Tron. I feel like everyone watching the fireworks all marched right over to Tron afterwards which resulted in us probably hitting the line when it was at its longest (40 mins). Missed Big Thunder which is a bummer as it was down when I circled that end of the park. Also missed Pirates for some reason. Like I said, those 6 hours go very quickly. But walk on Jungle Cruise, Mansion, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs, etc was really fun and it was a cool atmosphere in the park late at night. It was borderline bizarre on the Adventureland side of the park which was totally deserted. I would definitely do this again for Magic Kingdom and, as someone who very rarely gets to Disney, I also feel like it would be totally worth it to do this at Hollywood Studios. Just a heads up, and everyone else might already know this, but be aware that the Monorail stops running before the park closes and you have to take the ferry which had a line and it was almost 2 am when we got to the car.

Yup, a one park ticket to Universal is $5 less than an Animal Kingdom ticket today (the only Disney park with the same total hours of operation) which is insane when you consider Universal annual passes are about $1k less than Disney. And the other Disney parks are only $15 more for 2-3 more hours of park time. Edit: Velocicoaster is back up to 3 trains today with a consistent 1:06 dispatch rate! I guess the hunt is on! Reedit: As soon as I got in line they went back to two trains and it's dispatching as slow as yesterday. Line is in the outdoor section, so I got out. Not waiting an hour longer than I did yesterday.

So just as a heads up to those who may be headed down in the near future while Velocicoaster is running at a reduced capacity, here are some dispatch times I sampled today... As you can see, they're still consistent as ever, but two train ops has the ride at 2:20 intervals instead of the usual :55, and that 600 per hour rather than 1600 per hour throughout makes the line move painfully slow. I got over to the ride right after a breakdown and the line was at the raptor statue, which in the past would've meant a 25 minute line. The sign said 75 minutes, and in actually ended up being 1 hr 55 mins. I'm not sure if it broke down again at any point but they didn't announce one while I was in line so yeah, be prepared. When I got off the line was into the outdoor portion and they listed it at 3 hours, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was more. The throughput would be slightly better if they rolled trains by sending one when the other is about to come back, but for some reason they were purposely stacking for a good 10-15 seconds before sending a train. I'm sure between them and Intamin they'll get the issues figured out as soon as possible, but just be aware of what you're walking into if you get in line. Also there is absolutely no seat choice right now. The ride still kicks all kinds of ass no matter where you sit, but make sure it's worth taking up two plus hours of your day at a park like Universal. Otherwise, it's been a busy couple days which leads me to my biggest question: Why the hell does Universal close so damn early? It was mayhem getting out after the park closed at 7 tonight especially with a 6:15 Mardi Gras parade. They closed at 6 last night. Room rates were about 60% higher this week so they knew it would be busy, so what gives? Just seems insane that a park of this magnitude closes that early at any time of year. Last night I left Universal at closing and went to Disney and spent 6 hours there. Not that I'm expecting Universal to be open till 1 am, but that's insane.

Just got a nice $12 ride on Mine Blower, and seeing as no one has said anything since it was partially retracked I figured I'd add my two cents. I would say from a smoothness perspective it's definitely improved as what were the worst spots on the ride are now totally smooth. A couple of the transitions to and from the new track cause a bit of a jolt and then obviously there still some areas of old track that it still kinda jackhammers through. But overall when the ride was over I wasn't checking various body parts to make sure they weren't broken in half like I used to do. That said, when it goes through the new steel track it squeals like crazy and it definitely slows the train down a bit, so the insane ejector in the back half of the ride isn't quite like it once was. So the speed and airtime was kind of sacrificed for comfort. Still a really awesome coaster but a bit tempered down from its heyday. Keep in mind there were four people on the entire train so maybe it runs better with more weight.

Going to be in Orlando next week and ended up buying tickets to After Hours on Monday. The price point is, on one hand, kind of insane. On the other hand, when you factor how much a day ticket plus Genie+ costs, it's not that far off and the idea of being at an empty Magic Kingdom for a few hours plus free snacks and drinks was too good to pass up. Has anyone else been to one of these yet?

Fingers crossed! Funny how it didn't even exist 3 years ago and now the park would feel so wrong without it open. Edit: Velocicoaster is back open this morning!

Figures a couple days ago I just booked a trip down for next week Maybe it'll be back up by then but it doesn't sound promising.

I think there's still a noticeable price gap between the two (for now anyway). On some of the low crowd days I'm seeing rooms at Aventura and Cabana Bay for around $110 and Endless Summer for $75. Haven't seen the All Stars below $180 and those places are dumps (although to be fair I didn't play around with the dates as much for them). Annual passes for non residents still have about a $1000 gap. Day tickets and food are pretty close at both though. I'm sure the gap will close when Epic opens but there's still deals to be had at Universal that you're not getting at Disney.

I went in yesterday expecting to buy the Twilight Pass (good for the last 2 hours of the day) for the low low price of $46. But then I checked the closure list and saw Sandy's on it (which is somehow the first time I've been there with it closed) but also saw Skyline Scream is closed which I did want to get a night ride on. Wouldn't hate going back sometime in February if Sandy's is open to get an off-season fix in. And at the rate this winter is going, maybe I can bring my skis and manage a day without skiing in mud.

So I think I figured it out... As you can see in the first picture, on that sign there is a tiny little NJTP logo and a left arrow. I DID see this when I was driving through. But if you look at the second picture, the left turn lane is coned off both on Google Street View and also coned off currently in real life. So I guess I ended up taking the next left but apparently you're supposed to go straight another...half mile? Then it loops around back to the NJTP ramp that you just drove by because it's coned off. And there are NO SIGNS at all past this coned off intersection. F*cking Jersey. If anyone here has been to Boston's airport, it's the same convoluted layout where you drive around in circles 3 times before you finally get to the correct garage after having to dart across four lanes of traffic to get there because the exit ramp from the highway comes out on the left and your terminal is 300 feet ahead on the right. But at least Boston gives you clearly marked signs to get back to the highway as long as you successfully dart back across 4 lanes of traffic to get to the exit. This place? "Yeah f*ck you welcome to New Jersey we're gonna make sure you get a nice tour of beautiful downtown Rutherford before you leave." No wonder Jets fans are so miserable...you just watched your team somehow lose to Mac Jones, now we're gonna trap you in this circle from hell so you can't get away from this debacle!

Stopped by the mall this afternoon. Went into the park just to ride Shellraiser as I had never ridden it at night before. Due to technical problems they were only running one car which created a 20 minute wait. I have read in the past that the back row is smoother and I can confirm that is now my experience as well. First time riding in back and what a difference. The bottom of the big drop in front feels like it's going to jostle your brain out of your head, but in back it's just the slightest if bumps. When you get a smooth ride, this thing is truly a great coaster with awesome forces and it definitely completes with Nitro and Gale Force for best steel coaster in NJ. I also ponied up the money to ride the Ferris Wheel which is fantastic to experience once, with great views of the city, MetLife Stadium, the Turnpike, the guy getting arrested on the road underneath, etc. Mall had a good crowd but still way too many empty areas. And for the love of God, put some signs up for the exit so I don't end up in some giant parking lot for MetLife and then onto route 3 north (which is the opposite of where I needed to be) because there are ZERO signs when you're heading out telling you how to get to the Turnpike.

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I literally commented to my wife on the way in that it didn't look like they had even touched a single tree, nevermind started construction. BTW, the new bar (that I had never even heard of until yesterday) inside the Chiller observatory is legitimately one of my favorite things this park has ever come up with. Unfortunately it won't be as much of a secret next year with the new coaster going in next door, but it's really damn nice!

Happy New Year! Will this be the year that this thing gets the world's most explosive paint job? The Cedar Fair influence is starting to take hold. Is that you, Windseeker?

Lol. I guess I better enjoy the crap out of Nitro on New Year's Day this year because if this is what Cedar Fair is bringing to the Six Flags parks, then it will probably be the final time we can do that. SFNE might as well just shut down in mid October.

It's crazy. The last couple times I've been to JB's at SFNE, my wife and I ordered two meals and two drinks and they rang up to a total in the neighborhood of $70 before they scanned for the meal plans. Just insane. I also noticed last week at Great Adventure that general parking is up to $45. I'll milk these $16 per month platinum passes with dining plans as long as I can because I know change is on the horizon with the merger.

Spent 1:30-6:30 in the park today and rode nonstop. Walk ons everywhere. Even Justice League was a walk on. Felt a bit holiday in the park-ish with both Frontier Adventures and the Boardwalk closed. 60% of the B&Ms were unavailable today but the two best ones were open and they made up for it by making sure 100% of the Intamins ran pretty much flawlessly all day. Temps in the mid 30s at closing but Ka and Toro didn't care. And that's still too warm for Nitro and Batman, they need it to be colder. I don't care if you think I'm on crack, Great Adventure in the late fall/early winter is one of the most gorgeous parks in the country and you won't convince me otherwise. How much did your Intamins run today, Hershey? Sunset laps on Nitro are just the best.

Hey Cedar Fair...you know what Great Adventure needs that you have a few of and would fit in the park perfectly? One of those sports bar style Chickie's and Pete's. Make it happen.

Tonight I fell victim to forgetting to check to make sure Six Flags didn't decide to change their hours at the last minute. Stopped at the park on the way to NJ, arriving around 3:30 and expecting to have till 7 but apparently this week they cut it back to 6. My fault as it should almost be expected at this point that the hours are likely to get f*cked with any given day. Figuring I had plenty of time, I started with a tour of Gotham which took a bit longer than expected as there were actually people at the park despite temps in the 30s. Everything in the park was open (unlike a certain park in NJ that I'll be at tomorrow) except Crackaxle, but running one train on everything and a lot of the coasters had 5+ cycle waits which I didn't expect. I then took my time eating at JBs and headed for Cyclone around 5:45, figuring I'd have time to hit that and then Superman a few times. Well, joke was on me when I was in the Cyclone station to hear "the next train will be the last of the night." Fun cold wheel ride which ran fast with good airtime, but unfortunately that was the end of the night. Guess Superman will have to wait another 5 months. I'll make up for it by riding another good Intamin tomorrow. To be fair the park did post the new hours on Facebook back on Wednesday. And kudos to them for having the whole park open except the 3 Crackaxle rides. Staffing was obviously thin but they made what they could out of it. I'm sure the Cedar Fair influence will kill off the November closings and revert back to Halloween, so this may have been the end of Veterans Day rides. Hope not. See you in April SFNE (or mid May if we start getting Cedar Fair schedules).

But how many Cedar Fair parks have gotten something as extensive as a multi-year Carousel project?

I'm sure Valleyfair and Michigan's Adventure (and Dorney before this year) wish they could've had a couple penny pinched Six Flags coasters sent their way in the past 15. I understand that what Cedar Fair gives to its good parks far outweighs what Six Flags has been giving to its big parks the past 10 years. But the have-nots on their end seem to be way bigger "nots" than the Six Flags have-nots (other than SFA of course). Six Flags parks may have been 4-D'd to death but at least it's something. As great as it would be to get some gigas into places like Magic Mountain and Great Adventure, I think the bigger thing that may come of out of this is maybe the new combined chain will remember the smaller parks exist, regardless of who they choose to work with. But we'll see, could just be status quo also.

This.

Get ready for short operating seasons. RIP HITP when the Cedar Fair influence gets its way. Hope this upcoming New Year's Day at Great Adventure isn't the last one. When do they start painting Millennium Force red with blue supports?