YoshiFan

The only Six Flags park I have been to is Great Adventure and I generally have good visits to the park. Other than Rolling Thunder and Bizarro with slow dispatches (Green Lantern too but I blame that on the park visitors who still insist on sitting on the bicycle seats even after an announcement is made when every train is loaded to stand up), operations are usually very good. In the late 90's and early 2000's I had some really bad trips to the park so much that I stayed away until 2007 when I had such a great time I decided to get a season pass for 2008. Based on this thread and just reading coaster/park sites for years I realize that not all the parks are as good though. I have passed the SFA area couple of times since becoming an enthusiast but after reading how bad the park is and the bad operations, I haven't been able to convince myself to stop even for a credit run (especially since I am on the only SF passholder in my family and none of my friends have passes either). The value is amazing as some others have already mentioned which helps me overlook the few things I don't like about the park. With the season dining pass this year for around $200 I am getting unlimited visits to the theme park and Hurricane Harbor, parking all season and 2 meals a day every time I go to the park.

Hydra's inclined dive loops is the only one around and the JoJo roll is somewhat unique. I think it's one of the only coasters with an inversion right out of the station (I know there is an Supersonic Odyssey with a heartline roll before the lift hill but not right out of the station).

Either Nitro or Kingda Ka.

It's legit, anyone from Total Rewards (Harrah's and other casinos) that gets to Seven Stars level gets 1 free cruise a year. Seven Stars is the highest level you can get to and you have to earn 100,000 tier credits a year, and besides the free cruise there are a lot of other comps/perks.

2005 Hydra at Dorney Park Wacky Worm at Gillian's Wonderland Pier 2006 Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom Runaway Train at Gillian's Wonderland Pier 2008 Fahrenheit at Hersheypark Voodoo at Dorney Park The Dark Knight at Great Adventure 2011 Green Lantern at Great Adventure 2012 Stinger at Dorney Park

This past season, Dorney added a rule to their Wild Mouse that anyone under 8 isn't allowed to ride, even if they meet the height requirement (the sign basically said "Minimum 8 years old to participate"). So someone under 8 and is over 48" can ride Steel Force and Thunderhawk but not Wild Mouse. There is also a sign at Hangtime (Top Spin) saying not recommended for anyone under 10. I can't say I am that surprised though considering it is Cedar Fair. It's just too bad now that for anyone under 8 and under 48", the only coaster they can ride in the entire park is now Woodstock's Express.

A wheel seat and a non wheel seat makes a big difference for Rolling Thunder. It is almost smooth in a non wheel seat but a non wheel seat is brutal. Last month I sat in a wheel seat and it was so bad I had to sit down for a few minutes afterwards.

I have ridden it every year since the ride opened. I used to like it more before I rode other B&M coasters, especially Medusa/Bizarro at Great Adventure and saw that Hydra wasn't as great. I do like the inclined dive loop, but as others mentioned the rattling can be really bad to the point where I skip it some trips to the park. I'd rather spend my time at Talon and Steel Force.

Getting to Busch Gardens Tampa and getting to try Montu, Kumba, Sheikra, Scorpion and Cheetah Hunt Going to Great Adventure 22 times this season and getting my 200th Nitro and Skull Mountain rides this year.

Tivoli coasters are so much fun for that reason. I love sitting in the back on those because you just get thrown up and to the side going over the drop, and having un-cushioned, slippery seats with no divider in between them makes it that much better. Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train at Great Adventure is a seriously under-rated coaster in my opinion. I try to ride Blackbeard's almost every trip to Great Adventure, I also like the last row for the reasons you mentioned and also because it rarely has a line later in the day.

Great Adventure March 23rd

Great Bear, August 2005. I had ridden my first SLC Great Nor'Easter a couple of weeks before that and I couldn't believe the difference between a B&M invert and the SLC.

Green Lantern at Great Adventure 2 1/2 hours ago, last coaster ride of the season.

Opening Day for 2013 is March 23rd. http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/events/CalendarEvents.aspx I am really happy that the park is opening so much earlier next year compared to the past few seasons.

Talon around 8 hours ago

Great Adventure tonight

This year they even kept the rapids open for at least the early part of Fright Fest when it used to close after Labor Day. There are signs up saying it closes at 6:00 with the Fright Fest logo under it. The Log Flume wouldn't be so bad to ride in cold weather if they turned off the sprayers at the end of the ride since you don't get soaked without them. I'd like to see the sprayers off the first few and last few weeks of the season.

In all of my trips to Dorney (I usually go around 12 - 15 times a season) I have only been allowed a re-ride on one coaster on 1 trip and 1 flat ride on another trip. I stopped asking after I found out that it wasn't allowed but the one time at the coaster the ride op was letting others re-ride (the station was empty) so I also went to an empty seat. It can be annoying but since the park almost always has no lines, I figure I'd rather not be allowed to re-ride and know I will likely never have more than a 5 minute wait for anything when I go to the park than know I can get re-rides but have to wait in longer lines on other days. Dorney always seems stricter than other parks, even with other policies like the monorail in Planet Snoopy, they have a rule of no one over 54" can ride without a kid when at other CF parks, the exact same ride doesn't have that rule. At first I thought it was maybe because there was a problem with the line being too long but most of the time I walk by the ride and they are sending out empty cars.

I used it in 2010 at Lake Compounce and it was great. They supposedly had the ability to change the price based on how crowded it was at $1 to $3 per person, per ride. When I was there it was $1 for everything except the coasters which were $2. Besides the coasters, there were another 7 or 8 rides that were available with the system. The park wasn't that crowded so I only used it once on Boulder Dash and at Ghost Blasters a few times. It was well worth the $1 per person at Ghost Blasters to skip a 30 minute line.

Bizarro at Great Adventure around 5 hours ago.

Great Adventure on Monday (and I just got back home from Great Adventure tonight )

Flitzer at Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, NJ yesterday.

Wow, I'm surprised it was so empty with the weather so nice.

Nitro at Great Adventure

I'm surprised it doesn't get more crowded. Basically half price admission compared to the summer just without the water park and water rides is a great deal. I went 2 years ago on the first Sunday and it was sunny and 75 and the park was empty. Other than Fahrenheit that was 15 minutes, everything else was a 0 to 5 minute wait even rides like Storm Runner and Comet.