YoshiFan

I think they switched to the magnetic gates because of problems with people pushing on air gates shutting the ride down temporarily if they are pushed too far. How were crowds? I figured it would be empty since it was supposed to thunderstorm.

The other problem is that sometimes the belts on the same train can be different lengths. Batman at Great Adventure doesn't have larger seats but I can buckle the test seat without any help and can buckle some seats on the train without help, other seats on the same train the op has to help.

August is especially bad for crowds. I didn't go to the park last year in August but in 2008 I went on a Thursday and it was jammed, Nitro was in the switchbacks (40 minute wait), Batman was in the garden area etc. If you get there at opening, lines should be short for a few hours though.

Down to 5th place already I voted twice today.

It is a great waterpark for being included with park admission. 15 different slides, 2 lazy rivers, 2 wavepools, play structure, inner tube rapids ride and 4 kiddie areas. The only problem is that since it is the main draw for Dorney that is where the lines are. In July and Auust the weekdays the waterpark is jammed and on the weekends it is wall to wall people until 6:00 - 6:30.

It was testing tonight right after the park closed at 10:00. The park was empty tonight, nothing was longer than a 10 minute wait.

They do get noise complaints but it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue anymore since Voodoo and Demon Drop are both noisy rides. I really wish the people would stop complaining, it was their decision to move near the park and the park is older than anyone living there so it's not like they didn't know the park was there. I agree the location hurts it. It is tough being in between Hershey and Great Adventure with some of the greatest coaster collections in the country. If Dorney was somewhere without a lot of parks near by I think it would be considered a better park. Not many parks have 2 B&M's and a hyper (I know there is more to the park than that but those seem like the standout rides)

I feel that a GCI and a Dark Ride would made the park complete. The park also has a bad habit of removing a ride every time they get a new ride. Krazy Kars removed for Demon Drop, Laser was removed at the end of the season Voodoo was added, Torpedo Tubes removed when Aqua Racer was added, Hercules removed for Hydra etc. The train used to have a much longer track and take you to the waterpark with a stop there but they got rid of that stop and made the track shorter when Talon was built.

Six Flags pass from Great Adventure Dorney Park regular pass (non Platinum)

^^it was closed in 2008 to save money similar to Tango being closed the past 2 seasons. In a park with so few flats as it is, it was a horrible move and I still hope they will reopen it especially with Shapiro gone.

I might also just go to Dorney, I haven't been to Great Adventure that much recently (only twice each in May and June) but if crowds are going to be an issue even on the weekdays, I'll have to just wait until September. Last year I only went to the park once in July and didn't go at all in August because of crowds, waiting 30+ minutes at a park I go to so often doesn't seem worth it to me. At least with Dorney, a wait of 10 minutes is considered long. Even Sunday night at Dorney in 50 minutes I got 3 rides on Talon and 2 on Demon Drop.

I'm glad I didn't go to the park today. I was considering it but was kind of tired and would have hated to deal with crowds especially with a lot of camps there.

Trailblazer is smooth, Runaway Mine Train at Great Adventure isn't too bad, but the drop after the MCBR can throw you around especially if you aren't in the front row of a car (the front row of each car has more leg room)

Yeah, they got rid of it in 2007 or 2008. It had mechanical problems and the spot has some turbo bungee upcharge ride. There is no reason they couldn't have replaced it with a new swing ride but that is a problem with the park, they remove flats without replacing them.

I would like to see some thrilling flats, family flats and tame rides (antique cars, interactive dark ride, train) added to the park. I go to the park for coasters but if I feel like riding something else I have trouble finding non coaster rides since the few non coaster rides I like are usualy closed (skyway) or have too long of a line (parachutes, log flume)

The only 2 rides I have heard them enforcing fastpass return times are Toy Story Midway Mania and Soarin but supposedly it is very rare for them to even enforce the time on those rides. Splash Mountain will be closed unless you go in early January (one of the first 2 or 3 days of the year) or March. It closes a few days into January and reopens at the end of February usually. If you do go in January, hopefully you will have warmer weather than this past January. It was freezing in the upper 30's and low to mid 40's the entire time I was there.

No, both of Lightning Loops were relocated, one to Frontier City the other to Adventure World.

It was closed when I was at the park today (well I guess yesterday), 1 car was almost at the top of the lift, the rest were in the boarding area.

Thunderstorms could be an issue, I remember 2 years ago at Great Adventure it had rained for a few minutes and stopped and was sunny out yet all the rides were closed because lightning was within a certain distance of the park. They had to wait around 15 minutes for the lightning to be further away before they could reopen the ride (not that 15 minutes is a long delay but if it is storming all day it could keep the rides shutdown). Kingda Ka will close in the rain, the Skyway will close because of wind and possibly rain as well. Rolling Thunder will go to 1 train in the rain. Batman also closes in the rain because of grease leaking onto riders. Otherwise almost everything should be open in the rain.

I ask all the time if I can go ahead of people to fill an empty seat. I have never had anyone say no. The only ride I have ever seen that happen at except Disney parks is at Kingda Ka. If there is an empty seat or seats, they will ask for single riders to fill in those seats. I think it's because they want a full train to have less of a chance of a rollback.

Yes, Great Adventure has gotten a lot but has lost more rides than any other park in the chain (and probably the country if not world) in the last 10 years. I think I mentioned it before in this thread a while back but either 32 or 33 rides have been removed or SBNO in the park since the early 2000's.

There were plans to build one, RedZone canceled it

And it was the smoothest in the front seat, or at least I thought it was. I made sure to ride twice in the front seat last week one of those rides being what I thought was my final ride (and still might be if I can't get to the park again before the 18th)

Strange it was so crowded for a Thursday even with it being a holiday weekend especially since on Tuesday lines were much shorter. It should be interesting to see tomorrow if GASM is closed or not

Great American Scream Machine for probably the last time