YoshiFan

Trip report from today, it was a very good day for riding without long waits Another trip to the park, the 2nd time this week but since the park is closed during the week now, I probably won't be going as much. I got to the park a little after 12:00 and the lot wasn't that crowded. From the lot I sat Superman had a long line but Scream Machine was a walk on. First ride was Nitro, 2 trains running with the line on the stairs so a little over 5 minutes. I got 2 rides and went to Skull Mountain, 1 train wait and I stayed on for a re-ride. The Skyway was closed the entire time I was at the park, that makes it closed for 3 out of 4 visits to the park this year. Blackbeard's was loading with no wait so I stopped there quickly and went to Frontier Adventures. The Log Flume appeared to have a short line but with only 12 boats running, it was almost a half hour (I wouldn't have waited if I knew it wasn't at full capacity). Runaway Mine Train had 2 trains running, 1 train wait then I walked around for another ride and stayed on the train for a 3rd ride. Bizarro had 2 trains running with very little stacking. The line was at the 30 minute sign and was around 15 minutes. Rolling Thunder had just the left side open, 1 train wait. Kingda Ka had a station wait but the station was packed today. 3 trains running, it took about 5 minutes to get to the area to pick a row and for some reason the front row line only had an extra 2 train wait (4 train wait total, but the middle rows were a 2 train wait). A few minutes after that the front row line was almost full so I guess it was just one of those lucky moments since it was just under 20 minutes total in line. Scream Machine was running 2 trains, 1 train wait since I didn't want one of the back rows and I got a re-ride. Superman's line was on the stairs but I didn't feel like riding because it looked like dispatches were very slow and I hate being on the brake run with your head tilted down. Dark Knight had around a 5 minute wait to get into the pre-show and then around 10 minutes for the pre-show and line after that. They waited until the room was full to start the pre-show and I really wish there was a way to bypass it since after close to 30 times watching it, it is boring. Batman had a 1 train wait and I moved to an empty row for a re-ride, I saw Nitro's line was past the 30 minute sign so it was around 15 minutes probably and I had to get home anyway so I left after Batman. Crowds were a lot lighter than I was expecting, considering it was such a nice day with no clouds and around 75 degrees out.

Sounds like opening day of Great Adventure last year where Nitro also vallyed during a test run, the bad thing about that was not only was it closed all of opening day but didn't open up for 5 or 6 days after that (the park was on daily operations for Spring Break week).

Wow I wouldn't have thought it would be that empty since I thought people might go to the park after school or work with it being a Friday. I might go Sunday and hope crowds are light then too.

I like Blackbeard's enough to ride it once every few visits if the line is short. It is fun to sit in the last row with the train being so long, you get pulled over the first drop and it throws you around if you sit in the middle of the seat.

Here's a report from my trip to the park yesterday I got to the park around 2:30 and saw the closed rides board had the usual rides like Houdini and Congo Rapids listed but I also saw Rolling Thunder, Parachutes and Twister and the Skyway closed. That meant besides the coasters, only 5 flats and the log flume were operating. I went to Blackbeard's first. They added more switchbacks since they made a real queue last October. It was a little under 10 minutes. Skull Mountain was next, 4 or 5 train wait for the last row. There was a lot of light in the building today. There was also a chair near the pumpkin in the final helix which seemed strange. I went back for another ride and went to Nitro next. The line was on the stairs with 3 trains running. Dispatches were a little slower than usual with stacking and some double stacking. By the time I rode twice, the line was past the 30 minute sign so went to Batman. The line was just past the turnstyle and even though I was only in the tunnel a few minutes, it was horribly hot and stuffy. They really need some fans or air conditioning in there. Dispatches were kind of slow and I forgot how forceful the ride was. I saw they were getting Twister open and Superman had a station wait but I skipped it today because I didn't want to ride it with your head tilted down the entire time thinking it would give me a headache again (I went to the dentist on Monday and didn't feel well from that) Scream Machine was running 2 trains but I walked right onto the front row, not too rough today. Kingda Ka had 3 trains running and was just under 20 minutes total which was the longest wait of the day. For some reason everyone went to the left side of the station and the right side with just 1 train running had less people waiting. Rolling Thunder had also opened with just the left side running. In the work area, I saw the green train was somewhat taken apart with the headrests missing. The dispatches were a little faster today which was good to see. El Toro had a short line out of the station and went to Runaway Mine Train. 2 trains running and most rows were a 1 or 2 train wait. I saw the Log Flume looked to have around a 30 minute line so I went back to Runaway Mine Train for 2 more rides and went to Bizarro which had a line just out of the station. 2 trains running and no stacking. The Log Flume had a much shorter line and was around 15 minutes. They were really trying to make sure the logs went out with both sections of each log with riders. It was 7:15 at this point and with 45 minutes left I went to the Dark Knight which was a walk on into the pre-show and I was able to stay on for a re-ride. Nitro was down to 2 trains and again on the stairs. I got 1 more ride and finished the day at Skull Mountain which was a walk on. I got 5 more rides and it was 8:05 at that point so the park was closed. It was the best trip of the year so far and thankfully crowds weren't bad at all.

I have never seen Fahrenheit's line that short before.

Now I really regret not going today I figured it would be very crowded because of the buyout

I agree about the operations at Hershey. Last year they were slightly better but in 2008 and 2007 it was horrible. I have never seen the single rider line on Fahrenheit open, and it is annoying to see an empty seat or 2 go out per train when it only seats 12 per train. Not to mention the double stacking. Other visits it was Storm Runner running 1 train or rows chained off on Lightning Racer and Wildcat with a line. Don't even get me started on Roller Soaker, not all cars were running and dispatches were horribly slow. I don't think they should get a line cutting system until they get their operations together and add some high capacity rides. Fahrenheit and Roller Soaker and the Boardwalk should never have been installed in a park that gets over 2 million visitors a year. I could see Roller Soaker having a 3+ hour standby wait if there was a line cutting system in place. The Boardwalk is a disaster, last year the park wasn't that crowded and when I walked through it, I heard the lazy river was around an hour and the wavepool had a 45 minute wait to get it. Even the tornado had a huge wait to get a tube. At Dorney I never wait to get into the wavepool and rarely wait more than a few minutes to the lazy river. I am also not surprised it was jammed, I went in 2006 the day before Easter and will never go to SPITP again except on Easter which I was supposed to do tomorrow but am no longer going. The post was very negative sounding I know but I still like the park a lot, it has some of my favorite coasters and I like how it is well balanced with lots of thrill rides and family rides, I just wish it was run better.

That's why I wear either cargo shorts with a zippered pocket or a jacket with zippered pockets. I don't trust buttons or velcro to hold my phone, wallet and keys in a pocket. I got the shorts at Target around 5 or 6 years ago and only wear them to parks and I haven't found anything similar unfortunately since I would like to get some more shorts with a zippered pocket. I'll download it later, it would be awesome to give you wait times and would be so much better to be near Bizarro for example and find out if Nitro has a short line or not before walking across the entire park to find out.

Good luck with Great Adventure, I went today and it was jammed. Long lines for everything (even the Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train a junior coaster looked to be 30 minutes!). Full queues for El Toro, Nitro and Bizarro. I am afraid Saturday might be even worse. I left after riding Nitro (used an exit pass from Funatics and it still took almost 20 minutes!) and The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight at Great Adventure around 5:30 today

They are on PBS Kids Sprout early in the morning

I haven't gone on Easter Sunday but have seen trip reports from past years and it appears to be very light crowds. I was planning on going but it looks like for the 4th year in a row, it isn't going to happen.

Looks like CF was lazy and used an Impulse train for that Afterburn banner

I go to my local parks alone almost all the time. My friends hate going to parks so I don't have a choice. In early 2005 I was all excited about Kingda Ka saying to them how we were getting the tallest and fastest coaster in the world less than an hour away. Their response? ''Who Cares'' Plus no one would want to go as often as I go to parks, and I try to plan visits when I expect minimal lines since I don't like waiting in long lines alone

I'm surprised so many people lasted the entire time, when I was outside for a few minutes today I was thinking how cold it was outside and how everyone at the park must be freezing. Did they give everyone the prize?

I'm going Sunday, I have to work most of tomorrow and it will be too cold to take a chance of rides being closed for me. I just hope Nitro doesn't valley again Until SFGAdv gets serious about line cutters, it will never be one of the best parks ever. It can really be a problem, last year In line for Superman they were opening up more switchbacks and when 2 guards in line were talking a group used the chance to cut, they were called out to the guards and the guards didn't throw them out of line or the park. In 2008 I saw the same thing, people cut the line the guards were told and nothing happened. Even worse I saw a guy standing in line for nitro smoking and a guard walked right by him and didn't say a word. I didn't report any of it because I normally go to the park alone and don't need a large group getting angry at me especially after seing that people don't get in trouble. The guest code of conduct is a good policy, if they would implement it

I'd like to see more dark rides in parks. I know it gets criticized a lot for not being that great of a ride but Reese's at Hershey is one of my favorite non coaster rides in the park. I'd even take an interactive dark ride over flats. When discussed on other boards at least for Great Adventure the response is usually, with the crowds the park gets people wouldn't behave or vandalize the ride. I don't know about that since if there is a lap bar like on Reese's, I don't think you are getting out of the seat.

I agree that way too many rides have been removed, counting kiddie rides it was around 33 rides removed from the park in the past 10 or 11 years. Hopefully with the new paint on the parachutes, they will have more sides open. Last season it seemed like only 2 parachutes were running most of the time and once in a while they had 4 running.

I know for Great Adventure, the park is really lacking in flats I think that is where part of the asking for flat rides comes from. The only operating non coaster rides in the park that are not kiddie rides are: Houdini, Round Up, Zamperla Regatta, swinging ship, Parachutes, Tea Cups, Top Spin, Carousel, Sky Ride, Log Flume and Rapids. With the rapids and Houdini not open until Memorial Day, that only leaves 9 non coaster rides in the entire park for the first 2 months of the season. I think before adding flats they need to reopen all the SBNO rides though like the bumper cars, music express, simulator theater and rockin tug.

I am figuring they will have 1 train for the contest and 1 or 2 trains for everyone else so if they run 3 trains you can expect lots of stacking and prrobably double stacking too which will give you a chance to rest for a few minutes after each ride, even if only 2 trains are running they will probably still stack most if not all of the time at least that has been my experience on almost every trip to the park in 2008 and 2009. Good luck, I thought about enetering but knew I would have no chance since I would start to feel sick after 5 or 6 rides

I'd figure on 20 - 40 minute waits for coasters like Nitro, Batman, Bizarro, 5 - 15 minute waits for rides like Scream Machine, Runaway Mine Train, Skull Mountain etc. and 45+ minute waits for El Toro, Kingda Ka and Superman. That's about what the waits were like for me in July on a weekday last year and on 2 weekdays in July in 2008.

I know either last year or the year before they cancelled it at the last minute due to weather even though it had stopped storming or raining by the time the event was supposed to start. I think another year (2006 or 2007?) there was another issue. If you have a season pass and can get to the park on a Friday night, Coasters After Dark is always very empty and close to ERT type lines and there it is free for season pass holders (the park is just open for passholders unless they let the physics day kids also stay). I just looked at my ride count and got 24 rides (including 10 on Nitro) last year and 27 in 2008, both times I was at the event from the beginning to closing so 5 hours. It's probably either April 30th or May 7th this year.

^ You can pick it up at the Looney Tunes Shop or I think Season Pass processing, then exit the park with a handstamp and use the coupon book at the ticket gates. I got my coupon book in the middle of April in 2008 so I would think at the end of April it wouldn't be a problem ^^ It depends on crowds, so I would wait to see until you get there. I went in late June on a Wednesday last year and had very minimal waits and a flashpass wouldn't have been needed (I never use flashpass but if I were to consider it, I wouldn't have needed it that day), the only real wait was Kingda Ka at around 10 - 15 minutes. In fact, every time I have gone in June during the week it has always been very low with crowds. Interesting they have a new Platinum Flashpass. According to the site, you can get 2 rides at once with it. I wonder how that will be handled, especially at the rides that merge at the station. I also hope they still allow re-rides for everyone when there is no line since it could be confusing if they allow both Platinum users and everyone else to have re-rides, but I guess on days when lines are that short hardly anyone would be using Platinum in the first place.

Maybe for Frightfest it will be running but it is supposedly going to be SBNO during the spring and summer seasons. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tango removed since it was SBNO all last season.