YoshiFan

I don't have any pictures of it but I remember it from my trip in 1989. It was so much fun to run through it and I remember it was really took a long time to go through the all the obstacles whole obstacle course compared to other similar type of attractions. I don't remember there being a ball crawl but there could have been since it was so long ago and maybe I don't remember. I do remember lots of soft plastic/vinyl type blocks that you had to climb over. I think I went through 4 or 5 times in a row.

Agreed, removing Krazy Kars is a horrible decision. Not only are they unique but Great Adventure's bumper cars are SBNO so now both parks no longer have bumper cars in operation. I was hoping it would be installed where the Screaming Swing was, even if it meant removing the Wild Mouse too. The Wild Mouse has got to be one of the worst run I have seen thanks to their rules of no more than 2 adults per car, added seatbelts, a horrible loading station and usually only 4 or 5 cars running and is braked so heavily it hurts sometimes.

I think any ride in the parks runs better than Kingda Ka, I know there was a major issue last season but even on days it was running, I still was in line a few times when the ride broke down. Also about Flashpass pricing, I'm not sure if they are going to keep the higher prices from Frightfest but looking at a picture on my phone from this past October, regular is $78 for 2 people, $140 for 4 people. Gold is $148 for 2 people, $260 for 4 people.

The ride had a lot of problems last season, on 4 different visits last year the ride was closed at some point during my trip to the park. 3 of those times the train was either empty on a block brake before the curved drop or had people in the train stuck on that block brake

Pay Per Ride is very expensive, at something around $0.70 - $0.85 a ticket and the major coasters are 8 tickets each. The Pay One Price was $45 last year but I always go on a Tuesday for their special, they have Pay One Price Wristbands for $19 or $20 each the catch is they expire at 6 pm.

Maybe she sat in a different row earlier in the day? On Possessed at Dorney, some rows have longer belts than the others (not a big boy seat like on a B&M). That doesn't excuse they way she acted though.

I agree the park is going to be crowded in July. I usually won't visit the park from the end of June (when schools let out) until September because the crowds are just so bad in July and August even during the week. Getting there at opening can avoid lines but if it is crowded for the less popular rides but a ride like Kingda Ka can go from no line to a 15 - 20 minute wait in a matter of minutes.

Magic Kingdom, 3 times Epcot, Studios, Animal Kingdom and Lake Compounce 1 time each Gillian's Wonderland Pier, 2 times Dorney Park, 8 times Great Adventure, 11 times

I'm not sure if other SF parks have ERT events but at Great Adventure, they have 2 a year, on Friday nights when the park is only open for a few hours just for premium passholders (this year I guess they are changing it to mean regular passholders and not those with a play pass). That alone is worth the extra cost to me because there are little to no lines.

I couldn't believe how cold it was in Florida. Splash Mountain in the low 40's is quite an experience. It was all worth it to ride coasters in January though.

I just got back Saturday from Disney and we had the regular dining plan. It was so much food. Usually on a trip at a counter service I would get a burger and split a soda with my dad (we get a large diet coke and ask for an extra cup), and usually 1 dessert and all 4 of us split it. With the dining plan, we all had a drink, entree and dessert. We were so full from that we basically didn't use any snack credits and the same issue was with the table service. We never get soda/juice/milkshakes at table service normally and sometimes don't order dessert at all so everyone getting a drink, entree and dessert was too much there as well. We ended up using the leftover snack credits to get boxes of cookies to take home. We did save money, because a counter service meal for 4 of us was $60 total with the dining plan, and all table service meals were over $100 with the plan but as I said, we would never have ordered like that without the plan. Our last trip, most counter service meals were around $30 total without the dining plan.

I was surprised to see it wasn't on either. I hope I remember next week to watch again to see if they show the Dorney episode (I almost forgot because of the Phillies game and if there is a game next week the same thing will probably happen).

I read on another site there were only 1,000 people. They closed early yesterday today too (they closed at 7) and didn't open at all today when the weather today wasn't that bad. It's a shame you had such a little amount of time at the park. I wasn't even sure they were going to open at all based on past reports of weather closing the park. I had planned to go but decided at 4:00 with the rain and cold it wasn't worth it. If it really is 2,000 people required for the park to stay open, I don't know how they could have expected that many people to show up considering how miserable it was out when the week before there was no rain, it was in the 70's all night and only around 3000 people were there. I'm also surprised there were 1 train ops on everything unless it was weather related since the past Friday Bizarro and Nitro were running 3 trains (Nitro later went down to 2 trains) with low crowds. The only ride running 1 train was Scream Machine.

Looks cool, the only problem is going to be capacity. I remember when I think Innoventions had virtual reality machines the wait always seemed to be over an hour

No because only Griffon will be open. If I lived less than 90 minutes away I'd probably go but since it is around a 6 hour drive they would need to have some more coasters open for me to make the trip. Though I have to give them credit for at least having 1 coaster open since that is 1 more coaster than Hershey has running for their holiday event. If Hershey could run 1 or 2 coasters, I'd be willing to go to their event at least once a year compared to the once every 4 or 5 years I go now.

I got the card from Great Adventure, I finally had a chance to post the pictures now. It took me a minute to find the actual bench. Thankfully no shows were going on at night (since I think I would have looked strange looking under benches during a show).

Yesterday by mid day lines were 45+ minutes for the major rides based on other reports. Kingda Ka should be done first. Nitro's line moves very fast with 3 trains. I would get there at opening, go to Ka, El Toro, Bizarro take the sky ride to Nitro ( if the line is short for the sky ride) ride that and Batman. Superman is easier to get to before Kingda Ka and it can get a horrible line if the park is crowded but to get to it after Bizarro could work too however it is out of the way to do that. If you want to ride Rolling Thunder and Runaway Mine Train you could consider those as you walk past them as well if you go to KK, ET and then Bizarro (stopping at Rolling Thunder after Toro and Mine Train before sky ride)

Great Adventure, either Monday or Friday, maybe both days. I'm still debating about Monday since NYC schools are closed so I am a little worried about crowds even though some people have said it is generally a day with light crowds.

I just got back from the park tonight, it was an exhausting but awesome night. Just like last year it was dead. I got 32 rides in 5 1/4 hours without flash pass. The only waits were Kingda Ka at 15 minutes and Bizarro at 10 minutes. Everything else was just a 1 train wait unless you wanted the front (and a lot of times you could walk right onto the front). It was warm out too, in the low 70's all night so it wasn't the weather that kept crowds away. Hopefully next Friday will be the same crowd wise. I can't see a flash pass as neccessary if it is like that again next week. It didn't help people save any wait time. Even for Kingda Ka, the line was in the station so someone with a flash pass would have had to wait the same 15 minutes as everyone else.

Name: Brian What is your roller coaster count? 70 What is your home park? Dorney Park/Six Flags Great Adventure (both are 50 minutes away and I go to both about the same amount of times each season) What is the nearest big city? Philadelphia What is your occupation? Retail About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? 30 About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 3 - 5 When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? Other sites What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? Disney World Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) No, in fact I missed Family Fall Fun Night at Great Adventure 2 weeks ago (which is basically 5 hours of ERT) because it was my birthday and I wanted to spend it with my family rather than go to the park. Do you have any other major hobbies? Video Games, Baseball Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? Yes, I hate the offseason. I rarely travel during the offseason. Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) No Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? No, I take solo trips to parks all the time. My friends hate amusement parks. Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Yes, I have gone to parks alone. I have ran into workers who are enthusisasts who post on coaster sites but only talked to them for a few minutes. Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? Not sure as I really don't know any enthusiasts that well How do you get your coaster news? TPR, Screamscape and other park specific sites How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? Around 10 If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? Wood - Voyage, El Toro, Balder. Steel - Millenium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Kingda Ka Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? Cedar Point, Great Adventure, Magic Mountain Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? No Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) No Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? Yes Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? Somewhere in the middle Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? No, because no one I talk to really has any interest in hearing about coasters.

Talon, last night at around 6:00

Get there at opening and go right to Kingda Ka, other than that lines shouldn't be much of an issue on a Friday nights. Here are 2 of my TR's from Friday night's last year to give an idea of how light the crowds are (I didn't post them on TPR since they weren't Photo TR's). http://www.gadv.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15133 (27 rides in 5 1/2 hours no Flashpass) http://www.gadv.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15188 (31 rides in a little over 6 hours, no Flashpass) Of course things could change this year but I still think it won't be that crowded.

Sunday November 1st (closing day) might be empty enough a Flashpass might not be needed. I went on Sunday November 2nd last year (also closing day) and crowds were very light. It was sunny out and not too cold so it wasn't the weather keeping people away. Most waits were 5 - 10 minutes, only Superman and Kingda Ka had longer waits (and they were around 20 - 30 minutes at the most). I'm not sure how Friday October 30th will be in terms of crowds since it could vary a lot. Friday nights were not crowded last year (not sure about Halloween night) but since it is the day before Halloween it could be worse than I would think. I'm planning to go to the park this Friday night and I'll report how bad crowds are. I'm guessing (and hoping) lines will be short like last year.

Sounds like a lot of the employees at Knott's need to learn how to deal with park visitors. It is very annoying to hear that the group got called out by the op for reporting line cutters. And people wonder why others don't want to report line cutting? It's also interesting how things are different at each Cedar Fair park. In 50+ trips to Dorney in the past few seasons I have never had any problems with employees even close to the issues I read in this report (and the few problems I had were very minor).

Other than Knoebel's I don't think many pay per ride parks have full size coasters for $2 per ride. Even the junky coasters at Ocean City, NJ are $4 per ride and the coasters at Morey's are around $6 per ride. Thankfully the parks in Ocean City have pre-season sales to bring it down to $1.50 - $2.00 per ride and Morey's has a special on Tuesdays with a wristband for $19 so you aren't forced to pay those expensive single ride prices.