boldikus

in my experiences - El Toro. The drop, the camelbacks, the rolling thunderhill, and all the other floater scattered elesewhere. - Skyrush. 2 pops of air on the drop. The first two airtime hills, the last airtime hill before the turn into the brakes - Stormrunner airtime over the tophat and into twists/flying snake dive - Double down on Jack Rabbit (Kennywood) - The airtime hills at the end of Phantoms Revenge. Holy jesus. - Sky Rocket (Kennywood) - in back seat the drop off the top hat and mid course. - Maverick first drop, airtime hills and stengels - Magnums bunnyhops - first car on Steel Force on the return/bunnyhops - Nitro for great consistent sustained floater throughout - Blue Streak has both great floater and ejector imo - S:ROS (SFA) last bunnyhops before the brakes

^^ Since you're not a SF passholder just want to make sure you are aware of Great Adventures fantastic re-ride policy. If you go to El Toro in the morning first and its quiet which it should be, stay in your seat if there is no one in your row, and if there is look and see if there are any other seats open. Even other single riders. Ive asked if I can hop in and gotten immediate rerides that way. They will let you stay in your seat always as long as no one is waiting. You can really marathon Toro pretty nicely early in the mornings. This really goes for any ride, I've done the empty seat hopping a bunch on Nitro too.

^ Superman is really just about the loop for me, the rest of the ride just meanders around but its comfortable, smooth, enjoyable and nothing like that pretzel loop in the park. GL has a great drop and first loop then it just pummels my temples and ears the remainder of the ride. Will admit the nice pop of stand up air off the MCBR is cool.

This is spot on... ride one row from the back on El Toro. Lines for the back rows are always shorter and it's the best seat. I'd suggest taking a ride on Ka, then El Toro, Bizarro because it's right there and won't have a line (back row is the best and it won't have a longer wait than the other rows), then take the Skyway to Nitro (the Skyway probably won't have a line yet... if it does just walk since you're in a time crunch but if it's a short wait it's faster). Ride the Runaway Train before getting on the Skyway if you care. Then hit Skull Mountain quick, it won't have a line and it's right there... then go to Nitro. After that if you have time you can pick between Superman which is mediocre and has a line that never moves, Green Lantern which is a terrible ride, Batman the Dark Knight which is worth it if the line isn't long and Batman which is a great coaster. Beware though, it should be running forwards by then but make sure it's running 2 trains before getting in line. It's very likely that it won't be. If it's going backwards it will definitely have 1 train ops. Of course after Nitro depending on how much of a credit whore you are the best option might be to just go back to El Toro and marathon it, though I would suggest riding Batman if it's running 2 trains and you haven't ridden a Batman clone previously (as a side not I firmly believe that Batman is the best steel coaster in the park but as I'm in the minority I'm not letting my opinion get in the way here because if I did I'd tell you to ride that before Nitro... Batman is criminally underrated though, most likely because it's a clone). PS: Also use common sense with Ka. Keep in mind that it's a great ride but above all else it's an unreliable POS. If you don't see it testing at any point while you're parking the car, walking to the gate or walking through the boardwalk just go to El Toro first. Also, consult a map because the layout of the Golden Kingdom and Plaza De Carnival area is asinine if you're not familiar with it. This is all great advice. I would add that you should squeeze Zumanjaro in there, you can probably get on with little wait between Ka and Toro. But DON'T bother with the single rider line on this, not worth it in the slightest. If you wind up going to Toro first you can cut back there quickly through the arcade next to the tea cups in Fantasy Forst - helps you avoid going around into the boardwalk area to get back into Plaza Del Carnival. 2nd to last seat on Toro. Always. Toro never gets a line for the 45mins to first hour after park opens. Re-rides a plenty if you come here first or get Ka/Zum out of the way quickly. Alternately, If you do Ka/Zum first, check on your way out of Golden Kingdom to see if Safari Discoveries is open, it might not be but has been lately. This cuts all the way through some animal exhibits and lets you out right in front of Toro. Saves a good 5-10 minutes of walking into and around the boardwalk. Also, while its nice in the back, Bizarro is also great in the front (the floorless aspect is amplified in the front) and the lines are never long so it worth an extra 2/3 train wait IMO. Ride RMT if it doesnt have a line, its usually not a bad wait at all. If you have a soft spot for mine trains, its one of the best. Listen to Bill and do the Skyway for the views and shortcut across the park. The line shouldnt be bad on that side that early in the day. Right when you get off Skyway, ride Skull Mountain. Underrated junior coaster. Silly and ridiculous and fun. I call it the Disney ride gone wrong. Back row for a really insane pop of airtime over the drop. Nitro might have a little wait at this point but keep in mind if there are three trains its the type of queue that never stops moving. Total people eater. My favorite seat is the back row right side. Ride Batman if you can. As stated the one train thing has been going the last few weeks while its still running backwards but if the line starts just outside the tunnel it shouldn't be too long. Its worth the wait. Ride it whether its backwards or forward. Dark Knight is a mouse in a box and the preshow is cool but the ride is a letdown, the effects arent always working. Not worth any wait if you ask me and if you are on a time crunch skip skip skip. If Skyscreamer doesnt have a line, try it. Fun. As for Superman or Green Lantern, yes as Bill said GL is awful and not worth any kind of wait and Superman is fun but usually has a decent wait. Crews and loading are always slow. Worth a wait if you haven't done a B&M flyer - the pretzel loop is one of the most unique and intense elements on any ride in the park. Looking for foods? Try the new bar/mexican joint Macho Nacho next to El Toro. Super good. Regarding the Coasters for a Cause discount, I have used it myself and used it for friends. That's all I got. Have fun!

I have a good feeling we will see more Intamin @ Hershey. They love them and I love Hershey. Forget an RMC of Wild Cat - tear it down and build a Balder clone right there.

Zumanjaro would like to have a word with you.

I agree, no drop can ever beat El Toro's drop. Easily my favorite first drop on any coaster. ... but you might want to re-read the thread title. Was tempted to answer El Toro but yeah...

3 way tie: Maverick/Millennium/Skyrush

^^

This. When I win the megamillions this is the first thing I'm buying. Then some land to plop it down on. We'll have an east coast bash when its up and running.

With the Pope coming to Philly this weekend people are acting like its the apocalypse and everyone I know in Philly is heading down to Wildwood. Since Morey's is only open one more weekend, I decided to get a jump start and head down to my folks over the weekend to get some last rides of the year. Got in late Friday night so didn't head up to the boardwalk til Saturday afternoon after getting a load on @ brunch. I was riding alone as my folks decided to relax on the beach. I decided to try to ride as much as I could and use up any remaining tickets I had left on my Wild Card since I won't be down again before the piers close (I think I had close to 100 tix when I checked it). Headed to Adventure Pier first and hopped on the Screaming Swing for two consecutive rides. Ops let me reride (not for free - they took my card and swiped it again) since no one ever rides this amazing flat and there was no wait. Of course I bribed them to run the cycle longer but as always they laughed and explained maintenance would have to come and do that. Also jumped on the Great White for a back seat ride on the blue train and it was very sluggish and bumpy. Still fun. Headed off down the boards to grab my final slice of Macks Pizza for the year, excellent as always. Do not sleep on Macks if you are in Wildwood. Just the best. Wandered further down to Surfside pier, hopped on the Kong flyers, got a little snapping going and didn't get kicked off like last time lol. Decided to take a ride on Atmosfear, their Larson drop tower. Its the only ride on the piers that intimidates me but its so ridiculous and fun. Rode with a little girl next to me who was scared out of her mind. About 3/4 up the tower she nervously asks me "Have you ridden this before?" to which I happily replied "Yep!" She then asked "is it gonna just drop or does it stop" and before I could finish saying "It just drops!" we were already on our way down. She let out a big "WOW!" when we hit the brakes. All summer I've been wanting to hop on the Flitzer and the line is always one of the longest since its a coaster all the really young kids can ride, but today the line was about 5 minutes, so I jumped in. The entire queue were 7-10 year olds, and then big old me. Such a great little junior coaster and always a nostalgic ride. I left Surfside and slowly walked back to Adventure to get another ride on the Great White and Screaming Swing. Only running blue train on TGW so I hopped in and braced myself but it felt a bit smoother on that ride. I headed back to my folks to meet up with them for dinner (Five Guys and more drinks, yo). After dinner my folks decided to hang at the house but I had a few tickets left and there would be fireworks on the beach at 9pm so I walked back up and got in two more rides on the Screaming Swing (the ops were like "Oh, he's back...") and two more laps on the Great White. TGW was now running both trains so I waited an extra cycle for the red train and had a great ride. I'd heard Kohr Bros had some pumpkin custard but of course they were out so I snagged a peanut butter + chocolate twist on a waffle cone and slowly strolled back to my folks place to end a nice day. Side note: last weekend I bought an El Toro t-shirt at Great Adv so I wore it while out on Saturday and had at least 10 people throughout the day and night say something to me about it. One of the game employees even yelled it to me across the boardwalk on the microphone. "HEY ELLL TOOOOROOO!!!!!" lolol so f*cking funny. No photos, had no camera with me this weekend but just wanted to share my last weekend of the season at one of my favorite places on earth. All in all not a bad day of solo riding. Great White 4x Screaming Swing 5x Kong 1x Flitzer 1x Atmosfear 1x

Came in here hoping for some sort of construction photos... and there they are! Thanks!

Green Lantern is totally a solid coaster in the broadest sense, but it just doesn't gel with me and therefore its my least favorite in the park w/ Dark Knight (and I guess RRR) the only exception(s). I'd rather ride Blackbeards. Really. I haven't really enjoyed any standups I've been on (GL, Apocalypse/IronWolf, Shockwave[sFGadv]). GL is large, forceful, the first drop and loop are great but as soon as it turns the restraints smack me around relentlessly the rest of the ride and I can't enjoy it. I only had one decent ride in row 7 on the left side. Not sure if its due to my height, other people I've ridden with and the GP seem to like it and its decent waits a good chunk of the time reflect that. THIS. Superman to me is all about the pretzel loop. That's all it really is. Drop is mediocre, the whole section afte the loop is fun the first time but then meh. But the loop is one of the most unique and WTF elements in our entire park. I just recently did it in the back row again and holy jesus. So intense. I haven't done any other B&M flyers, but because of S:UF, I badly want to ride Tatsu (and Manta), I can only imagine how much more awesome they both are. I love to take people on UF just because the loop.

Zumanjaro & Green Lantern have them. Beware tho - Zums SRL usually moves at a snails pace compared to the stand by queue.

Glad to see we have yet another member of the cult of Skull Mountain.

Awesome report - very well written, and really great pictures.

Is there a reason they insist on running a 3rd train all the time? Even when its dead they have that thing on. I'd imagine they don't even need it but all three are always running.

Will likely be @ Morey's this weekend for my last rides of the season there. Hopefully Dorney's Haunt in the next few weekends, Hersheypark in the Dark sometime before the end of Oct, and probably Great Adventure for Fright Fest and definitely for HITP.

Last year it seemed like the actors came out at sundown. We got there at 4:30/5 and stayed til midnight and there were no actors out for the first hour or two we were there.

^

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