boldikus

This is easily the most exciting announcement of the day for me. Colossus looks great, but this is much closer. Glad I didn't kill myself trying to get up to SFNE this year, now I have this great reason to make it a point to get there next.

Well judging by the GPs comments on the parks FB post about it, they aren't fooled by this "coaster" marketing sham either.

Ive been lucky this year to have only been @ a park on one REALLY hot day, otherwise we've been lucky with beautiful weather all season. I just drink a ton of water all day (with a few beers thrown in there). I feel like it helps if I eat and sleep well the few days leading up to a park visit. A good, full nights sleep the night before is crucial. I don't know if other parks have them but the billboards with the mist things on them @ SFGAdv come in handy for a quick cool down.

I meant to ask did you manage to hop on the Zoom Flume while in WW? Its a great ride.

Nice report so far. I guess since my parents live in town I suppose this is my true "home park", even tho its technically further from me than SFGAdv. I have long defended the SLC and its newer trains but all the rides I have taken on it this year have been scary rough and painful. Ive sworn off the Sea Serpent entirely. Probably ridden it hundreds of times at this point but it just sucks anymore. But The Great White is great! And the Flitzer, too. I had a few great late night rides on the GW the last few times I was in town. Did you do Rollies Coaster and the (awful) Doo Wopper too?

Yeah there was a post about that dude re: the shirt a few months back. Not that I think we should get into a huge discussion about this AGAIN, on one hand I can see where he's coming from regarding them being hypocritical, a lot of the parks branding definitely has double meaning (a friend of mine bought the "I Like It Rough" shirt BECAUSE of the double meaning) BUT on the other hand all of this could have been avoided if he had looked at the "park policies" stated on both the park map/brochure thing and their website. ^ That's been there since at least last year (when I saw it), I'm sure longer than that. He states in that video he knew the shirt could have multiple interpretations, whether sexual or related to firearms. With this countries sensitivity to all things gun related, any shirt with "I SHOOT (insert any word of your choice)" could be deemed offensive by someone else. I feel the same way about the other dude with the shirt with the assault rifle on it and text that said "Keep Calm and Return Fire", whether its a military charity or whatever, it might be creepy to some to see that in a public place. It sucks to have to think that way, but that's a whole other (very political) discussion. With all of that said, I think the park needs to be way more consistent with this policy as Ive seen shirts that I thought could have been offensive to some - like a dude I saw in the queue for Lantern a few months back with a shirt on that said "I DON'T GIVE A F*CK" in giant capital block letters. I'm not offended by much but I did wonder why was he not stopped @ the gate?

While I have not personally experienced it, not only have I read/heard about folks graying out on the double helix on Nitro, on two occasions this summer I was riding with someone who felt like they "blacked/grayed out" during that section.

While "Looping Dragon" is not my favorite name for a ride, thank jaysus its not super hero themed.

On one hand the park needs something like this but personally I'm disappointed, especially if they are marketing it as a coaster. I am stoked for Backwards Batman, but like everyone, I wish it was a new coaster, though my hunch was that we were not getting one.

The clues SFGAdv has put out via their twitter/instagram all but confirm we are getting it next year.

I still haven't been to this park but my bro-in-law and I have plans to go on a Sunday in September for what will likely be a quick credit snatch. You guys make it seem so bad, I'm picturing rolling up to New Jack City with Pookie all cracked out at the front gate.

^^^

Do you guys really believe Six Flags would go out of their way to use the specific type of track in their advertising for a ride they are getting? That image took some intern 6 seconds to create.

Just saw this on their FB page. Sure looks like coaster tracks in there. "Get ready to feel the BURN! #BourbonStBURN"

Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Uhhh, you could easily smuggle that in. There are no pat downs. The guy was just an idiot. Sounds like what happened was they asked him to empty out of his pockets for the metal detector, he completely emptied his pockets (as opposed to just metal objects - keys, phone, etc), and security saw what was in his belongings. He then realized what he did, freaked and ran and left his ID and everything else there in the bowl they give you for your stuff.

lmao, I guess being doped up on a coaster could be the ultimate rush lol Man, woman accused of trying to bring heroin into Six Flags Great Adventure JACKSON — A New Jersey man and a New York woman were arrested in separate incidents this weekend after trying to bring heroin into Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson police said. The man fled, but authorities tracked him down since he left his identification and other items in a box after going through a metal detector at the front gate just before 1 p.m. Sunday, according to a news release. An otherwise unidentified 27-year-old from the Marlon section of Evesham later turned himself at Jackson police headquarters and was charged with possession of heroin. A day earlier, security found a 24-year-old woman from Yonkers, N.Y. in possession of 10 wax folds of heroin, police said. She was detained at the gate and arrested around 3:30 p.m., police said. The woman posted bail and was released after being charged with heroin possession. A Jackson police spokesman didn't immediately return a call requesting the names of the people arrested.

Stunning photos. I would love to visit this park.

The first 2-3 trips I had early in the spring (April & May), including opening day, they were running both sides. I've only seen them running one side since my trip in mid-May. Most times the line is insane, and I'll only ride it if its like 10 people or less, usually only in the morning for a shortcut.

LOL, sorry I had to. For the record it was only one side running all day.

The Great White, Wildwood.

So like I said on Friday my sister and I finally made it up to the park and it was PACKED all day. It was my 7th trip to the park since opening day and easily the most crowded I've seen it this season. Upon arrival @ the park around 10:15 the line to get through security was insane. I hate to admit but we kind shuffled around the crowd and jumped as much as we could to get to the front and got in pretty quicky. Because we noticed how packed the lot already was and had seen so many groups of kids with matching shirts (camps trips/class trips? beautiful weather? some teeny-bopper concert?) we went straight for FlashPass HQs since that too even had a serious line right away. This time I asked for the frequent user card so I no longer have to sit through that dumb movie. As my sister hadn't been to the park in quite some time and hadn't done everything at park, we really wanted to get a lot in and not have to stand in line with kids all day. First reservation was Toro and while the FP had us set up for an immediate ride, when we got to the entrance it was completely closed. We saw some empty trains (testing?) and decided to head toward Bizarro since it was close by. Didn't need FP, as it was a walk on this early so we reserved Nitro while we did this. Sat in the front of Bizarro for the full floorless experience and it was fun as usual. I'm Bizarro fan so it was a nice first ride of the day. My sis had ridden it as Medusa so she dug the paint job and fireballs but kind of knew what to expect. We got to do it once later as the sun set so the smoke/lights added a bit more to that ride. After Bizarro we attempted Mine Train but the line was long and with FP it would have been 15 mins so we reserved Nitro and jumped on the Skyride which had no line. Upon touching down we popped into the line-less Skull Mountain for a back seat ride and just awesome fun as always. Sis was surprised by the airtime on the drop (her words: "my ass was completely out of my seat!!!") but laughed her ass off right along with me the whole ride. Then to Nitro for a back seat ride. Managed to avoid train C and had a nice smooth ride. Looked for any sign of work in Old Country/Movie Town as we headed up the lift, but nothing that I could tell. After departing we popped right over to Batman for a backseat, very intense, positive G filled, yet smooth ride. I have fallen in love with this coaster this summer. So great. As this point we saw El Toro was available again and had 30 minute wait for us, so we reserved and took a stroll around the lakefront and killed some time in the arcade near Attitudes until our time to ride. Sat in the magic seat and it was fantastic. Shame the lines were so long as I would have killed to get more rides in on this. It was around this time - between 1-2pm we noticed our waits were getting seriously long. All the big dogs - Toro, Ka, Zumanjaro, Nitro all had 1 hour+ waits for us (on a gold pass!). But Sky Screamer, which I have had yet to ride, was only about 20 minutes so we headed that way. Sis was scared to death - afraid of heights - but we went for it. Funny moment here as I was recognized by the Flash Pass attendent from my avatar on this board, which was a first for me ("Hey buddy, how are you? Do you post on TPR?" "Ummmm... yeah?") Too funny. As we were the next to board, it broke down with riders stuck about 20 feet in the air. We waited for a bit, maybe 10 minutes, until FP dude told us it would probably be a while so we then reserved Ka (an hour for us) and went out to the lot for our Wawa hoagiefest lunchtime ritual. We took our time eating and hanging out, then slowly wandered back in and over to KK. This was a first time ride for sis, so she had no idea what she was in for. The only other launch coasters she has done were Chiller @ GA, and Back Lot Stunt Coaster @ Kings Island. We sat close to the front (4th row?) and my ride was more enjoyable that the last time I did it in July and sat in the last row. She couldn't say whether or not she liked it, but that it was quite the experience. All day she had been saying she didn't know about doing Zumanjaro but after getting past the KK attendant I reserved it without saying anything to her. We still had time to kill before we could ride so we wandered around and got a beer and sat for a bit. In the meantime we got a notification it was closed so we killed more time, then we got buzzed again saying it was open and we could ride. Once we got back there the regular line had 200+ people, the FP line was at least 50 people. Seriously? It was completely disorganized, they were letting tons of regular line riders on while the 50 of us FPers had to wait. And the thing broke down *twice* as we were waiting. We waited an additional 45 minutes and after we were past the attendant, now waiting to board next, it broke down AGAIN. THEN, the op running our car tried to tell us that he had Platinum passers that were going to ride before us and we got a little loud with him about that fact that we have a gold pass and had to wait one hour originally only to get back there and wait almost another hour. Irritated to say the least. After we bitched he let us on next and I can honestly say it was much more enjoyable to me this time around. The drop felt reeeaaalllly long. What a rush. This was the only major hiccup for us all day as far as frustrating operations that directly affected us. Annoying, but it is what it is. We had managed to reserve Superman without a super long wait after we got into Zum so after we got off we headed that way and got on pretty quickly. Fun as always, love that pretzel loop! Our next reservation was a 2nd attempt at Sky Screamer once again and this time we actually got on and it didn't break down! Yay! This was my first StarFlyer and it's actually terrifying up there in such minimal restraints/such open seats, and I didn't expect it to go so fast. However, I'd probably do it again. I don't usually do spinning things but I liked it. From here we headed back over to the west side of the park for a short wait for the Mine Train - always fun, I love the two airtime pops before and over the lake. We reserved Bizarro while on Mine Train and that had a half hour wait for us so a few beers at Best Of The West with some people watching to kill time. It was later and the sun was setting so a kind-of-darker ride on Bizarro is always great. We wanted a night ride on Nitro but our wait was still an hour around 8pm at night. So we decided the best way to end the day was one more ride on Toro, which was an hour wait for us. We reserved it and realized we were hungry so we did the Garden State restaurant and just got some fries/nuggets and another beer. We wandered around and drug our feet until our time was ready for Toro. It had *just* gotten completely dark by the time we boarded so it was a true night ride - my first on Toro. Magic seat again, great as always, it hauls so much ass later in the day. We bought the on-ride photo, because I didn't realize my sister could open her mouth so wide LMAO. By 9pm we were on our way out. Too tired, very long day and didn't feel like waiting a long time for anything else. It was most definitely a mandatory FP day, I don't think we would have gotten much of anything at all without it. So many things were popping up on our FP as "closed" or with "???" for the time. We attempted Lantern at one point and were turned away at the front as it was completely down - though I was secretly happy about that as it sucks lol. Didn't take a ton of pics here are a few. My coastermania weekend continued in Wildwood on Saturday and Sunday and you can read about that here. Good ride count for GA, I like to think we went for quality over quantity and had more of a laid back day compared to usual with the long waits... The weather was BEAUTIFUL and any day at SFGAdv is a good time any way you cut it! El Toro x2 Bizarro x2 Superman x1 Batman x1 Nitro x1 Runaway Mine Train x1 Skull Mountain x1 Zumanjaro x1 Kingda Ka x1 Sky Screamer x1 Quintessential shot from the lot. We're in! Main street. (waits for Coasterbill to comment on the lack of SkyRide cars lol) Skyride shot that everyone on earth has taken. Sawmill log flume. We never got on. The skyride is a great short cut but kind of old and scary lol. Batman! Nitro lift/ Batman loop-dee-loop Finally. Only saw one walk of shame out of our two rides today. Waiting for the magic seat. I really love the view from back here. It looks insanely tall. Also love these views of Toro from over here. Some Bizarro action shots. The wait is terrible mostly but I am an Ultimate Flight fanatic. Nitro lift/shed. Last ride of the night. I didn't know my sister could open her mouth that wide lmao.

After my all day trip to SFGAdv on Friday the 15th, my coastermania weekend continued with a ride down to Wildwood on Saturday morning, with the missus and two of my closest friends. We stayed with my folks and actually went up to the boardwalk three times over the course of Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we stopped up around dinnertime to eat some MACKS pizza (the best in town) and to walk down the beach to dip our feet in the ocean. Strolled the boards a bit but no rides. Later on we made a trip back up around 10pm and right on to the back seat of the Great White. Line was out of the station and down the steps, first time Ive seen that long of a line in quite some time. Full train, and hauling ass. After all of our rides this season we've decided we prefer the red over the blue train as the restraint sits higher on the blue train and sort of leans into your stomach while the red trains restraints sit over your thighs making for a more comfortable ride. Great air on the first drop and the bunnyhills. The turnaround before the bunnyhills needs to be retracked, its so bumpy. But otherwise a great great ride. We made it down to Mariners Pier and did the Riptide (the new Sea Dragon/ pirate ship ride). Sat on the end for great air, super fun. Ride cycle is easily 4-5 minutes. Love that they run it so long. We got some boardwalk eats (more Macks pizza, some Khor Bros custard, yum!) and were on our way home around midnight. Sunday afternoon we headed back up for a few more rides - another back seat on the Great White, very stoked to walk up and see that only the red train was running! And we got a ride with another almost full train so we had another great ride on it. My buddy and I also did the Screaming Swing ride which was a ton of fun. After doing Zumanjaro a few times recently I was determined to do Wildwood's Atmosfear drop ride, so I did it alone. Felt more forceful of a drop but so much shorter than Zum. All in all a great weekend with tons of quality riding. The Great White x2 Screaming Swing x1 Riptide x1 Atmosfear x1 Tram Car x1 (so bumpy its a ride all in itself!) Blue train coming in off break run. Let a father/daughter in front of us so we could avoid the blue train. Lift shot. You can kind of make out the red train ascending the lift. At the crest... Sunday afternoon, only the red train running! Yay! Sea Serpent (boomerang) in the distance. Break run. Once we boarded the entire train filled up nicely. Who knew you could get healthy food on the Wildwood boardwalk? THIS thing looks insane. It also costs $20 to ride. Skip! The Great Wheel/Sea Serpent.

Mannnnn, for a weekday the park was freaking packed today. I guess bring-a-friend promo and one of the last nice days before school, but the lot was almost full when we got there @ 10:15. FP immediately upon entry so no worries but I haven't seen it that busy in a while. Felt like lots of camp/class trips. We got gold and our wait times were an hour most of the day on all the major rides. We just tried to do stuff with smaller lines while FP queuing for the big dogs. Tons of breakdowns, seemed like almost everything was down at one point or another (either according to our FP, and being told things were closed/down). I'm too tired to write a bunch but I liked Zumanjaro today a lot more on my second ever ride. Other than issues with it breaking down twice while waiting in a FP line with 50 other people *eyeroll*, the ride was a lot of fun. The drop felt much longer this time. Also I saw absolutely no red supports anywhere near Ka. I tried to get a peak down around the Old Country area from the lift of Nitro (I was on the right side back seat) and didn't see anything that might look like construction or whatever. I'll write more tomorrow. Roller Coaster weekend continues in Wildwood. Leaving bright and early in the morning...

I was laughing at loud in tears reading most of that. "The Staminator". Just brilliant.