boldikus

I might be wrong in this assumption but I think it's probably getting rougher due to the age of the trains, not the track itself, so they could potentially replace those at some point to somewhat extend the life of the ride. It will be 10 years old next year.

LMAO I don't think anyone is bashing Wawa, and for the record Wawa is far from a mom+pop type place. I only mentioned Primos because they are the best you can get from a chain in this area and they have a ton of locations and they are always fantastic. If you want to talk about Mom+Pop places I work (and used to live) in deep South Philly and I can get into all sorts of amazing hoagie spots that are MILES better than Wawa or even Primos for that matter. Trust me, I know my hoagies. (Really, it's all about the bread!) LOL I have been eating Wawa hoagies as long as I can remember. Like I said they get the job done but they are nowhere near the best. Not even close. I rode it about 4pm on Wednesday. Line was long, at least an hour (though I did not wait as I had FP).

Also I totally forgot to mention how they had the KA/Zumanjaro launches down pretty well I have to say. They were running 3 Ka trains and they were loading 2-3 of them and then stacking the trains on the launch track until Z:DOD is loading and retractable roofs are down. They send out 2-3 Ka trains back to back and since it is so quick, Z:DOD is then loaded and ready to go. When riding both of these I paid attention to how they were doing this and they seemed to have it down to a science. I'm sure the fact that they can't run them simultaneously is hurting capacity to an extent but they seem to be making the most of it from what I could see.

I know but they are based out of Philly. We certainly have the largest concentration of locations. In fact there is one 5 minutes from my house and one 2 blocks from my office.

LOL they were only running one side all day and I think we only probably checked the line once in the afternoon and skipped it. We tried to get on after our night ride on Bizarro around 8:30/9 to get over to Nitro for a night ride and waited for 10 minutes with absolutely NO line movement when we just gave up and walked over.

You have great taste in hoagies. LOL I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not. As a lifelong Philadelphian, Wawa hoagies are kind of the bottom of the barrel but not inedible. They get the job done but it would be awesome if a Primos (hoagies, not pizza) were in or near the park. They are THE BEST. Haha not at all. After hearing from all of my friends of Phillie / Delmarva about how Wawa was basically heaven on earth I finally became a believer this year when we went to Busch Gardens and ended up eating Wawa hoagies for dinner since nothing else in Williamsburg is open after 8PM. Oh ok nice one. Almost every time I go to GA I bring a cooler and we do the Wawa pre-park stop and grab hoagies we save and go out to the lot and eat for lunch. Obviously we save a ton of money doing this but since yesterday was a full day, in the evening we did Nathans for dinner as it was dead and hot dogs sounded good. They were just OK. If you love Wawa hoagies (they are not bad just not GREAT) and you are in or near Philly get a Primos hoagie. You'll see exactly what I mean.

You have great taste in hoagies. LOL I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not. As a lifelong Philadelphian, Wawa hoagies are kind of the bottom of the barrel but not inedible. They get the job done but it would be awesome if a Primos (hoagies, not pizza) were in or near the park. They are THE BEST.

My buddy Art and I planned a hooky day today and both took off work to just go up for a full day and get on as much as we could. Art is not nearly as into coasters as I, but is an up-for-anything type most of the time. I did in fact get him on Kingda Ka last summer, but out of nowhere today a sudden/random 'fear of heights issue' began popping up. Hmmm With the morning rain we both drug our feet and didn't wind up getting up to and into the park til 12:30pm. This was actually nice as we didn't have any issues getting passed the gates and getting in and Main Street was dead. Went right for El Toro of course. Line was all of first set of switchbacks, maybe 20-30 min wait. We walked right back to Flash Pass HQs and got them for the day. Screw it, we want to enjoy ourselves, not stand in line all day. Right back to Toro we went. Rode it in the magic seat all three times today - first ride at 1pm, second around 4, last at 7:45. Last ride was insane in terms of intensity and forces. I love this ride, I think it's my absolute favorite. Saw a few walks of shame today. Loading was awful early on but on the last ride the crew was moving and dispatching one train before the previous hit the brake run. There were hustling crews all around today. Nice! Bizarro was great both times we rode it today. Wouldn't have needed FP as it looked like a walk-on both times. They were allowing re-rides. We rode once earlier and in the front (first time for me) and once later after sunset. All fire, mist and lighting effects were running and it makes it such a great ride at night. The floorless aspect is really amplified when there is nothing in front of you but track. Very cool. Batman we only did once in the back row and this was awesome. I think this ride may even rival El Toro in its intensity. Its such a wild/tight course, it does require some defensive riding. Wish I got back on later. I didn't like this ride but I have really come around to it. Skull Mountain had really slow, one train operations today but was still a fun ride. Love the darkness, the death metal and the wild layout. So fun every time. Its just sort of ridiculous and always a good time. The flash pass attendant had a giant stick up her ass, I only mention it as she may have been the most miserable employee I've dealt with at the park all year, no exaggeration. Um, you work at a theme park, would it kill you to smile? Why are you yelling at people? Ugh. Runaway Train was a walk-on and is always just silly. I don't even know why I ride it. Nostalgia, lol. I love the few drops at the end and over the lake. It's a classic. You kind of have to give some love to the oldest coaster in the park. We did the log flume because afternoon heat. They squeezed the two of us in the back half of a log with a family of 3 (maybe 4?) in the front. Very tight squeeze which actually made the ride more fun as we were laughing about being squeezed in so tightly together. Made our boat very heavy so we got pretty soaked. Thank god for FP, this line was looooong. I got Art on Superman for his first time (loved it) and also he wanted to try Green Lantern which ugh its official I hate this freaking ride. I try it all over the train in different seats and it just doesn't matter it literally beats me the entire time. I would LOVE this ride with seated trains, it has a great course. Cant do standing coasters. Flying coasters are awesome tho so of course we went back on Superman. So great. That damn pretzel loop is out of this world. The train right before our second ride the op spotted someone with their phone out on the train and stopped it on the lift to climb up and take it from the passenger. People are so dumb. Unless you can mount the camera on something dont film yourself on a coaster. So stupid. Who do you think is going to want to watch your shakey footage? STOP. I also dragged Art into Houdini's Great Escape as its a great ride to take someone into that has no idea what to expect. The intro is cheesy but the ride part is interesting in the least if not a little fun. He liked it, but upon exiting he said "I could see how someone could throw up on that ride". Lmao I did both Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro, both without Art. Again thank god for FP as the line for Zumanjaro was enormous and I walked right on. I wouldn't have waited as I'm not a fan of drop rides. As a SFGAdv regular this year I felt I sort of had to ride it. Art? Fear of heights. :/ Anyways, not so doom-ish. I tried very hard all day to not over think it or psych myself out of doing it. It's literally hawking over my shoulder all day at the park. It was tough walking all the way back there through the FP queue, alone, and walking right onto a drop ride. It is just not my thing. Drops on coasters? Love them. Drop rides? I am not afraid of heights, I just don't like that sensation of falling straight down. But I did it. The ascent was not particularly scary, and seemed to happen very fast. I don't have much of a fear of heights, maybe because my eyesight is terrible and I wont wear my prescription glasses on rides. During the ascent I concentrated on how the entire park looked so small, especially what behemoths like Nitro and Toro look like from up there. I certainly could not see Philly without my glasses but I squinted in a futile attempt for a second. Once we stopped at the top I felt what seemed like a few fake out bumps/bounces before the actual plunge. The plunge itself was not as forceful as the yank over Toro's first drop while in the back, it was somehow more floatery than that. But it was over so fast, blink and you'll miss it. I would ride it again, so maybe it has turned me on to drop rides. It was certainly a rush. Not scary. Like I said I also rode Kingda Ka, also alone (fear of heights again hmmm) and for whatever reason I just jumped in the back row, as the line was shorter and I had him waiting for me, and I'd never ridden in the back before. This ride is INSANE. Well, the launch is insane. The drop/twist was actually more forceful in the back, and yes there is insane rattle/shuffle during the launch while sitting in the back of the train. I had a brief "what the hell am I doing" moment during the launch. Crazytown this ride. I could take it or leave it though, I don't get off thinking "that was fun!" or "that was amazing", just "that was insane/crazy/ridiculous". OK so Nitro. I think Ive just been lucky all season as our first ride on Nitro today I purposely jumped on Train C to see what all the hoopla what about and yes, there is a rattle. It definitely did not feel as smooth as usual but I can't say that it ruined the ride for me. We rode Nitro twice today, both rides in the back, including as our last ride of the night in the dark, and I loved it both times. Always do. But yeah. Train C is not fixed and still rattling if what I felt today is what everyone has been feeling. Overall it was a great day. We tailgated with Wawa hoagies for lunch and for dinner we ate Nathans (which were OK) and also throughout the day we stopped for beer and hang time/people watching at Main Street Pub and also at Best of the West to peep some log flume riders. Weather was perfect, at times even breezy. Operations were in full summer mode on everything. I love when you get stand up comedians running rides. The guy on El Toro later in the day had a great crew and was hilarious on his microphone. We probably could have skipped the flash passes as lines for the coasters were sometimes non-existent, sometimes insanely long, sometimes middle of the road but as I said we splurged because we wanted to really get the most out of our day. And we did. Now my next trip is NOT going to be at SFGAdv. tally: El Toro x3 Nitro x2 Superman x2 Bizarro x2 Zumanjaro Drop of Doom x1 (just me solo not Art) Kingda Ka x1 (just me solo not Art) Batman x1 Green Lantern x1 Log Flume x1 Runaway Mine Train x1 Skull Mountain x1 Houdini's Great Escape x1 food breaks x2 beer breaks x3 Oh yeah I took a whole bunch of photos today. Time for bed. edited for spelling and grammar as I wrote this while falling asleep last night. en route nice weather This building always makes me want ice cream First of the day ultimate airtime a classic Get twisted beautiful weather Let's cool off on a classic SFGADV is a really nice park Beers. Best of the West Flume drop from the deck @ Best of the West Choo-choo! We stopped inside the Great Adventure History Museum. Very cool! They should make this a (maybe smaller) permanent display. love that font I kind of hate the look of these two parking lot coasters but they look cool set against each other. Nutso pretzel loop having a wawa hoagiefest in the parking lot and watching KK/Z:DOD. Trying to zoom on Zum Love when its quiet over here and a train comes SCREAMING around that corner Very cool views of the backside of Toro from Zumanjaros queue And neat views of Ka from here! More of Toro. The landscaping looks good back here. They could fill in more, but it makes me wonder if they may add something back here. Almost looks like Rolling Thunder is still there. Love... this... partttttt !!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome sunset! Til next time.

a great nighttime ride through the pitch dark woods of new jersey on NITRO, earlier tonight.

Thank you. I think Batman may be the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden yet people constantly say the ride is rough. I really don't get it. After riding it today for my 3rd time this season, and first ride in the last row, I don't think its a matter of it being rough. It's certainly smooth. Its just such a tight course that some of the transitions are unexpected, especially the last two inversions. When you know whats coming, you can anticipate and ride defensively but when you don't know parts can be quite jarring. It is a smooth ride, but it does have headbanging. My last ride a few weeks ago was front row left and I got punched in the head at least twice. Today back left and nothing at all. It was a great, really intense smooth ride today. I really wanted to get back on but we never did. I also think it is underrated. It was really smooth (in my first trip to the park in 2011 there was a little jerk into the MCBR but last year it seemed to be gone) and, while it's not crazy intense, I think it's really solid and has a nice pacing and set of elements. The headknocking going into the MCBR is still there, I felt it today. Personally I think its the only moment on the entire ride where it happens. Rode it twice today - once in front and once in back, and confirmed it is still a favorite in the park. It is an incredibly smooth looping coaster. All of the effects were working today and we got our second ride in just after the sun set so that was perfect as its a great night ride.

as usual, sfgadv. today. if my ride would ever get here. :/

^^ Always, everytime. Pretty sure you were the one who told me about it, too. Heading to the park now, hoping the early morning rain keeps the crowds light, I'll see about a ride on the infamous Train C and report back with if people are delusional or not lol. Granted, I don't think I've ridden it at all this year.

^^ I saw that too. If they get a storm tonight that is half as crazy as what we got in Philly last night I doubt anyone will even want to stay at the park. I love people bitching about it on FB too. "I'm here and its sunny and Six Flags are money hungry". Maybe take 30 seconds to check the radar on your phone so you, too, can see that massive thunderstorm headed right for ya!

^^^ My buddy and I have been planning a trip up to SFGAdv this Wednesday and the weather has been all over. Right now it looks like it will only rain in the morning, and of course he's very leary about going but I keep telling him they have the most lax rain policy and as long as its just rain and not thunder/lightning we should be dealing with everything but Ka running and a hopefully empty park. I've even been joking about buying ponchos to bring with. Hoping its like what I heard about July 4th - rain in morning and park stayed pretty dead all day.

Now THIS sounds like my kind of Monday morning.

Finally planning a day trip with my bro-in-law to this park, we are going within the next few weeks. It really seems to get a bad rap from everyone but its the closest SF park to me besides SFGAdv and I'd like to get at least one ride on all the coasters at SFA, most notably S:ROS. Seems from what Ive read here and elsewhere I can get most if not all of the coasters in on one day, is that fair to assume? If we decide on a weekend day could I assume it will be less crowded on a Sunday (similar to SFGAdv)? And does the park get crowded enough on weekends to warrant splurging on a FP (keep in mind I'm used to dealing with SFGAdv crowds)? Any preferred plan of attack to get the most in with the least amount of waits (i.e. start in the back @ Batwing and work our way around)? Thanks!

Well I'll be there this week so I'll try to see if its on all three trains. Ive been aware of the Train C rattling for a while from folks on here and even joked on here that I want to ride it just to see how bad it is but I have just been lucky the last 2-3 times Ive been at the park and have happened to not get it every time when it was my turn to board.

Did they replace the clamshells recently? I rode twice the last Sunday of June and on one of those rides it looked like someone took a bite out of my restraint.

All I can say is that I freaking love Nitro - its currently tied with El Toro as my favorite coaster, and being that I'm not a huge theme geek, how it looks does not affect my experience on the ride. Though I have not personally had an experience in Train C the coaster runs fantastic and its a great ride.

I wonder if they've ever considered painting just the lift hill since its all people can really see? lmao

I'll agree Nitro could use some TLC (most notably Train C, the rust covered sign on the front of the station, and the broken metal railings along the queue) BUT the ironic thing about all of you who are making a huge deal about the paint job is that you cannot see any part of Nitro but the lift until you are riding it, and I highly doubt most people are noticing missing or chipped paint while flying through the course @ 80mph lol. Personally I'm curious to know if Nitro's ridership has dwindled in the past few years that the park has "neglected" the ride. Considering its easily one of the top 3 most popular coasters in the park and the wait consistently proves that, I'm going with probably not. The park knows that people will continue to ride it paint job or not and they are right.

Have to agree with the last two posts. I frequented SFGAdv in the late 80s and early 90s and then didn't go at all until last year and I think that generally its a really nice park with a ton of great coasters and flats. I think if you can find things to complain about at this particular park you are a glass-half-empty type who likely complains about everything and anything. All 5 times Ive been to the park this year Ive seen AT LEAST one park worker walking around sweeping or picking up trash. Almost everyone working there has one of those trash-grab things and are using it. I have yet to see an overflowing trashcan or trash littering the ground this year. I definitely have NOT had a single moment where I thought the park was dirty or needed maintenance. Yeah there are dead areas of the park that they could and hopefully will do things with (I'm looking at you Movie Town) BUT that feeling I have just after riding El Toro? Blinds me to anything negative I could possibly come up with about the park. I'm certainly buzzing so hard I'm not noticing cracked sidewalks and the occasional sprouted weed. Some folks are definitely spoiled and grasping at straws imo.

Can't really offer advice on which days to go to the parks as I mostly go to GA on Sundays and don't really do Dorney but I think GA is a full day park, even without the water park and safari. If you go on Wednesday, I will be there, and am planning a full 10-10 day without water park or safari (I'll re-ride coasters til I'm falling asleep if I can). Between the 11 coasters and the extreme flats (Sky Screamer, Twister, Zumanjaro, etc) there's plenty to keep you busy all day, imo. The park itself is really nice for a SF park. As far as coasters that are more likely to have lines, I'll back up what most have said already - Ka, Superman, Green Lantern (and now Zumanjaro probably - I haven't been up to the park since it opened) all usually have lines compared to others. Superman is usually a craaaawwwwwlllllll but its worth waiting as its fun as hell imo. Nitro and Toro are popular too but they are both people eaters (Nitro more-so than Toro but if both trains are running on Toro the line will certainly move). Batman, Bizarro and the junior coasters (Skull, Blackbeards) never seem to have reaally long lines and Dark Knight I cant speak of cause I hate mouse coasters and rode it once and have never gone back. Seems Friday will be worse than a Wednesday for lines which is why we're going the 16th. If you see me say HI.

Sounds awesome, thanks everyone. Now just hope the weather works out. Also, whats wrong with Toro's station? ^^ Not wide like too crowded? Everyone always crowds around the front, I push past to get to the back every time. Anyone have any issues with the latest loose article policy they've supposedly started the last week or two (must be in zippered/buttoned pocket or in locker)? Also it amazes me how often GL seems to have one of the longer lines. It's so painful and weird to ride, I can only assume it's popular as its one of the first things people see. It's one of my least favorites, second only to Dark Knight.

Nice, thanks for the response. Myself and a good buddy both scheduled off from work for a full day @ the park so hoping weather is decent to OK and park is quiet due to it being mid week. Not a big deal if it isnt but one can hope. Even if its rainy its not a big deal to me just not downpours/thunderstorms. Unfortunately I'm unable to take a vacation at all this year (neither is he - and he's got his first born coming in a month and a half) so these days I am getting here and there are pretty important and want to make the most of them. Hearing that Toro was a walk on is definitely encouraging. Would love some re-rides. Thanks again.