boldikus

After doing a google search for "Great Adventure Coasters After Dark", it brought up mostly Facebook event listings for CAD for the last few years so I'm assuming they will announce it there sometime this week? I've never been and have heard it is the BEST night to go for little to no crowds so the less promotion from the park the better imo lol.

Also in need of info for this as I'm planning on going up Friday night. If someone finds out please post it here. nothing on the website about the event. It is but its only listed on the Season Pass Perks page. Not on the calender on the site or their Facebook page. https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/plan-your-visit/season-pass-perks

Also in need of info for this as I'm planning on going up Friday night. If someone finds out please post it here.

^Please do. I'll be heartbroken if its not running Friday for Coasters After Dark. :/

I love Bizarro @ SFGAdv. Got in two rides on opening day and it was as great as always. I'd be super bummed if it was moved further away. Its my fave at the park after Nitro and Toro, I don't understand why it gets such a bad rap. Its smooth as hell, well themed, far away from the crowds at the park (tho always seems to have a line), its moderately forceful, it's a long ride, and is just all around fun. Then again I havent ridden a million coasters like some folks on the board and can't compare it to its clones as I haven't ridden those either. It's a much better coaster than it's reputation leads people to believe.

Wow what a gorgeous train.

Anyone find the irony in Ntag moving up after last years incident? This thing kills people, best ride ever.

So I'm in the early stages on planning a solo trip up to SFNE sometime this summer (maybe with my fiance if I can convince her to go). As I don't drive (before you ask, I live and work in center city Philly, my wife drives, so no need for one) I would be taking Amtrak to Springfield and staying in a (hopefully reasonably priced) hotel. Just wondering if anyone can provide insight into close/cheap places to stay somewhat close to the park in a somewhat decent area of Springfield. Will it be a pain to get cabs to and from the park from Springfield? It doesn't look like its too far (10-20 minutes). Planning to hopefully do a Thursday-Sunday trip so I could get a weekday and weekend day in. Any insight/suggestions would be much appreciated.

I dn't think you spoke with me. I didn't talk to anyone with a nametag Ryan and luckily I've never been hit by a phone, but I have been hit been coins in the past. The two people I reported were both actively taking pictures and or filming. They were even talking about it as the train came back into the station and viewing the photos/videos from the exit ramp to the photo booth. I don't understand people with trying to film videos anymore. haha I understand with a new ride but not a ride where there's already a million videos of it on youtube, some of which that are very well done. No point in trying to film a cheesy phone pov. I think its a symptom of peoples general tendency to be narcissistic combined with smartphones/social media and that attached desire to share any/everything you do with everyone you know. That and that its cheaper to take a shitty pic/video of yourself than pay for the parks' professional on-ride photograph.

Awesome, thanks! If I can get up by 6 and get 3 hours of no lines it seems totally worth it to make the trip. If its open even later all the better. Do any parks ever do an overnight thing where the coasters stay on all night?

I'm with the unsafe on ferris wheels crew. especially if its open on the top half of the car/gondola. same goes for cable car rides but did that twice at sfgadv over the weekend, its too convenient not to use to get from one side of the park to the other.

was sitting and talking on phone at work and had my ipod and scrunched up ear buds sitting in front of me. realized after a few minutes i had been subconsciously running my fingers around the cord as if my finger was a coaster on a track. also, i never get a seat on the subway in the morning on way in to work and if i do there is only a 50% chance i am facing forward. after opening day on saturday i got on an almost empty train this morning and just happened to sit forward. didnt think much of it but as soon as the train started to move you know what popped into my head.

I mean for the Coasters After Dark event. How late does it go in years past? I ask because I work til 5 and I'm an hour away.

Can only imagine Nitro in the dark (!!!) I'm sure Bizarro also looks great in the black of night. What time does the park usually close on this night?

Can anyone shed some insight on the Coasters After Dark thing? Seems from reading about past years that this is closed to public and for season pass holders only? Anyone gone before? All walk ons? How late does it usually go? Work in Philly til 5 so wouldnt get to the park til at least 6. Seriously considering heading back up that night!

Bizarro - Six Flags Great Adventure

After a few early morning snarls involving picking folks up and somehow getting a bit lost, we arrived at around 11:30 on Saturday morning to a much more crowded parking lot than expected. It was an absolutely perfect day weather wise so it wasn't too much of a surprise. Joining me was my fiance - a definite coaster fan that has not been to SFGAdv since the late 90s, along with a lifelong friend who is a borderline enthusiast and visits frequently, and another good buddy who is moving across the country in a month so this was kind of a bittersweet send off for him, in a way. Once we got into the park my seasoned SFGAdv buddy spotted Houdini's Great Escape and asked if any of us had ever tried it. We hadn't, and he literally dragged us into the queue. None of us knew what to expect and he wouldn't tell us. Pretty cool but stinks like a really old moldy ride, which bothered me the entire time. OK, now let's do some coasters. Since my fiance hasn't done many of the big dogs here, we knew we had to ease her in. We decided to first check out the season pass processing line (very long! we'll come back later...) and head for Runaway Mine Train. We figured it's the oldest coaster in the park, a real classic, and was a great (albeit rough) warm up before we dove in head first. Walked on, sat close to the front. Noticed this here first and again on a few other coasters, but was a little weird/unnerving seeing so many operators checking their manuals but reminded myself its opening day & better safe than sorry I suppose. My buddy lost his hat to the RMT. Doh! Even though my fiance is a bigger fan of woodies, she was having cold feet about El Toro once she was standing next to it, so we goaded her into going on Bizarro since it was close by and not extreme in terms of height and speed. The line reached halfway down the steps and was very crowded in the station but we didn’t wait long. 15 minutes tops. Very slow dispatches on this gave me worries of what we might experience elsewhere. Once we got on, it rode great, it reminded me why it’s one of my favorites in the park, and my fiance LOVED it. The only effect I noticed working were the fireballs, and maybe its just me but they seemed enormous. Love that zero-G roll. One of my favorite sensations all day. Okay, now we're really warmed up. Come on, let's go ride the bull. It was probably close to 1pm, and was a 30 minute wait for El Toro. We hadn't seen it run very often and at one point after Runaway Train we stood watching Toro and were actually worried it wasn't running at all. We made our way over and once in line trains were dispatching very infrequently. Was worried they were only running one train. Once we got into the station it became apparent they were having issues with the restraint sensors. Watched quite a few people get off (2nd thoughts?) after issues with their restraints. Finally, we were on the move and it was fantastic. That pop after the left hand curve before the twisty part is ridiculous! I had my mind set on Nitro from the moment we pulled up to the park so I suggested we jump on the Skyway for a quick shortcut across the park. Such a perfect day. Great views from up there (including the still ridiculously long line for pass processing, you can see it in the bottom right hand corner of the first Skyway pic below). Line for Nitro was about 20 minutes. On this and Bizarro (and later Skull Mountain) the stations got pretty crowded/somewhat chaotic, I wished they would have had someone at the top of the steps or something to only allow a certain amount of folks in to avoid this. Not a huge deal though. Dispatches on Nitro are a well oiled machine, even on opening day. The ride was amazing as always. It was the fiances first hyper and she felt the restraint was not enough for the rides intensity (this is my favorite part of the experience, we agreed to disagree). I sat 2nd row far left and on that second hill/first turn thought I was being throw off the side for a second there. Amazing We all agreed to skip Batman as it was the only coaster that all of us had done before and we all agreed it was rough and not worth a wait if there was one. Out to the car for a quick bite and break and then back in. We wandered over to check out the pass processing line again (still ain't waiting in that line!) and made a bee-line for El Toro. Line was now twice as long as our first ride so we headed for the Boardwalk as only one of us (not me) had done Superman or Green Lantern before and I wanted to try both. We spotted almost no one in line for Green Lantern and went for it. Walked right on. I learned I am not a fan of stand-up coasters. The thing is smooth, a really nice drop and has some amazing forces but my fiance summed it up mid ride as she screamed "I'm glad I don't have balls!" It’s just not a comfortable position to be in on a coaster. My taint should not bear the brunt of that force, lol. Glad I got the credit, but have absolutely zero desire to do it again. From the lift we were able to see what looked like a decent sized line for Superman so we agreed to skip it. I still have not done a flying coaster. There's always next time. We headed back to Nitro for round two and the fiance sat this one out. Too intense for her. The other three of us did the back row and it was, as expected, even better than the first ride earlier in the day. It was while we were about to board when my eyes spotted that weave on the break run catwalk! LOL. Too funny. Glad someone else noticed it. So what next? Why Skull Mountain of course! No line unless you count the crush of people in the station once got through the queue. Really hot in the station. Waited maybe 10 minutes total and the dispatches were, like Nitro, extremely fast with efficient operators. This is a ridiculous but super fun classic, I don’t care what anybody says. It was getting later and we knew we only had another hour or two before closing, so we hopped the Skyway once again in an effort to get a second spin on Toro. Line was almost nothing at this point and we got on very quickly. Maybe a 10 minute wait. While waiting for this go around, we did hear a very aggressive announcement regarding being ejected by the park for a year if you have loose articles on train, so guessing that was due to the guy getting hit by the cell phone? Were next to board when the dispatcher announced that the train before us was the “lucky train” of the day and would get to go around twice! RATS! If only we’d gotten there a minute earlier. Super cool that they do this, gutted it wasn’t us. Lucky bastards! Rode closer to the back for the first time and JESUS it’s like an entirely different coaster. The entire twisty end section felt incredibly faster. So so so smooth though. I think after Saturday that Toro may have crept into my top spot. If we had more time I would have waited again for the very very back. Next time! By now it was just starting to get dark and since we were in the area we figured we would end the day with one more spin on Bizarro as the sun set. Same wait as earlier the in the day. Line was down the steps, but got on in 10 minutes. Love this coaster. So smooth. The zero-G roll is fantastic. Tempted to jump back in line as by now it was practically a walk on. But the group was collectively getting weary after a pretty full day. Headed out to the car and checked the pass processing one last time. Line was really short compared to earlier so I decided to bite the bullet and get in. Only a 15 minute wait and all sorted and sent me on my way. Overall a PERFECT start to the season, got to ride my three faves twice each, and get my Green Lantern credit in and a few other fun things, and got my pass sorted. I think everything we rode had every train running. Never felt like the park was obnoxiously crowded. And to be honest, didn’t spend much money at all. I did get a funky little key chain while leaving. After that long horrid winter, it definitely feels like summer has finally arrived.

Well since I'll be with a group that will likely not feel like waiting looks like I'll check in the morning if its not bad I'll wait, if its bad first thing I'll just have to check back throughout the day. :/ Thanks all.

That's very reassuring, thanks! Still worried it might be bad due to opening day. :/

Thank you for the insight, coasterbill. Not looking forward to any of that. :/ Why such a long wait? So many folks processing or just not enough employees? Is it a long process for each individual? You'd think they would have a higher capacity for this on opening day but I suppose we are talking about Six Flags... Also to clarify when you say "in the ugly white tent near Superman" does this mean OUTSIDE the park? I'm assuming so and sorry if this should be obvious, I'm the type of person that likes to know exactly what I'm getting myself into.

So as I've mentioned this is my first year with a season pass and I'm hoping to get to SFGAdv bright and early this Saturday to get a bunch of rides in and to process my pass. I have a couple questions I was not able to find answers to elsewhere. Sorry if I come across as an idiot. - Should I expect to wait forever to have my SP processed? Even if I arrive as early as possible? Hoping to get a ton of coasters in and not looking forward to this being a long part of my day. Trip reports from SFA this past weekend are discouraging. - Im assuming there is somewhere specific I am supposed to get this processed (i.e. not at the main entry/gate?) and do I need to do it before entering the park for the day? For instance, if I decide to have it processed later in the day due to a long line, can I still enter with my pass and then come back for processing later? I'm going with a few non-SP holders and would hate for them to have to wait on me while I have this done. - Does the SP processing area typically open same time as the park? - Since I have a gold pass which covers parking, does this have to be processed before I can use it as we enter the gates into the lot? Thanks for any insight/info on this. Again sorry to sound like an idiot, just want to have an idea of what to expect on Saturday.

This is exactly why I want to ride it. We tried last summer but were told the wait was 2 hours and we didnt have the time. Seems its always got a long line from what Ive heard/read. I have yet to ride any flying coaster and to me it seems to be a very uncomfortable position to be while riding but again I can't say that from experience. However, I can only imagine the force of going through that loop in that position, looks like it feels incredibly intense.

My faves are Nitro, Toro and Bizarro, in that order. After that I guess Kingda Ka but I can't help but feel like its a one trick pony. I would rather wait for the other three than KK. Have yet to ride Green Lantern or Ultimate Flight so don't have an opinion of them but hope to change that on the 12th. I got banged up pretty good on BM:TR last time I was there last yr. They actually asked if we wanted to stay on as there was no line and we chose to go for Nitro again instead.

LOL. Yeah, The Great Noreaster is a notoriously rough ride, yet remains one of my all time fave coasters as its my very first SLC/inverted coaster, its practically in my folks back yard, next to the ocean, and the ride has improved considerably with the new Freedom Trains they installed a few years ago. Ive ridden it hundreds of times since it opened. I'd say it rides much smoother than BM @ SFGAdv.

Just reading back through this thread as I hype myself up for opening day next weekend and noticed so many folks rate Batman as one of their top coasters at the park after Nitro, Toro, and KK. Am I alone in thinking Batman is a really rough ride and that Bizarro is undoubtedly better? Everyone seems to hate on it and I don't understand why. Its my fave at the park after Toro and Nitro. Great layout, smooth yet moderately forceful with some great inversions and elements. Just curious why some folks don't rate it very highly. Also Batman seems like a very short ride compared to Bizarro, maybe thats just my imagination.