Legendary

say anything - shiksa

Agreed. And I believe that it will, hopefully sooner than later. Regardless of whether or not all the ride removals were necessary.. (I believe, having worked for the park and now, it's new ownership for 6 total years -- that they were) the older rides were hurting the park more than helping them (i.e - seeing closed rides is worse than seeing no ride.. people in general have a short memory span and wouldn't remember what was there anyway).

Dude.. seriously. Remind me to NEVER go to a park with someone like that. Talk about no fun! Where does Slate find people like that? That dude needs some meds or something!

Wow... and I thought Kings Dominion was sterile before. ps - Thanks for the pictures, Jeff!

Wow... and I thought Kings Dominion was sterile before.

I agree Hercules. Patience is a virtue.. and the possibilites for the Old Country are endless! I know the park is adding boats to both the rapids ride as well as the log flume.. and that should help alleviate the lines with losing Water Effect (which only ran 1/3rd of the time) and Riptide (which ran 1/10th of the time). We still have 10 or 15 other flat rides in the park for people, not including kiddie rides. I think we should be able to manage without for a season or two. Flatrides are important though, and I hope they are replaced with NEW, reliable, HIGH capacity rides.

Ok.. agreed on the fact that the park does need flat rides. But what you are forgetting is.. the park has at least four coasters for the middle of the road kids, plus the water rides, and several flats. Four kiddie areas for the little ones, and plenty of top of the line coasters for the thrillseekers. I'll give you the fact that removing the Space Shuttle, Enterprise, Chaos, Double Trouble, Riptide, Pendulum, Water Effect, Evolution, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Bumper Cars, Music Express, Chiller, Freefall, and the Flying Wave, and two theatres.. hurts. Alot. But you're forgetting how OLD many of those rides are. Rides like the Chaos, Riptide, Music Express are / were nearly twenty years old. Impossible or very expensive to get parts for. Expensive being the key word. It is just cheaper to remove them. Should they have a replacement ready? Sure. Probably. But closing off the Old COuntry and coming out with something MUCH better will benefit everyone in the long run. The atmosphere has improved in the park and is still improving. You're telling me you spent more time on Stuntman's Freefall than El Toro?

It really is looking like RF2 could be the sleeper hit of the year! I'm just happy it is like, 8 hours closer to me than Hades or The Voyage!

..it looks a-mazing! Does anyone know if it will be open by Memorial Day weekend? I'm headed home from Pittsburgh that weekend (ps- i know it will be crowded, thanks) and it'd be sweet (pardon the pun) if I could stop in and ride it!

Yes.. the park HAS lost it's fair share of rides now. But think.. how many of them ACTUALLY ran? I'm sure in a few short years, everything will be filled in and looking much better! I mean, remember what Plaza del Carnaval and The Golden Kingdom USED to look like? They're nearly unrecognizable! Give it time, people and I'm sure we won't miss those terrible Das Bumpkins or whatever those terrible bumper cars were called, or Music Express, Enterprise, Evolution, Double Trouble, or Stuntman's Freefall. We are into COASTERS, not 20+ year old flat rides, right? Make due!

Short, quick, and to the point here.. Station: Very Nice job. Will be nice to see more than 1 train on it in the near future, as well. Lift: VERY, VERY FAST! Drops 1, 2 3: Incredible EJECTOR airtime, great ''yank'' over the hills (in the back). First drop is AMAZING! Turnaround: Smooth, fast. Small Hills/''Ramps'': Nothing special in the back, nice headchoppers though! RT Crossover: AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! Best element on the ride! Curvy Part One: Whee! Curvy Part Two: Loses a lot of steam.. kinda slow. Brakes, Ride, Trains: Smooth, Unobtrusive, Reminded me slighty of Giovanola & Intamin trains having a kid! Check out them lapbars! Good ride.. not a top __ for me though. I need something slightly more out of control (ie. Hades, Tremors, The Legend, etc) Ps: I rode in the front of the second-to-last car.

El Toro Update: April 22, 2006: We poured the foundation for Tango and the ride is scheduled for delivery and installation April 26. The foundation slab for the merchandise kiosk is scheduled to be poured today and installation is scheduled for Mon., Tues., and Wed. of next week. Foundation for the ride photo kiosk is scheduled for Mon. We are fully erected with El Toro in phase 1, 2, 3 and 4. We fully tracked out in phase 1, 2 and 3. 60 percent of tracking is completed in phase 4 and will be finished by next Friday. We started to erect bents in phase 5 and 6 starting at the cross-over section. Erection of the stairs and ramp section for the station is scheduled for Wed.

I went to Great Adventure for Opening Night last Friday and things were excellent. Granted, Shapiro and company were in the park, so I was anxious to get back once they had left. Well, that opportunity was afforded to me sooner than later. I returned to the park this (Sunday) afternoon and found much of the same. I breezed through the gate and was greeted by a greeter handing out park guides and wishing me a nice day. As I progressed down Main Street, I noticed Taz, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy all interacting, dancing, and taking pictures with park guests. I headed towards Movietown and the park was bustling with activity. It was Girl Scout Weekend, or something. Spinmeister is still being reassambled, as is the case with the Flying Wave. Wonderwoman and Batman were greeting guests by the Musik Express (which, along with the Big Wheel and Buccaneer, had all of it's lights replaced and flashing) and the Henna Tatoo place. I noticed The Flash riding the bumper cars with the kids. Chiller: Robin was going full throttle (which I hadn't seen in a while) and Chiller: Batman had some maintenance activity going on around it.. I'd expect it to open soon. Batman: The Ride was running two trains, as was Nitro (third is still being rehabbed). I noted more characters in Looney Tunes Seaport and new, cheerful, cartoonish music being played there as well. I planned on taking a ride on Nitro, but as I entered the queue, the ride shutdown, stranding guests on the lift hill. So I set my sights on Skull Mountain, also running two trains. I passed the former site that housed Evolution and noted that it was being put to good use as a smoking area for guests. I took a walk along the Great Lake to the otherside of the park, and noticed that the Sky Ride was in full operation, both stations. Another thing I noticed were the plentiful ''sweeperettes'' and how clean everything was. Plenty of employees with pans and brooms, and those neat little "claws" picking up trash throughout the park. Cutting back onto Dream Street, I took a ride on Houdini's Great Escape (the kids loved it) and noticed that the Great Character Cafe had installed new tv's inside. Great American Scream Machine was running all three trains (again!) and Superman: Ultimate Flight running two. Heading back into the Golden Kingdom, I queued up for Kingda Ka; it broken down intermittenly (4-5 times) but only one breakdown was lengthy (20-some minutes). It was running two trains, left side station. I heard from some guests on the ride out of the park that it had a quite lengthy shutdown earlier in the day and when they complained about it at Guest Relations, "they were satisfied with the results". Kingda Ka ate up a nice chunk of my time, so after that, I hit Medusa (2 train operation) and very short wait. Checked out the Mine train/Frontier Adventure Skyride station -- both had longer waits than I had the patience for at the time. So I took a quick walk around Bugs Bunny National Park where I saw Petunia Pig and Bugs riding the Carousel with one of the younger Girl Scout troops and headed back over to Nitro (running now.. with two trains again) to end my night. Since my car is in the shop, I headed out to the parking lot when I got a call from my ride; saying she was made to park in a side lot for pick up/drop off by the Safari. Asked security about this, and apparently, pick up/drop off has been moved to the area that was formerly used for parking for the Safari employees, I believe. It's adjacent to Kingda Ka. Anywho, I waited for the tram to come pick me up (2 running) and a short while later, I was off at the third stop (after a nicely narrated ride.. keep that guy!) the pick up and drop off area. Overall, I saw much of the same as last weekend. Maximum capacity on all *available* trains, a very, very clean park (bathrooms included), lots and lots of security (Jackson Twp Police, "EVENT SECURITY, park officers), lots of streetmosphere and costumed characters all over the park, and park photographers all over the park, instead of just the front gate (people want their pictures taken in front of more things than just the fountain) and that was clearly abundant at Main Street Photo -- which was absolutely MOBBED when I was on my way out of the park. Overall, a very nice time. And speaking with some supervisors today, expect things to just keep getting better from this point forward. (Sorry to burst bubbles, but everyone I talked to today pointed more towards early June as ET's opening, NOT Memorial Day weekend, as I had heard last weekend). Of course, this was not ''official'' so YMMV...

How ya's doin? I'm Rob Vaccaro and I'm from New Jersey. I live like, 10 minutes from SFGAd. I've been on roughly 550-something coasters. I lost count after I rode my 420th, TTD at Cedar Point like, two years ago. Go figure. I don't rank coasters anymore, but if I could only ride two for the rest of my life they would be Hades at Mount Olympus and Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England. I'm part of the roughly 3% of coaster enthusiasts that are not gay or overweight. I always root for the bad guys. I think Andy Milonakis is lame. Have a nice day.

How ya's doin? I'm Rob Vaccaro and I'm from New Jersey. I live like, 10 minutes from SFGAd. I've been on roughly 550-something coasters. I lost count after I rode my 420th, TTD at Cedar Point like, two years ago. Go figure. I don't rank coasters anymore, but if I could only ride two for the rest of my life they would be Hades at Mount Olympus and Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England. I'm part of the roughly 3% of coaster enthusiasts that are not gay or overweight. I always root for the bad guys. I think Andy Milonakis is lame. Have a nice day.

How ya's doin? I'm Rob Vaccaro and I'm from New Jersey. I live like, 10 minutes from SFGAd. I've been on roughly 550-something coasters. I lost count after I rode my 420th, TTD at Cedar Point like, two years ago. Go figure. I don't rank coasters anymore, but if I could only ride two for the rest of my life they would be Hades at Mount Olympus and Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England. I'm part of the roughly 3% of coaster enthusiasts that are not gay or overweight. I always root for the bad guys. I think Andy Milonakis is lame. Have a nice day.

I've had it for like, two years. See my signature.

TR: Opening Night at SFGAd 3/31/06 ------------------------------------------- March 31, 2006 Opening Night Six Flags Great Adventure I was never a fan of Kieran Burke & Company and hadn't spent much time at my local homepark over the past few years. However, I never actually had a ''bad time'' at the park, so after hearing and reading (and reading, and reading) about the new company running Six Flags -- Red Zone LLC; the management changes and new vision for the company over the course of a fairly mild winter, I opened up the season pass mailer I had recieved in the mail and headed out to the park around 6pm. After a quick stop at the nearby McDonald's, I headed on down Route 537 to the park, noting on the way that Kingda Ka was, in fact, testing. As I pulled onto park proper around 6:15, changes were immediately evident. I was greeted by Bugs Bunny waving to all the cars entering the property. There was a bit of traffic backup in getting to the parking booths, but nothing unmanageable.. it never stopped moving. While chugging towards the parking booths, I noticed new little signs they had along the entrance road from about.. Hurricane Harbor on. Not big or intrusive.. they just told of the evening's fireworks spectacular, the 45th anniversary celebration, and season's passes being on sale. I pulled up to the season pass parking booth, flashed my pass, told the elderly attendant I was buying a parking pass at Guest Relations and getting my pass processed, and he told me ''I'll save you the hassle of getting a refund for your parking buddy, go on in. Enjoy your evening!" Well, that was nice of him! As I pulled through the parking booths, I noticed an ample number of parking lot employees directing traffic. It made for a much more orderly and stress free start to my evening as I was directed pretty much right into a spot. It was nice to see that, thus far, the promises that had been made all winter long were being made good on! After parking and packing up the camera and whatnot, it was time to head on over to Guest Relations to have my season's pass processed and to buy a parking pass -- now a sticker. Right as you make your way into the entrance plaza, you are greeted by a HUGE floral cake with Bugs and Daffy on top.. not to mention fresh flower beds and baskets, appropriate music, and banners celebrating the company's 45th anniversary celebration. Very nice touch! $89.99 for the two-park pass, and $30.00 for the parking.. sticker later and I was ready to get into the park! Not before running into Public Relations Manager Kristin Siebeneicher though, who is even more excited about this upcoming season and El Toro than I may be! I don't want to quote her without permission, but suffice to say, expect, hope, etc, to be riding El Toro by the middle-end of May. I wasn't really at the park to ride a ton of rides, as I had prior plans for the evening. I just wanted to walk around.. observe the changes.. and just enjoy being in a park that's not in Florida, California, or Nevada, for the first time in over a month. Some things I noticed.. there is new signage up EVERYWHERE in the park. From the time you get on the entrance road, throughout the park, new signage directs you everywhere.. parking, designated smoking areas, brunch with bugs, fireworks spectacular, character meet and greets, it's great to see.. not to mention, was sorely needed. The park's security force has been beefed up BIG TIME. While not intrusive, you couldn't help but notice that security was everywhere.. and not just the park's security team, but hired professional security ("EVENT SECURITY") as well. Once again.. very nice to see. Then there's the characters.. and streetmosphere. They too, are EVERYWHERE! If it wasn't Bugs, Daffy, Wonder Woman, The Flash, or Foghorn around the next turn, there was someone juggling, a roaming 4 piece street band playing, and a roaming, "live" statue (if you've been to Italy in the World Showcase at EPCOT you should know what I'm talking about). The parking lot lines have been realigned to be straight instead of slanted and the hat shop is now a candy shop. That's just the beginning of the many 'Disney-ish' details I took note of. The park did a stellar job with the characters, streetmosphere, trams, and queue line entertainment. I didn't encounter much staff outside of Kristin, the people at the Guest Relations window, the Security at the entrance, the Nitro, Runaway Train, and Kingda Ka crews, and some grounds people; but everyone I encountered, was gracious, friendly, sincere, welcoming, and wished me a 'happy anniversary' not to mention asking me if I was enjoying myself. The park was the cleanest I've ever seen it, bathrooms included. El Toro... will be the sleeper hit of the year. Just because it's at SFGAd, people are saying it's too short, they won't like/fit in the trains, they're taking too long ecetera. Well, go look at the ride in person and tell me that! Yes, we all know The Voyage is gonna be awesome and yadda, yadda, yadda... but I think El Toro is going to come out of left field sometime in mid-late May and blow EVERYONE away! Superman Ride of Wood, anyone? That first drop in person... WOW, SICK! And what about that banked turn?! People are right.. pictures do this ride NO justice! And even better news.. the bridge WILL be back! Guests will walk UNDER El Toro towards the bridge making for easy access to Plaza del Carnaval. Behind the ride's construction fence, there is a big bull statue. Sure to be baring the brunt of a lot of cruel jokes, I'm sure. I am so excited to have El Toro more or less opening in my backyard, you have no idea. While The Voyage may be a surefire success, El Toro may come out as the biggest ride of the year.. and I, for one, can not WAIT to ride it! Other things of note... Bugs Bunny National Park turned out great! From the last construction pictures I saw, I was wondering if they were going to have it ready for opening day. Sure enough, it was and it was very nice! It was great to have some of the rides I grew up on (from Bugs Bunny Land) returning to the park under new themes and names right alongside the new ones. And you have to love it's placement alongside the beautiful Great Lake! Runaway Train is 1000% better than it was with it's new trains and new red/orange paintjob. Who knew that the park's mine train had airtime that could actually be enjoyed?! Great job with one of the park's original rides. Glad to see it got some TLC! The fireworks were fantastic! The music was flawlessly choreographed and the finale was something else! After doing some more walking around.. I made my way to Nitro. A live DJ was playing music and whatnot and it made for an entertaining (and short!) wait. Nitro's the same as always.. smooth, fun, fast. No stacking, running two trains, excellent as always. Gotta love reliable old Nitro! I ended the night with Kingda Ka. All was well until I reached the stationhouse, where it broke down twice. One was relatively short, the other was not. It seems the trains are not braking/parking in the station correctly it seems and it's shutting the ride down due to all the proximity switches. That's just the way it appears to me, that's not the official word. You can't fault the park for that though, only Intamin. I ended up in the front seat instead of the second row that I had queued up for due to a single rider, and my ride was incredible.. I dedicated it to my father. They aren't using the original queue yet though, and the temporary queue they have set up will NOT be acceptable once the season swings into full gear, I hope they plan to put up a plexiglass wall or something, and reinstate the original queue. Just a few suggestions, since I know the park will be reading this. Move the employees that can't speak or understand English to 'back of the house' positions or positions where they won't have to make direct contact with guests. Communication's a BIG problem, and that can lead to safety and guest satisfaction concerns. As well, if they can't count change for something, they may be giving way too much, and you may be losing money. Next, clean up the fort in Frontier Adventures.. it's fallen into slight disrepair and that's a depressing sight, considering the TLC that was given to the Runaway Mine Train, which encircles it. Extend the Spirit of the Tiger show; it's wayy too short! Hold steady on that no smoking policy! And finally, Kingda Ka. I know you all are working dilligently on it's reliability problems, but take a look at the temporary queue. It will NOT be suitable enough to hold everyone once the season kicks into full gear. A see through plexiglass wall could separate the guests from the lauch area and keep everyone safe, not to mention put that full, beautiful queue back into use! All in all, quite a first night for the park, I must say. Kingda Ka had it's share of jitters, but that was to be expected. I don't know about youse, but I sincerely think things are only going to get better for the park and the company from this point forward. Stay tuned! Rob Vaccaro http://www.myspace.com/watch_the_sky