SFGADV....Flash Pass/Q-Bot Help

[incumethod55]

I'm planning on hitting SFGADV on May 8th during a quick trip to Atlantic City for a few days. The park is open 10:30-6...is this enough time to do all the major coasters? Also, how are the lines this time of year?

 

Finally, I looked on their website but couldn't find any information regarding Flash Pass/Q-Boy systems. We want to get back to Atlantic City to party but still want to do all the rides, how much is their system and how does it work? Thanks.

[YoshiFan]

That might be physics day, I'm not sure though. If it's not then it shouldn't be too crowded as it's kind of early for school trips.

 

Pricing is here (it says 2005 so it's probably higher than that):

http://www.lo-qusa.com/flashpass/sfgaps.html

[alpengeist04]

Physics, Math & Science Days are on Fridays, April 18, May 2, 9, 16 & 23.

 

As for the Flash Pass, I would wait till you get to the park and see what the crowds look like. Price wise, I would just add a few dollars to the list that YoshiFan provided. ...With the Regular Flash Passes priced at $32 for the first person and the Gold Flash Passes starting at $71.

[FeelTheFORCE]

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread or anything, but can anyone tell me how the crowds will possibly be like the week of Saturday May 31 through Saturday June 7?

[YoshiFan]

^ Since it's after Memorial Day, there will be more school trips to deal with and the park is only open until 6 and if they don't leave until 5, it might be kind of crowded.

 

Physics, Math & Science Days are on Fridays, April 18, May 2, 9, 16 & 23.

 

Thank You! I now know to avoid the park on those days, I hope nothing is going on the 8th or 15th of May but it seems strange they would be open on a Thursday otherwise.

[incumethod55]

Also, I was looking at the lost of attractions at the park. Where are all their flat rides? Didn't get like 10 flats one year? What happened to them all and what flats are actually still in operation?

[YoshiFan]

A ton of rides have been removed, it's almost all coasters and kiddie rides now. They added I think 25 new rides in 1999, other than the 3 coasters, only 2 or 3 rides are left from that expansion.

 

Non Coaster Rides In the Park:

Log Flume

Congo River Rapids

Flying Wave (maybe, if it's not removed), they are swings

Big Wheel

Tea Cups

Merry Go Round

Tango (Rockin Tug)

Twister (Top Spin)

Parachutes

Jolly Roger (Zamperla Regatta)

Bucanner (Swinging Ship)

Sky Ride

 

Last year they removed Stuntman's Freefall and the 2nd log flume

This year they are removing Fantasy Fling (round up), Bumper Cars, Music Express, Space Shuttle and Houidini (Haunted Swing) is rumored to be SBNO

[alpengeist04]

I think a drop tower and giant frisbee would do wonders for the park, because I would hate to see what the lines for the big coasters will look like in July and August this year and for years to come. .

 

 

^Edit: Yea, I would keep a close eye on the website to see if anything is added to the 8th and 15th.

[YoshiFan]

A 4 tower S&S complex would be great, I don't see a giant frisbee being added since they already had a regular one that got sent to SFGAM. That would be a nice addition as well though.

 

I am also worried about the lines in the summer, especially the water rides. They removed Movietown Water Effect as well (I forgot to mention that in the other post) and with only 2 water rides, they are going to be 60 - 90 minutes or more easily. I think TDK will be 2+ hours too. That's why I am going to try to visit a lot in April and May and once lines get bad, I'll just stop going until September.

[incumethod55]

They really only have like 10 flats? That's pretty sad, maybe I'll just wait till August and goto SFGAm when I goto Lollapalooza?

[alpengeist04]

If you have the chance to go to Great Adventure, I would go. ...El Toro alone is worth the admission.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ Since it's after Memorial Day, there will be more school trips to deal with and the park is only open until 6 and if they don't leave until 5, it might be kind of crowded.

 

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Oh well, I bought a season pass, so I won't be pressured to ride everything in one day. I can take my time, spread it out over a week, and thoroughly enjoy it. I have confidence because two years ago I went to SFMM at the end of June and the park was pretty empty. Everything was a walk-on except Tatsu and X. If SFMM wasn't crowded that late, then GADV might not be that bad after all. I realize that they are in completely different climates, but still. I think I'm more worried about doing everything at Dorney Park in one day, than I am about the crowds at GADV. Thanks for taking the time to answer me, though!

[YoshiFan]

Unless you are spending a lot of time in the waterpark, I wouldn't be concerned about getting everything done in Dorney. I go almost every week to Dorney and in early June, one visit after going to the waterpark, I only had an hour and was able to get on every major coaster once and Talon twice. Then I think it was around June 7th last year, the park was so dead I was the only rider on Hydra, Thunderhawk and Laser.

 

Other than the Wild Mouse, it's very rare during the week if anything at Dorney is more than a 2 - 3 train wait. Plus their operations are great, even with me being the only rider on Hydra they still had 2 trains running. I have never seen Hydra and Talon run only 1 train except when they had to due to weather (40+ mph gusts)

[incumethod55]

If you have the chance to go to Great Adventure, I would go. ...El Toro alone is worth the admission.

 

So I've heard...the people I'm going with arent huge coasters fans though and are into more dark/flat rides. I guess Skull Mountain and Dark Knight could be considered dark rides?

[alpengeist04]

^Yea, I hear ya. It's a lot easier for me to get non-coaster fans to go to Busch, Universal, or Disney than to any Six Flags park.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

Sorry to bring this up, but I didn't want to start another topic about this and get slammed for it.

 

I need some help!

My roommate and I are going to SFGAdv on September 27th, which is the Saturday of closing weekend.

We both have Season Passes.

The park is open from 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

 

I know that no one can predict the future, but I know there are some SFGAdv regulars on here that I would assume usually head to the park for closing weekend/day.

 

Do you guys know if the park is usually busy on closing weekend?

Neither of us has ever been to the park, and we want to make sure that we get every credit possible!

Do you think that we should get Gold Flash Passes?

We could care less about haunt attractions, flat rides, or shows.

I'm pretty torn on this one. We went to SFOG for opening day and wasted money on Gold Flash Passes, cause I assumed that it was going to be packed. There were practically no lines at all, and I don't want this to happen again.

 

Here is my most important question.

Where in the world is there to stay around the park?

I can't find a hotel closer than an hour and a half away for under $150.00 a night, and there is no way in hell I'm paying that much for a hotel.

The closest thing that I can find that is reasonably priced is an hour and forty minutes away!

I would prefer to not driver any further east. Due to a tight work schedule, and my roommates school schedule, SFGAdv is the only park that we are going to, and driving out of the way to not visit another park doesn't seem too appealing to me.

 

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[YoshiFan]

The park is open until November 2nd so you are not going on closing weekend.

 

So far September has received mixed crowds, I went on the 7th and had walk ons for almost all coasters but a TR posted yesterday said some rides had full queues.

 

Since it a Saturday but not during Frightfest (begins October 4th), I think crowds will be moderate.

 

The real closing weekend is miserable. Last year I read lines were 2 - 2 1/2 hours for the major coasters (I went to Dorney and had walk ons and some 5 - 10 minute waits).

 

This hotel is under $100 a night:

http://reservations.hotel-guides.us/hotel/10011670-10198414O.html?ses=f7e8b1f50184c63a9c97f56bf34d493f

[larrygator]

Fright Fest starts the following weekend, September crowds usually are not that bad. You should be able to ride all the coasters w/o getting a Flash Pass but expect waits. Operations were horrendous on some coaster last weekend for not apparent reason; 10-minute dispatches on Nitro with 3 trains running. WHY????????

 

There is a Days Inn in Freehold, but that is 15 minutes East of the park.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

YoshiFan... you are correct.

I don't know where in the hell I came up with the closing weekend thing.

 

Thanks for the tips YoshiFan and larrygator.

I'll definitely check those hotels out.

I'm willing to drive 15 minutes out of the way.

[YoshiFan]

10 minute dispatches is very upsetting to hear when all season dispatches have been almost all very fast except at Rolling Thunder (where 5 minute dispatches see to be the norm).

 

I hope that was just an isolated bad day and it isn't like that the rest of the season.

 

Something else to consider though I don't know if non Great Adventure Premium SP holders can get in for is the 26th is Family Fun Night. The park is closed to the public and it is open from 5 - 10 for the passholders. If it is like Coasters after Dark crowds will be very light, but you would need to contact the park to find out if a non Great Adventure pass will allow you to get in since they really emphasize that you need a Premium season pass to get in and not a regular Great Adventure season pass.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

^ Thanks for that tip as well. I'll for sure be looking in to that.

That would be an awesome bonus!

[ajinaz]

Does anyone know if my SFMM Extreme pass with parking will get me free parking at SFGAdv?

 

I'll be going this weekend and I'll let you know how the crowds are.

[Airtime&Gravity]

A Six Flags parking pass will work at all parks except for Kentucky Kingdom.

[ajinaz]

I went to the park on Saturday night and all day Sunday. Saturday night was pretty crowded. I waited around 40 minutes for El Toro and 45 for Nitro. On Sunday the crowds seemed much lighter but we did use the Gold FP so it was hard to tell. With the pass we never waited more than 10 minutes for our ride to be ready. Using the 75% policy I would guess that no ride had a longer than 40 minute wait. We got in several runs on El Toro and Nitro.

 

Some quick observations from the weekend:

1. In my opinion, the employees at Great Adventure blow away the employees at SFMM. Every ride op we saw acted like they wanted to be there with one exception (see below). The crews on Nitro and El Toro were simply screaming. There was a lot of guest interaction and I noticed that they are constantly being moved around from job to job and even ride to ride.

 

2. The food service was really fast except at Best of the West. The service there was so slow we had to leave.

 

3. There's always that one guy! For some reason we ran into this one kid on both days. The first time he was working at the door to Superman. As we approached he was sitting on a trashcan and talking to himself. As we passed his phone went off playing this really hardcore death metal music. He took out his phone and started texting away. On Sunday he was working at Ka as a ride op. He was actually texting while working the controls! He looked over at me and saw that I had glasses on. Without putting his phone away he walked over and told me that I need to get rid of the glasses. I told him that they were attached to my head and he got this really befuddled look on his face and said, "F$%k man I'm sorry I didn't know!" The dude actually thought my glasses were permanently attached to my head.

 

4. The Dark Knight is the biggest waste of space I can imagine. I'm sure there are worse coasters out there but the Mouse at the Arizona State Fair leaves this thing in the dust. I could not believe that there were people waiting 30 minutes to ride. Skull Mountain with the lights on is better than this. Please Magic Mountain...... don't try to unleash something at this level of creativity next year!

[YoshiFan]

Yeah Saturday night was way more crowded than I expected. I only was able to ride Runaway Mine Train (10 minutes), Scream Machine (walk on) and Superman (a little over 20 minutes) because it was so crowded. I couldn't believe Nitro was into the switchbacks.

 

As for The Dark Knight, I waited 30 minutes for it back in May, I refuse to wait more than 15 for it now. It's a fun ride but not worth more than a short wait.

 

I think I saw that guy at Superman. He was looking down at his phone the entire time I watched him and wasn't checking to see if people entered the line with stuff not permitted to be left at the station.