Photo TR: SFGAd Season Pass Night (5/2) and Sunday 5/4

gatorchomp83 · May 7, 2008

*Didn't realize the pictures were so big...I'm going to try to resize them.

Just a quick note... For anyone who has checked out my previous PTRs, I was forced to sell my old camera that took some awesome pictures so I've been relegated to the camera on my Blackberry 8310. While 2 megapixels,its still not a great camera, but you will still get the idea.

ANYWAY! This was my first time to Great Adventure and I had very high expectations, as it was the one park I wanted to visit more than any other in the country; luckily enough, my roommate in Florida took a position in Delaware, only 1.25hr from the park, so we purchased season passes and spent two days in New Jersey.

Our first day at the park was Friday night, and we arrived around 6pm. The park was open from 5pm-10pm for season pass holders. Choosing to go this evening was a GREAT decision as the park was essentially dead. First on the slate was Kingda Ka. Now, I have a fear of heights, and when I rode Dragster last year it freaked me out. Pulling up to the park and seeing Ka tower over everything was even more intimidating than Dragster.

I'll cut out unnecessary details and give a quick breakdown of my opinions on the major rides and the park itself.

Kingda Ka - More powerful than Dragster, better overall, but slightly rougher in the back. Two day total: 2 rides

Rolling Thunder - Grabbed one ride on the Left side, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard. Not too rough and had a couple little pops of air.

Medusa - My second floorless coaster, and a very good ride. Very smooth, great location and a great second half. Still prefer Kraken, however. Two day total: 3 rides

Skull Mountain - This ride really surprised me! The pop of air on the first hill was not only unexpected, but great. Two day total: 2 rides

Superman - Still not a great ride, and I prefer Georgia's because of location, but this ride still is fun and toys with my fear of heights and falling. Two day total: 1 ride.

Scream Machine - Terrible. Two day total: 1 ride.

Nitro - I'm absolutely in love with Nitro. After the first ride, I knew it was my new #1 Steel coaster, replacing SFoG's Goliath. Nitro's location is incredible. The first drop feels a lot steeper than it really is, all of the hills supply GREAT airtime (ESPECIALLY) the fourth hill, and the helix was a lot more powerful than I expected. I had high hopes for Nitro and it lived up to everything and exceeded. Two day total: 13 rides

El Toro - Well, here we go. Corey and I debated this from the minute we got off our first ride (he had ridden before) until the minute we flew out of Philadelphia and went our seperate ways. Voyage was my #1 Wood/Overall heading into this trip, and remains that way afterward. Toro was a GREAT ride, I will not deny that. The airtime on the first, second and especially the third hill is unreal, however, it has too much "downtime" for me. The fourth hill does nothing, the turn into the Thunder Drop does nothing, and by the time it hits the brakes, it's puttered out a bit.

BUT, those previously mentioned hills, as well as the Thunder hill, and the 2-3 turns after are insane. However, for me, it's too smooth; it doesn't feel like a wooden coaster. The headchoppers are insane as well, but to me, Voyage still delivers the perfect ride. Toro is a solid #2 wood and #3 overall. Two day total: 7 rides.

On top of everything already mentioned, we grabbed credits on everything open (all coasters minus one side of Thunder and Dark Knight) and had two amazing days in the park. Everything was essentially a walk-on, or stay-on, and we had plenty of time to relax and take everything in.

All in all, Great Adventure is now my favorite park, although I'm sure I'd have a different opinion of it when there were more crowds, but the landscaping was awesome. The location and staffing was awesome, and we had a great time! Onto the pictures.