Six Flags Great Adventure 10/16/09

[jjb297]

Trip Overview:

 

The idea was that I was planning to go to SFGADV on Friday, October 16 for the majority of the 6 hours they were open (5-11). This plan was changed by spending 1.5 hours at the new Wegman’s in Collegeville (awesome) and a few other errands. All told, we got to the park by 7 30. I assumed it was not to be too crowded since there was off-and-on rains, it was pretty cold (upper thirties probably), and it was a Friday night. The weather report I saw said the rain would stay very light all night, so I did not whatsoever expect the park to close. And least important, it was going to be my first real Photo TR, but this did not happen.

 

We called the park at 7 15 to see which/if any rides were closed (I assumed Kingda Ka) and they informed us the park was closing at 8 00. I was planning on calling earlier, but I forgot. In some ways I am happy we did not call earlier, since we may not have gone to the park (as we probably could not have made it out any earlier). They told us they were closing for weather and attendance at 8 00, and at 7 00 it was not even raining, so I was suspicious it was just for attendance reasons. Needless to say, I was a little upset, as I am from St. Louis and this was to be my first time at the park.

 

We get to the park, ran in and headed to the left to El Toro. Someone said Kingda Ka was running, but I was not sure what to believe as others said it was closed, I did not see/hear it running and I did not think it ran in the rain. After asking multiple people, we found El Toro. Then we heard Kingda Ka was closed, so we headed on the walk to Bizarro. All these treks between/to rides were long. Then, we had 13 minutes left until 8 00, and I was not sure whether to head to S:UF or Nitro. Since I saw that Nitro was on the other side of the park, and did not know how far this was, I was a little nervous in risking a last ride. We decided to run/walk to Nitro anyway, and after again asking people for directions and following a group of people, made it with 3 minutes until 8:00 for the last train of the night. Since we had 30 minutes, and all coasters were running 1 train, there was no way I was going to wait for a certain seat.

 

Coaster Reviews:

El Toro: I rode this while the rain was still coming down pretty hard, and we sat in the third row to the back. It was so intense, even the lift hill. That first drop was crazy, it just kept going. The speed of the ride was incredible, but in my opinion, the airtime in great, but the first drop is definitely the best part of the ride. I don’t think any coaster has achieved perfection (El Toro has no scenery or theme), but I give this the highest rating of any coaster so far. 9.5/10

 

Bizarro: Before Bizarro, I had ridden two B&M sit down looping coasters, Kraken and Wildfire. I was not expecting a lot of this ride, but was very surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed the theme on Bizarro, the sound could have been improved, but I think it enhanced the ride. The flame throwers were cool, as were the shields, mist and the buildings. The ride itself ran well, with the Zero-G roll being the best part. The only real negative was that there was a little shaky section was on the Cobra Roll (not so bad).

I think the non-curving drops on B&M loopers are more intense, but the drop was still very fun. I would not classify the ride as that intense, which in some ways is a good thing, as it caters to a lot of people. My dad really enjoyed the ride. 9/10

 

Nitro: I can in with high expectations for my first B&M hyper, and for the most part, I was not disappointed. If I sound harsh, it is because I am talking of the places where I was disappointed, but I enjoyed the ride very much. I sat in the 3rd to last row, as the first two and back two rows were filled. The ride was a good night ride as it leaves the main area of the park, which El Toro does not really do. I also enjoyed the seats as the rider feels very open. The first drop was great, as was the trip until the turnaround, which I think could be made more interesting. The way back provided some good floater air, up until the helix. The helix added some variety to the hills, and was pretty intense. The little hills up until the helix and after did not do too much for me. And, honestly, what’s the point of a MCBR with like 90 percent of the ride done (I understand the need of brakes, but why so late)? Compared to the other hypercoaster I have ridden, Mamba, it is a much better ride since it does not quit on its “ride home.” However, Mamba felt faster but I assume this was since I rode Mamba in the very front. Nitro and El Toro seem like very similar coaster (yes, I know they are of different construction wood/steel), with El Toro being the more intense. 9/10 (better than Bizarro)

 

Comments:

It’s not bad I did not have a coaster shirt on (I don’t have one), since with so few people there, and with me hitting the big rides that were open, I very well could have run into other forum members or park enthusiasts.

 

I was also told by a person riding Bizarro that the Ride Op earlier told him that the park closed by 8 00 if they did not have the required 2,000 visitors. Is this true? I know it was empty, as even the big coasters were walk-ons with a one train operation.

 

 

I will add pictures and possibly some more comments later this week…

[YoshiFan]

I read on another site there were only 1,000 people. They closed early yesterday today too (they closed at 7) and didn't open at all today when the weather today wasn't that bad.

 

It's a shame you had such a little amount of time at the park. I wasn't even sure they were going to open at all based on past reports of weather closing the park. I had planned to go but decided at 4:00 with the rain and cold it wasn't worth it. If it really is 2,000 people required for the park to stay open, I don't know how they could have expected that many people to show up considering how miserable it was out when the week before there was no rain, it was in the 70's all night and only around 3000 people were there.

 

I'm also surprised there were 1 train ops on everything unless it was weather related since the past Friday Bizarro and Nitro were running 3 trains (Nitro later went down to 2 trains) with low crowds. The only ride running 1 train was Scream Machine.

[jjb297]

^Thanks for all the help Yoshifan, its too bad I didn't put it too good use

 

I rode everything after 7 30 and Nitro at about 7 59, so they may have taken the other trains off when it started to rain harder at 7 10. El Toro possibly could have been running two coasters, but I don't think so. When I got to Bizarro and Nitro, they definitely running one each.

[CoasterCard]

I was at the park at opening on Saturday. The weather was cold but the predicted rain held off. (One of the few times I'm happy the weatherman was wrong! haha) For the first 3 hours of being there, my friend and I were one of probably 300 people there. The park was literally a ghost town. We walked on every ride and got numerous re-rides. (Thanks to the ride-ops who were pretty awesome)

 

The longest wait we had all day was for Kingda Ka, but in my opinion 20 minutes is not long of a wait for the tallest coaster in the world. All the rides were solid and I couldn't distinguish a favorite. Everyone kept saying how awesome El toro is but after the first 2 hill the ride did not impress me too much. It seemed to slow down considerably throughout the turns which I was expecting it to fly through.

 

Overall, it was a fun day and I would definitely go back. Hopefully with the same type of crowds although it probably doesn't happen too often.