Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[boldikus]

Have to agree with the last two posts. I frequented SFGAdv in the late 80s and early 90s and then didn't go at all until last year and I think that generally its a really nice park with a ton of great coasters and flats. I think if you can find things to complain about at this particular park you are a glass-half-empty type who likely complains about everything and anything.

 

All 5 times Ive been to the park this year Ive seen AT LEAST one park worker walking around sweeping or picking up trash. Almost everyone working there has one of those trash-grab things and are using it. I have yet to see an overflowing trashcan or trash littering the ground this year. I definitely have NOT had a single moment where I thought the park was dirty or needed maintenance.

 

Yeah there are dead areas of the park that they could and hopefully will do things with (I'm looking at you Movie Town) BUT that feeling I have just after riding El Toro? Blinds me to anything negative I could possibly come up with about the park. I'm certainly buzzing so hard I'm not noticing cracked sidewalks and the occasional sprouted weed. Some folks are definitely spoiled and grasping at straws imo.

[El Toro_Ryan]

Management is aware of Movietown and that side of the park's fading image so I'd look for improvements in that area down the road. I do have complaints about the park (but I won't share them here because I could get in trouble haha) but the park has definitely come a long way since the early 2000's. Operations have improved (*cough* except at Nitro *cough*) and the park is definitely much more well rounded now with the additions of more flat rides over the last 3 years. I think with some TLC all around the park and the reopening of the path between Ka and Toro and Old Country with some new rides, GADV will be golden.

 

Also I finally got the chance to ride Zumanjaro today and it was fantastic. The view at the top is gorgeous and the drop lasts for days. I was out of my seat the entire time until we hit the brakes. It was great. While the drop didn't have the same kick that the smaller Intamin's do like Dropzone at Carowinds, it's still my favorite drop tower due to its shear size.

[woolandmammoth]

Some areas of the park look great, but there is no excuse for the way the KK/ZJ plaza looks. Its so terribly put together that I cant help but feel like its just temporary. Almost like the midway will be extended down where the extra-long Zumanjaro que is now and a new expansion will open by the former Safari entrance. Then the midway will reconnect with PDC where Rolling Thunder's station used to be. Lots of room for big additions back there.

 

But in reality Im just in denile

[strz]

Management is aware of Movietown and that side of the park's fading image so I'd look for improvements in that area down the road. I do have complaints about the park (but I won't share them here because I could get in trouble haha) but the park has definitely come a long way since the early 2000's. Operations have improved (*cough* except at Nitro *cough*) and the park is definitely much more well rounded now with the additions of more flat rides over the last 3 years. I think with some TLC all around the park and the reopening of the path between Ka and Toro and Old Country with some new rides, GADV will be golden.

 

Also I finally got the chance to ride Zumanjaro today and it was fantastic. The view at the top is gorgeous and the drop lasts for days. I was out of my seat the entire time until we hit the brakes. It was great. While the drop didn't have the same kick that the smaller Intamin's do like Dropzone at Carowinds, it's still my favorite drop tower due to its shear size.

 

 

I/we enjoy the park- so not trying to bring things down on this forum- that said, my thoughts are best here on this post....."TLC all,around the park and the reopening of the path between Ka and Toro and Old Country with some new rides, GADV will be golden."

[strz]

Some areas of the park look great, but there is no excuse for the way the KK/ZJ plaza looks. Its so terribly put together that I cant help but feel like its just temporary. Almost like the midway will be extended down where the extra-long Zumanjaro que is now and a new expansion will open by the former Safari entrance. Then the midway will reconnect with PDC where Rolling Thunder's station used to be. Lots of room for big additions back there.

 

But in reality Im just in denile

 

Hope you are right!

[El Toro_Ryan]

If you're going to the park soon, I'd expect Ka to have a longer line than normal because of Zumanjaro. With the new ride right next to Ka, most everyone will go ride Ka when they're finished with Zumanjaro. I was there today and the line just after opening was already almost full.

[neil009]

Management is aware of Movietown and that side of the park's fading image so I'd look for improvements in that area down the road. I do have complaints about the park (but I won't share them here because I could get in trouble haha) but the park has definitely come a long way since the early 2000's. Operations have improved (*cough* except at Nitro *cough*) and the park is definitely much more well rounded now with the additions of more flat rides over the last 3 years. I think with some TLC all around the park and the reopening of the path between Ka and Toro and Old Country with some new rides, GADV will be golden.

 

Also I finally got the chance to ride Zumanjaro today and it was fantastic. The view at the top is gorgeous and the drop lasts for days. I was out of my seat the entire time until we hit the brakes. It was great. While the drop didn't have the same kick that the smaller Intamin's do like Dropzone at Carowinds, it's still my favorite drop tower due to its shear size.

 

El Toro Ryan, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, so I wanted to try and make amends by saying I think this is a very fair and balanced post. Those who are frustrated with the way the park looks now may tend to overstate their case, causing those who want to defend the park to overstate THEIR case, and you end up with a lot of people putting things more strongly than they mean. Of course the park has its good points and bad points, and I don't think anyone would argue that it hasn't made improvements over the years. But as for general upkeep, yeah, they often let stuff go longer than they should. That's just a fact, it's pretty much always been that way. The amount of decrepitude varies every year. And I think some people walk around the park noticing everything and it bothers them, and others just ride El Toro and forget about it. Either way, not that big a deal.

 

The movie town thing is a much bigger deal though, and what's frustrating is that it's been that way for so long at this point. There isn't really any excuse for it. If this were a more typically run park, I bet they would've hung on to GASM a little longer and put the new coaster there instead, along with the sky screamer and possibly a couple other flats. Until that half of the park is fixed no one should be surprised to hear people complain about it occasionally, I mean it wouldn't really be Theme Park REVIEW if we never ever said anything negative about theme parks, right?

[ElJosho]

Have to agree with the last two posts. I frequented SFGAdv in the late 80s and early 90s and then didn't go at all until last year and I think that generally its a really nice park with a ton of great coasters and flats. I think if you can find things to complain about at this particular park you are a glass-half-empty type who likely complains about everything and anything.

 

All 5 times Ive been to the park this year Ive seen AT LEAST one park worker walking around sweeping or picking up trash. Almost everyone working there has one of those trash-grab things and are using it. I have yet to see an overflowing trashcan or trash littering the ground this year. I definitely have NOT had a single moment where I thought the park was dirty or needed maintenance.

 

Yeah there are dead areas of the park that they could and hopefully will do things with (I'm looking at you Movie Town) BUT that feeling I have just after riding El Toro? Blinds me to anything negative I could possibly come up with about the park. I'm certainly buzzing so hard I'm not noticing cracked sidewalks and the occasional sprouted weed. Some folks are definitely spoiled and grasping at straws imo.

 

I concur wholeheartedly. My first two two trips to the park were this week and pretty much all of my off-ride time was spent walking every possible route between El Toro and Nitro via trial and lots of error, so I didn't see every part of the park, but saw a lot more than I originally intended to. At the time I was focused on getting across the park, but now that I stop and think about it, I can't think of a single thing - park maintenance, custodial, cleanliness-wise that I could have complained about.

 

I know, first post, no street cred, blah blah. That's just what I saw.

[neil009]

^Your username is adorable.

[El Toro_Ryan]

Management is aware of Movietown and that side of the park's fading image so I'd look for improvements in that area down the road. I do have complaints about the park (but I won't share them here because I could get in trouble haha) but the park has definitely come a long way since the early 2000's. Operations have improved (*cough* except at Nitro *cough*) and the park is definitely much more well rounded now with the additions of more flat rides over the last 3 years. I think with some TLC all around the park and the reopening of the path between Ka and Toro and Old Country with some new rides, GADV will be golden.

 

Also I finally got the chance to ride Zumanjaro today and it was fantastic. The view at the top is gorgeous and the drop lasts for days. I was out of my seat the entire time until we hit the brakes. It was great. While the drop didn't have the same kick that the smaller Intamin's do like Dropzone at Carowinds, it's still my favorite drop tower due to its shear size.

 

El Toro Ryan, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, so I wanted to try and make amends by saying I think this is a very fair and balanced post. Those who are frustrated with the way the park looks now may tend to overstate their case, causing those who want to defend the park to overstate THEIR case, and you end up with a lot of people putting things more strongly than they mean. Of course the park has its good points and bad points, and I don't think anyone would argue that it hasn't made improvements over the years. But as for general upkeep, yeah, they often let stuff go longer than they should. That's just a fact, it's pretty much always been that way. The amount of decrepitude varies every year. And I think some people walk around the park noticing everything and it bothers them, and others just ride El Toro and forget about it. Either way, not that big a deal.

 

The movie town thing is a much bigger deal though, and what's frustrating is that it's been that way for so long at this point. There isn't really any excuse for it. If this were a more typically run park, I bet they would've hung on to GASM a little longer and put the new coaster there instead, along with the sky screamer and possibly a couple other flats. Until that half of the park is fixed no one should be surprised to hear people complain about it occasionally, I mean it wouldn't really be Theme Park REVIEW if we never ever said anything negative about theme parks, right?

 

Thanks Neil. I understand where your complaining comes from because I have similar complaints about the park. haha I just won't post them here so I will continue to praise the park. (Just not to much ) I did make a post last night where I basically called out past management teams for doing strange things with the park but I took it down because I didn't want to get in trouble with my job. Basically, I think the problems you might see with the park are because of changes in management that have had to deal with high debt created by past management teams. This results in the closed pathways, sections, and occasional area that needs TLC done to it that you see today. I think things will improve greatly though down the road.

[larrygator]

I mean it wouldn't really be Theme Park REVIEW if we never ever said anything negative about theme parks, right?

 

We encourage people to give accurate reviews of the parks, however sometimes the reviews become extreme nitpicking. I have been going to SFGAdv since the park opened and have owned a season pass for over 12 years.

 

I lived through the days of rampant line cutting, the kind that turned a 30 minutes queue into an hour wait. It was only about 10 years ago that the bathrooms were an absolute disgrace in terms of uncleanliness and practically unusable after 11AM.

 

For years a big complaint about SFGAdv was lack of diversity in rides. Unfortunately by the time SFGAdv tried to fix this quite a few of their flats (and coasters) became problematic and/or reached the end of their life cycle. It wasn't that long ago the the list of regularly operating flats at the park consisted of: Big Wheel, Buccaneer, Carousel, Congo Rapids, Log Flume, Jolly Roger, Round-up, Autobahn, Music Express and Twister with following rides standing but rarely operating (Sky Ride, Parachute Jump, Houdini's). Remember this is a huge park they can't fix everything at once, most people were clamoring for more rides, so ride removal areas were neglected, There is no way to ignore that fact.

 

Is SFGAdv perfect? Hell no, but it is viewed as a destination park for a lot of thrill seekers around the world who only care about the coasters and in that regard it delivers.

 

I hear people mention cracked sidewalks and overgrown weeds. Maybe I've been oblivious in my visits this year but where are they. The parking lot? Big deal, it's a place to park your car, not a scenic rest area.

 

We also have more visible and attentive managers and employees today, this was not the case years ago. I see employees picking up after people on the midways, the midways used to have a lot more unattended trash. Also it used to be near impossible to identify a manager, but you now see them throughout the park.

 

Sometimes you get a slow moving ride-op, but I've seen most of them working hard. Then again I only ride a small selection of rides at the park. Guests how don't follow rules slow the lines down a lot more then slow ride operators.

 

The walk from the Boardwalk area to Kingda Ka is still enjoyable, it's lost some of its charm but it doesn't look bad until you get to the Z:DoD entrance. I fully expect this to be fixed in the future. The huge field that used to be Rolling Thunder needs to be addressed, but so do many other areas.

 

To me the big areas for capital improvement are as follows

The whole semi-loop from MovieTown to the Big Wheel needs to be redone.

The old show area in the Golden Kingdom needs to be re-purposed.

The Rolling Thunder footprint needs to be cleaned up.

Least we forget the simulator building has been unused for years.

 

Food and parking is expensive, but you get that at most amusement parks and most "entertainment" venues. That's the price you pay for cheap admission to the park.

[neil009]

^Most parks don't have a running list of abandoned buildings and areas that need to be filled/fixed. Maybe one or two, but nothing like SFGAdv is facing. And what worries me is they seem more interested in creating new holes than fixing the ones they have. Who's to say we won't see Skull Mountain torn out for their next major addition? It would fit their current modus operandi, the ride is unpopular and an eye sore. Sure would be cheaper than reopening the area around Chiller. (I like Skull Mountain mind you, but you see my point.) I wish I could say I felt good about the overall direction the park is headed in, and they have made improvements in some areas, but it just seems like some of the most basic stuff they aren't interested in getting right. They couldn't even be bothered to fix the Golden Kingdom bottleneck this year, even with a new major ride being added.

 

And El Toro Ryan, I appreciate the fact that you don't want to get fired. Feel free to be as positive as you want, you can leave the complaining to us.

[jetsplumber]

^Most parks don't have a running list of abandoned buildings and areas that need to be filled/fixed. Maybe one or two, but nothing like SFGAdv is facing. And what worries me is they seem more interested in creating new holes than fixing the ones they have. Who's to say we won't see Skull Mountain torn out for their next major addition? It would fit their current modus operandi, the ride is unpopular and an eye sore. Sure would be cheaper than reopening the area around Chiller. (I like Skull Mountain mind you, but you see my point.) I wish I could say I felt good about the overall direction the park is headed in, and they have made improvements in some areas, but it just seems like some of the most basic stuff they aren't interested in getting right. They couldn't even be bothered to fix the Golden Kingdom bottleneck this year, even with a new major ride being added.

 

And El Toro Ryan, I appreciate the fact that you don't want to get fired. Feel free to be as positive as you want, you can leave the complaining to us.

 

 

how long has the water feature been turned off on skull mountain?

[El Toro_Ryan]

^Most parks don't have a running list of abandoned buildings and areas that need to be filled/fixed. Maybe one or two, but nothing like SFGAdv is facing. And what worries me is they seem more interested in creating new holes than fixing the ones they have. Who's to say we won't see Skull Mountain torn out for their next major addition? It would fit their current modus operandi, the ride is unpopular and an eye sore. Sure would be cheaper than reopening the area around Chiller. (I like Skull Mountain mind you, but you see my point.) I wish I could say I felt good about the overall direction the park is headed in, and they have made improvements in some areas, but it just seems like some of the most basic stuff they aren't interested in getting right. They couldn't even be bothered to fix the Golden Kingdom bottleneck this year, even with a new major ride being added.

 

And El Toro Ryan, I appreciate the fact that you don't want to get fired. Feel free to be as positive as you want, you can leave the complaining to us.

 

Lmao will do. And Skull Mountain is actually one of the more popular rides in the park. It seems like it never has a line but that's because that ride is a people eater. It gets better numbers than we do at El Toro a lot of the times (which makes me very angry because we bust our asses at Toro haha) On crowded days, its line does fill the cave.

[rramstad]

Quick report.

 

We ended up going Friday and that was the wrong choice... would have been better to go Wednesday. The crowds got very heavy starting at 6 PM and it killed the day for us at that point.

 

We arrived a little behind schedule but still before opening (and I have a Discover card). Unfortunately the people at the ticket booths could not get the promotional codes on my coupon to work, so I had to go to Guest Services, which wasted a half hour. We didn't get into the park until nearly 11 AM.

 

I have never seen Kingda Ka in operation but I have been an enthusiast of coasters for forty years... and have actually paid attention to how they work for probably thirty years. It's clear that normal operation would be loading on two sides, likely running four trains, possibly with people unloading in the back and loading in the front. They only ran one side, two trains, and were only filling in the front. They often only fired one train between cycles of the drop tower, though sometimes they'd get two in. Seems to me that this was a SERIOUS drop off in capacity.

 

The other issue with KK is that there were many people with medical armbands who would ride over and over, same with the platinum pass guys. There were times we'd be in line and see two trains fire, and then the line would move a bunch, or two trains would fire, and we didn't move at all. When we got to the top of the queue, we saw why... we were in the front of the line waiting for our turn and waited five trains! (This was in the afternoon, second ride.)

 

So, that's all the negatives, got them out of the way, LOL, thanks for letting me vent.

 

Kingda Ka. I'd quote Cheech and Chong "Kinda gets you by the boo boo, don't it?" and a poster here who said, paraphrasing, that this is a one trick ride, but boy, what a trick. Really crazy intense ride. The lines for the front were ridiculous, so no front rides, but we did get two rides in, one at the start of the day and one at the end, and they were quite different... the second ride it felt like we had a lot more momentum going over the top, and the down was really quite nuts.

 

El Toro. I loved this ride. It might be the best wooden coaster I've ridden. Hard to say, I'll get a chance to ride the Phoenix again on Tuesday LOL. So smooth. Great drop, great airtime, fun layout. We did two rides in the AM and stupidly left as the line was just starting to build. When we tried to come back in the late afternoon, it was over 50 minutes, which seemed insane... we ended up leaving the park at that point as all the rides had crazy lines.

 

Bizarro. Obviously similar to SFMM Scream, but better, the landscaping adds something for sure, and I think the layout is a bit more interesting. One ride, no line, could have rerode.

 

We took the skyride over to the other side of the park, wanting to ride Nitro, but it was closed for technical difficulties.

 

Batman. Semi yawn, more or less identical to all the other SF Batman. Likely again somewhat better maintained than the SFMM Batman, the theming, the trains, the track. One ride, no line, could have rerode.

 

Dark Knight. Honestly, I'm offended that a company like Six Flags spent money on this ride. The best thing about the ride was the intro movie. The theming inside is just kind of lame and cheesy. Wow, so bad. One (lame) ride.

 

Nitro. Fun ride. They spent time cycling trains off and on for no apparent reason while we wilted in the heat. Definitely some airtime in the back. The helix is a bit intense, otherwise it could easily be a ride you could ride over and over. We got a second ride in later in the day, they were running three trains, from the 30 minute sign, it's more like 20 when three trains are running. Not impressed by the operations on this ride.

 

Houdini is not a coaster but given the positive comments here, we made a point of riding it, and I loved it, and so did my son. It was awesomely interesting and fun. Really unique!

 

Superman Ultimate Flight. Again, props to the board for telling us to check this ride a few times during the day. We got one hour, then one hour, then an estimate of thirty minutes, so the third time we went by we finally rode. The 30 minute wait turned out to be a bit less than 20 minutes, and when we got off, we were able to reride with no line. Fun ride, obviously very similar to SFMM Tatsu but without the same level of intensity, which is probably good in some sense i.e. I think the pretzel roll makes Tatsu a bit too intense for a good chunk of the public, where S:UF is clearly a thrill ride but something more people will enjoy as opposed to be scared of. Very cool to get a front seat ride in, and a back seat ride, incredibly different.

 

Green Lantern. I have liked standing coasters before, but my most recent experience with them, SFMM Riddler's Revenge, boxed my ears so hard that I was, like, "what was I thinking?" so I approached GL with a little trepidation. No worries, again, SFGAdv has a much better maintained ride, the track was in better shape, not nearly as much thrashing, and perhaps more important, the padding was obviously all fairly new and in really good shape, so the restraints worked better and were way more comfortable than the SFMM version. Nice standing coaster, again, probably something the general public finds interesting as a novelty but not a big reride factor, we checked periodically and probably around 3:30 PM or so the line was only maybe 20 minutes, after having been an hour plus earlier in the day.

 

We checked on Skull Mountain a few times during the day and the line was always 30 minutes plus so we never rode it. I would have liked to but there obviously were tons of families with younger kids there that day and so the line was just jam packed.

 

The redeye caught up to us pretty hard around 5 PM or thereabouts, and when the big crowds arrived at 6 PM or so, it was clear that Friday night was going to be nuts, and we just couldn't stomach waiting 50 minutes for a ride that was a walk on in the AM, so we bailed. Wednesday would have been smarter, probably, but then again, we couldn't have stayed into the evening Wednesday anyway for this particular trip, so it's fine, probably a wash.

 

Did not ride the smaller family coasters (Blackbeard, Road Runner, Mine Train).

 

Overall, it's a much nicer park than SFMM, and El Toro and Kingda Ka are head and shoulders above anything SFMM has. X2 is a very unique coaster, and Tatsu kicks butt, and Goliath is IMHO superior to Nitro... but the SFGAdv Batman is better than the SFMM version, Green Lantern is way better than Riddler's Revenge, Bizarro is way better than Scream, and SFGAdv has a lot better theming throughout and is overall in better condition than SFMM.

 

I was surprised, as in the early 1990s, it was exactly the other way around, SFGAdv was pretty rundown in places and borderline dangerous (robberies in the parking lot, bands of teenage thugs in the park) where SFMM was clean and organized and painted and better maintained.

 

Kudos to the board, they made some very good calls, the ride sequence worked great and had we not had the snafu with the front gate people -- ticket booth can't do promo, wait for twenty minutes and guest services does promo no problem -- we would have been in at 10:20, gotten on Ka, and that would have saved us an hour that could have easily translated into five more rides on El Toro.

 

For posterity... the sequence:

 

Zum (we skipped)

Ka

El Toro

Bizarro

Skyride

Skull Mountain (we skipped because of long lines, checked a few times, always long, never got on)

Nitro (was closed, came back later)

Batman

Dark Knight (so lame)

Houdini (not a coaster, not on the sequence before, but a good place to do it, great ride)

Superman (check through day, if less than thirty minutes, probably a good time to ride)

Green Lantern (if Superman has a reasonable line, this probably does too)

 

Thanks for all of your help!

[El Toro_Ryan]

Nice report. Regarding Ka, Ka used to run 4 trains with 4 separate loading platforms. Two trains would load on one side while the two from the other side would run the course. When those two rains would return to load, the two trains on the other side of the station would dispatch. Now the park runs three trains at Ka with one load station similar to Nitro. And yes, Nitro's operations have been terrible this year with double stacking almost every cycle. I don't know the supervisors over in that end of the park but they are not doing their jobs properly if they continuously allow that to happen. I'm glad you enjoyed the park though.

 

Just one more tip, if you go back to the park anytime soon, make sure you ride Zumanjaro and then Toro is a must ride at nighttime because it speeds up greatly during the day. Your ride in the morning was probably good but it's even faster later in the day.

[rramstad]

Nice report. Regarding Ka, Ka used to run 4 trains with 4 separate loading platforms. Two trains would load on one side while the two from the other side would run the course. When those two rains would return to load, the two trains on the other side of the station would dispatch. Now the park runs three trains at Ka with one load station similar to Nitro. And yes, Nitro's operations have been terrible this year with double stacking almost every cycle. I don't know the supervisors over in that end of the park but they are not doing their jobs properly if they continuously allow that to happen. I'm glad you enjoyed the park though.

 

Just one more tip, if you go back to the park anytime soon, make sure you ride Zumanjaro and then Toro is a must ride at nighttime because it speeds up greatly during the day. Your ride in the morning was probably good but it's even faster later in the day.

 

Great comments, and yes, some of what was going on Ka was the particular operator -- early in the day they routinely got two trains out for every Zum cycle, but that later crew was really not hitting that with any regularity -- the operator in the afternoon was also allowing people to loiter in the exit and on the exit platform, and I'm sorry, even if they have a medical band and just got off, they can't stand there while the ride is loading and dispatching, especially when they are kids that have no parent and seem physically fine i.e. they walked up the exit and down the stairs. One kid was on his cell phone and when the op with the mic asked people to leave the exit, he walked further down the platform, to the closed area, and turned his back to her, so he could hear his phone better! There were two adults on the exit stairs with babies... seriously, I can't make this stuff up. No effort at all by the ops to encourage the platinum band guys to leave after a few rides... it was really bad in the afternoon.

 

I'm not a huge drop tower guy. I love coasters but am afraid of heights. I'm fine if I keep moving though. Worst coaster experience of my life was being stuck at the top of the lift hill on Magnum XL 200 for about a half hour... lightly swaying in a moderate wind...

 

I am absolutely well aware of the tendency of coasters in summer to run incredibly well as the day cools off... I would love to experience El Toro in those conditions or after a light rain... or even better, both... For a while my home park was Riverside (now SFNE) and I had a LOT of rides on the Cyclone there, which when well maintained and THE coaster in the park was a hell of a ride... and I had the opportunity to ride it many times after 95 degree days, and also after short afternoon thunderstorms, and it was a mind blowing ride in those conditions, the turn after the first drop was just crazy. (If not familiar, rather than a banked turn, it ran uphill, then took a *hard* right turn, and arc down i.e. there's a spot on that turn where the whole train jumps sideways and then launches back down. Unique.)

 

Yeah, I'll be back. It'll have to be on a less crowded day. One time in 1992, I think it was, the crowds were so light on a weekday that I rode Great American Scream Machine forty times in a few hours. I'd love to do that with El Toro.

 

Anyhow, Ryan, thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my comments. It's super cool and you do it well. I am sincerely impressed with SFGAdv and was expecting it to stack up poorly vs SFMM but your two signature rides, Kingda Ka and El Toro, match up very well with Tatsu and X2, and given the rest of the lineup, primarily on the strength of the maintenance, honestly, SFGAdv has to get the crown...

 

I know, I know, I don't want to start a religious war in this SFGAdv thread about SFMM LOL but I was frankly not expecting that I'd feel this way. Too bad I live in Seattle now and not Boston!

[strz]

Nice report. Regarding Ka, Ka used to run 4 trains with 4 separate loading platforms. Two trains would load on one side while the two from the other side would run the course. When those two rains would return to load, the two trains on the other side of the station would dispatch. Now the park runs three trains at Ka with one load station similar to Nitro. And yes, Nitro's operations have been terrible this year with double stacking almost every cycle. I don't know the supervisors over in that end of the park but they are not doing their jobs properly if they continuously allow that to happen. I'm glad you enjoyed the park though.

 

Just one more tip, if you go back to the park anytime soon, make sure you ride Zumanjaro and then Toro is a must ride at nighttime because it speeds up greatly during the day. Your ride in the morning was probably good but it's even faster later in the day.

 

Great comments, and yes, some of what was going on Ka was the particular operator -- early in the day they routinely got two trains out for every Zum cycle, but that later crew was really not hitting that with any regularity -- the operator in the afternoon was also allowing people to loiter in the exit and on the exit platform, and I'm sorry, even if they have a medical band and just got off, they can't stand there while the ride is loading and dispatching, especially when they are kids that have no parent and seem physically fine i.e. they walked up the exit and down the stairs. One kid was on his cell phone and when the op with the mic asked people to leave the exit, he walked further down the platform, to the closed area, and turned his back to her, so he could hear his phone better! There were two adults on the exit stairs with babies... seriously, I can't make this stuff up. No effort at all by the ops to encourage the platinum band guys to leave after a few rides... it was really bad in the afternoon.

 

I'm not a huge drop tower guy. I love coasters but am afraid of heights. I'm fine if I keep moving though. Worst coaster experience of my life was being stuck at the top of the lift hill on Magnum XL 200 for about a half hour... lightly swaying in a moderate wind...

 

I am absolutely well aware of the tendency of coasters in summer to run incredibly well as the day cools off... I would love to experience El Toro in those conditions or after a light rain... or even better, both... For a while my home park was Riverside (now SFNE) and I had a LOT of rides on the Cyclone there, which when well maintained and THE coaster in the park was a hell of a ride... and I had the opportunity to ride it many times after 95 degree days, and also after short afternoon thunderstorms, and it was a mind blowing ride in those conditions, the turn after the first drop was just crazy. (If not familiar, rather than a banked turn, it ran uphill, then took a *hard* right turn, and arc down i.e. there's a spot on that turn where the whole train jumps sideways and then launches back down. Unique.)

 

Yeah, I'll be back. It'll have to be on a less crowded day. One time in 1992, I think it was, the crowds were so light on a weekday that I rode Great American Scream Machine forty times in a few hours. I'd love to do that with El Toro.

 

Anyhow, Ryan, thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my comments. It's super cool and you do it well. I am sincerely impressed with SFGAdv and was expecting it to stack up poorly vs SFMM but your two signature rides, Kingda Ka and El Toro, match up very well with Tatsu and X2, and given the rest of the lineup, primarily on the strength of the maintenance, honestly, SFGAdv has to get the crown...

 

I know, I know, I don't want to start a religious war in this SFGAdv thread about SFMM LOL but I was frankly not expecting that I'd feel this way. Too bad I live in Seattle now and not Boston!

 

 

Haven't been to SFMM- however, I assumed SFGA didn't stack up as well against it as you have mentioned.....

[El Toro_Ryan]

Nice report. Regarding Ka, Ka used to run 4 trains with 4 separate loading platforms. Two trains would load on one side while the two from the other side would run the course. When those two rains would return to load, the two trains on the other side of the station would dispatch. Now the park runs three trains at Ka with one load station similar to Nitro. And yes, Nitro's operations have been terrible this year with double stacking almost every cycle. I don't know the supervisors over in that end of the park but they are not doing their jobs properly if they continuously allow that to happen. I'm glad you enjoyed the park though.

 

Just one more tip, if you go back to the park anytime soon, make sure you ride Zumanjaro and then Toro is a must ride at nighttime because it speeds up greatly during the day. Your ride in the morning was probably good but it's even faster later in the day.

 

Great comments, and yes, some of what was going on Ka was the particular operator -- early in the day they routinely got two trains out for every Zum cycle, but that later crew was really not hitting that with any regularity -- the operator in the afternoon was also allowing people to loiter in the exit and on the exit platform, and I'm sorry, even if they have a medical band and just got off, they can't stand there while the ride is loading and dispatching, especially when they are kids that have no parent and seem physically fine i.e. they walked up the exit and down the stairs. One kid was on his cell phone and when the op with the mic asked people to leave the exit, he walked further down the platform, to the closed area, and turned his back to her, so he could hear his phone better! There were two adults on the exit stairs with babies... seriously, I can't make this stuff up. No effort at all by the ops to encourage the platinum band guys to leave after a few rides... it was really bad in the afternoon.

 

I'm not a huge drop tower guy. I love coasters but am afraid of heights. I'm fine if I keep moving though. Worst coaster experience of my life was being stuck at the top of the lift hill on Magnum XL 200 for about a half hour... lightly swaying in a moderate wind...

 

I am absolutely well aware of the tendency of coasters in summer to run incredibly well as the day cools off... I would love to experience El Toro in those conditions or after a light rain... or even better, both... For a while my home park was Riverside (now SFNE) and I had a LOT of rides on the Cyclone there, which when well maintained and THE coaster in the park was a hell of a ride... and I had the opportunity to ride it many times after 95 degree days, and also after short afternoon thunderstorms, and it was a mind blowing ride in those conditions, the turn after the first drop was just crazy. (If not familiar, rather than a banked turn, it ran uphill, then took a *hard* right turn, and arc down i.e. there's a spot on that turn where the whole train jumps sideways and then launches back down. Unique.)

 

Yeah, I'll be back. It'll have to be on a less crowded day. One time in 1992, I think it was, the crowds were so light on a weekday that I rode Great American Scream Machine forty times in a few hours. I'd love to do that with El Toro.

 

Anyhow, Ryan, thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my comments. It's super cool and you do it well. I am sincerely impressed with SFGAdv and was expecting it to stack up poorly vs SFMM but your two signature rides, Kingda Ka and El Toro, match up very well with Tatsu and X2, and given the rest of the lineup, primarily on the strength of the maintenance, honestly, SFGAdv has to get the crown...

 

I know, I know, I don't want to start a religious war in this SFGAdv thread about SFMM LOL but I was frankly not expecting that I'd feel this way. Too bad I live in Seattle now and not Boston!

 

I always love hearing feedback about the park. A lot of the issues with people not listening to ride ops has a lot to deal with the general snobby personalities of a lot of the people who live around SFGA. Everyone thinks they're right around here and when you tell them otherwise, they get mad at you. It's to the point where I actually get very happy when I tell a guest to put their things in a locker and they listen to me obediently rather than get an attitude with me.

 

And I know a lot of the employees at Ka so hopefully the situation was only because no one would listen to them but security should have been called to deal with something like that. Usually Ka's crew is on their A game. We try to never allow that to happen at Toro. Even if you have platinum flash pass, you have to leave the station after two rides. No ifs and no buts. Maybe having a small station at Toro is a good after all since there's no where for people to stand around and hold operations. haha

[jwil]

I haven't been to GAdv in three years or more, but I can't remember them running four trains for KK since the year it opened. Hell, our group that year (2005) waited over four hours to get on up front even with four trains. At least the waits aren't that long anymore. I'm looking forward to getting back on El Toro and the new drop tower hopefully later this year.

 

Have they repainted Nitro yet? Even however many years ago I thought it needed a new paint job.

 

I still miss GASM despite how hated that ride was.

[rcjp]

^I did wait two hours and a half for KK in 2011, and it wasn't for the front. So while it wasn't four, I guess it can still get pretty bad.

[alabardo84]

Kingda Ka but still uses the dual station?

[Password121]

Kingda Ka uses the front half of the station farthest from the parking lot, running three trains. Also, no, Nitro has not been repainted, but parts of the queue/exit ramp have been painted very recently.

[Jcoaster]

Nitro is so in need of a paint job that I have heard people say that it is junk yard themed. How sad/pathetic is that? You have one of the best roller coasters on the eastern seaboard and you neglect it to the point where it looks like and eyesore. As a season pass holder the past 5 years, it is disheartening to see the ride just rust away.

[boldikus]

I'll agree Nitro could use some TLC (most notably Train C, the rust covered sign on the front of the station, and the broken metal railings along the queue) BUT the ironic thing about all of you who are making a huge deal about the paint job is that you cannot see any part of Nitro but the lift until you are riding it, and I highly doubt most people are noticing missing or chipped paint while flying through the course @ 80mph lol.

 

Personally I'm curious to know if Nitro's ridership has dwindled in the past few years that the park has "neglected" the ride. Considering its easily one of the top 3 most popular coasters in the park and the wait consistently proves that, I'm going with probably not. The park knows that people will continue to ride it paint job or not and they are right.

Edited July 14, 2014 by boldikus