Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[Genx24]

My friends and I stop at Wawa every trip before heading home. Only place we get food at because the food in the park is inedible.

[boldikus]

 

Overall it was a great day. We tailgated with Wawa hoagies for lunch

You have great taste in hoagies.

 

LOL I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not. As a lifelong Philadelphian, Wawa hoagies are kind of the bottom of the barrel but not inedible. They get the job done but it would be awesome if a Primos (hoagies, not pizza) were in or near the park. They are THE BEST.

 

Haha not at all. After hearing from all of my friends of Phillie / Delmarva about how Wawa was basically heaven on earth I finally became a believer this year when we went to Busch Gardens and ended up eating Wawa hoagies for dinner since nothing else in Williamsburg is open after 8PM.

 

Oh ok nice one. Almost every time I go to GA I bring a cooler and we do the Wawa pre-park stop and grab hoagies we save and go out to the lot and eat for lunch. Obviously we save a ton of money doing this but since yesterday was a full day, in the evening we did Nathans for dinner as it was dead and hot dogs sounded good. They were just OK. If you love Wawa hoagies (they are not bad just not GREAT) and you are in or near Philly get a Primos hoagie. You'll see exactly what I mean.

[DLex]

^Primos aren't just in the Philly area.

 

My favorite happens to be in my back yard (basically) in Hamilton on rt. 33. Directions

[boldikus]

 

Nice to see the Skyride crew was really working their a**es off. The capacity must have been fantastic.

 

 

LOL they were only running one side all day and I think we only probably checked the line once in the afternoon and skipped it. We tried to get on after our night ride on Bizarro around 8:30/9 to get over to Nitro for a night ride and waited for 10 minutes with absolutely NO line movement when we just gave up and walked over.

[boldikus]

^Primos aren't just in the Philly area.

 

I know but they are based out of Philly. We certainly have the largest concentration of locations. In fact there is one 5 minutes from my house and one 2 blocks from my office.

[neil009]

Wawa sandwiches are so bad I finally stopped forcing myself to eat them. Now whenever I go I get an everything bagel with cream cheese, tomato and cucumber, mmmm. Last time I tried one of their hoagies I could barely choke it down, the bread in particular is just miserably awful. Not a top contender particularly in Philly but nowhere else either.

[YoshiFan]

WaWa was where I usually went after each trip to the park since it was just over half price compared to food in the park. The only bad thing was going after closing, everyone had the same idea and the parking lot would almost be full. Now that the park has the dining pass, I stopped going to WaWa since last year it worked out to around $3 per meal at the park after the cost of the dining pass was factored in.

[boldikus]

Also I totally forgot to mention how they had the KA/Zumanjaro launches down pretty well I have to say. They were running 3 Ka trains and they were loading 2-3 of them and then stacking the trains on the launch track until Z:DOD is loading and retractable roofs are down. They send out 2-3 Ka trains back to back and since it is so quick, Z:DOD is then loaded and ready to go. When riding both of these I paid attention to how they were doing this and they seemed to have it down to a science. I'm sure the fact that they can't run them simultaneously is hurting capacity to an extent but they seem to be making the most of it from what I could see.

[SharkTums]

^That's good to hear that they're at least doing the best they can with a bad situation.

[jetsplumber]

My friends and I stop at Wawa every trip before heading home. Only place we get food at because the food in the park is inedible.

 

 

Totally agree, I tried the SF dining plan last year, what a waste. The food was terrible. I wouldn't feed it to my dog, that's how bad it was.

[TPDave]

Is this expected to be a permanent thing or are they waiting for further approvals to run both simultaneously?

[michaellynn4]

Also I totally forgot to mention how they had the KA/Zumanjaro launches down pretty well I have to say. They were running 3 Ka trains and they were loading 2-3 of them and then stacking the trains on the launch track until Z:DOD is loading and retractable roofs are down. They send out 2-3 Ka trains back to back and since it is so quick, Z:DOD is then loaded and ready to go. When riding both of these I paid attention to how they were doing this and they seemed to have it down to a science. I'm sure the fact that they can't run them simultaneously is hurting capacity to an extent but they seem to be making the most of it from what I could see.

 

This is exactly what I see whenever I'm visiting the park. There rarely seemed to ever be a point where there's no train in the station ready for the loading process, so it seems they've managed to minimize whatever impact to capacity these restrictions have created.

[jetsplumber]

Is this expected to be a permanent thing or are they waiting for further approvals to run both simultaneously?

 

I would expect it to be permanent. The state of NJ does not want them run simultaneously. And per a ride operator at Ka and zumanjaro. Ka can not launch a train till the protection screen(roof) at zumanjaro is in a closed position. And so far with the rides running simultaneously, Ka's capacity has been cut in half. They now do 30 launches a hr. give or take. not the close to 60 they used to do.

 

Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track.

[DJeXeL]

How long have the lines been for KK on a moderately busy weekend?

[rcjp]

Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track.

But that's not really a big problem is it? But cutting the capacity of a ride like this by a half is a bit more.

[Nitro1118]

Don't know if it's been confirmed yet, but I'm at the park and while KK is closed, Zumanjaro is still infact running.

[El Toro_Ryan]

Is this expected to be a permanent thing or are they waiting for further approvals to run both simultaneously?

 

I would expect it to be permanent. The state of NJ does not want them run simultaneously. And per a ride operator at Ka and zumanjaro. Ka can not launch a train till the protection screen(roof) at zumanjaro is in a closed position. And so far with the rides running simultaneously, Ka's capacity has been cut in half. They now do 30 launches a hr. give or take. not the close to 60 they used to do.

 

Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track.

 

I wouldn't say permanent. I think there's still measures the park can take like putting netting around Ka's pullouts but we'll see in time.

[rcjp]

I've been thinking (and this is something that applies to more drop towers) about the way the brakes work. When the ride is going up, it doesn't go very fast until it's left the "brake zone" which basically means that the system that pulls the train up no only has to fight against its weight but also the force generated by the brakes (at least that's what it looks like). So, wouldn't it be a bad idea to have retracting brakes like on their accelerator coasters to avoid this "waste of energy" ?

P.S. I'm sure intamin knows what they're doing but I felt like suggesting this.

[thegreatkaldani]

OMG why is everyone bashing WAWA. There have been places that have came along over the years that have been a little better. and Primos is not one of them IMO! Im more of a mom and pop shop sandwhich type person. But i still stop by after the park to get a the hot ham and cheese melts!

[coasterbill]

Is this expected to be a permanent thing or are they waiting for further approvals to run both simultaneously?

 

I would expect it to be permanent. The state of NJ does not want them run simultaneously. And per a ride operator at Ka and zumanjaro. Ka can not launch a train till the protection screen(roof) at zumanjaro is in a closed position. And so far with the rides running simultaneously, Ka's capacity has been cut in half. They now do 30 launches a hr. give or take. not the close to 60 they used to do.

 

Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track.

 

I wouldn't say permanent. I think there's still measures the park can take like putting netting around Ka's pullouts but we'll see in time.

 

Hopefully you're right. Great Adventure does seem to do whatever they can to increase capacity (short of hiring new staff) so I don't see this being permanent.

 

OMG why is everyone bashing WAWA.

 

Because they need to open up and let Wawa into their hearts.

[DevilsFlight]

I'm going to the park later on at around 3 or so. Anyone know how long Zumanjaro's wait is by then?

Edited July 18, 2014 by DevilsFlight

[Morgan]

So, wouldn't it be a bad idea to have retracting brakes like on their accelerator coasters to avoid this "waste of energy" ?

P.S. I'm sure intamin knows what they're doing but I felt like suggesting this.

 

I imagine it's due to the possibility of retractable brakes failing to work correctly, which would lead to certain death. The static magnetic brakes are failsafe in theory, as they should never stop working unless something happens to the Earth's magnetic polarity, or so I believe anyway.

[boldikus]

OMG why is everyone bashing WAWA. There have been places that have came along over the years that have been a little better. and Primos is not one of them IMO! Im more of a mom and pop shop sandwhich type person. But i still stop by after the park to get a the hot ham and cheese melts!

 

LMAO I don't think anyone is bashing Wawa, and for the record Wawa is far from a mom+pop type place. I only mentioned Primos because they are the best you can get from a chain in this area and they have a ton of locations and they are always fantastic. If you want to talk about Mom+Pop places I work (and used to live) in deep South Philly and I can get into all sorts of amazing hoagie spots that are MILES better than Wawa or even Primos for that matter. Trust me, I know my hoagies. (Really, it's all about the bread!)

 

Because they need to open up and let Wawa into their hearts.

LOL I have been eating Wawa hoagies as long as I can remember. Like I said they get the job done but they are nowhere near the best. Not even close.

 

I'm going to the park later on at around 3 or so. Anyone know how long Zumanjaro's wait is by then?

 

I rode it about 4pm on Wednesday. Line was long, at least an hour (though I did not wait as I had FP).

[schotj]

Is this expected to be a permanent thing or are they waiting for further approvals to run both simultaneously?

 

I would expect it to be permanent. The state of NJ does not want them run simultaneously. And per a ride operator at Ka and zumanjaro. Ka can not launch a train till the protection screen(roof) at zumanjaro is in a closed position. And so far with the rides running simultaneously, Ka's capacity has been cut in half. They now do 30 launches a hr. give or take. not the close to 60 they used to do.

 

Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track.

 

I'm still holding out hope that the park can make some changes and re-negotiate with the state of NJ to have both of them running simultaneously next season! We'll see

[rcjp]

So, wouldn't it be a bad idea to have retracting brakes like on their accelerator coasters to avoid this "waste of energy" ?

P.S. I'm sure intamin knows what they're doing but I felt like suggesting this.

 

I imagine it's due to the possibility of retractable brakes failing to work correctly, which would lead to certain death. The static magnetic brakes are failsafe in theory, as they should never stop working unless something happens to the Earth's magnetic polarity, or so I believe anyway.

That's what I thought too. But then it's the same with their accelerator coaster's brakes. Imagine it kingda ka's brakes failed to return to their default position during a rollback, it would be certain death too.