Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[FaithPlus1]

Any updates on Looping Dragon? Im guessing they may wait till a week or two before the park opens to install it.

[coasterbill]

Any updates on Looping Dragon? Im guessing they may wait till a month or two after the park opens to install it.

 

Fixed that for you.

[DevilsFlight]

Any updates on Looping Dragon? Im guessing they may wait till a month or two after the park opens to install it.

 

Fixed that for you.

[FaithPlus1]

^^LOL

I'm hoping SFGADV receives something major next year. They deserve it, in my opinion.

[DevilsFlight]

Yeah we do. It's been almost 9 years since our last great coaster. Since then we've got a crap wild mouse and a painful stand up. We need something huge to bring in crowds. In 2017-2019 we could get overall improvements and maybe a flat or two. Then possibly a hotel by 2020.

[Woodie Warrior]

^I'm still confused why the park "deserves" a new coaster so badly. Sure it's been a while since the last one but you guys have 3 of the best coasters in the chain and you just got the world's tallest drop

tower.

 

There are lots of parks in the chain that "deserve" a new coaster. SFSTL and SFA, for example.

[Uriel Galindo]

^I'm still confused why the park "deserves" a new coaster so badly. Sure it's been a while since the last one but you guys have 3 of the best coasters in the chain and you just got the world's tallest drop

tower.

 

There are lots of parks in the chain that "deserve" a new coaster. SFSTL and SFA, for example.

And La Ronde

[DevilsFlight]

^That is true but we're one of the huge parks. We are in one of the most populous areas in the country. SFA and SFSTL are parks that aren't as big and in turn aren't in big need of a coaster. Plus spacing is an issue (La Ronde) that isn't a big problem here

[Genx24]

While part of me agrees Great Adventure needs a new coaster, from an objective stand point, GAdv has one of the best coaster line-ups in the country. Its easy to take El Toro for granted when its in your home park.

[woolandmammoth]

Gadv fans have complaied for about the past 10 years about the lack of flats. If you even suggested that Gadv needed a new coaster, youd be shot down with cries about how the park needs flats. The park has gotten a skyscreamer (flat), scrambler (flat), the worlds tallest drop tower (flat), and Looping Dragon (flat) in the past few years. The park took strides to clean up the park and add the flats enthusiasts begged for. They havent made a large scale investment since 2006 and 2016 will mark 10 years since the last new major coaster. Perhaps something really big is in the pipes. Or maybe six flags is trying to lower guest expectations for new additions. Who knows with them.

[coasterbill]

Great Adventure is my home park (well, technically SFNE is but I don't like to talk about that. lol) and I really don't think this park needs any major new attractions in the next few years. I'd love some, don't get me wrong but we already have an awesome coaster lineup and in the last 3 years we've received huge additions.

 

In the last 3 years we've recieved...

 

1) The world's tallest drop tower

2) The best family attraction in the history of Great Adventure which is amazingly popular with everyone (Safari Off Road Adventure)

3) An awesome 242 foot Sky Screamer

4) A new Scrambler

5) New Bumper Cars

6) A Kid's ride (though the ride was in storage and had previously operated at the park).

 

The park has issues but an awesome collection of rides isn't one of them, and those 6 rides are a very diverse group of rides designed to appeal to absolutely everyone. People have been complaining about flats and we got 4 of them, plus one on the way next year... we also got a huge drop tower and Safari which has been a massive success and really is a great attraction.

 

I'd rathe the park work on making what they already have better (fixing the other side of Skyway, new lighting and paint, theming and aesthetic improvements and getting rid of this terrible policy of closing rides early all the time) than get new attractions. Would I love a new coaster? Sure... but do we need one? No.

[Jcoaster]

I think in the upcoming years the park could use some much needed TLC to the infrastructure, along with a few more newer flats and maybe, just maybe a new family coaster to replace the enormous gap Rolling Thunder left.

[Lightnin Loops]

Any updates on Looping Dragon? Im guessing they may wait till a week or two before the park opens to install it.

 

 

its not opening till memorial day weekend. dodnt expect any updates till about april.

[Lightnin Loops]

I think in the upcoming years the park could use some much needed TLC to the infrastructure, along with a few more newer flats and maybe, just maybe a new family coaster to replace the enormous gap Rolling Thunder left.

 

how about tear down old country that is just rotting away. how about demolish the disgusting greatlake grandstand. such a eye sore. the park needs to be cleaned up. its very dirty. and the park hasn't added a good coaster in just about 10yrs. its time for something big. also, they need to improve ride staffing. all their coasters always run min staffing. I feel so sorry for them. always stacking trains. the park ride operations has really fallen at SFGadv. Medusa and Nitro this past season had the worst ride crews I have ever seen. just terrible.

[RideofSteel]

^To be fair, even with a great crew Bizarro usually double stacks because the floor takes so long to raise and lower. Plus, it doesn't really make sense to staff it with additional people when it doesn't generate long lines.

 

Nitro's crew was awful this past season, there's no way to deny that. It double stacked almost every time on all of my visits.

[BoulderDash]

The floor only adds like 4 seconds. Definitely does not have a major impact.I only got to the park once this year but Nitro and Bizarro had the worst ride ops. El Toro had fantastic ops. But Bizarro was double train stacking and then some at times. Nitro was mainly single stacked.

[El Toro_Ryan]

The floor only adds like 4 seconds. Definitely does not have a major impact.I only got to the park once this year but Nitro and Bizarro had the worst ride ops. El Toro had fantastic ops. But Bizarro was double train stacking and then some at times. Nitro was mainly single stacked.

 

Having worked Bizarro, the floors absolutely had a huge impact on intervals. In order to not double stack on Bizarro, you have to dispatch the train in the station while the train on the course is leaving the MCBR. That is very early for a three train running B&M. Nitro can dispatch with a train in the bunny hills and not double stack. And then by the time the next train parks in the station, the train on the lift is already half way up. I'm not saying Bizarro had a good crew (most of the employees there were very slow) but it takes a lot of work to get that thing not to stack with only two people checking the train.

 

And yeah, Nitro's crew was definitely slacking this year as compared to other years. Not sure why, I guess they were just really lazy. lol

[thrillseeker4552]

Great Adventure is my home park (well, technically SFNE is but I don't like to talk about that. lol) and I really don't think this park needs any major new attractions in the next few years. I'd love some, don't get me wrong but we already have an awesome coaster lineup and in the last 3 years we've received huge additions.

 

In the last 3 years we've recieved...

 

1) The world's tallest drop tower

2) The best family attraction in the history of Great Adventure which is amazingly popular with everyone (Safari Off Road Adventure)

3) An awesome 242 foot Sky Screamer

4) A new Scrambler

5) New Bumper Cars

6) A Kid's ride (though the ride was in storage and had previously operated at the park).

 

The park has issues but an awesome collection of rides isn't one of them, and those 6 rides are a very diverse group of rides designed to appeal to absolutely everyone. People have been complaining about flats and we got 4 of them, plus one on the way next year... we also got a huge drop tower and Safari which has been a massive success and really is a great attraction.

 

I'd rathe the park work on making what they already have better (fixing the other side of Skyway, new lighting and paint, theming and aesthetic improvements and getting rid of this terrible policy of closing rides early all the time) than get new attractions. Would I love a new coaster? Sure... but do we need one? No.

 

I agree with this. SFGAv has such a great line-up. Living in SoCal, I'd be VERY thankful to have Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Superman, Zumanjaro, and a few others all at my home park. But then again, Twisted Colossus is coming to me next year and it has got to be the best thing California has received since X2!

[thrillseeker4552]

(Deleted post--accidentally double posted)

[gardyloo!]

Hey just a random question. I'm going to visit NY next summer and probaply SF GAdv. It's gonna be my first time so does anyone have a few tips (like which attraction has the longest lines, which has really slow loading operations, how should i plan my day) .

[hydra]

^Buy a Platinum Flash Pass. Enjoy your day.

[coasterbill]

^^That all depends on if the park can get Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro to run together. If not... then Kingda Ka has horrendous operations as they can only launch about 2-3 trains every 10 minutes. You should immediately head to Kingda Ka at opening even before getting a Flash Pass if you want a front seat ride (which you do because it's amazing in the front and mediocre and rough everywhere else... seriously, you want a front seat ride. Riding it anywhere else is a waste of time).

 

Then get the Flash Pass and lines won't be an issue for the rest of the day. Superman always has a long, slow moving line but with the Flash Pass it doesn't really matter... especially because when you're waiting in the station you can be virtually waiting for something else. Operations are generally very good at Great Adventure and the longest you'll wait for anything besides Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro is probably 45 minutes to an hour even on the busiest summer day. Keep in mind that Safari Off Road Adventure is a cool experience but if you do it you need to set aside at least 90 minutes to 2 hours once you get on the ride so whether or not you ride it is totally up to you and what you want to see while at the park. I can't recommend it enough but if you only have one day and coasters are your focus then I understand skipping it.

 

As far as non coaster rides (besides Safari) I highly recommend Houdini, Sky Screamer (though the same exact ride exists in a lot of other places), the Log Flume, Zumanjaro and for their historic value the Skyway (which is the only operating double Skyway in the U.S. and came from the New York World's Fair and the parachutes as it's the only parachute drop left in the country.

[gardyloo!]

^Buy a Platinum Flash Pass. Enjoy your day.

 

Haha thanks, i think i'm gonna buy the gold one.

^^That all depends on if the park can get Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro to run together. If not... then Kingda Ka has horrendous operations as they can only launch about 2-3 trains every 10 minutes. You should immediately head to Kingda Ka at opening even before getting a Flash Pass if you want a front seat ride (which you do because it's amazing in the front and mediocre and rough everywhere else... seriously, you want a front seat ride. Riding it anywhere else is a waste of time).

 

Then get the Flash Pass and lines won't be an issue for the rest of the day. Superman always has a long, slow moving line but with the Flash Pass it doesn't really matter... especially because when you're waiting in the station you can be virtually waiting for something else. Operations are generally very good at Great Adventure and the longest you'll wait for anything besides Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro is probably 45 minutes to an hour even on the busiest summer day. Keep in mind that Safari Off Road Adventure is a cool experience but if you do it you need to set aside at least 90 minutes to 2 hours once you get on the ride so whether or not you ride it is totally up to you and what you want to see while at the park. I can't recommend it enough but if you only have one day and coasters are your focus then I understand skipping it.

 

As far as non coaster rides (besides Safari) I highly recommend Houdini, Sky Screamer (though the same exact ride exists in a lot of other places), the Log Flume, Zumanjaro and for their historic value the Skyway (which is the only operating double Skyway in the U.S. and came from the New York World's Fair and the parachutes as it's the only parachute drop left in the country.

Thank you so much ,that was exactly the kinda answer i was looking for . But can't you decide where you wanna sit on Kingda Ka?

[coasterbill]

Yes... but waiting for the front will add an hour to your wait time at least (even with the Flash Pass since it's all in the station) with the new operating procedures which is why I'd book it to Kingda Ka as soon as the park opens so you can avoid that. But seriously... ride it in the front, even if you do have to wait an extra hour.

[gardyloo!]

Ok thanks. Btw since SF AGdv is your home park, how are the operations on ZDoD?

And if kingdaka can only send 3 trains every 10 minutes woudn't the capacity be about 300 p/h (which is extremely low ,especially for a huge park)