Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Is anyone at the park today? If so I'm interested in the crowds today and the ride operations, especially concerning El Toro. I know it was opening day yesterday, and i hope it was just opening day kinks, but it was so bad that im just curious to see how the ops are today and if its improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcoaster Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Is anyone at the park today? If so I'm interested in the crowds today and the ride operations, especially concerning El Toro. I know it was opening day yesterday, and i hope it was just opening day kinks, but it was so bad that im just curious to see how the ops are today and if its improved. Thats the funny part. It really wasn't opening day kinks, it was the same problem that always plagues its operations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Is anyone at the park today? If so I'm interested in the crowds today and the ride operations, especially concerning El Toro. I know it was opening day yesterday, and i hope it was just opening day kinks, but it was so bad that im just curious to see how the ops are today and if its improved. Thats the funny part. It really wasn't opening day kinks, it was the same problem that always plagues its operations. It was definitely much worse than ive ever seen. Last year, the crew was grinding out train very fast, and made hour long waits half an hour for me. Yesterday they made a 5 minute wait a forty minute wait for me. I know they're a new crew, but I thought they could've done a bit better than what they did yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejot Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I can confirm that operations on Toro were frighteningly bad yesterday - four to ten minute dispatch intervals with one train running. Some sort of supervisor-ish lady was behind the mic for the better part of the afternoon. Earlier she'd been running around yelling (literally) at the new employees about where they should be going and what they should be doing. I know it's opening day, but they really need to train these guys/gals better, sooner; it was embarrassing for the riders and employees. Most other rides were literally 95% empty all day long but there was a 40min wait at 2pm for Toro. Front seat wait had to be 90min+ at that point. At one point the supervisor lady says, into the mic, at the new employees: "What did send this hour, fifteen?" I honestly couldn't tell if the tone was "hey, good job" or "are you freaking kidding me?" Why was a supervisor behind the mic? It may have had something to do with this gem, from a new employee, earlier: "Visual scan...... awlllll clear... NO WAIT! CANCEL!! Hey, ladies! If you're not riding, you have to stand behind the gate..." Nitro ops improved throughout the day Sat. At the end they were running two trains with ... woah.. no stacking! For all 6 laps of my mini-marathon. C train is butter smooth. A is decent but gives a few shakes here and there. C has blue wheels (polyurethane?) and A has white wheels (nylon?). Or vice versa, lol. Skyride crew was on the ball and the cable was FULL of cabins, just like the famous Cedar Point pic that floats around here. Well done. They added drainage to the walkway part of the BTR queue, so you don't have to step through or around 6" of water on really wet day. (Confirmed working; it was raining. Congrats Six Flags engineering team, job well done. I'm not being sarcastic, it was nice to see this effort.) Ka ran in the afternoon. It even started to sprinkle lightly and they kept going, fortunately that mist stopped. Green train was very close to rolling back for most of the launches I saw. Front seat was a 1/2h wait and well worth it. It was fairly cold but this is still a strip-down-to-a-tanktop-and-put-your-arms-up-the-whole-ride for me. Not ashamed to really enjoy it. Superman was down most of the day until the late afternoon and I got one ride in. OMG I have forgotten my love for pretzel loops, now I remember why I rank Tatsu so abnormally high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolandmammoth Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I'm at the park now. Kinga Ka, El Toro, Nitro, and Jaro are all closed. Tied along side slow operations, I'm waiting 20 minutes for bizarro. Honestly, park looks even worse than when last season. I'd score today's visit at 3/10. The park seems like they were suprised that they opened at all today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genx24 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 ^^ I saw that supervisor, too. She definitely didn't look pleased with her crew. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but most of the mistakes were avoidable. At one point the guy at the panel was mumbling into the mic, and the pair checking restraints had to stop and walk to the booth just to hear what the op on the mic was saying. That's not "opening day kinks", thats laziness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Yeah that supervisor lady yesterday seemed very stressed out. She looks like she was in total control and was telling everyone what to do. Also, yesterday, when they tried bringing the second train out, they sent it around once with no one on, then the supervisor lady, and a few new attendants and some maintenance people got on board for a test run when it came around again. Once it seemed fine, they opened the ride again. Then a minute later, they said they were having more difficulties and without anyone getting a ride, put the second train they just put on back on the transfer track. It was really aggravating. I hope this will not continue throughout the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I seem to recall similar reports in years past about how SFGAdv in particular seems to really struggle for the first few weeks after opening with ride/park closures, poor customer service and new crews learning the ropes. I think that I will be sure not to visit the park during these times and wait until they get into more stable operating procedures....say, at least a month or two into the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolandmammoth Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I noticed today that "Bug's House" is gone from seaport. With the foam factor gone, bug's house gone, and fort independence on the block, a major coaster along the lake front would fit very nicely. Perhaps that section of seaport will turn into an entry plaza for a new coaster. It's borderline abandoned at this point either way. Perhaps the Grandstand will also get the axe as it is a huge eyesore. While loosing two venues may be a bummer, we have several others around the park unused. Things are adding up for the lake front to get the next major addition. It's a bummer since there's so many spots in the park that are already empty and need a little life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 ^I know. I think the area by Old country needs it the most as it is a ghost town, and a new ride there will just revive that section of the park. On the lake from would be good too, as there is very little foot traffic there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThemeParkJunkie51290 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 A wing or dive coaster would fit in nicely at the park. I'm thinking a "jungle theme." But with so much possible space that's becoming available it could be the biggest, baddest, and most terrifying coaster yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 A wing or dive coaster would fit in nicely at the park. I'm thinking a "jungle theme." But with so much possible space that's becoming available it could be the biggest, baddest, and most terrifying coaster yet! I'm honestly really excited about next year. With the amount of land available, they could really add something truly incredible. I just hope they don't pull a Six Flags and fill it with something cheap. I think it's about time they dump a huge investment in the park, as it's been a while since they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 (edited) Well today was different to say the least... Zumanjaro, Kingda Ka and El Toro were closed all day and Nitro only made a handful of runs so that was essentially closed all day too. Still, we managed to spend a full day at the park and have a great time, mainly because of Batman which we rode more times than we could could and somehow was just running insanely well, totally ripping through the course and as always was ridiculously smooth in every seat. This ride is absolutely amazing. We also rode Superman, Skull Mountain and Bizarro which were all running well and we did the Safari which is always great. They have a new lion cub at Camp Aventura this year and she's pretty much the cutest thing in the history of ever. Anyway enough about that, the standout thing from today was the Clusterf**k that happened at Nitro. After one of our many rides on Batman we noticed Nitro was opened so we headed over and after a 15 minute wait we managed to get on the train. They had tested with water dummies for awhile and I guess they finally felt confident enough to open it and the full trains seemed to be moving through the course just fine despite the insane winds. When we got on the train they loaded us, gave the all clear and then the train wouldn't move. They told everyone to get off the train and step back into line and maintenance came over, did some work on the panel and about 10 minutes later they were ready to go. So then they dispatched the train... the empty train. As soon as they did that my girlfriend looked at me and just said something along the lines of "Oh no, they didn't really just do that did they?". I thought it seemed like a bad idea but of course figured that the Six Flags maintenance guys knew what they were doing a lot more than a couple of dumb enthusiasts so we boarded the train and sort of forgot about it. All of a sudden one of the ride ops looks to the back of the station in a panic and yelled for the attention of the other ride ops. We turned around knowing exactly what the problem probably was and saw the train start to go up the hill before the swooping turn into the helix and crest the hill at what seemed like 1mph (I think everyone in the station was shocked that it made it... I'm not exaggerating, nobody thought that train was going to make it over), then it went into the helix and crawled up to the mid course where it apparently stopped. My guess is that it stopped at least partially in the mid course which is a miracle in itself because it didn't roll backwards but it didn't make it back to the station. Obviously after watching that they told us they were closing the ride for the day and they let us off the ride. It's too bad we didn't get to ride but it was definitely an interesting thing to watch. I still can't believe they actually sent that train empty. They got really lucky. By the end of the night all 3 trains were back in the station area. Edited April 5, 2015 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega_Coaster_77 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Wow. When I was there yesterday everything was open and running fantastic except for the operations. Must've been one of the worst days in a while at the part. So did the Nitro train valley somewhere on the ride or did it stop on the MCBR? It ran great yesterday. Was it the winds that caused it? And also, how were the crowds today? (Sorry for all the questions ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 So did the Nitro train valley somewhere on the ride or did it stop on the MCBR? It ran great yesterday. Was it the winds that caused it? And also, how were the crowds today? (Sorry for all the questions ) It must have made it to the mid course (how... I don't know because it looked like it was going to valley for sure), you can see the approach to the mid course from the station but not the mid course itself. This didn't seem to be a simple case of the ride stopping in the mid course block brake. Given the speed it was going and the fact that the next block was obviously not occupied I think it's reasonable to assume that the ride stalled, it just picked a great place to do it. It was scary how slowly it went through the helix and over the previous hill. And yes, it seems like it was wind related. A ton of rides were closed due to wind. Crowds were pretty light today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouscactus Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Toro did in fact valley yesterday during test runs... not a full train of test dummy's... -- had to have picked the worst day to go of the season. I didn't get to ride nitro during the small window it was open either. Unfortunately it is an 8 hour drive for me each way... Oh well. I did get to ride Houdini, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithPlus1 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 ^on top of that Looping Diablo isn't open yet:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Toro did in fact valley yesterday during test runs... I'm not that surprised to hear that. I can't fault Great Adventure at all for yesterday. They tried to open Nitro and apparently El Toro despite insane winds and in both cases the rides stalled / valleyed. I don't totally understand why Zumanjaro, a ride that can't valley and Kingda Ka, a ride that's designed to valley couldn't have opened but I'm sure there's a good reason for it since they clearly did everything they could to try to open everything. The winds yesterday were just nuts. EDIT: Oh yeah... now that you mention that here's a photo of yesterday's valleyed El Toro train from twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNT Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp1086 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Regarding Memberships, if my home park is really SFGAdv but the first park I'll be visiting this summer is Six Flags St. Louis, do they have any way of enforcing me buying it (planning Gold Membership) based on St. Louis prices but basically always going to Great Adventure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genx24 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 So glad I decided to go Friday instead of yesterday. I'll take rain with most every ride running over a sunny day with nothing open. Now I need to plan my return visit. I want to go again before Coasters After Dark but that remains to be seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcoaster Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 A wing or dive coaster would fit in nicely at the park. I'm thinking a "jungle theme." But with so much possible space that's becoming available it could be the biggest, baddest, and most terrifying coaster yet! Meh. Next coaster at this park needs to be something unique, or bigger and badder than everything else. Thats the "Great Adventure Way." I do not, I repeat DO NOT want another B&M lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genx24 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Most likely coaster for GAdv, I feel, is a S&S 4D Free Spin like the one being built at SFFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comeagain? Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 High winds can also cause the cars to hang at an angle and in some cases (like ARM/Larson towers) it can prevent the car from detaching correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilsFlight Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Most likely coaster for GAdv, I feel, is a S&S 4D Free Spin like the one being built at SFFT. While that is a different experience, the capacity is terrible. However a 4D like X2 from S&S would have a higher capacity with a similar experience, but I doubt that'll happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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