Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[Ed Farmer]

Good morning everyone!!!

 

I know what you were all thinking. You were all thinking "I already love Fright Fest because of the lackluster mazes and theming, orgy of upcharges and insanely excessive wait times... but I wish there was a way to make those wait times even more excessive."

 

Behold...

 

Six Flags Announces Rage of the Gargoyles VR Experience on 8 Coasters

 

 

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, (NYSE: SIX), and Samsung Electronics America, Inc., the “Official Technology Partner” of the world’s largest regional theme park company, today announced the next evolution of Virtual Reality experiences coming to eight parks this fall. The company that introduced North America’s first VR Coasters earlier this year, using Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus – is taking thrill-seekers on an all-new 360 degree adventure in Rage of the Gargoyles,a chilling, futuristic battle between good and evil featuring the first-ever interactive roller coaster gaming experience.

 

“The guest response to the virtual reality coasters at our parks has been outstanding, further solidifying Six Flags as the world leader in innovative rides and attractions,” said Six Flags President and CEO John Duffey. “One of the most exciting things about this technology is that we have the ability to change the storylines to offer our guests new thrills and new reasons to visit our parks. Just like the Superman and New Revolution VR Coasters currently operating in nine of our parks, Rage of the Gargoyles will be another first for our guests.”

 

“What’s been so great about our partnership with Six Flags is that it’s perfectly in line with Samsung’s mission to bring Samsung Gear VR and virtual reality technology to the masses,” said Marc Mathieu, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Electronics America. “More and more people will get to experience VR for the first time through this totally unique and immersive experience.”

 

In Rage of the Gargoyles, riders – wearing Samsung Gear VR headsets – are pilots seated in the cockpit of an Apache-style helicopter. With a devastated cityscape as the backdrop, a fleet of choppers prepares to battle an army of terrorizing, winged creatures. The action-packed adventure begins when riders ascend up the coaster’s lift hill as the blood-thirsty gargoyles mercilessly attack the copter’s fragile glass barrier. The epic on-screen conflict quickly accelerates as the high-definition imagery synchs perfectly to the coaster’s movements sending riders twisting, turning and diving through the hazardous city streets – flying over battered skyscrapers, plunging underneath twisted bridges and dodging falling debris, all while shooting to repel these lethal demons and conquer the vicious master gargoyle. A surprise ending to this fully-immersive virtual odyssey will leave guests breathless, and ready to experience Rage of the Gargoylesover and over again.

 

This groundbreaking VR coaster gaming experience does not need a touchpad or buttons to activate, allowing riders to keep their hands on the lap bar as they shoot. Instead, the mounted Gatling guns on the helicopters are controlled through head movements and as soon as an attacker is targeted, the weapon automatically fires. Target tracking graphics will display in HMD (Head Mounting Display) style to demonstrate the autofire function.

 

Rage of the Gargoyles will debut on the following eight roller coasters:

 

Demon at Six Flags Great America (Season Pass Preview 8/12, Officially Opening 8/13)

Skull Mountain at Six Flags Great Adventure

Shock Wave at Six Flags Over Texas

Kong at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia

Goliath at La Ronde

Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis

Steamin’ Demon at The Great Escape

For more information, visit http://www.sixflags.com/virtualrealitycoasters and http://www.samsung.com/gearvr.

 

More flags! More fun!

 

At first glance, I thought this was 8 of SFGAdv's coasters.

[SteelForceless]

^

[Ed Farmer]

Yeah, After I took a closer look, I had a hearty laugh because that would still be such a Six Flags thing to do. Maybe next year.

[prozach626]

Hi everyone. I went to the park yesterday and it was a (mostly) great day for me. Unfortunately, my main reason for visiting the park this time was to ride The Joker, but it was closed yesterday. Aside from that, I was able to get on plenty of other rides, starting with Nitro twice in a row. After that was a quick ride on Batman, which was a 5 minute wait, and The Dark Knight Coaster, which was a walk on. After that, my mother and I temporarily left the park to visit the Freehold Mall for lunch and to search for a copy of the Images of Modern America: Six Flags Great Adventure book. Mr. Applegate, if you are reading this, you have once again put together an AMAZING collection of pictures. Thank you so much for making a sequel to the first book, which I also own and adore.

 

After buying the book, I re-entered the park and went on Houdini, which was a 10 minute wait. All throughout the day, I was playing Pokemon Go in between rides, and the park is full of hot spots that are registered in the game. I played it so often that my battery ran out by 4:00 in the evening! Anyway, thanks to the life-saving single rider's line, I was able to ride Zumanjaro twice in a row, each time waiting no more than 15 minutes. After a quick ride on the Parachute Tower, I regrouped with my mother and she really wanted to ride Zumanjaro herself, so I rode it another two times with her alongside me.

 

We ate lunch at Mama Flora's then went on Bizarro twice in a row followed by Runaway Mine Train. The first two rows on the yellow/red train were tied down because they were somehow unrideable. After that, my mother was done for the day, but I still wanted to ride Toro and Kingda Ka before the day was out. Toro was a 20 minute wait and Kingda Ka (with three trains, including new ads on one of them) was about an hour or so. Ironically, right after my train finished riding Ka, they experienced minor technical difficulties and we had to wait another 5 minutes to be unloaded.

 

Overall, it was a fine day at the park. 4.5 out of 6 Flags

 

Ridelist: Zumanjaro 4x

Bizarro 2x

Nitro 2x

Batman 1x

Dark Knight 1x

Parachutes 1x

Houdini 1x

Runaway Mine Train 1x

El Toro 1x

Kingda Ka 1x

 

I'll post my pictures shortly...

 

Glad you had a great trip, but I can't help but to think... Hanging out with mom, leaving the park to get a picture book, and playing a crap ton of Pokemon in between rides. Damn things sure have changed in the last 10 years since I was 21. Just sayin...

 

Sucks Joker wasn't open. Thanks for posting the pictures. The log flume plaque was cool.

[michaellynn4]

There are a bunch of those plaques around the park, most of the older rides have them. Lost a few with recent removals (RT, GASM). Next time I'm at the park I'll take photos of them.

[carolinaman]

Me and my family ( 7 of us) are going to be there Tues and Wed of next week. We are really looking forward to visiting this park. Our home park is Carowinds and we go to SFoG a good bit. What rides should we try and do first due to long lines/ slow loading times? Does the Joker run most days cause we really want to ride it as there are none like this near us. Any tips or info would be appreciated.

[skiburkesurfjay]

Me and my family ( 7 of us) are going to be there Tues and Wed of next week. We are really looking forward to visiting this park. Our home park is Carowinds and we go to SFoG a good bit. What rides should we try and do first due to long lines/ slow loading times? Does the Joker run most days cause we really want to ride it as there are none like this near us. Any tips or info would be appreciated.

My family and I will also be there Tuesday and Wednesday. KK usually gets a long line due to low capacity. If you're interested in doing the safari, its better to do it early. I like to ride KK then go to Toro for some rerides before it gets too crowded.

[rshambo_29]

Whats up guys,

I was wondering if anyone has any insight on what crowds are like in the next two weeks. I'm from VA and I've never been here but its been on my list for a while. Also any tips on what/when to ride certain rides? The two biggest parks by are Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens so I thought I'd make the journey to something new. I'm definitely aiming for a Monday in those two weeks. Are they usually crowded then?

[larrygator]

For those asking, weekday crowds should not necessitate Flash Pass over the next two weeks. Lines will be longest between noon and 5PM. Lines tend to form for Kingda Ka, Joker, Superman: Ultimate Flight, Green Lantern and Safari Off Road Adventure. If you plan to be at the park all day and want to ride everything try to ride Kingda Ka, Joker and Safari Off Road Adventure to start the day. Kingda Ka and Joker sometimes close due to mechanical problems so get them out of the way early. Safari Off Road Adventure closes around 4-5PM. With Green Lantern and S:UF operations are slow but lines can get lighter later in the day. They are still popular rides with kids/teens and many of that age group that could be at the park with summer camp groups will leave around 5-6PM

[prozach626]

There are a bunch of those plaques around the park, most of the older rides have them. Lost a few with recent removals (RT, GASM). Next time I'm at the park I'll take photos of them.

Thanks. I like little pieces of history and random facts. It helps present the illusion of maturity and intelligence when I stop and read them.

[The Yeti]

I went to the park yesterday and had a really good time. The lines for Kingda Ka and El Toro were both 1.5-2 hours throughout the day, but that was pretty much expected, and it was my fault for not getting there before opening (turning off my alarm clock in my sleep ). It seemed that many of the major coasters had mechanical issues at some point yesterday, and although I am patient, I think my group was fairly frustrated.

 

-Joker had a minor mechanical issue while I was in line, but I ended up waiting only 30 minutes total to ride. I may have lucked out though because the ride was down later and a man on a cherry picker was working on something near the lift hill. I'm not sure if it reopened after that.

-I was only two trains away from boarding Bizzaro before it had a minor mechanical issue, and rather than waiting it out my group decided to try our luck on other rides - I believe it opened after 30 minutes of downtime.

-Kingda Ka went down at least three times while I was in line, but only for 10-15 minutes each time.

-Green Lantern went down once while I was in line, and then the restraints on my train got stuck after the ride. The ride operator said something about overshooting the train. She was pissed and it seemed it may have been another operators fault, so that was mildly entertaining. Eventually they unlocked our restraints manually and I got out of there.

-I saw El Toro run some empty trains in the early evening, although I'm not sure if there were any technical issues.

 

On to the positives...I visited the park for my first time last year, and I loved it just as much this time. I managed to get one ride on each of the following:

 

-Joker - This was our first ride of the day and my first 4D coaster. The sensation of the seats flipping was just awesome. I really loved the ride despite only getting two full flips. I'm not sure if either the green or purple side is better than the other. Both seemed to vary quite a bit with rotations while I was in line watching the ride, but I rode green and was not disappointed.

-Batman - I felt like it was less intense than my rides on Batman at SFOT, but it was early in the day and still a very intense ride. My group was pretty impressed with the intensity.

-Nitro - Awesome hypercoaster with lots of airtime. I love how Nitro manages to deliver airtime on its twisty hills and not just the straight ones, and it also pulls some decent positive g's.

-Dark Knight - We waited about 30-45 minutes for this ride. I rode the Dark Knight at Great America a few years ago, and this was worse than I remembered. Riding Dark Knight was my main regret of the day.

-Zumanjaro - I love drop rides, and the length of the drop on Zumanjaro makes it one of my favorites. There are probably more intense drop rides out there, but I kept waiting for the breaks to hit which enhanced the free fall that much more.

Green Lantern - The ride is a bit rough and bumpy, but still a lot of fun. There aren't many stand up coasters left and this has to be one of the best by far.

El Toro - Oh baby. El Toro has some insane airtime. There is nothing like being torn out of your seat. This ride is truly remarkable and easily lands in my top 5, and it may even be my number one coaster!

Kingda Ka - I wish I had gone for the front seat ride, but we rode at the end of the day, the ride was being temperamental, and my group was ready to go home. I ended up riding in row three, and although it was a little bumpy, it was totally worth the two hour wait.

 

It's hard to believe I spent 10 hours at the park and only rode seven rides. I suggested getting the Flash Pass, but my friends didn't want to cough up the dough. I've rarely visited parks on weekends, especially during the summer, so I'm used to waits under 30 minutes. It was still a great trip and I'm glad my friends got a taste of multiple world-class coasters. I can't wait to head back to the park!

[carolinaman]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We just checked in and are READY for the next two days. Another question is at SFOG they open two coasters 30 minutes before park opening, do they do anything like that here?

[Genx24]

^ No.

[carolinaman]

Ok thanks

[Password121]

Well... this blows. Hope it opens today as I won't be back soon.

[boldikus]

I'm not sure dwelling on that is wise when the best wooden coaster on the planet is about a half mile to your left. Go forth and enjoy.

[SteelForceless]

Well... this blows. Hope it opens today as I won't be back soon.

Is that a car stuck on the lift? Are there people on it?

I'm not sure dwelling on that is wise when the best wooden coaster on the planet is about a half mile to your left. Go forth and enjoy.

[coasterbill]

Is that a car stuck on the lift?

No

 

Are there people on it?

No

[Password121]

Oh lol I rode El Toro twice before I even looked at The Joker. It's not really a big deal but I was looking forward to riding. If it doesn't open I'll just ride the bull and Skull Mountain a few more times instead.

[carolinaman]

Yeah, I was kinda bummed about Joker. They said that it might open tomorrow. Gonna try again then . El Toro was GREAT and loved Kingda Ka.

[Vonni]

Well... this blows. Hope it opens today as I won't be back soon.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I was kinda bummed about Joker

 

 

 

 

Neither of you should worry too much. As SF operates you will have plenty of opportunities to ride exact clones of Joker at several different SF Parks in the next couple of years. Fret not lol

[skiburkesurfjay]

Not sure if this has been discussed recently, but the Toro crew is absolutely amazing! They're running to check restraints and are usually ready to go before the other train hits the break run. Kudos to them!

[thefed29]

Not sure if this has been discussed recently, but the Toro crew is absolutely amazing! They're running to check restraints and are usually ready to go before the other train hits the break run. Kudos to them!

 

This this this. The last time I went it blew me away at how quick this crew was every single time. Compared to the crew at bizarro... man that was a nightmare. even with the half empty trains that there was that day, there would be two waiting to unload and they were still trying to get one out of the station. slow as molasses.

[coasterfreak101]

The last time I went it blew me away at how quick this crew was every single time. Compared to the crew at bizarro... man that was a nightmare. even with the half empty trains that there was that day, there would be two waiting to unload and they were still trying to get one out of the station. slow as molasses.

I just don't understand how the El Toro crew and the Bizarro crew exist at the same park. I can understand putting your best crews on your most popular rides, but there's no excuse for how bad the Bizarro crew is. Unless it's a directive from their bosses to give the appearance of a line at this point, there's no reason those kids should have jobs.

[Password121]

On Tuesday Bizarro had a 15 minute line for most of the afternoon and at one point while I was in the station the operator said over the mic "we have a line which should never happen so we're kind of trying to be quick right now, so hurry to your seats please." At first it seemed like maybe it was a thoughtful thing to do but after a moment I realized they're essentially saying that 99% of the time they don't care about how fast they're dispatching trains.