Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[KBrylczyk]

Hiya, dudes, dudettes, duders, trans-duderinos, and whatever else you nuts identify as these days. Personally, I like to think of myself as a bag of meat, albeit oversized. I really need to get back to the gym. Anyone want to be my gym buddy? Anyone? Please? I need friends...

 

I digress. Let's get this show on the road...

 

ZUMANJARO: DROP OF DOOM VR - MEDIA DAY TRIP REPORT

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Yes, yes, I was lucky enough to be invited to the media day for the BRAND SPANKIN' NEW Zumanjaro: Drop Of Doom VR: Murderous Spiders Vs. Humans And Robots: Totally Not Transformers Or Pacific Rim: The Experience: The Ride! Full disclosure, I had never ridden Zumanjaro prior to this as I was living out west when Zumanjaro was installed. I've been on Lex Luthor plenty, though, so I had an idea of what I was in for. How'd the event go? Read on, grasshopper...

 

Our ride taping was scheduled for 12:10pm but we were told in advance that we were welcome to arrive at any time and ride as many times as we would like. We pulled into the parking lot around 11:15 or so and took some time to get a few photos and videos. They ran a few cycles and by the time we walked to the loading area they had just gone on a short break before the next block of riders. Oh, well, guess we'll just help ourselves to the free brunch menu and juice and soda! After scarfing down a breakfast pastry and some potato salad (I didn't make the menu, I just ate it) we poked around the station area and got a feel for the headset operation.

 

One of my biggest questions going in was how the heck they're going to secure these VR headsets to us on such a high-intensity ride. I've done three VR rides this past summer in Europe (one at Bobbejaanland and two at Europa) and they were all on fairly tame rides where flying headsets weren't a real concern. Six Flags has it covered, though! Each headset is color-coded for one of the three gondolas via a lanyard (red, green, or blue). This lanyard goes over your head and around your neck first, then the actual VR headset goes on and gets tightened, and finally there is a red chin strap that the ride ops will tighten for you. Don't worry, they won't choke you! When all is said and done, that headset isn't going anywhere!

 

Speaking of headset concerns, there's no worry about the weight on the front of your face! Sure, it's got a heft to it initially but you'll adjust and get used to it almost immediately. If you don't, just stop being a whiny little pansy and man up. Wuss. You probably complain about El Toro being too rough on your precious bum-bum, too.

 

Let's talk about the ride. Can we talk about the ride? We're gonna talk about the ride. Remember earlier when I said I had never ridden Zumanjaro prior to this event? I wasn't kidding. My first ever ride was with the VR and it was also the one they took video of. My reaction to everything is 100% legit, including the drop. I am not hamming it up. Keep that in the back of your mind when you watch it because it becomes that much more hilarious. Anyways, I'm gonna give you two reviews, with and without the headset, and my opinions on which is better. Let's starts with the VR -

 

With VR - We begin the ride in a war-torn city street staring at a flaming car and general carnage all around. We have our trusty minigun directly in front of us, though! I've seen Full Metal Jacket, so I'm obviously fully trained in using a minigun. It automatically will aim wherever you are looking, so get those neck muscles moving, folks! As soon as the actual ride is dispatched the real fun begins in VR-land. You are riding shotgun on a helicopter to assist giant robo-soldiers the size of El Toro in murdering the crap out of hundreds of giant spiders taking over the city! There's also a ton of flying evil bat-bee-spider-death monsters that attack, as well! Immediately upon liftoff you see your robotic cohorts shooting at unseen enemies only to turn a bit and BOOM, GIANT SPIDER CLIMBING THE BUILDING LIKE KING KONG KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT NOW NOW NOW!!!!!!!!!! OMG FLYING EVIL BAT-BEE-SPIDER-DEATH MONSTERS KILL THEM ALL GET ME A FLAMETHROWER BECAUSE BULLETS AREN'T ENOUGH OMG THERE'S SPIDERS CRAWLING ON MY LEGS AND GUN CRAP CRAP MORE EVIL BAT-BEE-SPIDER-DEATH MONSTERS WHY WON'T THEY DIE FASTER GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GIANT BLACK WIDOW OH NO HE KILLED A ROBOT FRIEND YOU WILL NOT DIE IN VAIN NOT-OPTIMUS-PRIME I SHALL AVENGE YOU DIE DIE DIE SPIDER DIE BUAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CRAP CRAP THERE'S MORE BAT-BEE-SPIDER-DEATH MONSTERS I CAN'T WIN SEND IN THE NUKES DO IT NOW THERE'S ANOTHER MASSIVE SPIDER QUEEN ATOP THE BUILDING AND ANOTHER ROBOT FRIEND IS FLYING UP TO SHOOT IT WITH ROCKETS NOT DON'T DO THAT SPIDER DON'T DO IT NOOOOOOOOOO WE'RE CRASHING WE'RE GONNA DIE HOLY CRAP GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-WE'RE STILL FALLING-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, phew, we landed in a huge spider-web! We're safe! We didn't explode! Um...what? No, no, there's another giant spider and it's GONNA EAT US EW GET AWAY NO NO NO!!!!!!

 

Yeah, that's essentially the ride. It's awesome and nutty and a ton of fun! Thanks to the video-game elements I was too busy shooting monsters to have any idea when we'd reached the top of the tower, I was just blasting away then boom, the drop, and it scared the crap out of me! No anticipation, just complete surprise! I loved it!

 

WithOUT VR - The ride is high, the view is alright (again, central Jersey is flat and green, nothing special), but the drop is INSANE! It just keeps on going, faster and faster, until the brakes catch you at what feels like 10 feet above the ground!

 

Which is better? - Neither. I consider them equals. Why? Well, without the VR the climb to the top is uneventful and it's really just a glorified observation tower. I felt completely secure and safe the entire way up because I could clearly see the structure of Kingda Ka on either side, plus the other gondolas. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, gets a bit freaky because I never felt secure. There is no structure around you, just behind, and then a Supes car will rocket up the tower and shake it like a polaroid picture and really get things funky! With the VR, the climb is action-packed and a lot of fun! The drop with the VR is fun and all but the illusion isn't sold as well as it could be. Without the VR the drop is just crazy because you can see and hear the ride vehicle getting faster and faster and, for me, it makes it that much more intense.

 

To sum up, VR wins the ascent, non-VR wins the descent. Therefore they're equals in my book.

 

We rode a bunch of times for the next hour or so switching between VR and non-VR and had a blast every time! Not everyone is a fan of VR but it will definitely make a lot more people smile than not. This is definitely a win for Six Flags! Give it a try and beat your buddies' high scores!

 

On with the pics and videos!

Empty parking lot. Definitely not something you see every day here!

Look, goggles! Note the color-coding.

Goggles, gondola, and an age restriction.

Straps out the yin-yang!

Sponsorship photo!

I promise it's not the one that explodes.

I really like this photo.

Getting a gondola ready to ride!

Final look at the headset storage.

Edited May 9, 2017 by robbalvey

[thefed29]

While I have no idea why they even opened the park today because of the rain, it was still open and we headed there in the pouring rain. There was about 30 other cars in the parking lot. Did dark knight and skull mountain twice and then found out they were actually running nitro. Rode nitro theee times in a row back seat in legitimate torrential downstairs. It was the most exciting/painful rides I've ever had on a coaster. Also 've never been so soaked in my life.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Thanks, Kyle! I always enjoy your trip reports, and I must say this one has many more murderous spiders than usual. Glad you had a good time! Made me even more excited for my visit in about 3 months.

[boldikus]

Nice report, thanks for sharing!

[Vigil]

I got back today from my first trip to SFGAdv, and after a bit of a rough start it turned out great. I stayed over after my friend's place in Bethesda before heading up Friday. We knew the weather wasn't great and wary of the warning that the park could close, but the drive up had some clear spots so we were hopeful. We checked Twitter about every 30 minutes just to make sure. And then we checked it as we are about to pull in... "Park closing at 1pm." Aaaaaand it was 1:06. So after a brief period of disappointment (mitigated in part by the heads up, so thanks for that.) We left and saw Guardians 2 at a mall in Pennsylvania.

 

Saturday, however, was fantastic. I'm going to guess that the initial weather forecast of rain kept people away, because almost every single ride was a walk-on all day. Despite that it only rained for about ten minutes in the late afternoon.

 

Overall, I was impressed with the park. It was my first Six Flag park, and I got a Hersheypark-mixed-with-Kings Dominion vibe from it a bit. We did Kingda Ka first, and I really liked it. We sat in the front, and the launch seemed a more intense than Dragster's. I know people like Dragster's launch better because it is smoother, but I kind of liked (or at least appreciated) the stepped launch. It felt like it just kept getting faster and more intense which was nice. Still a great ride. The one thing I would say is just that that type of ride lends itself so well to spectators. Having Dragster smack in the middle of the park with its station music blasting and the stands just makes it a lot more exciting. Ka lacks that which isn't quite as fun.

 

We did Zumanjaro VR next (and the regular ride later). I agree with the earlier post. Both were cool (and this was my first VR ride too). Going up was really cool on the VR, feeling the wind on your legs while playing the game. You just don't really get a sense of how high you are. The regular ride is also cool. Not quite the most intense drop, but it does just last forever.

 

El Toro is just amazing. Lived up to my high expectations. Not much to say outside that. The Safari was awesome! Such a unique experience at a park like this.

 

The rest of the coasters were good too. Bizarro was a fun ride, really smooth and just plain fun. Green Lantern wasn't actually that bad. I hate standups, but it was fine. We didn't have any headbanging. Superman was also cool, my first B&M flying. Joker was interesting. It was short, and I found fairly intense. Just a lot of crazy which-direction-am-I-facing. Batman was good (my first of the clones), and Nitro was an A+ B&M hyper. Dark Knight had such a good pre-show. What a waste of a ride concept on a wild mouse. WTF even was Skull Mountain though haha?

 

My last comment is actually about Houdini's Great Escape. This was ridiculous! I had never been on that type of ride (it's a Vekoma Funhouse, right?), and it was one of the most disorienting things I've ever seen. It made my friend super nauseous, but I loved it. It's so simple but so convincing, and I love ride concepts like that.

 

We went back for about an hour this morning to hit up Ka and Nitro again before we left. Ka broke down immediately after we rode it. The center gondola of Zumanjaro kept getting stuck up top. The first they lowered it down slowly. The second time Ka actually launched up the tower right as it started to drop. Which I assume it isn't supposed to do, so I wonder what happened.

 

Overall, great park, good times, go Hoos.

[michaellynn4]

Glad you had a great time! However...

 

WTF even was Skull Mountain though haha?

 

You bite your f**king tongue, mister.

[boldikus]

Sounds like a nice visit, glad you liked the park. I always love hearing a newbies take on our home turf.

 

WTF even was Skull Mountain though haha?

 

Hopefully now you realize why we have such a fondness for this incomparable work of greatness.

[phillies2]

i went to the park on Sunday with a first timer and it wasn't too bad, it rained a couple times and was cold at times, but it turned out to be a nice trip. We got there a little later than expected and got stop in security and the gate which kind of sucked, but at least it was the longest we waited all day. We started with batman and stayed on a couple rides since we could. My friend really didn't like the Dark Night, but loved Skull mountain and Nitro.

 

I read back a several pages and didn't see this mentioned, but has anyone had any problems with the new phone/key policies on El Toro and King da Ka? The guy at the entrance to El Toro was giving others/me a lot of shit about it. I had a Jacket with zipper pockets just for this time of year and riding coasters. If it wasn't for the sunglasses over my phone in my pocket I would have had to get a locker. They said zippers don't matter, but that really didn't make any sense to me, it was really causing problems with people trying to get in line. I can't honestly imagine the policy lasting when bigger crowds come with the warmer weather, but everyone has a phone. Wondering if anyone else had any problems/ anything with this? I understand where it's coming from, I myself got hit by someones phone on el toro before, but it just seems like a way for them to get a cheap buck. I just wish I knew about it before I went.

 

I do have praise for the Bizarro crew, they were pumping trains through and the team leader was really pumped up. another guy said he sounded like an auctioneer. I got a completely different vibe from the ride. We were going to wait for Superman, but it started raining and they took a train off and we weren't about to wait with the queue full under the canopies. We then went over and waited for Ka to open up again and got on pretty fast. We were row 4 and it felt faster than usual, we actually lucked out and got to stay on since the people in are queue had to wait another train for family. All in all it was a good day and my friend enjoyed himself

[njcoasterguy34]

They're making a fuss about phones and keys on El Toro because stupid idiots are taking them out of their zippered pockets after they leave the station.

[cfc]

Thanks for the Drop of Doom report, Kyle. It looks like a pretty good addition to Zumanjaro, but I think I'd still prefer the "regular" version of the ride.

[Henry M]

Falcons fury VR would be great! I have actually been on a VR drop simulator before at Holovis. It was really good fun, and emphasized the drop, even though there was no real drop. Putting it on a real drop tower would make it even better.

[boldikus]

 

I read back a several pages and didn't see this mentioned, but has anyone had any problems with the new phone/key policies on El Toro and King da Ka?

 

If you go back to the second operating weekend of the year it was discussed and discussed and discussed. Luckily people seem to have gotten over it around these parts and hopefully it stays that way. Sucks, but it is what it is.

[jynx242]

Vigil - that is a pretty great picture of Ka with the dark clouds in the background, but lit by the sun behind you. Good job.

 

Kyle - thanks for the report. I felt the same on Acrophobia with VR at SFoG. I wasn't really looking forward to it because drop towers are unnerving and I F&*#ing hate spiders, but the video game aspect of it was pretty cool .

[cfc]

WTF even was Skull Mountain though haha?

 

Hopefully now you realize why we have such a fondness for this incomparable work of greatness.

 

A true cult classic.

[Jcoaster]

Skull Mountain is a staple and Great Adventure as well as one of Intamin's finest works. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.

[Jason Maier]

I'll admit . . . . I liked Skull Mountain & Dark Knight when I went last year. Gives you a nice break from the sun just coastering indoors

[DILinator]

What do they do regarding wallets on El Toro? My wallet is in my front pocket. Would they want me to take that out too? All of this is quite absurd... Nothing in my front pockets, when I'm sitting, is EVER in danger of coming out of my pockets, as it's sealed off by my position of sitting, and the seat belt/restraint.

[Jason Maier]

What do they do regarding wallets on El Toro? My wallet is in my front pocket. Would they want me to take that out too? All of this is quite absurd... Nothing in my front pockets, when I'm sitting, is EVER in danger of coming out of my pockets, as it's sealed off by my position of sitting, and the seat belt/restraint.

 

I don't know what their policy is . . . but since I have my wallet on my chain attached to my belt loop, it's not a problem since it's packed deep into my pocket when riding (the exception being if I ride Mind Eraser or Batwing at SFA, I just take my wallet and keys out of my pocket).

 

I guess they don't want people to lose their valuables on rides (I did see someone's wallet fly out on Superman: Ride of Steel last month)

[njcoasterguy34]

What they don't want is idiots purposely taking their cameras out of their pockets after leaving the station. Instead of banning those who take them out, they just ban you from bringing them on the ride completely.

[coasterbill]

My wallet is in my front pocket. Would they want me to take that out too?

 

Yes. Wallets are no longer allowed.

[Brassinthegrass]

If I can be open and honest here, we went a few weeks ago and walked up to El Toro with nothing visible and just said "I have nothing in my pockets" and walked right past the 16 year old working the front of the queue... its not like they are doing pat downs, if you know (as a seasoned coaster enthusiast I would assume you do) that things in your pockets are going to stay in your pockets (zippers for instance) than you can just walk on though...

 

don't be an ass and whip out your phone on the ride, you know not to do that...

[Superbatboy]

don't be an A$$ and whip out your phone on the ride, you know not to do that...

Probably my biggest pet peeve, because it shows such a blatant disregard for not only park rules but other guest's safety. Plus it's like no one gives a f* about your choppy iphone pov. Let the professionals do it

[jamesinclair]

Prediction: Loose article policy will result in a fist fight before July 4

[TBpony414]

How do you quote someone and have their photo show up in the reply quote? When I click "quote" it just gives me their text, not the photo. Thanks in advance as I'm a complete computer retard over here. Reason being I wanted to compliment Vigil a few pages back on the neato shot of Ka with the dark clouds and sun!

[Superbatboy]

Prediction: Loose article policy will result in a fist fight before July 4

At Six Flags in New Jersey?? Pretty high probability