Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[JaYmoNeY12 12]

Hello everyone, i'm planning on heading up to Great Adventure for fright fest and have two dates already set in mind. Friday September 22nd and Saturday October 7th. I know the park is only open from 5:30-Midnight on fridays but I feel it will be a mad house on any Saturday of Fright Fest, can someome tell me which day is better?

[YoshiFan]

Go on Friday the 22nd, the park is actually open all day since some schools are closed. Saturday of Columbus Day weekend is one of the most busiest days of the year.

[boldikus]

I can't wait to get back up to Great Adventure on one of the November bonus weekends. Looking forward to El Toro, Kingda Ka, etc (I know after Fright Fest, Bizzarro and RMT don't run) in colder weather

After Fright Fest, El Toro and Kingda Ka don't run either. You might want to move up that date.

 

They have the last two years. They've run the first two "bonus" weekends of November, only Frontier was closed right after Fright Fest. Source: I was there.

 

And so were you. And the year before.

Well, poop. My memory is going bad. I could have and would have sworn they were closed those bonus weekends. Damn you for using my own words against me!

 

Sorry bud. I wasn't trying. I remembered being there (a feat in itself) and was attempting to dig up that report, when I spotted yours and had a nice chuckle. I couldn't not post it.

[Taeshan]

Hello. Long time TPR lurker, mostly on the Hershey page. But anyways recently purchased season passes (flash sale) to six flags with a friend and we're going to Great Adventure to pick them up soon (live halfway between there and America basically. So chose them as the main) and just had a few questions since i've never been there. What to do at the park besides rides and stuff when we're there, what are the good places to hit for entertainment, and what to skip and not do. Also the second one is i'm a lot overweight and me and him recently went to Dorney (sister had free tickets) and I couldn't ride anything that i wanted to (im a huge coaster fan, but was mainly interested in Hydra and Talon, but not say Steel Force due to height and stuff. Thats an issue, i Mean i've been on Skyrush and loved it, but i tend to like the less tall and more elemental rides if you catch my drift). So how is Great Adventure's fat friendliness i guess. I am losing a bit of weight so by next park season i'm hoping to be another 30-40 down, and i've already lost 30-40 since i started working out again. (my mom died around the same time as I lost my job, so although i was always overweight it got a bit out of hand until I got to where i'm at now). Thanks.

[boldikus]

OK so as far as shows, Great Adv doesn't really have many except like Dead Mans Party during Fright Fest and shows during Holiday In The Park. We don't have like stunt shows or any of that. Maybe a Looney Tunes dance party on Main Street? lol I dunno I dont go to the park for shows.

 

As far as everything else? We've created this handy fun guide to exploring the park. Check it out.

 

As to your weight/restraint question, Imma keep it real. With most rides at any park, the rides at Great Adventure, and whether you'll be able to fit into them, depends not necessarily on your weight but on your body type, and where your extra weight is. For example, with El Toro, you see lots of walks of shame. Though I've seen men with very large stomachs ride with no problem, as the issue with Toro is the lapbar has to be down to a certain point, and it more or less lays across your thighs, so folks with thick thighs or fat asses (or a combination of the two) is usually what does it. Not enough room to get the bar down. But you could have no issue there but still be a big dude with a large stomach that you can get the lapbar past and have it far enough down on your thighs that its not an issue. There's also the seatbelt. You gotta be able to fit into that seatbelt.

 

I'm slightly overweight, carrying most of it in my chest/belly, and *almost* sometimes have issues with Batman and Bizarro, which have almost identical restraints to each other (this happens with other B&M inverts and sitdowns). I only ever have a major issue with these during fall and HITP when I'm wearing extra layers, but its my chest and stomach that makes it where I just need that extra push from a friend (waves at Bill) or a motivated ride op. Bizarro has big boy seats, I think in row 5?

 

Never had and really haven't seen people have issues with Ka, Super, Joker, etc

 

Most if not all rides at Great Adventure have a test seat out front. Use it. Especially if its busy and there are lines you'll have to wait in only to be told you can't ride. It's less embarrassing to have to use the test seat out front than to hold up a station full of people because the ride ops have to help you, and then to wind up having to do the dreaded walk of shame in front of everyone. Just use the test seats.

 

And above all have fun!

[Lightnin Loops]

2 more sleeps till FF starts on sat. I cant wait. FF is the best time of year to visit. The park has a great atmosphere, great crowds. DMP is by far the best FF show put on anywhere, hope they even make it batter then last year. I need to process my 2018 membership. Im so excited for the new ride in 2018, the worlds first is gonna be great. Ill be ready to ride come opening day in 2018. See ya all then. Ride On

[alilstronger]

2 more sleeps till FF starts on sat. I cant wait. FF is the best time of year to visit. The park has a great atmosphere, great crowds. DMP is by far the best FF show put on anywhere, hope they even make it batter then last year. I need to process my 2018 membership. Im so excited for the new ride in 2018, the worlds first is gonna be great. Ill be ready to ride come opening day in 2018. See ya all then. Ride On

 

I can't wait for FF either.... but only for night rides on the coasters. Coming up there Oct 7. They keep saying world's first. Doesn't 'cyborg' exist in parks in other parts of the world? Also Texas is getting one too which could open first.

[JaYmoNeY12 12]

Do you think that a Express pass for the fright trails will be necessary next friday September 22?

[coasterbill]

No

[Jason Maier]

Why is GAdv's Fright Fest starting a week (this weekend) before most of the other SF Parks start their FF (the 23rd and 24th) ?

[gp1086]

Thinking of going to Fright Fest weekend of 10/21-10/22. Have been on this weekend around 4 years ago and seen crowds beyond what I thought was imaginable. Safe to figure nothing has changed and worth it to get a platinum flash pass if I want to do the main rides?

 

Also - any other suggestions for Halloween theme parks in the general NJ / NY / CT / Eastern PA area (e.g. Dorney, Lake Compounce), or is SFGA the best?

[coasterbill]

Also - any other suggestions for Halloween theme parks in the general NJ / NY / CT / Eastern PA area (e.g. Dorney, Lake Compounce), or is SFGA the best?

 

Seriously, go anywhere besides Great Adventure. Lake Compounce does a great haunt. It's probably the best theme park haunt in the Northeast. I love Dorney's haunt too, ride lines are virtually nonexistant and house lines are reasonable. You're more likely to get scared at Knoebels even though all they have in the way of Haunts is the car ride and regular Haunted Mansion.

 

By the way, all mazes at Great Adventure are upcharges but if you actually want to do anything you'll need the express wristband which is $50 per person on top of your admission (you'll have time for 2-3 mazes tops if you get the regular one at $30 per person). You would need that in addition to the Platinum Flash Pass but I strongly suggest that you avoid the haunts at Great Adventure and spend your time riding their awesome coasters instead.

 

Last night we waited an hour for Blood Shed at Great Adventure and it was the worst haunt maze I had ever seen in my life. We waited an hour for it, El Toro had a 5 minute wait. We definitely made the wrong choice there.

 

Thinking of going to Fright Fest weekend of 10/21-10/22. Have been on this weekend around 4 years ago and seen crowds beyond what I thought was imaginable. Safe to figure nothing has changed and worth it to get a platinum flash pass if I want to do the main rides?

 

Yes, and even then expect massive wait times due to an obscene amount of exit passes (to the point where it's hard to even walk down the exit stairs when exiting some rides). Avoid Nitro like the plague from late afternoon on, even with Platinum Flash Pass.

[Chasehat]

How are crowds normally on Friday nights? I wanna go to Great Adventure during FF just to see what it's like but I have no patience to deal with the heavy Saturday and Sunday crowds.

[coasterbill]

Friday night lines are generally manageable.

[Satans Hockey]

I went to the Fright fest trails last year and they really aren't worth the crazy high prices they are at now. If you got them when they first went on sale at least you could some what justify it but definitely not now that the prices went up.

[3Mutts]

Thinking of going to Fright Fest weekend of 10/21-10/22. Have been on this weekend around 4 years ago and seen crowds beyond what I thought was imaginable. Safe to figure nothing has changed and worth it to get a platinum flash pass if I want to do the main rides?

 

Also - any other suggestions for Halloween theme parks in the general NJ / NY / CT / Eastern PA area (e.g. Dorney, Lake Compounce), or is SFGA the best?

 

Just avoid SFGADV, their freight fest is packed and the mazes arent that great. If you want a Six Flags Halloween event go to SFNE as they are less crowded and have more or less the same mazes.

[boldikus]

In spite of the warm weather and humidity, we had a really nice day @ the park on Saturday. Stayed true to my avoidance of the joint all summer and hadn't been up since Memorial Day weekend so felt great to get back and ride some amazing rides and hang with awesome people. I didn't take too many pictures, and with the ones I did I had a little fun with the filters.

 

Headed out of the city early with my two buddies Slim and Poop stocked with a cooler full of beer and made a quick pitstop at Wawa for some morning munchies. We aimed to arrive at 10:30 opening when we realized on the way into the park that they didn't open until 11. With 40 minutes or so to kill we just got a good parking spot and tailgated because of course we did. Shout out to the old woman at the toll booth who informed us it was Fright Fest and had us dying when she admitted that she knew she was scary looking!

 

Blood Fountain is back!

Slim had a bit of a hangover so he planned to simply process his 2018 pass, utilize his dining pass for some free food, and otherwise just take it easy. Getting through security was a breeze with no wait at all but the line at the main gate was slow as molasses, assuming due to people getting their new passes processed. Painful.

 

We also had planned to meet up with Coasterbill and Britt, but they had plans to hit the safari first (of course) while we headed to Justice League right away to avoid long waits later, since Poop and I had yet to try it. We had about a 10 minute wait and hopped on. The ride area looks fantastic as does the theming inside the queue/station. I was impressed. After the first screen the thing just sorta powered down for a couple seconds and I was rather disappointed that we'd got a bum ride on our first try. No worries, it quickly started back up with no other noticeable hiccups after that.

 

I have to say I was rather blown away by this ride. While its not exactly seamless with how it takes you into each little prop area between the much more immersive screens (never thought I'd say that about a dark ride lol) the two final scenes actually gave me a little vertigo. Really really awesome ride. The cherry on top was that I absolutely creamed everyone in our car.

 

Since we skipped my usual right-to-the-Bull approach to this park, I was a little worried we may have missed the early morning ERT you always seem to get upon hitting Toro @ opening, nevertheless we hopped on the Skyride to head over to the east side of the park.

 

Wish yall were here!

Upon touching down we noticed Runaway Mine Train was running and had an empty station, and with it being up and down all summer for trackwork, I couldn't resist hopping on. If you know me I have a soft spot for mine trains and this is one of the best! It was running extremely well, and from here we'd find out just about everything in the park was. Choo-choo!

 

Ominous

Finally heading over for some serious air, Slim sat out our first lap on The Bull to head over to Macho, nicely holding our sh*t so no need for a locker. We ran into The Dude ElToroRyan greeting guests at the front of the ride. Sup Ryan! Amazingly, even though it was after noon already, the ride still had a station wait and we boarded the magic seat. Sweet lord how I missed this ride. Outstanding. Somehow the frame on Poop's sunglasses cracked while going over one of the camelbacks and he somehow caught the lens as it flew out. Hilarious. Upon returning to the station I noticed if we moved up two rows we could ride again, but Poop couldn't face any more of that intensity so I told him to head to Macho while I rode once more. While now in a wheel seat, the ride was a good bit rougher, but its still the smoothest wooden coaster I've ever ridden. The thing was absolutely flying.

 

I could have played musical chairs some more but didn't want to leave my pals waiting, and not having my phone on me had no idea what Bill and Brit were up to. I headed to Macho and found the crew and ordered myself up a nice big strawberry daiquiri. These are really good here, albeit a little pricey, but good enough for me to get two of them. Shout out to the friendly bartender who said she was from Jamaica. Always nice to chat with friendly employees that don't act like they hate their job. We split an order of loaded nachos that were also super good. I love me some Macho Nacho.

 

Yummy

Bill and Brit eventually made their we way over as Slim, Poop and I were decided what to do next. We all decided it would be stupid not to hit Toro again since we were so close and the ride was still dead, so we got one more lap on it. Ryan was now up in the station loading trains so we got to say what's up again. Thanks for that absolutely stellar ride, dude!

 

From here we popped into Safari Discoveries to say hello to a few furry friends and shortcut our way into Golden Kingdom. Most of us didn't want to ride Kingda Ka, but everyone was up for a drop of doom. Amazingly we had a short wait but the line moved quickly despite them still not being able to run the two rides simultaneously (you didn't hear it from me: rumors around the park are pretty strong about the roofs of Zumanjaros gondolas being altered so the park can finally run the rides together. We shall see...)

 

Checking the queue times on the the app we noticed Nitro had a five minute wait, so we slogged all the way over to another station wait, and had a fabulous zen ride. Completely hauling, smooth as butter with generous servings of airtime. Bill, Britt, and Slim in front of Poop, myself, and random dude that got on with us. As soon as we started up the lift we came to a stop, and while a few preteen girls in the back row behind us started freaking out about getting stuck I yelled out for the entire train to hear that it was likely "because some asshole had their phone out!!" Little did I realize it was the dude sitting next to us! lol!

 

The guy seemed to genuinely feel bad and was surprised it was an issue, though we explained how serious an issue it was and how the park has been cracking down, about the locker situation, etc. When we got off, a security guard was waiting on the exit ramp with the guys phone. We didn't stick around to see what happened.

 

We continued around this area of the park getting phenomenal rides on everything - our front row ride on Batman was glorious (and the air conditioning is still on blast mode in the tunnel in the queue, even in the station), same over at Skull Mountain.

 

Skull Mountain was seriously one of the highlights of the day, giving us an absolutely amazing ride. I know we joke about how "great" this ride is, but it felt especially insane. Barely a wait, and we were well into the afternoon by now, sometime after 3pm. Strangely the park felt crowded on the midways, yet rides kept having little waits. We also tried to do Dark Knight (Poop had never ridden it) but when we walked up to it, it had shut down.

 

Photo by Coasterbill

We wandered a bit before we stopped over at Liberty Pub to down a couple beers and hang in the shade. We talked about hitting Joker but by now it had a 30 minute wait, according to the queue times on the app. All of us getting hungry, around 4pm we walked over to Best of the West to find the place empty.

 

We all got some grub and beers and headed out to the back deck to sit and enjoy the serenity of the perpetual turtle orgy. I had the pulled pork sandwich with fries and Guinness. Everyone else got different stuff - chicken tenders, etc. All seemed to enjoy.

 

Checking the queue times we could tell the park was starting to get more crowded, with Justice League sporting a 70 minute wait, and Ka at an hour. Bizarro just around the corner was only at 20 minutes and we all agreed we could go for getting twisted, and the wait would be good to allow us to digest our grub.

 

Too impatient to wait for a train/fireballs

This ride is criminally underrated and was absolutely ripping. All the effects - fire mist, lights, etc were all working. Shame they shut the photo booth down for this, I wonder if its ever coming back. One of my favorite inverting B&Ms. So so so good.

 

Bill, Britt, Boldy, Poop and Slim (photo by Bill)

As mentioned, my buddy Slim was still feeling a little crappy so having hit everything we wanted, and the crowds increasing we grabbed some Dipping Dots, left Bill and Brit to deal with the incoming onslaught of Fright Fest guests, and got the f*ck out of dodge just before 6pm. I tend to avoid Fright Fest but was itching for some good rides, and just like in the past years - if you come EARLY in the day in September, you can enjoy getting a lot of riding in without a lot of waiting. We had a nice, chill, slow paced day with a ton of amazing rides, lots of laughs, good food, & good times with great friends. Much needed.

 

El Toro 3x

Justice League

Nitro

Bizarro

Batman

Skull Mountain

Zumanjaro

Skyride

 

Some amazing sunset action on the way home I got some shots of.

 

Thanks for reading!

[coasterbill]

Awesome report! That was definitely a great day with a great group. That's an interesting rumor about Kingda Ka, we rode it after you guys left (because I've been seriously deprived of a front seat rocket coaster ride this summer thanks to Top Thrill Dragster breaking down every f*cking time I so much as look at the thing) and we sat on the launch track forever waiting for Zumanjaro to drop. Most of the people on the train thought the ride broke down.

[alilstronger]

The haunted houses are not worth it here at all. They are themed extremely well but that is where it ends. They are not scary at all. They send way too many people through at once. The only scare I had was a young boy scaring people in one of the queues. Getting in my face is not scary - jumping out from behind things is. They never did this at all. They just stood there shaking their home made rattles in EVERY haunted house. My BF and I wasted over $100 last year to get into all of the haunted with the fast pass for them and regretted it.

[boldikus]

I enjoy the decorations and atmosphere of the parks during fall but I never go for mazes or trails. Not my thing. I just needed some Bull rides. Mission accomplished.

[Genx24]

I've heard that rumour as well recently; would really be nice if it came to fruition. I have to get back to the park soon as well, for both El Toro runs and to process my 2018 pass.

[boldikus]

Would be great if they made it happen, but I'm just gunning for soft straps on Ka.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Looks like you guys had a good time. I like your friends already; Slim's NASA shirt is cool, and anyone who dares to go by the name Poop is ok by me.

[El Toro_Ryan]

Bill and Brit eventually made their we way over as Slim, Poop and I were decided what to do next. We all decided it would be stupid not to hit Toro again since we were so close and the ride was still dead, so we got one more lap on it. Ryan was now up in the station loading trains so we got to say what's up again. Thanks for that absolutely stellar ride, dude!

 

Anytime man!! Great trip report!

 

(you didn't hear it from me: rumors around the park are pretty strong about the roofs of Zumanjaros gondolas being altered so the park can finally run the rides together. We shall see...)

 

Lol I've also heard these rumors and may have seen a thing or two

[michaellynn4]

(you didn't hear it from me: rumors around the park are pretty strong about the roofs of Zumanjaros gondolas being altered so the park can finally run the rides together. We shall see...)

 

Lol I've also heard these rumors and may have seen a thing or two