Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

Great Adventure doesn't give a single sh*t about cold weather.

[Canobie Coaster]

As long as they get enough people to justify staying open, you should be fine.

[coasterbill]

Honestly I feel like they're going to have to eat it on Friday. It won't rain, so they can't blame weather. I expect an empty park with all coasters running and no lines.

[Chasehat]

Well... sounds good enough for me. Thanks guys! What about high winds? I’m guessing Ka would go down but what else?

[coasterbill]

You're welcome! By the way... when I say "all coasters" I don't mean Bizarro or Mine Train. I should probably clarify that. I don't know if they're closed for the season or not but I don't expect them to have the staff to run them Friday if they didn't run them yesterday.

[boldikus]

HITP 2017 map is up. Same rides as last year +Justice League.

 

Courtesy of Great Adventure History

[michaellynn4]

^ New area this year: "Holiday Heroes". Interesting.

[boldikus]

^ Good catch. I looked right at Justice League and didn't even notice a whole new area to go with it!

 

Also,

Winter Ride Advisory: Some rides, including roller coasters, may have to close due to cold temperatures, wind, ice, and other circumstances

[michaellynn4]

^

[coasterbill]

Seasonal Brews in Merry Marketplace? Count me in.

[boldikus]

Yeah and no Waffle De Lys. Is "Arctic Orbs" in Polar Point new?

[TBpony414]

No Waffle de Lys sucks At least I was prepared for that since we discussed it a few weeks back on here. I can't read the font on that map, do we think there will be any chance of a different waffle cart (or similar) or are we stuck with GAdv's new window waffles?

[boldikus]

It does say "Marketplace Treats: Enjoy delectable waffles, hot chocolate, eggnog and more" so who knows. I can't remember if Waffle de Lys was actually listed on the map last year.

[Password121]

Great Adventure's Holiday in the Park ride selection is better than most parks' midsummer ride selection. That's pretty impressive.

[boldikus]

^ Yeah we're totally spoiled rotten.

 

Great Adventure Online has broken down a list of what's "new" for HITP this year:

 

Spirit of the Season: A Holiday Celebration ─ This all-new song and dance show embodies the most wonderful time of the year, featuring contemporary holiday hits and a twist on the classics in the Showcase Theatre.

 

North Pole Research and Development – Guests can join Mrs. Claus as she visits the North Pole Research and Development Lab to investigate all of the newest goodies for 2017. This magical show is filled with unexpected surprises and fun for all ages in the Adventure Theater.

 

Holiday Heroes – This newly-themed area lights up the bridge to Metropolis where guests will find red, white and blue glowing lights, JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis and two new food locations serving snacks, soups, sandwiches, beer, wine and more.

 

Yuletide Brews – Guests can enjoy seasonal beer and warm up with spiked hot chocolate at this holiday-themed bar located in the Merry Market Place.

 

Arctic Orbs – Polar Point boasts an expanded glow with the addition of the Arctic Orbs area. These ground level glowing balls light the path from SkyScreamer to THE JOKER and create an amazing photo opportunity.

[thrillseeker4552]

That is an awesome line-up for Holiday in the Park. Easily the best winter line-up for a non-year round park.

 

By the way, can somebody catch me up on which Six Flags parks don't have this event? Or do they all have them now?

[Password121]

That is an awesome line-up for Holiday in the Park. Easily the best winter line-up for a non-year round park.

 

By the way, can somebody catch me up on which Six Flags parks don't have this event? Or do they all have them now?

Great America, La Ronde, Great Escape. I think that's all?

[Nitro1118]

Visited the park today for the first time since either late July/early August. I've had today circled for awhile as I work 13hr shifts on Saturdays/Sundays, so visiting the park after Labor Day is kind of difficult to arrange. With November being notorious for extremely low crowds, I was very excited to see that the park would be open today. Anyway...

 

Notes:

 

-When I arrived at 4:45pm there were ZERO employees at the parking lot entrance. We drove right thru the gates. It was probably the most bizzare thing I have ever experienced at GAdv.

 

-Besides JL around 5pm (which we skipped until later in the night when it was a walkon), ride lines were completely non-existent. No coaster that we rode had anyone in line besides the first row and a couple random rows. If I wasn't with my girlfriend and step son I could have done serious marathoning.

 

-El Toro was running fantastic despite the chilly weather. The ride I got in the magic seat was the smoothest Toro ride I've gotten in probably 5 years. The very last row had the typical potholes in the turnaround and a few spots afterwards. Excellent ride as always. Got 2 rides on it.

 

-Got on KK twice, including only a 5min wait for front row. I forgot how unbelievable front row is at night. The lights that run down the launch make it a very disorienting experience. 3rd row was shaky but tolerable.

 

-Got 1 ride on Batman. Running as well as it always has.

 

-Got 1 ride on Nitro. Was a tad sluggish but like El Toro it gave the smoothest ride I've had on it in many years. Zero rattle whatsoever. Night time rides on Nitro are always great.

 

-Finished our night with 2 rides on JL. Got a new high score of 168,000. I have no idea how people are managing 400k scores although I was happy with my results tonight.

 

-I loved the atmosphere of the park tonight. It was almost strictly well-behaved families; a stark contrast to the FF crowds of just 2 weeks ago.

 

-Most decorations for HITP seem to be up. I couldn't do too much looking around as we had only 3 hours to eat and do as much riding as possible. I can't wait to FINALLY get to HITP after missing out the last few years.

 

A couple pics I randomly took to spice up this TR:

[YoshiFan]

Great pictures

 

I was there today as well and it was easily my best trip to the park this season. Earlier in the day Justice League's line was out of the building and for some reason The Dark Knight was listed at 30 minutes under the app (pre-show room was half full with a full line after that without the pre-show being used), both of which I skipped until later. I didn't wait more than 10 - 15 minutes for anything.

 

Nitro got stopped on the lift because someone had a phone out and an announcement was made in the station about how there is a fine of up to $1,000 from the state of NJ and a year ban or longer from the park for having a phone out yet when the train returned to the station, the person went up to the ride operator that had the phone, got it back and was able to leave without talking to security. I wish they would go through with the threat of kicking people out of the park. Sky Screamer was also stopped with riders maybe 2/3 of the way up the tower for around 15 minutes around 3:00.

[BigBad]

Is there much chance of El Toro running this evening? I was hoping to go around 5 and catch a final few rides of the season.

[I Like Theme Parks.]

I've been to the park three times in just over a week since we had a 4-day weekend. Last Sunday, Thursday, and today. On Sunday I got my friend to ride Kingda Ka for the first time (in the front row too) and Zumanjaro, which was funny. He ended up loving both. Also got my last rides on Bizarro and Mine Train. I also brought my brother on Thursday and got my last rides for the season for El Toro, Kingda Ka, and Zumanjaro. Today's visit was really short. I just really wanted to go quickly and ride Batman and Nitro. On all three visits the park was pretty empty, but the operations were solid (except the Bizarro crew). I'll probably go back next week for Holiday In The Park.

Rides (for the entire week):

 

Superman: Ultimate Flight

Bizarro x 2 - It took them 20 minutes to kick this idiot out for taking out his phone on the ride. Does it usually take this long?

Runaway Mine Train

El Toro x 4 - All of these were in the magic seat, and one was a rain ride.

Joker

Skull Mountain x 3 - Good to have the sound effects back!

Nitro x 4 - The amazing view of the fall-leaved trees makes it really special this time of year.

Batman: The Ride x 6 - For five of these rides I didn't even have to leave the station.

Kingda Ka x 2 - FRONT ROW! On one of my rides it was drizzling.

Zumanjaro x 2

[larrygator]

^it sounds like today was much better than yesterday for riding.

 

I would be curious from anyone who present a lot of time at the park yesterday to hear how SFGAdv handled ride closures. What rides opened and when.

 

I was at the park from 11:30 to 1:30 yesterday (Saturday). I arrived to small crowds and grabbed a quick ride on Joker and then 6 rides on Justice League. In the time I was there I did not see the following running (El Toro, Kingda Ka, Batman: The Ride). Zumanjaro was testing when I left the park.

 

I tried the grilled bacon ranch chicken sandwich at The Metro Grill (near Justice League) and it is certainly a location I will return to in future park visits.

Edited November 13, 2017 by larrygator

[michaellynn4]

Yesterday was a good day to be at the park. It was cold, but sunny and not the least bit windy. El Toro was running really well. A cool thing happened as well: Richard Kind was at the park as well. My brother and I ran into him near the entrance to Nitro. Really nice guy, apparently loves roller coasters. There's an on-ride photo of him on El Toro floating around on the Great Adventure Connoisseurs Facebook page.

[Physical]

Made a trip out to the park with my sister on Sunday, absolute perfect conditions for a trip! Cold, but not bad as long as you were moving around and not sitting in one area. The only ride that wasn't operating for most of the day was Kingda Ka, we managed to hit everything except Ka and Zumi in about 1.5 hours, nothing more than station waits for anything, practically had the park to ourselves. Ka did end up opening around 4 if I remember correctly, so we hit that and Zumi before heading over for a ride on El Diablo and one last-for-the-season ride on Toro. The operator on El Diablo was absolutely fantastic, gave some fantastic cycles, was very personable, handled guest interaction so well, I'd have thought we were at a Disney park. Cannot say enough great things about him!

 

We ended up closing the night out on El Toro, around 5:30, it was dark already, I was pretty pleased to get one last night ride on The Bull, and even more pleased to see Ryan was on loading attendant! We met a fellow enthusiast (that also happens to live in Philly!) while waiting for our first lap, had a quick chat with Ryan then headed around for #4 of the day. Ryan joined us for our last ride of the night, and much to our pleasure, Ryan used his insider influence to get us a "boosted" lap (For those that don't know, that's when the lift doesn't slow down at the top, completely batshit crazy airtime down that first drop)

 

Huge thanks to Ryan for another year of awesome operations on Toro, and the boosted lap! Huge thanks to Sean on El Diablo for being hilarious while putting huge amounts of people through the ride, while giving everyone a cycle they won't forget.

 

I'll be out for Holiday in the Park for sure, hope to see some of you guys there!

[thefed29]

I'm not a regular to the park as I'm from MA, but have been down to the park a few times over the last couple years. Most recently for the running of the bulls in September.

 

Now am I blind or crazy and losing my mind (most likely true anyways) or did they move the entrance to Kingda Ka up in the last two months? I don't remember it being directly to that snack stand.. I thought it was directly next to the test seat which was next to the lockers..