Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[boldikus]

 

... that said, if it's 60 degrees and wet again during HITP then f*ck the lights. Go to the park to ride Batman. That should be your priority that day. You're welcome.

 

Dude. Batman yesterday. What. The. HELL.

 

Honestly with the warm temps, muggy air and slick tracks everything in the park was running like I've never experienced, notably our ride on Superman. Mother of god, I've never felt a ride like that on a flyer. Full black out during the pretzel loop. And Joker was buck wild, Nitro was absolutely flying (we got a ride in a completely foggy downpour before leaving that was just unreal), Dark Knight was running with almost no trims, even Skull Mountain was in rare form. Lantern looked like it was hauling as as well but we didn't go near that POS.

 

It was a great day for riding if you didn't mind a little mist and light rain, place was empty, all rides a walkon (except the Sky Way, of course) and they stayed open and ran everything til at least 8:15 when we left. Took tons of photos. Report forthcoming, a little preview:

 

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I was supposed to go yesterday but all my friends bailed and now I'm mad.

[joelwee]

^ So just go without them.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

^Oh trust me, if I drove I would probably go weekly on my days off, but I just tag along with them.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

 

... that said, if it's 60 degrees and wet again during HITP then f*ck the lights. Go to the park to ride Batman. That should be your priority that day. You're welcome.

 

Dude. Batman yesterday. What. The. HELL.

 

Honestly with the warm temps, muggy air and slick tracks everything in the park was running like I've never experienced, notably our ride on Superman. Mother of god, I've never felt a ride like that on a flyer. Full black out during the pretzel loop. And Joker was buck wild, Nitro was absolutely flying (we got a ride in a completely foggy downpour before leaving that was just unreal), Dark Knight was running with almost no trims, even Skull Mountain was in rare form. Lantern looked like it was hauling as as well but we didn't go near that POS.

 

It was a great day for riding if you didn't mind a little mist and light rain, place was empty, all rides a walkon (except the Sky Way, of course) and they stayed open and ran everything til at least 8:15 when we left.

Oh man, that sounds fantastic. Love those drizzly days.

[Canobie Coaster]

I'm thinking of stopping into Holiday in the Park tomorrow. Is Cyborg still temperamental or do they finally have it running consistently?

 

I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the best winter weather policy ever (aka Visual Scan and all clear) to get some rides on B&Ms in sub-freezing temperatures.

[coasterbill]

Nope, it's still a piece of sh*t.

 

It's a fun ride when it works though.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Thanks. Well at least it's a fancy lawn ornament.

[KBrylczyk]

Great Adventure tends to go through flats like mormons go through wives, haha. Remember back in like 1999 when they added 20+ rides only to have like 75% of them removed over the next few years? With the super loop being ripped out so soon and Cyborg being a lawn ornament, history may repeat itself.

[Canobie Coaster]

Weren't most of the flats in the Old Country area they ended up closing? It seems like they're trying go build that area back up now.

[KBrylczyk]

^ IIRC only the Huss Frisbee was added there behind the bumper cars, which was a horrible location because nobody knew it existed.

[boldikus]

I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the best winter weather policy ever (aka Visual Scan and all clear) to get some rides on B&Ms in sub-freezing temperatures.

 

Make sure to bundle up and go with reasonable expectations. Yes the parks weather policy is great, but its not consistent. I thought for sure they'd close early last week with the rain and was happy for us they didn't, but all day long we kept waiting for them to close. We were walking out through the lot around 815 in the pouring rain and could hear Nitro still going with passengers, much to our surprise and amusement.

 

Tomorrow the high is 36, and it doesn't look like its going to be particularly sunny. I wouldn't be surprised if like 200 or less people showed up tomorrow and they closed early due to "extremely cold temps" (even though we all know its because the aren't making any $). Not saying they won't stay open, and I hope they do, but get there early, get it in, and don't be shocked if they announce an early closure.

[coasterbill]

This is true but honestly I think they'll do fine tomorrow crowd-wise (I'm thinking at least on par with last Sunday). I wouldn't be worried. Let's bet a Shipwreck Cider on it.

[Canobie Coaster]

I'm hoping Saturday keeps the park crowded enough that it doesn't close early. I'm optimistic the lack of rain or snow will be enough.

 

I also have a 4.5 hour drive home so if the park closes a few hours early, it'll save me from getting a hotel.

 

And I fully intend to dress like I am going skiing.

[boldikus]

This is true but honestly I think they'll do fine tomorrow crowd-wise (I'm thinking at least on par with last Sunday). I wouldn't be worried. Let's bet a Shipwreck Cider on it.

 

How about just a regular cider since they cut those stupid spiked ciders in half and raised the price by a dollar (wtf btw!)?

 

I'm hoping Saturday keeps the park crowded enough that it doesn't close early. I'm optimistic the lack of rain or snow will be enough.

 

I also have a 4.5 hour drive home so if the park closes a few hours early, it'll save me from getting a hotel.

 

And I fully intend to dress like I am going skiing.

 

You should be fine, and I know you're not the type to get butthurt about that but its gonna be cold tomorrow, and I'd be surprised if they got a decent crowd, though the event has surprised me before - even last Sunday it was busier than you might expect for a rainy day in December.

 

I want it to be busy and for them to stay open and make money because the event is awesome and I love that we can ride an 80mph hyper coaster through the Jersey woods in 30 degree temps. Let us know how it turns out!

[Canobie Coaster]

I'll take 30-40 degree days over some of the max humidity 100 degree days I've experienced in Orlando. I was born and raised in an icebox.

[BDD27]

A bit late on the report, but here are a few pictures and a small trip report from my stop at Great Adventure on November 25th. We arrived at the park at around 1pm and stayed until right at close. With temperatures in the high 50's and low 60's and crowds low, it was certainly a good day. Everything was running well although Green Lantern still stinks and to this day I am still mad at the park losing the Scream Machine. Batman had this rather strange very prominent rattle I noticed that I had never heard before. Not sure if it had something to do with being so late in the season or possibly something else, but it was still running smooth and efficiently. During my trip I also decided to take my first lap on Cyborg cyber spin, but as soon as I was next in line it decided to go down for an extended period of time By the end of the night crowds had thinned and basically everything was a walk on. The night was finished out with 8 rides on Nitro in a row without getting off! Although I will say by the end of that marathon the cold was most certainly starting to get to me. A few other things I noticed around the park included the beautiful displays of lights which really illuminated the park for the holidays. I also noticed how within the past year loose items are now must all be put in lockers on the Joker. While, I understand this policy I find it rather frustrating for many reasons and bringing bins back to all coasters would make the process much less frustrating for everyone. With the policy spreading to the Joker it makes me wonder if it will eventually spread to all coasters. All in all I had a good day and certainly enjoyed some late season coaster riding If I have any takeaways from great adventure, it is that they need a new major coaster soon. The Joker was a solid addition, and Green Lantern was meh, so really it has been almost 13 years since a true new major coaster that isn't a smaller cookie cutter or relocation and I am really hoping for an RMC or other newer coaster for 2020!

Nitro always looking fine, and riding better. I will say after almost 20 years it needs a repaint!

Batman still runs great for being over 25 years old. I would love to know what the rattling noise was that it was making

The holiday lights were really cool! The lit up trails through the trees were my favorite part of the displays

I thought the walk through ornament was a really cool display

I still hate this ride, although if converted to a floorless I think it might just be better than Bizzaro

The park was so dead even superman was a walk on

The marshmallow pits were a great idea and really come in handy when you need to warm up

The tree made a nice Centerpiece to the park

I really liked the addition of candy cane trees

The joker was definitely a nice addition my ride on it lacked much flipping that night, but nonetheless a fun ride and in my opinion a must do

And that was a wrap on a wonderful HITP event, thanks for reading!

[coasterbill]

I have a theory that the noise is from the plastic cosmetic wheel covers as they likely removed them to put harder wheels on at some point this fall and then put them back on (at which time people started hearing the noise). I base this theory on absolutely nothing and years of experience pretending to know what the f*ck I'm talking about.

[Canobie Coaster]

Cyborg was a lot better than expected. For one it opened. Two, maybe I just got a unicorn ride but I got at least a dozen flips.

 

Also hats off to the park for having two trains on Batman.

[BDD27]

Cyborg was a lot better than expected. For one it opened. Two, maybe I just got a unicorn ride but I got at least a dozen flips.

 

Also hats off to the park for having two trains on Batman.

Cyborg always seems to break on me when I am there is it comparable to Twister at all? I've heard mixed things on Cyborg and I'm still waiting for my opportunity to ride

[Canobie Coaster]

I went there first for that reason. I definitely liked it better than Twister. My second ride (full load) definitely wasn't as wild as my first when there were only four people onboard.

[Canobie Coaster]

This is true but honestly I think they'll do fine tomorrow crowd-wise (I'm thinking at least on par with last Sunday). I wouldn't be worried. Let's bet a Shipwreck Cider on it.

 

How about just a regular cider since they cut those stupid spiked ciders in half and raised the price by a dollar.

 

Looks like they're going to make it to close. Though we have reached the part of the night where the outdoor coasters are starting to suffer from frostbite (aka temp closures).

[coasterbill]

Is Batman actually still operating (which appears to be the case on queue times)?

 

I’ve never known them to have official temp closures but I’ve noticed that around 25 degrees the rides pretty much refuse to work. It could be a case of that, though if they did start closing coasters around 25 degrees after they pretty much broke every coaster except Green Lantern by the end of the event last year then that’s more than reasonable.

[coasterbill]

Nevermind

[Canobie Coaster]

Nitro was down around 7:30 when I went to ride it. I'm not sure what the ride's issue was (other than being cold related). I stuck it out until they got it running just after 8. The reason it took so long was because all the maintenance guys were busy with the other rides.

 

Once Nitro opened, I had a beautiful marathon with several face freezing front row rides until it broke down 5 minutes before closing. It was seemingly because an idiot forced open the air gate.

 

Is Batman actually still operating (which appears to be the case on queue times)?

 

Batman was a tank. It started with two trains and ran non-stop.

I ended there after Nitro closed. Batman must have gone down at some point to take it down to one train, but that may not have even been a breakdown.

 

’ve never known them to have official temp closures but I’ve noticed that around 25 degrees the rides pretty much refuse to work

 

A few operators noted the rides had issues in sub-freezing temperatures, but it doesn't sound like there's a hard cutoff. I think they just ask Santa for the rides to work. Sometimes they do, other times they get coal.

 

For the most part, the mechanical issues I saw were minor and sorted out in 10-15 minutes. The oddest one was a Houdini breakdown where the preshow didn't work.

 

The biggest problem child of the night was Superman. I don't think Superman opened with the park and I didn't see it open until well after the sun set. I got a front row ride and ended up getting stuck in the station for 15 minutes.

 

The ride kept breaking down for the same thing. When the train returned to the station, they had issues with the back row's locking pin. The employees had to manually release it with a screwdriver before the train would lower from the flying position. They could send around an empty just fine, but with people, row 8 kept breaking down. After seeing this issue for the third time, I gave up trying to get a second ride on Superman and I don't think it reopened.