Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yeah, that's a few too many weapons to be accidental. Especially coupled with the behaviour, lots of red flags there. The charge of certain persons not to possess indicates he may have some things in his background too. Good on Six Flags and the police to be watching out for the Six Flags guests and employees' safety.

[Genx24]

Wow. Thankfully the park and the police were proactive and prevented a potential tragedy. Considering the alternative is horrifying.

[Jason Maier]

So I'm thinking about traveling up for Fright Fest and staying overnight (I have a lot of time off accumulated and if I feel like it; plan on staying/doing Fright Fest October 31-November 2 or 3).

 

Best hotels to stay nearby? And is it worth it for me to get Flash Pass and/or Express line passes for the mazes?

[Genx24]

Can't speak on hotels, besides mentioning that the closest ones to the park are roughly 20 minutes away. The park is pretty isolated.

 

If you plan on coming for Fright Fest on Halloween weekend, you'll absolutely need the platinum flash pass for both rides and mazes. It's the busiest time of year; you'd be looking at 3+ hour waits across the board without them.

[Code94]

Yesterday was my first visit to the park in 5 years and I’m impressed with how much has changed. I fully anticipated needing Flash Pass but surprisingly it wasn’t that crowded for a Sunday during Fright Fest.

 

My longest wait was Wonder Woman at 30 mins and that was well worth it. I read somewhere that #29 was the magic seat and somehow ended up in it despite the free for all seating arrangement. Such an amazing ride. WW, Cyborg, and JL did a great job at balancing out the right side of the park. I spent more time in MovieTown than I ever have in the past. (Special thanks to Dead Mans Party)

 

Another highlight of the day was Zumanjaro. That view is incredible and although the drop wasn’t as forceful as I thought it would be, the speed and length of the drop made up for it.

 

Operations weren’t bad. All of the coasters were basically station waits. The only ride I didn’t get to do was Justice League because it was down by the time I got around to it. Batman was down for a short period too but opened back up after my ride on Nitro. SN, Anybody know why Batman has 3 trains?? I only remember two in the past.

 

Overall, it’s good to see Great Adventure filled in their gaps with the new non coaster additions. I’m excited to see how Jersey Devil complements their already stellar coaster line up.

[SbSteveZ]

So I'm thinking about traveling up for Fright Fest and staying overnight (I have a lot of time off accumulated and if I feel like it; plan on staying/doing Fright Fest October 31-November 2 or 3).

 

Best hotels to stay nearby? And is it worth it for me to get Flash Pass and/or Express line passes for the mazes?

 

The first time we went this year we went to the Comfort Suites not too far away and was way less than impressed, however the second time we went, we stayed at the Courtyard by Mariott in Cranbury/South Brunswick. Its about 30 minutes away but its really nice and fairly reasonable price wise (we got it for about $100 for 4 people, not too shabby). It was also just recently remodeled which is nice.

 

We did fine without the flash pass, got on Kingda Ka, El Toro, Zumanjaro, Nitro, Joker, Skull Mountain, etc. with no crazy long waits (at most 30 minutes). However, we didn't do the houses which definitely had long lines. I have heard they aren't necessarily worth the cost but I'm sure someone else can elaborate further on that.

 

Being open until midnight surely helps for ride lines, however keep in mind some days they don't allow re-entry after 8pm.

[heatherrrrz]

Most hotels close to the park are sold out for fright fest days. I was looking after returning from my trip in August. The ones in Cranbury involve paying a toll every time you drive to and from the park if you get on 95 to 195. There's obviously ways around the toll, just don't know how long those will take. I stayed in Hamilton Township last visit and it was great, all we had to do was stay on 195 to the park and it was 15 minutes.

[Bamwa]

Cheers to your park and state New Jersey. First time visit the Sunday before last and I had a great time. I love the scenic views from the lift hill especially Nitro. I took some heat for thinking your park is cleaner and prettier than either Six Flags in Texas but I stand by my observations. Didn't see any trash, operations were super ( especially Bizarro at night, 30 sec dispatches it seemed ), and everyone was very friendly. Lines were nothing either. Cheers to a great park and prob my best day riding other than Cedar Point. Keep up the good work! Had 3 rides each on all the major coasters and Bizarro at night was just awesome. Jersey Devil is gonna be a treat. Hopefully you get the moving station for faster ops.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I was also there on Sunday with my friend. We did a bunch of photo laps and those will be coming soon. It was one of my favorite days I've ever had at the park. Midways were pretty busy but there were no lines at all. We used our diamond skip-a-line pass for Wonder Woman and did the magic seats.

 

We also managed 10 rides on Toro without leaving the station (well we left once by choice just to get 5 rides on the other train) and then went back before closing and got 3 more rides. Also got Front row on the first train of the day on Ka, that was cool. Nitro's ops still amaze me, they were dispatching trains as soon as the other train left the lift.

[xVicesAndVirtues]

I visited the park on Friday night and I was very impressed by how operationally excellent everything was. I was worried about the 5pm-midnight hours and Fright Fest, combined with bring-a-friend weekend being crowded...the 5-6 hour almost made me think we'd lucked out, as we got about 8 El Toro rides in without ever leaving the station and a walk-on for Kingda Ka. Well...by 7pm the park was absolutely mobbed but the park handled it extremely well. Every single coaster we went to was at maximum capacity. El Toro running both trains, Nitro running 3 and rarely stacking, etc. Gold Flash Pass was definitely our friend, but needless to say, this park has the best operations I've seen this year in the entire chain.

 

As for El Toro, some work definitely got done between my spring visit and now. In the spring, the turnaround was brutal and the pothole pulling out of the Rolling Thunder hill was killer. It was running super smooth this time around on all the rides we had, and while the turnaround was still slightly jarring, the rest of the coaster was extremely smooth and the pothole, which had been developing for a few years, was completely gone. Bravo to Six Flags Great Adventure for keeping this excellent coaster running in tip-top shape.

[JG-77]

I've been tossing around the idea of visiting this park the weekend between FF and HITP. While I'm would never go to thips park with the assumption of it being dead due to its unpredictability, is it reasonable to expect marginally smaller crowds during this weekend than on a typical FF weekend? Also, anyone know if the Safari be open?

 

600th post!

[B&MIntaminGCI]

This years bonus weekend is BAFF but I'm still going on the Saturday because of that Nitro pin they're giving out.

[YoshiFan]

The Safari's last day is October 27th (and November 2nd and 3rd as an upcharge for the wine festival).

 

I have gone to the park almost every year in between FF and HITP. It used to be mostly walk ons all day, last year was more crowded but still low crowds overall and nothing compared to a Fright Fest operating day.

[coasterbill]

... so the park ran a Bring a Friend Free promotion during Fright Fest yesterday

 

[fbvideonew]

[/fbvideonew]

Source: Great Adventure Connoisseurs

[gardyloo!]

Now that is frightening...

I'm actually considering buying a gold season pass for 2020 since I'm moving to NYC. Are the deals Six Flags is offering now the best, or is the price difference between buying them now or somewhere in April not that big? I know I missed the labor day deal and that one is the best I was told. I just can't physically pick up the pass till next spring so that's why I'm asking and still undecided.

[michaellynn4]

Bill beat me to the photos. In addition to the BAFF, they had the secondary entrance to the park (for those looking to enter from 537 eastbound) closed off, so anyone looking to get into the park from that direction had to drive past and turn around. You think the jughandles suck on a normal day?

[B&MIntaminGCI]

It was busy on Saturday when I went for my photo rounds, but nothing like that. There was no traffic getting in. I even got a walk on on Nitro. I'll be back in November lol

[wmp.dll]

Hello everyone,

 

I am going on a Bermuda cruise next May/June out of New York, and being a coaster enthusiast I thought I might tack on a day at Great Adventure. I’ve never been to a Six Flags Park, Canada’s Wonderland would be the closest thing to Six Flags I’ve been to. Obviously crowds can’t be predicted, but I was wondering what I should expect if I went on a Wednesday or Thursday in late May/early June? Are schools out by then? I would be going to the park solo, should I invest in a Flash Pass? I appreciate any insight you can provide me.

[jamesinclair]

One does not simply bring a friend for free

[AmyUD06]

Hello everyone,

 

I am going on a Bermuda cruise next May/June out of New York, and being a coaster enthusiast I thought I might tack on a day at Great Adventure. I’ve never been to a Six Flags Park, Canada’s Wonderland would be the closest thing to Six Flags I’ve been to. Obviously crowds can’t be predicted, but I was wondering what I should expect if I went on a Wednesday or Thursday in late May/early June? Are schools out by then? I would be going to the park solo, should I invest in a Flash Pass? I appreciate any insight you can provide me.

 

Most High Schools in Central Jersey go through mid-June, so you should be good on crowds in that regard. That said, you'll be good on crowds, meaning the park will be pretty dead, meaning if there's a slight drizzle they'll close early.

 

As for Flash Pass, I frequently go to parks by myself, and almost always splurge for the skip-the-line pass. Standing in any kind of line by yourself is still kinda weird to me, and there's only so much surfing the internet on your phone that you can do.

 

Boldikus will surely reply with more details.

[boldikus]

As usual, the Nitro crew is killing it.

 

Throughput nerds are gonna wanna check out this new video courtesy of ElToroRyan.

 

[coasterbill]

I’ve seen a few people raving about the Nitro crew lately and after seeing that video I can see why. Having a train dropping off of the lift while the other one is just hitting the brakes is something that I’ve never seen on that ride with loaded trains (and while I don’t count because LOL I’ve probably ridden Nitro more than any other ride).

[DILinator]

I think they must be really trying to focus on pumping trains out rapidly on their B&M Hypers at SF parks. I was just at GAm, and every single train on Raging Bull they had a 30 second clock running, and were telling the oncoming riders that they were going to be leaving in 30 seconds, and people needed to rapidly load the trains, so they didn't get left behind, or hold the train up. They were doing a good job of hitting their goal a lot too, though they didn't make it every time. Still, it was impressive to see in action!

 

Now, Superman, on the other hand...

[Canobie Coaster]

^ It's not just the B&M hypers. The crew at SFNE's Superman often has the train ready to go before the previous one hits the brakes.

[coasterbill]

Six Flags operations across the board seem to be improving dramatically the last few seasons even though most rides still have one person checking seats per side.