coasterbill Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 We went to the park yesterday and had an awesome time. We met up with JRice, El Toro_Ryan and some of their friends and for the first time in years got Platinum Flash Passes and got to act like ballers in our home park. I won't make a habit of that but it was a blast, and we did have some free one-time upgrades with our passes that we got to use. Just a few cliff notes: - We got to watch a few Jersey Devil Test runs. The ride hauls ass. It hauls so much ass that we watched it throw a test dummy into the woods. They clearly weren't concerned as they kept cycling it with one empty seat... I guess as a sign of respect for their fallen comrade. - Wonder Woman's loading process is no longer atrocious! They're loading all seats, which means that the only ride not back to it's normal loading procedure is Log Flume which hopefully stays that way forever. - On that note, I rode the flume for the first time in years since we normally only go to this park very early or very late in the season and because we hate it's grouping process of cramming as many strangers as possible together in a log. It's awkward and nobody likes it. Yesterday I got my own log (Brit bailed as this one tends to be on the wetter side and the rest of the group was suffering through a ride on Green Lantern so that a few members of the groups could get their first-and-last-ever rides on it. F*ck that). It was awesome! Please load one group per log forever like every other park. Anyway, I forgot how good this flume was. Also, it's really cool riding what's basically a brand-new Arrow log flume since they've replaced every section of the ride at this point over the last 5 years or so. - Has it been mentioned that the kiddy coaster is currently being painted right near Nitro's first drop in clear-view of everyone? I'd absolutely put my money on our 2022 addition being a combination of new and re-branded kids rides in a new kids area. I know that this will probably draw some complaints, but it will fill a very clear need and would be a really smart addition after a giant new coaster that forced the closure of so many kids rides. - We tried and failed twice to ride Zumanjaro while Kingda Ka was running but we saw it happen tons of times throughout the day. - We heard a few ops mention that the park was crazy-understaffed but you wouldn't know it. Basically every food stand was open, every ride was open, Skyway was running both sides and the Parachutes were running every single chute which never happens. Flume and Rapids were both open. All upcharge rides were even open. Great job, Six Flags! - I forgot how great Nitro runs in the summer. We're not used to riding it when it's above 35 degrees but that airtime hill after the hammerhead brings it. - I'm not an anti-masker. I appreciate that masks have allowed us to do go to parks, travel and live our lives throughout a global pandemic BUT I'm glad they're gone outdoors now. Walking around a theme park without a mask on felt incredible. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that the world felt totally normal. (Photo stolen from Josh) PS: nobody cares about this but I'm still mad about it and this is my soapbox so whoever thought of closing the car lanes northbound the entire length of the Jersey Turnpike on a Sunday night the weekend before Memorial Day when it was 90 degrees all weekend for scheduled construction is a total jackass. Big-brain moves right there. If you're visiting the park in the next few weeks check the traffic app before you leave if heading northbound. You might have to do something dumb like take 295 or 1 north from Trenton. Don't do what we did and just assume that the Turnpike will be fine. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satans Hockey Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 19 minutes ago, coasterbill said: On that note, I rode the flume for the first time in years since we normally only go to this park very early or very late in the season and because we hate it's grouping process of cramming as many strangers as possible together in a log. It's awkward and nobody likes it. Yesterday I got my own log (Brit bailed as this one tends to be on the wetter side and the rest of the group was suffering through a ride on Green Lantern so that a few members of the groups could get their first-and-last-ever rides on it. F*ck that). It was awesome! Please load one group per log forever like every other park. It's been awhile since I've been on the log flume now but we use to just ask nicely if we could have our own log when they tried to group us and were always accommodated but it probably makes a difference though that we only ever go on the ride if there's no line which makes even less sense for them to group people. I agree with you though and hopefully this is the norm going forward forever now, it's just simply too cramped to be stuck with completely random people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusW Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 3 hours ago, coasterbill said: - Has it been mentioned that the kiddy coaster is currently being painted right near Nitro's first drop in clear-view of everyone? I'd absolutely put my money on our 2022 addition being a combination of new and re-branded kids rides in a new kids area. I know that this will probably draw some complaints, but it will fill a very clear need and would be a really smart addition after a giant new coaster that forced the closure of so many kids rides. I’ll refer you to something that I hinted at a couple weeks ago: On 5/6/2021 at 12:14 PM, AngusW said: I do believe there are still Little Devils in the details left to be discovered about the Jersey Devil Coaster area. Perhaps back to 14? Expect Great Adventure to operate 14 coasters by the end of this year, if not the end of next month. Big retheme in the works to little kids area near Jersey Devil…RRR up first with new theme, some (but not all) other seaport rides to follow next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Great Adventure re-opening that ride without marketing it would be cool, but totally unexpected. I'll believe it when I see it but I guess crazier things have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 1 hour ago, coasterbill said: Great Adventure re-opening that ride without marketing it would be cool, but totally unexpected. I'll believe it when I see it but I guess crazier things have happened. There's still a chance they'll announce / market it, they've done smaller announcements midseason before. Guess it all depends on whenever work completes on it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 On 5/24/2021 at 9:41 AM, coasterbill said: - We got to watch a few Jersey Devil Test runs. The ride hauls ass. It hauls so much ass that we watched it throw a test dummy into the woods. They clearly weren't concerned as they kept cycling it with one empty seat... I guess as a sign of respect for their fallen comrade. This screams Verrückt in a sickening way. The ride certainly shouldn't be losing test dummies no matter how much ass it hauls. Hopefully it was just a simple careless mistake of someone not properly strapping in a dummy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 It’s not the type of water dummy that you’re probably thinking of that’s hard plastic. It’s the kind that’s probably cheaper and basically a giant water balloon. The dummy itself was probably the issue since they just kept sending it all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Reminds me of 2005 when the head broke off a dummy on Kingda Ka and school was absolutely ballistic over it. It continued until it opened, seriously I loved when people were telling me it was dangerous and I'd respond "Well I just rode it" and their expression was priceless XD That said those were teenage "GP" I'd hope for some better from enthusiasts and cmon to make that comparison is a joke. One was a water slide who’s engineering strategy was “**** it let’s see how it goes” and ignored what a professional firm said and warned against... This is not remotely the same please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jconsolmagno Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 theres no way this thing opens this week is there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Doubtful. That ad was running on FB a couple days ago and once people started reposting it (like I did a here a few days ago) they pulled it probably realizing it wasn't going to be ready by EOM. That said, the ad is fantastic. I love that they're going for the full on horror angle in the marketing. Hoping we see that on local tv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 17 hours ago, JJLehto said: Reminds me of 2005 when the head broke off a dummy on Kingda Ka and school was absolutely ballistic over it. It continued until it opened, seriously I loved when people were telling me it was dangerous and I'd respond "Well I just rode it" and their expression was priceless XD That said those were teenage "GP" I'd hope for some better from enthusiasts and cmon to make that comparison is a joke. One was a water slide who’s engineering strategy was “**** it let’s see how it goes” and ignored what a professional firm said and warned against... This is not remotely the same please Someone should be questioning why the dummy flew out, as I can only hope they did. If it’s harmless, great. But I am sure they checked in 2005 to make sure it wasn’t a support or something else that caused the dummy’s head to fall off. It needs to be questioned, the same way it was questioned when the boats went flying off the water slide. Apples and oranges, surely nothing to be amped up about, but not something to ignore. If there’s an ejection death on Jersey Devil in the future I guarantee we will be coming back to and quoting this page. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 14 hours ago, jconsolmagno said: theres no way this thing opens this week is there? Yeah that would be pretty surprising but it seems like it may not be too long from now? Hopefully sometime in June? Maybe that’s optimistic but yeah I’m hopeful it won’t be more than a month-ish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Between this being picked up on Reddit and these comments here I regret ever posting it. I just thought it was funny. There doesn't need to be an investigation. It's RMC not Jeff Henry who was insane in every way that someone can be insane. Nobody is questioning why the dummy flew out because it's a glorified water balloon like this. It's not a molded plastic dummy. Also there are two of these that have run for years with even more insane pacing and the same restraints. They know what they're doing, JFC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcattb5 Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 23 minutes ago, CP_RULES said: Someone should be questioning why the dummy flew out... I was gonna react to how overblown this has become, but coasterbill beat me to it. To pinpoint off of his post, the main purpose of the water dummy is NOT to test if the restraints properly work, it's to test if the train can actually complete the circuit the course, under typical weights of riders, without stalling, valleying, or exerting excessive force or wear to the track and/or structure. In fact, if the water dummy was an actual person, it wouldn't be able to ride Jersey Devil or any of the coasters at GAdv or any major amusement park. A paraplegic person cannot be safely restrained on a roller coaster, so any human that lacks arms or legs like the water dummy wouldn't be able to ride. The Ride of Steel incident at Darien Lake is a prime example why: there was nothing wrong at all with the coaster, the victim should've never been allowed to ride and sadly paid the ultimate price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 28 minutes ago, CP_RULES said: Someone should be questioning why the dummy flew out, as I can only hope they did. If it’s harmless, great. But I am sure they checked in 2005 to make sure it wasn’t a support or something else that caused the dummy’s head to fall off. It needs to be questioned, the same way it was questioned when the boats went flying off the water slide. Apples and oranges, surely nothing to be amped up about, but not something to ignore. If there’s an ejection death on Jersey Devil in the future I guarantee we will be coming back to and quoting this page. Relax, Karen. Do you really think that Great Adv maintenance, SF engineers and RMC personnel (who were likely on site for that) didn't question why it flew out? Do you really think everyone just laughed and continued on testing like "whatever brah..."? Like Bill said, those dummies are not the rigid type we're used to seeing, its a torso shaped water balloon without legs or arms. Some water gets out and its going to lose its shape and can easily slip out of the restraint. If you look at the video the park released they are to simulate weight and you can see the park actually has to tape them to the seat. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJoe123 Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 I've heard a couple stories of dummies' being ejected. You got the one at Playland's castaway cove, 2 dummies' were ejected and landed on a hotel roof. park laughed about it, and it's still safe. Dummies that "Blow Up" and have no legs are more prone to being ejected when water is loss. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/roller-coaster-test-dummies-fall-crash-ocean-city-jersey-shore-hotel-roof/200210/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dankeykang Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Lol what a calamity I have created. As I stated clearly, it needs to be questioned and it sounds like it was. There is a reason, great, there SHOULD be a reason. I am an engineer myself, we abide by a code of ethics, it is ethical to ask why this happened. There’s a reason, yay, moving on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasBaby Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 JDC looks incredible and kudos to SF for following through with it during the pandemic. I just hope that the rumors are true that SFMM will be getting one next year. They've already started demo on Tidal Wave, so I'm taking that as a good sign! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tndank Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 25 minutes ago, VegasBaby said: JDC looks incredible and kudos to SF for following through with it during the pandemic. I just hope that the rumors are true that SFMM will be getting one next year. They've already started demo on Tidal Wave, so I'm taking that as a good sign! The fact one of the trains is on site is also a good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 14 hours ago, tndank said: The fact one of the trains is on site is also a good sign. Where is this train you're referring to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 19 hours ago, dankeykang said: Good! One less person in line when it opens XD 17 hours ago, CP_RULES said: Lol what a calamity I have created. Nah don't feel bad, those coaster community is, well...like this lmao Yeah that's a good point about going through with it during the pandemic. Besides Velocicoaster so many of the others have hit the breaks and now we're not even sure if they will open this year (I saw that supposedly BGW has taken down any ads that mention "2021" around the park for Pantheon) and yeah yeah I know all the speculations and possible reasons and I get it all...but yup Great Adventure is saying screw it, still gunna do it and gotta applaud em for it. It's esp wonderful that it's this park which as I mentioned before went from the new omg addition every couple of years to jack **** Glad they are adding this beast, the first big/not a near clone single rail. It kinda reminds of how SFGadv use to be I also completely forgot they had am S&S free spin! I found that a shockingly fun and awesome ride, so yeah color me excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tndank Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 1 hour ago, coasternut said: Where is this train you're referring to? https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/mhfsfo/sfmm_boy_this_sure_looks_like_it_could_be_raptor/ https://imgur.com/a/M5G9xRr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 4 hours ago, tndank said: https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/mhfsfo/sfmm_boy_this_sure_looks_like_it_could_be_raptor/ https://imgur.com/a/M5G9xRr Needs more pixels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesinclair Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 The ride doesn't support squishy dummies? Chris Christie will be upset! I'll be in the Showcase theater at 5 and 7pm folks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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