Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

One of the security guards by Jersey Devil told a few of us it is likely down for the day.

It looks like they’re trying hard to get it back up though.

[coasterbill]

39 minutes ago, Canobie Coaster said:

One of the security guards by Jersey Devil told a few of us it is likely down for the day.

They say that every day. I would pay zero attention to them.

[Canobie Coaster]

They just transferred a train on the track.

[wildcattb5]

So I could only be at the park until 3 due to evening commitments and they opened Jersey Devil at... Of course, 3. So being the good boyfriend I am I decided to hold off this trip and... Oh, who am I kidding, of course I had to stay and get at least one ride in, plans be damned!

I won't go into detail because I don't think I'd be adding anything that hasn't already been said, but yes it is worth the hype. Don't listen to anyone who negatively overreacts because it "isn't the best RMC", or Raptor for that matter. Because if you come from a park that doesn't have an RMC, you would want this ride at your park, and wouldn't be nit-picking.  My one word of advice (and I apologize if it's already been mentioned) is to remember it has the same loose article policy as El Toro and Kingda Ka, but the lockers are quite separated from the entrance, they're back next to the funnel cake stand. Quite a few riders got turned away after waiting in line not realizing this. 

Photos below of test runs, apologies for the sun glare. This is a ride best photographed in the morning for sun angles, but didn't have that luxury today. Also one of the early tests stalled entering the MCBR (pic attached), and barely made the inversions.

On a side note, there was a security guard turning people away today from Nitro's entrance if they had loose articles, a-la El Toro style. This is my first time seeing this, and some guests were argumentative (presumably because they know this is a ride that doesn't usually do that). Anyone else know if they've done this before from time to time? My thinking is maybe they had an issue with an on-board rider taking out a phone previously today, but who knows.

[Lightnin Loops]

8 minutes ago, wildcattb5 said:

So I could only be at the park until 3 due to evening commitments and they opened Jersey Devil at... Of course, 3. So being the good boyfriend I am I decided to hold off this trip and... Oh, who am I kidding, of course I had to stay and get at least one ride in, plans be damned!

I won't go into detail because I don't think I'd be adding anything that hasn't already been said, but yes it is worth the hype. Don't listen to anyone who negatively overreacts because it "isn't the best RMC", or Raptor for that matter. Because if you come from a park that doesn't have an RMC, you would want this ride at your park, and wouldn't be nit-picking.  My one word of advice (and I apologize if it's already been mentioned) is to remember it has the same loose article policy as El Toro and Kingda Ka, but the lockers are quite separated from the entrance, they're back next to the funnel cake stand. Quite a few riders got turned away after waiting in line not realizing this. 

Photos below of test runs, apologies for the sun glare. This is a ride best photographed in the morning for sun angles, but didn't have that luxury today. Also one of the early tests stalled entering the MCBR (pic attached), and barely made the inversions.

On a side note, there was a security guard turning people away today from Nitro's entrance if they had loose articles, a-la El Toro style. This is my first time seeing this, and some guests were argumentative (presumably because they know this is a ride that doesn't usually do that). Anyone else know if they've done this before from time to time? My thinking is maybe they had an issue with an on-board rider taking out a phone previously today, but who knows.

Buy a runners belt. Its great for hiding loose articles.   The enployees are looking  at bulging pockets.   

[JJLehto]

12 minutes ago, wildcattb5 said:

So I could only be at the park until 3 due to evening commitments and they opened Jersey Devil at... Of course, 3. So being the good boyfriend I am I decided to hold off this trip and... Oh, who am I kidding, of course I had to stay and get at least one ride in, plans be damned!

I won't go into detail because I don't think I'd be adding anything that hasn't already been said, but yes it is worth the hype. Don't listen to anyone who negatively overreacts because it "isn't the best RMC", or Raptor for that matter. Because if you come from a park that doesn't have an RMC, you would want this ride at your park, and wouldn't be nit-picking.  My one word of advice (and I apologize if it's already been mentioned) is to remember it has the same loose article policy as El Toro and Kingda Ka, but the lockers are quite separated from the entrance, they're back next to the funnel cake stand. Quite a few riders got turned away after waiting in line not realizing this. 

Photos below of test runs, apologies for the sun glare. This is a ride best photographed in the morning for sun angles, but didn't have that luxury today. Also one of the early tests stalled entering the MCBR (pic attached), and barely made the inversions.

On a side note, there was a security guard turning people away today from Nitro's entrance if they had loose articles, a-la El Toro style. This is my first time seeing this, and some guests were argumentative (presumably because they know this is a ride that doesn't usually do that). Anyone else know if they've done this before from time to time? My thinking is maybe they had an issue with an on-board rider taking out a phone previously today, but who knows.

One, superb photos! Two, glad to hear it's living up to the hype. Yeah we sure have become spoiled, "lesser RMCs" or "not as good as other raptors" still better than 80% of rides lol Thanks for the tips, depending on plans I will be going either tomm or Friday (finally) to ride this beast, and El Toro  

[Zand]

16 minutes ago, JJLehto said:

One, superb photos! Two, glad to hear it's living up to the hype. Yeah we sure have become spoiled, "lesser RMCs" or "not as good as other raptors" still better than 80% of rides lol Thanks for the tips, depending on plans I will be going either tomm or Friday (finally) to ride this beast, and El Toro  

I don't think "lesser RMC" is meant as a slight against the coaster, because there really isn't a bad RMC in the bunch. I've been on Steel Vengeance, Lightning Rod, Twisted Timbers, Wicked Cyclone, and this and I feel like out of those I would only put it above Wicked Cyclone. But all 5 of them are excellent coasters, so it's not a slight to consider it a "lesser RMC".

[JJLehto]

30 minutes ago, Zand said:

I don't think "lesser RMC" is meant as a slight against the coaster, because there really isn't a bad RMC in the bunch. I've been on Steel Vengeance, Lightning Rod, Twisted Timbers, Wicked Cyclone, and this and I feel like out of those I would only put it above Wicked Cyclone. But all 5 of them are excellent coasters, so it's not a slight to consider it a "lesser RMC".

Agreed and that is a sensible, logical thing to say but ya know, enthusiasts get a little....tooo enthusiastic sometimes lol At Dollywood I found one guy who was saying LRod is "OK" basically because it wasn't Steel Vengeance lol
But yeah I'm stoked. Also we can pile onto the meme of "Opened before Iron Gwazi" XD

[mtavenger55]

Hoping to go to the park very soon. Middle of the week either next week or the following. How reliable has the Jersey Devil been in terms of being open? I plan on getting there when the park opens & heading right there. I do plan on getting Flash Pass as well. 

[Canobie Coaster]

It opened with the park today, but it didn't open until 3 yesterday.  Once it opens, it has a few 5-10 minute breakdowns a day it seems.

[coasterbill]

I don't want to alarm anyone but Six Flags is kind-of theming something.

I'm grading on a curve, but I am impressed.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sfgadvconnoisseurs

Also this should be set back from the path because if it's actually made out of wood, everyone is going to scratch their names into it in 5 seconds. At no point should this park forget that they have the worst guests ever...

[Zand]

There's secretly electrified wire just inside the wood, so anyone who puts a key or other metal object on it will be electrocuted and become food for the Jersey Devil.

Pretty awesome sign though!

[coasterbill]

I mean... these are the people that they're dealing with

 

[tndank]

New sign is great.  

[KBrylczyk]

^ That sign looks wonderful.  Shame what's gonna happen to it.

[Superbatboy]

They really did a nice job with the area surrounding JDC. Nice to see SF actually put some effort in. 

[Masquerade]

9 hours ago, coasterbill said:

Also this should be set back from the path because if it's actually made out of wood, everyone is going to scratch their names into it in 5 seconds.

[michaellynn4]

He killed 16 Czechoslovakians!

Seriously though, love the little touches. Was waiting for this to finally get installed.

[Chasehat]

10 hours ago, coasterbill said:

I mean... these are the people that they're dealing with

 

They were just making up for the fact that the flume was closed!

[coasterbill]

The park has quietly updated the hours for a few operating days in the coming weeks:

Friday, June 25th - 8pm close (previously 7pm)
Saturday, June 26th - 9pm close (previously 8pm)
July 2nd through 4th - 10pm close (previously 9pm)

[Chasehat]

Stopped in for my first visit of the season today and had a great time as usual. Park wasn’t as crowded as I expected but the gold FP helped us get more done than we would’ve in 6 hours.

 

Also, idk If it was a Saturday and they were expecting it to be super busy, but when we pulled into the lot at 9:15 they let us straight in and thru security and then thru the front gate right away. We got the flash passes squared away by 9:45 and when we got to Devil at 9:50 they let us right on and seemed to have already been cycling trains for a bit. Love to see that from Six Flags.

 

Operations were pretty solid across the park, Bizarro sucked as usual but everywhere else seemed really solid, walk of shames were really slowing Toro down tho.

 

Rides:

 

Jersey Devil (x1)- Not going to get too in depth since everyone in this thread already seems to have this covered and I only managed to get one ride in the front seat. It’s a great ride, it has some fun moments of airtime (especially the first camelback), cool inversions, and the turn around caught me by surprised with how forceful it was. And as Bill said in his review, the return run of airtime hills is a lot like Nitro’s just on a smaller scale. It’s probably my 3rd favorite ride in the park, behind Toro and Nitro, but hopefully at some point this year I can snag 
a backseat ride as the ride looks absolutely wicked in the back.

 

El Toro (x5)- the greatest coaster on the planet was in top form today. What can I say that hasn’t been said? The ride is absolutely spectacular and my rides in 6-2 were as smooth as I’ve ever experienced. Much better than my rides last year on my one trip when they were filling only like 8 seats and it was bouncy as hell and slow. 
 

Nitro (x3)- Nothing much to say here, the ride is absolutely spectacular and is one of the most underrated coasters I’ve ever ridden. Still my favorite B&M Hyper.

 

Batman (x1)- How a 28 year old B&M that is this snappy and thus forceful is still glass smooth is mind blowing to me. Such a terrific ride.

 

Skull Mountain (x1)- The drop in the back is still nuts but there’s a lot of gaps in the building now letting sunlight in hopefully that gets fixed.

 

Kingda Ka (x1)- I’m in the minority but from the front seat I prefer this over Dragster (albeit slightly). I’ve just always felt the launch on this hits much harder than Dragster and I’m not big enough that the OTSRs bug me and obviously it’s glass smooth in the front. Also, it’s so nice not needing to wait forever for it now that Zumie can run with it.

 

Zumajaro (x1)- We had a Ka train launch when we were about 3/4ths of the way up and the tower started shaking like crazy! Absolutely my craziest ride on Zumie since it opened. It honestly adds so much to the experience.

 

Superman (x1)- I used to really like this ride but over the last few years I’ve kinda soured on it. I’m just not a big fan of the way you lay on flyers and this one is so boring outside of the pretzel roll

 

Bizarro (x1)- As always a fun relaxing floorless with some nice forces for a B&M. Not much to say here expect for it somehow still has the worst crew in the park for like the 10th year in a row.

 

Another fantastic day at the park. If I could just drop Superman from SFNE (my home park) into Great Adventure I would literally never leave. Can’t wait to return and hopefully grab some back seat rides on JD.

 

Pics:

 

 

[xVicesAndVirtues]

Hey all, the boyfriend and I are planning on going to the park later this week and I've got a few questions. I have a lot of experience with this park so I know it can be slammed on a Tuesday morning for no reason and completely dead on a Saturday during fright fest for no reason, too, so for the most part I know what to expect, buuuuuut:

I saw on a random Great Adventure insta fan page that Jersey Devil is available on Platinum Flash Pass. I'm taking this with a grain of salt because fan pages can contain all sorts of wrong info. Can anyone confirm this, and if it is, is it a one-ride type deal? And does anyone know if it's available on other levels of Flash Pass other than Platinum?

I also took a look at Flash Pass availability online, moreso for the prices and to see if JD was listed, and I found that on a lot of days it says Bronze and Platinum aren't available, which is weird because I've never had a problem getting any level I've wanted. We went on a pretty busy day in the fall last year and got Platinum in person no problem. Do they maybe just restrict online availability? Given the unpredictability of the park, I don't want to spend like $300 on it and then show up and the park be a ghost town.

[SharkTums]

^^Great report. I think I would die if I was on Zumanjaro and they launched a Kingda Ka train. 

[Chasehat]

3 hours ago, xVicesAndVirtues said:

Hey all, the boyfriend and I are planning on going to the park later this week and I've got a few questions. I have a lot of experience with this park so I know it can be slammed on a Tuesday morning for no reason and completely dead on a Saturday during fright fest for no reason, too, so for the most part I know what to expect, buuuuuut:

I saw on a random Great Adventure insta fan page that Jersey Devil is available on Platinum Flash Pass. I'm taking this with a grain of salt because fan pages can contain all sorts of wrong info. Can anyone confirm this, and if it is, is it a one-ride type deal? And does anyone know if it's available on other levels of Flash Pass other than Platinum?

I also took a look at Flash Pass availability online, moreso for the prices and to see if JD was listed, and I found that on a lot of days it says Bronze and Platinum aren't available, which is weird because I've never had a problem getting any level I've wanted. We went on a pretty busy day in the fall last year and got Platinum in person no problem. Do they maybe just restrict online availability? Given the unpredictability of the park, I don't want to spend like $300 on it and then show up and the park be a ghost town.

I had the gold FP on Saturday and JD wasn’t available.

[Zand]

3 hours ago, SharkTums said:

^^Great report. I think I would die if I was on Zumanjaro and they launched a Kingda Ka train. 

Last time I rode Zumanjaro, KK launched right as we dropped. Missed the sweet visual by like 5 seconds. Based on how quick they were launching KK trains, both rides should run together quite a bit. Plus Zumi usually doesn't have much of a line so you could always give it a few tries!