Photo TR: The East Coaster Escapade

[Koasterking48]

8/7-8/12

For a little background to this trip, months ago, I found the opportunity to visit Six Flags Great Adventure with a friend of mine. Little did I know it would eventually turn into a full-on road trip to the major parks across Pennsylvania. I decided to also visit the top bucket parks that were on (sorta) on the way to Jackson, NJ: Hersheypark, Knoebels, Kennywood, and yes, even Dorney Park. All of these parks, I had never been to before and they also had coasters I had dreamed for years of riding. Most of the coasters ended up exceeding expectations.

 

The trip overall wound up being my absolute favorite I have ever done. Minus a couple snags along the way and the way-too-short 5 day time frame, it turned out to be a fantastic week to visit the parks and I wouldn't hesitate to do it all again.

 

 

HERSHEYPARK

 

 

I visited Hersheypark Sunday evening and Monday all day. It was pretty crowded both days, but remained manageable with some careful planning. In fact, we did not require any Fast Lane-type system this week thanks to the relatively low crowds the rest of the week. If the Fast Track system didn't suck, we might have considered it.

 

I absolutely loved everything about this park (it even wound up being my second favorite park closely following Cedar Point). Hersheypark maintains much of its charm that many corporate parks of similar size can't imitate. There is a nice combination of local and destination park feelings within the park that makes it feel welcoming and not overwhelming. The park, though not large by acreage, is very hilly and feels bigger than it actually is. While some parts of the park have a typical amusement park feel (Midway America), others actually felt like a nature park (Pioneer Frontier). Another aspect I loved about the park was how well-rounded and thought out their ride collection is. The idea of spreading out kiddie rides all across the park instead of shoving them into one area is brilliant, and it needs to be implemented in more parks! Many of the flat rides were a mix of classic and new, with some more rare ones hard to find at other parks. We even gave our final salute to Condor as it makes way for the Triple Tower coming in 2017.

 

As for the negatives of this park, there are only a few. One is that I HATE the way they implement Fast Track. We did not use it since crowds weren't awful, but the system of closing off an entire car on all the major coasters is frustrating and unnecessarily decreases capacity. Another downside was that operations for the park were wildly variable. While rides like Storm Runner and Wildcat were good at dispatch intervals, others like Skyrush and Lightning Racer were very slow. However, they did not detract much from the fantastic day we had.

 

Overall, this is the only park, to me, that gives Cedar Point a run for it's money. I absolutely am anticipating the next time I get to visit this wonderful park.

 

Reviews:

 

SkyRush: I had very high expectations for this Intamin hyper from the first time I watched a POV of this back in 2012. While I had thought I was ready for the intensity, I wasn't. My first ride was a night ride on the back row left wing and everything about it was surreal. The ride never lets up and has the most ridiculous airtime I've ever experienced. I absolutely fell in love with every thing it offered, from the crazy first drop to the snappy Stengel dive. Every airtime hill felt like I was going to be ejected across the park. The lap bars weren't great by any means, but they made the ride feel open air and terrifying. It is, without a doubt, the most intense coaster I have ever been on and quickly rocketed itself to being my #1 favorite coaster. Seriously, it is everything you could possibly need in a coaster and more. I can't say enough good things about this monstrosity and need to get back to Hershey just to ride it again, as 7 times was not enough. We need more coasters like this, Intamin!

 

Storm Runner: While SkyRush became my #1, my close #2 is now Storm Runner. My only prior experience with accelerators was with Dragster, so I didn't have much to expect. Storm Runner blew me away in every way. The launch was really good and every element of that ride is amazing. My new favorite element of any coaster is the flying snake dive, especially in the back row with how wickedly fast it flies through it. To me, it beat Maverick in the fact that it never lets up or has an awkward pacing problem. It was a surprise how much I ended up loving this fantastic coaster.

 

Fahrenheit: I was expecting more out of it, yet it didn't deliver as much as I had hoped, leaving me underwhelmed. The first drop in the back row was good as well as the fun Norwegian loop. The corkscrews were also very snappy and forceful, but the cobra roll was rough and not pleasant. I did appreciate the one pop of airtime at the end! Overall, it wasn't a bad coaster, but is not nearly as good as the other two Intamins in this park.

 

Great Bear: I loved this invert way more than I probably should have. It's very quirky and forceful. Great Bear uses the surrounding area and terrain very well and interacts with the other rides in a unique way. The first drop/helix was a highlight for me as was the final corkscrew. It's very underrated for the inverts but exceeded expectations for me. I wound up liking it more than the Batman clones.

 

Lightning Racer: LR was a lot of fun! This is my favorite GCI I've been on, although that isn't saying a whole lot. The racing/dueling is what makes the coaster. However, Thunder's lift seemed to be running slightly faster, as it would almost always win. The night ride on this felt very nostalgic and classic.

 

Sooperdooperlooper: an okay Schwarzkopf although way too short. The loop was forceful in the front as was the final helix. The trims, on the other hand, kill this ride and are way too harsh. It has the potential to be better, but falls a little flat sadly.

 

Trailblazer: A weak Arrow mine train, although still fun. The final turn had an unexpected lateral moment.

 

Wildcat: I went into this ride expecting it to be crap and came off of it thinking it was crap. One and done.

 

Sidewinder: First time on a Boomerang that has vest trains and the ride still sucks. No need to ride this ever again.

 

Laff Trakk: It's an off-the-shelf spinner in a box with black lights. Some of the fun house effects were fun, but most of the black light cardboard cutouts were nothing impressive. At least it was air-conditioned.

 

Wild Mouse: Another off-the-shelf ride, though it was the best wild mouse I believe I have ever ridden. It's crazy fast.

 

Comet: Nothing very memorable either, although it has a very nice location and interaction with Skyrush.

 

Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge: I honestly have no idea how to describe this shooter other than weird and awesome. I was definitely not expecting the "coaster section." I wish more Sally rides were like this!

 

Coal Cracker: One of the better log flumes I have been on. The "airtime hill" at the bottom of the drop was taken surprisingly fast. Also, Coal Cracker's interaction with Comet was a neat feature.

 

Chocolate World: The dark ride was nice, but the projection mapping was not overly-impressive in my opinion. The rest of chocolate world felt more like a giant gift shop/food court and was nothing of my particular taste.

 

 

Pictures:

As a side note, I do not take a lot of pictures as I was under a bit of a time crunch at a lot of the parks. So, sorry for the lack of visual stuff. Also, the iPhone camera quality varies so apologies for that as well.

We ate at Chipotle across the street. This was the view from the table. My excitement for the park was at dangerously high levels at this point

Chocolate World was a little bit too gimmicky and commercialized for my taste

We did the preview the day before and this is the first path we took. Needless to say it was breathtaking coming face to face with the number 1 coaster on my U.S. bucket list.

Our actual first ride (due to the longer lines) was SooperDooperLooper. It was a good way to kick off a long week of coastering. We rode Great Bear shortly after and loved it.

It may look beautiful at night, but that is the only positive about this ride.

Only did the front seat and that was enough for me.

The first official day at Hershey has arrived!

We actually did Laff Trakk and Fahrenheit first, but I didn't take any pictures of them beforehand ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sidewinder does not belong in this park. Seriously, Hershey, time to get rid of it.

Storm Runner is fast. So fast that I did not take a picture of how fast the ride is. Let me just say one thing about the ride, it's fast.

The launch was also incredible! I seriously cannot say enough good things about it, it personally beats Maverick for me!

Right about here is when you realize how terrifyingly awesome this ride actually can be.

We ate lunch at the Outlook Cafe and our table's view. once again, did not disappoint.

Took another ride on this in the front and appreciated it more the second time around.

The monorail queue provides a wonderful view of a wonderful Intamin...

... as does the ride itself

The best element ever on this planet. We need more of these, please.

Not sure how this ride was pre-vests, but it was very enjoyable. This part reminded me a bit of Maverick's snappy transitions.

I am very good at having poor timing for pictures with actual trains in them.

Trailblazer could be much better with a second lift and an actual second half.

You want more pictures of trainless Storm Runner?

If you say so... The airtime in the back on the top hat is top notch.

*Sigh* so sad that it didn't live up to my expectations. At least the color scheme is nice.

Why couldn't Gwazi have been this good?

The Comet queue provides a nice view of the Intamin goodness above.

Great Bear is very great, would rate 8/8

Skyrush feels much taller than 200ft to me. Also the drop itself is horrifying (in a good way).

The Kissing Tower provides great pictures of views you have never seen in any other trip report ever.

The area around Storm Runner is my personally part of the park. It has a very natural park feel to it.

Great Bear doing great things.

Seriously, how does this ride not get more love from enthusiasts? It is incredible!

This park is actually crammed with coasters, yet none of the pathways felt tight or overcrowded.

The loop produces the typical B&M forces you'd expect

We went back for a ride in the very back of Fahrenheit and I liked it a little more.

There is a solid amount of forces, positive and negative, on here. However, it was a relatively under-performing Intamin in my honest opinion.

Sunset pictures of the Hollow are a necessity...

...as well as a night ride on Skyrush. Seriously, there needs to be more rides like this.

 

Visiting Hersheypark was a actual dream come true for me. I am so glad I finally got to experience this park and walked awaywith a new #1 and #2 steel coaster. Next stop, Knoebels!

Edited August 15, 2016 by Koasterking48

[bert425]

great report. . that's very similar to the trip we did a couple of years ago (same parks), tho we flew into Pittsburgh, then drove to Philly, so we hit them: Kennywood, Hershey, Knobel's, Dorney, and then lots of "culture" stuff in Philly.

 

it's a wonderful trip, and cant wait to see the rest of your report!

[SteelForceless]

Great trip report! I'm glad you enjoyed your day at Hersheypark!

 

Also to comment on "Pre-Vest Storm Runner", it was fun, but only the first half is good. The second half was very jerky. I was convinced that the goal of the flying snake dive was to try and execute you via decapitation. It was the same deal with Fahrenheit's corkscrews. Much better now.

[amusementjunkie45]

Awesome pictures! Thanks for taking your time to share.

[Koasterking48]

Also to comment on "Pre-Vest Storm Runner", it was fun, but only the first half is good. The second half was very jerky. I was convinced that the goal of the flying snake dive was to try and execute you via decapitation. It was the same deal with Fahrenheit's corkscrews. Much better now.

I had figured it was the same situation as Maverick before the vests. Both of which are phenomenal coasters even without the regardless of the restraint system. It's sad that I didn't enjoy Fahrenheit more than I wanted to, it just didn't "wow" me as much as the other two Intamins.

[boldikus]

Great photos, loving this report. Love Hershey! Best park ever!

[coasterbill]

Great report! Looking forward to seeing more.

[Koasterking48]

Thanks guys!

 

Before I get into my next day, I do have to explain that I did not get to experience a full day at Knoebels or Dorney. Unfortunately, the short time frame + the amount of driving meant I had to split 5 hours between each park. This may have skewed my opinions of the parks slightly, but that's just I felt about them.

 

DAY 2, PART 1: KNOEBELS

 

After my fantastic visit to Hersheypark, we barreled it up to Pine Grove, PA to spend the night at the nearest hotel from Knoebels. Distance-wise it was about 45 minutes from the park, so it wasn't too terrible. However, Knoebels opened at 11 instead of 10 or 10:30 like the other parks on the trip. This meant that there was even more of a time crunch to get all of the credits and must-do's of Knoebels in before having to leave for Dorney in the afternoon. Sadly, this meant we did not have the opportunity to spend a full day at the park and I did not get to ride some of the rides I wanted to do. Besides the fact, let's get into more details:

 

Knoebels is an interesting park in itself as well as among the other parks on the trip. Prior to visiting, I was used to the typical amusement park atmosphere. Yet, Knoebels almost felt more like a local park with rides than an actual amusement park, which is not a bad thing. Locals would come in and walk their dogs, talk to their friends working some of the rides, or just sit on a bench and take in the scenery. It definitely felt odd at first, but I ended up loving it overall.

 

Due to the unconventional approach of Knoebels, the park had a very strange layout. As a first-timer, it took a lot of getting used to for me. The large amount of rides in between each coaster was really nice, as most of the rides here are very family-friendly. Since I only ate lunch and a quick snack here, I did not have a full appreciation of their selection here, but there seems to be lots of options. Overall, the park was well-kept, clean, and had a welcoming atmosphere.

 

With every park, there are some negatives. For whatever reason, as I had not heard anything on here or elsewhere, Impulse only had one train running (as did the other coasters, but it was definitely the worst for this ride). This caused what could have been a ten minute wait for us to be nearly 45 minutes. It might have not been as annoying had I had more time at Knoebels, but it definitely made me irritated. All of the other coasters, besides Flying Turns, were also running one train. The park was pretty busy on a week day, so maybe they were not anticipating this many guests, but it felt like they just didn't care to transfer on an extra train at Phoenix or Twister.

 

Overall, I mostly loved the park. Knoebels is filled with charm and quirkiness. Despite its flaws in operations, Knoebels was a great park that runs in my top 10 that I have been to. I'd love to go back again to experience a park with a little less chaos of trying to fit everything in!

 

REVIEWS

 

Impulse: Impulse, overall, was a "okay" coaster. The first drop was great and provided a nice pop of airtime. The cobra roll and loop were full of hangtime and unexpectedly rattly, I did like the slow inline roll, but the helix that followed was not great. I definitely would not wait as long as I did again for Impulse, however. The coaster honestly feels out of place at this park. When mixing in a bright neon yellow and blue coaster with an old-fashioned amusement park, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Maybe if it had a different, more toned-down color scheme and theme like Untamed an Canobie? I just think it doesn't quite fit in with the line up, or the overall look of the park.

 

Phoenix: Without a doubt, Phoenix is the gem of the park. Phoenix was another bucket-list coaster of mine that I had always wanted to get out and ride. When I finally got off my first ride, I was laughing hysterically. On paper, this figure-8 woodie should just ride like every other one. Luckily, Knoebels lets it run at 110% and creates a beautiful monster. It is such a fun coaster with a ridiculous amount of airtime. While not nearly as intense as Skyrush's, it still felt like I was basically going to be flung out of my seat over almost every hill. The last few hills on this ride are a phenomenal finale to the layout. Phoenix is one of my all-time favorite wooden coasters now and I really hope to get back to ride it more.

 

Twister: Twister was another "okay" coaster for me. It certainly prides itself in the amount of laterals there are. However, I did not really come off the ride feeling impressed. I liked the mixes of airtime here and there as well as the double helix, but the rest of the ride was pretty forgettable. If I were to compare it to another coaster, it reflected my opinions of the Legend back at Holiday World. It might be a good wooden coaster by itself, but it lives in the shadow of another better coaster or two.

 

Flying Turns: Flying Turns was the biggest surprise of the day. I did not expect to like this coaster as much as I did! We were rocketing back and forth, turn to turn. At one point, we definitely felt the back left wheel briefly come off the trough. Like Phoenix, the ride as just pure fun. The only downside is the painfully slow loading the ride had, though the wait was less than 30 minutes. Another unique ride at Knoebels that you cannot find anywhere else!

 

Black Diamond: being the "it's barely even a credit" coaster, I viewed it much more as a dark ride. I didn't really understand what was going on most of the time other than something about mining, but it was still weirdly fun.

 

Kozmo's Kurves: The only kiddie coaster of the trip we rode, but it had some good amounts of airtime. I liked the interaction with the boat ride below.

 

Haunted Mansion: I can appreciate the amount of effort it took to keep an old-school dark ride like this running, but I hate jump scares. I can certainly see why it gets praised so often, though.

 

Skooters: As my friend told me, it's the equivalent of 100 car accidents in a row, but I loved it! It is certainly the best bumper cars I have ridden by far!

 

Whip: This was the only whip we rode this week. It was a fun old-school ride.

 

Stratosfear: How does Larson make the most horrifying drop tower ever? I had ridden the one at Kentucky Kingdom before, and this was equally as fun/scary.

 

Log Flume: #2 of 5 for the trip. This one had the best drop of all of them and a neat little tunnel.

 

Sadly, we did not have time for Downdraft or the Flying Scooters due to the size of their lines, but I've only heard great things about both and will do them next time I am there.

 

Pictures:

 

Again, sorry for the severe lack of pictures. We were in a big hurry this day.

We have arrived! Seeing this sign was a special moment.

*Sigh* maybe next time. Also, hi there Flying Turns.

Impulse was the first ride of the day.

Running one train on an already low capacity ride was pretty bad.

Honestly, I could just stay at this part of the park and never leave for the rest of the day.

The line started here for the ride.

It ended up being about 30 minutes, despite what the sign posted.

Up the lift they go

At this moment, is when you realize this ride is actually terrifying/fun

The plane theme of the ride was pretty well done.

Before we left the park in the afternoon, we took another last ride on Phoenix. Hands down, the highlight of Knoebels.

 

Up next, Dorney!

[coasterbill]

Agreed on Impulse, I like it but it's not amazing. It's running 1 car because of a mechanical issue. That's not typical but it's been doing that quite a bit this year. They're working on correcting that. Believe me, since it's a pay per ride park they're not happy about it either.

 

It's a shame you didn't really get the full Knoebels experience. I also entirely disagree with your opinion of Twister but to each his own.

[Koasterking48]

It's a shame you didn't really get the full Knoebels experience. I also entirely disagree with your opinion of Twister but to each his own.

 

Maybe if I hadn't ridden Phoenix 10 minutes before or had another ride on it, iI might have appreciated Twister more. However, it just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be. Twister is not a bad coaster, it's just not really that great.

[gardyloo!]

How peculiar, I thought that knoebels was known for it's stellar operations that would even give disney a run for its money.

[coasterbill]

How peculiar, I thought that knoebels was known for it's stellar operations that would even give disney a run for its money.

 

It is. But Impulse is having mechanical issues that keep causing it to go down when it runs more than 1 train.

 

Phoenix and Twister frequently run 1 train on weekdays but they load it and dispatch it in about 30 seconds.

[Koasterking48]

How peculiar, I thought that knoebels was known for it's stellar operations that would even give disney a run for its money.

Don't get me wrong, Knoebels overall had great operations. It was just frustrating with the few hours we had that Impulse was running one train along with the park being pretty busy.

 

Day 2, Part 2: DORNEY PARK

 

Another short but sweet report of good ol' Dorney.

 

The second half of the second day was spent at Dorney Park. Just getting to Allentown from Elysburg was an adventure in itself (involving us making several wrong turns thanks to a confused GPS). However, I was relieved and still excited to visit this park as it is only my third Cedar Fair park I've been to.

 

Dorney was all-around and unexpectedly really good! Maybe being a first time visitor lets me see past its flaws at first, but I generally enjoyed this park. I do understand its short-comings with the coaster line-up and overall "generic-ness" of the park, but it is pleasant for what it is. The lines were exactly as everyone on this site said they would be, so getting all the credits was easy (except the Wild Mouse having a 30 minute wait). After being spoiled with Knoebels' amazing food quality, we were not too impressed with the options for dinner here, so we just ate at Chickie and Pete's, which is just as good as it is at CP. Operations overall were okay, with Steel Force's crew absolutely being the standout of the park.

 

Overall, Dorney may not be one of my favorites, but it certainly is far better than some other parks with weak coaster lineups I've been to (looking at you SFSTL).

 

REVIEWS

 

Steel Force: As my friend described it best, "it's a fun, giant mine train!" I liked this hyper coaster a lot! Steel Force towers over the west side of the park and feels much higher than it actually is. The airtime, while nothing too spectacular, was full of nice floaty moments. The helix took me by surprise, being more forceful than I was expecting. Overall, it is one of the most re-rideable coasters I have ever ridden and would be very easy/fun to marathon.

 

Hydra: What a weird B&M. Everything about this ride is strange, from the messed-up inversions to the literal lack of forces on this ride. It isn't bad, but it also isn't great either. Definitely a "middle of the road" B&M for me, as I generally thought it was alright. The back seat is by far the best one on this. At least the ride was running very smooth, and the jojo roll was the best element of the ride.

 

Talon: The real star of Dorney is Talon. Talon is a very solid invert for me as I loved it! It was much more forceful than I had anticipated and is an absolute blast to ride. The back seat, once again, is the best seat for this ride since it whips you through the first loop very quickly. The second half of the ride is fantastic, with the snappy corkscrew and intense, low-to-the-ground turns. Overall, Talon is one of the best B&M inverts I've ever ridden.

 

Possessed: Eh. It certainly is better than V2 at Great America, but those two still pale in comparison to Wicked Twister. The holding break on this is just unnecessary and uncomfortable. Side note, the seat belts do seem to be more accommodating than Wicked Twister, which is nice.

 

Stinger: Yes, it was open! And it didn't suck that much either! I thought Stinger ran smoother than Invertigo and Kings Island. I also still say that Invertigo's are better than regular boomerangs, which are all better than Goliath at SFNE.

 

Thunderhawk: Wow, this ran terribly. It's a shame that the trims are so harsh on this ride, as it could have much more potential to actually have airtime. Either way, it's just plain bad. At least it's pretty to look at in its new paint I guess?

 

Wild Mouse: Mouse #2 of the trip. Still just a mouse.

 

Woodstock Exp-ha ha just kidding we aren't that desperate for credits.

 

Thunder Creek Mountain: Log Flume 3/5 on this trip and one of the better ones. Probably the most unique of them all with the odd "ramp" drop it has.

 

We also did Dominator and Demon Drop. Both were really fun! It was nice to revisit Demon Drop after having last been on it in 2009 at CP. Dominator was great as well, being one of the better S&S towers out there.

 

PICTURES:

We have arrived at the holy land of Allentown.

Obligatory front entrance picture

Talon dominates the front of the park. And it should because it's a hell of a good-looking coaster.

I loved how close the track gets to the midway. It really is a great ride!

The other B&M in this park. The entrance to this ride might be one of my favorites. Cedar Fair really knows how to make a ride entrance.

Despite the lack of forces, it is still a good ride.

Plus, the jojo roll is weirdly awesome!

The renovation for Thunderhawk was basically putting lipstick on a pig. It seems like they spent no money on actually making the ride good.

The two latest and greatest (not really) coasters Dorney has to offer. I also just now struck me that Wicked Twister and Possessed have the exact same color scheme (besides the trains)

We finished out our evening in Dorney with some last rides on Steel Force, Hydra, and of course, this beaut.

Dorney overall was very fun, and I liked it more than I thought I would. It may have not been the best park of the trip, but it still surprised me in more ways than one.

[TheCoasterKid211]

Hydra is the most underrated B&M in existence. Just saying.

[coasterbill]

Needs more Thunder Creek Mountain pictures...

[Koasterking48]

Hydra is the most underrated B&M in existence. Just saying.

Hydra is very fun, it is just not a world-class B&M like Talon. I do agree about it being a little underrated (IMO Bizarro is far superior and more criminally underrated however).

 

Needs more Thunder Creek Mountain pictures...

There just needs to be more pictures period, though I took a lot at Great Adventure to make up for it. Damn iPhone storage. And I do think Thunder Creek Mountain is one of the better flumes I've been on!

[Samuel]

I'm enjoying the report, Koasterking! When can we expect Great Adventure and Kennywood?

[Koasterking48]

I'm enjoying the report, Koasterking! When can we expect Great Adventure and Kennywood?

Thanks, how does now work for ya?

 

DAY 3: SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE

 

After spending the night next to Dorney Park (literally right across the street), we packed our bags and made the 1hr 30min trek to Jackson, New Jersey. I never fully realized how far "off the grid" Six Flags was until I realized the closest hotel we could find was nearly 30 minutes away. It just seemed odd for a park of this massive size to not have more than a couple gas stations and fast food restaurants close to it.

 

Anyways, our day at Great Adventure was fantastic! The park was nearly dead, with every ride except Kingda Ka and Dark Knight being a walk on. And even then it was only a 15 minute wait for both. Unfortunately, Joker was closed for the visit, which was a bummer. However, the closure was a pretty serious issue that has required weeks to fix, so it was understandable. The food was typical amusement park food. so once again, there was nothing special to the park. One thing I noticed at the park was how well-behaved the guests were compared to my experiences with other Six Flags parks. So it was a nice change to see (maybe it was just isolated to that day?).

 

Theming was here and there/inconsistent. On one hand, I was actually impressed with the Golden Kingdom and Plaza del Carnival with their nice theming spread across the area. On the other hand, the Boardwalk is U-G-L-Y. It is so gawdy and commercialized, plus it does not help that there is no shade and all the pathways are asphalt. Movie Town looked okay, mostly reminding me of similar lands of other parks, and the Frontier area is pretty neat with the large fort still in tact.

 

The layout of this park is both interesting and frustrating. It really is an enormous park and very spread out. I came into the park knowing about the annoying route from Kingda Ka/Zumanjaro to El Toro, but it still bothers me knowing that there is a shortcut that is blocked off for no reason. Also, you pretty much have to plan to stay over in a certain section of the park for a while since it can be a mile-ish walk from Zumanjaro to Nitro. It was nice, on the other hand, to come across the "lesser known" pathways that don't get as much traffic, giving a break from the towering coasters.

 

Operations were okay, though I would say they were fantastic for a Six Flags park. Toro and Batman's crews were rolling through, while Ka, Bizarro, and Nitro were realllyy slow. Luckily, when we came back to Bizarro, they removed the third train.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better day than the one we had! Being able to walk on some of the world's best coaster is ridiculously awesome. By the end of the day, there was no one in the park. This meant we were able to night ride marathon El Toro for nearly 2 hours which may have been the overall highlight of the trip for me. This Six Flags is in a league of its own compared to the others, and I can't wait to go back again!

 

Reviews:

 

El Toro: Holy mother of airtime, this ride is unbelievable! El Toro was the number 1 most anticipated ride of this trip for me and it still blew me away. Every aspect of this ride is phenomonal! The first drop is, without a doubt, the best I've ever ridden hands down. It just rips you out of your seat and feels like you'll be ejected across the park. The following hills are wonderful sustained ejector hills that are crazy, but still comfortable (unlike Skyrush's airtime unholiness lol). The middle of the ride provided a nice break from the intensity with a solid turn-around and a couple of floater airtime hills. However the break is short-lived as the Rolling Thunder hill launches you sky high, reminding me more of Skyrush's airtime. This part of the ride is the climax as it is the last mega airtime hill, and it delievers so well! After the RT hill, you are pushed into the slaloms (or whatever the official term is for the "twisties") and whipped back and forth. Finally, a couple floater airtime hills bring you into a coasting stop. I had a big stupid grin on my face after every lap, all 35 of them. El Toro is easily, the best wooden coaster for me. Previously, Voyage and Outlaw Run tied for that spot, but Toro just blows them both away with the nonstop intense ejector airtime. What an amazing ride!

 

Nitro: Another airtime machine, though of strictly floater. Nitro was a blast, and became my favorite B&M hyper! While I did not get a front row seat, I did ride in 2 and 9 multiple times and it was still great! I can see why the ride is compared to Diamondback so much, as they both are similar layout-wise. I do think Nitro gets the edge with it having a forceful helix before the midcourse. The last few airtime hills were the best section of the ride, giving some wonderful floaty time of air. Nitro is one of my favorite B&M's overall and I loved that it is still running great after 15 years!

 

Kingda Ka: More like Kinda Krap. Ka was a huge mixed bag for me. On one hand, the front row ride was very solid and a good adrenaline rush. On the other hand, every other row is god-awful. We made the mistake of riding the 2nd row and last row before riding the front. The second row was pretty rough, but the back row was ridiculously terrible and shaky. Never before had I been on an Intamin that rough. Maybe the ride is poorly maintained, but I do not know how it is really that terrible in every other seat besides the front. Top Thrill Dragster is far superior in every way.

 

Bizarro: Besides its slight head bashing, I actually really liked this ride! While not nearly as forceful as Kumba, it still kicks butt! Definitely an underrated ride and fire always makes a coaster awesome.

 

Skull Mountain: what is this ride?!? I took the advice of back row only and oh my god its ridiculous! I still can't figure out exactly what happened when I rode. Skull Mountain cult ride or die.

 

Green Lantern: good GOD IT SUCKS. I don't remember much riding it as Chang but this ride is trash! It's a shame they took out a classic Arrow for this steaming pile of crap. Kill it with fire.

 

Superman: just as mediocre as its Great America counterpart. The pretzel loop is still my favorite inversion however.

 

Batman: the same awesome old school inverts you can find at your local Six Flags park.

 

Dark Knight: Mouse-in-a-box cred #2 for me. This one had working effects unlike Great America's when I went.

 

Runaway Mine Train: It was odd riding a mine train with tubular steel track, but it gave a solid family ride. The single airtime hill was surprisingly good!

 

Harley Quinn: I did the clone at SFNE last year and this one pretty much rode the same.

 

Zumanjaro: definitely terrifying, though the drop was not intense. Also, holy crap this ride takes forever to get to from the entrance.

 

Log Flume: This one was probably the best log flume of the trip. It's a really long flume and it gets you soaked!

 

Houdini: Since I had done the one at SFNE also, I knew what to expect this time around. It seems that Six Flags actually wants to keep this ride around for a little longer since it was still well-maintained. Houdini is definitely a hidden gem.

 

We also did Skyscreamer, Parachute Drop, and the Skyway. All provided nice views of the park from above.

Pictures

We rolled up to the parking lot about a half an hour before it opened. The lot was nearly empty was this time.

It was definitely another surreal moment for me when I finally got to see these monsters in person.

First stop was Ka, I hesitated to even give it a second chance in the front row considering how bad it was in the second.

El Toro is as beautiful to look at as it is to ride <3

Best First Drop. Period.

Can you guess which ride is all-around enjoyable and which one isn't?

Yeah, its bad. Real bad.

At least Superman was fun.

There is never a bad time to ride El Toro.

I could marathon it all day and still not get tired of it. It's just that good.

Truth be told, I was too impatient to wait for a train for this shot.

We took the Skyway to Nitro. It is a very relaxing break.

Also it was much higher than I thought and gave some great views of the park.

Obligatory Six Flags Great Adventure shot. This was probably the only time we saw blue skies for the day, though it never rained.

The lines were unbearable today.

As the sun started to go down. it was time to head back to other side of the park.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip. I just love how the Larson Loop looked here

Intamin, please build more of these. You'll do the world a huge favor.

And one final picture of Bizarro (even though we still stayed for another 5 hours till closing). Again. we really could not picked a better day to visit. This is easily my favorite Six Flags I have been to. I am counting down the days until I will be reunited with El Toro.