mush619 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Great report as always! Thank you for sharing. It was especially enjoyable on this cold day with 50mph wind gusts. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouscactus Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Last waffle House I went to had ants everywhere. Gave it some charm. It must be like the Knoebels of the breakfast world to you guys mmmmm... charm. BGW is always the first park to open near me (and when I say near me I mean 9 hours lol); really want to go back, as always. Alpingeist is a great ride I just don't know where to rank it. I feel like sometimes I ride it it's totally insane and other times it's "just" pretty damn good. I do love me some inverts. I love how many ciders and alcoholic non-beers that bar has, always a favorite. Great report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 ^ Thanks, y'all! I love that this thread has spiraled into a Waffle House discourse. It was only a matter of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Williamsburg itself does not have a single Waffle House, which is shocking (nearest one is on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) Sorry guys, no Waffle House in this next report, but a hundred photos of the broke-ass lights at Great Adventures' Holiday In the Park is a fair trade, no? You all might recall my epic birthday bash in late 2017 where the missus and I visited Florida and hit 3 parks in 2 days. Unfortunately the budget was much tighter this year, but I was happy to settle on spending the big day at my local Six Flags. Can you sense the excitement? In all seriousness, I am huge fan of Great Adventures' seasonal Holiday In the Park, and by the first weekend of December it was in full swing. Sadly the weather did not cooperate, with the forecast calling for warm...ish and a steady all-day-long drizzle, subsequently causing almost all of my pals to cancel on me. Yes, even the missus: "Sorry babe, I know its your birthday and all but there is no way I'm going to Six Flags in the rain in December. Have a great time!" Ouch. But I get it. Fortunately I do know of a couple of completely insane people who wouldn't cancel a day at the park - even if it meant risking the fact that Great Adventure could and likely would shut the whole thing down early, as they're known to do. Nonetheless, Bill and Brit braved the 3hour+ drive down from Bumblef*ck, NY in a lunatic effort to join me for some beers and Nitro rides in the rain before the park inevitably closed early. I would swap out "inevitably" for "disappointingly" but that's the great thing about this - we know this park and how they operate, therefore there would be no disappointment if we expected it. It was a challenge of sorts. Would we be one of the only cars in the lot? Was this a complete waste of time? Probably, but we had nothing better to do. I know the Florida/Cali people reading this will recoil in horror but "warm...ish" was in the upper 50's. Combine that with the steady morning drizzle and the entire Philly/Jersey area was coated in a thick layer of fog. Sounds like some good ridin', if you ask me. Taken from my train crossing the Delaware river just before arriving in Trenton where my fellow loonies would be scooping me for the last 20 minute leg of our journey. Would you look at that! Not only is the park open but there are other mental patients here. Not pictured: the parking lot where we were surprised to see at least 100 cars. Things were looking up. It looks pretty soggy but it actually wasn't even really raining at this point. More of a light mist. Naturally we started our day on Six Flags' Most Explosive Coaster™. Stoked to see Batman running as well, since we know this time of year is when this monster really shines. We were hoping the wet tracks would make for even wilder rides. We rave about Batman during the winter months but Nitro is no slouch either. The warm air and slick tracks & wheels had us absolutely flying, even with a mostly empty train. We took a few laps since no one else was. It's really nice having a couple big B&Ms all to yourself on your birthday. Thanks, Rain? Right over to Batman for a few rounds and were blown away by how insanely fast it felt. A real treat these rides, gave my feet some real tinglers. Feels like they finally got the air conditioning working in here. This ride is positively bonkers. We popped over to Metropolis for a minute to see if Cyborg was cooperating today. We had ourselves a quick ride on Justice League, and for the first time ever (for me at least) we didn't have to wait at all. Walk right in and jump on. I still love this ride, the subway scene does it every time. An audience of one, ready for the show. Yeah, there was no f*cking way I was going anywhere near Cyborg. One and done, not for me. But these maniacs were all about it. They've actually ridden this before and then willingly got back on it. Eff this ride! Sure is pretty though, innit it? Expressions of the deranged. We're super excited for this ride and you should be too! It's a HITP tradition to goad Bill & Brit into standing in front of one of the displays set up for cheesy photo ops. They're not actually rolling their eyes, but trust me - they are. By now we were truly convinced they were going to close. The rain was coming in short light waves, and the crowds were certainly not picking up. There was no conceivable reason for them to stay open until 9pm. We thought we should get a ride on Sky Screamer since it wasn't freezing and the queue was empty. It was just our luck that as soon as the gondola lifted the sky opened up and we were painfully pelted by what felt like tiny bullets the entire cycle. Full disclosure: I regret nothing, and that may have been the most fun ride I've had on a star flyer yet. My recollection of this part of the day is a little bit foggy but I'm pretty sure Brit went off to find the goats (which we found out were not around due to the weather) while Bill and I had an insane ride on Joker. From here we made our way into Merry Marketplace for some booze and Brit got a baked apple. Bill had beer and I got a spiked apple cider. Happy Birthday to me. Come have some s'mores ya'll. Only $19.99 and your dignity. Plenty of room for everyone! We took our brews over to Liberty Pub and hung out in there for a bit to get out of the precip and get have some more dranks. It's my birthday after all! From here we had a couple options: into the boardwalk where the only attraction of interest was Ultimate Flight... or back to the west side of the park to walk onto an 80mph hypercoaster in a light drizzle. Surprise! The whole ride to ourselves. How is this park even still open? Wheeeeeeeeee Now just about dusk we wandered around a bit. Nah, no triple R for us today, we just like the bathroom back here. We stopped back over to have a brief hang with The Caped Crusader who treated us to a few spectacular laps, including a few in the back row that were just absurd. We wanted to sit and eat something for dinner so we eventually settled on Granny's, since for once it was actually half empty. We ran into a regular we know who was kind enough to give me his dining pass dinner for the day since he was leaving but wasn't using it, so I got this whole awesome turkey dinner for free. And surprisingly it was all good. Happy Birthday to me! You didn't think you'd make it through an entire report about my birthday @ Great Adventure without a stop to pay our respects to The Mighty Mountain? For some reason they didn't do the lights on the exterior like the past few seasons, and I'm not even sure they're calling it "Poinsettia Peak" or whatever, but rest assured the pumpkin and strobe skull both remain, and the death metal still blares. We were the only people riding and took at least 3 consecutive back row rides. You didn't seriously think we weren't going to ride the Sky Way, did you? This ride perpetually has a wait during HITP and for good reason: you get a fantastic view of the park, the lights, and everyone in the family can ride. But for once this ride had absolutely no wait and further convinced us the park would be closing at any moment. Enjoy the view. It wasn't until we got up here that it was impossible to not notice that half of the holiday lights were out. Joker & a passing cabin. One of the coolest things about this ride during HITP is you get a brief, albeit dark, glimpse into the non-operational side of the park. Check out King Daka all brooding and sh*t in the fog. A really nice touch having the Fort decorated for the event. Peep Bizarro creeping in the rear. Artsy! Upon touching back down, amazed the park hadn't yet closed, we begrudgingly agreed we should get some rides in on Superman, so we walked back over toward the boardwalk where the lights looked great. As you can tell from these few photos, we weren't the only weirdos hanging out in the rain. I can't walk through this thing and not slap the side of it. Paybacks are a bitch. What lights were working looked great, and the wet concrete/blacktop made for some cool pics. I still haven't ridden this thing since at least the early 90s. At this point we had asked a few employees what the deal with the lights were and were universally told it had something to do with the rain. Uhhhh.... ok. Haha lol yeah right no way. Another way you know the park is dead? When the front row of Superman is a walk on. Just like Nitro and Batman, Superman was running extraordinarily well, feeling faster and much more forceful than usual. I know these rides aren't respected much around here, but as long as I don't have to wait for it, I'm a fan. That maniacal pretzel loop never gets old. With only 90 minutes til park close we felt like we had won a race or something. We felt accomplished. It was cause for a celebration so we stopped back at Liberty Pub and grabbed some beers to drink while we watched the tree show... ... before heading back to get a few last laps on the two stars of this event. We weren't even sure they were operating since the area was so dead but as soon as one of us said that out loud we heard the unmistakable sound of a B&M lift starting up. Once we got back to Nitro, seated and ready, as if on cue the sky opened again, but this time a full-on downpour. And as we should expect by now from the great ride operators at this park, "all clear, dispatch" and out into the monsoon we rolled. As soggy as we were by now, none of us cared and threw our hands up for our last soaking ride of a really, really amazing day. Sure they would now be closing the ride we decided to end our day on a high note, swiftly making our way through the rain, out of the now-deserted park and into the parking lot. Through the trees just beyond the picnic groves - just barely audible over the sound of the rain hitting the ground - we could make out the sound of a few fellow maniacs, still riding Nitro in the rain. Thanks for reading! Edited February 28, 2019 by boldikus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Great report of a great day. I seriously can't believe they stayed open... especially since all of the lights tripped in the rain. That day was basically what I expected Holiday in the Park to be like when it was first announced before Six Flags blew our minds by actually making it awesome (tons of burned out lights, no effort being made to fix them and nobody in the park). Despite that we still rode Nitro and Batman in December when it was almost 60 degrees so I'll totally take it. It was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Yay for air conditioning on Batman, yay for cider and lol for blaming everything including the lights on rain. Looks like a fun day with proper expectations. And yes, ffffffffff Cyborg. I wouldn't get on that once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRice92 Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Looks like you all had a blast! Holiday In The Park there the time I visited was a ton of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 This post made me happy. I'm glad Bill and Britt could meet up with you for your Birthday! Happy Belated (by a fair margin) birthday by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 ^ Doing this report made me happy because we did do HITP another time after this (foreshadowing) so that sits more prominent in my mind at this point, but going back through the photos of the rainy birthday visit made me realize just how awesome that day turned out to be. It also made me happy because I decided I wan't going to type so much lol, and just really like how a lot of the photos turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouscactus Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 You definitely got lucky. Glad you had an awesome time. HITP is always a scary time for me since the drive is so long and we got hosed in the past. Eh, nobody showed up, so sad too bad, see ya tomorrow. Or the weather, or whatever. Happy belated birthday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 ^ Thanks! I thought B&B were crazy for driving all that way (its only an hour from me) but we did have a backup plan if Great Adventure closed, we were going to maybe hit up iPlay nearby since they have beer and that SBF spinner I don't have the credit for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Great report! Even with blown lights, it still looks nicer than Discovery Kingdom's HITP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlp94 Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Amazing photos and fun read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 (edited) Hey guys!! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'm obscenely backed up on trip reports because frankly I don't feel like doing them anymore! Anyways, I started this one a while ago so I'm finally finishing it for yall. Its no secret that we love HITP and have gone multiple times the last few seasons, but after such a fabulous birthday visit, and with the horrors of the holidays fast approaching, a return seemed unlikely and to be honest I would have been perfectly happy with that as my last park visit of 2018. Bill & Brit started hinting via text that they were hoping to continue our tradition of one last visit on closing day, which has typically fallen on New Years Day these last couple of seasons. The weather would be cold but clear, and unless you're into casually racist street parades, there isn't much to do in Philly on New Years Day because everything is closed. Early New Years morning I got a text from Brit asking if my Busch Williamsburg platinum pass was still active. I knew exactly what that meant: after the last year or so of badgering them, they were finally willing to risk looking like creeps at a kids park in a mad-dash effort to check out the Delaware Valleys' newest wooden coaster. I responded with an all-caps "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!" B&B had been down in Delaware to visit family for the holidays and since they would be passing Philly on their way to SFGAdv, were able to scoop me right from my house, after which we took the 20 minute drive over to Sesame Place. Bill was freaking out that everyone was going to point and laugh at us for being in this park without any kids but the plan wasn't to hang around - we were going to pop in, hit the two coasters, show them around the place real quick, and then bounce in order to have ourselves another Grated Venture. If you've been following along, I'd been here before (with my sister & nephew) and was confident no one would care about our lack of underage accompaniment. We arrived at opening and with our platinum passes were able to park practically next to the entrance. We figured we'd get the sh*tty Vekoma out of the way since it would suck even more if we rode it after the excellent Oscars Wacky Taxi. Credit whoring at its finest. Vapor Trail is completely uneventful: a non-drop into three helices into brakes. It may be a kids park but you can ride in Uranus. This looks like an good opportunity for an awkward B&B photo. Sesame looked nice dolled up for the holidays. We headed right over to Wacky Taxi which is conveniently located right net to the park entrance. What a wonderful little airtime machine. I can't gush enough about this ride, it's brilliant. Nice job on the details. I especially love the recording of Oscar telling you to "Beat it!" when unloading. Even hardened enthusiasts Bill and Brit seemed impressed by the power and force of this tiny woodie. With the two coasters out of the way we just did a quick loop of the park to show them around, as most of the flats are really for kids and/or families. Once we got to the back area we noticed Honker Dinger Derby was basically a walk-on so I told them we should give it a whirl. This is the Sandstorm ride from Busch Tampa, and its basically a kiddie version of a Troika. For whatever reason they run it cranked up to 11 so its actually worth riding and by default the second best ride in the park after Wacky Taxi. You know how when someone tells you not to do something it makes you want to do it? The park was still pretty dead so on our way out we stopped over at Wacky Taxi for another lap. There is seriously great airtime all over this ride, but the highlight for me is the pop out of the tunnel into the mini triple-down that follows. The ride had built up a small wait by now so we just had that one last lap before we were back in the car heading over the Delaware river into Jersey. After experiencing the modest crowds at Sesame, we assumed with the cold temps and the fact that it was January-f*cking-1st that a coaster park in the Northeast part of the country would be fairly quiet. How wrong we were. To be fair, Sesame had opened @1pm, so by now it was after 3. Yeah they don't serve booze at Sesame. Cheers! Who would have predicted Nitro would have 20+ minute waits in January? Happy New Years! Nitro was hauling ass with full trains in the winter chill. But its the Caped Crusader who run tings during this event. We don't how they manage to get this thing to run so well in the winter. People talk about winter wheels and all this other stuff but obviously they just coat the wheel assemblies in Crisco and meth. The sun sets so early in the winter (translation: 4 hours of night rides... coming right up!) Wish you were beer! Brit ditched us for some window shopping while Bill and I marathoned Batman, getting a couple of exceptional back row rides. Good lord. We wandered around, looked at the lights and had some more beers before finally stopping over at The Mountain. So yeah this year they couldn't be bothered to cover The Mountain in lights, didn't turn off the death metal, and if it was 15 degrees warmer would have probably been running the freakin waterfall. So yeah, business as usual. Back seat all the way. I think we counted three laps? We skipped Sky Screamer this time around. Entirely too cold for that nonsense. No photos of the moment, but we did stop for food at the joint across from Sky Screamer - Mamas Florida Lucina or whatever the hell its called? And had ourselves some Premios sausage sandwiches we discovered were on sale (obviously because closing day/they had to get rid of them), and actually found them to be pretty damn good for Six Flags cuisine. To be honest this part of the night is a little blurry but I am like 87% sure we rode Justice League. Dark Knight too. So we had a thread in the Great Adv FB group about these weird light/reflector things in Nitro's queue. Some people said they were for spotlights when the ride opened and some said they were used to determine how long the queue was... I'm not sure we ever got a definitive answer. We never made it over to the Boardwalk, the only thing worth going over there for is Superman and we just couldn't be bothered. We did stop at Ale House (formerly Liberty Pub) for a few more dranks. As is the annual HITP tradition, Joker had sh*t itself a few weeks earlier and remained motionless all day. Its tradition to end the season riding Nitro as many times as possible but somehow the day got away from us. By the time we got back over there we only had time for a quick last lap on Batman before heading over to Nitro before park close. We had to play musical chairs a bit but managed a handful of excellent laps flying 230 feet above the clouds reaching hyperspeeds of 80 miles an hour! Feel it all around... The park had fireworks scheduled for 9pm park close and we dodged the insane crowd at the fountain and got a few shots as we were walking out. It was actually a pretty good show for Six Flags, my photos are just terrible. Sorry for the short (but sweet) missive this time around. We always have a great time at HITP and this visit was no different. Very relaxed, go with the flow type of day with lots of quality vibes and rides. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed living it. Next up: Seaworld, Discovery Cove and FunSpot America! Subscribe and stay tuned Edited May 24, 2019 by boldikus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Great report of an awesome day. Wacky Taxi is too legit to quit. I hate that it’s at Sesame Place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouscactus Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 ..... so did you touch the wire? Don't leave us hangin'! Oscar coaster sounds fun. I don't think I could ever convince my wife to go there to ride it though... -- I don't think I could convince myself, especially since I don't have a SeaWorld etc. pass anymore. I say that but somehow I ended up with a Fantasy Island (NY) season pass so I guess anything is possible. Anyway, great report. I got to do a Nitro marathon earlier this year and it was awesome. Would love to do the same on Batman. Since weather closings are so likely it's hard to plan a trip out there during HITP. The one time we went and it was actually open was awesome, though. Hopefully this year I can find a dependable weekend where weather won't thwart our plans yet again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 ..... so did you touch the wire? Don't leave us hangin'! Some little sh*t is gonna get zapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneyislandchris Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 I've said it before and I'll say it again, Oscar's Wacky Taxi is the only coaster my wife legitimately enjoys as of the current moment. To the point where she bought a magnet from the gift shop and proudly displays it at work. That being said, our youngest finally hit the 42" mark, and we're gonna head out to Knoebels sometime early next month, so hopefully we can all convince her to hit up Phoenix at the very least. "It's wooden! It's got airtime! You're gonna like it!" "What about the seatbelts?" "Uhhhhhhh..." Sorry I missed you guys on New Year's, I ended up going on a pretty bad headache that only got worse throughout the day and ducked out around 4 or 5 I think. Sad part is I wasn't even drinking the night before and didn't have a good excuse for the headache. That's the worst kind of headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Great report! At least Sesame Place does unaccompanied adults a favor and slaps the two coasters by the main entrance. Story Land decided to plop Roar-o-saurus in the back so I have to walk past 4-5 playgrounds to reach it. Good to know Oscar's Wacky Taxi operates in the cold. I debated stopping in again when I went to HITP last year but wasn't sure if 30 degrees was too cold for the grouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 really great report, Boldikus, so thank you for finishing it. I love seeing your pics - you tend to take really good ones, and unique views that aren't always seen. one day, the stars will all align, and I'll bump into y'all (Bill & Brit too) at a park. (tho if you let me know when y'all come to Texas, I certainly would make a plan to meet ya at Fiesta) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Awesome as always! So we had a thread in the Great Adv FB group about these weird light/reflector things in Nitro's queue. Some people said they were for spotlights when the ride opened and some said they were used to determine how long the queue was... I'm not sure we ever got a definitive answer. These were little strobe lights used back when the ride first opened. Harry weighed in over at GAH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Great report! Y'all know how to have a good time. ^ Strobe lights in the queue is 100% New Jersey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 24, 2019 Author Share Posted May 24, 2019 Sorry I missed you guys on New Year's, I ended up going on a pretty bad headache that only got worse throughout the day and ducked out around 4 or 5 I think. Sad part is I wasn't even drinking the night before and didn't have a good excuse for the headache. That's the worst kind of headache. This year we have to really make an effort to get all the local TPR heads there for the last day. Nitro takeover or GTFO. I'd say Batman but we'll all fight over the front row. Great report! At least Sesame Place does unaccompanied adults a favor and slaps the two coasters by the main entrance. Story Land decided to plop Roar-o-saurus in the back so I have to walk past 4-5 playgrounds to reach it. Good to know Oscar's Wacky Taxi operates in the cold. I debated stopping in again when I went to HITP last year but wasn't sure if 30 degrees was too cold for the grouch. Yeah I didn't mention that but we did actually check to make sure it would be running, lol. really great report, Boldikus, so thank you for finishing it. I love seeing your pics - you tend to take really good ones, and unique views that aren't always seen. one day, the stars will all align, and I'll bump into y'all (Bill & Brit too) at a park. (tho if you let me know when y'all come to Texas, I certainly would make a plan to meet ya at Fiesta) Thanks! And yeah, Texas is on the list... eventually! You know I'll holler when its happening. Awesome as always! So we had a thread in the Great Adv FB group about these weird light/reflector things in Nitro's queue. Some people said they were for spotlights when the ride opened and some said they were used to determine how long the queue was... I'm not sure we ever got a definitive answer. These were little strobe lights used back when the ride first opened. Harry weighed in over at GAH. That's kind of disappointing. I like to think they're hooked up to crotch cams some perv in management only has access to. #fantasythemeparkscandals Great report! Y'all know how to have a good time.^ Strobe lights in the queue is 100% New Jersey. Thanks Andrew. You know how we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 Awesome! Thanks for posting this. I know it takes some work to get them done and you do them well so it is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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