TR: Opening Night at SFGAd 3/31/06

[Legendary]

TR: Opening Night at SFGAd 3/31/06

-------------------------------------------

March 31, 2006

Opening Night

Six Flags Great Adventure

 

I was never a fan of Kieran Burke & Company and hadn't spent

much time at my local homepark over the past few years. However,

I never actually had a ''bad time'' at the park, so after hearing and

reading (and reading, and reading) about the new company running

Six Flags -- Red Zone LLC; the management changes and new

vision for the company over the course of a fairly mild winter, I

opened up the season pass mailer I had recieved in the mail and

headed out to the park around 6pm.

 

 

After a quick stop at the nearby McDonald's, I headed on down

Route 537 to the park, noting on the way that Kingda Ka was,

in fact, testing. As I pulled onto park proper around 6:15, changes

were immediately evident. I was greeted by Bugs Bunny waving

to all the cars entering the property. There was a bit of traffic

backup in getting to the parking booths, but nothing unmanageable..

it never stopped moving. While chugging towards the parking

booths, I noticed new little signs they had along the entrance road

from about.. Hurricane Harbor on. Not big or intrusive.. they just

told of the evening's fireworks spectacular, the 45th anniversary

celebration, and season's passes being on sale. I pulled up to the

season pass parking booth, flashed my pass, told the elderly

attendant I was buying a parking pass at Guest Relations and

getting my pass processed, and he told me ''I'll save you the

hassle of getting a refund for your parking buddy, go on in.

Enjoy your evening!" Well, that was nice of him! As I pulled

through the parking booths, I noticed an ample number of

parking lot employees directing traffic. It made for a much

more orderly and stress free start to my evening as I was

directed pretty much right into a spot. It was nice to see that,

thus far, the promises that had been made all winter long

were being made good on!

 

 

After parking and packing up the camera and whatnot, it was

time to head on over to Guest Relations to have my season's

pass processed and to buy a parking pass -- now a sticker.

Right as you make your way into the entrance plaza, you are

greeted by a HUGE floral cake with Bugs and Daffy on top..

not to mention fresh flower beds and baskets, appropriate

music, and banners celebrating the company's 45th anniversary

celebration. Very nice touch! $89.99 for the two-park pass, and

$30.00 for the parking.. sticker later and I was ready to get into

the park! Not before running into Public Relations Manager

Kristin Siebeneicher though, who is even more excited about

this upcoming season and El Toro than I may be! I don't want

to quote her without permission, but suffice to say, expect,

hope, etc, to be riding El Toro by the middle-end of May. I

wasn't really at the park to ride a ton of rides, as I had prior

plans for the evening. I just wanted to walk around.. observe

the changes.. and just enjoy being in a park that's not in

Florida, California, or Nevada, for the first time in over a month.

 

 

Some things I noticed.. there is new signage up EVERYWHERE

in the park. From the time you get on the entrance road, throughout

the park, new signage directs you everywhere.. parking, designated

smoking areas, brunch with bugs, fireworks spectacular, character

meet and greets, it's great to see.. not to mention, was sorely

needed. The park's security force has been beefed up BIG TIME.

While not intrusive, you couldn't help but notice that security was

everywhere.. and not just the park's security team, but hired

professional security ("EVENT SECURITY") as well. Once

again.. very nice to see. Then there's the characters.. and

streetmosphere. They too, are EVERYWHERE! If it wasn't

Bugs, Daffy, Wonder Woman, The Flash, or Foghorn around

the next turn, there was someone juggling, a roaming 4 piece

street band playing, and a roaming, "live" statue (if you've been

to Italy in the World Showcase at EPCOT you should know

what I'm talking about). The parking lot lines have been realigned

to be straight instead of slanted and the hat shop is now a

candy shop. That's just the beginning of the many 'Disney-ish'

details I took note of. The park did a stellar job with the

characters, streetmosphere, trams, and queue line entertainment.

 

 

I didn't encounter much staff outside of Kristin, the people at the

Guest Relations window, the Security at the entrance, the Nitro,

Runaway Train, and Kingda Ka crews, and some grounds people;

but everyone I encountered, was gracious, friendly, sincere,

welcoming, and wished me a 'happy anniversary' not to mention

asking me if I was enjoying myself. The park was the cleanest

I've ever seen it, bathrooms included.

 

 

El Toro... will be the sleeper hit of the year. Just because it's at

SFGAd, people are saying it's too short, they won't like/fit in

the trains, they're taking too long ecetera. Well, go look at the

ride in person and tell me that! Yes, we all know The Voyage is

gonna be awesome and yadda, yadda, yadda... but I think El

Toro is going to come out of left field sometime in mid-late May

and blow EVERYONE away! Superman Ride of Wood, anyone?

That first drop in person... WOW, SICK! And what about that

banked turn?! People are right.. pictures do this ride NO justice!

And even better news.. the bridge WILL be back! Guests will

walk UNDER El Toro towards the bridge making for easy access

to Plaza del Carnaval. Behind the ride's construction fence,

there is a big bull statue. Sure to be baring the brunt of a lot of

cruel jokes, I'm sure. I am so excited to have El Toro more or

less opening in my backyard, you have no idea. While The

Voyage may be a surefire success, El Toro may come out as

the biggest ride of the year.. and I, for one, can not WAIT to

ride it!

 

 

Other things of note... Bugs Bunny National Park turned

out great! From the last construction pictures I saw, I

was wondering if they were going to have it ready for

opening day. Sure enough, it was and it was very nice!

It was great to have some of the rides I grew up on

(from Bugs Bunny Land) returning to the park under new

themes and names right alongside the new ones. And you

have to love it's placement alongside the beautiful Great

Lake! Runaway Train is 1000% better than it was with

it's new trains and new red/orange paintjob. Who knew

that the park's mine train had airtime that could actually

be enjoyed?! Great job with one of the park's original

rides. Glad to see it got some TLC! The fireworks were

fantastic! The music was flawlessly choreographed and

the finale was something else!

 

 

After doing some more walking around.. I made my way to

Nitro. A live DJ was playing music and whatnot and it made

for an entertaining (and short!) wait. Nitro's the same as

always.. smooth, fun, fast. No stacking, running two trains,

excellent as always. Gotta love reliable old Nitro!

 

 

I ended the night with Kingda Ka. All was well until I reached the

stationhouse, where it broke down twice. One was relatively short,

the other was not. It seems the trains are not braking/parking in

the station correctly it seems and it's shutting the ride down

due to all the proximity switches. That's just the way it appears

to me, that's not the official word. You can't fault the park for that

though, only Intamin. I ended up in the front seat instead of the

second row that I had queued up for due to a single rider, and

my ride was incredible.. I dedicated it to my father. They aren't

using the original queue yet though, and the temporary queue

they have set up will NOT be acceptable once the season swings

into full gear, I hope they plan to put up a plexiglass wall or

something, and reinstate the original queue.

 

 

Just a few suggestions, since I know the park will be reading

this. Move the employees that can't speak or understand

English to 'back of the house' positions or positions where

they won't have to make direct contact with guests.

Communication's a BIG problem, and that can lead to safety

and guest satisfaction concerns. As well, if they can't count

change for something, they may be giving way too much, and

you may be losing money. Next, clean up the fort in Frontier

Adventures.. it's fallen into slight disrepair and that's a

depressing sight, considering the TLC that was given to the

Runaway Mine Train, which encircles it. Extend the Spirit of

the Tiger show; it's wayy too short! Hold steady on that no

smoking policy! And finally, Kingda Ka. I know you all are

working dilligently on it's reliability problems, but take a look

at the temporary queue. It will NOT be suitable enough to hold

everyone once the season kicks into full gear. A see through

plexiglass wall could separate the guests from the lauch area

and keep everyone safe, not to mention put that full, beautiful

queue back into use!

 

 

All in all, quite a first night for the park, I must say. Kingda Ka

had it's share of jitters, but that was to be expected. I don't know

about youse, but I sincerely think things are only going to get

better for the park and the company from this point forward. Stay

tuned!

 

 

Rob Vaccaro

http://www.myspace.com/watch_the_sky

[KrakenKing]

Very nice TR, well done. Nice to see that Six Flags is shaping up not only at GAdv but at all of them. I personally can't wait until El Toro opens, I really want to see a video of it in action (Besides an animation) it really does look cool.

 

Oh, and welcome to the fourms