Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

We showed up right before close earlier this season (we were going down to the beach and way ahead of everyone else so we decided to ride Skull Mountain in a thunderstorm) and we zipped right into preferred parking also. Just like you said, there was nobody working the lot.

And folks this has been your latest episode of Great Adventure Hacks.

Seriously, someone should write a book. LOL

a curiosity, because from 4 stations (on Kingda Ka) now they only use one?

Yes. Personally I actually like it better that way. Thanks to Zumanjaro it only sends about half as many trains in an hour as Dragster does (or less) because they can't run at the same time and any time either ride breaks down they can't launch KA (Zumanjaro is more unreliable than KA can ever be and they're both unreliable as hell) so there's no reason to rush to load the trains.

It's kind of nice though because the only good row on Kingda Ka is row 1 and that line moves faster when they're not alternating between stations (because it's only going to get as full as queue rails allow anyway because people are stupid).

How is the parking lot paving coming along?

Park is dead today. I just had my first ever marathon on a coaster, 13 rides on El Toro. Didn't have to go around through the queue, just kept switching seats for a few ride. My ass is kicked haha

Park is dead today. I just had my first ever marathon on a coaster, 13 rides on El Toro. Didn't have to go around through the queue, just kept switching seats for a few ride. My A$$ is kicked haha

Enjoy! These are the best days! (for us at least, not SF!) Looks like no rain all day (6pm at the earliest!)

Ugh, was supposed to go today but plans changed at the last minute. Good day to be there. No surprise its dead with the forecast all week calling for thunderstorms today. Meanwhile its hot and sunny in Philly right now.

Hopefully that rain holds off. With crowds like that they'd probably love to close early but they need something to blame it on. If it doesn't rain they'll just have to bend over and take it.

Damn, I wast honking of going today too when I woke up with nothing on the calendar but the mid day thunderstorms made me stay home and clean... Oh well, enjoy the bull!

Hurricane harbor looks even more empty, I could see the parking lot from El Toro and there was barely any cars.

I may do the safari if its open cause I need a break lol

Park is dead today. I just had my first ever marathon on a coaster, 13 rides on El Toro. Didn't have to go around through the queue, just kept switching seats for a few ride. My A$$ is kicked haha

 

Enjoy! These are the best days! (for us at least, not SF!) Looks like no rain all day (6pm at the earliest!)

It made up for that day Saturday a few weeks ago that was a complete waste of time with how packed it was lol I hit some crazy downpours of rain where I could barely see coming down the turnpike but it hasn't rained here at all yet.

My main reason for coming today was the next 2 Sundays are bring a friend free days and I learned from my trip to Texas to avoid those like the plague.

My main reason for coming today was the next 2 Sundays are bring a friend free days and I learned from my trip to Texas to avoid those like the plague.

Oh shizzz, I guess I won't be spending much time there the next two Sundays. I really hate the BAFF days.

I got 4 flips on the green side of the joker today. That's the most I've experienced so far. The ride is a blast when there is no line. Would never wait a long time for it though.

Been a wild day. Got 19 rides in less then 5 hours. I'm exhausted.

El Toro 13x

Grabbed some food

Did the safari which was a walk on too

Bizzaro 1x

Joker green track 1x

Skull mountain back row 1x

Nitro 2x

Batman 1x

Awesome day!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question about Flash Pass. I plan on using it for the first time, and I was wondering how exactly it works. The website has a vague description, but I figured I may get a better answer if I ask those with experience.

Is Platinum worth the extra $30? And do I have an unlimited number of reservations in a day? I know it says some rides do not offer "double rides", so does that mean I can only skip the line once in that day?

We will also be using it at Six Flags America and Six Flags New England, so I'm assuming they all work the same?

Thanks.

DO NOT buy Flash Pass at Six Flags America. It's entirely unnecessary.

With a Platinum Flash Pass you get a wristband that allows you to ride the coasters twice in a row without getting off. This probably doesn't include Joker. You can reserve each ride as often as you want but you can only reserve one at a time. There is no limit to how many times you can skip the line on each ride. When you buy it, they'll show you a video explaining how it works.

The Platinum is worth is at Great Adventure because it works on Joker but don't buy it until you get to the park as you may not need it depending on crowds. It's likely you will but you never know.

How is the parking lot paving coming along?

It's coming along very slowly since they're not really paying for most of it. They're paving the lot with (I swear I'm not kidding) a state grant (seriously... not kidding) because the lot will be paved by union apprentices who are learning how to pave parking lots and need something to practice on (still not kidding). It'll only be paved when they have students to do it and want to teach them so it's being done in sections.

Great Adventure attracts new riders!

 

Milling & paving helps park get ready for summer fun

 

 

 

In April our members – instructors and apprentices – helped the state’s largest amusement park, Six Flag’s Great Adventure, get ready for the summer season. In a joint grant-training program together with laborers from Local 172, our eight instructors began training 20 operator apprentices on milling and paving a section of the amusement park’s massive parking lots in advance of the busy season. The job will be broken up over a three-year period. The first section includes putting down 5,000 tons of blacktop over a five-day period.

 

 

 

The parking area at the 66-acre Great Adventure amusement park will be new this summer, thanks to a generous training grant that allows apprentices from Local 825 and Laborers 172 to put a fresh face on an old parking lot.

 

 

 

The jobs training grant was awarded by the NJ Department of Labor, according to Greg Lalevee.

 

 

 

“We’re grateful to the DOL for the grant, and also to our Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno for checking on it through the submission process,” Greg said.

 

 

 

Greg also expressed gratitude to Larry Hess of CJ Hess, the contractor on the project.

 

 

 

Our eight instructors and a small army of apprentice operators and laborers got an intensive training workout as they put down 5,000 tons of blacktop in April, the first of three sections that will be paved over a three-year period. The eight Local 825 instructors included: Chris Delaney, Jim Beslanovitz, Glen Horishny, Dave Spece, Rob Melon, Rickey Beniulis, Willy Vaccaro and Efrain Crespo.

Link

Edit: Sorry for the double post.

DO NOT buy Flash Pass at Six Flags America. It's entirely unnecessary.

 

With a Platinum Flash Pass you get a wristband that allows you to ride the coasters twice in a row without getting off. This probably doesn't include Joker. You can reserve each ride as often as you want but you can only reserve one at a time. There is no limit to how many times you can skip the line on each ride. When you buy it, they'll show you a video explaining how it works.

 

The Platinum is worth is at Great Adventure because it works on Joker but don't buy it until you get to the park as you may not need it depending on crowds. It's likely you will but you never know.

Thank you for the advice. We are pretty set on getting them at SFGAdv and SFNE as I have never been to those parks, we factored it into the price of our vacation, and we will likely never be back for a long time.

About Six Flags America, the reason I considered it is because Superman will likely have an awful line due to the VR, and I'd like to get multiple rides and not have to worry about the horrible VR line.

I have a better idea. What if you don't buy the Flash Pass at SFA and use the money you were going to spend on that on tickets to Kings Dominion. That way you don't have to go to SFA which is always a good thing

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I have a better idea. What if you don't buy the Flash Pass at SFA and use the money you were going to spend on that on tickets to Kings Dominion. That way you don't have to go to SFA which is always a good thing

Or go to BGW which is always a better decision then going to KD or SFA. Let's face it, they are bottom tier parks

I have a better idea. What if you don't buy the Flash Pass at SFA and use the money you were going to spend on that on tickets to Kings Dominion. That way you don't have to go to SFA which is always a good thing

 

Or go to BGW which is always a better decision then going to KD or SFA. Let's face it, they are bottom tier parks

KD a bottom tier park??? Wha???

I think you must have it confused with Worlds of Fun!

(Though I'd agree with going to BGW over just about anywhere!)

I have a better idea. What if you don't buy the Flash Pass at SFA and use the money you were going to spend on that on tickets to Kings Dominion. That way you don't have to go to SFA which is always a good thing

 

Or go to BGW which is always a better decision then going to KD or SFA. Let's face it, they are bottom tier parks

KD is an excellent park. Plus it's a lot closer to SFA than BGW is.

How is the parking lot paving coming along?

Yea, as Bill already said, it's a project handled by a state grant as a training opportunity for new apprentices. It's slated to take about three years.

That said, I disagree with what Bill is implying ( ) and don't find anything really negative about it. In fact, my inner businessman cackles with glee every time I read about it, because it REALLY is an awesome business decision, despite what a few spoiled coaster enthusiasts may say. The parking lot was going to be a VERY expensive project (estimated by park officials in Q&A sessions to be upwards of $10 million) that wouldn't provide any ROI. Along comes an opportunity to complete the project IN FULL at a fraction of the initial estimated cost. Now that money can be used for other capital improvements instead. Six Flags would've been morons to pass up the chance.

Look, Six Flags has certainly made some boneheaded business choices in the past, but not this one. I support and applaud this decision in full.