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Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread


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How was the weather and how were the lines for the coasters that were open?

 

It was in the low 40's and not windy. To be honest I didn't even check out any times for the coasters as I was rushing around taking pictures. The park was not that crowded and coasterbill can probably give accurate coaster wait times.

 

SkyScreamer was a one cycle wait.

Justice League was about 20-25 minutes the two times I went through the queue.

Joker was about a 15 minute wait when I passed by it around 4:30PM.

SkyWay line started to built as it got darker. Around 6PM it was 20 minutes.

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Here is a close-up of the button. Doug basically pulls a Chuck Campbell by pushing the button and quicker than you can stop a bullet train Doug stops Christmas.

 

Har-dee-har-har. Or should that be "ho-dee-ho-ho"?

 

Looks like a fun event, and I agree with you about those beignets. I'll be hitting Winterfest and Christmas Town Dec. 1 & 2.

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Coaster lines weren’t an issue. Justice League and Skyway were really the only rides we saw with notable lines (Justice League was out the door at one point).

 

If Joker had a line it was probably due to it’s hilariously inefficient operating procedure when running 3 cars. They dispatch two at a time and wait until the second train drops off of the lift (and the other is in the brakes) before advancing the next two cars into the station and unloading / loading them. It takes forever.

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This is the first year I've seen them do it. That said, the ride always sh*ts itself by the end of the event when it gets really cold. Maybe the operational changes are related to that? If it's just a desire to keep the ride units in motion as much as possible and not stacked on the brake run in the cold I could see the benefit.

 

... or they just want to get a jumpstart on refurb.

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Holiday in the Park looks great!

 

Any idea if the theater show is the same one as they did for Halloween but with different music and costumes? Your description sounds the same.

 

Apparently we're getting the coldest Thanksgiving temperatures in over 100 years. I dont think the rides can handle 15 degrees???

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Apparently we're getting the coldest Thanksgiving temperatures in over 100 years. I dont think the rides can handle 15 degrees???

 

The park is closed that day anyway. Also, you’re looking at the low temperature which is generally reached in the middle of the night if at all.

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Any idea if the theater show is the same one as they did for Halloween but with different music and costumes? Your description sounds the same.

 

I saw the Halloween show this year and can't remember it. But none of these performers or acts seemed familiar.

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Nice report Larry.

 

we went to Fiesta Texas today, and saw some of the same displays (the giant Ornament, the smores firepits), and a couple of different ones. . . but Great Adventure has WAY more decorations, and they are of much better quality.

 

seriously.

 

we had a great time, but some of the displays at Fiesta, really looked like they made a trip to Home Depot, bought some lawn crap (inflatables & Standees), and just put them around the park. I'll get some pics up later this week.

 

What Great Adventure did with the Peppermint Trees is impressive! I love it.

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I will be making my first Holiday in the Park trip today! I am really excited for this as I have never actually been to a Christmas time event at any park, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect crowd wise especially on a clear skied warm Sunday, but I will definitely try to provide some pictures!

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If it were in the low teens or single digits all day the park probably wouldn’t even open but honestly if the park opened for the day with temps in the high 20’s and dipped into single digits by the end of the night I could almost see it. I would *assume* it wouldn’t be open but I wouldn’t be shocked if I were proven wrong with the right set of circumstances where the ride opened in more reasonable temperatures and then the temperature dropped substantially when the sun went down. They ran it at 18 degrees last year and New England ran Mind Eraser when it was 10 so that’s only a degree off.

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The family and I did our annual run to Great Adventure for Holiday in the Park yesterday. It was a wonderful day overall, with mild temperatures during the daytime that never dipped to anything too cold in the evening, and a pretty relaxed atmosphere. This isn't going to be a super long photo report or anything, but just a couple quick thoughts.

 

- This is now the fourth year in a row we have gotten our Santa photos taken at Great Adventure, and we are always consistently amazed by the results. Somehow the photographers manage to coax smiles out of our kids we didn't even know existed. In general, the entire Santa House experience is one that can't really be matched by your average mall Santa, and we're glad to make this into a yearly tradition.

 

- The LED tree show seems to have been shortened significantly from previous years, the song medley lasted maybe a grand total of six minutes. It's still as amazing as ever though. And everyone walked away humming that earworm of a theme song, especially my son, who wouldn't stop humming it all the way home.

 

- Our youngest daughter finally measured up at 41" tall and got her first ride on Harley Quinn Crazy Train! She's been looking forward to this one for the past several seasons and the grin on her face throughout the entire ride was totally infectious.

 

- We tried out the holiday retheme of the mirror maze. Didn't get a chance to actually try it during Fright Fest, but after watching the video, we all wanted to see what it was like. First off, surprised at the need for us to wear sanitary plastic gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints all over the place, but once we stepped foot in there, it was completely apparent that it's a necessity. I've been in quite a few mirror houses but never seen one as completely disorienting as this. I honestly couldn't tell what was a blank space, a pane of glass, or a mirror. The elf DJ in the middle spinning on Numarks was a nice touch, but how do you choose the name "DJ Jingle Jangle" and not spin jungle? C'mon, it's a no-brainer.

 

- RIP Panda Express. In its place is "Holiday Feast" which gives you a holiday platter filled with one main (your choice of carved turkey, pot roast, or veggie lasagna) and two sides (mashed potatoes w/ gravy, stuffing, corn, carrots, mac & cheese, and some other stuff which I can't remember), as well as a buttered roll & cranberry sauce. It was a reasonable $2 upcharge per platter if you had a meal plan. I don't know if it was the combination of people not knowing the restaurant was back there, that it wasn't Panda Express anymore, or if the mercilessly penny-pinching Six Flags clientele just saw the upcharge and immediately wrote it off, but the place was vacant compared to the clusterflock over at Granny's Fried Chicken. No complaints here. The food was very good by Six Flags standards and we'd gladly go back again.

 

- If you're planning on checking out the Cirque show at the Showcase theater, make sure you get in line... jesus, IDFK when. We originally tried checking out the 4:00 PM show, only to be turned away at the door and told it was filled to capacity. We then came back at 5:30 to try to get in at 6:00, and we could tell something was wrong when we saw a long line stretching over the bridge between Movietown and Metropolis. It couldn't be... could it? Yep, it sure as heck was. I guess this is one of those benefits to having Diamond Elite or whatever it's called where you get the reserved seating for shows. Not sure if it's worth it to upgrade for that benefit alone though.

 

- Although the park started off earlier in the day with being light overall, as the sun went down it got more and more crowded. The kids rides were the most affected by this, but even the larger thrill rides weren't immune. By 5:00 the line for Nitro was almost all the way back to the switchbacks. I ended up holding off on that and hopefully saving it for a New Year's Day marathon once again.

 

- Cyborg Cyberspin is one of those rides that's much more fun to watch other people ride than it is to actually ride it yourself. Especially once it starts getting dark and that trippy light package kicks in. That is all.

 

We're going to be heading out on a 10-day trip beginning at the end of this week to Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, Dollywood, and Six Flags America (amongst other non-amusement park related stops), and it'll be our first time checking out the Holiday in the Park experience at other Six Flags parks. Interested to see how it compares!

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Great report, I was there yesterday as well from around 2 - 7:30. It seemed like coaster got crowded around 3:30 and then around 6:30 and later or so were better except Justice League and the Skyway. Around 3:30, the line went from being on the stairs at Nitro to past where the 30 minute sign was in just a few minutes. I got my last Nitro ride at around 7:15 and it was a station wait.

 

I would avoid being in line for Justice League when everyone exits the Showcase theater if possible . The line was just out of the building and I was expecting around 15 minutes to get to the single rider line entrance based on past trips. After the line moving normally, it almost stopped about 5 minutes in line. With so many people going from the show to the ride, the Flash Pass line was past the statues and almost outside which caused the regular line to barely move. I left and came back later but I guess it is because anyone with Flash Pass not needing to reserve a ride time with the wrist bands (like Cedar Fair parks), so many people went to ride at the same time.

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Heads up: While the coasters can operate in seemingly any weather, the Christmas lights evidently cannot.

 

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We had an awesome day yesterday and the coasters were running great, but if you're going for the lights you might want to reconsider on rainy / misty days. Almost every single tree in the park tripped and shut off by the end of the night as did half of Santa's house.

 

... that said, if it's 60 degrees and wet again during HITP then f*ck the lights. Go to the park to ride Batman. That should be your priority that day. You're welcome.

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Not sure what type of lights they're using, but the lights in my neighborhood don't go out in rain or mist. And then Santa's Village can have their lights (and coasters) operate in snow.

 

But at least thrill seekers had plenty to be happy for.

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