Six Flags Great Adventure 8/22/10

[ziplock]

We arrived at Great Adventure at around 12:30 on Sunday morning. Knowing of the 80% chance of rain all day, we weren't quite sure how many rides we were going to be able to get in before the storm came.

The first thing we did was buy a Gold Flash Pass. We didn't know if it would be necessary, as we had never been to this particular park before, but I had planned on investing the extra cash just to make sure that we could ride all of the rides we hoped to.

Keeping in mind that Kingda Ka can close in any kind of precipitation, we decided to make it our first ride of the day. We cut the small wait that it had, with our flash pass, and headed into the station. I was quite nervous about this ride, since it was to be the first ride of its type that I had been on. The anticipation grows even further as you watch the train ahead of you rocket at 128 MPH. It was absolutlely insane. The forces on the launch are incredible, while the view and drop are amazing. Overall I would rate it 9/10. It's a great ride, but can get a bit rough at times.

El Toro was next. After hearing very good reviews of this ride, it was possibly the ride I was most looking forward to at Great Adventure. We choose very back row, as that is the row I sit in 90% of the time I ride coasters. After being stapled into your seat, you start out by acending a very fast 180 foot tall cable lift hill. And after a quick left turn you get INSANE ejector air on the crazy first drop, and every other airtime hill throughout this ride! It FLYS over every one of its drops. 10/10 New #1 wooden coaster.

(Sorry Hades, but I will be wearing an El Toro t-shirt next time I ride you. )

We then reserved Nitro on our flash pass hoping to get yet a few more rides before the rain came. I was very excited for this one as well. I knew it was going to be similar to my (then) #2 coaster Diamondback. To my surprise we then entered a completely empty station, went directly to back row, and got three rides without getting off. Its an awsome ride. With a great drop, fantastic airtime, and some really cool turns. The bunny hills after the MCBR are a nice little touch at the end of the ride too. 10/10

Next we rode some of the smaller (not as popular) coasters. Batman was a walk-on for the front row. Thats how dead it was in the park at the start of the day. At that point I wasn't feeling very confident in my $140 Flash Pass investment. Good ride 7/10

For The Dark Knight, we actually used our Flash Pass to cut about a five minute wait. Okay ride. I've ridden the one at SFGAm 5/10

Skull mountain was another walk on. It was actually pretty jerky at times. Still pretty good 6/10

Superman was only running one train, but we decided to ride anyways. After an about twenty minute station wait, we finally got on the ride and it started raining. We then saw why people have nicknamed it "Superman: Ultimate Bordem". 6/10 Its not really that bad, just slightly on the boring side.

The rain stopped about 5 minutes after we got off Superman. So I went to go check out Rolling Thunder. Despite what I've heard from other people about this ride, I actually somwhat liked it. I rode 2-1, and got a little air. It wasn't overly rough either. The one bad thing about this ride, is that the train makes a horribly loud screeching noise throughout the layout. I didn't know what that was about. 7/10 anyway

After a couple of rerides on Toro and Nitro, we headed to the corner of the park to ride Bizarro. It was a very cool floorless coaster. I like the mist and fire effects, as well as the on-ride audio on Bizarro. Its IMO better than Scream! Just because of those effects and theme. 8/10

Then took a boring and rather panful trip on Runaway Mine Train. Probably the worst ride of the day. 4/10

One thing that should be noted is that Kingda Ka was closed for a good portion of the day after the 5 minte rain shower we had earlier. So we then rode El Toro and Nirto both a few more times, and another Bizarro ride. This time we rode Bizarro in the front row, and it was a ton better than middle. Upgraded 9/10

Finally Kingda Ka reopened, so we got a quick ride on it before we started our night rides. Our night rides included:

A front and back seat ride on El Toro,

Two back seat rides on Nitro,

And two more rides on Ka

It was a very good day at Great Adventure, and I hope to visit New Jersey again soon for more Toro and Nitro.

Thanks for reading.

[thekidd33]

Thanks for sharing! I am yet to have my first Great Adventure but I hope to get out there next summer.

[The Interpreter]

I am very pleased you had a good time at Great Adventure.

I really need to get up that way again myself!

[KI Kevin]

I love love love Great Adventure. El Toro absolutely blew me away.

[ziplock]

Great Adventure is awsome. And El Toro is just insane!

[The Interpreter]

Y'all are gonna make me cry with happiness. I've spent years as an unofficial goodwill ambassador for that place...and for many, many years it needed it.

It's such a happy place...though I do wonder what comes next for it. Mark Kane, the GM, is no longer there, and was replaced by a gentleman Al Weber characterized as having "an entrepreneurial background, high problem solving acumen and quality team development experience,'' Weber went on to say "We are confident that John's experience will enable him to take advantage of the myriad opportunities of this great park.''

http://www.app.com/article/20100825/BUSINESS/100825031/Six-Flags-names-new-president-for-Great-Adventure

Great Adventure, CHANGing, but how?

[DaveStroem]

Glad you had a great time. We love SFGAdv and hope to make it back out there next month. With that forecast I don't think I would have purchased a GFP. I tend to set money aside for it and then judge the park when I get there.

[ziplock]

Glad you had a great time. We love SFGAdv and hope to make it back out there next month. With that forecast I don't think I would have purchased a GFP. I tend to set money aside for it and then judge the park when I get there.

Thanks! We had actually planned to get a Platinum Flash Pass. But when we saw the weather we perchased the gold instead. I had no idea what the crowds would be like on a Sunday in Mid- August.

It was definately not necessary, but we always plan on buying a Flash Pass at SF parks just to make sure we ride everything we want on single day trips.