J4Sing

People go for that stuff all the time down here in Florida. And some people take "all you can eat" as a personal challenge. The vast multitude of meals is the highlight of the day. Rent out a go buggy, and wheel yourself from one buffet line to the next. It's also why the Florida theme parks make such big business on electric convenience vehicle rentals. The only question the Florida buffet crowd has for Sea World/Busch is "what took you so long? I'm starving!!!"

Wasn't that lake originally part of the GA property? Proposed beach or campground or something?

I was just there last month. I always like to take a break during the day and chill at the lake for an hour. Here's a pic I took.

Elephant sign- 1987?

When was this done? My favorite GA monkey experience, one time I was the only car in the monkey section, and about 20 of them came running up the road straight at my car. They all ran over my hood, and roof, and down the trunk and kept running down the road. I looked in my mirror and saw them disappearing in the distance. Trippy.

I haven't been through the Safari in 15 years. My friend did go in though, and he told me the monkeys are fenced in now, eliminating their ability to ride on your car and freak you out through the windshield.. Why would they do that??

I think it is a spectacular idea. If they had it when I was up there visiting in June, I would have certainly gotten one and spent a whole week there! The good news is I am moving back up (from Orlando Florida) right before New Years, and plan on being a regular at GA for the rest of my life. I've been to most of the best theme parks in the country, and GA is, was, and always will be my personal favorite. The Sea World thing you mentioned above is known as the Fun Card. It used to be only for Florida residents. Didn't know they changed it. You buy one day's admission, and come back the rest of the year for free. (doen't include free parking of course) Busch Gardens also has the same thing, since they are both owned by Anhauser Busch.

We used to spin those cars really fast. Rode it only once after the cages were installed. The cages ruined it.

Wow, I remember the HMLB and (tr)action park ones! Still no sight of the original 1974 GA commercial with Jerry Lewis. I've been looking everywhere. Maybe Jerry Lewis himself has a copy. Anyone know him?

They should replace all the mechanical parts, maybe even get a new swing ride, but restore the original artwork that was on the classic Flying Wave. The artwork was half the ride's charm. I've seen some newer swing rides in my travels, they are rather boring looking compared to the Flying Wave.

Flight 747!!! I remember back in 80 seeing that film. It was really cool, except for the ending, which had everyone baffled. This woman got her car stuck on the tracks at a Railroad Crossing, and the camera was attached to the front of the train. Rather than do the intelligent thing and get out of the way, the woman opts to stand on the tracks between the car and the oncoming locomotive, first yelling at the locomotive to stop, then shielding her face seconds before the impact. I remember the conversation in the car on the way home turned to the movie, and my dad was saying "that was the stupidest thing I ever saw. What was she thinking she was protecting her car?" For the rest of the time Flight 747 ran, we used to go in to see it just to laugh at the woman with the car. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it. Thanks for the spotlight! JS

Yesterday my buddy and I made a second trip to GA. I'm leaving back to Florida on Sunday, and wanted to take it in one more time before I go back. I gotta say, I had a total blast! We got there at about 9:10 and got a parking spot in the front row by Old Country. The crowd was much noticeably smaller than the previous trip on tuesday 6/24. We got right on Superman with no wait, then Scream Machine,Kingda Ka, and El Toro, all with under a 15 minute wait. Then went over and did Nitro twice. Saw the Tiger show, took in the sights and enjoyed great weather! Later in the day, I took some great pictures of KK,GASM,and Superman from the parking lot. Here are a couple of my best shots- enjoy! Jason

Happy Anniversary! Your website is awesome and greatly enhanced my return visit to the park last week. I wish I could be at the park with you all today, but I slept kind of late and it is far to late to go now. I will be going tomorrow though, if anyone is going to be there, send me a PM and we can meet up! love the spotlight! Where is Jerry Lewis though?

I live in Central Florida and worked at Disney back in the mid-late 90's. Back then, Pleasure Island (PI we call it) was a completely different animal. Buy a ticket, club hop all night. Fireworks, confetti, baloons, conga line, every midnight. Live bands on the street. 8 Trax, Rockand Roll Beach Club,(the bitch club we used to call it), and of course Mannequins. After they tore down the stage and eliminated the tickets, and the fireworks, we all knew the end was nigh. I have a great video of PI back in the day on DVD. As soon as I get back to Florida, I will upload it and post it on You Tube so you can check it out. JS

I've been to theme parks all over the country, and hands down the worst one was Six flags over Georgia. The service was horrible, in fact there was a memorable incident with a merchandise clerk whom I asked for directions to the nearest lockers, and he ignored me. Nobody else in the store, the guy was simply sorting unused merchandise bags, and he looks at me then looks back to his merchandise bags and continues ignoring me. I asked him 3 more times, and each time he looks up at me, then back down to the merchandise bags and doesnt answer me. The line for superman was 30 minutes, even though they only needed to dispatch maybe 5 trains before I got to the front of the line, simply because they kept having problems with oversized people not fitting into the seats. The wait on the deja Vu was 2 hours, with dispatches every 7+ minutes, again due to slowdowns from oversized people. The park layout is on a steep hill, which is murder on the feet. The food was low grade slop. After only 2.5 hours in the park, I went to guest relations and announced I was leaving, very disappointed. I went on only one ride(superman). They gave me a raincheck to come back for free, but I never did.

The Kingda Ka(from the ground to the top)-456 feet Statue of Liberty (from the ground to the top of the torch) 305 feet

When I worked at Universal Orlando, they had these special packets of scented kitty litter that quickly soaks up the liquid content and deodorizes the offensive matter. Of course this is only effective with small little upchucks. People who eat like a gavone then go on fast moving rides immediatley after are bound to lose it at some point, causing horror and disgust among spectators and dreaded inconvenience to staff. In any case, I will be going to the park once more either tomorrow or Wednesday before I return to Florida, so I'll sniff around again, but much more warily this time. Where is Knoebals Haunted House?

I rode on Rolling Thunder last week for the first time in 15 years, and it still packs a punch. We only went on the left track, I chose that one to see if the cedar smell was still there. I was expecting it. So when we got up to the tunnel I sniffed the air, and to my horror was greeted with the smell of vomit. Not only was the ceder smell gone, but someone yarked right next to the tunnels entrance. So much for nostalgia!

I would enjoy a spotlight on Rolling Thunder. It was the newest ride the first time I went to Great Adventure, and is still a lot of fun, even though it no longer dominates the skyline.

I'm a little confused on the forensics of this accident. Now if the Batman in Georgia is identical to the one in GA, the lowermost extreme of the train is the passenger's dangling legs, right? Thus it is logical to assume that it was the impact from the rider's legs that decapitated the kid. If this is so, how were there no injuries to the passengers, as the story states? Anybody whose legs strike a persons head with enough force to decapitate would certainly not walk away unscathed. Am I missing something here?

Thank you all who gave me the awesome trip advice over the past couple months. My return visit was awesome. I went with a couple old friends that I used to frequent the park with back in the day. It sure was great to come home. Here is a brief synopsis on how the day played out... We arrived super early at 845am and were the first car in the parking lot. It was pretty wild seeing the whole lot completely empty, with all the new coasters waiting for us. Turnstiles opened at 10, and we were right at the rope (ribbon). The ribbon comes down, and the stampede begins. And what a stampede it was! Some poor fella's cell phone went flying and he didn't even stop to retrieve it, just kept running. So I half ran to the Kingda Ka, which I have been waiting 3 years to ride, and upon arrival I discover it is closed. The staff informs the mob that the ride will be shut down the entire day. I also learn that somewhere in the stampede, I lost both my friends. Not to be deterred, I proceeded to El Toro and waited less than 5 minutes for the back seat. It was awesome! I then returned to the fountain, no sign of my friends, so I went over to Nitro, 5 minute wait. Incredible ride. Then I spent the next hour trying to find my friends, back at the car, by the fountain, then finally one of them comes walking out of Carnegie Deli eating a cookie. Reunitied, we go on Nitro and then take a break. During the break, we notice Kingda Ka running some tests, and head back over there. I get on line and both my friends chicken out.. as soon as I get up to the platform and make it into my seat on the train, the ride shut down due to the dark clouds that arrived. At least I had a seat while waiting it out. I started dozing off, then about 20 minutes later they decide to reopen. I barely had enough time to wake up and we were off. The Kingda Ka. Absolutely incredible. I knew I had to repeat on this ride again at least 2 times. The rest of the day went good, however, when we went to Superman the ride was down due to tech problems. Later on we checked back and it was a90 minute wait. We decided to wait until last to go on that. So eventually we went to the Dark Knight, after the line got down to about10 minutes, and who should I see on line right in front of me, but none other than 29yearswithaGApass!! (first I saw the Great Adventure history site tshirt, then I recognized him from my event at the World's Fair grounds last Sunday.) Small world! 29years informed me that Superman was only running on one train, so my buddies and I decided to skip that one and go on the only other one we had yet to ride-The Medusa. Although I never rode it, I frequently rode the Kraken at Sea World, which is the same type of coaster. I deliberately downplayed the ride's intensity, effectively giving my friends a terror induced heart attack when they experienced the ride. After that, both my buddies could not bring themselves to go on any more rides for the last 20 minutes before the Park closed, so they sat down next to Kingda Ka and watched me take my second and final ride of the day. This time, I sat in the front row, second train. I was not expecting to see the train in front of me take off, and it added to the suspense. Boy does that thing take off fast!!! I had a fantastic time and it was a truly memorable birthday. So now, going on 4 days after the trip, I realize that I must go back again, since I did not see any shows nor go on Superman. So I am going ot go back on Monday or Tuesday depending on the weather, and finish off my visit before I must return to Florida. Truly I had a blast! JS

Thanks, people! Had an awesome time!

Awesome pictures! Glad you were able to make it out there, it was a great tour. The group started dwindling down at around 3, but some of us diehards stayed on until 8. Since I arrived there at 8am, that's a 12 hour walking tour. Great time-thanks for sharing the pictures- JS

Thanks for the info! My buddy wants to know if they allow you to wear your prescription glasses when riding the Kingda Ka. The dude can't see without them, but at the same time we don't want to have to go to a locker before we get on the ride just for a pair of glasses.

I'm strictly old school. Never needed to buy a flashpass, never will. I'll endure the lines as I always have. One other question I do have... Are there one or two entrances to the Golden Kingdom/Kingda Ka area? I know one way is to go as I would to Rolling thunder, then enter GK there. Is there a shorter route through the arcade area as if heading to Scream Machine? It appears as if so on the map, but I am not sure. I'd hate to go the long way when heading there when the park opens. I know this question sounds stupid, but remember I haven't been there since 1993 and back then, the Scream Machine and Rolling Thunder areas were not connected. Thanks! JS