Daved Thomson

I certainly hope the stage is the only thing to be demolished. The stage was not an original part of the Great Arena so I really hope it is the only thing to be removed, because it shouldn't be very difficult or expensive to replace. It's a shame that this venue and so many others remain dark and lacking any shows.

I know GA did not have a speaker feed throughout the park back in the 1970s and 1980s, thus the park also lacked the ability to page people as well. Assuming they do now have a feed system throughout the park, I fully agree that playing appropriate background music for each park section should be implemented. I know they did have background music playing outside the park entrance in what was called Liberty Court as you approached the ticket booths. That music was a more soothing classical type of music as well as patriotic American tunes.

I think this has always been GA's biggest problem. It installs great rides/attractions with nice themes/theme elements, but then they fail to maintain the quality of that attraction when they move on to the next new attraction and next season.

Any thoughts about the Savannah Sunset Resort/Spa? I guess I'm surprised with the number of actual tent structures they will be constructing, in addition to what seems to be a sort of central bunk house. Perhaps I'm not visualizing this concept correctly.

I’m with you 100% on this subject. People currently in their youth really have no idea what a complete package GA and some other theme parks offered. Oh, how I yearn for that time again.

I have to admit that, overall, from the guests perspective, I hope to see an improved overall experience and better value proposition. I realize the days of pay-one-price are gone, but the ridiculous upcharging guests for particular parking spots, creating some VIP experience that has traditionally been a part of the general park experience, and creating an arbitrary "force the guest to pay" for many things inside the park, I see as a real problem (not just at GA, but industrywide). I hope and pray that Cedar Fair's cleanliness and maintenance standards are implemented at GA. Of course, in reality, I'm yearning for a GA of the 1970's through the mid-1990's.

I'm sure you're correct about family now referring to the height requirement, but that's also an alternate definition of family. A definition unique to theme parks, apparently. And, I'm saying this in relation to what appears to be from their press release, an alternate definition of swinging. I guess, until the ride opens, no one will really know if the ride will "swing" or if they are referring to the banked track sections as you suggest.

Sounds and appears to refer to the banked track sections. No doubt, some new fangled definition of swinging. I'm not sure what makes it a family friendly attraction either.

The third and fourth pictures above make it look like the tower was toppled... Is that the case?

Thanks for the clarification and I think adding this option is the right move, meaning there remains the option to purchase a safari only ticket. But, I maintain the opinion that management (and, perhaps this has always been the case) is very short sighted and reactionary when it comes to capital expenditures. Maybe this has become the norm for the industry, I don't know. My example of repaving the safari and then making it SORA only, again may have been the result of the high turnover among top management at the park and corporation with COVID even playing a role. Regardless of why, the end result is expenditures that are very short sighted with no thought beyond the next season.

Does anyone know if any of the Giant Wheels as depicted in the Schwarzkopf catalog were eventually sold and installed at a park? Both Great Adventure and Cedar Point's wheels depict a floral pattern with their lights while the catalog version seems to have opted for a simpler, triangular lighting pattern.

I guess I continue to be amazed at all the incredibly bad financial expenditures this park (heck, I guess the entire company) makes from one season to the next with little thought beyond the next season. They just spent a good sum of money repaving and replanting trees in the safari, one would think with the intention of maintaining it as a drive-thru safari (at least optionally). Besides, it was as a drive-thru safari that they were at least able to generate some revenue initially during COVID. I have to imagine that if they're simply providing the option to board SORA trucks at the safari entrance, they will no longer be providing a safari only option, meaning people will be forced to purchase the higher priced theme park ticket even if they only intend to visit the safari, and this, I believe will force some people to opt out of a visit altogether.

Your thoughts on whether or not the the drive-through safari will continue along with the Off-Road Adventure trucks returning. I don't find their press release very clear on this matter. Also, their description of the safari resort isn't very clear either. The photo they show is of a more permanent structure and their description includes fine dining, while the name actually calls it a resort. Then, they also ask you to make reservations now, however, the link to reservations does not work and their is no pricing available.

Just curious, is this the same building/location that was originally the Fireball Express?

I, personally, find the idea of simply slapping an IP brand's name on otherwise very generic rides, flats or coasters, to be the least amount of creativity anyone can claim to be anything more than just that, and claim a ride is "themed." A brand name, IP or otherwise, does not suddenly make something very generic in a category, a theme. Naming the coaster Kleenex® or Jeep® does not suddenly make a ride themed any more than naming every ride in a park after some IP or brand makes that amusement park into a theme park.

Amazing... And, NOT, in a good way! What about GA do they claim is part of weird NJ? I would think that the only thing "weird" about Jungle Habitat was following its closure, when, supposedly, dead animals were found on the property. I'm guessing, Action Park they classify as part of weird NJ because of how it was allowed to operate for so long with pretty unsafe rides (water and otherwise). I'm not sure what about GA could possibly fall into their weird category.

I have to believe this photo was taken just days after the park opened in 1974. I think it's just another representation of the park opening before it was actually completely finished, with a number of rides not having cues. The carousel was another ride that lacked any real barriers.

I've seen this photo before, but I never noticed the number of passengers inside. Just a guess, but was the photo taken during either the 1976 or 1977 season? Is it at all possible that she is launching the car rather than stopping it? I guess that would depend on whether the bull wheels are capable of spinning in both directions.

I know Great Adventure, and I assume the entire Six Flags chain, has eliminated their cash control departments. I know I've read many posts on here that assert that the logic behind moving to this "cash free" environment is that it makes everything more convenient, safer, and easier for park guests' transactions, by moving all transactions to either a cash card, credit card, or digital currency (such as Apple Pay/Google Wallet) and other methods of replacing cash with some digitized version of the good old paper/coin currency, specifically the U.S. dollar and coin portions of it. I'm not calling out Six Flags as the only offender utilizing a cash-free means of conducting their revenue transactions because I am increasingly encountering other businesses doing the same thing. I don't, however, believe they are doing so for the convenience and safety of their customers, but instead are doing it for their own convenience, safety, and increased likelihood that all of the cash put on such cards will not be spent at the business or that the customer will forget about the funds remaining on the card. Then, after a noted period of time, the business can access any leftover funds on the card if not used within a certain period of time. After reading the 2022 Six Flags annual report, I came across this paragraph, which seems to say that using something other than cash at the parks, is an option. "We continue to offer guests the ability to obtain cash cards from kiosks throughout the parks to facilitate electronic transactions as an option in lieu of using cash, and implemented mobile food ordering at all of our domestic parks. These innovations added contactless means to enhance our guests’ experience through faster, more convenient transactions while elevating our enhanced safety guidelines." It's neither an option, nor convenient to customers when a business requires everyone to convert their cash/coins to digital currency/cards. It probably does make things safer for any location storing the cash (especially since their is no need for such a place), makes things a lot more convenient for the company by reducing overall labor costs, and simplifies everything for the accountants while creating a new revenue stream when customers don't utilize all the funds they've converted.

I think your idea that "attendance rates will always be good due to the park being located right in between NYC and Philly," might might be a little short sighted. Great Adventure's location between those two markets has always represented a greater pool of potential visitors to draw from. If you think about it, those two markets combined means GA enjoys the largest population within a 100 mile radius of the park to draw from (29.6 Million People) than any other U.S. park. The U.S. park with the next highest population within a 100 mile radius is Magic Mountain (that is about 11 million fewer people within the 100 mile radius of it). Despite the smaller population of Magic Mountain's 100 mile radius, its attendance versus Great Adventure has, at times, led that of Great Adventure. Great Adventure's expenses to operate and maintain the park far exceed those of Magic Mountain and the other Six Flags parks, as a result of caring for thousands of exotic animals year-round, fewer operating days overall, maintenance costs, and some departments that are unionized, resulting in higher labor costs. Even if GA and Magic Mountain drew the same number of guests each season, the profitability of Magic Mountain would likely be higher. So, in a sense, Great Adventure's attendance must exceed that of any other park in the chain, especially if the bulk of the park's revenues are derived from attendance, in order to operate profitably. I don't know this for sure, but I have to think that Great Adventure's break even point has always been higher than any of the other parks in the chain. While some other parks might operate profitably with only 1 million visitors, it might take Great Adventure a minimum of 2 million to do the same. Otherwise, I fully agree with you that I used to love new coasters all the time. I just wish they didn't come at the expense of regular maintenance and upkeep of the park's landscaping/appearance/grounds. I hope something changes, sooner rather than later.

Very interesting, in that they both came from two major NY World Fairs. I’ve always wondered what company actually manufactured the World Fair trams, their tugs and rolling stock. Both sets of trams were pretty much designed for use on fairly level/even gradients, like airport tarmacs. We know that Disney first ran into problems with its trams once they were faced with having to traverse a declining hill followed by an immediate incline of the same gradient. All trams seem to require greater torque than horsepower, at least from standstill, much like trains. The new WDW tram tugs look like they came straight from an airport. People always found the Disney tugs strange looking, with their front door entry. When Disneyland replaced their tugs after becoming a resort, they seem to have gone with a design similar to WDW’s tugs. WDW’s new tugs at least appear to be something purchased off the shelf from an outside manufacturer.

I like the resume, however, I get the impression from it that he has probably been told to focus on in-park per caps as opposed to any focus on other things like the overall park environment, maintenance, landscaping/beautification, grounds quality, new attractions/themeing. Most of the basic functions in a traditional pay-one-price park are cost centers, other than the traditional profit centers (admissions/parking/food/merchandise).