Daved Thomson

It was looking pretty nice this year with its new paint job.

 

The site will be home to the new loading station for the Safari Off-Road Adventure.

Once again, I have to ask if Six Flags even understands the concept of planning or cares at all about the individuality of its parks. In NO way is it necessary to eliminate the Conestoga Wagon for the Safari Off-Road Adventure! The elimination of the Super Tepee was also NOT necessary. New canvass and replacing the old wooden beams with simulated wood beams made of steel could have easily replaced the old structure while maintaining an original park icon. Could the cost really have been that expensive? Both Conestoga and Tepee would also be new revenue generators given what I have to believe the park expects to be a dramatic increase in traffic flow to that section of the park. If the Fort is headed the way of these two attractions, what do we have left?

I really do NOT like the concept of some guests paying for the ability to essentially "cut ahead" of everyone else in line. The Disney system of assigning ride times is free and does not create a sense of entitlement among guests. The Flash Pass as well as preferred parking simply shifts the burden of basic services that the park should be providing to the guests and does so all in the name of profits. I really feel these types of payments for entitlements create a certain level of tension among everyone in the park. If you want to park close to the gate, get to the park early. If you don't want to wait in line like everyone else, then you really shouldn't go to a theme park. The concept of "pay-one-price" that Six Flags pioneered really has given way to the need to "nickle and dime" (with $5 and $10s) if you want to reasonably enjoy your day. You should not have to pay extra to maximize your enjoyment at the cost of the enjoyment others experience.

Very nice print advertisement and rather interesting that the balloon was portrayed in the artists conception, but not even close to being an aerial representation of Great Adventure at the time. Any thoughts on which Six Flags park (if any) this might have been representative of at the time. For me, if any of their parks, it might be AstroWorld.

But those rides weren't cheap gimmicks when they were purchased. They were all state of the art and cutting edge experiences at the time. They proved after several seasons to be passe, and that's when they were moved. It was good business sense to try and get as much mileage from them as they could.

 

Yes, it's always better to spend the money on a great custom ride that will delight generations of guests, but smaller parks often can't foot the bill for that. That was another reason why the program was a good idea. while parks like GA and MM have 3 million guests a year, many parks are lucky to get half that. It makes sense to send them hand me downs.

 

Busch generally does a great job, but they also tend to wait a season or two before they purchase a coaster and let the other parks work out the problems while Six Flags and Cedar Fair jump on every trend to offer "the first" of everything, which is what drives their attendance.

In general, spending a great deal of money on something new every season to drive attendance and becoming dependant on that lone attraction as the key to increased attendance is why ALL of the Six Flags parks have such erratic attendance. Six Flags promotes a single new attraction each season rather than promoting the entire park experience. Unfortunately, there is now little left among their parks that can be called a unique experience. You can not build single attractions without regard for each attraction's theme and its fit with the overall park theme and expect people to want to return again and again. Real planning and consistency with a park's overall theme are what make truely great theme parks (Disney and Busch) as upposed to amusement parks thrown together half-hazardly.

I voted no, purely based on what the original program was designed to do. Economics were the only real reason for this program at a time when individual funding for attractions decisions were not decided on a parks financial ability to fund the attraction from a prior seasons profit.

That's me...

Photo #1

And me, at "The Mountain."

Photo #2

Did it work?

After reading this thread and considering the photos, I get the impression that the boat was not connected to Great Adventure in any way (that is, the park was not, in any way, an official sponsor of the vessel)? The boat simply utilized the same generic name "GreatAdventure?"

I think this park looks fantastic! While they may done a bit of copying attractions from other parks, there's a great deal of creativity here. Quite frankly, this is very much what Great Adventure could and should be. I do, however, have to wonder if the park is actually profitable.

Was it in line for the Bucaneer?

That really is a beautiful coaster!

Although I did not visit during this event, Almost Anything Goes was a popular television show at the time and this promotion was tied to it with in-park guest participants in events that were similar to (if not duplicates of) those of the TV show (largely obstacle courses).

Very nice photos and very nice BASIC maintenance upgrades that are long over do. When can we see the left side of the Fort painted so both sides match? It does seem that this GM is moving things in the right direction. Now about four more years of BASIC maintenance upgrades are in order.

Absolutely True

Do you know what year the McDonalds outside the park on Route 537 opened? I believe it was the early '80s.

The original McDonald's outside the park opened in 1982.

I believe it was at The Banstand.

Then this sounds like very good news and, perhaps, Six Flags returning a bit of individual identity to its parks.

I'm curious as to why you dropped the balloon and changed to the teepee?

This sampling of photos is fantastic and displays the pure magic of Great Adventure! I really hope and pray that Six Flags could somehow bring back more of this fantastic, unique, atmosphere that really wasn't found in any other theme park. It is the magic and uniqueness of the Disney parks that set them apart from all others (most of which are now nothing more than amusement parks). Great Adventure really needs to get back to marketing (and providing) the entire park experience rather than a new ride each season who's appeal quickly dissipates and detracts from the park as a whole.

That is definitely False.

Definitely the 1980s. Six Flags began to build the park but stayed largely true to the park's Enchanted Forest nature. The park was also much more balanced in terms of rides, yshows, and attractions. When you went to GA in the 80s, you felt a certain magic about the experience. There was a sense that it wasn't just about rides. There was also a feeling that with the amount of acreage owned the park would grow with even greater creativity than it's first two seasons.

Happy 44th Birthday Daved! (Daved Thomson)

 

Last night I was watching an old rerun of the Bob Newhart Show and he said he was 45 years old. I immediately wondered how the hell I am almost the same age as Bob Newhart. That wasn't as bad as Ricky Ricardo saying he was 32 the other day on I Love Lucy. I have to stop watching old tv shows.

Actually, that's all I watch are the old shows from the '70s and '80s, History, and as crazy as it may be, a lot of "reality" TV. Thank you very much for the birthday wishes and next year, please feel free to not even mention an age.

You're right that in the black & white photos of the 1976 ride operations uniform, the shirts do look like pajamas. They didn't look like pajamas in person. Personally, these are my favorite uniforms. The Great Adventure logotype in rainbow type was all over the shirt and I think it looked great.

C,B,A,D, E, F

I don't believe that would have been part of the original plans. However, given the enormous cost overruns during construction, it may have been considered. And, Woodland Gardens did end-up with chips for its pathways. But, I have to go with FALSE, not in the ORIGINAL plans.

Personally, I think there is a distinct difference in the quality and commitment of theme park employees today as opposed to 20 years ago. Even Disney employees do not appear to be as stellar as they once were. I've worked at Great Adventure, Magic Mountain, and Disneyland and, without a doubt, I enjoyed Great Adventure the most. Incidentally, the very first time I worked at GA, it was on the Dream Street Cables. It was hard, but more fun than any other position I worked in the park.