Daved Thomson

I knew several families that attended GA for the first time using this type of ticket.  If you think about it, if you were bringing a family of five people, the economy at the time, and so many other things going on that affected people's pocket books, you could bring that family for close to half the price it would cost you had you bought a full-priced combination ticket to the park.  And, on top of it, there really was a different magic to Great Adventure at night back then.

Fantastic picture and the only view of the fountain that I have ever seen with Pretty Monster clearly visible to the right in the background. 

Three different gates on GA's property has always represented a real opportunity for this property to move toward a destination complex rather than simply the regional complex that it continues to be.  Had it not been for the virus, I don't think you could have seriously conquered all three parks in just a day.  The drive through Safari, I think, has been a saving grace for this particular property.  I have always loved the contrast of Giraffes walking between the vehicles.  From the pictures, it also seems that the Safari has managed to grow back a lot of the green stuff (grass) that had been depleted over the years.  From what I can see, the Safari is looking great and still appears to be able to draw guests on its own, separate from those wanting to attend the other two parks.

Although I've yet to visit Hurricane Harbor, I'll be in NJ starting Tuesday and have not booked a return flight to California at this point. So hopefully I'll be able to make some time to get there during my visit.  Like the Safari, I think it's looking good as well.

Again, based solely on these pictures, overall the theme park seems to be coming together, and I think this season represents a great opportunity to get things spruced up a bit.  The rear side of the Fort, though, is a bit of an eyesore and I think the vines growing on its sides are likely to cause real issues down the road.  At this point, I think they're masking some other issues as well.  The huge opening where a cannon should be really deserves some attention.  With part of its trow missing, is it safe to say that the Log Flume will not be opening this season?

I had always regarded Hernando's Hideaway as being the games building at the exit to Rolling Thunder.  I know when Rolling Thunder was built, Larry Cochran (park GM at the time) referred to that entirely new area as the Spanish section of the park and the first of the park's new themed areas.

The Johny Rockets, just my opinion, in that area of the park would not be so bad had the building's exterior remained a bit more consistent with a spanish themed land rather than plopping down a building with an exterior making it look completely out of place.  This, however, is something I think Six Flags has been notorious for doing for quite some time now.  Likely a result of favoring  brand name products in the park as revenue generators and/or allowing the brand name company to determine where in the park it's products would be sold in order to maximize traffic flow and revenue for the product.

16 hours ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

This happened in early June.  

Thank you Harry...  I looked at the NJ.com posting and didn't realize that "today" wasn't "today."

On 6/9/2020 at 10:38 AM, Tbone112499 said:

Today the NJ stay-at-home orders have been lifted and outdoor gatherings of up to 100 people are allowed. This is a great step  

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/06/nj-coronavirus-stay-at-home-order-lifted-by-murphy-as-state-reopening-moves-forward.html%3foutputType=amp

I find the timing of this just a little bit suspect.  Seems like it was planned just in time that the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) ends, motivating many people to return to work and lower the amount the State will be doling out in unemployment benefits.

19 hours ago, Medusa42 said:

Each paragraph is from a different part of the transcript.  The first paragraph is discussing  full year 2019 performance and the second paragraph is discussing Q4 performance, where attendance declined by 202,000 or 3%.

Thanks for the clarification.  Sometimes what little blond hair I have left on my head causes some real dumb blond issues below my scalp.

On 7/18/2020 at 6:46 AM, Medusa42 said:

The Six Flags Q4 2019 earnings call transcript contradicts all of the TEA AECOM numbers.  The legacy parks were flat on attendance in 2019 and only grew attendance by 65000 people across the chain.  Attendance declined at Magic Mountain and Mexico vs 2018.

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2020/02/20/six-flags-entertainment-corp-six-q4-2019-earnings.aspx

 

Is it me, or does the Six Flags Q4 2019 call transcript actually contradict itself?  The first sentence in the first paragraph says... "Attendance grew by 788,000 to 32.8 million guests, an increase of 2%."  But the first sentence of the second paragraph goes on to claim attendance declined saying...  "Most of our attendance decline was due to softness at our two parks in Mexico and at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles."  Which is it?  Overall attendance increased or decreased?  I get that the legacy parks only increased 65,000 year-over-year, but that's still an increase and occurred despite declines at Magic Mountain and Mexico.  So,  clearly, other legacy parks were up, certainly significantly enough to cancel out the declines at Magic Mountain and Mexico and adding an additional 65,000 in attendance.

Very cool.  I certainly hope you will hear from more people around during the planning and those first two seasons.  I, too, enjoy hearing about the park's earliest days the most.  As we are getting up there in age ourselves, I wonder how many of the people from those earliest years are even still with us.  Warner LeRoy left us as a fairly young man and I know Charles Stein passed about seven or eight years ago as well.  Just thoughts running through my mind.

I'm just seeing this post about still not finding where to get these tapes and I'd swear that I sent you a message last year that I had found the company that has the distribution rights to the Mike Douglas Show.  Clearly I didn't post anything here on GAH, but again, I know I found the information including address and phone number because I remember thinking OMG, this stuff has been sitting right under our nose.  The company is located in West Long Branch.  Could I have possibly sent you a personal email?  I'll go back through my sent mail folders, but I definitely located the company because I almost fell off the chair when I noticed the West Long Branch address.

Okay, this is NOT the information I believed I had sent you with the West Long Branch address, however, there is a phone number, contact person, and some ordering information on how to go about obtaining specific episodes...

https://web.archive.org/web/20090831234905/http://www.themikedouglasshow.com/

Per the website...

The Mike Douglas Show archives are currently being licensed for professional use in television programs, DVDs, and documentaries.

Out of the 4000+ shows Mike hosted, only a small number have been remastered from the original 2" tapes. The majority of the programs listed on this website have been remastered, but many more episodes and guests are available as well.

Screening tapes of already-remastered programs can be provided to interested parties at a cost of $95 per 90-minute episode. Fees for licensing of clips will be determined separately on a case-by-case basis.

If an episode has not been transferred from it's 2" master tape, the cost for a screener is $200 per program.

KINGWORLD PRODUCTIONS FOOTAGE

555 West 57th Street 

New York, NY 10019 

attn: Donna Fields

(212) 817-5601

email: dfields@kingworld.com

On 5/16/2020 at 9:14 AM, GAcoaster said:

Six Flags has a habit of moving rides from park to park and a few of Great Adventure's rides went on to another park and what happened to them after the park closed is a mystery.

 

One of the first rides to be moved out of Great Adventure to another Six Flags park was the Matterhorn, one of the rides that opened with the park in 1974. We have very few photos of the Matterhorn, but it was a standard Mack Matterhorn bobsled flat ride. During its time at Great Adventure it had its sleds replaced with a different style. The ride ran until 1986 when it was removed and sent south.

 

While Six Flags was owned by Bally, they acquired a waterpark in Hollywood, Florida and re-branded it as Six Flags Atlantis. They attempted to round out the park with the addition of rides and shows including the Matterhorn. Six Flags Atlantis was short lived and the park was sold off in 1989, then destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

 

What became of the Matterhorn is unknown, so if anyone has photos or other information on the Matterhorn, we'd love to see them!

 

http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/Matterhorn.htm

 

The original sleds from 1974:

 

The replacement sleds in the 1980's:

 

Beloved long time Great Adventure employee Erika who worked the Matterhorn and after it was removed transferred to Show-Ops where she worked at Showcase Theatre: 

 

Erika, if I'm not mistaken, had a twin (or perhaps an older/younger) sister that also worked at Great Adventure for years.  I believe her sister was in Food Service for a number of years.  They both had pretty heavy accents, but I can't for the life of me remember where they were born/from originally.  Very nice ladies and real fans of Great Adventure.

7 hours ago, The Master said:

I agree, between the lockdown and mandated new operations the economy is dangerously close to becoming FUBAR. 

Okay, I guess I'm getting old...  FUBAR is an acronym for...?

On 5/5/2020 at 12:10 PM, jdc12192 said:

Sadly this is going to be the new normal for a lot of places, Not just themeparks. 

It will only be the new normal for any business that can operate profitably doing business this way.  Many businesses, sadly, will disappear if they can not adopt to operating this way.  That is why I believe if governments mandate this type of operation, you will see many different industries disappear because they can not operate at a profit.

Personally, I believe that imposing these "lock downs," especially the longer they go on, will eventually be declared unconstitutional.  It's not as if every person who contracts the virus dies from it.  We are actually increasing the period of time that it will take to develop an immunity to the disease by maintaining these lock downs.  Now, keep in mind that I'm taking this position living in Long Beach, CA.  I still have my father and a sister and brother and their families living in NJ and my sister and her husband own a seafood restaurant there.  They want to reopen their seafood restaurant (which is take-out only), but because the restaurant is enormously popular, county officials will not permit them to reopen.  That, to me, is just ludicrous and quite frankly, unAmerican.  We know the risks associated with this virus at this point.  I don't see how, knowing the risks involved, anyone should be prevented from going out and associating with anyone else willing to associate with them.  From the start, we have been told that the point of all of these stay at home orders was to slow the virus, not to stop the virus.  We have slowed it.   We will not stop it until we've cured it, developed a vaccine, or developed an immunity to it.  As morbid as this may sound, we will all die one day and none of us will have chosen when, where, or how we died.

A reservation system and limits on daily attendance just doesn't sound like it could be profitable for many of the parks.  For it to work at Great Adventure I would think you'd have to have maximum daily limits on attendance and ensure those limits are reached each day.  Think about how difficult that would be to do consistently in a park like Great Adventure where so many of the park's costs are fixed.  I have no idea what daily attendance needs to be generated at the gate in order to break even these days, because parks have a vast number of revenue streams that they did not have before the advent of the digital economy.

I just don't see how making it more difficult for your target market to get to you and experience your product could ever be a good thing for a business.  And, when you read some of those articles about the public not planning on attending theme parks until the virus is gone, a vaccine developed, or the population developing immunity, without sounding too depressing, I think the theme park industry is going to have to search long and hard to find some means of operating profitably.

On 5/3/2020 at 5:48 PM, GAcoaster said:

Where are they now?

 

Six Flags has a habit of moving rides from park to park and a few of Great Adventure's rides live on in new locations.

 

The Rodeo Stampede was a Huss Breakdance ride with cow shaped cars which was added to the park in 1999 as part of the "War on Lines". After the 2005 season it went south to Six Flags Over Texas to make way for El Toro. Check out a video of Rodeo Stampede (now just Rodeo) at SFOT below.

http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/RodeoStampede.htm

 

 

I realize we're talking different manufacturers, but is this a cleverly disguised Calypso with lower capacity?

So sorry to hear of his passing.  In my opinion, Butch Dring was comfortable taking the back seat to initially Warner LeRoy and then the many General Managers to come and go at Great Adventure.  He was very secure in his own skin.   The reality is that Butch Dring was the leader and father of the Safari from the day it was announced to the day he left the company.  Without Butch Dring, there would be no Safari at Great Adventure.

10 hours ago, scott said:

There are some  questions that may not be stupid questions the first time you read it. Maybe not even the second but when the question comes back around over and over and over and over and over..... it could become stupid.

True, but you're looking at it from the perspective of the person being asked the question versus the person asking the question.  I assume the person who has the question, has not heard it asked before.  I'm am also referring to the question being asked orally as opposed to written.

10 hours ago, mkj3322 said:

Stupid question, but I can't find a clear answer anywhere about the Safari open months. Am I correct in assuming it is already closed for the season?

I see others have already answered your question.  As an aside, I was always taught that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

4 hours ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

QUESTION #450:  On what ride was it against the rules to hold hands with your riding partners?

Flying Wave...

Thank you, Harry, for the appointment and kind words.  And, "thank you" to all of the other key leaders at GA History for the warm welcome.  As I'm sure it has been for each of you, Great Adventure has been in my blood (and mind) since my pre-teen years.  I am eagerly looking forward to helping out wherever I can.  As I have mentioned to Harry many times before, the historical content of this website, in my opinion, is without compare.  I'm truly honored to work with each of you as the best theme park history site on the web only gets better.

The greatest day in my life is here.

Landscaping (especially trees)

Employee costumes (by department or theme)

Aqua Spectacle

Parking Lot Trams

Live Entertainment throughout the park

While I think there were both positive and negative aspects to the Time-Warner Aquisition of Six Flags, the positive aspects were very short term (mainly a solid parent company financially that could invest in the parks).  While TW certainly improved theming at the parks, those themes completely destroyed much of each parks’ uniqueness in architecture and characters.  I don’t think the individual parks needed to eliminate their unique characters when the TW characters were brought in.  And, despite the TW emphasis on improved theming and improved attendance that came with it, we have certainly seen an abandoning of themes in recent years. In fact, I don’t even think of Six Flags as theme parks these days.  They’ve become so much of everything that Walt Disney did not want with his creation of the first theme park. 

2 minutes ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

 

In his interview the new president made the following comment:  

 

 

I doubt he would make that statement without some corporate backing so it would seem GA's standing and importance is way up there at Six Flags.

I just saw this article after raising the questions about Neal Thurman’s departure. 

On 1/7/2018 at 9:47 AM, jdc12192 said:

One persons decision caused a whole snowball effect for the whole company. I don't think its necessarily related to our park.

Anytime a park’s general manager is replaced, it is, in one way or another, related to the park. Is Neal Thurman so needed at Magic Mountain that Great Adventure can do without him?  Meaning Magic Mountain is more important to the company than Great Adventure?  Has Great Adventure’s performance improved so quickly under Neal that he’s no longer needed at GA OR has management determined that GA is not a top priority for management?  Because of its market size, GA Will always have the greatest potential for best performer, but because of its physical size it also has the most potential for being unprofitable.  Thus, you would think that corporate would want to have their best GM running GA. Perhaps, Neal Thurman is not their best or Corporate does not believe GA is their best park.