Castor

Thanks so much. Now I'm getting excited. It's been so long since I've been to the park. I can't wait to check out all the changes.

I'm taking my family to the park this weekend, first time we've been back in a few years. I figure we'll get there when the park opens and head right for the safari line. Anyone have any idea how long the wait would be first thing Friday morning? Also do kiddie rides have height restrictions or are toddlers fine as long as they are with an adult. I've never brought a kid to the park before. My niece is 16 months old. She's a rough and tumble kid and has been on a few rides at Point Pleasant and did fine so I know she'll enjoy them. I just want to know what the rules are before we get there so we can plan accordingly. Thanks

I'll be really sad if Rolling Thunder goes. The park needs to strike a balance between new attractions and preserving the past. I still miss Scream Machine, it was more than just a roller coaster to me it was an integral part of Great Adventure. I didn't even have to ride it (although I always did) but just seeing it there would bring back a flood of happy memories from childhood. It was comforting having it there. Losing the Tee-pee hit me the same way. It didn't matter if no one ever shopped in it. The Tee-pee was Great Adventure. If I go to the Magic Kingdom I expect to see the castle, if I go to GA I want my Super Tee-pee. I was surprised how much I missed Freefall when they took it down. I never actually ride the Sky Ride but the fact that there are so few of them left makes me want to preserve it. The Log Flume is the only other ride that is really irreplaceable for me. It's another one of those rides that is more than just an attraction it is part of the soul of Great Adventure.

Paul Revere was one of the first stores I worked in. It was nice being that close to the fountain because there was always foot traffic so you were never bored or lonely. In my time there were two hat stands you could be assigned to this one or Bavarian. Paul Revere was the "good" one even though it was brutally hot, had a broken phone and was unnaturally windy. By unnaturally I mean no matter what direction the breeze was blowing in the rest of the park, in this stand the wind would come from behind you and blow the hats off the counter onto the path in front of the stand. Despite the fact that it was almost always windy in that stand it was never a refreshing breeze and never helped you cool off. The phone at Paul Revere could dial out and would ring on the other end but you couldn't talk with it. Our 'base' for that area was above Franklin Films right across the fountain. If you answered the phone upstairs in Franklin and didn't hear anyone on the other end you'd look out the window and the person from Paul Revere would give you a hand signal to tell you what they needed. At one point a few years before I started at the park one of the kids crashed the merch truck into the stand. I don't remember how much damage was done to the stand but there was repair work that had to be done. This wasn't really surprising or all that uncommon, you should have seen the way we drove those trucks around the park. I'm surprised there weren't more accidents. Moving the hats indoors pretty much killed hat sales. When they were out in the open people were constantly stopping by, trying on the hats and posing for pictures with friends. Even the ones that didn't buy were good for business because there was always action around the stand so it attracted others. Hat sales plummeted when they were moved indoors.

They did back in late 90's. I know they had them in '98 because I worked in Merchandise at the time. River's Edge was mostly selling bathing suits, sunscreen and soda back then because of Adventure Rivers but it had an odd mix of other stuff that never really sold. Skull Mountain Tee's were definitely in the latter category. I distinctly remember the wall of black tees that was surrounded by brightly colored bathing suits and cover-ups. I don't remember what year Skull Mountain opened, it was still fairly new when I worked there but the tee's didn't sell well. By 1998 they were being moved around from store to store trying to get rid of them. In '99 they were moved to a shop called Village Clothier which was the shop we threw everything that didn't sell into. Village Clothier was located between the fountain and the lakefront. No one ever went in there. They ended up using the store for storage and selling the stuff outside the front gate as a sidewalk sale. We sold a lot of it but there was still tons left over that we couldn't get rid of. I spent a month that summer boxing stuff up and driving it over to the trailers to get it out of the park. They've probably destroyed the stuff by now but if not then there are about a dozen trailers filled with old merchandise that we couldn't get rid of.

Quick Question. Was this always called Dare Devil Dive? I worked at the park in '97 as a retail sup (the merch dept filmed the ride and sold the tapes). I honestly don't remember ever hearing this name. Everyone called it Skycoaster, even the sales reports I got had it labeled as Skycoaster. Browsing the pictures it looks exactly as I remember it so I'm assuming the name was actually Dare Devil Dive even back then. I'm thinking it may have just been an internal thing or maybe just a merchandise thing. I'd be curious to know what the rides crew called it at that time since we worked right along side of them.

We've always bought a season pass for Disney every two years. We generally plan our trips so the dates work out to cover two years with one pass (like go for a week in October the first year and September the next). Disney has always been expensive. I remember when we went as kids back in the 80's it was still cheaper to get a season pass even though we weren't returning the next season.

Opening Day. To me it's better to work out any kinks a new attraction will have before things go fulltime. When the park is open weekends only you can test it under realtime conditions but still have the luxury of fine tuning and tweaking things much easier during the week without the crowds. Once the park hits fulltime I'd expect attractions not just to be open but running well.

Free (wishful thinking)