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^For the majority of park visitors (and many enthusiasts), the park has had that since 2006.

I went for a 2016 Cedar Fair platinum pass with dining and drink cup, totaling around $320 with taxes/fees. This is covering admission/parking/food/drink for at least 3 days at Kings Dominion, two at Carowinds, two at Kings Island, and three at Cedar Point. For someone like me who's traveling long distances for extended periods of time (this is over two trips--Kings Dominion/Carowinds for two days and Kings Island/Cedar Point + Kentucky Kingdom for six days) it absolutely pays for itself. You have to know what you're paying for and decide for your own unique situation. I've had gold passes to SFA the last two years and it's paid for itself and more between SFA and Great Adventure. I'm sure I would love a 2016 gold pass with dining and would make it worth the price, but I wanted to do something different in 2016 so I went for the more expensive option between the two chains. It's all a trade off.

^^Just because B&M hasn't made a 4D coaster yet doesn't mean they won't, but that doesn't change the fact that it's unlikely at this point and isn't worth arguing until we've seen some evidence it might be done.

^^The others are I-box conversions, and there are no candidates at Great Adventure for that style of coaster. So... that means because they make so few wood coasters that the park is even LESS likely to work with RMC. The single rail style coaster is a different argument. When we're talking about at RMC at Great Adventure, we're talking the style we've seen built already, which is very unlikely. Very few people know much of anything about their new track type, so it's not really included in the argument. It's not the type of RMC we've seen, and this discussion was had WELL before that track type was announced. I think it is a decent possibility of that track type coming to Gadv, but it won't be the first installation. 2018 at the absolute earliest, probably 2019/20. At that point there will be other installations.

This discussion has been had countless times before each announcement the last three years or so. I don't imagine a new RMC wooden coaster at Great Adventure as long as El Toro is still cutting edge and popular. That said, I'm interested to see if Six Flags continues work with RMC almost exclusively for new coasters because their discount that began with the Texas Giant lasted through 2016, with The Joker as the final project under full price. For those that are wondering, this was stated in an interview is either Fred Grubb or Alan Schilke, I don't recall who, after the 2016 announcement.

I'm also curious how the crowds will be. I don't imagine many people that aren't passholders will have much of a reason to go to the park when 1) it's not summer season, and 2) it's between park events (Fright Fest and HITP). For planning purposes, can anyone chime in (Harry?) on what I might be able to expect on Saturday assuming weather holds out?

^I believe Batman will be closed to modify the chassis to face forwards again. Just a heads up.

^That's actually a debatable topic. I do not agree with calling Super Loops coasters, though I understand it from a marketing perspective. Extended disk'os, however, do run solely from gravity on portions of the downhill sections. At this point it becomes essentially a incomplete circuit powered coaster. Whether or not you call powered coasters as coasters (like Thunder Run--Canada's Wonderland) is up to you, but there is not much of a distinction other than the incomplete circuit and style of cars, which really doesn't matter.

On a side note, I'll be at the park at opening on Saturday. If anyone wants to meet up for some rides, I'll be marathoning El Toro/Nitro most of the day. Let me know if you'll be there!

^I don't really understand why you scrolling though it has to do with its relevance. Anyways, I had read the document when it was released a few months ago. i originally found the link on Theme Park Review.

Well this is pretty rude. It was actually very relevant and I spent a good deal of time trying to find that document, but... thanks for your input.

^^I agree. They generally adhere to the pattern of on year/off year for most parks and invest more capital in parks that gross more income. However, unlike some of the larger Cedar Fair parks (the smaller ones are worse off than the smaller SF parks, IMO), there doesn't seem to be a long term vision for additions. Cedar Fair focuses on revitalizing aspects of parks step by step, while Six Flags seems to go year by year. If nobody has read about it, Cedar Fair has plans to "Transform the Best Amusement Park in the World," highlighting the 2016, 2019 and 2020 seasons (released Summer 2015). It's a very interesting read and it sounds like they're not going to hold back the next few years at Cedar Point as CP's GM has been quoted as mentioning a 2020 coaster project. http://ir.cedarfair.com/files/doc_presentations/2015/150811-CP-Analyst-Day-Presentation_PRINT.pdf

^^It also depends how many blocks a ride has. All B&M's have excess "buffer" blocks so that a train can be dispatched before the previous train hits the absolute "final" brakes. In this case, yes. Doubling capacity is theoretically possible with two trains instead of one. In practice though, as you said, it is very difficult and rarely seen. Take a ride like El Toro though, and it is impossible. The first set of brakes is not a block, so the train has to set up on the final brakes for the next train to dispatch. Because of this few second delay, doubling the capacity is impossible with two trains. This is actually why I absolutely hate the way Great Adventure operates Kingda Ka. Theoretically, four load/unload stations is fantastic. However, because they only use one, and use the unload station as the final brakes (and the retractable brakes outside the station as the sole additional block), the train has to clear that block before the next train is launched. Dragtser is set up so much more efficiently (especially with both load stations in use) than Kingda Ka. With three unload stations behind the stations, the previous train doesn't even need to round the curve before the station for the next train to dispatch. I'd be curious to see Dragster's hourly numbers compared to Ka's. They both break down ridiculously often but I wouldn't be surprised (especially now with Zumanjaro which is even more ridiculous) if Dragtser does 50% more pph than Kingda Ka.

^I wasn't saying specifically BTR, I was using theoretical numbers/dispatch intervals for the sake of simplifying the explanation, which obviously I didn't make clear enough. And again, as I just explained in my long-winded post, "should" is theoretical. Great Adventure isn't doing 1280/hour on Batman. Almost no park could, that's not a knock on Great Adventure. Outside of Bizarro and Kingda Ka, Great Adventure has very good operations. Just nowhere near theoretical capacity.

^^Running one train at peak efficiency (no stacking, quick dispatches, etc) allows "X" capacity. Running two trains could theoretically allow a capacity of "2X," but with blocking and the inevitable few second delay stopping completely on the brakes while the other clear the station, it is mathematically impossible to double the capacity with two trains. If you ever see a manufacturer officially release estimated theoretical capacity numbers (which are usually very optimistic estimates), the added capacity of the second train only adds about 50% of the capacity that the first train allows, for example, 1 train--720pph, 2 trains, 960pph. Imagine train "A" is the first train. Running alone, it is dispatched every four minutes (including load/unload/cycle time). This yields 480pph (32 seats x 15 dispatches). Throw train "B" into the mix, the second train. It is loaded/unloaded for 2.5 minutes, while train A runs the course for 1.5 minutes. Train A returns, and train B has one minute until dispatch. Train B is then dispatched, and train A begins load/unload for 2.5 minutes, and train B returns one minute before train A is dispatched. This yields 768pph (32 seats x 24 dispatches). At 100% efficiency (four minute cycle running two trains), you'd have 960pph for this theoretical ride with a four minute cycle/load/unload time. Exactly double that of running one train, though 100% efficiency is almost impossible. Didn't mean to ramble so much and that was probably a massive waste of time, but maybe somebody learned something?

^Adding another train cannot cut the wait by more than 50%. With stacking and blocking it's realistically around a 40% wait reduction, so you'd still be waiting around 25-30 minutes.

^^Where did you see that? Great Adventure used to have attendance around 4 million, nowadays it hovers just below 3 million. It's less so "crowds" and more so "crowd control." Parks need high attendance to survive. I've seen people say how they sometimes prefer SFA because of its low crowds, but would you rather have SFA's cap-ex budget? The last three years they've had ultra-low budget additions. 2014: Relocated mouse/flyers/fresh paint... $2 million 2015: Super Loop... $1 million 2016: Water play structure... $1 million vs. Great Adventure... 2014: Zumanjaro... $10 million 2015: Super Loop... $1 million 2016: Total Mayhem... $8 million The numbers speak for themselves.

^That attendance number is chainwide. If one park isn't performing, they're not going to invest as heavily into that park. Six Flags is being extremely conscious of their capital improvements to help get themselves out of the hole they created in the 2000's, and a chainwide attendance increase (which doesn't always correlate to profit increases) isn't going to change their strategy.

To confirm, I can get in with an SFA 2015 gold pass?

^I visited SFA's Fright Fest in 2014 and I'm looking at visiting again this Sunday to end the season. I did the trail through the woods... It was okay. I didn't notice any mansion on property and had no more than about two scares, which were spoiled because I could hear them scaring groups ahead and near us. The majority of the trail I was just trying not to get lost as it was extremely poorly marked and had no physical boundaries, and it was under 40 degrees at the time. I'll give it a go this weekend again, but the small selection of indoor mazes they had was nowhere the quality of Kings Dominions'... which were included with admission.

It was tossed around TPR that Nitro is about 1.4 million this year, Superman hit 1 million for the first time since 2003 which is impressive, and Bizarro around 1.1 million. It wasn't stated but I'd guess El Toro is around 1.3 million and Skull Mountain in the same range, maybe above.

^I haven't been to Great Adventure's, but SFA's event is not very good at all. I haven't been to many in park events, but Kings Dominion's is pretty good and has a good number of houses with a few impressive scare zones. By the way... Could it be *the* Coasterbill? Glad you made your way into these parts! Lol

Skull Mountain is one of the most efficient coasters in the park. From what I've heard it consistently delivers in the top 5 highest throughput in the park, sometimes beating out El Toro, Batman, Bizarro, etc.

^I will agree with you on the quality of the events themselves. I've experienced Pennhurst Asylum and it was top notch. the difference is, El Toro is located at Great Adventure In all seriousness I think that's exactly it. The majority of Great Adventure's attendance comes from Season pass holders, and they only have to pay for the wristband. If I lived in New Jersey I'd still go to Fright Fest and maybe do the houses once, but stick to legitimate haunted houses for a real experience.

Remember, the focus of this event is not the rides and attractions. To cater to as much of their potential market as possible they're opening select rides, pending weather and staffing. I think it's awesome as an enthusiast that they're running many of the major coasters, but I don't think it's reasonable to say they "should" open some rides they chose not to. Great Adventure knows what rides are worth running and what rides people want open. They also know what rides are possible to run in freezing temperatures, and El Toro is at the bottom of that list. With the massive threat of valleying (which is a common occurrence even on Spring and Fall mornings) and related issues (wood might not be as strong when frozen/thawing) it's not worth their time and money to even attempt.