Tower

37 minutes ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

So they're kind of confirming that something will be added to the entrance? This certainly changes things.

9 hours ago, brendanmac said:

Also, just some general (not really) new info, but Screamscape finally gave a GAdv update in his 8/8 post.

 

https://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_great_adventure.htm

 

The only really notable quote is this

 

Not really saying much, but it is nice to hear that more than likely GAdv at least will not be getting a kiddie coaster.

I'm gonna wait until we see more definitive clues, but running a big teaser campaign for either bricks with names on them or a kiddie coaster seems very excessive. Most people are naturally going to expect something alot bigger than either of those things and will just be disappointed.

12 hours ago, ForTheWin44 said:

i agree. wouldn't be surprised if it's an exact clone of dr diabolical with justice league theming. "sometimes you have to look down for the best views..." super confident in a drop coaster. Would like if it was a bit taller than diabolical but we'll see.

A dive coaster here would be awesome regardless of what the layout consists of, but like Medusa42 said earlier, I highly doubt we'd add a dive coaster the same year a park an hour or two away is adding one. A premier multilaunch would make alot more sense since there's none anywhere to be found in the northeast, and GAdv has a solid track record already with first of its kind rides on the East Coast (Joker, Jersey Devil, Cyborg, list goes on)

1 hour ago, GAcoaster said:

I'd hope they'll hold off on buying more of those kid coasters until they actually get one open and find out if it works or not before committing to more of them. The manufacturer doesn't have a stellar track record. Six Flags was burned by Skyline already with the one they built for SFDK. The one the built for SeaWorld San Diego is being removed because it had problems. Supposedly they did the lift for the new Zambezi Zinger which apparently is having issues as well. 

Agreed completely. If we don't see a large scale coaster of some sort, I think it's time we see DC Super Friends come to the park. I remember during speculation discussions for the 2020 season (Jersey Devil year) the most suggested addition outside of a new coaster was a new kids area. It'd be a great fit in Metropolis and would help fill a need that's been glaring for years. I don't think these spaghetti bowl coasters are the way to go.

To be honest, the more I think about it the less likely I think it is that we get a large scale coaster next year. I'm not sure if there's anything that can reasonably fit within the area that the markers are covering outside of maybe a Kid Flash clone, I hope I'm wrong though. I think the spaghetti bowl coasters are a joke and if they want something geared towards families they should throw a kids area in that space instead.

6 hours ago, EasternThrills said:

 

Unless I'm missing something, maybe they're hinting at bringing something back for the 50th?

1 hour ago, brendanmac said:

I would definitely not put it past Six Flags to do this, but I don’t think so. Given how unreliable Six Flags is with construction dates and starting projects on time, I highly doubt if Kid Flash was all we were getting, foundational work would already be being done. It honestly probably wouldn’t start until December or so if that was it.

A Kid Flash clone wouldn't explain the markers by the entrance unless the entrance is getting it's own makeover. This will be a very interesting couple of weeks.

2 hours ago, Gyrotron said:

If Old Country really is the new home for this major attraction, it's actually an amazing spot for a new coaster. I have always felt that near the entrance was severely lacking coasters (besides Joker, of course). This helps spread out the park, which is always an improvement..

A coaster by the entrance would be great for the park. GAdv has always had an issue of all the major coasters being right along the edge, meaning you'd have to walk a lot to get from ride to ride. Having a coaster by the entrance, or at the very least in Metropolis that will go through the entrance, can help mitigate that issue.

3 hours ago, flatcover said:

I hope this means Kingda Ka will finally get lap bars.

In all seriousness I would honestly prefer that over most additions/changes. Lap bars would change everything.

49 minutes ago, GAcoaster said:

IF-- and its a BIG if-- they are adding a ride or multiple rides, expect an equal or greater number to be removed from the park. Wit the way things are going in the industry even big players like Universal and Disney are doing the same thing because they don't want to increase spending on staffing or maintenance for additional rides. 

 

I think we will see a new ride, hopefully a fairly sizable one after years of not getting anything. I full expect along with the Parachuter's Perch being removed, the Twister will as well since it is the last of its kind and always seems to have issues. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cyborg gone as well for the same reason, and any other "orphan" rides could also be on the chopping block. 

Cyborg leaving wouldn't surprise me. Most days I see it operating I can count the number of people riding it on one hand. Seeing the Larson Looper get removed only a few years after it opened makes me think they wouldn't mind doing something like that again. Cyborg has been a massive flop but hey, atleast we didn't get what ended up going to Discovery Kingdom that year lol

1 hour ago, SkellySkeletor said:

I still just expect a redone entrance plaza and maybe a new ride in Old Country.

That'd be extremely disappointing, that said parks don't usually go all out for anniversaries so we'll have to see what happens 

On 7/29/2023 at 6:40 PM, brendanmac said:

I honestly don't know how much sense a brand new ground up RMC would make given that Hershey Park just got one and Great Adventure honestly isn't that far away unless this is something that has been in the works for a long time.

Logically it would be to compete with Hershey. Not installing a certain coaster because a rival park already has it doesn't make much sense, since installing a better version of that ride naturally would bring in more guests.

2 hours ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

I don't see how all that would be possible.  It totals more than the chain has invested in ALL parks together over the last three years.  Not to mention the recent staffing shortage issues.

It wouldn't be entirely unrealistic if it was a plan spread out through multiple years. But yeah that wouldn't be remotely realistic for a one year plan, even if it happened back in the early 2000s.

Here is a video from Coliwood Studios showing some markers placed within the park, mainly in the entrance area over to the Metropolis area

19 hours ago, GAcoaster said:

Apparently there's word of "something big" for 2024, which makes sense between the lack of investment for this year, and the competition (Dorney and Hershey) both adding new coasters either this year or next year, and it being the park's 50th. I expect news will leak soon... 

I feel the lack of investment over the past several years is more due to the new regime with Selim rather than saving up for a giant attraction, but I hope I'm wrong. If I recall correctly, Coliwood Studios (enthusiast youtuber that covers GAdv) interviewed Selim not too long ago, who claimed that the 50th anniversary for GAdv would be "big", but that could mean anything. I'll be interested in seeing if anything leaks sooner or later. New attractions usually get announced during the summer right? I wasn't sure if that was something they stopped doing

Anyone else think the 50th anniversary will just be the Nitro repaint and if I had to guess a season long summer vibes festival kind of thing? I don't exactly expect the park to really invest all that much into something super spectacular to celebrate. I hope I'm wrong though 

21 hours ago, Daved Thomson said:

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.

Seems like I forgot to take into account the cost to operate the Safari, thanks for informing me of it. But ultimately I agree with everything you're saying. HersheyPark has been on the come-up for awhile and coasters aside it's one of the best theme parks in the country. Having not owned a season pass for any park for awhile, I may just invest in a pass for that park instead, until GAdv feels more like an actual themepark again and not a dump.

On 5/31/2023 at 9:11 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said:

I have been seeing a lot of Hersheypark commercials recently on television but nothing for Great Adventure.   And no pamphlets or advertising for GA at rest stops or visitor centers.  Not exactly the way to  drive high paying attendance.  

The park has sadly seemed very unserious about actually maintaining a good image over the past several years, it doesn't surprise me anymore.

The honest truth is that attendance rates will always be good due to the park being located right in between NYC and Philly, and Six Flags naturally hasn't seen a point in investing heavily into it like they have for parks like Fiesta Texas that don't have anywhere near the number of people living in their surrounding areas like we do. 

I hope something changes one day, I used to be insane about wanting coasters but now I just want the park to actually look nice and they haven't been able to even do that right. It's a big shame.

Keep the Nitro name, give the coaster an actual theme (hopefully outer space related), paint the track blue, make the supports anything in between gray and black, and we've got ourselves a winner

I was able to find a new video by the same user which sort of serves as an update regarding the rumors surrounding a potential retheme. The video can be found here.

Like Gyrotron said, the video (which is all rumors, nothing is confirmed) talks about how there's a chance the Goliath plans were thrown out, and that they may just keep the Nitro theme and repaint the ride, giving it cobalt blue track and gray supports. I'd personally love this because it's a unique color scheme that doesn't already exist, and I just love that color combination in general and think it fits the ride perfectly. In my opinion it would be an absolute home run if Six Flags did this instead.

2 hours ago, Gyrotron said:

Apparently it is keeping the Nitro theme and being painted blue with grey supports? I cannot keep up with the amount of rumors and speculation, but it is entertaining.

Well that would certainly be alot better. Is there a source for this?

If this is what they're actually doing I'm gonna be pretty disappointed. What exactly has gone on to make GAdv the recipient of trash from an even worse park? Retheming a ride and passing it off as a new attraction is like taking some album that already exists, changing the album art and song names, and passing it off as entirely new music. 

Overreactions aside, Nitro is an original theme that's unique to our park. By going through with this retheme, Six Flags will have:

1. Given the ride a name that is probably the most overused in the chain

2. A color scheme that doesn't even fit the name

3. Track color that already matches three other rides in the park (Medusa, GL, Ka) and a color scheme that directly matches another ride (Ka has green track and blue supports).

Something about reusing a name and color scheme from a ride that was one of the chains biggest flops over the past decade (Goliath at NFNE) really rubs me the wrong way. I thought the Medusa retheme was pretty cool but believe me when I say that there is NOTHING good about this retheme if it happens, unless they give that entire area a facelift, which I don't see them doing. It's honestly embarrassing seeing this park get outmatched by Hershey year after year, and then responding to that with stuff like this.

It's crazy how much things have changed in since 2009. I first got into riding rollercoasters in 2009, I was 9 then, 22 now. 

My hope for the 50th anniversary has always been something massive like a giga, but that's always kind of been wishful thinking with Six Flags, especially now with the new CEO supposedly wanting to take a non coaster approach with running the chain. Realistically I have no clue what's gonna happen but more than anything else I just want the park to be improved all around. If they can emulate Kings Island or something that would be perfect.

This idea would probably better be suited for the 2023 and beyond thread but if the Skyride does end up getting removed I'd love to see a train ride replace it, similar to the one at Great America. It could make multiple stops and could even have an interactive guide going along with it.

Figured I'd make a post about this since nothing has been posted to this thread in over a month. First, Six Flags CEO Selim Bassoul said in a very recent Six Flags Q3 earnings conference call:

So it's looking like coasters will be added over time, we just don't know when or where. It's safe to say that next year will probably be focused on park improvements (as it should) but perhaps there's a chance a coaster is added to GAdv for its 50th anniversary?

An enthusiast had the chance to interview Selim at GAdv and the whole interview is on YouTube and can be found here. The interview itself is what you'd expect from any interview with a CEO of a large company, but the interviewer brings up GAdvs 50th anniversary, two which Selim replies "It will be big. I promise it will be big". It's incredibly vague and could mean anything, but it's something interesting to think about.