Viper26

Honestly, operations have gone downhill this year compared to last year. Staffing seems to be one of the main issues but it is always a problem with the spring season and after Fright Fest.

Happy birthday!

Hearing that the park is kinda crowded today most likely because of good weather and it's the day before Easter. Planning on going tomorrow since it's the only day I have off from track so hopefully it's not crowded.

3 hours ago, Yoshi said:

Monday April 2nd, Tuesday April 3rd, Wednesday April 4th.

 

Tuesday the 3rd is probably going to be the most crowded of those days since there is a concert that day.

 

http://www.ncsygreatadventure.com/

 

 

Will it still be very crowded on the 2nd and 4th?

Sorry for your loss.

Where I'm at, it's supposed to reach 52. It's supposed to be in the 50s in my area all next week. This winter was kinda strange with how we started with two weeks in sub-freezing temperatures to warm weather now.

I wonder if Disney could install a communication based train control system (CBTC) on their monorails similar to what the MTA has done to the 7 line where an operator isn't required and trains run using radio circuits.

13 hours ago, The Master said:

I remember several times at Nitro they didn't allow rerides, even with an empty station. The op would annnounce over the speaker every time a train pulled in that its SF policy for no rerides, no rerides, no rerides. It was often a short hair woman and every time she was the op on Nitro, no rerides. 

 

Dark Knight is pretty good about rerides if there is no line. 

I never seen anyone on Nitro say no re rides in the past season or two. Is that ride op a supervisor? As Matt said above, if someone says no re rides, then they probably weren't taught about allowing re rides by their supervisor and decided to make their own call.

12 minutes ago, Matt Kaiser said:

 

Waiting for the platform to clear usually isn't the case--only if guests are blocking the air gates. (So tip: if you want to re-ride in a different row, don't walk along the air-gate side of the train)

 

Six Flags doesn't have any formal policy on re-rides and so it's not formally covered in any employee training. It's just something that new employees learn on the job or is passed down from the supervisor if a new operator/attendant questions a re-rider. It's just a common sense thing that employees pick up on, which is why your mileage may vary. Every ride/crew/supervisor could be different. If the crew doesn't let you re-ride, it's simply because the operator/supervisor was never taught or never picked up about re-rides and made their own judgement call that they're probably not allowed.

 

As for the last train of the night, I believe there's again no formally trained policy, but the employees want to go home so they make everyone in the station fill up the entire train so they can close quicker.

I never walk on the air gate side of the platform because the gates block the rest of the platform.

One time a newer employee on El Toro did question me about re rides and the supervisor told me to stay on since my row had a single rider. Even though Great Adventure has no policy regarding re rides, Six Flags New England does have policies preventing re rides and operators there will ask you to get back in line if caught.

Almost any pop or rock song that come out in the 90s and 2000s because most of the music the park plays is popular music from the past 15-20 years and it is usually focused on ones from the 2000s. I don't have a specific song that reminds me of the park as a whole but certain songs remind me of certain rides and areas usually because they get overplayed in those areas. A Thousand Miles is played like every time I pass the Main Street Fountain when they don't have the dance party making it basically the first song I expect to hear in that area. Green Lantern's queue TVs seem to play this song and its accompanying music video called The Great Escape whenever I'm in line which reminds me more of the actual park in upstate New York but still reminds me of getting past the games area.

On 2/15/2018 at 8:51 PM, The Master said:

Hershey usually allows re-rides, but sometimes they don't. Once last year they did not allow re-rides on Fahrenheit near closing. Sometimes even at GADV they don't allow re-rides. Its rare but I seen it happen on Nitro and KK. Besides employee discretion, I believe other factors include conflicting orders from supervisors and different employees being taught different rules.  

I was once denied a re ride on Skull Mountain but it was because I was on the last train of the night. A lot of the times re rides aren't available at Great Adventure is usually because the ride ops wait for the exit platform to be cleared before opening the air gates.

21 minutes ago, The Master said:

A while ago, Screamscape reported rumors that WDW many slowly close down its aging Monorail system. According to this rumor, they would shut down the EPCOT loop first, then the express MK loop, with the hotel loop being the last to shut down.

Hopefully its for refurbishment and not permanently. The hotels on the line would have a pretty big lack in transportation without it.

1 hour ago, Yoshi said:

Most of the times re-rides are allowed.  Once last year they wouldn't let me re-ride past closing time at Comet even though the train I had just ridden in was going out 2/3 empty for the last ride of the night (I never had that problem at Great Adventure). Another time in October at Wildcat they made everyone walk around. Every other trip to the park when it was empty, I was allowed to re-ride.

It probably depends on crowd levels or at the operator's discretion, the latter more likely. I was temping to get a re ride on Skyrush but I didn't want to risk getting told by employees to get back in line. The only rides that don't allow re rides at Great Adventure are The Joker and The Dark Knight only if there are people in line.

16 hours ago, Yoshi said:

I don't think it will. I rarely saw the regular Fast Track being used this past season and the merge points are far enough back that it will make it difficult for anyone using the system to constantly re-ride something like Storm Runner over and over again without waiting.

Or you can always find an empty seat and stay on, that is if they don't have a no re ride policy.

On 2/6/2018 at 3:39 PM, dougdrummer said:

 

The Sixers are the only Phila team I can root for, and they are a year or two from possibly being really good.  I'm so sick of Lebron James, Steph Curry et al, and I want to see some other teams emerge to be competitive.

 

I can't believe the Flyers have been so bad for so long, especially considering this is supposed to be a hockey town.

 

Phillies had their run, and it will take a few more years to rebuild.  Which is good for me, considering it is much more convenient (and cheaper) to go see my Mets play at CBP as opposed to NY.

Be careful rooting for the Mets or any other team at Citizens Bank Park or the other stadiums in Philly. Some fans in Philly can be notorious for being pretty violent towards opposing teams.

For basketball, I root for the Washington Wizards (formerly the Bullets) because they currently are a good team but they get a lot of unnecessary hate for almost no reason.They are able to play with the top teams and have been able to beat the Celtics and Rockets this season both of which I think will make the Finals this year instead of Golden State and Cleveland. The Wizards' best player John Wall is out for two months and the team was able to have a five game win streak without him. Unfortunately, they ended the streak in Philly last night and surprisingly, the two teams do not have a rivalry. As for the Sixers, I am not a fan mainly because I think "Trust the Process" is a bit over-hyped especially at my school, but I do think Joel Embiid is a good center but he needs to stay more healthy as with the rest of the team. The rest of the team is solid but they are all young so it'll take them a few years to be competing with the top teams. They're still recovering from several bad seasons and injuries.

3 hours ago, The Master said:

 

To make things even more fuzzy, the Philly news stations do cover GADV from time to time. For awhile, 6ABC used to show HH's waterslides in their summer opening montage . GADV is a bi city park, as is Dorney which gets a lot of new yorkers anymore. Allentown, PA has a large NYC transplant population and the city gets both Philly and NYC stations. Hersheypark is also a two city park with Philly and Harrisburg. Several times I have seen Philly radio stations setup tents at Hershey. There is also a show called FYI Philly that covers the local events and things to do in the Philly area and they have been to all 3 parks plus Moreys. Its pretty common for parks to be attached to more than one metro sphere. 

I find Hersheypark and the Harrisburg area to more associated with the Baltimore/Washington area more than the Philadelphia area. Its also closer to Baltimore than Philly by only a few miles. Even though they get mix between the two areas, a surprising majority of the guests during my visits to Hersheypark were from Maryland and wore stuff representing the area such as Orioles, Ravens, Redskins, and UMD apparel but there still a decent amount of people wearing Eagles, Penn State, etc. Stations from both Baltimore and Washington DC have covered footage at Hersheypark many times and I have heard a few commercials for the park on the radio in Anne Arundel County near BWI Airport and Annapolis. The Hershey Bears hockey team are more associated with Washington DC more than Philadelphia because it's the minor league affiliate of the Washington Capitals. 

As for the Lehigh Valley, they are more associated with Philly than NYC even though a lot of the population moving into the area is from New York. Philly stations cover the area more than New York and the furthest NY stations cover there is near the Delaware Water Gap and Phillipsburg.

Why does Hersheypark get crowded on opening weekend while opening weekend for Great Adventure is one of the least busiest weekends of the season?

16 hours ago, dougdrummer said:

 

Parts of I-81 are like that because of the volume of truck traffic.

I-81 is one of the busiest truck routes in America as it is a by pass of I-95 between Washington DC and Virginia and NYC which is the busiest part of I-95. I-81 doesn't pass through any major cities but passes through many college towns in Virginia and New York.

2 hours ago, dougdrummer said:

 

I think it is even worse once you get west of KOP because it's only 2 lanes with very hilly curves and all the truck traffic.  If a truck decides to pass a slower truck, you can be blocked and are  screwed for several miles before the truck gets out of the left lane.

There is also no left lane shoulder on the Turnpike making it harder to pass slow vehicles on the right lane. There are times where bumper to bumper traffic is about to happen because of slower moving trucks.

1 hour ago, dougdrummer said:

 

They'd be lucky to get up to 30 MPH on the Schuylkill Expressway.....

6 minutes ago, dougdrummer said:

 

Now it's 70 MPH!!  

Last time I was on the Schuylkill Expressway, we were able to hit 65 in some parts because it was a Saturday. The problem about the PA Turnpike between Harrisburg and King of Prussia is that the truck drivers would drive around 50 to 60 miles per hour when the speed limit is now 70; maybe because of the amount of sharp turns and they are scared to lose control. If there weren't as many slow drivers on that stretch, most cars would fly between 80 and 90 on the straight parts and 65 to 75 on the turns.

1 hour ago, Lemur said:

I'd go out and hit the Fun Spot off of I-Drive and ride White Lightning or to the one in Kissimmee and hit up Mine Blower.  You could probably do both, if you're ambitious.

Also the two Fun Spot parks are about a half hour apart.

Even though I'm from the Philly area, I personally hate Philly sports teams. The fans aren't the worst but they can really over hype their teams as if it was their religion. Eagles fans are generally considered the most intimidating in the league and can get angered easily if they see another jersey at home games. Phillies fans can start violence towards Mets fans and The Sixers Trust the Process hype is very overrated and the current team needs to be consistently healthy if they want to be in the playoffs. New York fans can get crazy at times but it really depends on the teams and how they act.

For Great Adventure and New England doing a Super Bowl bet, I think it's not a bad idea even though most think Great Adventure is part of the NY area. I think its part of both areas. If not a bet with Dorney Park is logical but like Ocean County, the Lehigh Valley can be considered part of both Philly and NYC area but they lean towards Philly more. I doubt a bet with Hersheypark could happen as the area they're at seems to support Washington teams; the Hershey Bears minor league hockey team is also an affiliate of the Capitals.

Ocean County is very disputed when it comes to sports teams and generally anything below Toms River supports Philly teams. The county as a whole is part of South Jersey and both Philly and NYC areas and most towns in the county get news stations from both cities.

I like skylines where you can see the coasters from a far distance. This includes Cedar Point, Great Adventure, Hersheypark, and Magic Mountain.

3 hours ago, The Master said:

Great White at Moreys also has an enclosed control booth, not sure about Sea Serpent and Nor Easter. 

Both Sea Serpent and Nor'easter have enclosed control booths.

The only outdoor coasters at Great Adventure with an enclosed control booth are The Joker and Superman however only The Joker's booth has an HVAC system from what I know. Batman's station which is enclosed sometimes has air conditioning, but unfortunately, it's usually turned off making it very hot in there.