Viper26

Early spring several years ago. I think it was only the second day they were open for the season, it was a Sunday.

I'm surprised something bad like a break in attempt would happen like that at the SFA's parking lot during spring break. I would expect that to more likely happen during Fright Fest. The park's location kind of reminds me of Clementon Park's location: in a good neighborhood but can attract bad clientele at times.

It's good to see that even though they don't get HITP, their season still runs longer than the normal end of the season around Halloween. Aren't the only 2 US parks not to have HITP Great America and Great Escape?

Great Escape was one of the first parks to have HITP but it only lasted for one season (2009).

The Great Escape Lodge has their own Holiday in the Park however.

Hopefully, this event is a way to see if Great America can attempt to host Holiday in the Park next year. I know the colder months are brutal in the Chicago/Milwaukee area especially in Wisconsin, so if they can't do Holiday in the Park because of that, then hopefully they can continue Last Call Festival instead. It's also interesting they're doing an Oktoberfest like event, especially because the park is near Milwaukee which is known for its breweries.

SFA is still the only place that someone tried to break into my car.

What time of the year did you go?

Haven't been on either but I say Fury 325.

Nitro or Mako?

Out of the three Six Flags parks I've been to, I'd say Great Adventure's crowd behavior is the worst as well as the worst of the three choices above. I saw two people get caught using their phone on Nitro yesterday and they were kicked out and banned from the park. Many guests at Great Adventure usually the ones from urban areas act unruly and could start fights especially around Fright Fest. Many guests also litter at the parking lot to the point there is more trash left on the pavement than in trash cans.

A bit off topic bit Six Flags America's crowds from my past experiences are typically families and not as rough as people say it is; once in a while they get bad clientele, about three years ago during their Fright fest opening weekend, a large fight broke near Apocalypse and three teens were severely injured. Six Flags New England's crowds for the most part behave but they have a bad habit of jumping line switchbacks to the point they look like they are line cutting especially at Superman. Also the second report for Six Flags New England is actually another report for Six Flags St. Louis.

When I went on Batman today I noticed that they made an on ride POV booth instead of doing a picture booth. At first, I thought it was just a new photo booth but they actually added cameras on the back of the seats that tape your ride you on the ride and sell the videos on mini USB ports. Do you think this will replace photo's on all of the rides in the park?

Probably not but it could end up being an alternative option for those that prefer on ride videos over simple on ride photos. It could be cool to see of of these on Kingda Ka.

Earlier this week, I finally was able to visit Six Flags New England for two days. Tuesday it was cool and cloudy with shorter than normal lines throughout, perfect for my first visit. I arrived at opening and started with Thunderbolt, which already had a 10 minute wait because of slow operations and they only have one train available. It was an okay ride that is rather smooth but the airtime was rather weak for an old wooden coaster. Then I went for my 50th credit, Wicked Cyclone which ends up being my favorite coaster at the park. I rode twice, once in front, once in back and I loved it from start to finish. The airtime is strong, inversions got good hangtime and there wasn't a long line to get on it. The longest I waited for Wicked Cyclone was 10 minutes.

Afterwards, I rode Pandemonium which had a 20 minute wait. There weren't a lot of spinning but I do think Great Adventure could benefit from a spinning coaster, that is, if the capacity is higher. Goliath is next with a 20 minute wait. i was assigned to row 2 and I didn't really like it too much. The restraints were bulky and uncomfortable and headbanging was significant. Goliath is probably the worst of the three Vekomas at the park.

We had lunch after Goliath at JB's Smokehouse Barbecue. I like the sports theming it has inside even though I don't really pay attention to Boston teams and I don't really like the current Celtics team, and I think almost any park could benefit a sports themed restaurant supporting local teams. As I'm a Washington Wizards fan, I personally would want to see a sports restaurant go to Six Flags America, Kings Dominion, or Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

After lunch, I went straight to Superman the Ride which had a half hour wait for the front and 10 minutes for any other seat. This is my favorite hyper coaster but i found the coaster to have a small rattle towards the second half and the restraints to hurt my thighs sometimes. Despite that, Superman is still a 10 out of 10 for me.

Next was Gotham City Gauntlet which had a 5 minute wait. This wild mouse isn't as bad as I expected but it still had its bad moments. Then I rode Catwoman's Whip which i got on without waiting at all. I prefer Catwoman's Whip over Harley Quinn's Crazy Train because of the near misses with the overgrown vegetation. Also, I'd rather see Catwoman run two laps as SFNE is a smaller park with shorter lines while Harley Quinn's should only run one because their line overflows a lot.

We headed over to the Rockville section to ride Batman the Dark Knight, The Joker and Mind Eraser. Batman is a decent but small floorless and I wish it was a bit larger. The Joker is more intense than the one back home, and the Mind Eraser is my second SLC credit and it is actually enjoyable. Yes there is still some headbanging but not a lot.

On our way back to Wicked Cyclone, we stopped by at Scream. They only ran one tower which was a space shot tower. It was fun but forceless. Flashback which had no wait. Unfortunately we were assigned towards the back but it was still enjoyable for me. Before braving the storm again I rode the New England Sky Screamer which had a 20 minute wait. It was chilly at the top but the view was great; you can see Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, CT. The rest of the trip was spent getting on Wicked Cyclone and Superman 3 more times for a total of 5 rides on each coaster and a front row ride on Batman. Day 2, 7/26 will be posted later.

I feel that they're making DCA be somewhat of another Hollywood Studios/movie backlot themed park and taking away the California theme it was meant to have. I don't mind a movie themed area in the park, . Retheming Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier is a bad move especially with the rides there being built or rethemed in this decade (Ariel's undersea Adventure, Goofy's Sky School, Fun Wheel, etc). Some of the stuff that's being done at Disney Parks lately haven't been good despite the announcement and opening of several good rides and attractions as well as Disney Shanghai.

If two is your 50th then head straight to the north end. Hit pandy for 49 and then either Sky Screamer or Wicked Cyclone for your 50th. It's an awesome coaster. Definitely do Superman and don't skip Mind Eraser even though it's an SLC. The new trains have made it a very fun ride with no head banging any more.

Ironically, I was planning on doing Pandemonium (49) before getting my 50th credit on WC. Thanks for the advice anyway.

My suggestion would be to go to Wicked Cyclone and NESS first. NESS, in my experience, has the slowest, most annoying line in the park so getting it out of the way immediately should be priority. WC and NESS are right next to each other, so hot up WC right after. You should be able to get multiple rides on it with almost no wait. After these, hit up Pandemonium as it's also right there and also gets surprisingly long lines. After that hit up Thunderbolt as it runs only 1 train. After that it shouldn't matter what order you ride anything. I'd hit up HH after those 4 rides if you are into waterparks. Their HH is better than ours and before 12 the lines will be very low.

 

Hope that helps!

Thanks. The good thing is that I'm going during the week and one of those days it's forecasted to rain so hopefully crowds are lower than normal. I might do Pandemonium first followed by NESS then ride WC a few times in the front and back before doing both Boomerangs and Thunderbolt. I expect to do all of that by 12:30 if lines are short.

I'm visiting Six Flags New England next week, on Tuesday and Weednesday. Tuesday looks to be rainy while Wednesday has good weather. I plan on getting Wicked Cyclone my 50th coaster credit (I'm only 2 away) as it's my first RMC. Any ideas on what time I should do rides?

I know this may shock some of you, but some of the guests that go to GA are rude and disgusting. My son and I were there last Sunday night. We purchased a burger at the smaller Johnny Rockets nearer to Nitro. As we looked for a table in the shade, we were exited to see a group get up and leave. However, they left their plates with half eaten burgers, used napkins and empty ketchup packets on the table. I guess they thought that someone would bus their table. Probably the same people that leave their trash in the parking lot.

Most of the bad guests are the ones that live in urban areas of NYC, Newark, Jersey City, etc, especially NYC because of the amount of NY license plates in the parking lot. It's a pain when the litter their McDonald's or food in the parking lot, as well as use constant profanity in lines for rides. When I was leaving the park on Sunday, I saw a guy with a Cavs bear getting ejected from the park without a refund possibly for bad behavior. To be honest, I found the guests at Six Flags America to be better behaved than at Great Adventure, mostly because they came in families instead of unsupervised young adults/teens.

It's been a while since I rode Houdini, but isn't there a pre-show there?

 

Speaking of Houdini, that attraction seems to get almost zero discussion here on the forums. I did it once, and have no desire to return to it. It kind of made me dizzy and sick to my stomach. All pain and no gain....LOL

There's a preshow on Houdini that somewhat summarizes the life of Harry Houdini. It's not a very good preshow and it is hard to hear what the narrator says.

They would stop the lift on Nitro if someone was caught filming on it in 2015. I don't know if they still do it.

Nitro, Bizarro, and Superman should all be painted before KK. You don't see KK's track close up unless you ride it, but for the ones I mentioned, you don't even have to ride it to notice how badly they need to be painted. As for your other points, it's too costly to change the launch system. KK is still a popular ride and attracts many people all over the world. As long as it's current state still makes them money...

Probably not Bizarro. It got it's repaint in 2009.

Captain America (his new movies completely destroy Man of Steel and especially Batman v. Superman)

 

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man or Transformers the Ride?

Transformers (never been to Islands of Adventure)

Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure?

Batman

Superman or Captain America?

I went to Hurricane Harbor on 4th of July two years ago and it was pretty much dead. We were able to do most of the slides.

Yay! Swashbuckler has a sign!

But why does Wyndham Hotels has to sponsor the Rolling Thunder car?

I'm also amazed at how infrequently they use the main outdoor arena for concerts. I seem to remember in the early years they would have a concert nearly every weekend, but maybe I'm wrong. Didn't they also have horse/wild west shows in that arena?

They had a western show in the arena but I believed they only had it on days there wasn't a concert.

As much as I want to see the Old Country theme to be reused of they expand into the area, it would feel strange walking into a Oktoberfest themed area from a super hero themed area. If they were to reopen the area, I could see it rethemed to Metropolis with several flats being added hopefully for next year.

They look on Patriot's too, but with its layout the lifeguard does not have to walk back and forth across the platform, while Snake Pit has indicator lights. I remember with the old Torpedo Tube slides it was common to hear echoes of sliders before you. Still happens on Hershey's waterslides but they use indicator lights and tv screens rather than time consuming act of walking and watching the landing pool.

 

Hersheypark, HH, and Sahara Sams allow Aquasocks.

I think all of Dorney's slides need indicator lights. This can at least improve their operations. Same goes to Hurricane Harbor.

I didn't have ANY A/C going to school until I got to college so all these kids now a days can take a long walk for a short pier lmao. My Fiancée teaches NYC 9th grade match, she just ended Tuesday.

I never knew NYC schools ended this late into the month. They probably start in mid September or have a lot of days off during the year if the school year ends that late.

I would have hated going back in July or August since the only rooms in my school that had air conditioning were the library and computer labs.

Our town's schools did not have any air conditioning at all until they added them a few years ago.

Last year, I heard something from an article about schools in Indiana starting in late July and ending in mid to late April. This is by far the earliest I heard a school start their year.