dougdrummer

Lack of good shows is one of the main reason I did not renew my season pass this year.  I told SF this over and over again in the surveys, to no avail.  I can only watch the silly 10 minute sea lion show so many times, and that isn't even indoors.

15 hours ago, coliwood_studios said:

I’m sick of handing over a dollar whenever I wanna Ride Ka, Toro, Joker, And now Nitro.  It’s ridiculous that certain people that can’t stay off their stupid phones while they’re in line, or on a ride.  I always wear zippered pocket shorts, which is the pocket I keep everything in.  I really wish that they wouldn’t make you buy a locker if you had zippered, buttoned, or Velcroed pockets.  I have seen people with their phones out on all four of these rides, and it’s a shame that they have to ruin it for everyone.

Keep in mind you are an enthusiast who frequents amusement parks, and enthusiasts probably make up less than 10% of those that attend.   A large percentage of people only visit these amusement parks once a year, probably on a class or organization trip of some sort.  And having seen the outfits some of these people wear, I can guarantee you they are not prepared to secure their phones or keys on rides.

Other than patronage of the businesses along the mile or so strip of Route 537 near the park, I wonder what positive cash flow effect the park has on the township's bottom line?  Obviously the park pays significant property taxes to the town.  Ditto for the businesses that spouted up in the vicinity of the park.  Although one can argue the park is not as effective as it can be because it is still seasonal.  The state and federal government are the beneficiary of income taxes collected from employees, and sales tax goes to the state.

I guess you can say that the park employs a lot of people as well, although I would think over 90% of the employees do not live in Jackson (or even in the US in some cases).  The local businesses probably employ a lot higher percentage of people from the township.

I assume ride inspection fees are collected at the state level, although the township gets permit fees for construction improvements in the park.

On 5/8/2018 at 1:31 AM, ericthewanderer said:

WTF is all this about a "no keys" rule for the rides?Usually when I go to a park the ONLY things I have on me is a season pass and my car keys.....is SF trying to force more people to pay for the lockers? 

With today's modern key fobs, you aren't just dealing with the keys themselves.  Many of those fobs are big and have a lot of mass to them.  My fob for my Ford Escape is massive since it has buttons for remote start and remote tailgate close/open.  I shutter to think of my keys and fob coming out of my pocket and hitting someone as I ride over 60 mph on a roller coaster.

That being said, my keys are buried in my shorts pocket, which has a velcroed flap to seal it, so I don't see any circumstance where the keys could come out, even under negative G loads.  But not every patron wears those type of shorts.

Great report!

Just out of curiosity, and not to get too personal, but how do you ride a coaster 15 times in a row if you are handicapped?  I only ask because I have a serious medical condition that sometimes affects my mobility, and have debated getting a handicapped placard for my car.  So far I have not, for psychological reasons (I don't want to admit I'm handicapped), but I may have to out of necessity some day.

Last year my wife and I had season's passes with full dining plans, but decided not to purchase again in 2018 because of health issues.   We visited SFGA about 12 times in 2017, including both HITP and FF.  We also visited SF New England on the way back from a trip to Boston.  I also filled out several on-line surveys during last season.

I find it astounding that Six Flags never attempted to reach out to me about renewing this year - not a single email, text or phone call.  I guess it was okay for them to drop me from the roster, without even finding out why I decided to not renew.

Maybe they figured I wasn't a money maker since we attended so frequently, eating and drinking to our heart's content - LOL.

15 hours ago, The Master said:

Looks like we are going to get hammered witb 8 to 16 inches of wet heavy snow on Wed. They are also predicting more snow on Sun. March just plain sucks around here, in sone ways its worse than Feb because the storms ard usually more powerful and the warmer temps makes the snow heavier. Spring is still very far off. 

All because of a damn groundhog.

15 hours ago, GAcoaster said:

I work in Monorails. I can tell you it's not as bad as people make it out to be. 

 

Guests have not been allowed to ride with the pilots since the accident in 2009. That is/was for safety, and we are hearing it may change back again soon since positive train control was added a year ago. Of course there is less room in the nose since one of the four seats was removed for the massive computer control system. 

 

Many times Disney floats these kinds of rumors themselves to gauge reaction, and the blowback was strong. 

you got my dream job! 

You best send that photo to the Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Society in Lancaster PA for identification: 

www.roughandtumble.org

As I've commented previously, every time I rode in those trucks, they are exceptionally noisy, with smelly fumes and have a terribly uncomfortably ride over the bumpy sections.  When they are accelerating, it is pretty much impossible to hear the tour guides talking over the intercom.  I know the trucks were selected to fit the part, and they ultimately get the job done, but I would have considered a potential electric propulsion alternative.  The other benefit of that option is that they could promote the 'green' ness of the park, especially with the natural setting of the safari.  Currently the smoke bellowing trucks stand in contrast with their oft-advertised efforts to preserve the natural environment.

2 hours ago, GAcoaster said:

The monorail system is in no where near as dire a condition as people make it out to be. 

I hope you are right.  I ride the monorail system extensively whenever I'm there, and always try to get a seat near the cab in order to see the operations.  Heck, sometimes I just ride the monorail to cool off and get off at the stations to peruse parts of the resorts I normally don't get to see otherwise (I never stay on site). 

I admit I am a railroad enthusiast, and particularly a monorail lover.  And there aren't many places you can ride one - the only other one I've been on is Hershey Park and that one isn't nearly as exciting to me.  I even wrote an extensive research paper on monorails back in high school...LOL

And I disagree with the statement that repairing the monorail is not a good 'bang for their buck', so to speak.  The monorail at Disney World is as iconic a figure as Mickey Mouse.  They use it extensively in their massive advertising campaigns.  It is the centerpiece of sorts for their overall resorts in Orlando.  If it goes out of commission for any length of time, especially permanently, it will seriously affect their ability to advertise and attract customers.  It will become an eye sore if they don't tear it down, which would cost a significant amount of money.  And in that scenario, what will happen to the Contemporary?  They would have to alter the ends of the building in some fashion. 

But perhaps the biggest issue mentioned so far is the negative effect on transportation.  Even now with a functioning monorail, it can be tough to get around, especially when the parks and resorts are crowded.

I didn't think that many people chew gum anymore.

21 hours ago, scott said:

 

New poles for gum?

what is it with people, gum and amusement park??

23 hours ago, scott said:

 

Was that you? I'm sorry. (kidding)

On the note of bad drivers, Here is something that happened to me at least 3 times. I'm cursing down the parkway doing 75, oops, I mean 65 and I'm in the left lane to go through the high speed EZpass and someone STOPS right in front of me. Well in my Fusion it seems the anti-lock breaks work. I was pushing the break with all I had and didn't think I was going to stop but I did. The guy waited for me to go around him (I was so close he had to inch up before I could go around) then he backed up on the parkway, the fast lane mind you, so he could cut across the lanes and go into the toll booths.

The first time was so much more satisfying when I was cursing up in my big old F150. That didn't have anti-lock breaks so it made a nice loud tire growl as they locked up and left a trail of rubber on the parkway. The poor teenager in the back seat, his eyes almost popped out of his head and got wider as I got closer. I don think he was keen on having a ford emblem tattoo and I assume only seeing a ford grill in the rearview gave the driver a scare. I know not being able to see much of his trunk lid after I stopped had my heart pounding. 

Now, I'm not a tail gaiter I promise you. These were people who stopped short on the parkway just because they didn't know how to pay their toll and didn't want a ticket.

What is wrong with people?

 

LOL that should be the last line of all what really grinds my gears.

was that a Freudian slip when you mentioned (twice) that you were cursing up the highway?  LOL

The other day I was driving through a school zone with the sign that flashes 25 MPH.  This jackbag in a Jeep behind me tailgates within a foot of my rear bumper the whole way through the zone, even though there were at least two crossing guards present.  I tapped the brakes several times to try and get him off my rear, but to no avail.  After we got through the school zone I sped back up and he caught right back up to me and proceeded to tailgate me again.  About a quarter mile later, he finally turned off onto a sidestreet in a development, but not before flipping me the bird.  What the hell is wrong with people????

9 hours ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

The parking lot trams will be a spotlight because we have a lot of photos of those through the years.  Putting something together for the rest of the vehicles is a great idea but I think it will probably be a dedicated album in our galleries versus a spotlight because what we have is an unrelated collection of photos and not so much a chronological story to share about them.  Besides, putting them in the galleries would allow members to add comments about the photos which would probably provide for more details on the vehicles than we could write-up.

 

For example, you have listed as one of your interests old farm tractors.  Below is a photo of a tractor that was mixed in with a set of GA constriction slides.  I am pretty certain it was taken at the park as it was in a sequence of photos at GA with the photos before and after it taken at the park.  Are you familiar with this model - age, type of use, etc?

 

 

 

 

with those bolts sticking up it looks like the top half of the engine is missing!

On 8/17/2016 at 6:27 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said:

With this year being the 25th anniversary of Fright Fest at Great Adventure, that sounds like a great time for an update to this Spotlight.

hard to believe it's been around a quarter century already

On 2/9/2018 at 5:52 PM, Yoshi said:

I hate that there are Philadelphia fans like that. It gives all Philadelphia sports fans a bad reputation. I would never say anything to someone who might be a fan of another team. I don't lIke confrontations in general and I know when I go to an opposing team's stadium, I would hope I would be left alone except some joking around.

 

Thankfully the worst I have run into at 9 stadiums was just some cursing after the Phillies won against the Pirates and Giants.

Unfortunately, alcohol emboldens some people to act out in a violent manner (such as wife-beaters).  Most people are happy drunks, but there are a handful that turn from well-behaved and introverted, to obnoxious idiots.  I remember working with this guy that you never heard a peep out of until he drank heavily, and then you couldn't get him to shut up.

When the Phillies were on their run, I went to watch the Mets play there.  I was wearing no Met paraphernalia, but I happened to be wearing sneakers that had orange and blue colors on them.  When I went to the bathroom, some drunk Phillie fan immediately started loudly berating me as a Met fan who dared to come to CBP, even though I never said a word or made any gestures to anyone.  I finished my business and high-tailed it out of there, thinking there was a reasonable chance that this dude was going to do more than verbally threaten me.  I didn't return to CBP for several years because of that incident.

is the current water treatment plant the original?

Maser Consultants are the engineers.....I know them well....

4 hours ago, scott said:

As most of us here, Great Adventure

For my 50th in June, my wife wants to take me to one of the other Six Flags parks that are in driving distance. So maybe Six Flags America, Six Flags New England (I've been but not the rest of the family) or Great Escape.

I also hope to get to Seaside to ride Hydrus

If we get season passes to Great Adventure again, I'd like to camp down in Maryland and visit SFA.  I'd also love to get back to SF Great Escape, but that's a much longer trip. SFNE was an excellent trip last summer.

14 hours ago, Yoshi said:

If that was why the Eagles won, is there any chance of you also becoming a fan of the Phillies, Flyers and 76ers?

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.

On 11/3/2017 at 12:25 AM, Yoshi said:

Springtime In The Park hours for 2018 have been released. March 29th - 31st, April 7th - 8th and 14th - 15th.  I can't remember the last time Springtime In The Park was 3 weekends and the March opening is nice as long as it isn't too cold for the coasters to run (although there is no way I would go opening weekend with how crowded it gets). The only bad thing is the 6:00 closings on the 3 Sundays.

Have they changed anything at Chocolate World recently?  A few years ago they moved a lot of stuff around and even modified the tour ride, but I haven't been there in probably 3-4 years now.

We were at a party in King of Prussia for the SB.  We left just as the game ended and got home without incident, before the city burned down....lol