dougdrummer

Based on Hershey history, will these rides be ready for opening day, or later in the year?

I used the lockers for the first time yesterday and now I am a big fan. Of course, I did not have to wait in a kiosk line to get the locker....

I brought my older daughter (26) to GA yesterday for the $9.99 special. We arrived there around 2 pm. My younger daughter (23) met us there after work around 6:30 pm - she has a season pass she got from a good friend that works at GA. Here's a list of the rides we went on between the three of us: Nitro - 2 Batman The Ride - 2 Justice League - 2 Bizarro - 1 Skull Mountain - 1 Parachute Perch - 1 Sky Screamer - 1 Sea Lion Show - 1 Character dancing and photo ops Here's a few tidbits from the visit: 1) The Log Flume was not operating - not sure why. I think every other ride was open, with the exception of Drop of Doom. 2) Two guys got on the Parachute ride before us, but the operator told them one had to get off. I'm assuming the system computes the total weight and decides whether it is safe or not. I'd estimate the guys were about 200 pounds each. Meanwhile a couple with small child next to us had no issues, and my daughter and I were fine (we're probably 320 pounds between us). I wonder what the threshold for weight is, and if it fluctuates due to weather and other factors. Also, I wonder if the big square black bag on the bottom of the seat was some type of airbag system in case a cable snaps or the ride malfunctions? If so, I wonder if it would be effective. 3) When exiting Bizarro, I noticed that my restraint only had one belt (I was on the exterior of the row) but my daughter next to me had two belts. I think the other two restraints in that row both had just the single belt. Any reason for this? 4) On the first trip to Nitro they handed out boarding passes, but later on they did not. Both visits had only 10-15 minute waits to board. 5) When it got dark after 8 pm, I noticed that the Big Wheel had none of its lights turned on, with only flood lights on it. I wonder why? 6) The Sea Lion show had two different women running the show this time. I think there were 4 women in the past. The show had some new features and seemed to be much more upbeat and entertaining. I was wondering why they changed staff? Do they move these people around from park to park? My daughter said that maybe the staff varies during the day, but I can't imagine why, considering they only do about 6 shows a day and they are only 10 minutes long. 7) We strolled down to the safari around 4 pm to check the line and it was 90 minutes. No thanks! 8) We used the lockers for the first time. It was a fairly user-friendly and good system. We only paid a buck to use the locker for 2 hours. We used it once at Bizarro and once at Nitro/Batman. It's well worth the convenience for a dollar, although I felt a little weird putting my wallet, keys and phone in the locker. But they were there when we returned! 9) Skull Mountain is a different experience every time for me. This time it just seemed more violent than usual. When we attempted to go in the middle of the afternoon, the wait was over a half hour, but when we returned at night we walked right on. 10) I walked a total of 9 miles at the park, according to my Garmin watch. My calves are still sore! This really is a huge park. 11) On our second visit to JL, it had about a 45 minute wait, and it didn't seem like they had the AC running inside. Therefore it was sweaty, and smelled like a locker room. At the end of the ride, the photos they showed of the scorers were not us. Either the photo system is off sequence by one car, or it was totally broken and just kept showing the same people each time. However, the scores were correct. Does anyone know where on the ride it takes your pictures? 12) My daughter noticed the cameras installed on the Batman seats in front of us, used for the video feature. The new booth at the exit shows your video in slow motion. There are two cameras per row so they cover two riders at a time, but you can see some of the third person next to you. The price of $14.99 was way too steep for me (they place it on a memory stick). I would probably have paid in the $5-7 range, but I'm pretty cheap. LOL

I voted for Superman, only because of my medical constraints that prevent me from riding on my stomach.

Awesome report - I love the SUV with the safari wrap!

especially since there would be much less lines to use them because they are free

I would buy it!

When I handed the boarding pass to the operator, he wasn't even looking at the passes. I'm not sure he was looking at anything or even paying attention.

Ours were discounted, while my daughter's is free, if she ever gets there to get it processed.... I'm probably taking my other daughter to GA either Tuesday or Wednesday for $9.99.

This same friend got us our discounted season passes for 2017. She's been working there a while, but I'm not sure a full 5 years.

A couple weeks ago I walked right on to Nitro, but they still gave me a boarding pass at the entrance. I didn't understand why they did this to begin with, let alone if there was no wait.

my daughter worked at Main St Cafe!

do you actually bring a tent and pitch it? Where exactly do they set you up?

My daughter got a free season pass from a friend of hers who works at the park. She's been trying to get there to get the pass processed, but she works a lot of hours, so hasn't been able to as of yet. After work yesterday, I planned to drive her there so she could get it done, we could eat dinner there and hopefully get a few rides in. But the weather was iffy with thunderstorms rolling through. She tried calling the info center to find out whether they would be closing due to the storms. She got the typically automatic response run around (press this number....blah...blah) and never got to talk to a person. So we drove there anyway. By the time we got there at around 7 pm, the rain had let up. The first bad sign was there was no one manning the parking booths, so we just drove through and into the lot. There couldn't have been more than 30 cars in the lot, and most looked like they were leaving. We asked someone walking to their car and they said they just closed the park for the night. Ugh. I drove up through the preferred parking area to see if she could still at least get her pass processed. But all the gates to get in were closed. So we just went to the outlets and McDonalds. It's frustrating that you can't get up to the minute status on weather closings.

Seems like such a feminine color for such a manly coaster. LOL

I was trying to be nice....LOL

That must have happened very recently, because when I was there last week those handrails and supports were still chipped and rusted. Sounds like a primer coat, but the question is will they follow up with a repaint or is this just a stopgap measure.

What do they pay all these people to be zombie characters?

I just washed my car this morning, and lightly scrubbed off what I thought was some tree sap off the front bumper. Turns out the entire clear coat came off in a few locations. I've never experienced this before with any of the dozens of cars I have owned over the years. I am so irritated right now....

The first few times, I was just trying to figure the whole thing out.

I was planning on going to a wedding next April in Orlando. Guess the ride will be gone by then.....

Great report - we've been watching the two giant tortoises in GK during the last few visits. Last time we caught them eating dinner, but they are usually just resting.....LOL. But I agree, GK has joined the likes of the old Batman Stunt Show as pretty much abandoned.

Yup - the Water Effect was basically where the Dark Knight ride is now, behind the Chiller.

I've been meaning to ask why they roped off the lake shore area, especially with the tall wooden framework in several locations? They look like gates of some sort.

I also noticed the parking lot has a series of security platform lookouts. Are these ever used any more?