dougdrummer

About being a safe park. In the last three weeks there have been 4 attempted Child Abduction cases at Great Adventure and Jackson Police said they have no video evidence due to the fact that Great Adventure doesn't employ Security Cameras in the parking lot.

How are these people getting into the parking lot?? Were they paying for parking just to nab someone and then drive off? I wonder how many of these were targeted, such as in cases where there are custody disputes between divorced parents? That's some scary stuff right there.

I was just reading through the section here on the Chiller. Looking at the photos, it's so hard to picture it being basically where JL is today, right across from the Showcase Theater. The area was so much more active with the Showcase, Chiller, Autobahn and the Batman Stunt Show going on. Too bad the Chiller was a disaster for the park. They really should have gotten a refund for that coaster. Not only for the millions to originally build it, but the millions to try and fix all the problems over a decade of futility. But at least now we have JL, if nothing else in that area....

We literally walked right on to the ride this past Monday with no wait at all. I scored 182,00 points, but it was only me and my wife in the car, so less people fighting over targets. It told me I was in the top 40% of all time, so I was thinking that was pretty awesome. But later I thought top 40% isn't that much of a compliment. LOL

We've ridden it 6 times today lol Highest score I got was 220,000. My son got 190,000.

Fun fun ride. I don't think I'd wait hours for it, but my kids LOVED it!

I scored 182,00 the other day, but it was only me and my wife in the car, so less people fighting over targets. It told me I was in the top 40% of all time, which I don't think is all that much of a compliment. LOL

August 7th & 21st, nothing related to Six Flags in the Future Meetings section.

http://www.jacksontwpnj.net/documents/agendas/planning/2017/07-17-17.pdf

http://www.jacksontwpnj.net/documents/agendas/planning/index.php?dir=2017/

Does GA have to get township approval/permits for anything they build or demolish on their property? Obviously the state must inspect anything ride related. I wonder if they have to file for environmental/NJDEP permits also. Typically when you disturb any land, you have to calculate and prove that you are not increasing any stormwater runoff by increasing impervious area (replacing grass or dirt with asphalt, concrete, etc). But they may already have a stormwater management plan and general permit with the state.

I saw. A lot of guests were wearing them too. I also saw a promotion stand near the Main Street Market.

I think some of the games were guaranteeing that you win a hat if you played.

My point was the element doesn't just come from NYC/the immediate area near Xanadu. It comes from all over NJ. Pretty much whatever parks open up in the area or whatever changes SF takes to make GAdv more family-friendly, the clientele will always be rough. Things have changed greatly even in just the last 15 years as far as what has gone on around the state, let alone since the '70's. I think some members here think the park can return to the whimsical wonderland they remember the park to be, packed with families lost in adventure. But no matter how far they jack up SP prices, add theming, shows and family flat rides, the park will never again be what they remember. It is a corporate park that happens to be the largest park in the world with one of the 3-4 best lineups for thrills. Instead of running from that they should embrace it.

 

Sorry for the small rant, and it is not directed at you per say. It is just something I constantly see around this site, usually from the old-timers. The clientele doesn't ruin the park. They have made the park one of the top 20 most visited in the country and SF's most productive park. The park is generally very safe. The issue is mostly previous park management and their terrible decisions.

No problem - I just wanted to clarify your position. I agree that GAdv will never be a quaint Knoebels-type park, nor should it pretend to be. And you are right, bad people can come from anywhere. I think the park is much better now in many ways then when I stopped going in the late 80s.

Ironically I have had no issues this year at all since we bought our season passes. Part of that may be that we can go earlier in the day when crowds and lines are much less. We've been there 10 times already this year and have never stayed until dark. And we avoid weekends at all costs. The larger the crowds, the longer the lines, and an increased chance of having people misbehaving, whether it be the heat and stress of waiting in long lines, or just people who don't know how to act in public.

I think one of the biggest problems is when you get large groups of people between the ages of late teens into their 20s, who have a pack or gang mentality of trying to take over the environment and bring attention to themselves. They don't care whether they spoil anyone else's experience, as long as they get props from their buddies.

There are certainly plenty of large groups that behave very well, especially those on school or camp trips. Just get in line for your food before they swarm into the restaurant! LOL

I don't know why everyone is under the impression that this "element" our park attracts is from NYC. Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, East Orange, Elizabeth, Camden, Asbury, Atlantic City, and many other NJ towns/cities (including Long Branch, where a guy was shot and killed last week less than 1000ft from my doorstep last week) are where the majority of this "element" comes from. And this group tends to be thrill-seekers, not Nickelodeon Universe type of visitors. SF's SP pricepoint is also perfect for lower income guests (such as myself) to be repeat customers.

I'm a little confused by your post. You don't agree the "element" comes from these areas? If not where do they come from?

that doesn't look fun to me at all to be honest

I noticed that the blue support on the right articulates to accommodate the twisting effect. While certainly achievable from a structural standpoint, I wonder how this type of structure with an articulation (bending) would hold up over time. It's essentially a hybrid mix of several other rides, so nothing is really groundbreaking, nor do I think it would be a ride that attracted new or more customers to a park.

Many of the game and shop attendants were wearing foam shark hats when we were there on Monday.

I think the AC Park has the best chance of opening out of the three.

Nothing much (good) ever gets done in AC because of politics. Stockton University had plans to buy the old Showboat when that casino closed, and then turn it into classrooms and a hotel (for its Hospitality and Tourism program, which my daughter graduated from). The plan was scuttled by another casino. Now the mayor is up for election in November, so I can't imagine anything will happen until well after that, and then it will depend on who wins the seat. I pray that the park happens, because the area needs it, and I like going there (I was just there a couple days ago).

Regarding GA losing revenue because of Xanadu, would it be such a bad thing to lose the type of consumer that would switch to Xanadu because of proximity? I realize every attendee brings revenue, but certain types also bring a host of problems, many that have been mentioned on this site previously. This is essentially why I stopped going to the park in the late 80s and 90s, because it lost its family fun identity, and there were times I was actually concerned for my safety.

The following Three Theme Parks are Planned to open in 2019. Atlantic City Theme Park(67 miles from GA), DreamWorld(67 miles from GA) and Legoland NY(120 miles from GA). Six Flags might want to start planning something Hugh for 2019, how about the world's Tallest, Fastest and Longest coaster in the world with a total of 21 Loops. The coaster could start out along the Lake, Run South to AC then along the Ocean, over Legoland, over Giants Stadium and ending near the old FreeFall.

The AC park will never happen. Xanadu will have some residual effect, but I don't see a lot of overlap between the two parks. This isn't like Delaware and Pennsylvania casinos putting the hurt of AC.

I experienced similar events as a teenager, but it wasn't the cost of calling home to my parents to let them know where I was and that I would be late or even the option of calling collect. Looking back, I now know the reason I didn't call was because my mother or father, in all likehood, would have told me to get home then. Had I not returned immediately after calling, I would have walked in the door and been chastised for not doing as I was told and being late as well. By not calling and simply coming in late, I could always come up with some excuse or crazy line as to why I was late. While the odds of them buying the story were not very good, there was still a chance that they might. Had they, I would have avoided, first, having to be told to get home now (and obeying) as well as the criticism for being home late (which was coming whether I had called or not). Importantly, this worked for me many times, but only because I was the youngest of five kids and my parents had dealt with much worse from my older siblings.

I think I had the advantage of being 21 at the time, and had been away at college for three years. If I were younger they probably would have told me to come home if I had called. As an example back in high school, I planned to join my buddies on a weekend trip to a shore house on Long Island. But when the guys pulled up in their van to pick me up, my one idiot friend pulled out several cases of beers in order to rearrange things in the vehicle. My parents saw the beer and went off the deep end, and my ticket to the beach was immediately VOIDED. lol

Scott's trip report documenting how he stopped at the park on the way home from Delaware sparked a memory I have from over 30 years ago. Sorry there are no details or photos, but I hope you get a laugh out of this story anyway.

I grew up in Westchester County NY. In 1983 my older brother took a job in the Philadelphia area and moved there permanently. That summer, his good friend and I decided to drive down from NY to visit him for the weekend. After the visit, we began driving back to NY about midday on Sunday. As we were coming up the NJ Turnpike, we saw the big sign for Great Adventure at exit 7A, and said to each other - let's stop by the park!

Well, we ended up staying there well past dark before we left and hit the road again, probably around closing time. I don't remember much about the visit or what rides we rode that day, other than we must have been having fun to want to stay that long. Because we were having such a good time, we pretty much lost track of time.

I probably didn't get home until close to midnight by the time his friend dropped me off. As I walked into the house, my father was standing there with this angry expression that could have melted a glacier. "Where have you been all this time??? Your mother has been worried sick! We even called the police to see if they had any accident reports on you." They weren't upset that I decided to change plans, but that I didn't call to tell them what was going on. MY mother was really a worrier when it came to this type of thing, and couldn't sleep until we were home safe and sound.

I wasn't expecting that reaction! I was generally a good and responsible kid, but I have always been one to exert my independence, and this wasn't the first 'incident' I had with my parents as I was growing up. I heard an earful from my parents that night for at least an hour, and to this day my brothers still tease me with the much exaggerated "remember when mom and dad called in the S.W.A.T. team to find you?" line. LOL

Today, young kids couldn't probably relate well to this story, but you have to remember back in 1983 there were no cell phones or texting capabilities. Calling long distance from a public phone booth was a royal pain in the butt. The collect call system was expensive and annoying. And remember, I was independent and didn't even think that I had to let my parents know of my detour in plans. So what if I said I'd be home early afternoon but didn't get there until midnight!

I reflect upon this story now that my kids are the age I was back then. If they "disappeared" for 10 hours I'd get worried too. Fortunately they do not test their parents like I did. And technology allows you to spend all of 10 second texting someone to let them know what is going on. Sometimes we have the opposite occur, where my kids will call or text us way too often, interrupting OUR plans and annoying us in the process. LOL

Not those.

 

ANSWER: Originally, the Right Stuff Mach 1 Adventure was going to feature an adjacent sit-down table service eatery called the Flight Deck Restaurant.

 

Now we have nothing and nothing.....

I liked Paradise Pier the way it is too, and it would indeed be awful if they changed or got rid of Spaceship Earth. It is bad enough they are closing down the Great Movie Ride at the Studios park.

How could they possibly get rid of the central iconic attraction Spaceship Earth??

I think I would have a coronary if I had to pay $50 for a locker. It better be air conditioned and the size of one of those places where you store your home furniture.

 

After all of this time I took my first ride on Ka today.

 

wearing a tie???

Thanks for the follow up on the Dick Clark deal.

Amazon reviews are terrible. People buy a season pass for a tv show that hasn't aired yet and then leave one star reviews because no episodes are available yet. Episodes are released on Amazon the day after they air on tv, but some people can't wrap their head around that. I also hate the people that give products one star reviews because they had a shipping issue, but the product works fine.

Their reviews are all over the map. I don't even pay attention to the numbers, I just read through the comments and see if I can pull any useful information out of them. Most of the crap people complain about is completely irrelevant to me.

Good report on a trip that sounds comparable to the ones I've had recently in duration.

 

 

I don't think we will be getting a major coaster anytime soon. Six Flags seems to be adding fewer expensive coasters in the past 6 years and with a park that already has so much variety in coasters, I think they are going to address other needs first.

I hope you are right!

Does anyone know what happened with this investment?

"On June 19, 2007, Six Flags announced it had purchased 40% of Dick Clark Productions, which owns rights to American Bandstand and other shows and productions."

Also, I never knew that Six Flags attempted an indoor amusement park a the Power Plant in Baltimore (1985-1989). I've been there several times since then, and would never have guessed it was a park at one point. Does anyone know what they built in there?

on edit - looks like the Power Plant was just some show theaters and simulators - no coasters

http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=1395

It's unfortunately an indication of where we've gone as a society, with more and more people taking on an entitlement attitude. My wife and I have become less and less prone to a mentality like that, and now focus on those people that work in the service industry, because they are not all that well compensated. We make sure we pick up every single piece of refuse and put it in its proper place. Why force someone making minimum wage to pick up my garbage? Same reason we leave a 20% tip for the waitstaff when we eat out, unless they are really terrible.

I was driving through the ghetto area of Chester PA yesterday, and noticed that many of the building and bridges had significant graffiti on them - it looks awful. We were thinking "why would someone vandalize buildings and bridges in their own community"? It's the same mentality of people who protest by breaking windows and looting businesses right in the area they live in. Ugh.

it's depressing to think that these big parks can't get water parks right....