dougdrummer

IMO there are too many areas as is. Yesterday on my first day as meal pass members, I was trying to correlate the park map with the eating places I could get food at, and having that many themed areas is just cumbersome. So I'm all for combining some areas, especially since some of them aren't that big anyway. And the connections between some areas are nonexistent or not entirely evident. When you go to a place like BG Williamsburg the pathways are logical and evident - laid out like an actual park. Because of the way SFGA developed over time, and because it has been revised so many times over the years, it's a real connectivity mess, and simplification could help.

Generally the DEP requires replacement of trees (aka reforestation) at a 2:1 ratio, and it prefers to have the trees in the vicinity. Sometimes they will approve tree "banks" where an applicant can give money so that a third party can plant trees elsewhere or perform other environmental restoration projects. This is because it can be difficult to find and purchase land to reforest land in NJ that isn't environmentally sensistive (wetlands, archeology, riparian zones, ground contamination, etc). The only positive they have going for them is that SFGA is not in the Pinelands Preserve, which has its own stricter regulations on land use.

That's what I figured. This kid working the main gate looked like he was 12 years old. Man, am I getting old....LOL Oh - I also noticed that Runaway Train had three jerks/dips in the spiral section that were perceptable. Were they always there? When does the log flume typically open during the season? They have a lot of leave cleanup to do in the troughs!

does this involve wine?

I saw portions of the worst condition nearer the entrance were repaved.

I was there Sunday - check out my mumblings on the Opening Day thread.

Also, I didn't see any info on shows. Do these only start up when the park becomes open every day?

My wife and I await the opening! Especially since she is not a hardcore coaster fan.

Thanks for all this great info - it does seem like a downgrade from last year. You can see my rantings on my first day at the park Sunday on the other thread and my experiences being a meal plan pass virgin. LOL

My wife and I went on Sunday, mostly to get the processing of season park and meal plan passes out of the way. Here are my observations FWIW: We got there about 11 am, and it started getting fairly crowded from that point forward - tons of young families. By the time we left around 3 pm the parking lot was fairly full. The processing of passes was a disaster from the get go. We were told by three different employees to go to three different places to get it done, eventually accomplishing it at the ticket building just to the right of the main gate entrance, where we went to start with. Ugh. I think we were fortunate that they took us there because we bought the season passes through a friend that works there. Once we got our passes, we were told we had to go to the GA Cafe to get our soda bottles. The line was ridiculous and was not moving at all. After a few minutes I asked a passerby where they got their bottles and they told me at the Coke store. So we went there and got our bottles and filled them in less than a minute. Apparently people in the GA Cafe line were still waiting to get their passes processed, and they were woefully understaffed (maybe two people processing passes). As far as the new-to-us meal plan goes, we were clueless, and apparently so were most of the staff. I understood that we qualified for a lunch, snack and dinner during different time frames, but I didn't know what we could order on the menu at each restaurant. And most of the staff had no idea, so they had to go get their manager. It wasn't until later that I figured out there was a little "S" symbol next to the menu items that qualified under the meal plan. And it wasn't until later that I found another soda station to fill up at, with almost no line (nice on hot days coming). We tried eating lunch at the Frontier restaurant around noon, but it wasn't open yet, I asked a couple staff, and they couldn't tell me when it was opening. It looked like it eventually opened up around 1:00. Why that late, I don't know. For lunch I got a piece of pizza and fries, and she got a caesar salad. The salad was small, but good. The pizza was lukewarm at best, but the fries were good. For snack we got a brownie and a soft pretzel. Many of the snack stands were not opened. Again they probably don't have the staff for them yet. We went on the safari at about 11:30 and it was a 60-minute wait - they didn't seem to have their act together with enough trucks. This was the first time for me - I was impressed, although I hate waiting that long for any ride. It was the guide's first day on the job, but he was good. One negative is that I had a hard time hearing the guide over the roar of the truck's engine and the fumes were nasty at times. I wonder if they could go green and find trucks that are electric powered..... The Joker was not running. El Toro did not run until at least 11:30-12:00. As I said the main reason we went was to process the passes and get a lay of the land, which we eventually accomplished. Certainly things did not go as smooth as they could have, mostly because they didn't have enough staff, and the staff was so new they had little knowledge to impart to us. We plan on going back during spring break week.

As part of the NASCAR media, I got to visit this solar farm just before it became active a few years back. Perhaps SFGA could use this to get good publicity, and exploit the "green" angle in commercials, especially to millennials. LONG POND, PA (July 23, 2014) – Nearly four years to the day of the original dedication of Pocono Raceway’s solar farm, the total amount of energy produced by the 25-acre facility reached the 15,000,000 kilowatt hour (kWh) mark. “The Tricky Triangle’s” solar installation consists of 39,960 American-made photovoltaic modules (or solar panels) which will produce an estimated 72 Million kWh of energy over the next 20 years. The environmental attributes associated with the system will offset more than 3,104 Metric Tons of carbon dioxide annually and will generate enough power, beyond the power needs of Pocono Raceway, to provide the electricity needs for over 300 homes. “It is amazing to see the amount of energy produced by the solar farm in this short period of time,” said Pocono Raceway President/CEO Brandon Igdalsky. “To put the amount of energy produced into layman’s terms, the solar farm has saved over 1,215,000 gallons of fuel. This would equal 121, 500 trips from New York City or Philadelphia to Pocono Raceway in a vehicle, such as an RV, using 10 miles per gallon of gasoline. “When I watch the NASCAR Green commercial during race broadcasts, there is a line which asks Greg Biffle, ‘Got solar to power the sport?’ The amount of fuel we have saved would power the top three levels of NASCAR for about two-and-a-half seasons. So, I guess, we really could power the sport.” The 15 million (kWh) produced has already impacted the environment. The total energy generated equals the use of more than 85,620 – 60Watt light bulbs for one year at eight hours per day and a saving of carbon dioxide (CO2) offset equaling 270,000 trees or 443,460 Propane BBQ Grills. The Raceway has been awarded a number of environmental awards for its sustainable energy efforts including the Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards, Readers Choice Award presented by RenewableEnergyWorld.com and the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, presented each year by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. These awards highlight the best in environmental innovation and expertise.

wait......SFGA had a pool and skating rink when it first opened up??

damn lawyers!

IMHO interconnectability is a big issue in this park. It is especially exacerbated during HITP when certain areas aren't accessible. Dead ends detract from the free-flow experience and reduce circulation ability during peak periods.

I remember buying discount tickets for Hershey at a Turkey Hill store near the park.

Thanks - it's good to know they are going to address the minefield.

Has an amusement park ever had a parking garage? I think the access/egress rate would not be fast enough for the mass of cars they have.

When I attended HITP back in late December, I noticed that the parking lot potholes had gotten bigger than ever. On my drive out, it seemed like I was riding on the moon's surface, and I had to run a slalom course to avoid losing a wheel in one of the giant potholes. Especially in the regular parking lot closest to the entrance. And the parking area for Preferred Parking is a total joke, with a mismash of different types of asphalt with old striping lines and patchwork everywhere. You can tell they just randomly cordoned off an area near the entrance and made it preferred parking. And the way they have it roped and barrier curbed off looks totally unprofessional. A park like Disney or Busch Gardens would never have an appearance like that. It reminds me of entering and leaving a drive in movie theater, only worse. The entrance and the parking area are the first thing that guests see when they get to the park. SFGA's parking lots are a total mess and a downright embarrassment. Does anyone know if they have plans to repave at least the worst portions of the lots? Or am I the only one irritated by this.

Classic case of environmentalists fighting over what's more environmentally friendly - trees or regenerative clean power. LOL They should just do what Stockton University (down near Atlantic City) did in their dorm parking lots, with no clearing required. My daughter attended there, and the supports for the panels were not intrusive and didn't seem to take up a lot of room, thereby reducing parking capacity. While SFGA is a different animal, I still think it could work. http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/president/newsletter/11-09/

I can't wait until it is warm enough to want to have an icee....

LOL - but without them there would be no park! The worst experience I had was when I rode go carts, and the helmet had the smelly haircare products of the person that rode before me. I almost barfed, and it took forever to get the smell out of my hair.