Thunderbolt

Most security devices are pure "theater". I think the metal detectors are a good enough deterrent. It's easy enough to smuggle a weapon into the park if one is truly committed. I personally don't think armed guards would really prove beneficial. It would further display Six Flags as a non-family friendly atmosphere, and that is far worse. I still maintain corralling guests outside the main gates is the superior crowd control option. Great Adventure should design a better way to queue guests at the gate, or perhaps redesign the entrance esplanade to better handle waiting guests. In my experience, the way Great Adventure handles the front gate at opening is horrendous. Every lane should be open at entrance to swiftly process guests. I've seen "Islands of Adventure" ("IOA") admit guests far more efficiently on heavy loads. Guests at IOA also go through bag searches, metal detection (via "wanding" when I was there in 2004), and ID Presentation. IIRC, the space between the ticket booths and front gate isn't much bigger than Great Adventure's. Until Great Adventure actually enforces Park Policy with respect to "line cutting" and guest conduct, the culture won't change. One positive initiative undertook by Mark Shapiro was ejecting people for smoking outside designated areas. In my visits during the Red Zone Era, security was fairly proactive in enforcing said policy. The park must be equally vigilant in all policies.

I agree with Harry. The idea of park security arming themselves with guns, mace, tasers, etc. is not conducive to a family friendly image. It's simply overkill for a situation like this. Six Flags needs to re-assess how they manage crowds, add more in-queue video surveillance, and increase security staff. Basically, they need to hire James Dalton from "Road House". "and be nice!" "The Rope Drop" continues to be one of the dumbest ideas for crowd control I ever seen. Guests should be corralled outside the gates, and allowed entry at the appropriate time. Also, every entry point and ticket booth should be staffed at park opening. When the gates open, guests should be allowed to proceed to attractions unencumbered. Less people inside the park will lessen the need to outrun your neighboring group of guests. Is it really so hard to copy Disney here?

This pretty much sums it up. Years of poor rule enforcement created this culture. My assumption, and this is only an assumption, is Great Adventure lacks the security staff to properly enforce it.

Intamin still offers towers for sale in their current product catalog. I doubt the replacement parts would be too expensive, barring major system failures. Honestly, the biggest strike against the Parachutes is operator requirements.

I remembered there was still one outside of North America, but forgot where. I see the standing baskets in that photo too. The "Para Tower" (Vekoma Design) at the defunct "Boardwalk & Baseball" park had standing baskets.

...and then there was one.

Wow, that's a pretty serious cache of weaponry. Thankfully nobody, especially Safari animals were hurt.

Considering "Top Thrill Dragster" cost $25M (source: Cedar Point Press Release http://www.rcdb.com/...htm?dt=126&d=82), I doubt "Kingda Ka" and "The Golden Kingdom" remotely approached $50M. Hindsight being 20/20, it wasn't worth the money. Without question, "The Golden Kingdom" and all it encompassed was worth every penny. "Kingda Ka" has been a popular attraction, and put Great Adventure in the "world class" pantheon of parks. It's been the subject of many specials, all of which provide free publicity to Six Flags and Great Adventure world wide. What kills "Kingda Ka" is its terrible reliability. With its high operating costs and terrible reliability, it's been a boondoggle worthy of "Batman & Robin: The Chiller". Had "Kingda Ka" suffered only from 1 problem (reliability or operating cost, not both), I'd lean toward positive territory. It's hard to deny the experience "Kingda Ka" provides. While we may have grown accustomed to its launch, that initial experience was nothing short of amazing. Like many things under Premier Parks, Six Flags rolled the dice and lost on this one long term. The hopes of eliminating the bugs from "Top Thrill Dragster" never materialized. "El Toro" mitigated the need for "Kingda Ka" as a signature attraction. Would Six Flags have invested the maintenance capital not needed by "Kingda Ka" into other Great Adventure attractions? Hard to say honestly, but doubtful especially with the incoming Shapiro/Redzone Era. Mark Shapiro would have ripped every single one of those attractions out regardless. I wish I had the link still, but he stated he would have cancelled the "El Toro" contract, had it not been too far along. He said he would rather put a park bench in place of a "standing but not operating" ride, and did that chain wide (versus staffing or actually MAINTAING said attractions). This man failed to understand the intellectual property he possessed (He embarrassingly stated to investors, he had no idea what the target audience of the "The Dark Knight" film was, yet built several "FAMILY" attractions to it.), and the very things that made Six Flags popular (i.e. the "No More Goliaths" edict). At least Red Zone is gone, and Six Flags is making some small strides.

Mark Shapiro certainly wouldn't be standing in front of "X-Flight". Had he still been at Six Flags, the ride would have never been built! "No more Goliaths!" - Mark Shairo

It's up to the park to adequately communicate the necessary changes. Great Adventure does employ P.R. staff after all. Plus, doesn't Wild Safari Animal Park already offer up-charge "off road" tours? The addition of 4 new "flat rides" (2 of these are brand new, the other 2 refurbished and 1 transferred) is a great. The park needs these desperately. However, Mr. Fitzgerald has also subtracted an entire well themed section of the park ("The Golden Kingdom's Balin's Jungleland"). I am kind of neutral, to borderline negative on this. The loss of "The Golden Kingdom" epitomizes exactly why Six Flags fails. They take the best themed section in the entire chain, and replace it with... nothing. With all due respect, "The Green Lantern" is a nice addition at a park that didn't need another roller coaster. Sure, I am glad to receive it. However, while a major addition to Great Adventure, "The Green Lantern" is hardly a major "capital expenditure". Six Flags got the ride for FREE. All Six Flags paid was to refurbish and transport the attraction. Considering what a brand new Bolliger & Mabillard "Stand Up" costs, this was a steal. As for "The Great American Scream Machine" being at the "end of it's operational life", I call B.S. on that one. I am glad "The Great American Scream Machine" is gone. The coaster saved Great Adventure, and deserves praise for being a highly reliable attraction. I do think Six Flags should have sent it to Six Flags America versus scrapping it, but that's another story. Arrow Coasters never die. Parts are easy to acquire, and the coasters see little down time. They live on to inflict pain on riders the world over. I'll leave the operational deficiencies up for others to describe ("The Master" seems to have covered it.). My complaint lies with the fading paint, and withering theme. "Hurricane Harbor" was beautiful when it opened! It's was a tropical oasis fantasy. Like "Atlantis" in the Bahamas. Now, it's starting to look like Nassau in the Bahamas. I wish the park would see a lot of fresh paint, and the theme aspects fully restored. Also, fire the person who chose a low capacity attraction that can't service the weight of 60% of the U.S. Population. Hope springs eternal. We'll have to see. I just won't hold my breath.

Sadly, I have to agree here. It's these decisions (lockers, ride removals, poor operations) that has kept me from patronizing Great Adventure since 2008. Don't forget all the parking fee increases Six Flags Corporate and Mr. Fitzgerald implemented. We'll have to wait and see where Six Flags goes with the Wild Safari Animal Park. Hopefully, they won't alter the place so much, that the drive through aspect couldn't return at a later date. Six Flags could easily make the Safari free, as was the case during the Premier Parks Era.I also agree that fencing along the roadway is a more practical solution, while conducting an "up-charge" tour to get customers closer to the animals. People are always quick to champion whatever current management team is in charge. It's due to our emotional investment in the park and the brand. However, Mr. Fitzgerald has followed in the path of his predecessors in ignoring areas of the park in need reopening/re-imagining. What has been done to "The Golden Kingdom" is disgraceful. It's even sadder to see how Red Zone and current management are not taking care of Hurricane Harbor. "The Green Lantern" is a nice addition, but it's not a major capital investment. Mark Shapiro all but stole it from Kentucky Kingdom (Six Flags didn't own the ride, nor did it install it). Lord knows, Mr. Fitzgerald plopped out in the middle of the parking lot.

Wasn't that booth utilized to sell concert tickets for "The Great Arena"? It was near the "Runaway Mine Train" Midcourse break run IIRC. At the base, you can see conspicuous cutouts. I imagine a forklift would interface here, to relocate the booth.

Sounds like a ride not worth operating to me. I can't see who thought a low capacity slide, with such a small weight limit was a good idea. If Six Flags was over-promised, they should sue the manufacturer.

Honestly, my concern lies with the "Evac" system in general. When Ms. Siebeneicher specifies a "rope" to safely remove passengers, what exactly does this entail? I am curious to the actual procedure.

Top Spin?

Perhaps Premier Rides will provide technical assistance and upgrades to remedy the outstanding issues. I'd have to imagine they would love to sell more of this model.

Photographing a concert?

I'm not certain if the deceased dolphin's death was expected or not. Why not borrow a dolphin from Discovery Kingdom? Why not simply announce due to unforeseen circumstances, the dolphin show was cancelled for this season, but will return next year? It seems a lot like the cancellation of "Temple of the Tiger". Park management took advantage of an opportunity to cancel an expensive show. They perceive it won't be missed. I'm certain "Cody" and the dolphins will be missed by the trainers and other staff. I just don't see management investing to continue the show. In these cases, "Evaluating opportunities" usually means, "We'll see how much negative feedback we receive, and how it impacts our bottom line".

"Glow In The Park" is nice, but hardly has the nostalgic quality or replay value of even the old Disney Parades. The loss of the "Dolphin Show" is far more sad. Nobody at Six Flags gets it. They can never compete with the big boys, as long as they continue to operate as a "Coney Island" Amusement Park with bigger budgets. Why on earth does Six Flags continue to offer free in-park concerts? That has to be a huge money drain, and what revenue does it bring in? Do the concerts bring greater single day ticket sales? Will people pay full price for a daily ticket just for a concert? Will the group attract patrons that may not be family oriented (like rowdy teens vs. families)? I'd wager a nightly fireworks and dolphin show would boost repeat visits, more than any loud concert. My argument is a moot point, as it's hard to directly monetize consumer happiness on Excel Spreadsheets. I may have rarely lol's at episodes of "KIng of the Hill". The group dynamics of kindness between Hank and his friends, as well as his family kept me coming back though.

I wonder what the sale price was? Considering how long its been sitting idle in a field, I guess it went cheaply. It would need to. Otherwise, why pay to ship a failed ride overseas, and incur the cost of re-assembly? I wonder if Premier Rides will handle the refurbishment. Will they reinstall the heart-line rolls or the humps? I'm far more curious to see what is done to the coaster, than in actually ride it.

Where are the light kits for "Deja Vu"? I really think the incandescent lights add so much character to Scrambler rides.

That's sounds like an appropriate job for Mark Shapiro. Then again, he may be under qualified for that. Mark was personally responsible for the NHL's decision to leave ESPN. There are many people in Bristol still glad to see him gone.

First thing that came to mind? "New for 2013 at Dorney Park! Experience Wildcat!"