Thunderbolt

Was it the Gingerbread Fancy Dog House or the gas station?

As a child, I LOVED the Giraffes at the Safari. While I in no way advocate rule violation, I once fed a banana to a Giraffe there. Their tongues were sticky and abrasive. I did love it when they licked the glass too! My dad and his car? Not so much I suppose.

It's nice to see an expanded color palette, for the venerable "Skyride".

Hey, that's Kelly (the blonde) from "Hot Tub Time Machine"! She visited both the Kodiak Valley Ski Resort and Great Adventure in 1986 I see. Admit it Harry, you stole this picture from Lougle Images. ;P

The simple solution to the lockers (making them free for a limited time) continues to elude current management. After the ride wait time (plus a small buffer that remains secret) expires, belongings are either removed or a you incur a charge.

While Walt Disney World did build and operate a "short takeoff and landing" airstrip; I believe you're referring to the "international airport" on the initial proposal drawings. When McCoy Air Force Base (nee Pinecastle Army Air Field/AFB) was identified for closure in 1973, it began transitioning into a commercial airport. Orlando International Airport, as it's known today still utilizes the MCO abbreviation. With the emergence of MCO, the need of a private international airport became superfluous. When the Florida State Legislature established the Reedy Creek Improvement District (Disney's defacto "monarchy" as Walt asked for), Disney was also granted permission to build and operate a nuclear power plant on site.

Don't forget Great Adventure almost lost its food license in the late 80's. It was a major reason "Shockwave" was repurposed to Six Flags Great America for 1988 (despite being designed for Great Adventure). Had the Jackson, NJ lost its food operation license; the park would have been closed by Six Flags. For me, I found Great Adventure in its worst state during the Wesray years.

For the arcade, Yu Suzuki. Classics such as "Shenmue", "Hang-On", "Outrun", "Virtua Fighter", "Afterburner", and "Space Harrier" were memorable pioneers. Inventors of their genre in some cases. For the home consode, Shigeru Miyamoto. Classics such as "Super Mario Bros.", "The Legend of Zelda", "Donkey Kong", and too many more to mention make Miyamoto-san the king of the home console. With the extinction of the arcade, I'd guess he gets the nod. Both men are tremendous talents however.

Leona Helmsley cools off on "Kodak's Splash Down", after a long day of evading taxes at Six Flags Great Adventure.

"Super Metroid" by a hair (but "Gunstar Heros" is a classic!) "Spaceship Earth " Narrator: Walter Cronkite or Jeremy Irons?

G.A.S.M. and Ultra Twister? B&R:TC and TDK?

Interestingly enough, Six Flags almost renamed Valencia's Magic Mountain to "California Adventure" in the late '70's.

Lake Compounce in Bristol Connecticut I believe billed itself as America's first theme park. It employed that status in lobbying the State of Connecticut, to thwart any tax incentive or subsidies for Six Flags's planned "New England" park.

Don't forget, Six Flags designed and managed Parque Warner Madrid (neé Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid). Their design influence was all over the park, and considered one of the most beautiful Six Flags properties when opened in 2002. If I ran Six Flags, I would seriously re-acquire the complex. Spain is awesome, and has a wonderful climate for theme park operation.

Considering the close proximity to Colonial Williamsburg, I would imagine the verboten theme would be revolutionary war related. Winthrop Rockefeller, then chairman of Colonial Williamsburg was instrumental in brining August Busch II and Busch Gardens to Virginia.

One location was North Stonington, CT. During Time Warner's stewardship, Six Flags desired to expand into the New England market. Several sites were explored, including purchasing Riverside Park in Agawam, MA. Time Warner deemed the property too small for a proper Six Flags, and settled on North Stonington CT. Six Flags proposed building a 200 acre park 7 miles from Foxwoods Casino on leased land from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. This of course drew the ire of Lake Compounce's owners, who lobbied hard within the State of Connecticut to block any tax incentives for the project. With Time Warner's mounting debts, and the growing acrimony from the State of Connecticut; Six Flags quietly retreated from their ambitious plans. This would have been the first brand new Six Flags park since 1972. It was to be designed by the same company that re-imagined Great Adventure's "Main Street" entrance during the mid-90's. A mid-90's fansite that no longer exists (sadly, I never copied the images from it) featured artist renderings of the proposed park. "Batman The Ride" as well as Magic Mountain's newly opened "Superman The Escape" were featured prominently in them. The site also featured a scanned newspaper article listing the design company, whose name I can't recall for a $1M. I followed this project closely at the time. If you're interested in reading about what might of been, an article from the New York Times archives announces the project. http://tinyurl.com/2f5f9hx Six Flags also considered building a park in East Hartford, CT. The proposal had Six Flags acquiring in whole or part of 700 acres of Pratt & Whitney's Rentschler Field. Hopkinton, R.I. was another dark horse candidate. These sites were mentioned in articles circa December 1997. With Premier Park's $1.9B acquisition of Six Flags from the Boston Ventures/Time Warner partnership, all further plans died quietly. Some articles chronicling the proposed Six Flags New England can be found at: http://articles.courant.com/keyword/theme-park/featured/4

That's the thing. If the ride lockers were free for the estimated queue duration time (plus a reasonable buffer); I would take little issue with the park charging for items remaining past expiration. Patrons might be infuriated by this regardless, but at least it would be a more fair policy.

Easily Sega Dreamcast! That console featured some of the best conceived games of its era. I still love "Shenmue", "Samba de Amigo", "Crazy Taxi", "Power Stone" (and its sequal), "Space Channel 5", the Capcom 2D Fighters, "Soul Caliber", and I could keep going on. For you old timers, "Blast Processing" or "Mode 7"?

I never heard about any interest from Disney, as Great Adventure would need a complete reinvention to fit with their portfolio. Universal on the other hand, did express interest at some point. Universal supposably envisioned a "PortAventura" style makeover for the park. When the appraised value clocked in around $800M (late 90's - early 2000's), they got cold feet and decided against it. Seasonal operations, high acquisition cost (biggest factor), and upgrade costs were just too great. Or so they thought at the time. With Universal divesting PortAventura, I doubt Great Adventure meets their criteria for acquisition now. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (neé Busch Entertainment Corp. "BEC") would be the ideal buyer for Great Adventure. BEC certainly has experience running an animal park. Provided Great Adventure hasn't already started ripping down the "Temple of the Tiger" habitat, BEC could makeover the park over time with minimal costs. Unfortunately for us, BEC is VERY cautious with their investments. Cedar Fair has debt issues of their own, and credit is hardly flowing freely. If the Sandusky based company was interested, they would have bought the company as a whole on the bankruptcy court steps for pennies. I don't think the Apollo Management takeover was a factor, as there were rumors/talks about combining both Six Flags and Cedar Fair earlier this year. Any sale of Six Flags will be complicated, as the company doesn't own Six Flags Over Texas or Over Georgia. They're investors in a limited partnership, and the buyout costs ("triggers") are exorbitant. That leaves Parques Reunidos as the sole possible savior.

Perhaps Six Flags could move restraint checking to an honor system. Think of all the money the company could save eliminating those minimum wage seasonal employees! Heck, why not hock Safari animals on eBay and charge people per incident for security intervention? Even RedZone didn't dare eliminate public safety positions. If I were the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Professional Fire Fighters of New Jersey, I would be buying lots of local airtime. I wonder when The Asbury Park Press will pick up on this story? Any major incidents, and you can bet Great Adventure will take another decade to recover. If it can at all. Not a good day to be Angel Aristone I'd imagine.

If Great Adventure's attendance figures remain flat or decrease, is it fair to say "The Green Lantern" didn't bring in money? Get it straight, Six Flags eliminated the show for cost cutting purposes. They are not going to add "flat" rides to replace anything, as it defeats the purpose. "The Green Lantern" is coming to Great Adventure, because the company got the ride for free (and considering the Kentucky Kingdom deal, it was FREE). Man, if I had Facebook money; I'd buy this company outright and drop the hammer all over the place. Six Flags has actually made some astute business decisions with the Kentucky Kingdom settlement and Dick Clark Productions divesture. When it comes to running the actual theme park business, they're failing miserably.

Thank you Great Adventure! You saved me a boat load of cash! Despite the GREAT (i.e. ridiculously cheap) offer on Season Passes, I will not patronize your parks for my 3rd. consecutive season. Removing the "Temple of the Tiger" show, the cats, and firing the trainers is disgraceful. Whoever made this decision, considering the current atmosphere at Great Adventure needs to join the unemployment ranks. I don't even think Mark Shapiro would have stooped this low. What are they going to put there, another crappy "Papa Johns"? While I feel for Mark Kane and his family, the company did him a favor in firing him. Hopefully SeaWorld Parks (neé "BEC") or Disney gives him a shot. At least he won't have the taint of Six Flags stupidity to sully his future job prospects. John Fitzgerald and Al Weber: The Rick Wagoner of theme parks! No wonder Freestyle Music Park closed.

Rides I wish were still at Great Adventure: 1. "Calypso" 2. "Enterprise" (Shwarzkopf model) 3. "Joust-A-Bout" 4. "The Flying Wave" (Exactly for the reasons stated by "RobertDavid". Even Disney has one!) 5. "Monster Spin" 6. "Hydro Flume" 7. "Scrambler" 8. "Musik Express" 9. "Bumper Cars" "The Antique Cars", "The Great Train Ride", and "Pirates Flight" would also be welcomed. I just haven't ridden those.

That doesn't look good at all.

I love "The Incredible Hulk" coaster at Islands of Adventure. Too bad the rails look so rusty now. It's been almost 20 years since I've ridden a standup (not coincidently "Shockwave" at Great Adventure), and "The Green Lantern" looks like fun. Hopefully Six Flags will perform a total rehab on the rolling stock, replacing the hardware, wheels, harness and seat coverings.