29yrswithaGApass Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 One of the distinct pleasures of living in the northeast quadrent of the United States is the wide variety of weather we encounter. Over the years Great Adventure has seen its share of storms and severe weather events. Below are some pictures of flooding that occured in 2000 after one of our infamous summer thunderstorms. Needless to say it made for an interesting visit. Check out the newly added Weather at Great Adventure gallery for additional photos of the floods! So, what wild weather have you experienced at GA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Wow I wish I was there to see this. The weather around here is certainly quite the spectacle at times. Just think if they opened in March the park could also be home to some nice little end of winter snow showers that we so commonly get lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 I was there for a winter squall once which was really pretty to watch but I didn't have a camera with me (imagine that!). The worst winter weather was the brutal cold temperatures when I took the picture below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Haha yes after being on this site for a while now, Harry without a camera is certainly a special occasion lol. I would love to see the park in a short little winter squall or snow just because without a holiday in the park it would be fun to see the park with some snow falling. After watching my brother play baseball in a snowstorm a few years ago, I am sure An April snow is not out of the picture at this point. I have to ask though, how cold was it actually outside when you took the above picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 I have to ask though, how cold was it actually outside when you took the above picture. The temperature was in the upper 20s but the windchill was something like 18o. The photo was taken on April 5th 2004 which was the Monday of their opening Sping Break week. In looking at the photos from that visit, I don't think there were 100 people in the park. The only ride that was open was Skull Mountain and the park closed by noon that day. The park opens this year on April 5th too! I hope it's a little warmer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Seriously. I would be really dissapointed if they had to close the park down from winter weather or lack of patronage for the day. I think all will be ok though I mean heck it was in the 60's today so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxfan0810 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 (edited) I haven't had any experiences at GAdv, but this past season at SFNE I did. Me, my friend and his family took a trip up to the park on a spring day in April I believe, just after huge rainstorms caused severe flooding throughout the northeast. It was overcast and a bit sprinkly, a perfect day to go. We get to the park 10 minutes after opening and there are seven cars in the parking lot! I had heard about the whole DC superheros area down by the Ct River being flooded, so I knew the area would be closed. Sure enough, the area was closed at both stairways, so you couldn't really see down there. We rode scream so we could check it out, and wow! The entire area beneath the spaghetti bowl of S:RoS, including the queue line, had become part of the river! The water level went up to just at the level of the brake run, and ancompassed the entire twister section of track. It was quite the sight, if only I had my camera! Later when we asked an employee about the situation, they said that water was pouring into the first tunnel, and had pumps running to keep the water out. Fortunately the floods subsided and S:RoS was opened soon afterward! That day the park was empty to, as I said there were SEVEN cars in the lot. They closed the park at 1 due to the low attendance, but in under 3 hours at the park we rode every ride in the park (aside from Superman of course!) at least once, several of them a few times over. And when we left there were ten cars! What a day... Edited February 19, 2008 by redsoxfan0810 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sounds like you went very soon after the N'or Easter we had on April 16th (working in an accouting office you tend to keep track of the major disasters that can and od happen as the tax filing deadline approaches). It would make sense as that storm really pounded the heck out of the entire northeast as a whole. I remember driving around looking for a FedEx location that wasn't under water to send packages out. I can only imagine what GA would have looked like during and after that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 One of the most wild weather times at the park was early spring of last year (07). It was a unusually cold day, there where no lines for almost everything. Even El Toro only had a 10 min wait (and that was because they were running one train) but it was so cold I could only ride in two times, and not many other coasters either. The inside of Skull Mt was cold and for some reason the park did not have any heat on in any of the buildings so you could warm yourself up. Another eary spring day about four years ago it got unusually hot for early spring. I rode Roaring Rapids and was dry in 10 min it was so hot! Also the park did not have A/C going in any of their buildings, notice a pattern here? Again the lines were short due to the heat and being early in the season. I ended driving the Safari so I could use my car's A/C to get cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxfan0810 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sounds like you went very soon after the N'or Easter we had on April 16th (working in an accouting office you tend to keep track of the major disasters that can and od happen as the tax filing deadline approaches). It would make sense as that storm really pounded the heck out of the entire northeast as a whole. I remember driving around looking for a FedEx location that wasn't under water to send packages out. I can only imagine what GA would have looked like during and after that one. That was the storm! We had to keep close tabs on whether the park was actually going to open, because it closed down when it was actually raining. Practically every small stream in the area could be classified as a river after that storm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Nothing different here in that one. I live in an apartment complex and once it had been raining long enough one of the rivers here overflowed and flooded so bad that sections of the complex were being evacuated by boat. It was really insane around here overall. I can only imagine the intensity the storm must have had with the lake right next to so many portions of the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxfan0810 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 ^ That's true, our two local Six Flags parks are both situated right next to large water bodies, Prospertown Lake and the Connecticut River. Sure makes for some interesting flood situations, but are there many other weather stories out there not pertaining to rain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 (edited) How about last (07) Columbus day? It was in the 90s and was alot better than usual being cool or even cold for FF. Last Oct was so warm but sadly GAdv was closed on the first two Fridays in Oct, it is a shame since the park would probably have had a decent turnout had it been open like it usual is on those unusually warn Oct friday nights. Edited February 20, 2008 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted February 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Those warm October days sort of ruined the whole traditional fall feeling of Fright Fest. I like my Fright Fest cold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Those warm October days sort of ruined the whole traditional fall feeling of Fright Fest. I like my Fright Fest cold! Absolutely the warm days this past fall were a bit of a downer when it comes to the traditional feeling of October and Fright Fest. I am also sure that the warmth was why the park was so incredibly crowded so many days in the fall because there was no cold weather to scare any people away. I remember for FF 06 it was so cold we were bubdled up pretty good from the time we entered the park in the morning and byt the time it became dark we were absolutely freezing during some of the wind gusts. Compared to this past season where I walked around the park in a short sleeve shirt during the day and then just thew on a denim jacket for the nightly festivities and it's easy to see how mild a fall we had this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 (edited) Those warm October days sort of ruined the whole traditional fall feeling of Fright Fest. I like my Fright Fest cold! I like warm FF nights. Usually we do get at least one warm FF night each season. Back in 06 we did not get any warm nights, and last year almost every night was! You can probably guess I am a warm weather person LOL. However the big problem with last year's FF was GAdv not being open all 4 Friday nights (just two) in Oct. It should have been open for all 4 Friday nights. Edited February 20, 2008 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyChrist Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 I like going to the park on a hot summer day and getting a brief thunderstorm. I know it shuts down the rides and everything, but I just love summer thunderstorms. There was one this past year where I was stuck in the Golden Kingdom and it poured for 10 minutes, so everyone was huddled inside the Tiger's Leap Market. There was also the time back in 98 or 99 when it was raining on Boy Scout rally day and everyone immediately ran for the bandstand. We all sat in there and we had a park representative come and say that we had to go to the Northern Star Arena and sit in the rain. My parents said screw that and we headed for the Looney Toons Shoppe to wait out the weather. It rained for 2 hours, but we did get on Chiller and Batman in between the downpours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted October 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Did anyone notice that we had very few severe thunderstorms this summer? I think it was the first season since I started going to the park that I didn't experience a thunder and lightning 'event' at GA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Did anyone notice that we had very few severe thunderstorms this summer? I think it was the first season since I started going to the park that I didn't experience a thunder and lightning 'event' at GA. While you are correct that we did not seem to get an over abundance of them, I think I managed to be at the park each and every time a major one blew through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyChrist Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Did anyone notice that we had very few severe thunderstorms this summer? I think it was the first season since I started going to the park that I didn't experience a thunder and lightning 'event' at GA. We had thunderstorms, but there was really only 3 or so Severe ones that I can recall. The most severe was the one that occurred on a Sunday and took out Toro. I was at Hurricane Harbor and it was like there was a real hurricane going on as it just poured and poured with the wind going nuts outside. Everyone in the park was told to take shelter at Island Traders that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisChavan Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 ^Yeah I was working that day. I remember looking out the door of Daily Planet at Superman at around noon, all was well, sun was shining... then after I came back from my break, about a half hour later I looked out the door because I heard a loud rumble, and the sky was BLACK. Within five minutes the sky just opened up and it POURED for a good four hours straight, lightning and all. My store was flooded beyond belief. It was insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CablesEric Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 (edited) I remember back in April of I think 1999, I was "Attraction Manager" of Skycoaster (Dare Devil Dive) and it started snowing about 9am as we were walking to the ride to do our normal start-up routine. We did do all our safety tests and test flight, but the ride did not open to the public. The park obviously closed early that day and a total of about 3-4" of snow accumulated. Also, during heavy rain storms, the area in front of Big Wheel usually floods, the resulting flood has been dubbed "Big Wheel Lake" by employees. Edited October 9, 2008 by Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 I remember driving through the park in the snow once in April. It was a day during spring break when the park was supposed to open, but never did. I had to go in and get things for a promotional event we were doing. It was that heavy, wet snow and it was falling faster than it could melt even though it was above freezing. I remember big blobs of it falling on my car from the trees above as I drove past Musik Express. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulieGBones Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 I remember one April day in '03 riding Nitro early in the morning and getting covered with snow. It was freaky but awesome at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted October 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 Also, during heavy rain storms, the area in front of Big Wheel usually floods, the resulting flood has been dubbed "Big Wheel Lake" by employees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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