nbadude44 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Report: When I originally planned this trip several weeks ago, I expected Zumanjaro to have already opened and I wanted to attend the park one more time before the huge summer crowds would come rolling in. Unfortunately, not only was the new ride still under construction after longer than anyone expected, I also unintentionally scheduled this trip on the first day of summer, which inevitably meant some big crowds. My uncle Peter and a friend of his also accompanied my mother and I to the park and were equally disappointed that the new ride that they came for wasn't open yet, but we all still managed to have fun in the park. We all entered the park around 10:00 and I noticed on the ride postings that Kingda Ka wasn't marked "closed" anymore. I went into the actual park slightly earlier than them since I have a season pass and went straight to the Golden Kingdom to see if my suspicions were true, only to be met with a giant wooden fence blocking off the area and no employees around to ask questions to. Since it seemed unlikely that Kingda Ka would be operating at all, I encouraged everyone to head toward the Boardwalk first, and were able to score rides on Superman, Green Lantern, the Parachutes and Twister, all with waiting times of 10 minutes or less. Next, we went over to El Toro and were met with our first big line of the day, which we found out was because it was running with only ONE train (which I think is just plain stupid in general since El Toro is by far one of the parks most famous rides); After they loaded on a second train, the line moved much more smoothly and we rode it in no time. After briefly leaving the park for lunch, we decided to go on several of the less extreme rides in the park, such as SkyScreamer, Super Round Up Swashbuckler, and Jolly Roger. Around this point, the crowds began to peak and we skipped most of the rides in that area (except Batman). My uncle and his friend eventually decided that they just wanted to ride the Sky Ride and call it a day, but on our way there, I actually caught a glimpse of Kingda Ka running- with actual people on it! So I went on my own to that area because I wanted to ride it no matter what, and even with 3 trains running, I still ended up waiting an hour to ride it- half the time was because of the ride experiencing technical difficulties and had to be fixed up. After that mess, I chose to end the day by going on Nitro, riding it 4 times in a row, and buying that 40th anniversary t-shirt for season pass holders, since this day was the closest I was going to get to visiting on the ACTUAL 40th anniversary of the park. Overall, I was still able to have plenty of fun in spite of the first-day-of-summer crowds and the ongoing construction of the new ride. Rating: 4.5 out of 6 Flags Ridecount: Nitro 4x El Toro 1x Superman 1x Green Lantern 1x Batman 1x Kingda Ka 1x Skyscreamer 1x Swashbuckler 1x Jolly Roger 1x Twister 1x Parachutes 1x I'll post my pictures shortly..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbadude44 Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Pictures: Summer is officially here! Zumanjaro was also testing at random points throughout the day. Rolling Thunder's footprint looks much smoother than it did during my previous visit last month. As you can see, a giant banner advertising Jersey Boys now adorns the side of El Toro. By sheer coincidence, the day before we went was also the day that the Jersey Boys movie was released (talk about overkill). Here's a look at the new entrance for Zumanjaro and all of the wide open space left behind by RT. A closer look at the work-in-progress sign for Zumanjaro. A super-zoomed-in shot of the peaks of all of the new drop towers. I'd hate to be the guy who has to climb those thin ladders. Cheese!! (By the way, the camera at the end of the ride is now totally gone for some reason.) I'm real glad to see that these three little beauties are still going strong after 40 whole years... ...as well as this BIG beauty over here. Even though the "official" 40th anniversary isn't until July 1st (or 4th depending on who you ask), I still felt like ending the day by honoring to the remaining rides, and the logo, from 1974. Happy birthday Great Adventure!!!! Thanks for reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fetish911 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Great trip report I enjoyed your pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Thanks for sharing the trip report and photos! I was glad to see you were able to get on a fair amount of rides especially for the first weekend of summer. It's funny, I never really noticed the vines on the side of the Fort! Even though the "official" 40th anniversary isn't until July 1st (or 4th depending on who you ask), I still felt like ending the day by honoring to the remaining rides, and the logo, from 1974. Happy birthday Great Adventure!!!! FYI, the park opened to the public on July 1st, 1974 and had their grand opening ceremony on July 4th, 1974. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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