Great Adventure 10/21/16

[Viper26]

On Friday, I went back to Six Flags Great Adventure for my birthday. There was a chance of rain but for the most part, it didn't rain at all. So the crowds were lower than expected. The first thing I did was watch The Awakening parade where I watched where the route starts by the Old Country portal. The parade lasted only about five minutes and wasn't really scary. Then I checked the line for Skull Mountain to see if it was short enough to try the Virtual Reality again. It was at about 30-45 minutes which isn't really worth waiting for especially when I know it isn't that good. I'll wait to see if they will have another VR attraction for Holiday in the Park.

 

So I went over to El Toro which had a walk on wait except for the front row which had a five minute wait. I ended up waiting for the front because I had to take the opportunity to wait the front row when there isn't a huge line for it. I did Kingda Ka next finally after having bad luck with it for six months. There was only a station wait but i ended up waiting a good 20 minutes because it broke before I got on it. The train would get stuck at the launch and they would have to send the riders to the second station to be evacuated there. I waited for the front row both times I rode it today. The first time, I found it to be less forceful than I thought it was. The second time, I rode in the same train and seat I did the previous ride (orange train left seat front row) but we got stuck at the launch and had to be sent back to the station. I ended up not getting back on and used my dinner and snack. This was the first time I ever had to be evacuated off a ride and the funny part was when this kid who could be about ten years old started ranting about how Kingda Ka breaks down.

 

At this point it was 8pm which is the busiest time of the day on Friday nights so the lines for most stuff was long. Nitro had a line that was at the entrance and they weren't using the switchbacks while Batman the ride had possibly over a half hour wait. I did however watched Dead Man's Party, the 9:15 show. It was obviously a good show and I'm glad they are actually using the old Batman Stunt Theater as the venue for the show. This ended up being my first time going in there.

 

Then I did The Dark Knight Coaster where they were not running the pre-show today. It was about a ten minute wait with the queue being where the exit of the pre-show is at. Nitro had a 20 minute wait after getting off The Dark Knight. The one common thing about the general public is that they complain that Nitro has an hour wait when it is actually only 20 minutes because of the time signs added. I rode the second row because the front row had a long line and this is my 26th ride on Nitro. One more and I am one more step closer to being a "Six Flags Super Fan" according to the website (I already did steps 4, 9, 10, and maybe step 2.).

 

I went back to Kingda Ka to see how long the line was afterward. It was about a half hour wait but it broke down right when we saw the line. I did Zumanjaro instead which like always has no wait at all however because of the ridiculously long walk, about three cycles were done while walking. This was my first night ride on Zumanjaro, and I was able to see a Northeast Philadelphia as well as Trenton from the top. I did not see Newark and New York City though on both Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro.

 

That concluded this trip. The best part was riding Kingda Ka after a six month hiatus and getting evacuated for the first time. This is also my final Fright Fest trip for this season, and I have to say Fright Fest isn't very good for me mainly because I never seem to do a lot of the shows and mazes provided. I am somewhat just heavy on the rides and not take Fright fest very seriously possibly because the mazes are upcharges. Hopefully by Holiday in the Park I get to watch the Jack Frost show and see more entertainment provided for that event not just ditch them.

[Yoshi]

I thought the wait time signs added by Red Zone were purposely over estimated to try to sell more Flash Passes since the signs have Flash Pass advertising on them. The ones added since the current management has been around seem to be closer to being accurate like the signs at Green Lantern and probably Joker too (I haven't ridden Joker but the 30 minute sign looks far enough back in the line that it looks like it is probably correct).

[Viper26]

I thought the wait time signs added by Red Zone were purposely over estimated to try to sell more Flash Passes since the signs have Flash Pass advertising on them. The ones added since the current management has been around seem to be closer to being accurate like the signs at Green Lantern and probably Joker too (I haven't ridden Joker but the 30 minute sign looks far enough back in the line that it looks like it is probably correct).

From what I know some of the wait signs are accurate for if there are one train operations which never happens on Nitro and Skull Mountain. That could be the case for Nitro due to their fast operations. Green Lantern's wait signs are easily the most accurate ones - you're actually waiting about a half hour from the 30 minute sign.