Mrpq Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 I say we just wait for this place to actually open to see what happens. This place has been there since 2003 and its still not open. I personally don't have high hopes and I can say even if and when it does open I have no interest in ever going. AC park I find hard to believe too. Any new project that has come up in recent years has been shut down. Look at the old Revel, the new owner has been trying to reopen it for over 2 years now and the city keeps bringing up new issues that cause the opening to keep getting pushed back. lets be honest, AC isn't exactly a family friendly vacation destination. I look at AC as this, you go there for an event at the convention center or to spend a weekend away to party. Its not a place to go spend a relaxing weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrpq Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 (edited) Has anyone actually gone to the malls website? Check out what their target market is http://www.americandream.com/information/?open=1 Annual household income of over $96,000.... the location of this mall doesn't exactly scream this statement and I don't think that "sophisticated" customer will be going here. -They plan to open an observation wheel.... there is one being built in SI - they state there is a concert venue,at the same location you have the Izod center that couldn't even be kept open since you already have the Prudential Center pretty much around the block I'm either missing a bigger picture with this project or this is being set up for disaster Edited July 27, 2017 by Mrpq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 I don't know why everyone is under the impression that this "element" our park attracts is from NYC. Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, East Orange, Elizabeth, Camden, Asbury, Atlantic City, and many other NJ towns/cities (including Long Branch, where a guy was shot and killed last week less than 1000ft from my doorstep last week) are where the majority of this "element" comes from. And this group tends to be thrill-seekers, not Nickelodeon Universe type of visitors. SF's SP pricepoint is also perfect for lower income guests (such as myself) to be repeat customers. I'm a little confused by your post. You don't agree the "element" comes from these areas? If not where do they come from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro1118 Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 (edited) I'm a little confused by your post. You don't agree the "element" comes from these areas? If not where do they come from?My point was the element doesn't just come from NYC/the immediate area near Xanadu. It comes from all over NJ. Pretty much whatever parks open up in the area or whatever changes SF takes to make GAdv more family-friendly, the clientele will always be rough. Things have changed greatly even in just the last 15 years as far as what has gone on around the state, let alone since the '70's. I think some members here think the park can return to the whimsical wonderland they remember the park to be, packed with families lost in adventure. But no matter how far they jack up SP prices, add theming, shows and family flat rides, the park will never again be what they remember. It is a corporate park that happens to be the largest park in the world with one of the 3-4 best lineups for thrills. Instead of running from that they should embrace it. Sorry for the small rant, and it is not directed at you per say. It is just something I constantly see around this site, usually from the old-timers. The clientele doesn't ruin the park. They have made the park one of the top 20 most visited in the country and SF's most productive park. The park is generally very safe. The issue is mostly previous park management and their terrible decisions. Edited July 27, 2017 by Nitro1118 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrpq Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 "largest park in the world" I have seen that mentioned a lot recently. What exactly qualifies our park as such? Are we a theme park or amusement park and what exactly is the difference. As far as park size goes I thought Cedar point was bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro1118 Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 "largest park in the world" I have seen that mentioned a lot recently. What exactly qualifies our park as such? Are we a theme park or amusement park and what exactly is the difference. As far as park size goes I thought Cedar point was bigger. By acres we are the largest theme park in the world. This is largely due to SORA, but we are still a massive park. As far as the theme vs amusement park thing, it's really all subjective as to where someone draws the line. I'd say Dorney is more of an amusement park as there is very little theming elements on rides or throughout midways, while GAdv mostly attempts to theme different areas and rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrpq Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 so if a park has different sections like cedar point and ga its a theme park if its just a park with rides its an amusement park. So we are larger that Disney World? or is that not considered a theme park and more resort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro1118 Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 so if a park has different sections like cedar point and ga its a theme park if its just a park with rides its an amusement park. So we are larger that Disney World? or is that not considered a theme park and more resort Disney is made up of multiple theme parks. GAdv is bigger than any of their individual parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrpq Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 ahhh I get it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 My point was the element doesn't just come from NYC/the immediate area near Xanadu. It comes from all over NJ. Pretty much whatever parks open up in the area or whatever changes SF takes to make GAdv more family-friendly, the clientele will always be rough. Things have changed greatly even in just the last 15 years as far as what has gone on around the state, let alone since the '70's. I think some members here think the park can return to the whimsical wonderland they remember the park to be, packed with families lost in adventure. But no matter how far they jack up SP prices, add theming, shows and family flat rides, the park will never again be what they remember. It is a corporate park that happens to be the largest park in the world with one of the 3-4 best lineups for thrills. Instead of running from that they should embrace it. Sorry for the small rant, and it is not directed at you per say. It is just something I constantly see around this site, usually from the old-timers. The clientele doesn't ruin the park. They have made the park one of the top 20 most visited in the country and SF's most productive park. The park is generally very safe. The issue is mostly previous park management and their terrible decisions. No problem - I just wanted to clarify your position. I agree that GAdv will never be a quaint Knoebels-type park, nor should it pretend to be. And you are right, bad people can come from anywhere. I think the park is much better now in many ways then when I stopped going in the late 80s. Ironically I have had no issues this year at all since we bought our season passes. Part of that may be that we can go earlier in the day when crowds and lines are much less. We've been there 10 times already this year and have never stayed until dark. And we avoid weekends at all costs. The larger the crowds, the longer the lines, and an increased chance of having people misbehaving, whether it be the heat and stress of waiting in long lines, or just people who don't know how to act in public. I think one of the biggest problems is when you get large groups of people between the ages of late teens into their 20s, who have a pack or gang mentality of trying to take over the environment and bring attention to themselves. They don't care whether they spoil anyone else's experience, as long as they get props from their buddies. There are certainly plenty of large groups that behave very well, especially those on school or camp trips. Just get in line for your food before they swarm into the restaurant! LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerRRC1972 Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 About being a safe park. In the last three weeks there have been 4 attempted Child Abduction cases at Great Adventure and Jackson Police said they have no video evidence due to the fact that Great Adventure doesn't employ Security Cameras in the parking lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daved Thomson Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 On the topic of new competition for Great Adventure in its primary market plus new competition for the two Texas parks, and a possible decline in attendance, at least one of the big investment firms asking questions during the Six Flags conference call have now downgraded the outlook for Six Flags stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 About being a safe park. In the last three weeks there have been 4 attempted Child Abduction cases at Great Adventure and Jackson Police said they have no video evidence due to the fact that Great Adventure doesn't employ Security Cameras in the parking lot. How are these people getting into the parking lot?? Were they paying for parking just to nab someone and then drive off? I wonder how many of these were targeted, such as in cases where there are custody disputes between divorced parents? That's some scary stuff right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 I also noticed the parking lot has a series of security platform lookouts. Are these ever used any more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFGadv123 Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 Isn't it common sense to have security cameras in the lot? I don't see the logic, it isn't like they don't have the money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 If the statistic given in the article is true that GA accounts for over 20% of Six Flags total revenue, the competition could actually be the best thing to ever happen. The company will free up more funds to invest in GA to keep people coming and keep their market share. It's like WDW and Universal, the competition makes them invest more and strive harder. Think of GA like Disney, without competition they didn't invest much in the parks because people came whether they spent a fortune or not. Then Universal gave them some real competition (and more importantly started cutting into their market share) and suddenly Disney is announcing tons of new stuff to try and keep that market share and keep people coming back. So, while the Six Flags parks have all had cap-ex of $7-10 million a year, if they need to keep GA competitive they'll need to pump more money in and improve things, going back to the old days of $20-30 million in cap-ex some years. This will be like the old days where GA got tons of money spent and the other parks got a lot of hand me downs and cheap crap. Of course, the Meadowlands project has been threatening to open for years and not succeeded. Even if it does, it's proximity to the city could very well be its undoing attracting the bad elements that went to Great Adventure and scare people away, killing the park. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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