In a few months, we'll look back, and laugh!
After a few years of anticipation over a rehabbed Big Wheel and Carousel (because it's all about me) and waiting months to meet up with friends, Opening Day was here. It would be a marred by 50mph winds and new Operations, but that's what I knew walking through the gates. Come join me for a romp around Great Adventure on opening day.
On our way from Chester County, Matt Shoe calls me. "El Toro is closed and Rolling Thunder hasn't begun testing." LOL.
He actually called AVMatt's phone. Mine was on the bed next to Snowball. Thanks to Matt's iphone, I was able to look up friends phone numbers via Outpost.
I passed my Dunkin' Donuts, and I had to go hunt out another. It put us a half hour back, but that was a good thing. I was awake and ready to drive.
Matt called us back. "You'll never guess what happened. My friends were getting off Batman and Nitro saddled."
AVMatt's favorite ride at GA, down for the count.
We arrived fashionably at 11 am. Matt lathered up while I took pictures of coasters with a lovely gray background. While we walked toward the entrance Matt was handed a code of conduct card. I think it's the hat.
We got a hold of Matt Shoe and met up with him and his friend Chris on Main Street. We went to Big Wheel. Nobody else could tell the difference, but perhaps a pastel color is an unfair comparison.
I could tell the difference, but once you got on, it looks nice, as long as you don't look to long. The view was great and of course, a bit chilly. When the ride was over, we were apologized to. We weren't too sure for what at first, until the ride lead asked me how many times we had gone around. I thought it was a normal cycle, but the Big Wheel would be closed for the rest of the day.
While deciding on what to do next, we bumped into Sue, Rich and their fan club. Rich was complaining that they had got kicked off of Skull Mountain, or rather they were not allowed to ride again as if this was Dorney.
We all agreed that The Great American Scream Machine was next. Because of the closure of Nitro, El Toro, Mebluesa and a recent breakdown of Superman, GASM's line began at the bottom of the stairs and quickly grew toward the QUEUE house. They had three trains running and the wait was almost null. I'm glad we started our SFGAdv season on the Arrow wonderkin as it ran better than I'd ever experienced and it turned out to be the best ride of the day. We rode in the back with a full train.
We wondered what to do next and decided on Batman. I think there was some hope that Nitro would open, but I wasn't holding my breath. Sometimes the park is at the mercy of the state and with the winds already having an effect on the ride, I didn't see why they would want to reopen it. We lost Matt Shoe and his friend Chris, and Matt and I thought we might take a ride on The Dark Knight Coaster as it did not have a line. We quickly learned that it was closed...not due to wind.
We took a back row ride on Batman. It was really smooth and it didn't make me grey out. Matt enjoyed it as he said it was less powerful and he liked it that way. It's no Dueling Dragons but Matt came to the park and we're having a good time.
The Dark Knight had reopened and the first half was fun and had allot of speed. The second half was dark, but the drops were fun.
Between the removed rides, being hounded to get a locker, an almost all-new blue ride department and even the closed rides, I needed a break. We were told to have a Six Flags day, and unfortunately we were... more so '03 and '06 than '00 or '07.
We bumped into Ken in the parking lot and traded war stories.
So we went to Tommys Inn. This is the old Millstone Pub, which is located between KFC and Wawa. On the way to the park, I noticed on their sign that they were having a 10% off deal if you had a Six Flags pass. I've had good meals and good times here in the past, both after work and after visits to the park with friends. The waitress was very friendly and was a former employee of the park. She asked us how our day was going and after we gave her some truthiness, she agreed that the park just isn't the same. Although she and the bartender didn't know how to give us the discount, she offered us a free slice of cheesecake. With all the fries and cherry Coke we had, we said, "no thanks." Luckily the manager arrived and provided us with a discount.
Act 2.
Bubba and Hanna were at the park, and Matt has left his phone in the car. Off to find them.
We went to Plaza del Carnival to ride Rolling Thunder. The line was halfway in the station and we waited for the back row. I kept my cool, not paying the crew much mind
, but we noticed they were taking a long time. More than most, I know that it is has an overly-complicated Standard Operating Proceedure and it is opening day. I'll say we enjoyed our trip on The Red Rocket
and our ride cycle was over 9 min long.
No to El Toro right now. It had one train and the QUEUE was almost filled. So we walked ACROSS THE BRIDGE and had a CJ.
We looked at the floorless coaster. It's blue.
Log Flume was open. That's not so much as impressive as it was unexpected! We stopped by Runaway Train first. We hopped right on for a back car ride and Matt enjoyed twisting through the woods. It was like our own steel version of The Legend!. We moved up to the front of the second car where I enjoyed my ride.
The Log Flume was fun and fortunately we did not get too wet. We goofed around with the attendants and I got to see the Operations managers trying to keep their cool. One former fellow employee asked me how I got in.
Well, I was now in the mood for Blackbeards. We figured we may bump into Bubba and crew on the way. I tried to talk Matt into a ride on the Samba Tower or tea cups, but he was in no mood for spinning. We got to Blackbeards and found it closed. I got to thinking that maybe I got this flag scale backwards. But, it is only Blackbeards. It doesn't serve much a purpose, which is how it has survived from '99. We moved onto Fantasy Fling and went up 45 degrees as opposed to 70 and spun around only a few times, but it was enough for me.
We walked toward Skull Mountain and there was an employee outside telling people it was closed. At this point I asked Matt if he was opposed to leaving. He didn't mind. Then we bumped into Bubba and Hanna. Then Wade and boys came over and we went over to play in Looney Tunes Seaport. We wanted to get Hannah in the Foam Factory, but she was too tall and too young at the same time. So she took Matt and I on a tour of the rides. We road Daffy Duck's Deep Diver (Crazy Sub ) and it was more lame than I thought. But, then we went on Pepe LePew's (tea cups) and spun the heck out of those things. Because the Crazy Sub was so lame, I passed on the Bugs Bunny Barnstormers. The boats and Yosemite Sam's Flight School had been removed. I don't get the removal of the boats, but three plane rides was over kill. I thought about taking a tour of Wiggles, but it wasn't getting any less windy or cold.
So, we took a couple of rides on Skull Mountain. We saw a security guard smile at a lady who passed by him, and then proceeded to chase her down and told her to get a locker. We kept walking and left the drama behind. I sat towards the back by myself and had my own fun with ride. I'll tell you that I'm glad this ride does not have spinning cars.
Wade and the boys went on the Roger while Hannah and I went on Buccaneer. Matt and Bubba went on Batman. A rare well-rounded moment at Six Flags!
Well, we went over to El Toro. The first QUEUE house was filled, but the line moved somewhat quickly. The second half of the ride, eh. It was windy. I got an Intamin ride. coaster. over 50' tall. It was good. Or something.
We went into Balins to allow the kids to play in the Tigerland Tree houses. Hannah was too tall, but the boys had allot of fun.We saw the writing on the wall for the rest of Balin's rides, or rather the writing on the sign posts was missing.
We all headed toward the exit, but Matt and I decided to take one last ride on GASM. Again, it was allot of fun. It wasn't as powerful as our first, full-train ride, but it was exhilerating.
Superman had no wait, so we rode it. The drop and pretzel were awesome. The rest of the ride was worth the wait. We could have rode again, but.
Thanks for reading.
Now, with less people. v
Topic: Opening Day Trip Report (Read 3460 times)
