So we are all back from opening day at Six Flags Great Adventure and Wild Safari, and I have to say I was pretty impressed and happy with how things were today (mostly). But first, you can see our
Twitter for our updates from the park, a from-the-park update by some of our members
here, and see how the Stride-A-Thon went down for coasterdude, one of our members, right
here!
So now on to the day!
We arrived a little after 9 and went to the Wild Safari. On the way in we could see the Tornado still in pieces on the ground in Hurricane Harbor - it's going to be right on the road, which should help a lot with luring people in this summer. In the Safari itself it seemed like they repainted the signs to each section (although I could be crazy). Also, the two sets of lion cubs from last year that they kept at Exploration Station are now in their own enclosure.
In the Exploration Station it looked nice as always, unfortunately it was too cold to have most of the animals out in their pens. The new Safari map mentions that they have a Savannah Cat this year as well, which we hope to see out at some point when it gets warmer!
Also, for anyone who is curious it seems that they will be holding the summer camp again this year. It's a little short on details right now but it sounds like it should be bigger and better than last year. Once we hear more we'll let everyone know.
Once we finished there we headed into the theme park (with the one Season Passholder Parking lane full as always, need a few more of those I think. We ended up using an "All Transactions" one).
One thing I want to mention at this time is that they are scanning your pass everywhere this year. They scanned all of our passes going into Safari. They had to scan my pass to park in the theme park. They scanned my pass when I purchased things to get the discount. And I'm going to assume that people in the season passholder parking lane had to scan their passes on the machine as well, which is what was leading to the backup.
Also new this year (i think?) is them expanding the cash cards from Hurricane Harbor to the theme park. You can put money onto it and only carry around the "Six Flags Card" for the day to purchase things. The paper we got says you can get them at the Self-Service ticket kiosk.
Anyway, upon entering the park you can see what Wade showed us in his
Pre-Season park update regarding all the Main street buildings being repainted, and I have to say it looked really good! Although the Superheroes one does stand out a bit much. And it seems like they removed some of the flowerbeds near Houdini because that walkway felt a lot more open, although I might be wrong!
We tried to get our season pass books at the Looney Toons Shoppe like normal, but they had not been delivered there yet. So we headed over to Season Pass Processing, which is now located in the old Alcatraz building between Superman and Scream Machine. Even with the park not very busy, the line was huge. And from what I hear it never got any better. So we never got coupon books. I'm not sure why it was so long, but I hope they get it figured out, because that was probably the low point of the day for many guests it seems.
Another thing we noticed today is that both parks (Wild Safari and Great Adventure) had A LOT of employees, and I think that's a good thing. There were 3-4 guards on each gate in the safari, and there were a lot more than needed on all the coasters. There were 5 or 6 standing behind the operator booth on Superman and close to 10 on the far side of the Kingda Ka station polishing the green train. Yes. Polishing the train. It seems like a lot were training, but it let more rides and food stands be open and things to move faster, so that was great to see on opening day.
We headed over to Kingda Ka which was testing but not open yet as of 11. But it opened up within minutes of us arriving, and we were able to get the second set of trains out for the year! Great ride as always, and I didn't go on at all last year for some reason. We did have an "uh oh" moment though, when the guy next to me goes "oh !@)(" on the launch track, and points to a Fiji Water bottle sitting between the seats of the people in front of us. Not sure how that made it on. Luckily it flew off during the launch because that would have HURT if it it someone, like me.
After Kindga Ka we headed over to Bizarro, through Golden Kingdom and past El Toro. It was at this point that we realized the day was nice (the sun kept it warm), and the park wasn't that busy, so it was a great day for riding rides! Even at Bizarro it was only a one train wait (although they were running three trains), which was nice. And seeing the Stride-A-Thon contestants on one of the trains was great! They were even being videotaped which must have added to the fun of it all.
Now I have to say this about Bizarro.. when did the soundtrack get changed? Or am I just crazy? I haven't been on the ride since it opened last year, but I remember it going on about "A reporter from the daily planet going into the wormhole" and the military response and stuff and then the Bizarro chant at the end. Today it started out like that... but towards the top of the lift just began playing random clips that went on for the rest of the ride. Iago from Aladdin, Donkey from Shrek, all kinds of stuff... and no Bizarro chant. When did this change happen? And why? It actually told a story before. I'm so confused.
Anyway, after that we took a walk through Frontier Adventures and saw the nice new paint job on Runaway Mine Train that Wade showed us was being done. We went past the redone Outpost Grill and headed towards the Lakefront. Of course we tried to go through the Arcade past the teacups.. and it was closed. So we had to go through the boardwalk again. When are they going to make a walkway past that paintball shooting gallery?
One thing we saw when we went past the Northern Star Arena is it says Kris Allen will be there on May 15th - this is not on any of the paperwork or lists involving concerts at the park. Hopefully its true!
At the Lakefront they had a local band performing, which is great. I still think it's really nice that the park lets local bands perform - you can't get a much bigger venue when you're starting out than Great Adventure.
We walked down towards Nitro and The Dark Knight, went to see if the Xploratorium was open but it wasn't - is that just a Memorial Day thing? And then we headed back out to Main Street through Fantasy Forest, where they have the new bowling alley set up and everything. We didn't investigate it too much (such as - is it a full 10 frame game?) but it was a neat little 3-5 lane setup. We also saw a sign that they were renting Cabanas for $25 today - we still need to try one of those out and report back on it!
Once we got back to Main Street we did some shopping and then headed out for the day.
All in all, a great opening day. Nothing "major" was done, no new attractions this year, but the park was clean, repainted, lots of employees.. definitely continuing in the right direction. And with Houdini being open starting Memorial Day, and possibly new flats coming this year or next year now thanks to the fan call, it can only get better.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason Season Pass Processing has moved is that that whole building has been closed off, and the 3D ride is gone this year. It's believed that that building will start being under construction this season for a new attraction next year. Can't wait for that, and we'll keep you updated on it as we hear more!
Bottom line: Everyone should go to the park. It's open for two straight weeks starting today, and has a Season Passholder Only day next Sunday April 4th. They have the employees to keep things moving even this early in the season, and it should only get better as things gear up for summer.
Photo time!
You can see the whole gallery from today
right here. But I wanted to point out a few things:
- They have new
Character Meet And Greet areas. There's one on Main Street and one.. um.. somewhere! There's another around the park I swear.
- The Jumbotron is
still going strong. And Six Flags wants to put it at more parks (we were a test)!
- Like I said, the 3D Ride building is
all closed up. Time for 2011 construction signs?
- Two things with
this photo. One: The bathroom signs. These are all over the park. You will never have a problem finding a bathroom again. Ever. Also, there were two sets of signs like that Giraffe one saying "come see the largest" and "come see the tallest" in the Golden Kingdom.. but I have no idea what they were referencing.
- Right by the photo processing booth is a large sign mentioning a
security building.
We will have information from the park maps and event guides up as soon as possible as well.
If you guys have any questions or want to know anything, or add anything, let us know!
Topic: Great Adventure Opening Day 2010! (Read 6559 times)