Things at other parks that would make Great Adventure Better (realistically)

[rjholla2003]

I'm pretty sure I didn't have to add the 'realistically' to the title, but you never know. 

Just like the title says, what have you seen at other parks that would make Great Adventure better?  During my visit to Knoebels yesterday I noticed several things:

1. Food!  Not only was it affordable (like $5 for an enchilada, baked beans, and rice and beans platter with cornbread on the side!), but it was really good too!  I can see why they got a Golden Ticket for their food!

2. Flyers.  I believe they aren't made anymore, but if Great Adventure was in the position to aquire a Flyer ride, they should take advantage of it.  I think they would do well in Spinmeister's old spot.  Especially if they keep them like Knoebels does and doesn't neuter them.

So, what are your ideas?

[ChuckR]

Flyers at GADV I just don't see working. It would be a capacity nightmare there.

I honestly believe we need a few dark rides from Sally, like the one just built at Hershey. It will get the people out of the heat and in air conditioning and they can theme it to fit something with Bugs or Superman.

Or add flats that have huge capacity, like the new Screaming Swings that CP and Lake Compounce got and a Huss Giant Frisbee which are amazing. Oh yeah, a drop tower would be nice.

[PcMan]

Yes  better more affordable food is one of my biggest complaints.
How the Flying Turns looking ?

Clementon Park used to have the Flyers (they calld them Flying Saucers) It was my favorite ride. We always got kicked off for "snapping" the cables that is flying side to side instead of just in a circle. I must say I'm one of the best Flyer pilots around LOL .Will try the Indiana Beach Flyer in a few weeks.

[rjholla2003]

Flyers at GADV I just don't see working. It would be a capacity nightmare there.

That's true too.  We could get ones that are bigger and force the "two riders per flyer" rule too.   That one is about as unrealistic as we can get in this thread.

The flying turns looked interesting.  Loads of twists and turns.  I can't wait to see when it's done.

[GADVwow]

Flyers are made today.  The ones sold today aren't as fun as the ones at Knoebels, but there have been new installations at Indiana Beach, Camden Park in West Virginia and Paramount's Great America, just to name a few.  Here's a link to the manufacturer:

http://www.larsonintl.com/rides/fs.htm

As for what could realistically be done to make Great Adventure better, many steps have been made already.  One of the things I would highly recommend is that attention be paid to keeping outside dining areas clean and occupied only by eating guests.  An attendant to observe those areas would help tremendously.  If it can be done for restrooms, it can be done for dining areas.  Other park chains do it.

[SilverBullet]

Well, the park obviously needs some flats. I'd like to see something along the lines of a Screamin' Swing, giant frisbee, or something high capacity. But any type of flat would be welcomed right now. We have the old Pendulum spot, Chaos spot, the open lakefront area, etc. where a small decent flat could fit.

I'd also like to see a monorail/any kind of reliable, high capacity transport ride. The sky ride, when open has hour lines easy which defeats the purpose of the sky ride it self.

[PcMan]

Yes I agree on a ride that would move people from one side of the park to another. THe sky ride is never open when I'm there and it's low capacity.

[OrlandoRocks]

Don't give out discounts or free tickets to everyone and their mother ! Instead charge $45 bucks and deliver a quality experience that want people wanting more. With the saved money from all the discounted tickets, Six Flags could apply some of the profits towards lower the cost on food and drinks. What other parks do you see giving out buy one get one free tickets ?

It seems to work well for Disney and Busch, wouldn?t you say ?

[Bubba Z]

^ Clementon,  .  I Totally agree with that, Get rid of all the discounts.

The park is only 3/4 miles long. Walk!  If they took the sky ride out, more people would complain about losing another ride.  Maybe they should install a Zip Line from the top of Kingda ka to Nitro to solve this hour long problem.

I think adding more dark rides is the way to go, this way the parents would stick around and do those while we stand in line for Kingda ka and  El Toro for 2 hours.

If SFI wants to be like Disney, then that's the direction they need to go in.

Realistically ... Just fill all those empty pad sites with Flat rides preferably a Huge drop tower!! 

 

 

[darkridedan]

My ears are ringing.

[WadeJ]

Actually, if they would just open both sides at the same time, the Skyride would have a very manageable line.  Obviously the ride is popular just by how long the line is when its open.  And they better not close it - it isn't about being a mode of transportation - Its about seeing the park from a different perspective and being able to do so as a FAMILY.  That is what there is too little of at Gadv.  And my fear with the dark rides is that they would end up installing something with a height requirement.

One of the rides we frequent the most at WDW is Buzz Lightyear.  We can ALL ride it together, my 4 year old LOVES it and my 1 year old is simply amazed at riding through and seeing the images and everything else going on around him.  We have taken them both on it from the time they were 6 months old.

Bring on the dark rides!

[WadeJ]

Alright - eating my own words LMAO

For the first time in SO MANY YEARS, I've gotten wind that the Skyride is running both sides at the same time lol

[Nozzy]

Yes, I thought that the world was about to end when I saw both sides going at once!  Of course, about an hour later B closed, followed by A another hour and a half later, and then B reopened later(despite a ton of cars hanging out on the A station track in Western.)  The line definately was shorter with both sides open.
Its actually kind of sad to think about these unused capacities.  Skyride can do 1440 an hour per station, with 240 people on the ride at ONE TIME.  That is two sides, each with 30 cars on and 4 people per car.  Now figure one side with only about 18 cars, average of 3 per car and thats only 54 people on at one time.
Same with Big Wheel, it could have 396 people on (36 cabins*6 people), but they usually only fill 8 cars, about 4 people per car and thats only 32 people on a ride built for 396!  We all complain about no 3 trains/ only one train, but these are much worse percentage wise.
Anyway, I think that the best thing would be getting more flats to use the empty spaces, but also to get more reserve vehicles.  Runaway Train has not run two trains since May since one is apparently broken.  If the third train was on the transfer in reserve like it used to be this wouldn't have been a problem.  Doesn't Cedar Point keep a fifth in reserve for Dragster?  Then why don't we have one for Ka, especially since our station is actually built for four, making it blatently obvious that one is missing.  Probably worst of all is the Autobahn, which I remember having more than twice the cars on now.  I never ride it just because the line moves so slowly.

If you didn't want to read all of that
1. Skyride can move people
2. Use more vehicles on Skyride, Big Wheel, Water Rides
3. Reserve vehicles should be kept
4. More flats!

[chilled182]

Im going to have to agree with the huss giant frisbee.  That is a people eating flat ride. 

A drop tower for sure will do the same.

we need high capacity things.  Maybe a nice dark ride as well.


and you know, we have some room for the jack rabbit from clementon, we could always buy that and fix it up a bit
=)

[Bubba Z]

 Nick, For Jack Rabbit to be fixed and moved , it's cheaper to build a better and more thrilling coaster.  Yes, we all love it because we grew up on it and hate to see it sit there, but I think it's time to have a bon fire one night at Clementon. 

[chilled182]

haha im just kidding.

The other side of the skyride DID run today but than it closed like halfway through the day.  I think the heat played with just about every big ride today.

[darkridedan]

and you know, we have some room for the jack rabbit from clementon, we could always buy that and fix it up a bit
=)

I had that brain fart too. 

So if we should take anything from Knoebels, it's the woodies! They're family friendly and high capacity and they don't use their seat belts. Odd because they maintain their woodies.

Realistically, how about the Roto Jet? We have three kiddie versions of the ride. How about a family one?

[invisiblerider]

Realistically, more flat rides. A huss Giant Frisbee is a great idea, also a topple tower mgiht be something. I dont know if anyone has mentioned this already but a DROP TOWER, would be perfect. Something like Acrophobia (SFOG) or Drop Zone (PKD)would help to eat up lines and are AMAZING thrill rides. Truly though any good flat rides would be appreciated...(DROP TOWER)

[Dubya91]

Here is what I think realistically would make GADV a much better place

A. A phone call to S&S, They have alot of flat rides that are just awsome, me, you and all of us know that an S&S tower is great, get one with 4 towers and you got a people muncher. Also a Screamin' Swing would work too, at Lake Compounce theirs was very fun and had no wait WITH ONE SIDE OF THE TWO RUNNNING

B. A Wild mouse with great capacity, no thats not an oxymoron, but im sure there is one out there, it can be done

C. Use the terrain more with coasters in the future, dont just clear cut and area, pour concrete and cut the ribbon, throw in some tunnels above ground, some dives and cruises through the woods

D. Since were trying to attract the family, a monorail over the safari, everybody and anybody can ride it and it would provide an awsome view and something for people to do

E. INCLUDE HURRICANE HARBOR WITH ADMISSION!! The majority of the other parks in the chain include HH in admission, which would also mean more parks for less money, talk about value right there

F. Throw more rides in HH, the rides in there arent getting any younger, throw in something like Splash Water Falls at NE or a Tornado, something more, the park hasnt been touched once in its 6 (I think, correct me if im wrong) years of existance

G. Cheaper food, it's never fun to pay $5.00 for a soda when you can get one for $1 McDonalds, other park food is actually good prices, IOA..yes IOA had decent prices for a good meal, LC...Free Soda, HP...Free Chocolate, Instead of beating people down for money and making them feel ripped off, make em think they got a value to increase there mood, we all know you spend more when your happy

H. Get ride of the paintball and trampoline, it's a pain in the donkey to walk through boardwalk, especially on a hot summer day

I. Scrap the blacktop, I hate it with a passion, i don't like nor need a sweat shower

Some of this may be a dream but that is what I would hope could happen

[PcMan]

Sounds good to me
A monorail that cruise the park and into the safari would be cool.
Food is what really gets me.
Yes a Drop tower is at every park except great adv.

Shapiro comparing food prices to Disney's food prices is crazy.
Disney spends 50 million + on  ride simulators and other one of a kind attractions.
Six Flags is not Disney

[GADVwow]

Not only that, but Disney food is almost always, without exception, of the utmost quality.  The same cannot be said of most Six Flags food.  Not even close.

[ChuckR]

While just down in the Myrtle Beach Pavilion, GADV should try to pick up a few flats from them.

[Dubya91]

^ Lets not kid ourselves, lets get all the rides we have in the park working now and then add

[superman_test_dummy]

First things First for making GADV better.

1. Before adding ANYTHING AT ALL. During the offseason hire a bunch of maintence peopele and rehab EVERYTHING so when opening day comes EVERYTHING can be open.

2. Once all rides are rehabbed have EVERYTHING run at full capacity. Its such a joke when I go to parks like Dorney where there is no one at the park but all of their rides are running at full capacity.

3. More ride ops to increase capacity and have all rides open. Sometime Six Flags Great Adventure seems like Great Flags Six Adventure because it seems like only 6 rides are open.

4. Better and Cheaper food. I know why I go out of the park to eat. It seems $20 cheaper a person and the food is better

5. Get Kingda Ka running like TTD. Smooth and reliable. If CP did it i know it can happen.

6. Discounts gotta go. I say have a flat price of $40-$45.

7. Chiller dont do a temporary fix. FIX IT FOR GOOD. All other Premiere coasters work fine. Whats wrong with Chiller.

8. Air-conditioned queues? Okay this would cost a lot of money to excecute the right way but if done right it would be a major plus.

Nitro for instance create a building to house the queue and they have videos of dragsters and cars that use Nitro playing. Personally waiting in like for an hour in the hot heat sucks. If it was air-conditioned it would be a lot better.

Medusa- create a Cave like queue because the "Theme" is medusa mining company. So creating a cave facade with airconditioning would work.

Thoes were just a few suggestions on how queues on major rides could be air-conditioned. Its a bit unrealistic but if the idea was invested it would be a major boost in customer satisfaction.



Final Note.
I say for next season Improve what we have because this season seems like a joke with all the closed rides. The old SF was so bad because they never made sure what they had was working properly they just kept adding and adding and i hope that next year GADV pays attention to whats not working or what doenst ususally work and fixes the problem. I'll be fine if KK is closed the first month or two next year if they are fixing all of its problems. Because right now KK seems like it was a waste of money because it went down the drain fast.

[rjholla2003]

5. Get Kingda Ka running like TTD. Smooth and reliable. If CP did it i know it can happen.

First let me say that this is not completely pointed at you.

I'm tired of that statement.  Seriously.  It's like everyone forgets about TTD's first 3 seasons.  It has not been anything close to reliable it's first three seasons, just like Kingda Ka.  Everyone was saying that TTD just had to break in and that it would be reliable.  When Ka was announced, all of the CP fanboys were saying how Gadv would never be able to get it running as well as TTD (which was still crappy anyway).  When Ka had it's big breakdown, they were gloating about how correct they were.  Then TTD had it's end of season breakdown which matched Kingda Ka's big breakdown day-for-day.  This is a "broken in" Top Thrill Dragster I'm talking about.  A TTD that should be "way more reliable" than a first year rocket coaster.  That theory got blown straight out of the water last season.  I'm just tired of people saying "They should have it running as well as CP" when honestly, of you look closely, we do.  That's right, we do have it running as well as Cedar Point had Top Thrill Dragster running in it's lifespan.  This season TTD seems to be doing pretty well, but you don't really see too many "daily watches" for it either.

In addition to that, after Ka's breakdown this season, it was running shockingly reliable.  I actually was referring to it as "running almost like a real roller coaster" to my co-workers.  It would have a hiccup here and there, but it was running as much as any other coaster for the most part.  Then lightning struck it.  Now it's almost back to running like it's post-breakdown-pre-lightning self, which is pretty darn good.  You really can't knock Gadv maintenance and Kingda Ka, because they are honestly doing as well as they can, and as well as "the best in the business" can.