Jordan
TS Contributor
I never write trip reports. I suppose I used to do many years back, but nowadays I never get chance. However, I went to Six Flags Great Adventure last week and I have a bunch of thoughts about the park that felt worth writing up.
This was the first Six Flags park I've visited. I seemed to have picked a good day for it too, as the park was open late, until 10pm.
As it was a busy day, I opted for the top level Q-bot, affectionately called the "Flash Pass" by the park. (I am never allowed to complain about Fastrack ever again.) It also included a blue wristband that allowed you to stay in your seat and double-ride. In practice this didn't work very well as, whilst the staff would allow you to stay on, they don't pre-warn the guests expecting to board, leading to a lot of confusion and irritated people stuck in the airgates. As an Awkward Brit this meant I didn't end up using the perk that much (Kingda Ka and El Toro aside).
Batman, the long-standing and much-cloned Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster, has been lately running with its trains facing backwards (it's changing back in September). Having heard very good things about the ride in its regular operation, I was intrigued to what the reverse experience would be like. In short, it's horrendous. Every inversion becomes substantially more intense - I've never been on a coaster where I felt like my feet could tear right off at any moment with sheer force. As a result, it's very uncomfortable and ruins what seems to be an otherwise-great ride. B&M: please don't turn inverted coasters backwards.
I'll run through the remaining B&Ms quickly: Nitro, the B&M hyper, is just a few feet short of Silver Star, but it gives it a good run for its money with lots of speed and plenty of airtime. Superman, the B&M flyer, is pretty decent too - better than Air - with its intense pretzel loop. Green Lantern, the B&M stand-up, is long overdue a conversion to sit-down floorless trains. And Bizarro, the B&M floorless, is very good, although it was noticeably better in the afternoon after it had been running for a while.
Having heard great things about El Toro from @Rob and others, I had high expectations, and it exceeded. It keeps its speed throughout, has tons of airtime (shame about the seatbelt though), and some great banked turns towards the end.
Kingda Ka is also great - very, very fast - although it went down quite frequently during the day. Also of note is Zumanjaro, the 415ft-high drop towers installed last year onto the side of Kingda Ka. I'm a fan of Intamin drop towers and these were fantastic - although whilst I was there, Kingda Ka couldn't launch until after the drop cycle has finished, which reduces the coaster's throughput somewhat.
Six Flags have a no-bags policy on all their coasters: all items have to be left in a locker before entering the queue. I opted to pay $8 for unlimited use of lockers around the park all day, which was actually really handy (and fairly easy to use). Instead of faffing with fingerprints like at Universal, you choose a seven-digit code for the day, and then you set a four-digit code for each locker you get. As much as "bags on" is still the best policy for a ride, I prefer this kind of locker system to storing bags in unlocked cages in a station.
I can't say Great Adventure is the best laid-out park in the world. There were key paths missing between areas - such as between Kingda Ka and El Toro, which are very close to each other, but where the route between is a good 15 minutes back through the boardwalk area. This isn't helped by poor signage around the park, making it hard to work out which direction you need to go.
I was also surprised by the sheer amount of sponsorship and advertising through the park. There was an advert for a Broadway musical playing on loop on the main street, tons of banners for "official [thing] of Six Flags" wherever you looked, and most rides had some sponsorship around the place. Even Kingda Ka had adverts for something (I can't remember what) vinyl'd to the front of its trains. The "Be sure to upgrade your ticket to a 2015 season pass!" spiel at the end of every ride quickly becomes cringeworthy. By the end of the day, I was fed up of being asked if I wanted to pay with a Discover card at every checkout. It all makes Oblivion's Fanta sponsorship look mild by comparison. It definitely ruins any semblance of escapism in the park.
In conclusion, Six Flags is a park with many fantastic roller coasters, but any attempts at being a "theme" park are marred by rampant advertising and promotional material everywhere, and it's a bit hard to find your way around. (But it's all worth it for El Toro.)
WAIT! Before we begin...
Visual Scan! *holds out thumb, rotates around room*
All Clear! You guys are out of here!
Visual Scan! *holds out thumb, rotates around room*
All Clear! You guys are out of here!
This was the first Six Flags park I've visited. I seemed to have picked a good day for it too, as the park was open late, until 10pm.
As it was a busy day, I opted for the top level Q-bot, affectionately called the "Flash Pass" by the park. (I am never allowed to complain about Fastrack ever again.) It also included a blue wristband that allowed you to stay in your seat and double-ride. In practice this didn't work very well as, whilst the staff would allow you to stay on, they don't pre-warn the guests expecting to board, leading to a lot of confusion and irritated people stuck in the airgates. As an Awkward Brit this meant I didn't end up using the perk that much (Kingda Ka and El Toro aside).
Batman, the long-standing and much-cloned Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster, has been lately running with its trains facing backwards (it's changing back in September). Having heard very good things about the ride in its regular operation, I was intrigued to what the reverse experience would be like. In short, it's horrendous. Every inversion becomes substantially more intense - I've never been on a coaster where I felt like my feet could tear right off at any moment with sheer force. As a result, it's very uncomfortable and ruins what seems to be an otherwise-great ride. B&M: please don't turn inverted coasters backwards.
I'll run through the remaining B&Ms quickly: Nitro, the B&M hyper, is just a few feet short of Silver Star, but it gives it a good run for its money with lots of speed and plenty of airtime. Superman, the B&M flyer, is pretty decent too - better than Air - with its intense pretzel loop. Green Lantern, the B&M stand-up, is long overdue a conversion to sit-down floorless trains. And Bizarro, the B&M floorless, is very good, although it was noticeably better in the afternoon after it had been running for a while.
Having heard great things about El Toro from @Rob and others, I had high expectations, and it exceeded. It keeps its speed throughout, has tons of airtime (shame about the seatbelt though), and some great banked turns towards the end.
Kingda Ka is also great - very, very fast - although it went down quite frequently during the day. Also of note is Zumanjaro, the 415ft-high drop towers installed last year onto the side of Kingda Ka. I'm a fan of Intamin drop towers and these were fantastic - although whilst I was there, Kingda Ka couldn't launch until after the drop cycle has finished, which reduces the coaster's throughput somewhat.
Six Flags have a no-bags policy on all their coasters: all items have to be left in a locker before entering the queue. I opted to pay $8 for unlimited use of lockers around the park all day, which was actually really handy (and fairly easy to use). Instead of faffing with fingerprints like at Universal, you choose a seven-digit code for the day, and then you set a four-digit code for each locker you get. As much as "bags on" is still the best policy for a ride, I prefer this kind of locker system to storing bags in unlocked cages in a station.
I can't say Great Adventure is the best laid-out park in the world. There were key paths missing between areas - such as between Kingda Ka and El Toro, which are very close to each other, but where the route between is a good 15 minutes back through the boardwalk area. This isn't helped by poor signage around the park, making it hard to work out which direction you need to go.
I was also surprised by the sheer amount of sponsorship and advertising through the park. There was an advert for a Broadway musical playing on loop on the main street, tons of banners for "official [thing] of Six Flags" wherever you looked, and most rides had some sponsorship around the place. Even Kingda Ka had adverts for something (I can't remember what) vinyl'd to the front of its trains. The "Be sure to upgrade your ticket to a 2015 season pass!" spiel at the end of every ride quickly becomes cringeworthy. By the end of the day, I was fed up of being asked if I wanted to pay with a Discover card at every checkout. It all makes Oblivion's Fanta sponsorship look mild by comparison. It definitely ruins any semblance of escapism in the park.
In conclusion, Six Flags is a park with many fantastic roller coasters, but any attempts at being a "theme" park are marred by rampant advertising and promotional material everywhere, and it's a bit hard to find your way around. (But it's all worth it for El Toro.)
Don't forget to upgrade today's ticket to a 2015 season pass!
