SFGAdv (From earlier this summer)

[BP317]

This TR is from earlier in the year, but I figured may as well post it now since im bored.

Park Review

Even though I had high expectations for El Toro, knowing going back to GAdv that they had removed one of my favorite coasters there (The Chiller) and replaced it with Dark Knight, I wasnt exactly going with high expactations in terms of having a good time.

Wrong. The park wasnt perfect but overall was VASTLY superior to the shape it was in previous years. Most of the rides were running capacity. Nitro and Medusa 3 trains (though Medusa was stacking all 3 the whole time), all of the other coasters 2 (GASM just went down to 1 when we rode it). Lines were pretty short, most coasters were between 5-20 minute waits, El Toro was maybe a half hour and Dark Knight was 45-an hour.

-SFGAdv still isnt the nicest park in the world, there was still quite a bit that looked subpar and needed some attention but overall the place was very clean (especially compared to how dirty it was in 2005).

-A very bad experience at Rolling Thunder where they decided to just stop operating the ride and sit up at the control booth, then 10 minutes later started operating it again (while "rawhide" was playing over and over again in the station). The answer we got was weaksauce. Both sides were running most of the day, but by the time we got on one side was running.

-Great American Scream Machine, while still a great ride, needs the trains painted badly. Wow they looked horrible. It had just gone to 1 train op by the time we got up there so I wasnt able to marathon it like I had hoped (as I used to do with Shockwave).

-Kingda Ka broke down while I was in line and didnt re-open. Didnt bother me too much cause I got it in 05 and been on TTD many times.

-El Toro is amazing. Rode it 7 times (I think), all in the back car. One of, if not the, best coaster anywhere.

-The "Glow in the Park Parade" was an outstanding addition. I at first did not believe it was a Six Flags production. In my opinion, SFNE was lucky didnt get TDK so they could get the parade as a quick replacement . It certainly is well worth watching (then right when it ends quickly going to El Toro and ending your day with some night rides).

Onto the pics:


Unlike Great America, Great Adventure has some very good top 10 material coasters, so if you think people at SFGAm dont like TDK think of what the people at SFGAdv think of it .



Nitro was running extremely well. Probably the most forceful of all the B&M hypers ive been on.



These guys were setting up for a show. Didnt watch them though, coasters were calling.



No thanks. Even with an employee discount theres no way id pay that kind of money for a FlashPass. Fortunately it wasnt too crowded.



A lot of SFGAdv has this "woodsy" feel to it. And I was surprised to see they still have a few flat rides also (unlike SFMM).



I guess you could call this the "B&M corner" (we'll just ignore the fact that the other B&M is on the exact opposite side of the park).

For those that are wondering, when you enter GAdv you are pretty much in the back of the park, Blackbeird is right there then there are 2 sides. The left side has GASM, SUF, El Toro, Golden Kingdom, and the Medusa area. The right side has the other two kids areas (Wiggles World and Looney Tunes Seaport), Movie Town which consists of BTR and TDK, and Nitro. Obviosley we headed right first.



We rode Skull Mountain at this point. These are the rows they reserve for those with Qbots. Very excieting, moving on.



I was shocked to see that Skull Mountains crew was extremely efficiant. This clearly was not the GAdv of the past. It also has extreme ejector airtime in the back row which surprised me.



Captain Feathersword actually had someone "working" the attraction, found that interesting.



All the wheel covers are on, but 2 logos are missing. SF cant win.



I was amazed, and happy, to see that Nitro was running 3 trains pretty effeciantly, and it was with only 3 ride operators on the platform. At this point I was still amazed that GAdv had effeciant operations.



The line for TDK. Amazing.
...and this was the ONLY ride in the park to feature SF TV, found that weird.



There are "switchback" type queue railings in the preshow room, so the first to enter is the first to ride.



The queue path after the preshow is way shorter than SFGAms.



I wonder if I can leave my loose items in the station?



You can see pretty much the entire ride from the exit path. I dont know if thats really a good thing but it was definitley a cool view.



"Movie Town" theming.



I like how BTRs entrance plaza looks in relation to SFGAms...thats about where it ends though (though SFGAm has by far the nicest BTR of anywhere maybe except for Warner Madrid).



Cant go wrong with this duo.



This picture makes me think of how glad im not at SFSTL (those that have been to SFSTL know what im talking about)



I couldve sworn I parked it right here.
Guess ill fill everyone in, in 2004, the year both SFGAm and SFGAdvs Batmans were painted yellow, both rides cleaned up their "alley" area of BTRs queue. SFGAm kept their police car but SFGAdv did not get that lucky.



Pretty sweet theming here. It doesnt play music but it does play a weird spiel that the Penguin gives, something like "You will never get me, I will get Batman!" or something very strange like that. Its not Danny Devito's voice though.



The Batcave. Moving on.



BTR was running like a champ though, very intense.



This corner of the park was very purple. Cant help it, im a sucker for landscaping.

[BP317]

The green garbo cans are aligned because that is how they put up the chains for the parade. Have I said the parade is awesome?



More scenery.



Similar to Shuttle at SFGAm, Houdini at SFGAdv is standing but not operating. I did get on it the next day at SFNE though.



Dont know why I felt inclined to take this picture, probably because they have a large DANGER DO NOT ENTER sign on the door that leads to the center hub of their Carousel.



The Golden Kingdom might be the best theming SF has ever done, and it was the year before the "Shapiro Era" Something to be said for that...or not. Up to you.



I dont know if they did this on purpose, but Kingda Ka has a very similar effect to Expedition Everest where its in the very back of the themed area and just looms over the entire area and gets more badass as you walk towards it.



ZOOM.
By the way those "Wait ___ long from this point" theres another sign 5 feet later that says the wait time is 30 minutes less. Its like that in all the lines. Go SF.



And this is when it broke down for the night, didnt matter too much though as I had already been on it and TTD many times.



Is it ever sunny in New Jersey?



Ive spent my share of time at Zamperla Rockin Tugs, but this one had PINNEAPLES! So naturally I had to ride it...then I turned my head and saw El Toro and decided not to .



Speaking of the greatest coaster in existance, finally it was time to ride.



Okay maybe not time to ride yet....but this went pretty fast.



This might be the greatest camelback ever.



I still have never gotten my "left" credit because by the time we got on it, it was one side.



Best and worst coasters in the park.



I was pretty disoriented after El Toro.



I dont remember much about this mine coaster other than its spiel sounds exactly like Big Thunder Mountains.



This is Medusa, its a boring floorless coaster that needs to be painted. Moving on.



Ive never sat in a "Big boy seat"



Medusa's station is very "purple and brown." This ride is kind of in its own little world secluded from the rest of the park and everything in the whole area is pretty much brown or purple (with the green track of course).



From this angle you should be able to see why they call this a cobra roll.


...if you cant press your call button and Tommy will come hit you in the head with a tac hammer because you a RETARD .



...ahem, back to the pics.




Yes this ride is amazing. Anyone who has GAdv as their home park needs to go kiss Sandor Kercas' feet right now.



The situation explained during the first post.



Theres nothing more torturous than waiting for 15 minutes looking at this added to the fact that if we turned around we'd see El Toro running, and add the fact that we're in line for Rolling Thunder =(



Its Shockwave and SUF right next to eachother. And a queue path for a ride that was recently removed. Yay.



Yep....this ride is about as popular as Shockwave was.



I slowed down and pissed off everyone walking behind me to "take in" the vast amount of theming in GASM line.



The blue train was in the process of being taken off when we got to the station.



"Bloody hell Hermione!"



For those of us old enough to remember this view we saw whenever we walked into SFGAm from the parking lot.



When horn and strobes activate.......PANIC!
When you enter SUF there is a hallway that leads through the parks simulator ride building, this is that hallway (in case some of you are lost at this point).



Speaking of B&M flying contraptions.



Even though this ride is right next to GASM and the parking lot, it feels like its out in the middle of nowhere because of the simulator building behind the entrance.



A good ride! And SUF...



I was impressed. This ride had no bypassed seats and was loading very fast.



I tried but couldnt think of a caption, so enjoy this picture.



These "signs" on the gift shop in SUFs exit were held up by painters tape.



Theres a picture taken from this angle of Mark Shapiro and Dan Snyder standing next to eachother.



See?



We made sure to ride the parachute drop ride. It wasnt intense or excieting by any stretch of the imagination but its nice that they still have an old classic, and had a good view.



A black skycoaster suit, the largest skycoaster makes. SFGAm doesnt use these.



Took the skyride to the other side of the park.



Nitro and TDK, the not painted sides.



More nice scenery.



I still dont know if I believe this is an SF parade or not.



Scooters.



This is Six Flags doing its "Spectromagic" impression.






Before the parade started we saw Mark Kane running down the midway, it was quite funny .












How did they sail the SS Feathersword all the way down the midway!?



You cant really see it here, but Marvin is trying to blow Wiley's f*cking head off.








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA7wZKtEVk4
Here is a video of the Glow in the Park Parade. This is not my video, but I figured may as well post a link to one.

Live long & prosper

[saylorman47]

Haha that was probably the funniest Photo TR I've seen in awhile! Nice Job!

And yes...

This picture makes me think of how glad im not at SFSTL (those that have been to SFSTL know what im talking about)

I HATE THAT QUEUE!
There are twisted switchback/circle things that do not just have chains where when the line gets short you can just cut through. NO you have to walk all the way through it, under the station, through the tunnel thing, up the stairs and into the station. LONGEST POINTLESS QUEUE EVER.

[Ilovthevu']

It's the little things like that, that I don't get why Six Flags just can't invest a little money to fix the problem. At SFStL for that ride, they had a shorter entrance, but I think that's for disabled people, and than it sort of cuts into the other line, but you aren't supposed to use it. The Mr. Freeze line over there is so darn long too. They have the gate that is sometimes open when it's short though, and I'm not really sure if you can use it.

The problem I continue to see at SFGAm is with our Batman the Ride, and Iron Wolf, that they don't want to have actual metal handrails to separate front rows. For Batman's, they should start in the tunnel where the yellow line is on the ground. I think that is a great idea for the Dark Knight to have queues in the preshow room so the first person in the room is the first person out.

Great trip reports. All 3 of them.