Coaster Community

So the wife and I decided to take an early summer trip to New York and we figured while were there we might as well go to Six Flags Great Adventure.  It sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it?

The day started at 5:30am (am means morning) and involved the usual morning routine.  Next was a 3 block walk to the subway station followed by an 8 block subway ride to the bus station.  The bus is pretty much the only option if you’re staying in New York City and it’s probably the most difficult system on the planet.  If you dare to take a similar trip and you’re brave enough to take the bus then be sure to ask questions.  We used the ultra complicated online schedule and we thought that we had it all figured out.  We were hella wrong and the bus driver told us how wrong we were.  So we got our tickets and began looking for our bus (the Port Authority Bus Terminal is the size of most cities).

The bus trip started without a problem and we were well ahead of schedule (park opens at 10am).  When we finally hit the transfer station in Lakewood we were told that we needed to ask for a transfer when we got on in Manhattan.  So we headed into the station and asked for options and all of them put us in the park at like 11:30 (unacceptable).  The original bus driver heard this and told us that our plan was flawed from the beginning and gave us a better route.  He then gave us a ride back to Freehold Center (we passed it 30 minutes earlier) and tells us that busses run from Freehold direct to the park every 45 minutes (the ultra complicated online New Jersey Mass Transit schedule didn’t mention this).  Since we’ve already wasted an hour we decide to take a cab from Freehold to the park and this costs us $25 on top of the $25 we already spent on both bus tickets.  The cab driver did her job and drove like a bat out of hell and got us there 5 minutes early so it all worked out in the end (except financially).

There is a direct route from NYC to the park but the schedule sucks and cuts your day short.  If you want to be there when the park opens then go to Freehold and then transfer to the bus that goes to the park.  Be sure to ask a bus professional first though, they have knowledge that the Internet lacks.

Now it’s 10 am and we’ve been up for 4.5 hours and we’re finally at the park.  I’ll start by saying that this is one of the most beautiful Six Flags parks that we’ve been to.  It’s set on a small lake and is crawling with trees.  The walkways were immaculate and the food was top notch.  Park employees were friendly and helpful and the themed characters were always willing to stop for a photo.

We purchased a Flash Pass that was $45 for the both of us and this proved to be a valuable tool.  Our longest wait of the day was 20 minutes for a parachute drop ride.  Here’s how it works, you get a beeper that you can use to scan rides.  You actually have to walk to the ride and put your beeper up to the sensor at the entrance of the ride.  It will then tell you what time to come back; so you’re waiting in line you’re just doing it somewhere other than the actual line.  You can scan multiple rides but you have to ride them in the order that you scanned them.  This is where the problem occurred.  We scanned several rides and it only tells you how long the wait is for the current ride on the list so you have no idea how long the new rides are supposed to take.  So we waited the 45 minutes that Superman had and once we rode it we found out that we missed the other rides that we scanned because they’re waits were shorter (you have 5 minutes before the beeper goes off and 10 minutes after to complete the ride).  The battery also died at about 5pm.  With all of the problems it’s still a great system and it kept us from being in any actual line.

As for food we ate at the Carnegie Deli and even tough it was expensive ($32 for both of us) it was plenty of food and some of the best that we’ve had at any park.  I had a corn beef on rye and she had a pastrami on rye.  The sandwiches come with potato salad and cole slaw both of which are super yummy.  We also got a side of giant onion rings and this probably wasn’t necessary since the sandwich and side was basically a mountain of food.  For dinner we just grabbed a regular cheese burger and fry meal from the Great Character Café.  It’s your usual run of the mill meal.

We finally sat through our first park show and it was a good one.  Temple of the Tiger is a quick 15 minute show that features two giant white tigers.  The tigers jump around and chase the trainers; good times for everyone.

Now it’s time for the ride reviews.

Coasters

Nitro: 9 out of 10
We hit Nitro first thing in the morning and scored 3 rides without even leaving the station.  We rode in the front, middle and back and the front was our favorite.  The height, speed, air time and forces are all great on this ride and I wished that we had time to ride it even more.

Superman: 7 out of 10
Ride this one in the back and prepare yourself for a full service g-force buffet.  We rode 3 time’s altogether and the two in the back far and away exceeded the forces experienced in the front.  The pretzel loop has to be one of the best elements on any coaster.  After that it’s a couple of turns and then a zero-g roll into the breaks.  If there was something after the pretzel loop this would be an 8 out 10.  The Flash Pass was between anywhere from a 10 to 45 minute wait and we spent that time riding everything else.

Kingda Ka:  7 out of 10
You were probably expecting more from the tallest/fastest coaster on the planet.  For some reason this was a painful ride and it felt like it was going to shake itself apart.  The launch was thrilling but the discomfort kept us from riding it a 2^nd time.  We only waited 5 minutes because of the Flash Pass.

Medusa:  7 out of 10
Is it just me or are most of the floorless coasters the same?  Don’t get me wrong, they’re a lot of fun, I just want to see some variety.  The Flash Pass line for Medusa was a little confusing and the ride ops didn’t seem to care this day so one ride was plenty.

Batman the Ride: 6 out of 10
If you’ve been on one you’ve been on them all.  It’s still a great little invert that’s loaded with extreme g’s.  Walk-on.

Great American Scream Machine: 6 out of 10
The cars on GASM are loaded with padding so the pain that usually accompanies an Arrow looper was diminished.  The padding actually made it fun and I would have ridden a 2^nd time if there weren’t so many other coasters.  5 minute wait with the Flash Pass.

Skull Mountain: 4 out of 10
This is an indoor coaster that’s completely dark.  The cars were a little small for me so my knees didn’t enjoy the ride so much.  The constant change of direction made it an exciting ride for the rest of my body.  Walk-on.

Rolling Thunder (right side): 4 out of 10
If you like to take a wood coaster beating then this ride is for you.  It didn’t have a line so you can get beat all day if you like.  You can get some great views of Kingda Ka and El Toro though.

El Toro: Under Construction
When we planned this trip in January we never even considered the fact that El Toro wouldn’t be completed.  We felt dumb watching it test.

Rolling Thunder (left side): Closed

Runaway Mine Train: Closed

Batman & Robin: The Chiller: Both sides were closed

The list of closed coasters was extremely disappointing.

Everything that’s not a coaster

Saw Mill Log Flume: 7 out of 10
If you like log flumes then you’ll want to ride this one.  It features multiple drops and great scenery.  Walk-on

Parachute Training Center:  5 out of 10
You get taken up by cables in a two person parachute and then you’re slowly brought back down to the ground.  It’s fun but it’s not thrilling. 20 minute wait

Houdini’s Great Escape:  4 out of 10
This is a dark ride/motion simulator.  There is some trickery involved so I’ll leave it at that. 10 minute wait

Now that we got the rides out of the way I’ll tell you about the awesome bus trip back to NYC.  It started raining at 7 or so and the park closed at 8 so we spent a lot of time hiding from the rain and once the rain broke we headed to the bus stop in the parking lot.  Here we found several other people waiting for a bus (more than a bus full) and we were worried that we might not get on.  The first bus showed up at 8:20 and once it was full the driver said that another would be by in 10 minutes.  He was right and after a few minutes of pushing and cussing we got onto the bus.  We decided to sit near the front because the back was filled with people that didn’t seem very friendly.  Even after the 2^nd bus was full there was still another 50 people or so and our bus driver wasn’t sure if they would get picked up.  So we paid for the trip back and the driver couldn’t find change so I told him to worry about it when we got back to the city.  After the long 2.5 hour drive the bus driver told me that I actually shorted him and instead of getting change I got to pay more, lucky me.  The whole bus thing is probably not worth the amount of money saved.  Next time we’re probably going to take a train to the Newark airport and then rent a car.