Misc GA Mumblings

[Nitro1118 73]

Yeah, GAdv does need loads of TLC. The problem is so many things need attention and/or expansion. Old Country still needs a ton of work to feel complete, the Stunt Arena as mentioned is essentially abandoned and an eyesore, the Mach 1 building is a huge abandoned spot, the Lakefront is completely bare, Main Street is still a dead end smoking section, the Old Country and GK paths are still dead ends, and so many buildings could use paintjobs or complete facelifts. Not to mentioned old, empty ride pads, lack of HH expansion, and no original coaster in 11 years.

 

It's sad because the park has SO much potential. I will give the new regime credit; they have made some awesome moves in recent years despite a smaller budget. The Safari was an amazing upgrade, Skyscreamer/Zumanjaro/El Diablo were awesome flat ride additions, Joker looks great in in its location compared to the old stadium, the Grandstand needed to go, and JL is an amazing dark ride that brought life to that area. The issue is the Shapiro regime gutted the park and set us back 10 years, so all this time has been playing catch-up. Since SF's capital expenditure is so small and every park every year is seeing additions, it will take another 5-10 years just to fill in many of these gaps.

[Mrpq 36]

Its a classic case of letting smaller issues being ignored and having them turned into bigger ones. Almost like a car, you see a small issue you fix it right away before it turns into something major. Instead of taking care of things as things came up, six flahs just let them all snow ball into the current state of the park we see today.

 

to me if you had to compare, Great Adventure is to Cedar Point as Luna Park/ Coney Island is to Great Adventure

[dougdrummer 62]

Its a classic case of letting smaller issues being ignored and having them turned into bigger ones. Almost like a car, you see a small issue you fix it right away before it turns into something major. Instead of taking care of things as things came up, six flahs just let them all snow ball into the current state of the park we see today.

 

 

It is the same way in the civil engineering field, because maintenance and improvements to our critical infrastructure are constantly deferred as budgets are cut. Unfortunately it takes a major catastrophe like a bridge collapse before we pay attention to these issues. Then they spend a year reinspecting all the bridges and patch up the worst ones. Then after that it goes back cutting funding and deferring maintenance. Ugh.

[The Master 101]

Yeah, GAdv does need loads of TLC. The problem is so many things need attention and/or expansion. Old Country still needs a ton of work to feel complete, the Stunt Arena as mentioned is essentially abandoned and an eyesore, the Mach 1 building is a huge abandoned spot, the Lakefront is completely bare, Main Street is still a dead end smoking section, the Old Country and GK paths are still dead ends, and so many buildings could use paintjobs or complete facelifts. Not to mentioned old, empty ride pads, lack of HH expansion, and no original coaster in 11 years.

It's sad because the park has SO much potential. I will give the new regime credit; they have made some awesome moves in recent years despite a smaller budget. The Safari was an amazing upgrade, Skyscreamer/Zumanjaro/El Diablo were awesome flat ride additions, Joker looks great in in its location compared to the old stadium, the Grandstand needed to go, and JL is an amazing dark ride that brought life to that area. The issue is the Shapiro regime gutted the park and set us back 10 years, so all this time has been playing catch-up. Since SF's capital expenditure is so small and every park every year is seeing additions, it will take another 5-10 years just to fill in many of these gaps.

I remember back then, all the GADV fan boards were gushing all over Shapiro for removing those old eyesore rides, believing his was clearing room for more awesome super coasters. Boy were they wrong. Still makes me mad still seeing all the empty pads from Shapiros gutting.

 

Sadly, I noticed that thoughout the whole industry, there have been lots of cost cutting especially with the quality of operations.

Edited July 14, 2017 by The Master

[Daved Thomson 22]

Agree totally. The one thing that bothers me the most is the number of buildings/structures that sit there unused for a majority of the season. For instance, the building that hosts Santa during HITP just sits there unused the rest of the year. The old Autobahn is another disaster, along with the old Stunt Show arena (a white elephant of epic proportions). Even the lakefront area is a mess. They recently put up new posts and chains to keep people from accessing the shoreline. There is absolutely nothing to do or see within that whole stretch of park. This just makes no sense. It's like leaving a section of Manhattan abandoned, even though it is some of the most valuable land on the planet.

 

Stop spending millions to bring in the most radical rides, and spend a few bucks to address maintenance and aesthetics. This is why people love parks like Knoebels, because it has a beautiful setting that makes so many want to go back time and time again to enjoy the experience. When I think of Great Adventure, I think of steel and concrete, and sweating profusely while walking along acres of unshaded pavement (of which there is no consistency throughout the park). I know one can make the argument that these epic rides is what brings in the customers, but if that is the case why hasn't attendance increased since the 1990's, when all this expansion started to take place? I think they are tailoring the park to only a certain type and age of people, and ignoring all the rest of the demographics from which they could draw significant attendance.

 

I think JL was a good step in that direction, but they won't see the full potential because they placed it in an isolated area of the park with not much else around it.

Great argument/logical thinking. Where have I heard it before? Just playing.

[drdfresh 2]

I know this may shock some of you, but some of the guests that go to GA are rude and disgusting. My son and I were there last Sunday night. We purchased a burger at the smaller Johnny Rockets nearer to Nitro. As we looked for a table in the shade, we were excited to see a group get up and leave. However, they left their plates with half eaten burgers, used napkins and empty ketchup packets on the table. I guess they thought that someone would bus their table. Probably the same people that leave their trash in the parking lot.

Edited July 25, 2017 by drdfresh

[Viper26 20]

I know this may shock some of you, but some of the guests that go to GA are rude and disgusting. My son and I were there last Sunday night. We purchased a burger at the smaller Johnny Rockets nearer to Nitro. As we looked for a table in the shade, we were exited to see a group get up and leave. However, they left their plates with half eaten burgers, used napkins and empty ketchup packets on the table. I guess they thought that someone would bus their table. Probably the same people that leave their trash in the parking lot.

Most of the bad guests are the ones that live in urban areas of NYC, Newark, Jersey City, etc, especially NYC because of the amount of NY license plates in the parking lot. It's a pain when the litter their McDonald's or food in the parking lot, as well as use constant profanity in lines for rides. When I was leaving the park on Sunday, I saw a guy with a Cavs bear getting ejected from the park without a refund possibly for bad behavior. To be honest, I found the guests at Six Flags America to be better behaved than at Great Adventure, mostly because they came in families instead of unsupervised young adults/teens.

[Medusa42 209]

No surprise there. I wish the park would offer a VIP dining pass that costs a bit more and offers better quality food and service. Some of the music festivals offer this with their VIP tickets, you just have to price it high enough to prevent most of the trashy people that come to the park from buying it or maybe set an age restriction. Give me one location with this on each end of the park and I would be pretty happy and would stop packing a lunch.

[Yoshi 228]

It's going to happen anywhere unfortunately. I saw pictures of the Main Street Hub at the Magic Kingdom fireworks on July 4th and there was trash all over the ground from where people were standing.

[dougdrummer 62]

It's unfortunately an indication of where we've gone as a society, with more and more people taking on an entitlement attitude. My wife and I have become less and less prone to a mentality like that, and now focus on those people that work in the service industry, because they are not all that well compensated. We make sure we pick up every single piece of refuse and put it in its proper place. Why force someone making minimum wage to pick up my garbage? Same reason we leave a 20% tip for the waitstaff when we eat out, unless they are really terrible.

 

I was driving through the ghetto area of Chester PA yesterday, and noticed that many of the building and bridges had significant graffiti on them - it looks awful. We were thinking "why would someone vandalize buildings and bridges in their own community"? It's the same mentality of people who protest by breaking windows and looting businesses right in the area they live in. Ugh.

[Mrpq 36]

I think GA has one of the worst crowds at an amusement park I have ever been to. I keep saying this recently but its like the Coney Island of NJ

[Mr.Six 64]

I think GA has one of the worst crowds at an amusement park I have ever been to. I keep saying this recently but its like the Coney Island of NJ

We're going tonight. Hope the crowds aren't that bad.

[Mrpq 36]

did you guys make out ok? lol

[drdfresh 2]

I have been a few times this year but don't remember seeing the waterfall working on Skull Mountain. Has it been on at all this year? If so, why don't they run it all the time?

[The Master 101]

I saw it running back in May. I agree that GADV can get some rough crowds, Dorney is getting that way too.

[Mr.Six 64]

They were on Monday. I was glad to see them on.

[29yrswithaGApass 1,202]

It is Shark Week! Click below to celebrate Shark Week SFGA style!

 

[dougdrummer 62]

Many of the game and shop attendants were wearing foam shark hats when we were there on Monday.

[Mr.Six 64]

Many of the game and shop attendants were wearing foam shark hats when we were there on Monday.

I saw. A lot of guests were wearing them too. I also saw a promotion stand near the Main Street Market.

[dougdrummer 62]

I saw. A lot of guests were wearing them too. I also saw a promotion stand near the Main Street Market.

I think some of the games were guaranteeing that you win a hat if you played.

[SatansHockey 21]

I was driving through the ghetto area of Chester PA yesterday

That just means that you were driving through Chester lol

Edited July 28, 2017 by SatansHockey

[gavin 0]

When I went on Batman today I noticed that they made an on ride POV booth instead of doing a picture booth. At first, I thought it was just a new photo booth but they actually added cameras on the back of the seats that tape your ride you on the ride and sell the videos on mini USB ports. Do you think this will replace photo's on all of the rides in the park?

[Viper26 20]

When I went on Batman today I noticed that they made an on ride POV booth instead of doing a picture booth. At first, I thought it was just a new photo booth but they actually added cameras on the back of the seats that tape your ride you on the ride and sell the videos on mini USB ports. Do you think this will replace photo's on all of the rides in the park?

Probably not but it could end up being an alternative option for those that prefer on ride videos over simple on ride photos. It could be cool to see of of these on Kingda Ka.

[Matt Kaiser 230]

They've added it to a few of the Batman clones.

[dougdrummer 62]

That just means that you were driving through Chester lol

I was trying to be nice....LOL