60 replies to this topic

[GAcoaster]

Click here for the full

Spotlight!

Here are a couple of previews:

[Railer]

Another job well done. You guys never cease to amaze, with your Spotlight's. This Ride was one of my favorites of all time. I waited longer in lines for this Ride than any other ride in GA back in the day. The Ride up the Tower was my favorite part of the Ride, not knowing when it was going to hit the top was scary as a kid back then, And holding a Nickel in your palm and watching it fly away always made me laugh. Good job as always.

[MarioSonic94]

Great spotlight. There is a problem when it comes to seeing the videos. Everytime I click on it, a board message always pops up saying that I don't have permission to see the video. Could you fix this problem? Thanks.

Edited by MarioSonic94, 16 May 2009 - 06:35 PM.

[GAcoaster]

Videos should be fixed now.

[darkridedan]

Freefall was never timid by my standards! The mechanics made it terrirfying to me, more so than modern drop rides.

Mom was the brave one in the family and she rode Freefall that first year. In '85, I bumped into one of my best friends from the neighborhood on our way to see the ride and I wasn't about to be shown up by not riding it while he did. He and his family went before us and I saw him come off the ride milky white. I don't recall much of my first ride, but I became braver for riding it.

FreeFall was my favorite thrill ride at GAdv for many years; No coaster could take its place. It wasn't until El Toro debuted (oddly in the same year that Free Fall closed) that I enjoyed a thrill coaster as much as Freefall.

The ride was and will ALWAYS be Freefall to me, never "Stuntman's" Freefall. I remember the long lines; They always moved quickly. I think the buzzer will forever be the most recognizable sound of GAdv.

Edited by darkridedan, 01 January 2009 - 10:11 AM.

[GAcoaster]

My brother worked as a ride-op on Freefall for one summer. I remember him telling us about the guys from INTAMIN coming out to do some fine tuning on the computers and climbing all over it with the ride running (though not open to the public).

[29yrswithaGApass]

During the summer of 1982 my family went to California on vacation and visited Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain amongst other places. I remember being in awe of the size of Knott's Sky Jump parachute ride and waiting over two hours with my dad to ride Magic Mountain's FreeFall which had just opened a few weeks before we arrived. My dad was never much for waiting in lines so I think I was probably just as amazed that he was willing to queue up for it. Needless to say we both thought it was an incredible ride.

One Sunday in the winter of 1983 the Atlantic City Press published the article below and I was ecstatic. Not only were we getting our own version of FreeFall but we were also getting a bigger-than-Knott's parachute tower. I reread the article about twenty times and it took days before it all sunk in. These two additions as well as the park adding the Great Lake Grandstands made for what I still consider Great Adventure's best season EVER in 1983. Not to mention they also repainted the Yum Yum Palace that year!


Click on the image to view it full size. Click HERE to read page 2.

[warnerleroy]

Great spotlight, as usual, but why was the little stuntman figure removed from the sign?

[GAcoaster]

I always wonder what would have happened to the park had the fire not happened in 1984. They were on such a roll, expanding and increasing attendance, I just have to believe there were some BIG things in store. I've heard a few of the plans that were considered (and we'll be doing planned but never built features on them at some point), but as always not every plan comes to pass.

1983 was an amazing year and really set the tone for the continued growth of Great Adventure.

Great spotlight, as usual, but why was the little stuntman figure removed from the sign?

I believe it was removed when the entrance was moved for the construction of Snowy's Snacks.

[CycloneMan]

Freefall was always the right of passage in my family. I remember being 4 years old and my grandmother taking my brother and I on it. It was my first "adult" ride at the park, being I didn't ride Runaway Mine Train or Rolling Thunder till later that day. I guess I was too young to realize how intense the ride was. I would ride it over and over, but there was a few years I wouldn't ride it because it terrified me. I have a phobia of elevators so the lift always scarred me. I finally rode it again when my little sister (now 13), turned 5, and she wanted to ride. Then I rode it on every visit. This was a great spotlight, and thanks for the memories.

-Dainan "Still better than any drop tower" Rafferty

[CoasterPete]

Some of my favorite memories of the park are on this ride. I loved riding late in the night when there'd be no lines and they would just let you stay on doing lap after lap. One time my sister and I must have stayed on for atleast 8-10 consecutive rides...just awesome!

Pete

[darkridedan]

These two additions as well as the park adding the Great Lake Grandstands made for what I still consider Great Adventure's best season EVER in 1983. Not to mention they also repainted the Yum Yum Palace that year!

I had never thought of it in that perspective Harry. In '83, my family took a summer trip to Canada. We first saw Freefall and Parachutes in '84. Sarjevo Bobsled was the newest kid on the block and it became one of my favorite new rides. I also rode Rolling Thunder for the first time. Freefall was the first "new" ride that I passed on for fear. (I was still skipping Enterprise, Rotor and Super Roundup too.) As 44'' was the tallest restriction in the park at the time, I was no longer denied rides due to height. When Looping Starship and Ultra Twister debuted a few years later, I passed on them for fear over the height restriction, even though by that point I was already riding Freefall. So I had felt that 1983 was the time when things began to change at the park; Things seemed to shift from a focus on family rides in favor of the thrill. But looking back, with the addition of Parachuter's Perch, Sarajevo, Rednuht Gnillor, Splashwater Falls and Condor, that focus wouldn't occur for another decade or so.

[redsoxfan0810]

Can't beat those rides freefall. They're so intense, Cedar Point better not sell/scrap theirs!

[29yrswithaGApass]

Some of my favorite memories of the park are on this ride. I loved riding late in the night when there'd be no lines and they would just let you stay on doing lap after lap. One time my sister and I must have stayed on for atleast 8-10 consecutive rides...just awesome!

Pete

Back in '83 my best friend and I were in the right place at the right time. We visited the park on a weekday in the early spring and it turned out to be a complete washout. Heavy rains emptied the park but they remained open until after dark. It was a good thing because we needed to hang around until my friend's mom picked us up. We weren't old enough to drive.

FreeFall hadn't opened to the public yet and was closed all day, however after the rains had stopped we heard the ride running. (There is something exciting about hearing the sounds of a new ride operating for the first time! ). We raced over to the ride and to our surprise the queue line was open. We figured we'd be told that we couldn't ride but to our surprise the worker told us to come on in, that they were giving "preview rides". Our eyes widened and we raced to the loading platform!

With the exception of only about a half dozen other guests, we were the only ones on the ride (and probably the only ones in the park!). The two of us rode the ride with a park mechanic over and over again, it must have been for about an hour. We didn't have to get out and I can remember the mechanic keeping track of his trip count and repeatedly saying "I have a new favorite ride".

We had a new favorite too!

[Railer]

^ Good Story. I love it when you can end up at the right place, at the right time. Timing is everything.

[GAcoaster]

As if by magic, Shane Huish just posted a whole thing on the Freefall ride including video of the first one at SFOT, and all kinds of info from INTAMIN.

Check it all out!

[29yrswithaGApass]

It was always cool that you could view the huge FeeFall control panel while waiting to board the ride. That thing was massive with tons of lights and buttons.

[GAcoaster]

My brother (who loves to show off) would occasionally run the ride manually when there were no lines in the morning. With all those cars cycling it was a challenge to keep everything advancing through the blocks fast enough that the computer wouldn't shut down the whole ride. I remember driving him in to work in the morning and I wasn't supposed to start until later, so I went and rode Freefall (I only wanted to ride once), but he wouldn't release the harness so I went through 3 cycles before guests arrived and he had to let me off.

[29yrswithaGApass]

^ Ah, that is what siblings are for... torture!

FreeFall had its block system changed numerous times. In the beginning multiple cars were allowed on the tower at the same time, and then it was limited to the cars in the shaft only starting to rise as soon as the car ahead of it hit the brake run at the bottom of the drop. In later years the cars didn't start the ascent until the car ahead made it all the way back to the brake run on the lower level just before the station.

[The Master]

Very nice spotlight, Freefall was not my favorite ride but it was still decent. It is a shame that it got torn down for scrap, the saddest fate for any ride. I still expect to see the Freefall tower standing and hearing it's buzz alarm when I visit the park. I remember the year Freefall was removed many younger GAdv fans on other forums kept posting how they were glad "that old eyesore Freefall" was gone, I just can't understand that type of attitude.