2024 Summer Road Trip - Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey Day 1 - 2024/08/09

Well, yesterday we weren't able to make it to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey before they closed (an unscheduled 2 hours early), but today we're back and ready to see it all! 

The park is only 20 minutes from our RV campground, so it was a quick drive in the morning to get there. Good thing we checked the app in the morning because just the night before it said that they opened at 10:30am. As we were getting ready though, we saw they changed it to 11am. This definitely isn't Disneyland. 

And so at 10:40am, we were walking up to the main gates, hoping they would open for us this time. 

There's so many good coasters here that we're all excited. Except maybe Theresa. She's excited that we're excited. 

Ian - What time is it Dada? 

Joe - It's after 11am buddy. 

Ian - Then why aren't they opening? 

Joe - Good question. 

At 11:04 (4 minutes can be ages for a 10 year old) the gates finally opened for us! 

Welcome to Six Flags Great Adventure! 

We're at the hub in the middle. There's so much to see and ride! Where should we go first? 

Kingda Ka (the tallest coaster in the world), obviously. 

Kingda Ka is down today. 

Superman then! A flying coaster, like one of the favorite coasters from Japan the kids loved. 

Superman is down too. 

Okay...

Right beside Superman, is the Green Lantern stand-up roller coaster. Let's start our day with that!

Doing the big loops from the back row. 

Stand-up coasters aren't really our favorite. That bracing seat can dig in a bit, and it also rattles your head a bit. 

(not my video, you can get kicked out for that)

There's not a lot of theming that you go by, but it was interesting flying right over the queue. 

Well, it's nearby, so let's go see the entrance to Kingda Ka and see if they know anything else about the closure today. 

Along the path, we see that this Great Adventure park has incorporated animals throughout, a little like Disney's Animal Kingdom. Just a little. 

The crew at Kingda Ka didn't know anything more, so we'll just keep checking throughout the day.

Another coaster that is really well reviewed here is El Toro! It was closed earlier this morning, but we caught it just as it was opening up! We were able to get in line and we clapped when the maintenance man said it was good to go! 

And for our good timing, we were right there in the front row, ready to go! 

El Toro (the Bull) is known for power and speed! As you slowly leave the station, you pull up to the lift hill. Instead of the gently climb to the top, suddenly you gain a burst of speed and get pulled quickly to the top. 

We dropped down the first hill (176 feet) and then cruised right to the next one. 

A 112 foot drop. Then it was a lot of fast races, hard turns, and lots of speed. So many places in the track that I worried for my hands as I held them up. 

The kids didn't find it the most fun. Too much whipping and turning. 

It's time for lunch! This park seems to have lots of good options. Along the way I ran into the one and only Bugs Bunny. 

Alli wanted a burger.

While Theresa got empanadas and Ian got onion rings. 

There's no waiting for rides after lunch. We're all raring to go. We took a whirl on Nitro which was a ton of fun! It's tall. It's fast. It has lots of negative g's and even a spiral where you might even start to black out. We all loved it. 

The workers did emphasize to make sure you put your phones away because this track is over a mile long and if you lose it, there's not a good chance of getting it back. Even with "Find my iPhone" it's not very likely. 

Next, we're headed to one of the new park coasters, The Jersey Devil. 

The coaster carts here are continually moving through the station so you just walk up when it arrives and take the seat of the person who just left. A worker walks beside the cart and makes sure everyone is strapped it, and away you go! There's only a single file line leading up to the coaster, so you can't request specific seats, but we happened to get the very front row! 

The coaster itself is a ton of fun! It's a single rail and it keeps you twisting and turning, going upside down and around. Between this and Nitro, I'm having a hard time deciding which coaster is my favorite so far. 

The theming of the ride is pretty good too, telling the story of the legendary Jersey Devil in Pine Barrens, New Jersey. 

Let's head to Gotham next and go on Batman: The Ride! 

This Batman ride is a floorless coaster where the track is above you. It's got a lot of speed and some sharp whipping turns. 

Theresa happening to catch us while we're inverted and in the front row. 

Going through a fun corkscrew. This ride layout is in a lot of different Six Flags parks, but it's a fun one regardless. 

We've been keeping an eye on both the Six Flags app and these screens they have around the park, but so far we haven't seen Superman or Kingda Ka available. It has been a really good day for riding rides though. The lines have been really short! 

It's the Batmobile. 

Loving the general music of the park. Lots of fun songs playing over the speakers that you can dance to. 

Every time we walk by this one, Ian asked to ride it. It's called the Skull Mountain Coaster. The outside has a theme very reminiscent of Indiana Jones and exploring a forbidden temple. In an enclosed platform, you board the coaster and then get a quick view outside, all the while thinking it'll be a dark and mysterious ride. 

But then you enter the main building and those thoughts are completely wrong! There's flashing lights and techno music pumping hard while you ride through the small indoor track. At the end, you pass by a few black curtains and you're back into the enclosed loading platform. 

At the last park, Harley Quinn got a giant spinning ride. Here, she gets Harley's Crazy Train. 

It's a pretty tame coaster, meant really for kids, but as you get back to the loading station after the first lap, the train doesn't slow down and they send you out again for another ride. 

Snack time! We've had Cheetos Popcorn before! And even Flamin' Hot Cheetos Popcorn. 

But I think we're good with Dippin Dots, an Icee, and a frozen chocolate covered banana. Theresa was a little disappointed with the Banana, since it didn't live up to the tasty frozen chocolate covered banana slices she buys at Trader Joe's. 

Over towards the back of the park is Medusa. 

And we've got front row seats on this floorless coaster. 

It has lots of fun inversions. 

And even a horseshoe loop right by the walk up to the entrance, so Theresa got a great photo of us on the ride. 

Near Medusa in another small coaster called the Mine Train. 

I'm not expecting singing dwarfs here or anything, but will we like the ride? 

Not particularly, no. It's a little tight. A little jerky. And you can absolutely hit your hands on things. Whether it's the railing or the trees that are growing a little too close to the track and haven't been trimmed. I don't need to do this one again. 

Ian - Can we go on the log flume? 

Joe - Looks like it's closed buddy. (and too bad, I don't feel like getting wet today)

Walking along we found Porky Pig! (do the kids even know who that is?)

And went to visit Bugs Bunny! Got your nose. 

Might as well get some pictures together. 

And with the family. 

Bugs. What a character. Pulling me towards him so much that I'm off balance. 

That was fun! 

Theresa - SUPERMAN IS UP!!!

Ian - Wait! Superman is up? Let's go! 

We hustled over to the ride as quick as we could (luckily we were very close by) and saw the first train with people launch! 

Ian - Do we want to wait for the front? 

Joe - No, just get in a free row! 

The second train loaded with people and left the station. And then they got stuck on the lift hill. 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes passed. Maintenance came (the same guy from earlier on El Toro) and pressed a few buttons. They continued up the lift hill and down through the ride. 

Waiting our turn on the back row while maintenance sends a few more empty trains through. 

Finally they give the all clear and we hop on and strap in!

We leave the station, start climbing the lift hill and... promptly stop, just like the other train did. For us, it was only a couple minutes dangling, in a Superman position, 80 feet in the air, until they pushed the right buttons and we were pushed out onto the track for our ride. 

When we returned, there were more maintenance guys and they said that the ride was shut down now. All the people who had queued up after us were out of luck. And, unfortunately, that was the very last time Superman was running while we were there. For 4 straight days, in early August, it only ran with people on it 3 times! That's some bad throughput! 

To finish our day, let's head over to Twister. It's a carnival type ride, but we haven't been on anything like it yet. 

The height limit on this is taller than many of the roller coasters and both kids just barely made it. 

It flips you up and over, then hangs you upside down. We all enjoyed it and would go many more times during our visit. 

Earlier in the day, Six Flags announced that the park would be closing early at 5pm again, despite the hours showing 7pm throughout the day. This sort of thing definitely wouldn't fly at Disney. 

Just before 5pm, we headed to our chosen restaurants to get our dinner before they closed for the night, then headed home to prepare for another fun today tomorrow! 

The kids are definitely loving all the coasters here! They're turning into thrill seekers!