Yogurt
Posts: 600
Registered: 9/21/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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 4/9/2004 3:23:00 PM
It was a beautiful day at Great Adventure on Wednesday, April 7th. We arrived at 11, the sun was shining and it was around 60 degrees. What a great day for riding coasters. I went with my dad, my brother (age 11), and my sister (age 8).
Fortunately the park was nearly empty. We parked very close to the entrance and basically walked right in with no hassle, no crowds. The first thing we did was go straight over to Medusa, my dads favorite coaster. I would consider it one of my sisters first "larger" coasters, the only other one having ridden was the rock'n roller coaster. She may be young, but she's fearless.
We waited 5 minutes max for this ride, and rode twice. I really enjoyed it. The ride was very smooth, very fast, and a whole lot of fun. After Medusa my brother wanted to go on Nitro, but since I was too afraid I suggested we ride Superman: Ultimate Flight instead.
As we headed over to S:UF we went by the Great American Scream Machine, which had no line at all. We were thinking about riding it but since both my dad and brother hated it, and I'd only gotten terrible reviews, we decided to pass it up.
I would say that the line for S:UF at that point was about half an hour, pretty long considering the low number of guests. Right when we got on line we heard an announcement that there were problems with the ride. We waited about 15 minutes and not having moved an inch, we decided to come back later. My dad thought he was cursed, because that ride broke down every time he went on line.
We went to eat lunch. My three chicken fingers with fries cost about $8, and a water bottle was $3. Ridiculous. After lunch we made our way over to Batman: The Ride.
Wait time for Batman was in the neighborhood of 5-10 minutes. I was very surprised, because despite its small size and short ride, it was very intense. I liked it more than I thought I would. We only rode once, because by then both my brother and sister were desperate to go on Nitro.
I was shaking as we waited on line for Nitro (about 10 minutes). I was absolutely terrified, and of course my little sister wasn't afraid at all. I'd been staring at that first drop all day and I couldn't get it off of my mind. When our train pulled up, I walked right past my seat to the other side of the station. My brother tried to persuade me to ride but 30 seconds later, they were off. My sister was beaming when they came back and told me I HAD to ride it. They all wanted to go on again but I made them do something else.
We went back to Medusa and rode twice more. The last time I had a staring contest with my sister, but that wasn't the brightest idea because I had a slight headache for the rest of the day.
We tried S:UF once more and it broke down again once we got on line, proving that my dad is cursed. I really didn't want to miss it so we just waited it out. Wait time was up to an hour at that point. We finally reached the front of the ride and discovered that there was a wad of spit on my sisters seat. The ride op came over to wipe it off when he heard my sister screaming. It was funny, but disgusting.
S:UF was only ok. After that we went back to Nitro, which now had a 15-20 minute wait. I decided this time to just suck it up and ride. I sat down in the very comfortable seat, pulled down the very comfortable harness, and we were off. Halfway up the lift I though, what am I even afraid of anyway? After the first drop I had my hands up the whole time and was screaming louder than anyone else on the train. We bought the photo and then waited in line to ride again, which looked like it was 40 minutes.
Unfortunately my dad didn't want to stay in the park any longer because we had to go visit my grandparents, so we had to get off of the line.
I really would have liked to try The Chiller (closed), and maybe even GASM, but I should be going back sometime within the next three months. Besides all of the problems with S:UF, the gum that was all over the place (some of<
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Cyclonic
Posts: 2636
Registered: 7/19/2002
Rank: Experiment 626
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4/9/2004 5:14:00 PM
Happy to hear you had a good day. Also happy to hear you finally have faced your fears and rode Nitro, it really is an excellent ride. No Rolling Thunder?
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Red Rascal
Posts: 7284
Registered: 1/28/2003
Rank: Croatian Critic
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4/9/2004 6:32:00 PM
See, you did it, and liked it. I knew you could do it. It all takes time and patience, and when that time comes, it's pure ecstasy. Glad to hear you conquered your fears.
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Yogurt
Posts: 600
Registered: 9/21/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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4/10/2004 10:37:00 AM
Thanks guys! I forgot about Rolling Thunder, but I believe that it was closed too. I didn't see it running at any point during the day. In fact, I've been to the park 4 times, and I don't think I've ever seen in running.
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skierman
Posts: 2328
Registered: 4/8/2004
Rank: Snow Rider
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4/12/2004 3:26:00 PM
it is great top see that you have conguered your fears and went on nitro. That is what my sister did, but she finally went on it and loved it!
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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4/14/2004 6:13:00 PM
It's awesome that you faced your fear and rode Nitro. Great job! Also, I think everyone is nervous, in varying degrees, for their first hyper.
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benleibo
Posts: 781
Registered: 6/25/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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4/14/2004 6:55:00 PM
Nitro is a great hypercoaster. It also was my first hyper, and I too was terrified when I first looked up at that lift hill. SFGAdv is my home park too, and I look forward to going several times this spring. Good to hear you had a good time. Last year when I went I rode every single coaster in the park!
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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4/19/2004 4:35:00 PM
I need to get to SFGAdv sometime soon, mainly to ride Nitro and B&R:TC.
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benleibo
Posts: 781
Registered: 6/25/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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4/19/2004 7:34:00 PM
Nitro is the best ride at the park, and B&R:TC is pretty unique. Don't forget about Medusa, the world's first floorless.
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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4/26/2004 9:03:00 PM
Quote:
benleibo said:
Nitro is the best ride at the park, and B&R:TC is pretty unique. Don't forget about Medusa, the world's first floorless. |
I was on Scream! and wasn't that impressed. Not to say Medusa is bad, if I went there I'd ride it, I just wouldn't have very high hopes.
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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5/9/2004 12:12:00 AM
went to SFGAdv today - all rides except the log flume, Runaway Train, Sky Ride looked open. GASM closed after running a couple of hours. News Flash - Batman side of Chiller was open. Viper is still painful on the neck, but I had to ride. Medusa and Nitro still rock and both lines move quick. Nitro on an outer seat is no monorail. FYI - they took the stupid signs off the lift hill, the ones that said you are now at the height of Tower of London, Niagara Falls. Rolling Thunder gets weaker every year, the train no longer gets any airtime, it bounces over every hill. The paint job in Batman The Ride looks great, but the line for BTR and Skull Mountain were too long so I didn't ride today.
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