adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
 8/26/2005 9:49:39 AM
So, yes, I made it back to Gadv on Tuesday - hoping that the recent, promising reports of the park's doings would prove accurate. I had an open mind, an eager step, and full eagerness for what the day would bring.
My brother and I arrived at 10am sharp, and headed straight for Kingda Ka, of course - one heck of a ride; see my review. Well worth the 3 hour wait, which gave us the front seat. I didn't particularly love that you had to pay $2 for the lockers but what the heck. While in line, unfortunately, the old ghosts paid me a visit, in that the surrounding coasters were down, down, down. Rolling Thunder rattled by once or twice during the three hours, GASM made an appearance about five times, and Superman was nowhere to be seen. Sadly, this proved an omen for what the day was to bring.
We headed around the park after KK, grabbing a bite to eat (cheeseburgers which were so full of gristle and bone {yes, bone} that we actually demanded our money back after two bites apiece. We wanted to ride Nitro - down; then headed over to The Chiller - down; okay, so I guess we'll ride GASM - running, but with a line that looked to be at least two hours. Fine - we'll ride Houdini. Fun as ever, but it was about 45 minutes' wait. Afterwards, we tried Nitro again - down. Now, we decided to head over to Congo Rapids - I mean, what the heck, it was hot, and nothing else seemed to be running decently, anyhow. An hour later, we turned a corner in line, and realized that there was still a HUGE queue left, a minimum hour or two more to wait. We decided that, since it was now 4:00, we'd better spend what little time we had left in line for a coaster.
I had been wanting to check out Rolling Thunder - as a woodie lover, I was hopeful about what I'd heard recently, that it had been re-tracked and improved. We begrudgingly tolerated the 2 hour wait in line, figuring that there wasn't much else to do, anyhow - the steelies each had a minimum 2 hour wait at this point, and the majority of the park's flats were down, with no ops in sight. The left side only of RT was running, with two trains - but the ride ops were so unbelieveably inept that, at one point, we timed an unloading/loading process, and it took over 7 minutes - without any sort of incident that would get in the way of normal operations. The ride itself? Sorry to doubt the folks who've sworn that the coaster has improved - but it was awful - actually worse than before. The structure looked terrible, the train braked, resisted and practically pulled up against the track, creating a jarring, uneven and rustily LOUD ride (and not the roaring kind of loud - the braking kind of loud). I adore woodies and feel a certain loyalty to them, which only made this more painful to experience. That coaster wasn't happy - that's really the best way that I can put it.
After this, we saw that it was 6:00 - and we'd only been able to check out three rides - one of them a flat. What to do? Guest Relations had a visit coming. Now, I need to emphasize that I've never felt the need to go to GR at any park - I'm pretty easygoing about sporadic downtime, as it's just part of what parks have to contend with. This, however, was ridiculous. When we arrived at GR, there was a line of at least 60 people, all of them raging mad at having spent up to $300 (some even more), for a day of only a handful of rides. We made our way up to the window, and after a good bit of hemming and hawing by the park rep, we were eventually taken back to a seperate waiting room, where we met up with a supervisor. We laid our cards out on the table, and basically said, "Look - this was a long drive, a day basically wasted outside of a Kingda Ka ride, and heck, I can't see how this park has really improved since my last experience here". In the end, we were given VIP tags to use for the remainder of the day. Which was a huge help, as we had only three hours left. At this point, we headed straight for Nitr
|
skierman
Posts: 2328
Registered: 4/8/2004
Rank: Snow Rider
|
8/26/2005 6:50:11 PM
Good TR Adriannah. Sorry about the downtime though, thats really weird how almost evrheyting was closed. I have never seen Nitro closed, or Chiller for that matter. At least you got to ride Ka. When I went it was testing. Which was still cool to see. Thats really cool how you got the VIP passes though. Seems like GAdv still needs to drasticall improve.
I know what your talking about, Rolling Thunder being "unhappy". When I rode it it seemed like the trains didnt run correctly on the track, and it just wasnt good.
--------------------
Join beeHiveMail!!!
Message updated 8/26/2005 6:52:27 PM by skierman
|
adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
8/26/2005 7:07:42 PM
I know... maybe the park and I have bad mojo together - seeing that many rides down was borderline amazing. But yes - Ka was a BLAST, and the VIP's definitely helped to redeem the experience.
|
Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
|
8/26/2005 11:40:05 PM
Thanks for a great trip report, adriahna. For some reason, I had always skipped Trip Reports and Tips, but lately it's my second favorite part of this board (after the reviews themselves).
Message updated 8/26/2005 11:40:47 PM by Timberman
|
larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
8/26/2005 11:42:13 PM
wow that blows - I read your KK review and thought you actually would have a great day at the park. I didn't have any real problems last Friday 8/19 except that KK didn't run all day, but I totally enjoyed myself on 8/12 (and rode KK twice). All other coasters were running both days.
I agree that RT doesn't seem any better. I thought it ran better back in April but not now.
Did you at least find the restrooms cleaner than your last trip?
--------------------
Mom always said, "Don't play ball in the house".
Message updated 8/26/2005 11:44:54 PM by larrygator
|
adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
8/27/2005 12:10:09 AM
Yes, thank God, the bathrooms were MUCH cleaner. Overall, the park in general seemed to be better kept, the admissions and security situation were way better, so that helped - but the rides were just down and out.
|
PeterD
Posts: 86
Registered: 7/22/2005
Rank: Senior Critic
|
8/28/2005 5:51:47 PM
Larry, how are the crowds on Fridays? I am sort of reluctant to go on a Friday because I'm afraid it will be packed.
My theory about the rides being down has something to do with college classes starting again. Did the park seem understaffed or did it just seem like the "stellar" Six Flags operations team was in action?
Message updated 8/28/2005 5:52:59 PM by PeterD
|
larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
8/28/2005 6:18:43 PM
It was pretty crowded on Fridays, but better than Saturdays. Good point, colleges starting up again is the main reason for less workers at the park
|
adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
8/28/2005 8:15:50 PM
Quote:
PeterD said:
Larry, how are the crowds on Fridays? I am sort of reluctant to go on a Friday because I'm afraid it will be packed.
My theory about the rides being down has something to do with college classes starting again. Did the park seem understaffed or did it just seem like the "stellar" Six Flags operations team was in action? |
Pretty much a combination of both. Double blow - as I said, Rolling Thunder's station was being run without any regard for the folks waiting in line, and the other rides weren't much better. The only ride that really stood out in terms of skilled ops was - go figure - Kingda Ka. If you go on Friday, good luck - hope you have a better experience overall than I did.
|
Paul
Posts: 2195
Registered: 5/20/2001
Rank: Platinum Critic
|
9/1/2005 10:19:01 PM
It breaks my heart to hear about how they treat Rolling Thunder. It was my first adult coaster, back then it was an absolute joy to ride before they started ignoring it. Last time I rode it was 2003 and it just sickened me to no end how they just let the coaster rot and screach. Really, it's just filthy of them.
|
adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
|
9/2/2005 9:47:35 AM
Fully agreed. It's sad - I was just looking at the "Coasters You HATE" thread in CCD, and the first that came to mind was RT. I didn't have the heart to name it as such, however - in my mind, it's not the coaster's fault that it's so bad, if that makes sense. I almost wish that, after yet another rotten GAdv experience, the park would just sell it to a smaller park, that could restore it properly, then run and maintain it as it should be. It's obviously a hell of a coaster - it just needs help.
|