About me
On a whim I bought a Play Pass for Six Flags Great Adventure last summer and found out my wife and I both really like roller coasters. We started off 2011 with season passes to Six Flags, Cedar Fair and Busch Gardens and plan on visiting most, if not all, of their parks this year.
I thought you guys might like to hear from someone that's visiting these parks and coasters for the first time. Noob's if you will.
Visit Overview
We stayed at the Wingate which is located right outside the front gate. It's closer than even their own parking lot so luckily we were able to park there and just walk over.
Even though we have season passes, we still had to buy tickets. Our home park, Great Adventure, had their opening day on April 9th. We left for our trip on April 7th so we were not able to get them processed. Six Flags parks are not able to process passes for any other park.
A bit miffed, I took advantage of their buy one get one free offer. That is, buy one ticket for $49.99 and get one free. Even though single tickets are available for $34.99. By some bizarre logic I have to pay $15 more to get a ticket free. It should be buy one get one for $15. At least that would be honest. In addition, I would have had to pay $15 for parking had I not been able to walk over from my hotel.
So... $89.99 x2 + $45 for season pass parking that we've been sitting on since December is totally worthless here. Unlike the other places we have season passes for, Six Flags makes it clear right up front that we're the dairy cows and we're going to get milked at every opportunity possible and get absolutely nothing for it.
What the park had going for it though is that it was absolutely beautiful. This park is right up there with Busch Gardens Williamsburg as far as landscaping and natural beauty.
The park was busy but not insane. Weather was approaching 90 degrees. Lines were manageable at about 15 minutes to an hour.
We were exhausted from 4 days of coasters and driving and left about 5pm. Shortly after we left a power plant in Atlanta lost power and the park was without power. From what I read it took them 30-60 minutes to get everything back up and running again.
Coasters
Goliath - 9/10 - We loved how this one went out of the park and covered so much ground. Great hills and spiraling helix at the end. We had wanted to go on it again but the line was a little out of control when we went by the second time around.
Mindbender - 7/10 - I wasn't too sure about going on a really old looping steel coaster without shoulder harnesses. I'm glad I did because it was a pleasant surprise. Some big drops and some really intense loops. The waterfall right beside the ride was great too.
Great American Scream Machine - 8/10 - We were in the last row for this one. This one time record holder was quite a ride in the back. We were completely flying out of our seat for most of this ride. It was rough but manageable. One of the better wooden coasters I've been on.
Dahlonega Mine Train - 0/10 - We were in the 3rd row. The lap bars for each train were locked together so the largest people on the car suffer. For our car, this was us as it was all kids in front of us. In the train before us one guy wasn't able to ride because his size kept the lap bars from closing far enough for the kids in the two rows in front of him.
This was the worst coaster we've ever ridden. This was the by far the roughest ride we've ever had between both steel and wooden coasters. The cars felt like they had movement in the coupling from front to back so we were getting whiplash going into and out of corners. There really wasn't anything to the layout and it seemed like they had a pile of track to use up and just threw this together with no planning. Avoid this at all costs.
Georgia Cyclone - 8/10 - I was sore and hurting from 4 days of coasters and the Dahlonega Mine Train put me over the edge so I skipped this one. My wife went on it and loved it.
Other Rides
Log Jamboree - Really short long flume. No big drop. Line was really long as well. Got very lightly splashed and it was a really warm day where we needed a good soaking.
Thunder River - Ride broke right before we got on. Had one of the longest lines of the day and then an additional 15-20 minutes to fix and reset the ride. Really well themed rapids ride with a lot of action and a lot of water. Well worth the wait.
Monster Mansion - Not something I expected at a Six Flags park. I had read up on the history of this ride before I got here. Really nicely done and I'd love to see Six Flags do more of these. You're invited.... to a picnic.... a monster picnic....
Hanson Cars - We hadn't been on an old style go karts type ride in... well... ever so we thought we'd give it a try. It was cute but steering was nonexistant.
Riverview Carousel - The best carousel we've been on in a very long time. Really cool big building to house it on top of a hill. Great big detailed horses. A little creeped out by the statue of Jesus kissing a half naked woman on one of the benches on the carousel. Otherwise though, it was well worth the walk up the hill.
Train - Disappointed in the train ride. Trains only had two cars with really uncomfortable seats. Engines were noisy and diesel powered. The two train stations were across from each other right in the middle of the park. It was faster and more comfortable to walk.
On a whim I bought a Play Pass for Six Flags Great Adventure last summer and found out my wife and I both really like roller coasters. We started off 2011 with season passes to Six Flags, Cedar Fair and Busch Gardens and plan on visiting most, if not all, of their parks this year.
I thought you guys might like to hear from someone that's visiting these parks and coasters for the first time. Noob's if you will.
Visit Overview
We stayed at the Wingate which is located right outside the front gate. It's closer than even their own parking lot so luckily we were able to park there and just walk over.
Even though we have season passes, we still had to buy tickets. Our home park, Great Adventure, had their opening day on April 9th. We left for our trip on April 7th so we were not able to get them processed. Six Flags parks are not able to process passes for any other park.
A bit miffed, I took advantage of their buy one get one free offer. That is, buy one ticket for $49.99 and get one free. Even though single tickets are available for $34.99. By some bizarre logic I have to pay $15 more to get a ticket free. It should be buy one get one for $15. At least that would be honest. In addition, I would have had to pay $15 for parking had I not been able to walk over from my hotel.
So... $89.99 x2 + $45 for season pass parking that we've been sitting on since December is totally worthless here. Unlike the other places we have season passes for, Six Flags makes it clear right up front that we're the dairy cows and we're going to get milked at every opportunity possible and get absolutely nothing for it.
What the park had going for it though is that it was absolutely beautiful. This park is right up there with Busch Gardens Williamsburg as far as landscaping and natural beauty.
The park was busy but not insane. Weather was approaching 90 degrees. Lines were manageable at about 15 minutes to an hour.
We were exhausted from 4 days of coasters and driving and left about 5pm. Shortly after we left a power plant in Atlanta lost power and the park was without power. From what I read it took them 30-60 minutes to get everything back up and running again.
Coasters
Goliath - 9/10 - We loved how this one went out of the park and covered so much ground. Great hills and spiraling helix at the end. We had wanted to go on it again but the line was a little out of control when we went by the second time around.
Mindbender - 7/10 - I wasn't too sure about going on a really old looping steel coaster without shoulder harnesses. I'm glad I did because it was a pleasant surprise. Some big drops and some really intense loops. The waterfall right beside the ride was great too.
Great American Scream Machine - 8/10 - We were in the last row for this one. This one time record holder was quite a ride in the back. We were completely flying out of our seat for most of this ride. It was rough but manageable. One of the better wooden coasters I've been on.
Dahlonega Mine Train - 0/10 - We were in the 3rd row. The lap bars for each train were locked together so the largest people on the car suffer. For our car, this was us as it was all kids in front of us. In the train before us one guy wasn't able to ride because his size kept the lap bars from closing far enough for the kids in the two rows in front of him.
This was the worst coaster we've ever ridden. This was the by far the roughest ride we've ever had between both steel and wooden coasters. The cars felt like they had movement in the coupling from front to back so we were getting whiplash going into and out of corners. There really wasn't anything to the layout and it seemed like they had a pile of track to use up and just threw this together with no planning. Avoid this at all costs.
Georgia Cyclone - 8/10 - I was sore and hurting from 4 days of coasters and the Dahlonega Mine Train put me over the edge so I skipped this one. My wife went on it and loved it.
Other Rides
Log Jamboree - Really short long flume. No big drop. Line was really long as well. Got very lightly splashed and it was a really warm day where we needed a good soaking.
Thunder River - Ride broke right before we got on. Had one of the longest lines of the day and then an additional 15-20 minutes to fix and reset the ride. Really well themed rapids ride with a lot of action and a lot of water. Well worth the wait.
Monster Mansion - Not something I expected at a Six Flags park. I had read up on the history of this ride before I got here. Really nicely done and I'd love to see Six Flags do more of these. You're invited.... to a picnic.... a monster picnic....
Hanson Cars - We hadn't been on an old style go karts type ride in... well... ever so we thought we'd give it a try. It was cute but steering was nonexistant.
Riverview Carousel - The best carousel we've been on in a very long time. Really cool big building to house it on top of a hill. Great big detailed horses. A little creeped out by the statue of Jesus kissing a half naked woman on one of the benches on the carousel. Otherwise though, it was well worth the walk up the hill.
Train - Disappointed in the train ride. Trains only had two cars with really uncomfortable seats. Engines were noisy and diesel powered. The two train stations were across from each other right in the middle of the park. It was faster and more comfortable to walk.
