OT--???? on Great Adventure New Jersey

[stitchfriend]

Can anyone tell me how Six Flags Great Adventure New Jersey is? We are planning a trip Wed Jun 19. How crowded will it be? Can we get a lot done? We will not be purchasing the Flash Pass...it is not worth the money. What rides get a long wait? I have a child that is very inpatient to wait in long lines. Will it be crowded at park opening?

If there is anyone that can share there experiences it will be appreciated.

Thank You....

 

[Poohforyou]

Can anyone tell me how Six Flags Great Adventure New Jersey is? We are planning a trip Wed Jun 19. How crowded will it be? Can we get a lot done? We will not be purchasing the Flash Pass...it is not worth the money. What rides get a long wait? I have a child that is very inpatient to wait in long lines. Will it be crowded at park opening?

If there is anyone that can share there experiences it will be appreciated.

Thank You....

It likely won't be too bad unless there are a lot of school groups there for an end of year field trip. Our middle school has a trip there tomorrow. Public schools here are still in session through much of June (we're out 6/25). Private schools and of course colleges will already be out by 6/19.

Generally the earlier you get there the better.

 

[Wcpedorc]

Can anyone tell me how Six Flags Great Adventure New Jersey is? We are planning a trip Wed Jun 19. How crowded will it be? Can we get a lot done? We will not be purchasing the Flash Pass...it is not worth the money. What rides get a long wait? I have a child that is very inpatient to wait in long lines. Will it be crowded at park opening?

If there is anyone that can share there experiences it will be appreciated.

Thank You....

As pp said public school is still in session so that will help. I'd say getting in early will help, except with school groups, since they will probably be there for opening as well, good coasters, but definitely not the world.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Not all public schools are still in session. Our last day is June 18. When the Teachers' Convention in AC was cancelled, they reopened schools at the last minute. Also they took away President's Day as a day off. That made up the hurricane closings & with no snow, there were no days added on.

We haven't been to SFGA in several years. We used to go often & had season passes but it was a rough crowd. The piles of trash in the parking lot by people too lazy to walk to a trash can was a real turn off. My kids still enjoy the rides. When ds16 gets a little older I wouldn't mind if he went with friends but I don't feel the need to return. Dh would rather pay the extra $1k & just go to WDW.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

We haven't been to SFGA in several years. We used to go often & had season passes but it was a rough crowd. The piles of trash in the parking lot by people too lazy to walk to a trash can was a real turn off. My kids still enjoy the rides. When ds16 gets a little older I wouldn't mind if he went with friends but I don't feel the need to return. Dh would rather pay the extra $1k & just go to WDW.[/QUOTE]

We were there about 4 years ago, and the thing we remember the most (just talking about this with dd earlier tonight) was the amount of trash all over the parking lot. It was disgusting! We didn't even see trash cans...just trash laying in every spot. I can't really comment on the waits and crowds since it's been so long. We bought season passes this year (we're close to the one in MD), and will be going to SFGA when we are visiting NJ....just because it's included in the pass. It wasn't that great that I would have a need to go back if we had to pay. That being said, my older kids are very excited because the roller coasters are supposed to be great.

 

[Yoshi]

I am a season passholder to Great Adventure. The park has gotten much cleaner over the past few years. Security guards and even management walk around the park with grabbers to pick up any trash on the ground. Operations have also been better. Maximum trains are running on coasters all the time even when it isn't crowded.

Although a weekday in June probably won't be too bad, getting there at opening is important. Usually from 10:30 to 12:00 the park is empty.

Frontier Adventures opens at 11:00 a.m. and that is where the boarding for the safari ride is. If that ride is important to you, I suggest getting to that ride right at 11:00. It is very popular and low capacity and even on a day like Saturday with bad weather and low crowds, it still had an hour wait.

The rides with the longest waits are Kingda Ka, El Toro, Superman and Green Lantern.

Also don't go by the wait time signs, those are only accurate when 1 train is running. With Nitro for example, when the line is at the 30 minute from here sign, with 3 trains running it is usually just over a 10 minute wait from that point.

And since this is the budget board, I also have to mention prices are horrible there. Parking is $22 for regular, $32 for preferred (I paid $60 for season pass parking). A burger and fries is $9.99, chicken fingers and fries $10.99 etc. I used to never eat in the park and stop at WaWa outside the park. This year I do eat in the park since it was $75 for a season long dining pass but for a 1 day visitor that won't help.

Here is what I typed up on another site when someone asked what order to ride the coasters in but doesn't factor in the safari:
I would ride the coasters in this order: Superman, Green Lantern, Kingda Ka, El Toro, Rolling Thunder, Bizarro, Runaway Mine Train, then take the Skyway over to the Dream Street station, then go to Nitro, Batman, Dark Knight, Skull Mountain and Blackbeard's. Even though Skull Mountain is next to the Skyway station, I put it later since it is more important to get to Nitro and Batman before it as Skull Mountain has a very fast moving line and rarely is more than 10 - 15 minutes.

The alternate option is to go to Kingda Ka, then El Toro and then back to the Boardwalk to ride Superman and Green Lantern but that involves more backtracking.

 

[java]

We are in nj and my kids get out June 8. Although we are not a great adventure family. We are closer to Dorney, Hershey and Knoebels all better IMHO. My son went last year and complained about waiting in a lne for 2 hours only to have the ride go down.

 

[dawnhaze]

Can anyone tell me how Six Flags Great Adventure New Jersey is? We are planning a trip Wed Jun 19. How crowded will it be? Can we get a lot done? We will not be purchasing the Flash Pass...it is not worth the money. What rides get a long wait? I have a child that is very inpatient to wait in long lines. Will it be crowded at park opening?

If there is anyone that can share there experiences it will be appreciated.

Thank You....

I have a season pass and go regularly. It's a decent park, for a Six Flags, but there are better experiences in the region IMO. As others have said, June crowds depend on school groups. If you're there at opening, you should have good luck with lines for at least a little while. Rides that get a long wait are Kingda Ka (slow loading, many breakdowns, popular), Superman Ultimate Flight (slow loading), El Toro (popular). The other coasters can build up but those are usually the longest in my experience. Also, the new Safari ride will have long lines since it's brand new and of some interest to people who aren't into thrill rides. If your child isn't a thrill ride enthusiast, I'd skip most of the coasters, because lots of them are pretty extreme.

Make sure not to bring bags, etc, unless you are prepared to pay for lockers. They're $11 for one at the front of the park for all day, or $1 at each roller coaster for an hour or so. The $11 ones take plastic but I think the at-ride lockers are cash only. (Could be wrong, I never use them.) Waist packs are permitted on all rides except for El Toro as long as they don't interfere with restraints, so I go with that. I can't ride El Toro anymore because the restraints don't fit my big thighs anyhow.

Food is pricey and not very good. I only eat in the park because I have the seasonal dining pass. It's standard pizza, burgers, chicken, etc. They sell sport bottles for soda that come with free refills all day, if anyone in your party drinks a ton of soda it might work out to get one. They get cheaper per unit if you buy more than one, too. It's 99 cent refills on subsequent visits, which is irrelevant for you, but I enjoy the perk, haha. Plus you can leave the sport bottles on ride platforms, they have holders available, but I recommend tying a scrunchie or something to yours so you don't accidentally drink someone else's soda after the ride.

 

[mjkacmom]

It likely won't be too bad unless there are a lot of school groups there for an end of year field trip. Our middle school has a trip there tomorrow. Public schools here are still in session through much of June (we're out 6/25). Private schools and of course colleges will already be out by 6/19.

Generally the earlier you get there the better.

Ds15 will be there today with band - its going to be hot!

 

[stitchfriend]

We are in nj and my kids get out June 8. Although we are not a great adventure family. We are closer to Dorney, Hershey and Knoebels all better IMHO. My son went last year and complained about waiting in a lne for 2 hours only to have the ride go down.

We live in Pa close those parks too. We have season passes to HersheyPark but my kids want to try something different. That is my fear of waiting in long lines.

 

[artesian]

Midweek schools still in shouldn't be too bad. We just went this past monday. I would recommend being there for rope drop and heading straight to Kingda Ka and then El Toro as first ones. I lucked out and did that and was able to get right on first thing and did back to back El Toro. Kids passed on Bizzarro then went across to Nitro and Batman. All in did all the rides we went there for in 4.5 hrs. Being we have seasons passes we do feel the need to push every ride every time

 

[stitchfriend]

I am a season passholder to Great Adventure. The park has gotten much cleaner over the past few years. Security guards and even management walk around the park with grabbers to pick up any trash on the ground. Operations have also been better. Maximum trains are running on coasters all the time even when it isn't crowded.

Although a weekday in June probably won't be too bad, getting there at opening is important. Usually from 10:30 to 12:00 the park is empty.

Frontier Adventures opens at 11:00 a.m. and that is where the boarding for the safari ride is. If that ride is important to you, I suggest getting to that ride right at 11:00. It is very popular and low capacity and even on a day like Saturday with bad weather and low crowds, it still had an hour wait.

The rides with the longest waits are Kingda Ka, El Toro, Superman and Green Lantern.

Also don't go by the wait time signs, those are only accurate when 1 train is running. With Nitro for example, when the line is at the 30 minute from here sign, with 3 trains running it is usually just over a 10 minute wait from that point.

And since this is the budget board, I also have to mention prices are horrible there. Parking is $22 for regular, $32 for preferred (I paid $60 for season pass parking). A burger and fries is $9.99, chicken fingers and fries $10.99 etc. I used to never eat in the park and stop at WaWa outside the park. This year I do eat in the park since it was $75 for a season long dining pass but for a 1 day visitor that won't help.

Here is what I typed up on another site when someone asked what order to ride the coasters in but doesn't factor in the safari:
I would ride the coasters in this order: Superman, Green Lantern, Kingda Ka, El Toro, Rolling Thunder, Bizarro, Runaway Mine Train, then take the Skyway over to the Dream Street station, then go to Nitro, Batman, Dark Knight, Skull Mountain and Blackbeard's. Even though Skull Mountain is next to the Skyway station, I put it later since it is more important to get to Nitro and Batman before it as Skull Mountain has a very fast moving line and rarely is more than 10 - 15 minutes.

The alternate option is to go to Kingda Ka, then El Toro and then back to the Boardwalk to ride Superman and Green Lantern but that involves more backtracking.

Thank you for the wonderful information. I will try your suggestions.

 

[katrina1122]

We get season passes so we can go to Hurricane harbor. We haven't actually entered 6 flags in a few years, but the last time we were in the crowd was a bit rough and rides were constantly breaking. They have invested some money as of late though, so maybe that's better. We really enjoy HH.

This season marks the opening of the safari adventure as part of 6 flags and not a separate admit drive your own car thru tour. I'd think is going to bring in the crowds some. It looks sort of like AK's safari but with more animal interaction from the few promo pics i've seen.

We also never eat in the parks. Stop at the WaWa just outside the park and buy sandwhices/ice/etc and eat at your car in the parking lot (I too agree there will be ridiculous amounts of trash). It will save you a ton of money. Also, they don't allow coolers to be brought in. I had to trash a bottle of water last year that was in my beach bag. Oh, and parking is $$$.

DH has tried to get on Kingda Ka 4 or 5 times. He waits in line for 45 mins or so gets to the front of the line and it breaks everytime, lol.