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Six Flags Great Adventure Fright Fest Trip Report

Six Flags Great Adventure: First trip to the park in over 4 years.

From David Kirby
Posted October 10, 2010 at 9:46 PM
This past Saturday, (October 10), my best friend and I descended on Six Flags Great Adventure Fright Fest. This was my first trip to the park since May 2006 so I was excited to see a lot of the changes that have occurred since then. We arrived around 11am and immediately went to Kingda Ka, my first time riding. We waited about 30 minutes for the front row. I know it's such a short ride, but it was so incredibly exhilarating! It was also great see the park utilizing all 4 loading stations.

El Toro - also my first time riding. One word - WOW! This actually might be my new favorite roller coaster. The entire ride was so intense - the first drop, the constant headchoppers, the incredible turns, the ridiculous amount of airtime. I knew it was going to be a great ride but I didn't expect it to be that awesome. The wait wasn't too bad, but they really need to have a 3rd train for this ride. The second time we went on, one of the trains broke down and had to be taken off track, and that line went sllllloooow.

Bizarro - Surprisingly, the park was running 3 trains, which resulted in maybe a 15 minute wait. I enjoyed the new effects, though the onboard soundtrack was barely audible throughout the ride, and the only parts we could here were strange. Also still trying to comprehend why they didn't ditch the "Medusa Mining Company" theming.

Rolling Thunder - Surprisingly, this was my first time on the old woodie. It was also probably my last time. Too rough for me.

Dark Knight Coaster - Did they really think a Wild Mouse with incoherent scenery would make a good ride?

Nitro - Always an awesome ride, even better at night. They were running 3 trains here too, so even though the line was past the entrance, we waited about 45 minutes each time.

We ended up skipping Batman: The Ride and Superman: Ultimate Flight as neither of us care for those rides too much.

Other positive things:
- Cleanliness! The park was definitely much cleaner than I ever remember it being and we saw plenty of employees picking up trash. The only exception was the parking lot, where just about every trash can was overflowing. There was also significantly less graffiti than I ever remember there being.

Areas that need work:
- Prices! I know theme parks are expensive, but Six Flags seems like the worst. $11.99 for a a burger and fries (and 3 onion rings) with no drink included?
- Lockers! The locker situation is absolutely ridiculous. It's a slap in the face to the customers to charge for lockers outside every coaster. Because of it, my friend and I brought nothing in with us other than cash and car keys to avoid paying.

- Too many sponsorships, not enough theme. All 3 times we rode El Toro, we had the "pleasure" of riding in the Stride Gum train. Snickers ads plaster the park. Party City commercials play constantly on the tvs in the queue. And the party city circular we received after paying to park was not appreciated.

- Many Fright Fest additions. Unless I misread the website, I didn't see any mention that the mazes were an extra charge. It led to us just skipping them and doing more coasters instead.

-Scare zones frankly just had way to many people walking through them for them to be effective. More props and fogs would be helpful. More actors too. I'm pretty sure the clown one in the Boardwalk area only had one actor. It's also way too bright of an area for it to be a true scare zone. I feel like the darker, less crowded Golden Kingdom section would be a great place for a scare zone.

Overall, I had a great time at the park. A lot of positive changes have been made in the 4+ years since I last visited, but there's definitely a few areas where the park needs to improve if it wants to be a customer friendly park.


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