Tis the Season of the Breakdown: Holiday in the Park Review for 12/20/2020

    Hello everyone and welcome to my second Six Flags Great Adventure Holiday in the Park review! Since I went into a bunch of detail on what is going on in the park itself last time, this review is going to be shorter and mainly focus on the things I saw and experienced rather than trying to hit every piece of Holiday in the Park. Since the last time I was in the park not much has really changed at all, but there was still a good amount going on, a few new merchandise items, and a surprise as well. The weather was mostly cloudy and in the mid to lower 30s. Last week a significant snowstorm dropped I'm told at least six inches on the park, so there was still a good amount of snow pretty much everywhere. It had rained on and off in the morning which I think led to crowds being even smaller than they were originally going to be. I was with three friends when I went this time around too!

Another great adventure begins

     The parking lot was a tad confusing. Between the snow and ice around as well as signage and cones for the drive-thru experience, it was a little confusing both getting in and out of the lot. As expected there was virtually nobody there when I got to the park. We parked in preferred parking thanks to the covid upgrade from Platinum to Diamond membership and the lot was pretty much empty. We arrived a little after 3:00pm and could have parked in the row right after the handicapped spots. That late in the day, even for Holiday in the Park, those spots are usually filled. Getting into the park was a breeze. That new security system they have really gets you into the park fast. One of members of the group had to go through a second screening though which is basically the old way of going through security where you remove everything from your pockets as well as your belt. I'm not really sure what triggered the need for the second screening, but either way it was a quick process. 

    To my recollection this was the first time I visited Six Flags with significant snow on the ground. I've gone before when there has been light snow, but I cannot recall ever being there with several inches still on the ground and areas of walkway still covered in snow and ice. The snow really puts a pretty touch on Holiday in the Park. Seeing the snow everywhere with all the lights and music was almost like finding a missing piece of a puzzle. It just felt like the whole package was there. Well, visually at least. The cold weather was not being kind to the rides it seems. 

Some pro snow removal right here

    When we first arrived Green Lantern and Nitro were both broken down. Justice League: Battle for Metropolis also was broken down for a while during our visit. As we were leaving, Superman: Ultimate Flight was broken down. During dinner the Sky Screamer broke down as riders were suspended in the air for a bit. Buccaneer and Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth also closed down for a bit. It never really seemed like more than one or two rides were broken down at a time though so I never really felt like too much was closed at once. Surprisingly I didn't see the Sky Ride stop once. Usually that's good for one or two stoppages per visit. The only ride that was not operating that was last time was the Parachute Training Center: Edwards AFB

Gotham City Gift Shop with The Dark Knight behind it

    The ride troubles didn't seem to end with just breakdowns though. Three operating rides that I rode seemed to be just limping along. The Dark Knight had virtually no effects working. Due to covid-19 the normal preshow is not running so guests just walk straight to the trains. When I rode the ride over the summer all the internal effects were still operating. This time around though, the ride was actually darker than Skull Mountain. To be honest though it was a really interesting experience. I've ridden the ride so many times I knew what to expect, but there was something thrilling about riding a cat and mouse coaster in the dark. Skull Mountain had no music playing, no strobe effects, and it felt like the ride slowed an unusual amount towards the end. I've never seen the track lit up so I don't know if there is an area or breaks I've never noticed or if the ride really just doesn't like the cold that much. 

Get your picture with Hurricane Harbor Santa! Also, Nitro and Batman in the back.

    Justice League: Battle for Metropolis was having significant issues even after it reopened. The ride vehicles were stopping to the right of the center of the screens, this made shooting targets on the far left of the screens nearly impossible. The Joker animatronic was completely lifeless. I've been on it before where he doesn't move, but his ATV still shot gas and he still talked. Here nothing happened and the canisters of gas that would normally give points for shooting them gave none. The fog screen was also not working which is not unusual. The on ride photo was working, but due to the cars not stopping in their normal position the pictures weren't really of anything at all. Another broken effect is the rack of oil cans falling towards you. The strobe effect was working, but the rack remained stationary. I'm not sure if they rushed getting it back open when it broke down or what, but that was one of the worst experiences I've had on that ride. It's crazy to type that considering the last time I went on it just a few weeks ago, the ride felt new. 

    The last ride note that is a complete shock to me was that Cyborg: Cyber Spin was open! It was seen testing during the drive-thru this past week and was open Saturday as well. That said it broke down multiple times then and tonight as we were walking by it we saw it take that all too familiar position up in the air as well. At this point, why even bother opening it? It's been literally plagued with technical issues since the day it opened. I still am not convinced that it will be there next season, but given the current state of the company due to covid, it could still be there not operating for another season. Still though, Cyborg: Cyber Spin looks pretty good lit up during Holiday in the Park. 

It is alive!!!!

It is broken!!!!

    We went into the mirror maze. Admission was $4 per person ($5 for non members) and overall I'd say it was worth it. I can see how as a Fright Fest attraction that a haunted mirror maze could totally be terrifying now. We were given gloves to wear as we went through which was nice considering you basically have to feel your way through the maze. There are a bunch of little scenes behind glass throughout the maze. There's a Christmas tree, elves making toys, a dinner table, and other small scenes of the holidays. It was a short experience as well navigated the maze in just a few minutes, but it was certainly worth $4 to $5 dollars to do one time. As with any maze if you do it more than that I feel the path becomes more clear and therefore the attraction becomes less interesting. 

Guess Santa changed his mind on a few of these presents?

    As far as new merchandise goes, it looks like Six Flags finally got around to putting out their Holiday in the Park merchandise. Six Flags Universe in particular had a nice variety of holiday shirts, sweatshirts, masks, hats, and gloves. Of course they still had a bunch of leftover pumpkin masks as well from Hallowfest and picture frames from this year's non-existent Fright Fest. While not new, they certainly restocked their selection of Nanocoasters. These little mini coaster models look so cool. Currently El' Toro, Kingda Ka, The Jersey Devil, and Nitro are available in the park. I'm really tempted to pick one of them up, but finding the time to put one together would be the real challenge. Other than that, still no knew ride merchandise to speak of other than some new El' Toro T-shirts that I didn't see last time and some new Jersey Devil cups too. 

Not Main Street looks great with snow!

    Due to the weather, there was very limited street performers. Due to the ice and snow still on the ground, pretty much the only entertainment on the streets were the meet and greet characters, jugglers, a guy doing some cool yo-yo tricks, and the guy who last time was doing stunts with the massive ring. This time he was just walking around though. We ate at the newly renovated Johnny Rockets. This place is now set up massively better than it was previously. It was clean, spacious, and didn't look like it was falling apart. Dare I say it was nice enough that with a little more work it could pass as the nicest food place in the park? Nah, it still doesn't beat Best of the West in terms of theming and atmosphere. The food itself was alright. The burgers there I still think are the best in the park, though the bun was in that weird zone between good and stale. 

Johnny Rockets lookin good after the remodel

    The only other notable thing from this visit was just how miserable much of the staff seemed to be. I understand it's cold, it's wet, it's Six Flags, but seriously. The "elves" at the mirror maze couldn't be bothered, ride operators had zero energy (which surprisingly is strange), and the supervisor at Johnny Rockets was noted by the whole group to seemingly hate life. I do have to give a shoutout to the girl (totally missed her name) working at Sugar Shack next to the GA Cafe, she was super friendly and you could tell she was actually smiling under her mask. The street performers and characters though were all very personable as always though, just seemed like for whatever reason the other staff of the evening just would rather stare at a wall than be where they were. Speaking of staff... Outside of the security checkpoint is there security in the park still? I'm curious to know as I saw zero security in the park, but perhaps with the park being as dead as it was, there was no need?

While still simple...

The Joy to the World section...

Looks beautiful with snow!!!

    Anyway, I give this trip to Six Flags Great Adventure Holiday in the Park a solid B+. The snow made the park look gorgeous. All of the lights were only enhanced by snow being on the ground to give the park that perfect holiday feel. The selection of rides is the same as it was last time, but it was kind of a coin flip as to whether or not the ride you'd want to go on would actually be open at the time you arrived. For the coasters I'd assume some of the technical difficulties can be contributed to the cold weather conditions. I do have to give credit where it is due though, the Six Flags app actually kept up with the breakdowns and reopening's of the rides. Not having shows was further amplified by the absence of the usual street performers. There really isn't anything the park can do about the weather so between the snow, ice, rain from earlier in the day, I wasn't really surprised.  All in all this was still a great trip to Six Flags Great Adventure Holiday in the Park! Stay tuned for a future blog on a Six Flags Great Adventure 2020 Season in Review and as always stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!

    

Six Flags Great Adventure Holiday in the Park 11/27 Review

    Hello everyone and welcome to my first review blog in quite some time! Yesterday was my first visit to Six Flags Great Adventure since July 18th, 2020. To be honest that is probably the longest I have gone without visiting the park in a solid six to seven years. I did not visit during Hollowfest due to the issues that were going on in the park at the time (will touch on them later in this blog). The main goal of this trip was to see the lights so I did not go on as many rides as I normally would. I will also be comparing this trip a little to my last as I'm not really sure if I've ever had two polar opposite experiences back to back like I experienced with these past two trips. If you are just interested in the safety procedures and what's new feel free to scroll down to those sections! They are marked in bold! 

The big Holiday in the Park sign over the security checkpoint

    Not much has really changed in getting into the park. Reservations still need to be done ahead of time and it does not appear that you can just walk up to the gate and buy same day tickets (which makes sense cause would still need a reservation). There was nobody in the security line and the parking lot was largely empty. I decided last minute to go so I was not able to reserve preferred parking, but there was literally no need for it as I was able to park about two rows back from the barrier. The preferred parking lot itself was basically empty with only the front area being filled. I got to the park around 3:30pm, so there was still some daylight to work with and the crowd definitely grew as it got darker, but never got to a point where I would even say it was moderately busy. 

Kingda Ka and El Toro resting for the year

Not a bad parking situation at all

    The security checkpoint is still the same as it was during the summer, except now there is extra signage about unruly behavior and marijuana consumption in the park. Just like in the summer you walk through the temp scan and then ultimately a contactless security scan. Security guards are standing by in case the scanner picks up something, but the days of emptying your pockets, taking belts off, etc. still have not returned. Honestly the new system is a ton easier. I'm not sure how effective it is compared to the bag scanners they got a couple years back. Those things had to have cost a pretty penny so I'm not sure what the future of security scans in the park is going to be.

    The main street (haha) area of the park is all done up for the holidays with wreaths and lights on the building windows as well as some fake snow falling throughout the area. The fountain is once again replaced by a massive tree that will occasionally put on a light show. I'm surprised they still have the show as it tends to draw a bit of a crowd to the tree. Since it wasn't busy it wasn't really a problem, but as far as social distancing goes, I can see it being harder if Holiday in the Park gets busier since that area of the park already tends to get congested quickly. To my surprise, while there were no true shows, there was a good number of characters and street performers. In the main street area there was a stilt walking nutcracker and a toy soldier juggling some bowling pins. I have to say, the masks they had actually fit their costumes pretty naturally. Over by Big Wheel the Snow Queen was meeting and greeting guests, but she was on a stanchioned off  stage as opposed to being on the ground with kids running up to her. Kids were still able to go up to the stanchions for pictures with her though, so that was really nice to see. The same thing can be said for the Evergreen Princess over by Batman: The Ride, Jack Frost in the Boardwalk area, and the Peppermint Princess in front of Houdini's Great Escape.

Six Flags Universe is open selling mostly the same stuff as before

One of the many street performers, the juggling toy soldier

The centerpiece of the park, the electric tree

    Santa's Workshop, which is located behind Big Wheel, is closed with signage stating Santa and Mrs. Claus are now located in the new Jolly Jamboree section. I'm sure this was done to give them an outdoor meet and greet as opposed to an indoor. It's still so strange to me that Santa's Workshop exists in the park all year round, but I guess I really can't expect Six Flags to paint the building twice a year when it was only being used for the meet and greet. Speaking of things moving. The Coke Freestyle building has been converted into a candy apple store. I believe that happened towards the start of fall when those treats became more popular. As has been the case all season, there are no Coke Freestyle machines in the park. Drinks for the refillable cups are still being given to guests in a paper cup to pour into their cups as opposed to the staff just filling them. Otherwise, most of the usual dining locations and stores were open. The snack stands by Nitro, restaurants in the Boardwalk Area, and the Fill the Thrill stands were closed. 

The Snow Queen meeting and greeting guests. now with mask!

The Poinsettia Tree minus the Poinsettia Princess

I swear they have no idea what they actually want this place to be

    One of the biggest changes to the park is that it is now cashless! None of the shops or restaurants will accept cash. There are a few cash converter machines that will convert your cash to a card you can use in the park. Personally I didn't seek out one of those machines since I use card normally in the park anyway, but I've heard many a complaint this season about that. There is signage around, but with that big of a change and considering that people of all ages visit the park, I think there should be some more, especially in front of shops and restaurants. I'm sure it's incredibly frustrating to wait to order food just to find out you cant because you have cash. Also, they certainly need to bump up the number of converter machines. Perhaps in the future the indoor restaurants will be able to house them. Speaking of indoor restaurants. Yum Yum Cafe has indoor dining. I ate outside and just got chicken tenders (a very safe go to in the park), but it was nice that people have the choice. Not all tables are accessible though and sitting at counters is off limits so they are definitely following the 25% capacity that the state has ordered.

Sorry for the blurry picture! 

    As I mentioned earlier I got on two rides this visit. Batman: The Ride was first up and as always it was nothing short of a rush. That ride leaves me feeling dizzy every time I get off of it from those two corkscrews at the end. Strangely though it was not as rough as I remember it being. Granted it's been a while since I rode it, but it really didn't beat me up at all. I don't know if that has to do with the colder weather or not, but it was a really good ride. The queue though could use some love at this point. It used to be a really nice queue with a fountain and music from Batman playing once you entered into the building. Nowadays the fountain sits dry, there is no music until you are boarding the train despite speakers still being in the building, grass is growing through the stone, and the extended queue just looks abandoned. I understand the days of the ride being one of the more popular in the park have long since passed, but still, give the queue a little love Six Flags. The other ride was Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. At one point it seemed that due to covid this ride was not going to open this year, but with guidelines changing, and every other theme park being able to figure out how to open this style of ride, the ride opened. The queue is almost exclusively outdoors now though with I'd say five, maybe six parties being inside the Hall of Justice at a time. The ride remains my favorite in the park and I still argue it is totally out of place compared to all the others. My good friends who live down in Florida say that it's nearly Universal Studios quality, so take that for what it's worth. I haven't ridden it since Holiday in the Park last year, so my score was back down under 300,000 which is a far cry from my 418,000+ high score. All features in the ride were working though and honestly it felt like a new ride again. Even the fog screen which hardly ever worked was working beautifully so kudos Six Flags on that.

At least Houdini's Great Escape is being used for something this year

Larger than life ornament in the Boardwalk Area

Tunnel of lights along the lakefront

What's New

    The only other ride I was going to hop onto was Skull Mountain, but even with social distancing, the wait was easily approaching 45 minutes, which to me is totally not worth it for that ride. As for what is new at Holiday in the Park this year, the term small and cozy is the best way I can describe it. Since there were no shows, there were traveling acts. I mentioned earlier about the toy soliders and nut cracker, but there was more, more impressive acts. One gave major Unleashed vibes just outside of the Showcase Theater by Cyborg Cyber Spin as it was a guy in what I'm assuming is supposed to be a light up snowman costume doing all kinds of stunts inside what equates to a giant ring. There was an act in Unleashed a couple years ago at Fright Fest that was very similar, but with two people. There was also a traveling trio of elves that did all kinds of breakdancing and stunts to remixes of holiday favorites. I saw them both outside of the Showcase Theater and over by the Joy to the World lakefront area next to the Arcade. 

    As far as new areas, there are two. The Jolly Jamboree is where Santa and Mrs. Claus now reside. That said I believe there is an extra charge to meet them. The area is really cozy with a bunch of rentable fire pits and chairs surrounding them. I believe if you rent a pit (45 minute time limit) you also get smores kits, so it does give you a pretty cozy experience if you are looking for a more private smores making experience. There are still smores stations throughout the park, but you will be sharing those fires with people not in your party for sure. There is also a holiday feast in the Jolly Jamboree. I'm not sure of the details on it, but I've heard it's actually pretty good. The Jolly Jamboree is actually located in the catering area! This is the first time I can remember setting foot in that area since my 5th grade band trip.

Confirmed, rentals are for 45 minutes

The Holiday in the Park chair has been relocated to Jolly Jamboree

Just a cool looking walkway at Jolly Jamboree

    I could be wrong on this, but I do not remember the kiddie rides by Skull Mountain being open in previous Holday in the Park events. While there isn't a ton of decorations there, the bridge gives some incredible looks at The Jersey Devil Coaster construction. Man that thing is going to be a monster once it is all build and rolling. Speaking of kiddie rides, I don't think it hit me how many they took out for Jersey Devil until this trip. With Six Flags needing to dial things back due to covid, my honest hope for the 2022 season would be them sprinkling kiddie rides or more family rides around the park. Even if they were temporary for a couple seasons, I think it would help because the number of rides for younger kids certainly just took a real kick in the gut. 

These three elves were a ton of fun to watch

    I did see some different food options from past seasons. While I didn't try any of them I cannot recall seeing buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese at Metro Grill and I know there was not a smokehouse selling sausage kabobs between Nitro and Batman: The Ride. I didn't pop into Granny's to see if they had the jerk chicken sandwich again, but Yum Yum Cafe just had their standard menu. There is a new stainless steel refillable mug though that is good for this season and next. Apparently it is for both hot and cold beverages, but I cant see myself carrying it around the park since it doesn't have a handle and I didn't see any koozies for them that you can put around your neck like the sport bottles. Still though they did look really cool. There was a surprisingly limited amount of Holiday in the Park merchandise. Honestly I'm pretty sure I saw more Six Flags Halloween merchandise still out than Holiday in the Park despite Holiday in the Park going on for a couple weeks now. What I did see in the games, but not in stores was pillows for the different rides!!!! If you read here frequently you know I've been begging for Six Flags to put out merchandise for their rides (especially the less popular and older). I couldn't help but be excited seeing pillows for Skull Mountain and Runaway Mine Train alongside ones for Safari Off Road Adventure and Kingda Ka. I really hope that is a sign of things to come, but for now that was the only place I saw anything like that outside of the usual merchandise for El Toro, Kinga Ka, Zumanjaro, Nitro, and Jersey Devil surprisingly. Even in the newly reopened Six Flags Universe, ride merchandise was hard to come by.

Six Flags Universe looks nice at night, still looks like Bugs Bunny though

Tons of Six Flags shirts and other random graphic shirts

There once was a tree and semi wall of Hannah Barbara plushies here

More Runaway Mine Train mech please

DC mugs and Tervis for sale

More Skull Mountain merch please

Safety

     It's still strange to me that I need to put a safety section in these blogs. Compared to last trip I felt 100% safer. Just about everybody was following the social distancing rules, wearing masks, and acting appropriately. Through the summer and especially during Hollowfest, I saw so many videos and pictures of the place looking more like a fight club than anything else. I watched one video of a fight somehow happening in the staff only area of Batman: The Ride. While that guy was recording a fight broke out near him on Nitro's station platform. I've seen a video of a group of people jumping over the railings onto the bumper cars and basically brawling on the bumper cars. The signage around the park about zero tolerance for marijuana and unruly behavior is not there for no reason. I'm in quite a few Great Adventure social media groups and many people have reported the place frequently smelt like weed and there was nowhere near enough security to handle all the problems. This is why I have not gone back to the park since July. The last time I was there I gave the visit a C and stated that a lot of the safety protocols seemed to have gone out the window. 

These signs were not at the park last time I visited. Due to a spike of drug use and violence in the park, it became a wild summer and Hallowfest. Not the case so far with Holiday in the Park

    I am so, so happy to say that that was not the case on this visit. People were respectful, distanced appropriately, and even in the maskless areas, people were being smart. The crowd was completely different. I know I cannot compare the day after Thanksgiving to any day in July, but I can confirm that there was no need for state troopers on horseback patrolling the park as there was during Hollowfest and there was no need for a checkpoint at the exit where dozens of arrests and tickets were issued for all kinds of problems. If you were waiting for a safe time to go, I'd say now is the time. I don't know how things will proceed as we get closer to the holidays, but if my trip was any indication, now is the time for families to go and enjoy the park with little fear.

Wrap Up

    So what do I give this trip to Six Flags Great Adventure Holiday in the Park? I give it a massive A+. The park looks beautiful as it always does during Holiday in the Park. The returning areas and themes still look great and you can still tell that Six Flags actually puts effort into it. The shows may be gone this year and I didn't see anyone singing, but the traveling acts certainly help to keep the spirit of the season alive. The food is your standard Six Flags stuff, but there is still a sprinkling of exclusive holiday treats and meals to try out. There are at least thirty rides open, but as  is always the case during Holiday in the Park, El Toro, Kingda Ka, Bizarro, Tango, Runaway Mine Train, and Zumanjaro Drop of Doom are all closed. Cyborg Cyber Spin was also closed as it has been all season, but apparently it was seen testing a little bit last week. Still not convinced it's going to be here for long though. So, do yourself a favor and head on out to Holiday in the Park. It was a great experience and I will be doing my best to get out there again! In fact, there was one final surprise on this visit. As I walked out of the park Superman Ultimate Flight was broken down. Truly a sign of the crowd, Let it Go from Disney's Frozen was playing in the station. As loud as the music was you could hear what had to be everyone at the station singing along. One staff member could even be seen doing some of Elsa's hand motions. It was really heartwarming to see during a ride breakdown. As always, thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!

Motionless and unlit, Cyborg Cyber Spin's future remains up in the air

Just not quite as high as Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth

So long from Holiday in the Park!

Six Flags Great Adventure: Drive Thru Holiday in the Park

Hello everyone! Yesterday Six Flags Great Adventure hit us all with some exciting news. The Holiday in the Park festivities are going to be expanded to include the whole week! The park itself will be open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for it's usual Holiday in the Park festivities. This means that you can still catch some late season rides on Nitro, Batman: The Ride, Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth, Superman: Ultimate Flight, among others. As is always the case, Bizarro, El' Toro, and Kingda Ka are not open during Holiday in the Park (mostly for operating reasons from what I understand). So with the rides open during the weekend, you may be wondering what is new and exciting for the week. Allow me to take you back to the year 2003. Six Flags Great Adventure was host to a special holiday event called Winter Lights. This was a drive thru event where guests would drive through the parking lots where all kinds of holiday lights were displayed. While I have no pictures of it I can still remember going to this drive-thru experience. The local Jackson area even got involved if I recall correctly with the nearby Jackson Outlets and Wawa getting their own displays. There were even displays for the dolphins and sea lions that lived in the park at the time. It was a really neat experience that I always wished came back until Six Flags started the Holiday in the Park event. Winter Lights only ran for two seasons (2002-2003 and 2003-2004), but it was certainly impressive enough to still be lodged in my head from before I was even in highschool. Why am I brining up Winter Lights you may ask? Because Six Flags's big announcement is the return of a drive thru holiday light experience. Starting on November 30th, 2020 Six Flags will introduce a drive thru version of Holiday in the Park. Ever adapting to the current state of the pandemic, Six Flags in introducing a new for families to experience Holiday in the Park. Guests will (I think for the first time?) be able to drive their vehicles through the park and experience over a million holiday lights just as you would on foot if you visited during the weekend when the park is open. Six Flags posted this image on social media of what the drive will look like...

    It appears that vehicles will enter through the catering area and emerge into the park itself by Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. I do want to point out that Cyborg Cyber Spin is not on this map. Rumors have been flying about it's imminent removal, but that's for another time... From there drivers will drive over the Metropolis Bridge into the Movietown area (whose Holiday name is blurry on this for some reason) past Batman: The Ride and into the North Pole section which appears to encompass Granny's, one of the Skyway stations, and Santa's Workshop. Cars will then proceed through the path by Big Wheel and into the Main Street Christmas area. Surprisingly the cars will almost get to the regular entrance gate before snaking through the Marketplace (by Houdini's Great Escape and the Carosuel) and crossing the path along the Skyway that leads to Skull Mountain aka Poinsettia Peak. The path continues past Harley Quinn's Crazy Train and The Joker (Holly Jolly Christmas Area. Cars will then travel the lakefront (Joy to the World area) before heading down Gingerbread Junction (the Boardwalk area) and the Deck the Halls area (by the Twister, Superman: Ultimate Flight, and Green Lantern) before exiting to the right of Superman: Ultimate Flight.

    I for one am super happy to see Six Flags doing this. Given the pandemic, this is a great way to bring money into the park, but to have a way for people who are more worried about the pandemic to enioy Holiday in the Park. I know so many people who will not go into the park still due to concerns about COVID-19, but at work today this drive thru experience was a pretty hot topic. So whether you feel comfortable in going to the park for Holiday in the Park on the weekend or if not, there is at least a way for you to now enjoy the many, many lights that are sure to brighten your holiday spirit. For more information on this drive thru experience, please visit sixflags.com or check out Six Flags Great Adventure on the various social media outlets. 

    That's all I've got for today. Something exciting coming out of Six Flags at a time where nobody really knows much of anything that is going on in the day to day world. As always, thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon! 

Fast Tracking Projects Pandemic Style

    Hello everyone! I hope all is well with all of you. Today we will be revisiting the upcoming reimagining of the fan favorite attraction, Splash Mountain. Earlier this year Disney announced that they will be reimagining Splash Mountain, which is currently based off the movie Song of the South, into an attraction based on The Princess and the Frog. Fans had and continue to have all kinds of mixed feelings on this reimagining. On one side of the fence you have those who believe that the ride should be changed due to the racist nature of Song of the South. On the other you have fans who believe that Splash Mountain, while using characters and songs from Song of the South, is a totally innocent ride that should be left alone as the characters and songs have appeared in quite a few other forms of Disney entertainment around the parks. 

    Since the announcement of the reimagining, Disney has been pretty well, confusing, about their stand in regards to the controversy surrounding the ride. On one hand they have acknowledged the issues with Song of the South and label the movie a product of it's time and have done their best to bury it. Recently Disney has gone as far as removing the popular Song of the South songs from the parks (outside of inside Splash Mountain itself). Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah in particular had become almost the theme of the Disney parks, but now it has all but vanished. While continuing to remove references to the movie from the parks, Disney has also come out with nothing short of a ton of new merchandise for the ride that has been deemed offensive by many people. It's strange to me to see that happening. It's not really as strange to me to see that Splash Mountain is seeing a massive surge in popularity as people try to get one last ride in despite the apparent offensive nature by some to the ride. Still, even more confusing to me is the statement that the reimagining of Splash Mountain will now be fast tracked.

    Here's what I do not understand, but have an idea on. In a time where so many project have been put on hold, where so many projects have been cancelled or altered, in a time where resources are being shifted all over the place, and most importantly, in a time where cast member layoffs are all over the place, why is this attraction being fast tracked? Why is Disney suddenly making the retheming of Splash Mountain a priority as opposed to it being an idea in the pipeline? I have a couple ideas as to why, but admittingly they could be completely off base.

    My biggest theory and honestly my most feared is that this is going to end up being a cheaply done retheming. The ride itself is going to remain the same, that much we know. Disney is not going to be leveling the mountain and remaking the ride. So what needs to be paid for is the removal of the Splash Mountain theme and adding in of whatever The Princess and the Frog theme they are going with. My feelings are that this is going to be done in a cheap way. Splash Mountain is home to a lot of animatronics. If you take a real good look on that ride you may be surprised as to just how many there are, especially in a water ride. My thoughts are the number of those that you will see on the new ride will be very few and far between. Those little and big robots are expensive after-all. So what will replace them? The answer is something that is now being used more and more in the new Disney park attractions, screens. Screens that may be initially expensive to install, but then will not require maintenance. Will we see animatronics at all? Yes I think we will. I think we'll get a Tiana and a Louis. Beyond that though, I'm not really sure. Compared to other projects going on right now, this makes the retheming of Splash Mountain very cheap and easy to do.

    My other theory is that Disney is trying to gauge what people want and what is going to keep them looking better during this pandemic. This kind of ties into the divide between fans regarding the retheming as a whole. On one side, you have a large number of fans that want to see this attraction closed down asap and rethemed to a more inclusive one. On the other, you have a large number of fans that want to see the attraction stick around for as long as possible. Jammed in the middle are people like myself that would rather see projects already underway that have been delayed (Tron, Guardians of the Galaxy, EPCOT as a whole) realized and at least have an end in sight. These people would also like to see Disney start bringing back cast members that have been let go sooner rather than later. Right now, the loudest crowd is the crowd that wants Splash Mountain changed, therefore it becomes more of a priority because the last thing that Disney wants right now is for them to be seen as racist for keeping the ride for a longer period of time (though it could be argued that the company is just that for even having the ride open at this point and cranking out new merchandise for it). 

    So this where we are apparently at. At a time where other theme parks around the country, big or small, are fighting to keep staff and make it through, Disney is aiming at fast tracking a new attraction while putting other projects on hold. Really I think it does come down to the cheapest options. Disney World's 50th anniversary is fast approaching and the pandemic has certainly thrown a wrench in those plans. Whether or not Splash Mountain is a part of the festivities remains to be seen, but one thing is perfectly clear. It is not going to be around as long as we originally thought and one would think we will start getting more information soon. What will happen to the divide then? Who knows, but all I know is that both sides agree on one thing. The Princess and the Frog is certainly deserving of an attraction in the Disney Parks and either way I am excited, yet nervous to see what we end up getting. 

    Thank you all so much for reading and stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!

Personal Update Blog

    Hello everyone. I guess I should start this blog off by saying welcome, or welcome back to anyone who may be reading this. I started this blog back in March of 2019 as a way to get my love of  the Disney parks out into space. Since then the blog grew into other medias of Disney such as video games and I also added my home park of Six Flags Great Adventure to the mix as well. I was having a really fun time typing these up regardless of number of page views. After all a lot of people treat blogs like a journal. Somewhere to simply type up thoughts. Whether or not people read it at the end of the day is irrelevant as monetization, popularity within the Disney community, etc is not even close to the reason I'm doing this. That said I cannot say how much I appreciate everyone who reads these crazy thoughts and things I put out there. 

    Back in mid August I ran into a really dark time. I walked away from virtually everything. Eventually I walked away from this blog as well. When I typed that blog I mentioned that it wouldn't be a permanent departure, but for a while I honestly had no intention on returning. I knew I had to do something to try to get some joy back into my life so I actually started streaming video games on Twitch with the same philosophy as I have here. Just put it out there. If someone watches, comments, etc., great! If not that's okay too since I started doing it because it is something I always wanted to do more regularly. I've been streaming stuff mostly on the Nintendo Switch, but have the ability to stream all kinds of consoles which is where my gaming life has largely always been so I've been very excited about that. Then something else happened. 

    When news broke of all the entertainment layoffs at Walt Disney World something kicked back on inside me. Like many, many other Disney fans my heart broke and continues to hurt for all of those entertainers whom had brought just an untold number of smiles to people's faces both young and old. I was angered that the company had restored the salaries of it's executives yet more and more people are being let go by the company in a time where not only is a pandemic gripping the world, but a time where many other smaller companies are doing all they can to protect their employees livelihoods. I get it's older news now, but for the first time in months I had the urge to jump on and just type. I didn't act on it though.

    Since then I've kept thinking and realized how much I had fallen off the train with all the things I really enjoy in life and really how lucky I am to have them. Yes, I found a new way to enjoy gaming, but the rest remained out to lunch as we like to say in the vet world. Several Disney movies remain wrapped and on a shelf. My Disney Parks playlist sat with no plays since early September and outside of Hamilton, I couldn't remember the last time I even listened to Disney music. I didn't visit Hallowfest at Six Flags once (partially due to where I was, but also it was basically sold out) either. I basically lost most of my identity. I also started to really look at how fortunate I am.

    With all of this realized I am now here. The term on the mental mend is probably the best way I can describe myself right now. As I type this I have the Disney Hits Spotify channel playing in the background and I cant help but feel comfortable (outside of When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2... Auto-skip). I guess the whole point of this blog is that I am coming back. It's probably safe to say that I will not be doing a ton of blogs to "catch up". I probably wont be diving right back in to any big projects either, but just starting out small and building back to those projects. 

    To close this out I just want to say if you are going through a really tough time in your life... a time where you feel just completely alone with no one to turn to, or that no one would care just reach out. Reach out to a friend, a family member, or a group on the internet. You never know where you will find someone who will just listen and offer an encouraging word. It doesn't sound like much, but over time those words begin to take a hold and the world slowly becomes less dark. It may not happen fast. It may take weeks, months, who knows (months admittingly for me). I'm not trying to say what has been said a million times over by experts or anything like that. I'm typing this because I am living it right here and now. So hold on. Go the distance. Let your life begin (again) cause at the end of that day no one, not even yourself knows how far you'll go. On that same page, if you think a friend is not doing well, say something. Not everyone is able to bring themselves to be that person to reach out (me) and may need that hand extended first. You never know what you can save by doing that, and if you are a friend of a Disney cast member who has been recently let go, I implore you to reach out. 

    Thank you so much for reading and for the first time in a while, stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!

Temporary Hiatus

    Hello everyone and welcome back. By now you've probably noticed that I have not been posting much as of late. I've had some things come up in life that has really caused me to put blogging on hold. Unfortunately at this point I feel like I need to put this blog on hold. This is not going to be goodbye by any means. I'm hoping that this will be short lived and I'll be back much sooner rather than later. In the mean time though I want to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to read even just one of these blogs. I have really enjoyed throwing my thoughts on the topics covered out into the open. Whether or not people respond to them is fine, it's just fun for me to put them out there. 

    I also really want to let you all know that things continue to evolve due to covid-19 in both the Disney Parks and Six Flags. Please continue to visit news sites such as wdwnt.com for breaking Disney Parks news and other fun activities. I also want to direct you to sixflags.com where you can find news on Hallowfest 2020. Unfortunately I'm not going to be covering any details right now on it, but Hallowfest will be replacing Fright Fest at Six Flags Great Adventure for the 2020 season. Once again, thank you all so much and stay tuned for the next blog! It won't be coming real soon, but I am so looking forward to the day where I can put the nose to the grind here again.

    

My Reaction to Mulan (2020) Coming to Disney Plus

    Hello everyone and welcome to a quick reaction blog. News broke a few days ago the the live action adaptation of Mulan will be skipping theaters in areas where Disney Plus is currently offered. The film is currently set to release on Disney Plus on September 4th, about six months from it's original planned release date. Recently Disney Plus has added some pretty heavy hitters such as Hamilton and soon The Greatest Showman to it's lineup, so at first I was honestly pretty hyped about the thought of Mulan landing on the service.

    Then came the reality that I personally had worried about since covid-19 brought the movie industry to a screeching halt. Mulan will indeed be on Disney Plus, but as premium content that will cost viewers $30 to watch. The good news is once you pay the thirty, you can watch the movie as many times as you want.  Now I could be wrong, but I have read reports that if you let your Disney Plus subscription expire, you also let your opportunity to watch Mulan expire. Eventually one would think it will be added to it's base catalog anyway, but until it is, it seems pretty crappy to me that you'd pay thirty for it and then not be able to watch it. Basically you are paying thirty dollars to simply unlock the movie. You don't actually get to own the movie.

    Many people are freaking out over the thirty dollar price tag. Personally I think it is a bit steep as well. For families I totally get it. Four people going to see a movie can easily be well over thirty dollars before all the tickets are even purchased, but for people like me who basically watch movies by themselves, I just cannot see the worth in watching any movie for that amount of money without actually owning it. I get that Disney needs to make up as much of the money that they've lost with this movie. I totally understand it as the company continues to battle with the movie industry being still largely halted and Disneyland California still not being able to open. For me though, it is just too much of a price tag for a movie that already seems to be quite debatable in its quality with critics being split on whether it's good or bad from early screenings and fans being all too aware of the things omitted from the animated original. That last bit I find kind of comical as so many of these remakes are looked down on for being too close to the original, yet here is one that appears to be doing something different and it's already being looked down on for not being the same as the original. 

   My biggest concern though with this is the experiment itself. Disney CEO Bob Chapek has said that this is a one time occurrence and that this is not the strategy for new movies going forward. That said, this is one hundred percent an experiment. If Mulan releases and makes an absolute killing on Disney Plus compared to what the company had hoped for, it is going to happen again. I don't know if it will happen with Marvel's Black Widow, but you can bet that Disney and other movie companies are going to be watching this very, very closely. Several studios have already skipped out on releasing certain movies in theaters, and understandably so given covid, but once the theaters are open then what? Say this goes super well for the company, will they see theaters as irrelevant and utilize this thirty dollar fee on Disney Plus instead? I would like to think the answer to that is no, but with the world ever rapidly changing, it wouldn't come as a shock to me at all. News has been breaking that Disney is also ending their 4K HD Blu Ray releases of its movies. So if that's not a sign of changes coming, I don't know what is. 

    The bottom line for me is that while I am glad that Mulan is finally going to get to be seen, for me personally the price is just too much. If I had a family I could justify it by thinking about how much it costs me to go to the movies, but for someone who doesn't have that I can't use that. I also can't help but think that if the movie gets released on regular Blu Ray or DVD that I can actually own it for less and not have it tied to a subscription. I hope the movie does well, but not well enough that Disney sees this as the way of the future. As always, thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!   

Then and Now: A Great Adventure Part 3: The Early Six Flags Years

    Hello everyone and welcome to blog three of this multi blog series looking at the history of Six Flags Great Adventure. If you haven't checked out the first two blogs you can view the first here and the second here. We left off at the end of the last blog where Six Flags had purchased Great Adventure and was ready to turn the park from just being a park in the woods of New Jersey to a powerhouse in the theme park world. It would take years for the park to become what it is today and the Six Flags era kickoff would signal the parks ultimate direction.

    1978 would be the first season that Great Adventure would be known as Six Flags Great Adventure. With new ownership the park would see quite a few changes. Several original attractions were removed from the park and new ones rose up to take their place. By the end of the 1978 season, Six Flags Great Adventure held steady at thirty five rides, but the thrills started to pick up. With change though came the loss of a few popular attractions. Enterprise, Dream Street Dazzler (originally called Pretty Monster in 1974), and Wild Rider (Wild Flower in 1975). Keep in mind that several of the attractions from 1975 were leased to the park with options to buy. Enterprise and Wild Rider were both cases of Six Flags simply not picking up the buy option. The biggest surprise though came with the closure of Big Fury. It isn't exactly known why Big Fury was removed from the park in 1978, but it's possible that it's lease had expired as well and Six Flags chose not to purchase the ride. 

    While the removal of Big Fury surely confused many park-goers it was quickly replaced by Wild Rider. Wild Rider, much like Big Fury was a cat and mouse style roller coaster that became very popular in the park. This was an interesting choice by Six Flags to bring in another cat and mouse style coaster as their popularity within larger theme parks was very much on the decline as they were more and more becoming known as fairground attractions. It's almost as if they upgraded the ride by replacing the ride? Much like Big Fury the individual cars looked like actual cars and the ride featured sharp turns and small drops. 

    In addition to Wild Rider, several new flat rides were brought in. Close Encounters (a Scrambler) and Monster Spin (a Monster Spin type ride) further increased the park's capacity. Alpen Blitz was closed permanently during the summer and by fall a walk-through Haunted House trailer too its place. Originally this attraction was only open at night, but due to it being overwhelmingly popular it ended up being open during the day as well. The attraction opened at the end of September, 1978 and was so popular that Six Flags decided to move forward with a more permanent attraction for the future. The house featured popular horror characters such as Dracula and a butcher scene. Similar to the terror trails of Fright Fest, ghouls would be in the house to frighten anyone who dared to enter. The attraction was temporary however and was removed after the season ended. 

East River Crawler, the sister to Monster Spin

    Perhaps the largest change to the park was the addition of it's first launch steel coaster, Lightnin' Loops. This coaster debuted to wild popularity and was located around where Batman stands today. Lightnin' Loops gave many people their first opportunity at experiencing inversions on a roller coaster. The train would launch from the station, go through a loop, climb a hill, stop, then do the whole thing backwards. Here is where Six Flags really stepped in. Rather than simply add this launch steel coaster, they stepped it up to get the first interlocking loops. Yes, Lightnin' Loops had two tracks that interlocked at the loops. Both tracks were able to launch at the same time, creating some really awesome looking images of the trains essentially circling each other. While the ride was able to do this, it was not a common occurrence. Unlike other dueling style coasters, Lightnin' Loops wasn't designed to be a race. Rather each track essentially operated as its own ride with the possibility that both could launch at the same time. As far as speed went, Lightnin' Loops would launch riders into the loop at forty five miles per hour to ensure the ride could get through the loop and up the hill to the next launch or station. 

    Lightnin' Loops will always be a major part of Six Flags Great Adventure's history. It blew riders away. It was the first time people in this area really could experience anything like it. It was one of the first ultimate thrill rides that Six Flags loves to focus on. During it's debut season it frequently had waits that exceeded an hour, tame by today's standards with some rides, but for the time.... That's pretty long. With this new coaster, Six Flags made a statement that the future would be quite thrilling for their newest park. 

    Along with the new rides came other new forms of entertainment. Firework displays would shoot off front the lake next to the fort at night. While these fireworks were small due to the location of where they were shooting off from, it gave visitors reason to stay into the night. Halloweekends kicked off for the fall as the park began it's Halloween celebrations with the main attraction being the Haunted House. Another new form of entertainment came in the Americana Music Hall where various stage shows would be able to take place. This theater continue to operate today as the Showcase Theater and is currently used for both Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park as well as various school arts competitions. All in all Six Flags's first year heading Great  Adventure was a success. While the number of rides didn't increase, the quality did and the thrill factor jumped substantially largely due to Lightnin' Loops. Other changes that were made in the park were certainly confusing to park goers at the time (lookin at you Wild Rider). Whatever the case, Six Flags's debut season in the park certainly did lay the framework for the future. 

    For it's sophomore year (1979), Six Flags had big plans in place for Great Adventure. As the park continued to grow and expand, Six Flags established a new area of the park adjacent to Kiddie Kingdom. This area would be known as Hernando's Hideaway. The area would have a southwest theme that included new rides, restaurants, and attractions. More changes would come in the form of additional rides around the park, new entertainment offerings, new animal experiences for the safari in the form of Australian animals and big cats (don't worry we will get to the safari in a later blog) and a miniature golf course. All of these new additions would continue to increase the park's capacity.

    Six Flags Great Adventure 1979 season would be one that goes down in history as one of the better in terms of growth and one that would have lasting impacts on the park in its attractions. The new Hernando's Hideaway area encompassed what is the modern day Golden Kingdom and Plaza de Carnaval. Many of the attractions that were built in this area are still operating today. The Hernando's Hide-a-Way arcade still exists as Fiesta Games. Goya Food Stand is now operating as Kingdom Gyro. The biggest of the food locations was La Cantina which is now operating as Macho Nacho. Another meaningful food change in the park was Fountain Hamburgers being renamed to Great American Hamburgers.

    The number of rides for the 1979 season further increased to 38. New attractions included a more permanent Haunted House. This time around the house was twice the size and was themed as more of a haunted castle, and went under the name of Haunted Castle Across the Moat. This time around the frights were bigger and also included a mirror maze. Another popular carnival flat ride, a Tilt A Whirl, as well as a new Enterprise further rounded out the flat rides in the park.When it came to flat rides, one left the park in the form of Supercat. 

The new Enterprise, later known as Spinmeister.

 The park also removed two kiddie rides and added four. Most importantly though, Six Flags Great Adventure debuted another history making roller coaster in the form of Rolling Thunder. 

    To fans of Six Flags Great Adventure, Rolling Thunder needs no introduction. Roller Thunder debuted as the largest ride in the park. It would be a wooden roller coaster with adjacent tracks that allowed riders on one track to race riders on the other. The tracks were slightly different, but were the same length of 3,200 feet. The ride stood at a maximum height 96 feet and featured a drop of 85 feet. While it may seem slow by today's standards, Rolling Thunder also debuted as the fastest ride in the park with speeds reaching fifty six miles per hour. One small special effect that existed in the rides debut season were bright lights that would flash to simulate lightning flashes and the sign outside the park would make thunder sounds. Rolling Thunder opened to wild popularity. Long lines for both tracks were not uncommon at all. The ride would end up going down in Six Flags Great Adventure history as one of most popular rides. It would get a few safety upgrades through the years, but for the most part Rolling Thunder would remain the same ride as when it debuted throughout it's lengthy life. Directly in front of Rolling Thunder would be the kiddie ride, Screamer, which was renamed Lil Thunder for the 1979 season. 

Roller Thunder before El Toro was built (1997)

Rolling Thunder post El Toro opening (2012)

    With Rolling Thunder and Lightnin' Loops leading the way, Six Flags Great Adventure was starting to make a case as quite the thrilling park. The park continued to both grow and expand. What was once a small family theme park in the woods was starting to transform into a thrill park. The 1980's would continue to see the park grow and debut more new rides, restaurants, and other forms of entertainment. With the early years of Six Flags Great Adventure now in the books, it was time for the company to push hard at making the park a powerhouse. Would the park flourish or would a series of disasters set the park back and ultimately cause Six Flags to question it's very existence? 

   Thank you once again for reading! For more information on the early Six Flags years of Great Adventure please visit greatadventurehistory.com. There is so much good information on that website that goes into the history of the individual seasons more than I am on here. They also have a really awesome spotlight on Rolling Thunder! The next installment of this blog series will look at the early 80's!