It's that time of year again! The time of year where Six Flags announces what is coming to their theme parks for the 2024 season! Six Flags has some big plans for one of it's biggest and most popular parks, Six Flags Great Adventure! The park will be celebrating it's 50th anniversary and the party is looking to be pretty impressive already! Let's take a deep dive into what was announced and see just how great of an adventure awaits us in 2024.
The highlight announcement is The Flash: Vertical Velocity roller coaster. Great Adventure is no stranger to unique and record braking rides and this new coaster will be yet another unique attraction. In fact, this coaster will be the first of it's kind in the western hemisphere! The Flash: Vertical Velocity is going to be a super boomerang coaster that will reach speeds of 59 miles per hour, launches, reverse movement, inversions, and much more. For an idea on what this ride is going to look like, check out this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC3LWEpHBj8&t=116s . Of course a new coaster coming to the park is great news and a first of it's kind in the west will surely help to attract many thrill seeking guests. The news did not come without controversy though as the ride's location has been called into question. The ride will be constructed in the area that is currently occupied by the catering area stretching to the path that runs along Cyborg: Cyber Spin and perhaps the Aftermath Fright Fest Trail.
As you can see in the concept art at https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/attractions/the-flash-vertical-velocity , the ride is going to potentially lead to the closure of the path connecting the Metropolis/Movie Town area to one of the park's main paths. The bigger controversy, and understandably so, is that the ride appears to also take up the area of the former Haunted Castle attraction that burned down and killed eight teenagers in 1984. No ride has been built on that ground and this season debuted an arboretum nearby the site that many guests view as an unofficial memorial. Many people seem to believe the ride is doomed to fail due to the grounds being haunted, but my take on the ride itself is as follows. This ride is going to be crazy. If you watch the video I linked above you can get but a taste of what this thing is going to do. My biggest concern is the ride capacity. Will the single train be able to keep up with demand, or is this ride going to end up with consistently long wait times. Time will tell, but overall this is an A+ addition to the park.
The classics are getting some love! The Sawmill Log Flume took the year off this year to undergo some serious maintenance. Throughout the season parts of the flume were missing and it's clear that Six Flags is doing a lot of work on the ride. The fully refurbished flume will re-open next season! Speaking of a classic, Big Wheel is also getting some love. It's been several years since Big Wheel illuminated the night at Great Adventure. The park recently announced that Big Wheel will be refurbished and will once again light the night sky in 2024. I love both of these announcements. Both aging attractions really needed the love and I am especially excited to see the new lighting package on Big Wheel as it has been far too long that that ride has sat in the dark.
Next up in a surprise return. For the first time since the pandemic started, Safari Off Road Adventure will return! This ride will once again take the place of Six Flags Wild Safari. It's a move that is being greeted with both cheers and jeers. On one hand, a lot of people really enjoyed the ability to drive through the safari. Wild Safari offered a really cozy way for families to enjoy the animals from the comfort of their own car with a digital guided tour to guide the way. On the other hand, people simply did not follow directions. I've heard multiple reports of people reaching out their windows at the animals, speeding in the safari, and even throwing things at the animals. Needless to say that if nothing else, for the safety of the animals, reverting to Safari Off Road Adventure is a good move. This is not going to just be the same Safari Off Road Adventure though.
The classics are getting some love! The Sawmill Log Flume took the year off this year to undergo some serious maintenance. Throughout the season parts of the flume were missing and it's clear that Six Flags is doing a lot of work on the ride. The fully refurbished flume will re-open next season! Speaking of a classic, Big Wheel is also getting some love. It's been several years since Big Wheel illuminated the night at Great Adventure. The park recently announced that Big Wheel will be refurbished and will once again light the night sky in 2024. I love both of these announcements. Both aging attractions really needed the love and I am especially excited to see the new lighting package on Big Wheel as it has been far too long that that ride has sat in the dark.
Next up in a surprise return. For the first time since the pandemic started, Safari Off Road Adventure will return! This ride will once again take the place of Six Flags Wild Safari. It's a move that is being greeted with both cheers and jeers. On one hand, a lot of people really enjoyed the ability to drive through the safari. Wild Safari offered a really cozy way for families to enjoy the animals from the comfort of their own car with a digital guided tour to guide the way. On the other hand, people simply did not follow directions. I've heard multiple reports of people reaching out their windows at the animals, speeding in the safari, and even throwing things at the animals. Needless to say that if nothing else, for the safety of the animals, reverting to Safari Off Road Adventure is a good move. This is not going to just be the same Safari Off Road Adventure though.
Previously, Safari Off Road Adventure loaded at the station by the log flume. This will still be the case for guests inside the park. This time around though there will be a separate station at the entrance of Wild Safari where guests who are not in the park will be able to board. How will that work with parking and what not, I'm not quite sure, but I am glad that the park is giving an option to those who want to experience the safari without having to pay to get into the park itself. What the price will be for Safari Off Road Adventure outside of the park has not been announced. Best of all though is that the real time guided tours are back. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Safari Off Road Adventure was a better experience than the current format of Disney's Kilimanjaro Safari. Yes, Disney's theming is better, but Six Flags takes the cake with species variety and tour guides that not only encourage rider participation, but perform for a solid 45 minutes on those trucks. That's not even mentioning the team members at Camp Adventura that have historically always been incredibly passionate about the animals they teach about.
We're not done yet with the safari either! New for 2024 will be Savannah Sunset Resort and Spa! This luxury glamping experience takes the safari overnight program and turns it into a literal premium experience. There is not many details, but Great Adventure is advertising the resort as quite the camping experience. The experience is complete with VIP dining (hard to say what that means with Six Flag's track record with food), a fully functional spa, and staying in a luxury canvas tent (which is the concept art appears to have electric running in it as well). More details are sure to come on this experience, but it certainly does sound like a unique and potentially fun thing for animal lovers to do.
In addition to all these new and refurbished attractions, Six Flags Great Adventure wants to make it's guests part of the 50th anniversary. Guests are able to purchase an engraved brick that will become part of a new path from the park's original entrance. This is very similar to what Disney had outside of The Magic Kingdom outside of Disney World. Guests are also able to purchase a replica brick of the brick that will be installed in the park. I think this is a nice little idea, not the most original, but a great call back to the early days of the park. Bricks can be purchased here... https://4everbricks.com/donors/sfgas/
Finally, we officially know what the logo for the 5r0th anniversary will look like. Drum roll please...
Personally I love this logo. It has a very classic Great Adventure feel to it which I'm a big fan of. So what else is going on for the 50th? For now this is what we know. One would hope that the park would have a bunch of 50th anniversary merchandise and I personally would love to see some more, possibly even throwback entertainment and more fireworks. Of course I would like a repeat of this season's attention to detail with their festivals too. Yes, I'm looking directly at the Flavors of the World Festival that I thought the park did an incredible job with.
Next year is looking like a great season for the park! For now though the focus becomes Fright Fest. What fun spooky times await? I'll be sure to give a report on what I do there! For more information on this year's Fright Fest happenings visit https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/events/fright-fest-2023 . Stay tuned to Six Flags Great Adventure's social media pages and website as well as those will be the places to check out as the park inches closer to it's 50th anniversary. Thanks for reading and be well!
