End of Summer Road Trip Part 2 – Six Flags Great Adventure!

Tweet

Rollercoasters? Yes, please!

Due to several flood related detours, we finally arrived at Six Flags Great Adventure. Billy was like a kid at Christmas, he could not wait to jump out of the car and rush the park and I was right there behind him!

We walked sprinted through the main gates and headed straight for our number one priority; Kingda Ka!

We maneuvered our way through some light crowds and on our last turn and straight away to the entrance of Kingda Ka, we see a sign that says Kingda Ka – CLOSED. NO!!!

Later on we found out that Kingda Ka has been closed since Hurricane Irene came through the area. Some sort of wires were damaged during the storm and the park does not have an E.T.A. of when it will be back up and running. Bummer!

Although we were a little disappointed, we decided we would make the best of our trip so we headed towards our number two must ride roller coaster in Six Flags Great Adventure; El Toro!

El Toro

El Toro is a beast of a roller coaster. It has the second steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the world at 76 degrees! It’s also the third tallest (188 ft), and the third fastest(70mph) wooden roller coaster in the world.

Although there was an hour wait ahead of us due to some technical difficulties with the ride, we decided to wait it out and grab front row seats on El Toro. Neither myself or Billy had any idea what El Toro had in store for us. When the ride was over we looked over at each other like “Wow, there’s no way we’re leaving the park today without riding this one again”.

Green Lantern

Next we made our way over to Six Flags newest roller coaster called Green Lantern. This coaster would be myself and Billy’s first time riding a 15 story high steel coaster all while STANDING UP! Yes, you actually stand up during the entire duration of the ride! I loved Green Lantern while Billy preferred our next coaster called Superman Ultimate Flight which was located right next to Green Lantern.

Superman Ultimate Flight

Superman Ultimate Flight was the third of many coasters that we conquered that day. It was also myself and Billy’s first time on a coaster that you lie down on. Upon boarding the Ultimate flight you sit down in a sit as you normally would. Next, your car moves in a 45 degree angle in order to bring your feet from the ground to behind you as if you were flying like superman. For the rest of the ride you’re flying around face first at 51mph through loops, twists and 115 ft drops. The one thing I didn’t like about this ride was that it felt too slow. I like fast coasters, ones that tear you around the track full speed versus speeding up, and then slowing down, then speeding up, etc. The whole experience of lying down was the best part about Superman Ultimate Flight.

Picking up a Friend!

After Superman we headed back to the park entrance where we met my friend Aubrey who would be joining us on the coasters for the rest of the day. At first I thought she might be intimidated of myself and Billy’s obsession with roller coasters because when we hit the parks we go for front row on every coaster. Today we were on a streak, every single roller coaster we rode, we had a front row seat! This wasn’t going to change anytime soon either.

When we told Aubrey which roller coasters we would hit next she quickly understood that we were on a mission to take out every roller coaster in the park and she was just about as excited about it as we were! What a trooper…

With Aubrey in tow, we hit up the following coasters:

• Skull Mountain
• The Dark Knight
• Batman The Ride
• Nitro
• Runaway Mine Train
• Bizarro
• …and last but not least we finished off our night with El Toro in the pitch dark!

Conclusion:

We were initially disappointed that we had made the trip down to Six Flags Great Adventure only to find out that Kingda Ka was closed but that quickly changed after riding El Toro for the first time. We will certainly be back to New Jersey, even if it’s only to ride Kingda Ka!

The park itself wasn’t super busy and we liked that because we were able to take on pretty much every roller coaster in the park within an 8 or 9 hour span. There’s nothing like a busy park when you’re waiting in a two hour line to ride a 60 second coaster. Yuck! We did that a few weeks ago at Six Flags New England. Yes, we waited two hours to ride Bizarro at night. Sure, the wait sucked but that 60 seconds of insanity sent us home on a good note.

Food was outrageously expensive as usual. A small plate of chicken tenders and french fries will set you back $11. Add a Vitamin Water to that for another $4. Asinine? Yep…

Overall, Billy and I concluded that Six Flags Great Adventure blows Six Flags New England away in so many ways. The sheer amount of great roller coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure trumps mostly everything about Six Flags New England (besides Bizarro).

My Favorite Ride(s):  El Toro, Bizarro

Billy’s Favorite Ride: El Toro & Nitro (it’s a toss up!)

Time to EAT!

After 9 hour day filled with incredible coasters and way too many laughs, we were ready to chew our own arms off.

Aubrey did some research on Yelp and found a place called La Piazza Ristorante which was only a short 15 minute drive from Six Flags Great Adventure. We headed there in hopes of finding a really good wood fire pizza that would fill us up, and everything went exactly to plan.

I started off with a really tasty Roasted Red Pepper & Chicken soup. For our dinner we thought it would be smartest to order two regular sized pizzas and share them. Billy ordered a traditional cheese pizza while Aubrey and I ordered a pizza called the Primavera (Broccoli, fresh tomatoes, ricotta, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, garlic and oil).

The food and service at La Piazza was top notch and I’d definitely head there again the next time I get down to Six Flags New Jersey. I highly recommend you check them out if you’re in the area.

Time to Check In…

Once we filled ourselves to the brim, we arrived at our final destination of the night; The Hampton Inn East Windsor.

This is where we would spend the next two nights thanks to the friendly staff at the Hampton Inn. We scored a room with two comfy queen sized beds, FREE buffet breakfast, FREE complimentary Wi-FI, indoor pool, fitness center and so much more.

If you’re planning on visiting Six Flags Great Adventure and you’re looking for a excellent place to stay, be sure to check out the Hampton Inn East Windsor, it’s everything you could ever want and more. Especially for the price!

Tomorrow we’re headed to Six Flags Wild Safari, the largest drive-thru safari outside of Africa! After the Wild Safari we head east to the coast to check out the infamous house from MTV’s Jersey Shore followed by a pit stop at one of the nations top universities (Princeton). Stay tuned!