Six Flags Great Adventure - Photo Journal

The 242 foot tall SkyScreamer was Great Adventure's new attraction for 2012. I might have given it a try, as I like the WindSeeker rides installed at the Cedar Fair parks and these Funtime models create a better sensation of vertigo.

Unfortunately they also have about half as many seats, which typically means twice as long a wait. I'll have to save it for next time. Nice to see Great Adventure once again adding decent non-coaster attractions to the park line-up, though.

Skull Mountain opened in 1996 and was Great Adventure's attempt at creating an indoor Disney-style themed coaster experience.

Results weren't so good. Basically a coaster in a shoebox with awkward stone wallpaper and nothing of interest inside. Six Flags would return to the concept in 2008 with the Dark Knight coaster, and prove that sometimes you can't learn from past mistakes.

Road Runner Railway... #589

To the left we have Nitro, to the right we have Batman. Let's start with the right.

Batman is now Six Flags Great Adventure's second oldest roller coaster, having opened in 1993 as the third B&M inverted coaster ever built.

Batman is the first of five B&M coasters at Great Adventure, and still one of their best.

With the high temperatures today, Batman was running like greased lightning, producing so many g-forces that you had to make sure to stop for a cup of ice water in between laps so you wouldn't black out on the ride.

By this point in the day most of the crowds had cleared out due to the heat, which meant no lines for Batman.

Empty rows of seats on a great coaster running as fast as it ever has... what sacrilege.

Nitro is the park's other generally agreed upon "Top Ten" coaster. Every time I visit Great Adventure I try not to like it, and every time I fail.

Like Batman, today Nitro was running insane. First time on a B&M Speed coaster I got sustained ejector airtime and some strong lateral forces outside the turns (not inside the turns like on the underspeed Raging Bull).

Unfortunately I failed to get many pictures of Nitro, possibly because when I was on this side of the park I was dragging myself through the late afternoon slump exacerbated by the heat. The 80mph breeze on Nitro felt good, though.

The Dark Knight Coaster... still rockin' the impressionist skybox, I see. I think once upon a time there was supposed to be a mural of Gotham City on the box, but then corporate offices were like "we aint payin for dat shit lolz". The interior reflects this attitude. Supposedly in guest surveys this is the lowest rated Six Flags coaster in recent years. Then again, their highest rated was Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast, so take that for what you will...

Houdini's Great Escape... have never done it before, and was curious to see what was in store. I knew it was a Vekoma Madhouse, but beyond that it was a new experience to me.

So far so interesting...

It's certainly a step up from Dark Knight and Skull Mountain in terms of quality of themed design.

Houdetail

But dang, this thing needs an audio engineer on the case, stat. Most of the dialogue is completely inaudible in the space it's meant to play in, like they just jerry-rigged a few speakers and turned up the volume with no regard for how much of the audio quality would actually be preserved. Given that so much of the attraction is talky-talky exposition (not my favorite, let's be honest) this was a rather debilitating setback in what otherwise could have been a mildly entertaining attraction.

This way into the Golden Kingdom, added in 2005 as one of the extremely rare examples of Premier-owned Six Flags giving a crap about themed presentation.

While the Golden Kingdom is a nice area, you cannot get from this themed midway to Kingda Ka, the area's anchor attraction, without briefly exiting into Plaza del Carnaval or the Boardwalk. I knew it was too good for Six Flags to have not bungled it somehow.

Okay, this way to re-enter into the Golden Kingdom after the teaser plaza out front.

Kingda Ka's entrance looking radiant under the golden hour sunset.

456 feet of awesome poking up from behind the trees.

Buckling into the front row of Kingda Ka.

Approaching the launch track.

Kingda Ka lacks some of the psychological tease of Top Thrill Dragster. Just roll up to the cable catch, then an air horn and you're off.

It does look magnificent, however. The camelback brake run gives it a great sense of vanishing perspective that's not as strong on Dragster.

Launching to 128mph in 3... 2...