Reviews: Jerry S's Birthday at Great Adventure

Posted at 7:08 PM EDT (2308 GMT)

Sep. 12th, 2005 -- Jackson, NJ - Riding roller coasters, one of the best ways to spend a birthday. That's exactly what I did, on Sunday, September 11. Driving into the park, I noticed that the park was moderately crowded, but a little too crowded for a day like September 11, being in the least crowded month, and on a day of tragedy. I noticed though, that most of the crowd was Philadelphia and South Jersey, not really many New Yorkers, we were probably some of the closest people to New York at the park all day.

Anyway, we got into the park, and at first we started walking aimlessly, but ended up in line for Kingda Ka. So it took a while. First, the ride was broken, then they moved one train (light blue) to the transfer to get it fixed (we saw mechanics working on it underneath it). Then they launched a few trains, then when we got into the station it broke again, but they reset the circuits on 3 train, and it got to work again. We went to the left station, back train. It was the dark blue one, which made me a bit nervous. My friend and I got in line for row 2, and my other friend for row 3. We waited until we were up, and then something magical happened. There was a single rider for the front row, so they let my friend from row 3 take the seat, but since he was a little bit scared, and it was my birthday, he switched with me. So I got the front row, with a wait of only 1 hour and 15 minutes. It seems long, but with all the breakdowns it's reasonable.

So we rode out onto the pre-launch, and we saw the first train launch. It's very cool to see it go straight up the tower like that. Next, we rolled onto the launch track, then brakes down, roll backward, stop, then count a very long 5 seconds, and launch. Awesome acceleration, so fast that the wind made me cold for a second or two, then we shot up the tower, crested over the top, and this time I noticed floater air, right before tilting back downward, I noticed the Delaware river far ahead, and Hurricane Harbor directly below. Then straight down, into the coolest element, both the way it looks, and the way it feels, the spiral. Reaching speeds +100 MPH again, the train shot up into the bunny hill, and I noticed lots of wooden stuff in the parking lot. As the the ride went over the hill, I noticed some mild floater air on that too, and then the ride was over. Great ride, once again, the Intamin seats make it all the better.

We went on The Twister, adding one to my count, and it was the same as the one in Great America, boring, slow, and short. I wish they were all like at Coney Island. Next we got some Turkey legs at Turkey Time, and although tough on the outside, surprisingly tasted good. We began to walk into the GK on the other side now, to get to Medusa, and on the way, we rode Runaway Mine Train. It was a good ride this year, not nearly as rough as it was last year, as a matter of fact, the only rough parts were some of the tranisitons, not the train shaking around. Although short, the ride has a fun layout, with lots of turns at first, and ending with a few airtime hills, the last of which ejects you completely, and would send you flying if there was no seatbelt. Then we went over to Medusa, and got a ride in the front with less then a 20 minute wait. Running two train, this ride has very good capacity, with a fast line, even if it starts back down at the switchbacks. We got on the ride, and it's still very fun, fast paced, smooth, and not too intense. The best parts are still the Zero-G Roll and the Cobra Roll.

After exiting the ride, and decided to head to Movie Town, but we had to loop around the Boardwalk to lose some annoying girls. We went on Houdini's Great Escape, it was fun, and it always looks so convincing, even though I know the walls are moving, it looks, and even feels so real. Then we went on Skull Mountain, to the back of course, to get the wonderful airtime on the drop. Nitro was up next, and it was better this time than any other time this season. We waited 45 minutes for the front. The ride needs to be run on 3 train, but it needs to be run faster too. The capacity is really bad the way it's run now. But the ride was fun, it had better airtime, the helix was more fun, and it seemed to go faster on the hammerhead too. Batman: The Ride was up next, and just as we got in line, the train stopped on the lift, and the line was nearly emtied. So I thought maybe the chain broke again, but we watched it for a while and after 5 minutes, it started up again, and the train full of passengers continued along the track. So then we ran through the line, into the station, to the back car, we got on in about 3 minutes, and we were off. Good ride, forceful, best ride is in the back row.

Next up, Stuntman's Freefall. I don't know what made me agree to ride, but I think it was peer pressure from my friends...... It has very good floater air, but as soon as it begins to level out, the ride becomes rough, bumpy, and when it tilts back into position, painful. It looks, feels, and sounds like it's going to fall apart any minute. Last ride of the day, Robin. I really wish Batman was running, but I guess you can't have everything, not even on your birthday. This is the only roller coaster in the park that I haven't ridden in the front, and unfortunately, the line as so long that I still didn't get to. Next time I go alone I'll be sure to put that on top priority. We went to the second to last car, and it was a great ride. Fast, kindof smooth, disorienting. I looked up on the return through the cobraroll and as it leveled out i thought we were going the wrong way for a second. Leaving the park, I got a birthday cake (funnel cake) with lots of sugar, making it a very sweet 16. That day was my best birthday ever.