six flags great adventure

july 2001

jamie and julienne

dan

jim

it was monday. six of us met at new york's port authority bus terminal, tickets in hand (more or less - there was some last minute rushing from the ticket purchase window to the departure gate). upon reaching the new jersey turnpike, the sun streamed through the bus windows - skip day was on!

as we approached great adventure's front gate, we saw the loops, twists and drops of the great american scream machine. after applying multiple layers of sunblock (we're such adults!) we made that large metal coaster our second ride of the day. the first ride involved a number of people getting carried into the air and flipped - but, due to the giant painted trailer/advertisement in front of us, it felt like a big promotion for gillette's women's razors.

jim attempts calculating the number of inversions on the great american scream machine

rolling thunder, opened 1979, was the second coaster we experienced. and by that point, the day had seriously become "all about roller coasters." the roller coaster fascination continues, as i'm already planning a trip for next summer. after all the fun at six flags, julienne found the roller coaster database (www.rcdb.com). it's incredibly comprehensive!

due to the short monday lines, we took a second trip on rolling thunder - a great wooden coaster (approx. speed 56mph). it's one of those rides that encourages you to sit in the front. and the back. and the middle. at the top of the first hill, we saw medusa in the background. it had become time to take the leap into the world of modern super-coasters. okay, okay...maybe it's not a super coaster! until monday, i hadn't been to a theme park since 1993. the shockwave and the anaconda at kings dominion don't even begin to stack up against the coasters built during the turn of the millenium..

frank and jim as the train from rolling thunder pulls out of the station

medusa, a floorless steel coaster designed by B&M, was a perfect measure of smoothness. the line for this ride was just long enough for the group to discuss the over the top purple and yellow color scheming.

we found lunch, and vowed to return to medusa before the end of the day. i think now is the point where i insert some sort of joke about the snakelike curves and twists of this ride. but i wasn't stoned (turned to stoned?)

on medusa jim, dan, frank and marc secure their seatbelts, preparing for 7 inversions and a 132' drop

after lunch, we took the skyride across the park. a few flatland rides seemed to be closed, so we opted for the indoor coaster thrills of skull mountain. why aren't there more indoor coasters? riding in the dark was such fun!

then - NITRO! nitro is the new ride at great adventure. and we just couldn't help riding it multiple times. it seats 36 riders per train, drops 215' and reaches speeds of 80 mph. my first ride was from the front car and it brought me to tears. those roller coaster specials on TLC and the Discovery Channel are fun, but they don't begin to compare to the real thing.

it's a total make out session for the couple in car 46

the day's adventures continued as we rode both batman: the ride and batman: the chiller. we then looped around the park, retracing our steps. we shared funnel cake in line for nitro (one more ride turned into three more rides).

as five of us re-rode medusa, frank stepped up to the free throw line at one of the game booths. his subway ride home had him holding a stuffed bugs bunny, a stuffed taz and a stuffed, parachuting franklin the turtle.

frank, julienne and jamie return to earth, having experienced the amazing gravity effects of the stuntman's freefall

NITRO

as reported in the roller coaster database:

length - 5394 feet

height - 230 feet

drop - 215 feet

ride duration - 4 minutes

top row (l to r): julienne, jamie, frank, dan

bottom row (l to r): marc, jim

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