The DoD3

Ride Review: The Joker (Six Flags Great Adventure)

Posted by DoD3Brian on November 26, 2016 | Add a Comment

September is a special time for some of us U.S. theme park fans. It’s the time when many parks announce their additions for the next year! Both Six Flags and Cedar Fair owned parks start teasing announcements in August, spurring copious amounts of speculation and wishing. Six Flags Great Adventure fans in 2015 were largely hoping for an RMC woodie, or a Giga coaster…possibly just the former as wishing for a Giga is practically a meme now. On September 3rd, 2015, we got our answer: Total Mayhem! An S&S 4-D Free Spin coaster that would be placed into the largely overlooked Lakefront area!

“Would be better if this wasn’t an exact replica of the ride six flags fiesta texas got last year. “

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“It’s named Total Mayhem, which is already the name of a haunted attraction AND it has nothing to do with forests or lakes.”

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“So…it really only has an 8 rider capacity? I’m rather terrified to see what the wait times for this will be. “

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“I gotta’ say, Six Flags is really going “cheap” with most of the attraction’s. “

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“Im not mad about it just disappointed”

Coaster fans were obviously overjoyed by the announcement. Hey, at least it’s not a superhero or villain, right?

“Jan 27, 2016: Six Flags renames new 4-D coaster after comic book supervillain (Joker)“

Awwwwwww…

News: Casino Pier’s 2017 Roller Coaster Announced

Posted by DoD3Brian on November 23, 2016 | Add a Comment

Seaside Heights, NJ – One of the worst kept secrets coming into next season has been Casino Pier’s 2017 roller coaster addition. I say this because for the past month there’s been pieces of what looks to be a pretty substantial coaster sitting in the parking lot next to Breakwater Beach waterpark. Today, Casino Pier released a video about their new Gerstlauer Euro Fighter coaster as well as some renderings of the expanded pier area.

Rather than showing a rendering, the video shows similar coasters to the one being constructed as well as some features of the coaster including a 97 degree drop, vertical loop, Immelmann turn, and heartline roll. According to a user on Reddit, the stats seem to line up with Gerstlauer’s Euro-Fighter 320+ model, which would mean it would be like Untamed at Canobie Lake Park and Rage at Adventure Island, but that’s just speculation at this point. Also unknown is the name of the coaster. The video refers to it as “Eurofighter,” but I don’t think that’ll be the final name. A photo render on Casino Pier’s Facebook page places the new coaster on the newly constructed pier expansion on the north side of Casino Pier. The render also features Casino Pier’s second new attraction, a large ferris wheel.

I’m really glad to see Casino Pier rebuilding and then some after being decimated four years ago by Sandy. It’s an impressive looking coaster as well, unlike the more portable looking coasters that have grazed Seaside parks in the past. It’s also nice to see a Ferris Wheel coming back to Seaside. Casino Pier used to have a Chance Century Wheel back in the late 90s or so, but Funtown Pier to the south always had the more prominent wheel before Sandy destroyed the park. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Funtown Pier will ever come back.

Here’s some phone pics I’ve taken of the coaster and pier construction (need to turn HDR mode off next time!) Also included are a few pics of Pirate’s Hideaway in its new location. It was moved to the back of the pier from the north/front side which is right where the pier expansion is being built.

Trip Report: Six Flags Great Adventure Nov 13th No Lines Trip

Posted by DoD3Brian on November 18, 2016 | Add a Comment

Short version: I went to Great Adventure on a slow day and barely waited for any rides! Hahahaaa!!!

Long version:

Last year, in 2015, Six Flags Great Adventure closed for a few weeks between the end of Fright Fest and the beginning of Holiday in the Park. This year, the park made the decision to open on the weekends and for a few days during Veteran’s Day week as the NJ Teacher’s Convention was going on which meant no school for most kids that Wednesday to Friday. I heard that the first weekend was really quiet, so I decided to head over on Sunday, November 13th, which would essentially be the last day before the park transitions to Holiday in the Park festivities.

Trip Report: Six Flags Great Adventure Fright Fest 2016

Posted by DoD3Brian on October 31, 2016 | Add a Comment

2016 marks 25 seasons that Six Flags Great Adventure has done Fright Fest. It originally started as a modest weekend festival called Halloweekends in 1989 and adopted the Fright Fest moniker in 1992 (Great Adventure History has some great articles about the early events.) Since then the festival has grown into a huge event for the park, bringing in some of the largest crowds all year. I visited Fright Fest twice this year; on October 7th and October 23rd. Both trips were pretty uneventful in and of themselves, so I’ll talk about Fright Fest as a whole and add in some bits specific to each visit.

Trip Report: Great Allentown Fair 2016

Posted by DoD3Brian on September 25, 2016 | 3 comments

I went over to the Great Allentown Fair on Monday, September 5th (Labor Day) for what is probably going to be my last fair of the 2016 season. There wasn’t too many people on the road, so it took me only like an hour and change to get there. I got to the fair at around 3pm. Parking was $8, admission was $8. Powers Great American Midways and S&S Amusements brought in the rides and the fair had…

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