Lots of interesting info came from today about the park's upcoming season and beyond...
Here's a few pics that we could get. The parking lot was closed and since the tour didn't happen, not a ton of pics.
It's a "coaster"! Get it? Great gag gift that Six Flags handed out to us before their presentation!
I won a mug in the door auction!
Here's some highlights of Great Adventure's presentation
- When Zumanjaro was planned to finally open, and the inspectors didn??????t show up, was a huge disaster and the executives hit the bottle that night.
- Shake it off is the new theme song for Six Flags Great Adventure
- Large backlash from community about whether El Diablo it was a ??????coaster?????? or not. They get it, you the coaster enthusiasts don??????t love everything, they don??????t love everything. They just let some things, like this ??????coaster?????? debate slide by.
- There is a reason behind the small flat rides and not more coasters. You can??????t build a 20 million dollar ride every year. When Great Adventure did, you go bankrupt. (I did not make that last part up, the Great Adventure PR lady really said that.)
- Larger audience to work with, not just coaster enthusiasts which is why smaller rides like this need to be built.
- Aside from all the Hate about the new ride, they got a lot of support from season pass holders with kids that will love this ride.
- El Diablo will now be located where Rolling Thunder queue and ride area was, not in the Golden Kingdom as originally intended.
- Holiday in the Park is now a very possible reality for Great Adventure. No definite answer yet. But they want to beat the competition by having most of the park open WITH COASTERS!
- Funny comment, The presentor said ??????Before I shut up?????? very untypical language on behalf of a corporation
- State did not show up for Zumajaro which caused the media day to go haywire.
- The reason SF didn??????t call out the state on it was they need to keep a positive relationship with the state because in the end, the state makes the decisions whether the ride opens or not, so no point to bash the state.
- This is also the reason they don??????t talk about other parks, so that they don??????t ever possible get backlashed if something goes wrong at that other park.
- On media day, they had to send home the Today Show and Good Morning America, which both payed around 6000 dollars each to be there.
- A video from Six Flags hinted that Great Adventure gets it, it??????s time for Batman Backwards, but no official word yet.
- People want a coaster coaster coaster every year, but can??????t do it because it doesn't go for a large enough audience and it is too hard financially
- Goal for Holiday In the Park would be to have as many rides open as possible, including rollercoasters
- Lots of meetings have occurred about Holiday In the Park
- Holiday In the Park would be a weekend thing
- It would be most likely in November-Beginning of January
- State has not changed position on Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka, they still cannot run together.
- State made the park put in the safety roof that retracts when zumanjaro is going, and then goes back up when it is not.
- Other options were considered including plexi-glass, and a cage, none of which were incorporated
- State??????s issue is the possibility of articles falling from Kingda Ka onto Zumanjaro riders and station
- Zumanjaro gondola that pulls the cars to the top went up on November 2nd, 2014, and has been there ever since. They are still there because Maintenance says it is safer so that the ride can??????t accidentally connect to the cars and pull them up.
- El Diablo scheduled to open on Memorial Day, but could be earlier. It is completely for marketing. People are not thinking Six Flags in april, so it is more marketable for end of May.
- In Park Wi-Fi is not even a possibility at this point
- Season Dining to include snacks now. A snack might be instead of a meal, or it might be in addition to the 2 meals.
- A Six Flags National dining existed at some point, but no longer is available for purchase
- Park would rather see a new ride come every year than have one big ride come, then have a year with nothing new, and then a year with something big come and so on??????
- Park despite not looking land locked, it is kinda, because of the lake and some of the unused land is marshy, so not buildable on at the moment.
- Park put Kingda Ka in the freshly paved parking lot from the year before, proving that they were landlocked
- Ever since the park opened, the park never turned a profit until 2010.
- Years that big coasters like Nitro were installed, the park was in debt.
- Park has turned a profit every year since 2010.
- Premier bankrupted the park because of the back to back coasters. IE Nitro, Superman, Ka, Toro
- Park now has figured out how to turn a profit, and a large coaster cannot be purchased and disrupt that
- Park now has to be cautious, park spent a lot of money on Zumanjaro, so now they are going cheaper on El Diablo
- Hopefully next year is a bigger ride.
- Kingda Ka cost 50 million in original building costs and maintenance in 2 years.
- El Toro cost 20 million bringing the total amount of money the park spent just on these 2 rides was 70 million. Helping the park lead to bankruptcy.
- Park is aware of the buildings and exteriors needing fixing, but it??????s all about money, which is why they are reluctant to fix it.
- Coasters will get painted eventually.
- Parking lot not paved because it costs 10 million
- Park won??????t do it because that 10 million is a waste on no new visible capitol, from a business perspective is not good.
- Parking lot will have to be in pieces before they will replace it
- Lot of cost in shutting down and reopening the park
- El Toro has pieces of track taken out of it, actual pieces taken out for maintenance.
- It??????s always a struggle for the park, money is always the issue
This was an awesome day and I can't wait to be back for opening day on April 3rd, 2015!