Photo courtesy of Alex's Place

Dear Diary, Oh. My. God. 7:00 a.m. is just an ungodly hour after one week on the road. And it doesn't help that my room at the Fairfield Inn is positioned right against the ice machine, which fills and empties and crunches and bangs every 5 minutes whether being used or not. Consquently I got no sleep at all last night, and today I am feeling the urge to rip the head off of the first person who speaks to me. Apparently Cindy had the same problem because we are both extremely quiet on this morning. We arrived at Dorney Park at 8:30 for the last ERT session for this park. I was looking forward to riding Talon again, but what's this? Talon is not running! That leaves Steel Force and Laser for morning ERT and there is no way I am subjecting my sleep deprived brain to the g-forces exerted by Laser. I am perfectly happy to park it on Steel Force for the next hour and a half. Cindy, however, is not. In addition to being disappointed by being deprived of Talon, she is not a big fan of Steel Force. Likes it, but doesn't love it. I got a kick out of the way she put her hands down the instant we entered the helix. It was her way of silently voicing her displeasure with that part of the ride. We rode Steel Force, in silence, for the better part of an hour. Finally she said she was going to ride Laser and would meet me when ERT ended. I rode Steel Force first with Chris Murray, then Marlon Lund and then with Dawn Robinson. I was happy to get a ride in with both as Marlon is a fascinating guy and Dawn is the antithesis of Cindy, she loves Steel Force. I also got to talk to Scott Cooper from Texas for a bit as well. Cindy came back from Laser looking unwell and saying "my head hurts." Stupid Cindy! Now she's going to have a headache for the rest of the day! With ERT over it was time to bid farewell to Dorney Park and the formal part of Coaster Con. I had a blast at this Con. I did what I wanted and rode with a lot of people and didn't worry about the people I wanted to see but didn't run into. I picked and chose those parts of the Con that suited my interests, and held tight to one recurring thought throughout: I'm on vacation! We decided to skip the PTC factory tour on this day. It amused me throughout this trip to constantly hear people questioning my decisions whenever I went against the grain of conventional thinking: "Are you going to the PTC tour?" "No." "WHAT??? WHY???" "Because, that sort of stuff doesn't interest me." "But Tom Rebbie's going to be there!" "I don't know him." "WHAT???" "I just don't care about that stuff." "But they're having a picnic, you know!" "Did you get your Little Laser credit?" "No." "Well you better hurry, ERT's almost over." "I'm not going to ride it." "WHAT??? WHY???" "Because, I don't like to ride kiddie coasters." "WHAT??? WHY???" "Because, it embarrasses me." "But it's not usually open to adults!" "Exactly." "It's a hard credit to get!" "I feel stupid riding kiddie coasters." "WHAT??? WHY???" I understand why people want to do the things they're interested in. It always cracks me up when people freak out when you don't like to do the same things they like to do! There must have been 20 people that asked me whether I got my "Little Laser" credit and I went through that entire conversation written above with them. I'm glad they all got their credit if it was that important to them. But why are some people so insistent on telling me I have to do the same? Cindy, Greg Galley and I arrived at Six Flags Great Adventure just after noon. This would be only my second time at this park. My first visit was probably the biggest surprise of the year for me as I came away with only the most positive feelings for this park. But it seems to forever be the source of constant criticism and knowing that only the day before some of my good friends had had a bad time there, I wondered if my first visit might be a fluke. It wasn't. I honestly don't know what people are (or aren't) seeing when they visit, but for my money, Six Flags Great Adventure is one of the best Six Flags parks in the country. The park is a fantasy land, gorgeously decorated and elaborately themed. The rides are outstanding, the operations couldn't be better, the people are friendly and the park exudes a warm, comfortable feeling despite its enormous size. If anything symbolizes my feelings toward this park, it is the old fashioned ice cream trucks that are parked strategically in several areas. These ice cream trucks are the best asthetic addition to a park that I've seen in a long time. They appeal to kids naturally but also to an adult's sense of nostalgia. They play a little ditty that is adorably cute and impossible to erase from memory. You hear that ice cream truck music from far away and it instantly transports you back to childhood ("Mom! Can I have some quarters?!? The ice cream truck's almost here, hurry!!!"). And the thing I like most about these trucks is how aesthetically pleasing they fit within the park. They look like they've been there forever! This park is so big, and yet at no time do I feel overwhelmed by it's size or uncomfortable in any way. There are many nice, little areas where you can go and immerse yourself in that particular environment. I really love the plaza area near the ferris wheel, the lakefront area, and the midway along the Character Cafe. They are fantasy areas, with exceptionally good theming and exceptional landscaping. The *HUGE* hanging flower baskets located throughout the park are particularly impressive. Gone is the wonderful classical music I remember from three years ago, and the gorgeous fountain in the entrance plaza has been covered by some sort of late night confetti contraption thinggy. But overall this park is incredibly easy on the eyes. And it's beauty did not diminish throughout the day - the park was clean and it remained that way the entire day. The bathrooms were clean enough to elicit comments from all three of us. I think the Lakefront area is just the nicest area in the park. It's what separates it from being a pretty park to a gorgeous park. This is one area where you can really get away from the park and just unwind. I find it incredibly beautiful, peaceful and wonderful to walk along the sidewalks and take in the pretty view. I also like the western area. I think the mine train is one of the best mine trains in the country. It's certainly in the prettiest setting. And I like the concept of the Best in the West restaurant. I just don't like the prices. About the only things I can see people criticizing about this park would be the crowd, the high food prices and unshaded queues. I would not want to be here on a crowded Saturday, with all of the queues full of tough New York/New Jersey crowds getting irritable from the heat. But I wouldn't want to be at ANY Six Flags park on a Saturday! The crowd is tough, make no mistake about it. But my experience here was a repeat of three years ago, when the only time I encountered a rough crowd was first thing when I waited in line for the Chiller. But that queue is such a narrow, enclosed environment, and the people in there sound so loud, it just carries an air of agression. Once out of there, though, the crowd seemed perfectly normal, in fact people were really nice to us everywhere we went. Ride operations at SFGAdv are *OUTSTANDING*! Not only do they run each coaster to capacity (other than Rolling Thunder) they also dispatch quickly and efficiently. I cannot give enough praise to the Great Adventure ride crews! Cindy, Greg and I were walking toward Nitro when all of a sudden up popped Rob Vacarro off a bench! Rob had been SO nice to wait for us - it just blows me away to think he waited all that time, without any idea when we'd be there or where we'd be. No meeting times had been set up, so for him to come all that way out, without any plan or meeting time, and spend the day with us showed real class. Rob took us around to every ride we needed to get on. He also seemed to know a fair share of the ladies here. I think Rob is a really great guy and it doesn't surprise me he's as well liked as he is. We headed for Nitro and I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much. I don't know why, I just had no expectations for this ride. Now, I'm putting it at number three in my rankings, behind only Superman at SFNE and the clones at SFA/SFDL. It is FANTASTIC!!! I like the weird turns and the more challenging lines of the track. I like it better than Apollo's Chariot and any other Morgan or Arow hyper. Surprisingly, Rob said attendance is way down from what they expected at this time, and the queue for Nitro was a testament to that fact. I can't believe this coaster isn't a bigger draw. Our longest wait was maybe 10 minutes. I also like Medusa. Out of three of the four floorless versions I've ridden, I think I like this Medusa best. It has some of the intensity of the one in SFWOA, but I like the cobra roll better than Marine World's Sea Serpent element. Medusa rocks, it was a huge surprise for me! I also tried a Nathan's Famous! They were excellent - I had a chili cheese dog and it was great. I like the "casing!" It was hilarious watching Rob eat chili for the first time. He took a little plastic spear and gingerly forked the tiniest sample of chili he could muster onto his dog. Let's hope he liked it. Rob, you need to get out more! Unfortunately our day was being cut short against our will. My arms, which have a sun allergy, broke out in a huge rash. I could no longer keep them in the sun anymore, it was just too painful. So I had to curtail my coaster activities a bit in order to keep from frying any further. Cindy's headache, which she acquired from riding Laser at Dorney Park, remained with her throughout the day. Still, we managed to keep going until half an hour before closing time. Rob was right about a number of things. Houdini was SO much better than the lame version at SFNE. And the milkshakes on the ice cream trucks really were so good they're now one of my favorite park foods. Thanks, Rob, for spending the day with us - you are an amazing guy. Honestly, I don't know what people are experiencing here. All I know is that on both of my visits I have come away feeling very happy and very impressed. Six Flags Great Adventure is a great big fantasy park and I love it. They must be doing something right.