Six Flags Great Adventure

[Danny]

Haha that's strange!

[Danny]

So this is taken from Screamscape today, this sounds serious and could lead to many complaints, it does seem strange:

2014 - Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom - Breaking Update - NOW OPEN!! - (7/8/14) While Six Flags Great Adventure managed to open their new Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom thrill ride this past weekend, built onto the side of the massive Kingda Ka coaster, all is not well in the park right now… or with either attraction. For reasons than I find hard to fathom, the state of New Jersey has put some serious restrictions on the operations of both rides, that is simply causing more harm than good. So be fore warned… if you intend to ride either of these… get ready for a LONG wait time.
The short story version is this… the state has decided that Six Flags can not run both of these rides at the same time, and is rumored to have gone so far as to require that the park link the ride control systems of each ride together so that there is no chance of it happening. Why? Because they are worried that either on purpose, or on accident, that loose objects from the riders on Kingda Ka may go flying into the riders on Zumanjaro: either horizontally during the launch towards and up the tower, or could fall down on them from the top of the tower. It seems that they felt the roof panel on the top of the Zumanjaro cars provided inadequate protection and the only way to protect the riders is to simply not run the rides at the same time. While it is a slightly different layout, apparently the lack of any problems with the similar Superman / Lexx Luthor combo ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain was not enough to convince them otherwise.
The resulting bit of insanity has caused very long lines as a result so far on both attractions as I’m told the operations go something like this. While Zumanjaro sits empty and idle, Kingda Ka will load and launch two trains back to back. Once they return to the station Kingda Ka goes into a hold and only then are riders allow to load into the Zumanjaro seats and then dispatch into a ride cycle. Once they land again and are removed from the car, Zumanjaro goes back into a hold mode and Kingda Ka can launch two more trains. Rinse… Repeat… and watch the faces of the park guests start to contort as the lines get longer and longer.
I can only hope that clear heads and look into this and solve this issue, as rides criss/cross over and under each other all the time and they’ve never been banned from running at the same time. The state obviously had no problem with El Toro running over the top of Rolling Thunder for all those years, so why the headache now?

[RCandrew]

Well that is really bad. Wasn't the whole point to go down with kingda ka? I can't even imagine how long the queues would get but even worse I can't imagine how annoyed they are about that at the park. :no:
They have to sort that out quick or it's going to damage the reputation of the rides and will cause big problems!

[ponder]

Kingda Ka already had a slow dispatch time as it was, due to the unnecessarily complex station that allows 4 cars to be loaded at once. In theory, this should improve throughput but seems to have the opposite effect, leaving riders stood at the air gates for 5-10 minutes at a time, even on a quiet day. With these new restrictions in place it's going to cause a lot of problems, and may irate their regular customers. Bare in mind that Kingda Ka has been closed during the early season to allow construction on Zumanjaro to take place.

[lewis97]

The coaster has since been rebranded as 'The Joker'.

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One of the major Six Flags announcements from today is Total Mayhem - an S&S 4D Free Fly Coaster coming to Six Flags Great Adventure next year. It looks to be a direct clone of Batman: The Ride which was installed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas this year, and has had very good feedback from what I gather.

Some of the key facts are as follows:

• Massive, imposing, floating and twisting I-box track frame in a unique two-tone design
• One-of-a-kind onboard magnetic technology featuring smooth head-over-heels free-fly flips providing you the feeling of weightlessness as you soar outside the confines of a traditional track
• 4-D wing vehicles that seat up to 8 per vehicle with a total of 5 vehicles
• Face-off seats that allow you to face each other as you tumble head over heels
• A 120-foot-tall, 90-degree hill that is ascended by an elevator-style, chain link lift
• Two beyond 90-degree “raven” drops giving the sensation of free-falling

There's a teaser video of the ride, featuring some simulated off and on-ride footage.

[Martin]

Something like this would be awesome in the UK.
Looks great!

[Aidan Lowe]

I actually think Alton could get one of these in the future. It combines them not having a wing coaster as such and a 4D coaster into one. It's footprint is not too big in all honesty, may need lengthening and height reduced slightly. Something like this would actually probably fit perfectly in that area they cleared in Dark Forest behind the seating area.

As for the ride in question, as stated looks like a direct clone.

[lewis97]

[align=center][/align]
It would seem that this has been rebranded 'The Joker', styled similarly to the RMC of the same name coming to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

The respective page on the park's website has been updated, including the addition of the visuals featured below.

[Capt.Barnacles]

So it was true then, I heard about this rumour about a couple weeks back from a few friends in the States but didn't think it was true :lol

[lewis97]

Here are some of the latest construction photos from the park's official construction blog.

[lewis97]

The latest photos from the Construction Blog show that more track has gone up.

[lewis97]

Here's a video featuring off and on-ride footage of The Joker's first test run!

[jackf1tz]

So SFGA have broken a new world record, the most people to ride a coaster in their pyjamas!

[MakoMania]

So SFGA have broken a new world record, the most people to ride a coaster in their pyjamas!

Clearly the best news from today :P

[jackf1tz]

So SFGA have broken a new world record, the most people to ride a coaster in their pyjamas!

Clearly the best news from today :P

Isn't it? I wasn't aware of any other major things? Sure a couple of RMCs and a Mack are great and all, but pyjamas!

[Ladyofthelake]

With the Six Flags 2020 additions due to be revealed tomorrow, it would seem that Six Flags Great Adventure's new ride has been leaked ahead of time.

Unfortunately the original video has since been taken down, however for the brief period it was live it revealed that the New Jersey theme park will be getting a RMC single rail coaster called Jersey Devil coaster. What's more, it will be the tallest, fastest, and longest single rail coaster installed to date, and (I think) the first RMC single rail raptor coaster to be installed on the East Coast.

If this leak is true then it is going to be interesting to see how this coaster rides. Wonder Woman Golden Lasso is ridicullously intense, especially in the back seat, so this new coaster could potentially have an even higher intensity level which possibly may be a bit too much for some to take. However, if they get the balance right with the intensity, and have ironed out the issues the existing raptor coasters have with seats being out of action for extended period of time on the trains, then this design could have a lot of potential for other parks and a single rail track means in theory you'd need less space to create a great coaster.


Now to wait until tomorrow to see if this leak is indeed correct!


Edit: Video below - looks like someone managed to download and re-upload before the original got taken down!