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Six Flags Great Adventure is a , the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster Kingda Ka ( As Of 2007 ), and the newest coaster, El Toro . According to the Guinness Book Of World Records , Six Flags Great Adventure has more rides than any other theme park in the world, with 72 attractions As Of 2006 . HISTORY Restaurateur Warner LeRoy planned an entertainment complex in 1972 capitalizing on the back-to-nature movement of the era. He proposed seven parks that would flow naturally in the woods and around the lakes on property then owned by the Switliks. An amusement park, safari, show park, floral park, sports complex, campground and shopping district would connect to one another and to hotels via boat, train, sky ride and monorail. Hardwicke Industries built safari parks in Canada and Europe and collaborated with LeRoy in planning the parks for the Jackson property. They set out to open the seven parks in stages over a 5-year period. However, elements of four of the planned parks were combined to create one amusement park, the ''Enchanted Forest''. The park and ''Safari'' opened on July 1 st 1974 and had a grand opening on Independence Day . The Enchanted Forest, designed to look as if it appeared through the eyes of a child had almost everything from a Conestoga wagon to a Western Fortress built bigger-than-life. The ''Big Balloon'' loomed near the parking lot. It was the biggest hot air balloon in the world. The ''Log Flume'' was built as the longest log ride in the world and the ''Giant Wheel'' (now Big Wheel) was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. The only smaller-than-real life attraction was an outdoor walk-through attraction called the ''Garden of Marvels.'' It had working scale trains and boats, models of American landmarks and 1/25-scale recreations of European castles. The miniature village was an idea taken from the proposed ''Over the Rainbow'' floral park. A tree of snakes, carousel, antique cars, koi pond, childrens playground (Kiddie Kingdom,) petting zoo (Happy Feeling) and Gingerbread Fancy (now Granny's Country Kitchen) were also borrowed for The Enchanted Forest and were placed in the surrounds of the park's main midway, ''Dream Street''. ''Dream Street'' was named after a "shopping extravaganza" which LeRoy had designed for the property. It lent its large open squares, huge fountain (Freedom Fountain, later redesigned as Main Street Fountain,) street performers (clowns and stilt walkers) and shops to the amusement park. Fairy Tales was a shop that opened with the park in 1974 in one of the park's oversized bazaar tents. It sold stuffed animals and toys, including Superman! Influences from LeRoy's proposal would surface in the years to come. ''Neptune's Kingdom'' was a concept for a lakeside, aquatic show park. From its design came ''Aqua Spectacle'', the home for dolphin performances and high dive shows. Today, the stadium features dolphins but is now known as Fort Independence. Neptune's Kingdom was designed to run the length from Runaway Train to Northern Star Arena, but most of its influences appear in the park's Lakefront area. The amusement park was renamed ''Great Adventure'' in 1976 . Fun Fair picked was renamed Enchanted Forest. The park's entrance was moved to a new, more central location. The entrance is still in use today. It was designed with an outer mall named ''Liberty Court'' and Federal Style Architecture was influenced by the celebration of the United States Bicentennial . An inner mall named ''Avenue of States'' was adorned by fifty state flags in the central corridor. Six flags remain today. The Strawberry Fair section was dissolved and the attractions in this area became part of Dream Street. The Big Balloon, Jumbo Jet roller coaster, snake exhibit, and flats- ''The Gondola'', ''Pretty Monster'' and ''Super Cat'' were the first attractions removed from the park. The park became a major attraction with several small steel roller coasters (by today's standards.) Late in 1977 the park was purchased by Six Flags . This regional theme park company was then owned by Penn Central , which had large stakes in the Philadelphia and New York City regions. Six Flags gradually added standard rides like the looping coaster, the wooden coaster, the pirate ship, rapids ride and drop towers. More spin rides, "yummy yummy" food, shows, games and the Safari became a part of "the greatest day of your life." One rather large portion of LeRoy's vision for the amusement park that never surfaced was the dark rides. Although 'Man, Time and Space,' 'The Keystone Cops' and '(Alice) Down the Wishing Well' never came to be, the ''Haunted Castle Across the Moat'' took its que from the rooms and monsters of the 'Transylvanian Haunted Castle.' Like several other Six Flags theme parks, including Six Flags Great America , it has the potential to draw huge crowds because of its location between two major Metropolitan Areas . Thus, lines for some of the park's most popular rides such as Kingda Ka, ''Congo Rapids'' and ''Sawmill Log Flume'' can stretch longer than an hour on a busy day. New York and Philadelphia are an easy reach for inner-city crowds who tend to dominate the park on Saturdays. Suburbanites seem to prefer the weekdays. Teens are also a heavy draw on Friday and Saturday nights and Fright Fest nights. , , and Nitro .]] WHAT'S NEW "Rise & Scream" Is an event for season pass holders where everyday Monday through Thursday, 1 hour before the park opens, two of the park's roller coasters will open for exclusive rides to season pass holders. Upon a day visit to the park for ''Ride and Scream'', Kingda Ka and El Toro, easily the two most popular coasters where lines can reach 3+ hrs, were the two featured rides for the day. Due to this, both had zero queue times and season pass holders where able to board immediately and often ride with very few, if any, people. MOST POPULAR RIDES Kingda Ka On May 21 , 2005 , the park debuted Kingda Ka , the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster. ''Kingda Ka'' has a top speed of 128 mph (206 km/h) and rises to a height of 456 feet (139 m), which beat the previous marks of 120 mph and 420 feet set by Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point . It is the only coaster in the park that is closed when it rains -- other coasters in the park remain open unless thunder or lightning are nearby. The ride can carry 18 people per train and has a ride capacity of 1400 people per hour with all four trains running.People are arranged 2 across and 2 down It was run with only two of four trains throughout most of the 2006 season. It has use of all four trains once again. Sometimes the ride doesn't make it over the tower. This is known as a Rollback and the ride is designed with this possibility in mind. El Toro On June 11 , 2006 , Six Flags opened El Toro , a roller coaster at the center of a Mexican-themed section called Plaza Del Carnaval. The coaster differs from traditional wooden roller coasters in that it runs on a prefabricated track. This wooden roller coaster also holds the record for the steepest drop on a wooden roller coaster, which is at 76 degrees. For riders, know that this ride provides massive amounts of "ejector air time" or the feeling of lifting out of your seat. Nitro On April 7 , 2001 , the park opened Nitro . It stands 230 feet above the ground and travels at speeds up to 80 mph. Nitro was the tallest and fastest coaster in New Jersey until the opening of ''Kingda Ka'' in 2005, which far surpassed it in both categories. Nitro is widely respected as one of the world's top coasters. The ride continues to be extremely popular due to its novelty in both structure and speed. Nitro's very high reliability, 36-seat trains and simple restraints that can be checked very quickly by the attendants result in wait times that are relatively short for a coaster this popular. The one mile track features no inversions, but includes six ''camelbacks'', a ''hammer head turn'' and a Double Helix . Each rider is secured by their own individual lap restraint, with four riders to a single row. The coaster featured signs which compared points on the lift hill to other tall structures such as Niagara Falls. The signs were removed after a bad thunderstorm a few years after its opening. PARK ACCIDENTS See Also: Incidents at Six Flags parks There have been a few notable accidents at Great Adventure that resulted in deaths of employees or guests. On August 16, 1981 20-year-old park employee Scott Tyler of Middletown NJ fell from the Rolling Thunder roller coaster during a routine test run. According to a park representative, Tyler "may have assumed an unauthorized riding position that did not make use of safety restraints." Rolling Thunder reopened a day later and still operates at Great Adventure. The park's worst accident occurred on May 11, 1984 when eight teenagers died in a fire at the park's Haunted Castle attraction. According to a statement by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office the fire started when a guest used a cigarette lighter to find his way through a strobe-lit hall. The flame from the lighter ignited a Foam Rubber -covered wall. The wall was covered in rubber to protect guests from bumping hard into the wall. One of the emergency exits was blocked off thus many could not get out. The Castle fire seemed to set off a string of accidents and incidents at the park. One such accident occurred on June 17, 1987. 19-year-old Karen Brown of Pennsylvania boarded a train on the Lightnin' Loops shuttle loop roller coaster after it had been checked. She died after it was launched into a loop. An investigation by the State Labor Department concluded that the ride itself was operating properly, but the ride operator started the ride without checking that all passengers were secured by the safety harnesses. The Department's Office of Safety Compliance further concluded that the accident would not have occurred had proper procedures been followed. Another incident occurred on the Sarajevo Bobsled ride when an operator advanced a train as a guest was exiting the ride vehicle. After a third incident involving a Safari employee who was knocked down by a camel, the park GM was ousted and two other park officials were moved to other Six Flags parks. In the case of Lightnin' Loops, the park was found to be in violation of the Carnival/Amusement Ride Safety Act and was subsequently charged with the maximum state fines of $1,000. The ride was reopened a few months later with the permission of the Labor Department. The ride was eventually dismantled and each track was moved to other parks. SECTIONS Main Street Main Street is the first area a visitor encounters upon entering the park. It's home to several of the park's primary shops, street characters and eateries such as Carnegie Deli , Papa Johns , Johnny Rockets Express and Cold Stone Creamery . ''Fort Independence'' is home to ''Dolphin Discovery,'' an exhibit that showcases bottle-nose dolphins and sea lions. ''Main Street Market'' sells Great Adventure souvenirs and is located by the main gate. The ''Main Street Fountain'' is the focal point is used as a landmark for groups to meet one another and as a guide for getting from one side of the park to the other. ''Guest Relations'', stroller rentals, ''Package Pickup'' and The ''Looney Tunes Shoppe'' are located to the left of the entrance. Funnel cakes, fudge, candy, urban clothing and MySixFlagsPhotos are sold in the buildings to the right. FlashPass and Ben And Jerry's and Dippin' Dots ice cream is sold beyond the fountain. Fantasy Forest Fantasy Forest runs through Main Street and is the main midway which connects the east and west sides of the park. It includes ''Big Wheel'', the ''Carousel'', one end of the '' Sky Ride '' (the other is in Frontier Adventures), ''Houdini's Great Escape'', ''Enchanted Teacups'', ''Flying Wave'' (swings), ''Fantasy Fling'' (spin ride), ''The Character Cafe' '' and ''Granny's Country Kitchen'' Lakefront The Lakefront runs along the lake, parallel to Fantasy Forest. It is home to Skull Mountain , ''Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train'' (small family roller coaster), ''Buccaneer'' (pirate ship), ''Jolly Roger'' (spin ride) and ''The Great Lake Grandstand'', a lake side arena where water stunt shows and summer fireworks are held. A Panda Express is located here, adjacent to Skull Mountain. Old Country Old Country is a small section which is contiguous to Movie Town and home to ''Autobahn'' (bumper cars) and Musik Express , the traditional amusement park spin ride. The area contains the Old Country Picnic Grove, which is used for large-scale parties with reservations. Movie Town Movie Town is the main section on this side of the park. It is home to three of the park's coasters, and Nitro . ''Movie Town Water Effect'' is an old-fashioned shoot-the-chutes ride located here, which operates in warm weather and soaks guests on a large boat and on a bridge at the ride's exit. Two show venues '' Showcase Theater'' and ''Movie Town Stunt Arena'' will be "dark" in 2007, except for special events. Also located in this area are Studio 28 Arcade, Justice League ''Headquarters'' Clothing Shop and a Papa Johns . Boardwalk Located to the left of the entrance, the Boardwalk is home to , Twister (a Top Spin ride), a parachute tower, a looping starship, a launched pay attraction called ''ErUPtion'', a Nathan's Famous restaurant and the world's largest games midway featuring traditional Boardwalk -style games. Frontier Adventures Frontier Adventures is home to Medusa , Runaway Mine Train , the ''Saw Mill Log Flume'', the '' Sky Ride '' and ''The Northern Star Arena'' concert venue. This western area features a larger-than-life ''Western Fortress'', ''Super Teepee'', ''Conestoga Wagon'' and log cabin restaurant known as ''The Best of the West''. Frontier Adventures can be reached by The Golden Kingdom, Bugs Bunny National Park, and a bridge in Plaza Del Carnaval by El Toro. The section used to include a small western town which was re-themed as part of the Golden Kingdom in 2005 and a Mexican section which became Plaza Del Carnaval in 2006. A stage show at the base of the Runaway Mine Train called "Runaway Country" appeared in 2006. Looney Tunes Seaport In 1999, the slides of Adventure Rivers were dismantled to give way to this section which features rides that adults can ride along with their children. It is located past Fantasy Forest behind Wiggles World in the top-right section of the park. It's also home to ''Congo Rapids'' river boat ride. Bugs Bunny National Park This new for 2006 children's section is located between Frontier Adventures and The Lakefront. Six children rides include small versions of the Ferris Wheel , carousel, a Himalaya ride, plus a samba tower (tea cups on a tower,) a kiddie train-type ride and another airplane ride which propels the rider in the air by using a Joystick . The Looney Tunes show ''We Got the Beat'' returned in the newly-named ''Wilderness Theater'' (formerly Bandstand on the Lake.) It stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck among other characters. Looney Tunes characters roam the park and a water tower drops cold water on guests in the hot months. Food can be purchased at ''Looney Tunes Camp Kitchen'' (formerly Bandstanza and McDonalds) And also a new attraction called ''Looney Tunes Back in Action the Ride'' The Golden Kingdom Kingda Ka is located here and Balin's Jungleland is at the center of the section. It has 4 children spin rides, 1 junior train and dry and wet slides, nets and other play elements for children. The park's seven Bengal Tiger s- Balin, Faruk, Hara and Chandi, rare golden tabby cubs Kingda Ka and Raina, and white cub Kiril call The Golden Kingdom their home. The tigers are featured in a 15-minute ''Spirit of the Tiger'' educational presentation who can be viewed up close at the ''Temple of the Tiger'' exhibit before sundown. A Papa John's is located in the section by the entrance of Bugs Bunny National Park. This land made up the entirety of Bugs Bunny Land, part of the parking lot, as well as part of Frontier Adventures before being redeveloped in 2005. The section can be reached by the entrance at the Top Spin ride in the Boardwalk games square, the Four Tent area of The Boardwalk and Plaza del Carnaval. Plaza del Carnaval This section features the park's two wooden coasters, Rolling Thunder and El Toro . Other attractions include a gentle ride named ''Tango'', ''Fiesta'' (midway) ''Games'', a merchandise kiosk named ''El Mercado'' and an eatery named ''La Cocina''. This area was called ''Hernando's Hideaway'' when created in the late 1970's to accompany the opening of Rolling Thunder. Time Warner redeveloped the park's themed lands and combined this southwest-themed area with Frontier Adventures. In 2006 this area was transformed back into its own section for the debut of El Toro. Plaza del Carnaval can be reached by the Temple of the Tiger side of The Golden Kingdom and from a bridge by Medusa in Frontier Adventures. Wiggles World In 2007 Six Flags Great Adventure opened this new section, themed on The Wiggles . It is the park's fourth children section and it hosts a show featuring Wiggles supporting characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Captain Feathersword and Henry the Octopus. No actual main character Wiggles appear in the show, however, despite continued advertising that features them, which disappoints children. All four of the Wiggles (Sam, Murray, Jeff, and Anthony) did make a live performance on May 27th, 2007. Part of ''Looney Tunes Seaport'' and ''Riptide'''s ride area was used to create Wiggles World. RESTAURANTS
PARK HISTORY
GOLDEN TICKET AWARDS See Also: Golden Ticket Awards Many of Six Flags Great Adventure's most thrilling roller coasters have placed in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards. Below is a table with coasters at Great Adventure and their highest ranking in the Golden Ticket Awards. REFERENCES
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