Calling all members who recall the past of our beloved park!

[chilled182]

I need quotes guys.  Anything will do.

Ill give you a basic few questions to use.. but im really just looking for a good thought about the history of the park and how it was back before about 1997 or so.

DO you remember any installations of our classic coasters..

when did you first visit the park
what were your first thoughts
how much has the park changed over the years

whats your favorite memory of the park


any additional information or interesting facts about the park before 1997?

the paper itself is due thursday so help ASAP thanks!

[KingdakaRoxmysox]

hey umm well i visited the park in about 1994 i was small but i dreamed of going on the big rides, but it has made some big changes, i was there for the opening of B+R chiller and the opening of nitro, superman. Till last year where i waited 8 hrs for KK. ha i guess i been through alot but this park has got much better since the first time i went.


~i remember rolling thunder had no seatbelts, what a better ride without the seatbelts,


ohh idk

my fav memory of the park was waiting on the KK line for almost 8 and a half hours, wow what fun! lol no really we had fun counting down till the launch, singing and dancing wow i remember that day, we also made our wills before we rode KK :] lol

[chilled182]

lol, i have only ever waited 4 hours for a ride.. and that was X at SFMM. 

Ive never waited more than 40 minutes for all 19 rides on kingda ka.  haha.

whats your name.. im just going to throw you in there somewhere as an enthusiast.. thanks for your post!

[SilverBullet]

The first time I visited the park was 96'. It seemed alot smaller than the big coaster park that it is today.

Here's an interesting fact:

Six Flags Great Adventure only had 5 coasters from 1992-1997.

I don't know what you mean by classic but:

I remember Medusa being opened and how good it was. It was, and still is a fun ride.

S:UF was a fun one to watch as the concept was still fairly new and was original for this part of the country.

My favorite memory of the park has to be my first ride on KK, the whole day was great. Waking up at 6:30 too amped to go back to sleep, running to the ride, meeting a fellow enthusiast in line and re-riding KK til it got boring. Then leaving. lol.

My name is Matt Biront if you need it.

-Hope this helps.

[KingdakaRoxmysox]

yea sure im chris but see idk if i should put my last name in the open so just put  my sn or somthing k??
thanks~~~

[twisterbret]

I'm not sure if you know but you can find some really great stuff at
http://gahistory.amusementpics.com/

My first visit to the park was in 1974. I was 4 but I remember it well. I was tall enough to ride the Runaway Train and my uncle was willing to take me on it 7 times.

My map listed it as Wild Rider and the site I gave you shows it as Big Fury.(Wildcat) In any case, my mom, sister and I would run for that coaster when the park would open in the morning. The line would move so slow because of lack of throughput.

In 1979 my mom took me on my very first wood coaster. My first ride was at night, left side. I was hooked! I was able to ride it backwards the year they turned it around. It was an amazing ride, it also helped it was the left side. This was just a year after a ride op was thrown from Rolling Thunder's first drop. He was sitting on the bar with his feet on the seat.

I didn't ride Lighning Loops till I was 12 or 13. I was scared to go upsidedown. My second ride on LL was a scary one. The original bars were round and not flat and some had a lot of play in them. When I got to the other side I showed the operator how much I was able to move my bar off my body...a good foot in a half.

I believe are first season pass I got cost around 24.00
I've saved all my season passes since 1979 or 78.. If there is a form gathering I can bring them along if anyone wants to look at them. It's funny to see someone grow up on a season pass picture.

Things Remembered and not in order 

Openings for
Buccaneer
Freefall
Looping Starship
Rolling Thunder
Lightning Loops
Roaring Rapids
Lil Thunder
Super Sidewinder
Ultra Twister
Shockwave
Bobsled
Joustabout
Second Flume ride (we use to call it the moon flume..I have no idea why?)

I know I'm leaving stuff out ..I'm at work



I'm sure that website will be more helpfull then me but if you have questions I can try and answer them.

Twisterbret

I need quotes guys.  Anything will do.

Ill give you a basic few questions to use.. but im really just looking for a good thought about the history of the park and how it was back before about 1997 or so.

DO you remember any installations of our classic coasters..

when did you first visit the park
what were your first thoughts
how much has the park changed over the years

whats your favorite memory of the park


any additional information or interesting facts about the park before 1997?

the paper itself is due thursday so help ASAP thanks!

[DianaR]

Bret, Big Fury was my first coaster as well We must be close in age LOL. We are aware of Amusementpics..com . Tom's site is reffered to on every fansite at some point in time. He did a nice job. We were going to attempt (Wade has a book about it's history to) to do a page of our own at one point but, Tom did it before us (And Steve U passed away and was our resident historian) and he probably did a better job then we could have done. I know DarkRideDan is the gadv historian King in my book but, he's a busy guy

[darkridedan]

It's a bit late to help you on your paper Chilled but you may find interesting  the link that I sent you through a private message.

My first coaster was Lil' Thunder and I remember loving it. The operator sent it around about 5 times. I would love to hear Diana's review of Big Fury! Anything that I have learned about pre- '79 GA comes from somebody who has a large shoebox of pictures. He is the real king. I'll be happy being the pawn.  Some of his pictures are on amusementpics.com.

[twisterbret]

I have a park map the confuses me. On it "Big Fury" is labeled the "Wild Rider" any thoughts on that? I think we are thinking of the same "wildcat" ride. Here is a link to what it looks like as far as layout.
http://www.coasterreview.com/twister/view.php?album=D70/Williams%20Grove%208-27-05&mode=&pic=DSC_1878.jpg&picindex=24
This picture is from Williams Grove.

Twisterbret

It's a bit late to help you on your paper Chilled but you may find interesting  the link that I sent you through a private message.

My first coaster was Lil' Thunder and I remember loving it. The operator sent it around about 5 times. I would love to hear Diana's review of Big Fury! Anything that I have learned about pre- '79 GA comes from somebody who has a large shoebox of pictures. He is the real king. I'll be happy being the pawn.  Some of his pictures are on amusementpics.com.

Posted on: June 15, 2006, 12:38:35 pmI answered my own questions

Taken from http://www.rcdb.com/id2899.htm

History:    

The Big Fury was part of the park's "Fun Fair" expansion. It stood about where the lift of the Shoot-the-Chutes is now, or under the rollover inversions of Chiller. There was another path into that area then, and walking toward where the Freefall is now, the Big Fury was on the right.

This was an Italian built carnival coaster such as a Pinfari Zyklon. This roller coaster is often mistaken for a Schwarzkopf Wild Cat roller coaster called "Wild Rider" which essentially replaced the Big Fury in 1978.

[WadeJ]

Anybody know the reason why a few of these coasters had such a short stay?  Were they leased?  Was capacity just too low?

I'm only curious