Six Flags Great Adventure 2009

Six Flags Great Adventure | Photos | Videos

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June 24, 2009
Jackson NJ

I was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to spend the day in Philly on Monday, but the one park I was looking forward to the most was Great Adventure and that was my game plan for Tuesday. I was nervous because the road to Jackson was a bit confusing and the tolls expensive. My GPS gave me different directions than Matt had, which compounded the confusion as well. So I called Matt a few times to make sure I was at the right place, and in just over an hour I was turning in to the park. This was a huge area, with the water park and wild safari available as well, but I headed in to the parking lot to the theme park, parked, and headed to the gate, season pass in hand.

All of the coasters that I could see were testing except for Kingda Ka, which just happened to be the Tallest, Fastest coaster in the world at the time. But whatever. I wanted to ride it, but I was here for other coasters. The front gate for Great Adventure was nice and well landscaped. I went thru the turnstiles and in to the park. The entry plaza was huge. I knew this park was notorious for getting packed. I was worried because there were already a lot of cars in the lot.

Once inside I headed to the left and made it to the ropes. The park opened at 10:00 AM, but the rides start to open at 10:30. I think they should have had an opening ceremony like Six Flags America. That would have helped pass the time better. Promptly at 10:30, though, the ropes dropped and off the bulls ran. My first stop was Superman.

Six Flags Over Georgia 2009

Six Flags over Georgia | Photos | Videos

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March 28 & 29, 2009
Atlanta GA
ACE Spring Fling

Day 1

When planning for trips in the future, I really should plan around rush hour traffic. Since we really didn’t have that in WV, even in the busiest places, I tended to forget about it when traveling outside of my home state early on. Add in the fact that I was heading to Atlanta, a city notorious for being a pain to drive in and you have me with a full bladder stuck in traffic for over an hour, 2 exits away from my hotel. I had to pull off and run into a Hardees just so I didn’t have an accident in the Xterra. Plus I was still queasy from Nighthawk, which made for an unhappy Beaver.

The drive to Atlanta wasn’t bad. Coming around a curve and seeing the beginning of the city’s skyline, which stretches on forever it seemed, was amazing. I always like seeing new cities. I finally arrived at my hotel which was right off of the interstate, checked in, took a quick shower, and headed out. I really needed to charge my phone, but didn’t have time. I had paid about $30 for a dedicated car charger, as that was really the only option in 2009, and they weren’t a dime a dozen that could be found at any store or gas station, but my mother had removed it when cleaning out our cars one day and never returned it. We never found it, either.

I had planned to meet up with some folks at a restaurant in Atlanta’s Little Five Points. I found The Vortex pretty easily with my phone’s GPS. After garriving I headed inside to find Josh and Brandi as well as Karen and Steve. We were waiting on 4 more to show up, but I already liked the place. Next up to the party were Don and Monica, neither of which I’d ever met before. Soon after, Barron and Brandon came in, and right after they arrived we were seated.

Six Flags America 2007

Six Flags America | Photos | Videos

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August 10, 2007
Washington, D. C.

I left for this trip on Thursday, leaving directly from work just after noon so that I could arrive at my first stop in Moorefield by the early evening. When I arrived at Petersburg I stopped by Rite Aid for some razor blades, and then I headed to my sister Jacqui’s house, where my brother would be as well. It was dinner time, but I’d eaten on the way up, which still didn’t stop me from having a bowl of rice as I sat and talked with the family over dinner.

Kelly and I left and went back to his apartment in Moorefield and then stayed up to watch Conan. I had a feeling I wouldn’t get much sleep, and I didn’t. But I was up and ready to go by 6:15 AM., at which time I left Kelly’s apartment and headed to town for gas. After filling up, I started towards D.C., which was a shorter ride than I had planned for. Not much in the way of traffic, and I stopped in Virginia for breakfast at McDonalds. I actually liked the drive to D.C.

I went around the southern part of the Beltway and called Matt about 10 miles from Six Flags America. I told him I was going to make a quick bathroom stop, and about 2 blocks away from Six Flags, I stopped at Target and picked up some disposable cameras, since I didn’t have a digital camera on this trip. Two exits up I spotted Matt and Bill at the entrance to Six Flags America, as the bus had dropped them right off at the front gate entrance road to the park, so I stopped on the side of the entrance road and they hopped in.

Six Flags America 2001

Six Flags America | Photos | Videos

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August 17, 2001
Washington, D.C.

August 2001 was filled with a few firsts. My first big concert the night before seeing my icon, Janet Jackson. My first trip to D.C. without my parents. My first trip to Six Flags America. The concert was on Thursday, August 16 and on Friday we decided to go to Six Flags America for a day at the park. This was my second trip to a Six Flags park, and I wasn’t really expecting much since my visit to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Il wasn’t up to my expectations. Six Flags America, however, was quite better than I had expected, though they could’ve used a fresh coat of paint on quite a few rides and some renovation of the older buildings, not to mention more landscaping and shade.

We woke up around 9 AM and headed to the park from our motel room in D.C. Six Flags wasn’t very far from where we were staying out by the beltway. After our trip to D.C. proper the day before, in which we spent over 4 hours lost, I half expected us not to find Six Flags but it turned out to be very easy and we were there in short order. After paying to get in Jamaal and I went to get in line for Two Face, the park’s Vekoma Invertigo Coaster. I had always wanted to ride one.

Two Face: The Flip Side- The park wasn’t really crowded so we didn’t have a long wait in line. I used to always try and ride coasters in the front row and this one was no exception. Though most of the seats have front/back facing seats, we opted for the front. This ride looks much tamer than it actually was. After being pulled up the first back spike, we were released to go thru the circuit, fly thru the station and into a cobra roll, then into a vertical loop and up the second spike. After getting to the top of the second spike you do it all again…backwards. It was a lot of fun.