Six Flags Great Adventure August 2020

Since one 6 Flags wasn't enough for us, we drove to Jackson Township, NJ to check out Six Flags Great Adventure and Safari. Here are some of the beautiful views we saw driving through Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Here in Washington if you choose not to take a toll bridge, it usually means extending your drive by at least 30 minutes to get to your destination. For that reason we decided to take the toll roads going into New Jersey and figured our rental car company would just bill us for them. They did, but it cost us $11 per toll on top of the tolls themselves, and we hit traffic Google's ETA had not anticipated. Rental companies really gouge you on tolls.

It was a good thing no one was below us at our New Jersey Motel. The kids were crazy energetic and jumping across the beds when we arrived. It was decent for a budget motel, but we'd just been spoiled at a super nice hotel, so it was pretty underwhelming. 

The next day we hit up the water park first. We only had Mon - Wed planned for our New Jersey trip, but the water park was closed both Tuesday and Wednesday. I was a little worried when Monday showed 50% chance of thunderstorms all day, but fortunately nothing even resembling a storm ever occurred. 

The kids and I hopped in the wave pool first thing, but it was just so we could cool off quickly. Since 6 Flags America also has a wave pool, lazy river, and several similar water slides, we wanted to spend the one day we had there focusing on the slides that were different.

The Reef Runner family slide was a hit! It's pretty similar to Avalanche Mountain at Silverwood. 

Oscar took Tyler on a 48+ inch water slide while I stayed with Allison in the children's play area. It was much smaller than the ones at Six Flags America, but it was  better than not having a play area at all. They also have a bigger one for bigger kids, but it never opened the day we were there. :(

Allison loved the Big Wave Racer slides! We went down them several times. I don't have a picture of them since you slide down on a mat on your tummy, and I didn't want to wear my phone while we were on it. It was convenient that they were right between the children's play area and the big family slides, all of which Allison can do. We stayed in that section most of the day. 

I took the kids on the orange slide, Big Bambu, while Oscar rode some fast drop slides. Big Bambu had a nice big drop, but it makes the ride too short for as long as the line is. We would have done it a few more times if the line weren't so long. When daddy got back we Rode Reef runner again with him. The kids climbed on him in line while he stuck his shirt over his head to block the sun. 

Unfortunately the water park closed at 4:30, but the theme park was still open until 7pm, so we went over there. Our first ride was the Skyride in order to check out the park. We also rode Runaway Mine Train, a 44 inch roller coaster Allison was just tall enough for. 

For some reason our meal passes didn't activate that day, so Oscar had to head off to Guest Relations to get them fixed. I took the kids on some kids' rides while he was taking care of that, but it took awhile for him to figure out where they were, and it was after 6:00pm by the time we tried to get dinner. We were grateful to find out their dinner service did not end right at 6:00pm like it does at 6 Flags America.

And we finished the day off with the parachute ride. It's fun, gentle, and super refreshing, but I would have liked it to stay up in the air a bit longer before dropping you down.

There was a lovely sunset on our drive back to the hotel.

Everyone but Oscar had forgotten to put sun block on, so we all got pretty burned. Daddy had to put aloe on us, and Tyler stripped down to undies. Luckily for Allison it had all turned to tan by the next morning. She copes best with it.

I'd bent my head over for Oscar to put aloe on my neck, but then realized I should keep my hair from getting on my neck for the next hour or so while it sank into my skin. I pulled my hair up as best I could while he worked on my neck, which cracked Oscar up. He called this my Uniconey tail (pony tail plus unicorn horn).

When we arrived the next morning, Oscar accidentally locked the keys in the car at the 6 Flags parking lot. That was a lovely $80+ expense for us. Oscar called the Allstate Motor Club for help, but they couldn't get there for about an hour. I took Tyler on the Joker while Oscar took Allison on the Harley Quinn Crazy Train before the lines for both got long.

There was still a little time left, so Oscar attempted to go on a few thrill rides while I took the kids around. Bizarro was closed and after waiting 20 minutes for El Toro he had to leave the line to make sure he arrived back at the car when the repair man arrived. Just as he was arriving at the car he got a text saying the man would be another 20 minutes. Lines were much longer at this park than Six Flags America, so it really stunk having to lose the first hours of the park opening when lines are shorter.

Here are the kids on the big Ferris Wheel

After Oscar got back from the parking lot and rode a few 54+ inch rides himself, we all went on the indoor roller coaster - Skull Mountain. This was Allison's favorite.

Then I took my turn to ride a 54+ inch ride while Daddy took the kids around. They mostly wanted to play in puddles since it was over 90 degrees that day. I went on Kingda Ka, the highest roller coaster in the world. It's super intense and unlike any other ride I've ever been on. Unfortunately the line was over an hour, and they wouldn't let me take my cell phone on it. I had to leave the line after waiting in it 10 minutes already so I could pay $2 to put my phone in a locker. It's the first time I've ever been told I couldn't have my phone in a zipper pocket.

After that Oscar and Tyler went over to El Toro and the Zumanjaro Drop of Doom. They were incredibly lucky that someone gave them a skip the line pass for El Toro or they never would have been able to do both rides before meeting back up with us for dinner. We finished our quesadillas before the boys got back, so Allison played pretend with her chips. This girl can make toys out of anything!

The next morning we checked out the drive-thru Safari before the theme park opened. It's really great! I liked this more than any other zoo I've been too, including San Diego Zoo Safari park and the Safari ride in Animal Kingdom at Disney World. We were so close to the animals, there were tons of them, and their habitats were huge!

Bison, deer, and elephants!

The zebras had no issue walking in front of the cars. It was like we weren't even there in the way.

I couldn't believe how close they came to us.

We saw some rhinos and a type of white gazelle I'd never heard of before. I really loved seeing just how big the herds were for the social animals. It made me feel less bad about their being in captivity.

We were stuck for at least 10 minutes waiting for the giraffes to get out of the road. Someone had tossed something onto the top of their car to encourage the giraffe to lick his car. They got told off by one of the zoo employees.

Eventually they drew the giraffe away with a sugar cone. Most of the rest came over when they brought a vehicle full of hay. You can see how close we were to the giraffes by our driver's side mirror on the bottom right.

There was a huge pride of lions, mostly female but there were 3 males too. I've never seen a zoo with this many. 

Black Bears

Brown Bears

And Tigers. Tigers are naturally solitary creature, so each of them had their own environment. I didn't get turned around quickly enough to snap a picture of the white tiger.

Monkeys were last. I love that they have a piece from an old roller coaster for the monkeys to play on. There are at least 3 of them on it in this picture.

There are also some animals within the theme park. Oscar went off to ride Kingda Ka and Bizarro while I took the kids around. In spite of going to Kingda Ka very first thing in the morning, it took over an hour for him to get through it. I guess there's no way to avoid it.

It was a bit maddening to wait for him without being able to call. He'd left his phone with us so he wouldn't have to put it in a locker, but I never expected he'd have to wait an hour since he went to it first thing.

Once he came back I finished up the 54 inch rides I'd missed. Bizarro, Nitro, Batman, Superman, and the Riddler were all good. Nitro was probably my favorite. At 6 Flags America most of the thrill rides banged my head around too much. Here I didn't have a problem with any of the rides except The Joker. 

Once I was done we met back up together for lunch and crazy train since Tyler hadn't done it yet. The line was looong. For social distancing requirements they can only fill every 3rd row, and you ride around the loop twice, which is what makes it move so slowly. The only good thing was I got to eat my delicious Gyro while we waited.

Once we were finally through that Oscar took Allison on a few things while I took Tyler on El Toro and the Zumanjaro drop. Both were fantastic! I loved El Toro! It's one of my favorite wooden coasters.

Allison liked sitting in the test seats and pretending to ride the rides. She had just as much fun pretending to be on a roller coaster as actually being on one.

We met back up for dinner, but Allison and I finished before Oscar and Tyler, so I took her on her favorite coaster again - skull island. It was another barely moving line, so my little social butterfly gave everyone hugs. I was worried people would be upset with the pandemic and all, but they just thought she was sweet and hugged her back.

And we had a lovely view of Philadelphia on our way back to Maryland. We avoided the tolls this time by going through Philadelphia, which only added 5 minutes to our ETA than Google's prediction of going back via the toll route.