That Time I Went To Six Flags America...

I grew up in NJ so, naturally, the amusement park I went to most was Six Flags: Great Adventure. I always loved it and went at least once a year from middle school through college.

Even though Great Adventure's rides are near and dear to my heart, I've always wanted to go to one of the other Six Flags parks, but none have ever been convenient to get to....

I finally achieved this decades-long goal when Husband wanted to visit his brother who lives outside DC. 

Husband was failing to actually plan a trip there, and when I realized that such a visit would bring me i proximity to Six Flags: America, I took the planning into my own hands. I decided we should go to the park Sunday instead of Saturday to hopefully see somewhat shorter lines, even though it meant a long drive home, pretty late at night, and not getting to stay at the park a late,

We arrived around noon a Sunday. It was July and the High was 82º. There. Were. No. Lines. Anywhere. Weird because the parking lot was packed already.

We headed to the farthest part of the park, under the premise that other guest would start with the rides closet to the entrance.

"Joker was here HA HA HA HA HAHA"

This would have brought us to the Batman coaster: Batwing, but it was closed. So instead, our first ride was Superman: Ride of Steel. We loved it. It had great drops, was really smooth, and was designed to make you feel like you're just flying around. 

My next favorite ride was Joker's Jinx. It was really cool in that so much track was fit into a small area. There weren't any drops, but it shoots you off lightning-fast and then it's loop, after loop, after loop.

We nearly made it on the first car that we saw when we walked up. I was glad we were on the next one so that I was prepared for the blast off!

The century-old wooden coaster: The Wild One was cool because it was so old, but it was really shaky which is bad for me because it gives me headaches. But I liked that it was still there because I was able to work out that that coaster must have existed before it was a Six Flags, and they must have built the modern park around it. 

I hated Apocalypse. It is a standing coaster, which I didn't like at Great Adventure (Green Lantern coaster), and had I realized sooner that it was standing, I would have sat it out.

Last were Roar, a newly built wooden coaster that was better headache-wise than the other, but still not my favorite.

And Mind Eraser which is a dangling-feet coaster that I had really high hopes for but it was more shakey than I would have liked, so it hurt my head.

My favorite ride at Great Adventure is the dangling-feet one (Batman: The Ride) so this was disappointing.

With all the roller coasters out of the way, we got on line for the two water rides in the main part of the park. And finally found lines. 

It had occurred to me that probably all the missing  people from all the cars were in the Hurricane Harbor part of the park.

The Renegade Rapids was fun and not all of us got wet. Good to know is that because it boards and disembarks at different locations, you are unable to leave your stuff to not get wet, so plan ahead. There was one girl who got SOAKED and I got sprinkled.

Shipwreck Falls was even better. We were prepared for getting soaked and took off our shoes and my shirt (calm down, I was wearing a bathing suit) and left them behind.

It's just up and down which wasn't a lot for how long we waited, but it was so much fun, and you WILL get soaked.

After these low-key water rides and headed to the Harbor (I'm pretty sure that's what everyone calls it).

Alas. We found the people! We mostly wanted to ride around the lazy river: "Wahoo River" for like an hour so we weren't that worried about the lines.

While there are tubes that are available for free in the lazy river, we observed that 1: there were no double tubes, and 2: we'd have to stand in line for them. So we decided to rent a double tube for $8.  We also rented a locker - not the cheapest thing - so that our valuables would be safe. There are spots to leave stuff you don't want to get wet, but we felt like it was worth it to not chance our two phones and wallets getting stolen.

After one time around the river, we also discovered that those with the free tubes had to get out so others in line can have their turn, but we were able to stay in as long as we want. Coolest part of the river is a section that has generated waves for more fun. 

After a few laps we decided to check out the wave pool. We were also able to use our rented tube to float around in the wave pool. There otherwise aren't tubes for the pool.

The only ride we went on was the Half Pipe because it looked really cool when we walked by it at it didn't have a really long line.

It was crazy! It really felt like we might fly off (we didn't), and it was so much fun. One of the best rides in the whole park. 

There were a lot of other really cool looking water rides, but we just didn't have time. 

We did the lazy river for one more time around before returning our tube then dried out by standing in the sun for a little bit (we didn't want to carry towels around all day) and then changed into dry clothes. 

The sun was going down at this point so people were starting to make their way to the main park. We were pretty tired so we decided to go on Superman one more time before leaving.

I know I already posted a photo of this ride. Here's another.

There was a bit of a line when we got there, and then more just by the time we got off. 

Moral of the story, our plan of doing all the dry rides first, then the water park was smart. We mostly chose this order because we were with Husband's brother and brother's-girlfriend who didn't bring bathing suits. But it turned out to be the right choice. 

I wanted to also go on Joker on the way out, but it was having technical difficulties so we were unable to.

See comment on previous photo.

Again, glad we did the coasters first.

After an obligatory selfie groupie we headed to our car. 

We found the six flags!

I don't know if the lines would have been short as well on Saturday, but the super-short lines we had meant we felt like we got our money's worth, even though we had to leave by 7pm.

We hit up Chipotle a few minutes away from the park and then mentally prepared for a long drive home.