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Park News - (4/25/08) Great Adventure History now is now spotlighting the Great American Scream Machine in celebration of it’s 20th season.
  (4/24/08) Six Flags Great Adventure fans will want to check out the newly updated Thrill Ride page which features a new park video with good footage of Kingda Ka in action… possibly a rare site depending on when you visit. The clip does include quite a few POV shots as well as aerial footage.
  (4/11/08) If you take a look at the Six Flags Great Adventure website, you’ll notice another ride missing from the page… Houdini’s Great Escape. Some may have noticed this before, but from what I’ve heard the ride will not operate this season due to operational budget cuts.
  (3/28/08) While we’ve confirmed the news that the Old Country area is to be closed down starting this season, some believed that eventually when things were looking better for Six Flags, that the area may eventually reopen. Apparently this is not the case because according to the latest rumors the plan is to bring in demolition crews to clear it all out slowly over the next couple of years opening up the space for new future projects.
  (3/20/08) A picture can tell the entire story… and thanks to one of our readers, the latest picture (sidebar) from the park confirms that the Looping Starship is now gone.
  (3/19/08) Great Adventure History has posted new articles looking back at the creation of Batman: The Ride and the Movietown area.
  (3/17/08) Screamscape sources now tell us that Six Flags Great Adventure is now in the process of removing the Looping Starship. As you can see in this picture (see sidebar) taken late last week, they had already removed the counterweight arm from the top. Looks like it has also been removed from the list of rides on the park’s website as well as from the park map.
  (2/29/08) The new 2008 park map posted to the website confirms that the Old Country is gone along with a few other small rides.
  (2/25/08) Six Flags Great Adventure will open two more Johnny Rockets locations in 2008, brining the total up to three.
  (2/21/08) Local sources tell us that the park has decided to save Fantasy Fling after all, but will remove Flying Wave instead.
  (2/8/08 - 11:55am) It’s only been a few hours but the concept is starting to sink in for many of you about the possible closure of the entire Old Country section of the park. It’s been pointed out to me that there are really only two attractions left in this area that would be affected: Music Express and the Bumper Cars and from what I’ve been told the later of which has not really been in the best of shape lately anyway. Other than these two low level attractions, the area just has two unused theaters, gift shops, food stands, some midway games… all locations where the park could make some significant savings to the budget, if they closed down.
  Some of you are already thinking… how can closing down money making stands be a good thing, but you have to remember that with no major attractions or shows in this area to hold the crowds, people will simply walk right through here as quickly as possible on their way to Dark Knight and wouldn’t be stopping to buy anything anyway. Closing down this entire area of the park will save the park some serious coin in the end and allow them to better spread out the staff that they do hire where they are needed most.
  It’s also worth mentioning that a very similar plan for Six Flags Magic Mountain was leaked to me last November when the management of that park was challenged to come up with ways to trim the fat. One of the SFMM solutions that may still be put into play in the years to come was to close down a similar sounding area of the park, full of retail shops and food stands, but featuring very few attractions after they had already removed the Psyclone wooden coaster and put the sole remaining Déjà Vu coaster in the chain on notice. To me, it just sounds like they took the same basic idea and will be applying it to Great Advenure this season to see how well it works out for them.
  (2/8/08) Screamscape sources have filled us in on a very interesting fact many may not have considered. Over the past few years pretty much every ride on the pathway through what I believe is called Old Country over towards The Dark Knight Coaster area has been removed. The list includes The Chiller and Water Effect but also Stuntman’s Freefall, Spin Meister, Spinnaker and Pendulum. With The Dark Knight Coaster taking up mostly space used by the former Water Effect ride and the entrance and exit facing the old Batman show arena, we’ve heard that newly empty pathway will now be closed off to the general public. If the plans go through the way we’ve herd, about the only way anyone will be going down this way in 2008 is if they are part of a private picnic group who will still have to use the pathway to get to the picnic grotto. I’m not entirely familiar with this area of the park right now however, so are there any other attractions left back here that could be closed all season because of this plan?
  (1/31/08) Great Adventure History has been updated with several new features this month including a Then & Now section to compare photographs of old areas of the park from back in the 70s to how they look now. Other new additions include a Spotlight article on the old Condor ride and the Goodtime Alley collection of themed contests, puzzles and more all themed as a tribute to the park’s original games square.
  (1/21/08) Screamscape sources have confirmed that Six Flags Great Adventure will be removing the Fantasy Fling flat ride.
  (1/3/08) Six Flags has posted the 2008 operating schedule on the park’s website, with opening day set for April 5th and November 2nd as the last day of the 2008 season.

2008 - Fly Me To The Moon 3D - (2/27/08) Six Flags has confirmed plans to bring Fly Me To The Moon 3D to Six Flags Great Adventure in addition to the previously announced Six Flags over Texas location.

2008 - The Dark Knight - (5/7/08) New construction photos of The Dark Knight Coaster have been posted to AmusementPics. While the façade hasn’t gone up on the building yet, they are putting in lots of new greenery around the area. It also seems they’ve come up with two different price packages for those stupid Cabanas and are offering things food and game coupons along with Aqua Massages.
  (5/5/08) GAInsider has posted a bunch of new Dark Knight pictures taken during the Coasters After Dark event as well as a look at one of the coaster cars.
  (4/30/08) Six Flags will be holding a special Campout Under The Dark Knight Coaster event the night before they open the new ride. In addition to camping out at the park overnight, there will be a special park-wide scavenger hunt to determine who the first eight riders will be. You can read up on the details posted over at GadvUpdates and buy your official ticket ($125) here.
  (4/25/08) New construction updates on The Dark Knight Coaster has been posted to Gadv Online and AmusementPics. The later of which discovered an interesting innovation now being offered at the park… which I find to be so completely dumb I can’t even imagine how it got approved... Cabana Rentals!
  So after paying out Disney level prices to get into Six Flags, you too can rent an overpriced Cabana for the day, complete with a DirecTV hookup so you can sit on your butt and “watch the games” that you could have just stayed home and watched for free if you were that interested in the first place. Maybe it’s just me, but this seems both dumb and greedy. At a waterpark I can see why some people might want a Cabana… you’re there to sit around a small park, relax, get a tan, play in the water and it’s nice not to have to bother with needing a locker, but at a theme park where you’re going to spend the day running from ride to ride, this just seems like a bad idea. Since Six Flags seems to be sticking to their guns with the new Mandatory Locker Policy (aka: Locker Nazis) maybe they should have looked to the Golf Course for inspiration instead and offered guests the services of a “Caddy” instead to carry around their stuff while they ride the rides. Maybe drive them around in a golf-cart from ride to ride while your at it. Maybe dress them up as the Justice League and make Batman carry around your kid’s diaper bag or send The Flash off to pick up some drinks for the family.
  (4/23/08) Gadv Online has posted a piece of artwork showing off the overhead layout of The Dark Knight Coaster building and what the outside will look like once they add the large mural artwork to the side to pretty it up a bit.
  (4/21/08) New construction pictures from The Dark Knight Coaster have been posted to Gadv Online.
  (4/15/08) A quick follow up to the whole GothamCab.com viral campaign thing. It seems this was just one of many websites that have been created and in use for the last year or so as part of an on-going viral campaign for The Dark Knight film. You can find out a little more about the history and messages placed on Gothamcab.com here and more information about the entire Dark Knight ARG.
  (4/14/08) Gadv Online has posted some new construction photos of The Dark Knight Coaster. We’ve also heard that there is some kind of viral campaign in the works for The Dark Knight Coaster. During another on site tour of the ride posted to Coaster-Net they spotted a piece of scenery that says GothamCab.com.
  Sure enough there is a real website there that briefly mentions the history the company, how they are providing free taxi service withtin “The Narrows and the Gotham City Rail destruction zone”. Then a final update claims that service has been suspended, thanks the customers and while they are working with the city to restore service, to keep an eye out on the website for future updates or you can just call for their current status: 1-877-530-CABS. Go ahead and call to hear another piece of the puzzle and even leave a message. Hmmm…
  (4/11/08) Six Flags Great Adventure has posted new construction pictures taken inside The Dark Knight Coaster building as some of the first themed sets and elements are being put into place. The site currently has a countdown clock ticking towards May 15th for the grand opening.
  (3/28/08) According to our sources Six Flags hopes to open The Dark Knight Coaster sometime in mid May if all goes well.
  (3/25/08) There are a ton of new Six Flags Great Adventure updates to enjoy today after the park hosted a construction site tour yesterday. You can see some of the first new photos showing off The Dark Knight Coaster ride building posted to GadvUpdates and GAInsider. As you can see the building is pretty much all up right now, though most of the coaster parts are still sitting on the ground outside. Elsewhere in the park it was revealed that the giant tepee is being removed.
  (3/4/08) I’ve added two more pieces of concept artwork from Six Flags (below) as well as the animated video teaser.
  (3/3/08) This animation found at the Daily Herald is a little on the quick and dark side, but it shows off what may be the basic look of The Dark Knight Coaster. While I’m still hopefully this will turn out to be a good ride, I just wasn’t impressed by the quick edits and very dark footage, all of which made it about as easy to follow as one of the big action scenes in Transformers. On a side note I’ve also been sent four pieces of concept art showing off the ride’s design as well.

  (2/8/08) Flying Phils Photos has posted another new construction update for The Dark Knight Coaster. So far no real vertical construction has happened yet, but they’ve got the giant slab poured for the new coaster and building.
  (2/4/08) Six Flags Great Adventure has posted a few new construction pictures from The Dark Knight Coaster site.
  (1/23/08) Six Flags Great Adventure has posted new construction pictures from The Dark Knight Coaster site, including shots of the ride’s track now on site.
  (1/17/08) Six Flags Great Adventure has posted their own construction photos of The Dark Knight Coaster.
  (1/3/08) Great Adventure Source has posted a series of plan drawings showing off the location of The Dark Knight coaster project. Obviously it seems these are an old version of the plans however as they don’t quite match up to how the construction is taking place in FlyinPhilsPhotos as the new building foundation looks to have been turned about 45º from what you see in the plans. The plans do make a good note that the Hall of Justice store location will be remodeled to become part of The Dark Knight area along the ride’s exit.
  (12/31/07) New aerial photography from FlyinPhilsPhotos.com show The Dark Knight construction site as of December 30th. As you can, the entire coaster portion of The Chiller is now gone, but Six Flags has elected to keep the station/queue building as well as the large rotunda. The old Water Effect ride is gone without a trace now and it looks like they are pouring a series of footers in a square pattern not far away. So with the new ride taking over the Water Effect location, then I’ve got to wonder what they have planned for the old Chiller buildings then. Are they just keeping them up as scenery for now or do they have another plan for the site? Would make a good site for a future DC comics themed attraction I suppose.
  (9/27/07) Six Flags has just announced The Dark Knight Coaster is on the way in 2008. Riders will become citizens of Gotham City, caught in the middle of a city under siege and torn apart by The Joker. Venture through demented hallways of twists, turns and hallucinatory images, while being tormented by The Joker himself. Then set foot onto a distressed, vandalized train platform. You can only guess at what awaits as you speed through six 180-degree hairpin turns, climb unseen hills, plunge into pitch darkness and dip into unforeseen danger. As you attempt to escape the terror, your only hope is that Gotham's Silent Guardian —Batman — can save you! The website confirms that this is a $7.5 million Mack coaster, 1,213 feet long which is the exact length of a standard Mack Wild Mouse coaster, so it looks like the hopes for something a little more unique on the hardware side didn’t happen.

2008 - Glow In The Park Parade - (4/11/08) The latest rumors claim that the Glow In The park Parade may be ready to open for Memorial Day Weekend on May 24th.
  (1/16/08) We’ve got some new details about the new Glow In The Park parade being created for Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Mexico. The parade is being created by Gary Goddard Entertainment who is working with Raul Rodriguez to design the floats (known for his work with the Rose Parade floats) and the music score for the parade is being created by Benoit Jutras, a composer known to Cirque du Soleil fans for his work on O (Bellagio), La Nouba (WDW), Mystere (Treasure Island) as well as Dragone’s La Reve (Wynn). The night time parade will feature five major floats covered in lights and a cast full of singers, dancers, stilt-walkers, puppets and much more.
  (10/4/07) It was just announced that Six Flags Great Adventure will get Glow In The Park Parade, bringing drummers, puppeteers, singers, dancers and kinetic stilt walkers bring the park streets to life with an unparalleled nighttime fantasyland of sound, light and motion. Glow in the Park features the latest parade technology, state-of-the-art floats and special effects with thousands of sparkling lights adorning every element of this uniquely themed parade.

2009 - Dive Machine - Rumor - (10/15/07) The early buzz for 2009 indicates that the park may be one of the first Six Flags parks to get a B&M Dive Machine. I’ve also heard a similar rumor last month for Six Flags Great America, so either both may get it or more likely it will come down to a choice of which parks needs it more or deserves it more. We’ve see what Busch did with the concept, so with the ball in Six Flags court, will they expand or simplify the design of the Dive Machine concept?