In our quest to enjoy our time in New York as much as possible, Jasmine and I decided to join Jamie on a visit to the nearest Six Flags on Saturday. Friday night we decided to purchase our tickets and find out how to get there. Online tickets were only $39.99 compared to the $49.99 at the gate (normally $59.99 - $10 for a coke can).

After purchasing and printing our tickets we decided to look up how to get to Jackson, NJ for our trip. To no surprise, the most efficient way to get there is from the Port Authority for $25 round trip ticket. The only drawback with taking a bus was the fact that it did not leave until 9:30 meaning we would arrive 1 hour after open, due to the 1 1/2 hour bus ride, and the last bus left at 8:30 - a full hour and a half before the park closed. This is a great disappointment to someone like myself that likes to ride as many roller coasters as possible during my trip to amusement parks.

With 2 hour waits for 1 minute rides and 2 1/2 hours cut off of our time in the park, we decided to get the Flash Pass. Yes - We have now doubled the cost of our tickets. The Gold Flash Pass (the only one that actually reduces the time waiting for a ride) was a $30 deposit plus around $40 per person. Those who can do math have realized that we are at over $100 per person at this point in time. We only come to these places once a year or less, so who cares? It is worth it if we can do more than 5 rides in a day.

After waiting in the longest line of the day to actually buy the Flash Pass, we walked to the nearest ride, Superman - Ultimate Flight. Our large beeper style line cutting device informs us that we should come back in 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes, we bring our Flash Pass to the following rides: The Great American Scream Machine, Kingda Ka, Rolling Thunder, El Toro, and Medusa.

By the time we had reserved all of those rides, it was time for us to get on the Superman. We entered through the exit and walked straight onto the first train that came into the station. There were many angry faces as we took the seats of people who had been waiting for an hour to get on the ride. I remember being pissed whenever people did that to me. That’s another reason why I really wanted to get the Flash Pass - no one to get mad at. The ride was pretty fun and made you really feel like you were flying. Jasmine, however, did not enjoy the experience of facing straight down to the ground which was dozens of feet below her, so she had her eyes closed nearly the whole time. I have to say she missed out.

When we were done with that, we walked over to the Scream Machine and once again walked up the exit to experience an average, normal rollercoaster. It was fun because it had loops and curves and spirals, but nothing to write home about. Immediately after exiting the Scream Machine, our beeper informs us that we need to proceed to Rolling Thunder. The Kingda Ka had been re-scheduled for us due to service delays. Rolling Thunder is an ancient wooden roller coaster that has you feeling every bump turn and hiccup. The seats would squish and expand depending on the certain location on the track - no loops or flips, just a good ol wooden roller coaster that makes you feel more in fear of your life than most modern ones.

To the excitement of Jamie and I, the Kingda Ka was done with servicing when we were done with the Rolling Thunder. Jasmine was not as excited. She was not looking forward to the tallest roller coaster with the fastest acceleration, so she stayed to the side and held my glasses. Let me just say that the Kingda Ka was the biggest disappointment of the entire trip. It was fast. It was high. It was 20 seconds of pure nothing. It was borderline boring. There was no time for anticipation, there was no fear of death, and it was over before you could process that the gigantic drop had just completed. On a 1-10 the rides had been over a 6 before the Kingda Ka, and the Kingda Ka had just turned out to be a 3. It was a roller coaster built due to hype in order to be higher than any other. That was the only point. The actual joy from the ride was nil. Thanks a lot Six Flags - that was lame.

When we were done with the BIG Disappointment, which I think is a much better name for it than the Kingda Ka, we were told by our beeper that we had better proceed to the El Toro. Surrounded by souvenir shops and delicious smelling Mexican food restaurants, the El Toro would zip by us at amazing speeds as we walked up the special Flash Pass entrance. The large wooden roller coaster began down the track faster than any other I had been on and climbed up the hill at a thrilling pace rather than crawling up like many others. We dropped down the 76 degree angle and proceeded through the best ride I had ever had. This is the first coaster that I could say is a 10/10. Fast and fun the entire way through, scary but not deathly so, and longer than most I had been on.

After riding on the El Toro, nearly any ride would have been sub-par. The Medusa was next, and after waiting in the 0 person line we got on the ride which was actually fun. The Six Flags website records the Medusa as being over 4 minutes. It didn’t seem like 4 minutes, but it was fairly long and pretty fun but like I said, it was nothing in comparison to the El Toro. I repeat - the The Bull. Or Tuna. I’m not sure.

Since that was the end of our reserved rides and it was already past noon, we stopped for lunch. Jamie and I proceeded to the Nathan’s stand while Jasmine stopped to get some fried chicken. The hot dogs were $4.00 a pop instead of $2.50 like on Coney Island, but they were just as good - as were the $4.00 small cheese fries. Full and a little tired from our days worth of rides in 90 minutes, we walked to the other side of the park.

Jasmine had not been feeling well all day due to lack of sleep, heat exhaustion, and a myriad of other understandable reasons so we decided to go on the Congo Rapids to relax a bit before going on more intense rides. We reserved the Nitro before getting on the Congo Rapids. If I had been into getting soaking wet I probably would have had more fun with it, though it was entertaining to see everyone else get soaked and sprayed at. Our reservation of Nitro was set to 4 minutes and I ran over to Batman The Ride and reserved it before Jamie and I got on Nitro. Jasmine was basically out for the count at this point in time. The Nitro took us over swamplands and trees with its mile-long track and was a 9.7 out of 10 if I were to rate it. Nitro was so great that with El Toro it had made me decide Six Flags - Great Adventure was the best theme park I had ever been to.

We tried to reserve the Nitro for another ride before proceeding to Batman, but it said it was closed for maintenance. Trying not to shed a tear, we proceeded to Batman. Greedily, I tried to reserve Batman & Robin: The Chiller and Stuntman’s Freefall both of which were closed. We were able to get onto Batman The Ride which seemed a little faster and longer than the ride of the same name at Six Flags: Magic Mountain. Feeling defeated by 3 reservations which failed in a row, we decided to try to reserve Nitro again and it had completed its maintenance! Jamie also ran over to Skull Mountain and reserved that.

Nitro was fantastic the second time around, but we were all a little parched and decided to grab some Dippin’ Dots and missed our ride on Skull Mountain. No problem - I just reserved it again and in 5 minutes we were on the ride. It was kind of like Space Mountain. A young girl sat next to me (Jasmine and Jamie were in a cart themselves), and she was fairly scared. We traveled up a couple of ramps we could see, then it was suddenly black and we were going down hills and flying around loops. The girl next to me grabbed my shirt and screamed for her life. In between screaming she kept saying, “I am sorry! I don’t even know who you are! AHHHHHHHH! I’m sorry!!!”, etc. I was enjoying the ride, but that girl just made me laugh like nothing else.

After Skull Mountain we traveled back to the other side of the park via the Sky Ride Cable Cars. We went on the Log Ride on that side of the park, then the El Toro, Rolling Thunder, and back onto El Toro after watching tigers play in a pool. By the time we got onto El Toro for the third time, it was already 7:00 and we decided to wait in line for the front row. A 30 minute wait felt like forever after the entire day of no lines but it was worth it.

I just cannot imagine going to an amusement park again without something like the Flash pass. The number of rides, and the freedom to eat and drink, and go to the bathroom whenever you feel like it is worth the extra money. Especially when you consider the fact that it would have taken us at least 2, if not 3, trips to the same park to experience the same amount of rides. The next day I woke up feeling like I had been in 10 consecutive car crashes, but I am glad we did it.