It was 7 p.m. on Monday, June 7. I was online after doing some work on We Were Inverted and I was treated a major surprise. Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) announced a Members & Pass Holder Preview on Wednesday. Yeah, two days out. Talk about short notice. Still, I wanted to go.
I immediately messaged Sam, and although she was slated to get a leg tattoo on Tuesday, she also wanted to go. Ultimately, she wore black running pants to the park and dealt with the 90 degree heat in order to protect the new ink. She had got her first taste of what Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) could do last week when we visited Kings Dominion and she wanted more. And the both of us were looking forward to experiencing our first-ever Raptors.
Thankfully the rain in the forecast held off and we were at the park by 10 a.m. While we did get in three rides, they sure didn’t come easy.
Approaching the Coaster
As we made our way back to the coaster, Sam and I were both saying how much progress had been made since our April visit. I expected there to still be dirt everywhere, but instead we were looking at grass, a fully finished station, and light theming. Kudos to the park for getting so much done so quickly.
Return of El Diablo & Backstory
One of the stand out items we liked in Jersey Devil’s theming is the statue greeting riders entering the front gate. If you feel like you’ve seen this statue before, you’d be correct. The statue once stood next to former El Diablo Giant Loop. It now has a new home.
Inside the queue building, which we didn’t really get to explore with short lines, several story boards telling the story of the Jersey Devil are scattered about. I have always found story boards to be a nice queue item for waiting guests – especially on rides where you cannot have phones. That brings me to lockers.
More Lockers Incoming?
The only thing it is really missing in this ride’s plaza is a grouping of lockers. I’m not sure if this will be a future addition, but it doesn’t look like any ground is set aside for it. At present time, riders had to walk all the way out of the ride’s courtyard and over to the lockers outside the Congo River Rapids. That’s not entirely bad, but if two rides have to share the same set of lockers, I can see them needing more. A second set of lockers is located by the nearby food buildings, but it’s a small set and the computers were covered during our visit. Even with those two areas, I feel like this ride is going to severely lack lockers on busy days. Something to keep an eye on.
Rides & Downtime... Mostly Downtime
Whenever a park opens a new coaster, I fully expect there to be some downtime. On Wednesday, however, there was a ton of it. When we first arrived, the lines for our first two rides were never longer than a station wait. That said, however, it took us two hours to do both rides. We thought we’d luck out later, leaving to ride some other rides and hopefully work out the bugs. That looked to be the case when we returned, but it quickly turned into be more of the same. Here’s a little overview of each of our three rides.
Ride 1 - Downtime
After walking into the queue for our first ride, Jersey Devil went down for about 40 minutes. We struck up a conversation with a family behind us who was just getting back in line for their second ride. They said they liked the ride, but didn’t seem as impressed with it as the previous Raptor clones. Sam and I, who have yet to ride them, worried that this coaster might not have that some zip others as Wonder Woman, Railblazer, and Stunt Pilot are famous for. Talk about a bit of a buzzkill.
During our wait, it appeared that the mid-course brake run was the culprit of the downtime. A couple of test would run through the track flawlessly, but then every third or fourth train would get hung up on the mid-course. It also meant one of the other trains would get left on the lift hill since they were running three trains to start the day.
Ride 1 - Uptime
Once they finally got the ride up and running, we jumped onto the moving trains for our first-ever RMC Raptor. We were seated in the middle and were so excited to see what this ride had in store. By the end of that ride, however, we were not impressed. There was little airtime and the coaster felt slow. The only thing we seemed to like was the stall.
Sam and I walked off the ride, hoping it just needed to warm up. If that ride was represented how that ride was supposed to run, I don’t even know if I’d call it the sixth or seventh best coaster in the park. With no line, we decided to ride again to see if we just got a bad ride.
Ride 2 - Downtime
Once we walked up the steps for our second ride, Jersey Devil went down again. This time it didn’t appear to be the brake run. One of the cars looked to have issues with its restraints. One of the ride ops was jostling the first car of Train 1 for quite some time. Eventually it would be removed after a long wait and a few tests runs.
Even with a fourth train in the service bay, the coaster switched to two train ops at that point. The family that was behind us in line for our first ride also decided to ride again. The son and I both agreed that it should just run with two trains instead of sticking the forth one on and having to wait to for test runs. There wasn’t much of a crowd and I think running with one less train would not have hindered a thing.
Ride 2 - Uptime
After another long delay period, Sam and I finally sat down for our second ride. We were in the middle again, but a little closer to the front. As for the ride itself, it was quite the improvement over the first. It didn’t feel as slow and I felt a little bit of that RMC airtime I’m used to. The stall was still my favorite elements on the ride, though.
After a better ride, I still felt a little underwhelmed. I knew the coaster certainly wasn’t the sixth or seventh best coaster in the park, but I wasn’t quite sure just how good it was yet. I needed more rides.
“At first I was underwhelmed by Jersey Devil after our first two rides,” Sam explained. “It might have because I had such high hopes for it going in.”
As much as Sam and I wanted to marathon Jersey Devil when we arrived, it was already noon by time our second ride was in the books. We took the next few hours to go ride some of the park’s other attractions, which you’ll be able to read about in the upcoming trip report. We wouldn’t get in our third ride until around 3 p.m.
Back for a Promising Second Round
When Sam and I returned to Jersey Devil, we saw train after train dispatching up the lift. We looked at the queue and it was still just a station wait. We were so happy. It looked like the bugs had gotten worked out. We jumped in line to get our third ride and managed to do so without any ride stoppage.
Ride 3 - Only Uptime
Our third ride was the ride that made me realize our first two rides were massively gimped by the repeated downtime and the trains needing to warm up. This time, sitting closer to the back, the ride had a bunch more speed and a lot more bite on the elements. The airtime was stronger and I was even torqued so much going into the dive loop that my shoulder strap on my left side slipped down over my shoulder and to my arm. And while on that topic, I feel like this ride could do without those straps. I’m sure they’re there to make people feel comfortable, but I do feel like they do lessen the impact of those airtime moments. I’m not an engineer, but it just feels a little “extra.”
After coming back into the station following our third ride, Sam and I were much more appreciative of Jersey Devil Coaster. We were pumped to get back in line again and ride it a few times. Since it was now running as advertised and without constant delays, we went right back in line.
Ride 4 - Only Downtime
We walked right up to the station and nope… Down again. It felt like we were cursed, especially hearing that the coaster ran great for 90 minutes or so while we rode El Toro, Nitro, the log flume, and some other rides. It just wasn’t meant to be.
While standing in line for close to 40 minutes in attempts to get our fourth ride, we watched an RMC employee and several staff members walk around a train holding ride manuals. At that point, we called it quits on the day. We really wanted to squeeze in a few more rides, but with how things were looking, we didn’t want to spend the final hours of our day waiting endlessly on the station again. We’d have plenty of time to come back another day and ride this coaster.
Heading Out Early
After leaving the queue, we made our way to the front of the park and picked up some Jersey Devil merch, including two awesome pins for the Pin Collection. Our original plan for the rest of the day, if you’ve watched the YouTube vlog, was to head over to Seaside Heights and try to get in some coaster credits. With dark clouds beginning to approach and us starving, we decided to save the beach for another day. Food, however, we were still doing that.
We stopped at nearby GianMarco’s. If you love good Italian food, GianMarco’s is a must-stop. A handful of Flight Crew members and I have stopped made it a bit of a tradition to stop there after our SFGAdv trips We always get great food and impeccable service before embarking on our 2 hour, 15 minute ride back home to Baltimore. Be sure to check them out if you’re in the area, or after leaving the park.
Going to Need More Rides
Much like the second-ever blog to appear on this site, “Candymonium – First Rider Thoughts,” I feel like I’m going to need some more rides to be fair to this coaster if I were to do a full review. It’s not like the four rides I got on Steel Curtain during last week’s visit to Kennywood. That ride ran pretty steady throughout our day. Jersey Devil gave us three very different rides, leaving me with mixed feelings.
I know this ride is going to need time to work out whatever kinks it may have. Down the road I’ll try to do a follow up, just like I did with the Candymonium in, “I Like Candy(monium).” After getting in some more rides, I felt better about where Candymonium stood. I truly feel like Jersey Devil is going to need more rides as well.
Did you get a chance to ride Jersey Devil Coaster yet? I know some people were saying they had over a dozen rides yesterday and some had gotten a bunch the day before during some filming for park commercials. What do you think?
