September 24, 2016- Amusement Parks

I’ve been to Great Adventure 3 times with my family and once with Mom, Helen and Kathy. I also went on my own one day, mostly for the Oak Ridge Boys concert. I did go on some rides too, like the Buccaneer and the Parachute. The water rides are the best ones there.

   Aunt Ann drove us through the safari the first time. They stopped letting people do this 3 or 4 years ago. Fran and Mom went on Lightning Loops but I was too scared as were Mike and Missy. We all did go on the Runaway Train though. I was even scared on that roller coaster; it felt like I was going to fall out of it at one point.

   It was just Missy, Aunt Ann, Mom and I the 2^nd time. I was a little frightened in the Haunted House; that burned down like a year or 2 later. We saw a water show- dolphins must have been a part of this. I wish that I could remember more about that.

   Our cousins Jen, Terry and Mandy came with Mike, Mom and I in the late 80s. The bobsled ride was very cool but they had to keep temporarily shutting it down for repairs. We got stuck upside down in the Space Shuttle ride for a little while which was scary and painful.

   Wow- I can’t believe that it has been 25 years since I was last there. I am no longer interested in going on most amusement park rides so it is doubtful that I would ever return to that place. I’d love to go to Disney World again though; that’s a different story. Yikes- 33 years since that vacation to Florida and 40 since our first time there.

 I was brave enough to go on The Loch Ness Monster both times that I was at Busch Gardens, VA- once with the Girl Scouts in 1982, then 4 years later with my family. The Big Bad Wolf was pretty scary there too but Mom and I kind of liked it. I get anxious and frightened just thinking about being on any roller coasters now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note- The Great Adventure 1980 brochure and Map are from the internet.

 

 

 

 

Great Adventure

My favourite rides at Great Adventure were always the water ones like the Log Flume in the rememberance photo of mom, my friend Stacey and I. Stacey's mom was with us too. I've been here six times, the last one being in 1991 by myself and I didn't go on that many rides but did see an Oak Ridge Boys concert. Other trips included the 8th grade class one in 1983; with Mom, Mark, Aunt Al and my 2 cousins Mary and Janet; Mom, Mark and 3 other cousins; Mom, Aunt Al and Mary. We did the safari part of it the one time in the early 1980s. We always had a good time there. My Aunt lives in Bordentown which is closer to Jackson so we would visit her for a couple of days too. I was kind of scared on the rollercoasters though. It felt like I was going to fall out of the Runaway Train once. They used to have a bobsled ride there that was cool. Once we were on a space shuttle ride that got stuck and we were hanging upside down for a long time - that was very painful. I have this memory of being on a ride and the song Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol was playing. I think that the name of it was the Matterhorn and it was near the Haunted House that eventually burnt down one year. I was only in that once.