The 2026 season will mark the 20th year for El Toro! Great to see that it's getting some much needed TLC in the off season to bring it back to the great ride it started out as.

Excited to share that “Ticket to Ride- America’s Theme Park Trains” is now available for pre-order! rivershorepress.com/ticket-to-ride This book will be a “must have” for train & theme park fans everywhere. Photos from my Great Adventure History collection and my personal collection of are included.

From this date in 2008– both coasters are gone now…

May the 4th be with you!

These photos are so awesome— I time capsule of the late 70’s/early 80’s in a theme park! The fake Darth Vader/C3PO photos are rare and amazing!

Another Monday, another map! This week it's 1987-- Splashwater Falls made a big splash, but it was another rough year for the park with bad publicity. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1987_Yearboo...

This could have interesting implications for the theme park world. I believe the licensing with Six Flags runs out next year...

Map Monday this week is 1986, and the debut of the first (and only) Togo Ultra Twister outside of Japan! The unique ride was thrilling, but low capacity and only lasted a few years. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1986_Yearboo...

Today’s Map Monday brings us to 1985, a “rebuilding” year for the park. Looping Starship was the new ride, and the Looney Tunes took over as park mascots. Behind the scenes a $5 million fire safety system was retrofit park wide. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1985_Yearboo...

turn that shit up!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQsw...

More ‘84 goodness with a look at the Season Passholder mailer: www.greatadventurehistory.com/New1984SPMai...

To go with our Map Monday, the 1984 season also had Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man.

This week’s Map Monday takes us to 1984, the year that changed everything for Great Adventure and industry wide. The Sarajevo Bobsled was the marquis addition for the season. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1984_Yearboo...

Smithsonian Magazine has a post about the demise of Kingda Ka: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

I missed Map Monday, so we’re doing a Two Map Tuesday to make up for it! Here’s the 1982 map featuring the “new” Games Area, and the 1983 map which introduced Freefall, Parachutes, and the Ski Show! www.greatadventurehistory.com/1982_Yearboo... www.greatadventurehistory.com/1983_Yearboo...

The best of 70's design!

Before AI, computer animation, and CAD drawings were used to show new rides, elaborate models used to be made to help show off what was coming to the park. The Roaring Rapids model was one of the most elaborate, and actually could hold water! www.greatadventurehistory.com/RoaringRapid...

Another Map Monday— 1981 and the arrival of Roaring Rapids! The rapids ride was developed by Six Flags and Intamin and was only the second in the world when it opened. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1981_Yearboo...

It’s Map Monday again! This week we’re looking at 1980, when swinging ship mania was in full swing and the Buccaneer was introduced. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1980_Yearboo...

This week’s Map Monday brings us to 1979, the year Rolling Thunder made its debut. The wooden racing coaster would remain Great Adventure’s largest coaster for ten years.

It’s Map Monday, and this week’s map is from 1978, the year Great Adventure became a member of the Six Flags family. Lots of new additions to the park for 1978 including the Monster Spin, Americana Music Hall, and Lightnin’ Loops, the park’s first looping roller coaster!

I love that it is almost exactly what the rendering looked like.

Looking really good!

We cannot let hate win--

Our next Map Monday brings us to 1977, and the introduction of the popular rainbow logo 🌈 . The only new attraction introduced was the historic Gondola ride which only ran for a portion of the year.

Our next Map Monday takes us to 1976– new park entrance, new kiddie area, and a few new rides all debut! www.greatadventurehistory.com/1976_Yearboo...

To help everyone through the “off season” we’ll be featuring poster maps from the park through the years. Our first is 1975, which was the first one issued. www.greatadventurehistory.com/1975_Yearboo...

Happy Holidays and let’s all hope for a better 2025!

One of the odder thing that Great Adventure had over the years was the Parashooter game. It lasted from 1976-81 and was a shooting gallery target game that would send a parachuter up 60' and then it would parachute back down. The better the aim on the bullseye, the higher it would shoot.

Can’t wait to have our cars match our workplaces! WDW on mine, Universal on hubby’s.

A poll of our fans determined the Great Adventure Rainbow 🌈 logo is everyone’s favorite—

A “Star Wars” photo op that was available one summer at Great Adventure. It’s practically Galaxy’s Edge level…

Before Universal, before Disney, Marvels characters appeared at Six Flags Great Adventure. Spiderman, Ms. Marvel, and Captain Marvel all spent a summer greeting guests in 1977: www.greatadventurehistory.com/MarvelCharac...

With the theme park boom of the 1970's one of the most ubiquitous souvenirs was the ashtray. It may be hard to believe now, but in the 1970's ashtrays were EVERYWHERE. People collected ashtrays and often matchbooks as well.

Do you still have Pac-Man fever? Did you know that Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man used to be walk around characters at Great Adventure? While Bally (owner of Pac-Man) owned Six Flags the larger than life Pac-Man characters were there to greet guests and take pictures.

Black Friday book special! Now through Sunday or while my supply lasts. Each sale helps us keep the website going: www.ebay.com/itm/32619949...

I was just a really young boy when we went to NYC to watch the parade and Kermit (the balloon) was amazing to see in person!

Elon waited for liberals to sniffle and cry. But he looked, they had left! They had gone to BlueSky. What made Twitter special was never the site. It was always the people that made it so bright.

Be an ally. 💜🩵🩷

Posted a poll over on our FB page— if the park reverted back to one of the older logos, which would you like to see? Or would you like to see something new?

Most people know the Skyride came to Great Adventure from the 1964-5 New York World's Fair, but also some of the park's benches, trash cans and the original parking trams all were World's Fair surplus. These trams were only 10 years old when the park opened.

Do you remember when Great Adventure was home to a McDonalds? The in park restaurant operated from 1994-2003 and was located across from the Bandstand in what is now Bugs Bunny National Park.

Looking back to the time that Hugh Jackman visited the park and rode Green Lantern.

Postcard of the artist’s rendering of Batman and Robin:The Chiller Much like the movie it was based on, the ride never lived up to expectations.

More added today. Gonna have to add a “part 1” to this soon. go.bsky.app/G4y6smW

The most 70's thing ever may have been a theme park promoting itself with a mall. This is Gen X in a nutshell.

These directional signs used to be all over the New Jersey:

Bogey (of Shirt Tales fame) riding the Parachuter’s Perch