With only a couple of days left before the park opens for the season, final preparations are underway all over the park, getting everything ready for the guests to arrive! Thanks again to Jenn for taking us around! 2009 Theme Park Map Now Posted in our Gallery 2009 Wild Safari Map Now Posted in our Gallery The brand new maps are much more accurate and look great!
	The Big Wheel is back together and should be running on opening day. The light strips with the brand new energy efficient LEDs should be going on in the next two days.
	The new rope climb is all set.   The softball throw game has been replaced with claw machines.
	The new recycling bins are setup all over the park and look GREAT! Workers are cleaning every inch of the park over the next two days so it will be prefect for opening day.
	The Mporium looks really good and is very colorful inside. The Cyber Cafe and the Coldstone Limited are almost ready to open! It's great to see the tree was saved and will have a planting bed around it.
	The Carousel animals are all back in place with the beautiful new brass poles.  It looks REALLY GOOD! The horses don't have tails yet, but they are supposed to be coming soon.
	The new Boardwalk Food Court looks great, and the new Johnny Rockets Express sign was just being installed today.   The style and colors of the signs fit perfectly with the rest of the Boardwalk area.
	New parachutes were being installed on the Parachute ride. Fly Me To The Moon is back... The new Safari Tour Bus pickup location is being setup.
	Power washing is going on all around the park. Over in the Wild Safari, the freshly painted signs look really great!
	The Lion Kingdom sign is all new after is was determined the old one was beyond repair. The bears were wandering all around on the other side of the fence in Bear Country.   Three new cubs were born this year!
	The entire Wild Safari Exploration Station has now been fenced in, with some of the things moved around. A new cage for the cotamundi is setup near the fence, and the lion cubs will be on display in the cage closest to the Theater.
	Over in Hurricane Harbor all of the slides have been painted and are very bright and colorful again. There is a lot of re-thatching that needs to be done to the roofs of some of the buildings in the village, but that will be happening over the next two months as opening day for Hurricane Harbor comes in May.

We're coming in to the home stretch of the winter, and things are really shaping up for an amazing season at Six Flags Great Adventure this year.   Thanks again to Jenn for taking us around to see all the progress being made as the park gears up for the April 4th opening day.   Work is happening all over the park readying this season's new attractions and multiple park improvements, and plans are already shaping up for the 2010 and 2011 seasons as well.   While the rumors fly all over the internet regarding the finances of Six Flags, daily operations at Great Adventure and all the other Six Flags parks are completely unaffected.

Click here to see more pictures in our gallery! Six Flags Great Adventure recently began the three-year restoration of the 19th century, wood-carved carousel, one of the few remaining in the world. The 128 year old carousel was said to be a gift from a father, Mr. James Williams, to his daughter Patrina Williams, whose name still appears on the park icon. The carousel toured throughout the England’s circus and carnival circuit for nearly 93 years before moving to its home in Jackson, NJ. To mark the carousel’s 35th Anniversary at Six Flags Great Adventure, park staff will remove each of the 36 all-wood horses and cockerels, delicately sand and masterfully repaint by hand. The brass ‘jumping’ poles will also be replaced with 36 new bright and beautiful brass poles.

Click on any thumbnail for the full-size pic

	Reconstruction of the Big Wheel is well underway, with all the freshly painted structure coming together piece by piece.  The wheel is a little more than a quarter finished at this point, and sections are being added at the bottom and the wheel rotated farther and farther until it's a full circle again. All of the new wiring for the brand new energy efficient LEDs is in place and ready to be re-attached.   You can see the bundles of wires connecting to the hub and the electrical contacts inside it ready to go. The cars are all ready for re-attachment once the wheel reassembly has been completed. Everything is on schedule for the Big Wheel to be ready to re-open on April 4th along with the rest of the park. All of the freshly painted parts are on the site and are ready to go back into place over the next few days.
	Moving down Dream Street we saw the new location for the rope ladder climb taking shape next to the black light golf building.   This is the one that used to be next to the Stunt Arena. The fountain is getting cleaned and painted in preparation for being filled for opening day. The new M-Porium is in the process of transforming, with bright new M&M colors going on all the walls, and the new windows going in place.   This will be a great new addition to the park, and it's a great location for it. The Cabanas didn't stand up to the recent snow storm, but they will be setup again just before opening day.
	Things are moving along really quickly on the new Cyber-Cafe.   The new restaurant will be serving crepes and donuts, as well as offering internet access.  The end of the building will be the new Coldstone replacing the old one that used to be there. The median that used to divide Dream Street has been removed, widening the walkway which will be a huge help with the rope drops in the morning and with the Glow In The Park Parade at night.
	The new Foodcourt is coming along nicely in the Boardwalk.  The checkerboard style blocks will be the foodcourt area, and the end section next to the Golden Kingdom entrance will be the new Johnny Rockets Express location.
	The park is continuing in their long tradition of environmental responsibility and promoting recycling with dozens of brand new recycling bins coming into the park.   These will be really cool because they will look like giant Coke bottles, and have little round holes for putting plastic bottles into them. Twister got a brand new sign, which is a permanent wood sign with three dimensional letters made to look like logs.   This is a great replacement for the temporary stretched canvas sign that had been on it. The new Safari bus stop next to Kingda Ka isn't setup yet, but it will have great signage, and tickets will be sold at a nearby stand. Despite the rumors, Tango is not leaving and will be operating as usual.   Don't believe rumors! The Log Flume reservoir is getting some work to stop the leaking.  This is part of a comprehensive overhaul of the ride for the 2009 season. The Bugs Bunny Camp Carousel is ready to go, just waiting for its canvas roof. The shelters for the new lockers are in place at the Log Flume, Great American Scream Machine and Skull Mountain. While we were in the park, maintenance workers were using the service elevator on Kingda Ka.   The Fantasy Fling is back together and ready for another season. Big Red Cars are still being put back together with a couple of the chassis in place, while the bodies are still under the roof of the Autobahn. Studio 28 Arcade is getting a fresh coat of very bright yellow paint, and looks great.   The painting is almost done, with just a couple of the higher areas still in the older, darker color.

	For the first time since 1993 the Big Wheel is undergoing an extensive top to bottom refurbishment.  All 36 six-passenger gondolas, like the ones shown here in the paint shop,  have been completely repainted and restored.  The cars look incredible!
	The majority of the gondolas have already been completed and are currently located on the former site of the Evolution ride awaiting their installation back on the wheel when it is reassembled.
	Painted a shade of yellow reminiscent of the original 1974 paint scheme, the main legs of the Big Wheel are the only thing that remains on the ride site.  All other parts of the circular wheel structure have been removed and are in the process of being restored off site in a building big enough to accommodate their length.
	Several food establishments are receiving alterations in 2009.  The Carnegie Express stand which was attached to the left of the Carnegie Deli has been removed.  In addition, the Cold Stone Creamery building which was situated to the left of the Deli has been demolished.  Both will be replaced with a new Internet Cafe and will incorporate a new Cold Stone Creamery shop. The "Flags" store located at the end of the Looney Tunes Shoppe on Main Street will become the new home for the park's version of M&M World known as the "M-porium". Over in the Boardwalk section of the park, the entire right side of game stalls have been removed and will soon become the Boardwalk Food Court.  Ted's Cheesesteaks will remain and a new Johnny Rockets Express will anchor the far end.
	The Big Red Cars are being worked on under the roof of the Autobahn bumper car building.
	The Dark Knight Coaster spends its first winter in hibernation while the rest of Movietown sits quietly with minor worksites throughout the area.  And back at the maintenance shops, coaster trains and ride vehicles from around the park have been gathered for refurbishments and inspections.