 Things Are Looking Up at Six Flags Safari Great Adventure Celebrates Birth of Female Giraffe Calf Jackson, NJ — October 28, 2014 — Six Flags Great Adventure’s animal care team is celebrating the birth of an adorable giraffe calf at the Safari. Mika, a female reticulated giraffe, was born to first-time mom Noel Oct. 11 inside the giraffe barn. Mika is the Safari’s ninth giraffe. “Noel is a great mom,” said Jason Holloway, a safari supervisor who oversees the giraffe herd. “She began nursing right away. Mika is healthy and doing very well.” Holloway said that Mika stood within an hour of her birth and measured 5 feet 10 inches tall. 
Mika’s mother Noel was born December 2001. The calf’s grandmother, named Georgia, has been one of the Safari’s most beloved residents since 1993. Mika ventured outside the giraffe barn for the first time Oct. 21 under Noel’s watchful eye, and Holloway was there to capture the first moments on video. Guests will be able to see Mika on the Safari Off Road Adventure during the park’s closing weekend Nov. 1 and 2, and during the Grape Adventure Wine Festival’s Safari tours Nov. 8 and 9, weather permitting. 
Reticulated giraffes, also known as Somali giraffes, are native to northeastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia. They possess a distinctive coat pattern featuring red-brown polygonal patches divided by thin white lines. Full-grown female giraffes stand approximately 16 feet tall and weigh approximately 1,800 lbs. Giraffe gestation lasts approximately 13 to 15 months, with typically one calf born. Mothers give birth standing up. Newborn calves typically stand approximately 6 feet tall. 
For more information on Six Flags Great Adventure, visit www.sixflags.com/greatadventure
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 Another week, another Twisted Colossus update. A bit more wood (?) / steel (?) has been added to the lift to replace what was damaged during the fire and we found a new spot to get some pictures while not breaking any rules or getting any of our employee friends in trouble. =) Twisted Colossus Construction on Twisted Colossus continues to steam along. While it may not look like much is happening week to week there is a great deal of work being done inside the structure. Once the work on the lift/drop is done they should start working on the outside part of the track which will make it a lot easier to see the construction.  Lets hope the remaining portions of the structure are going to get a beautiful white paint job to match what's been added. It looks kind of odd right now.  Lots of new pieces ready to go up.  Moving inside the park, I decided to take a spin on Goliath and managed to catch this spot to get some good pictures.   You can see some of the pre-lift in the picture below. If you'd like to see a good view of construction, just take a ride on Goliath, but please don't take any pictures from the ride as it's against park rules.  No new work has been done on the "Steampunk District".  I'd guess that work will begin in this area after Fright Fest as the Total Darkness maze is in the theater. Nothing in this area has been prepped for Holiday in the Park, so perhaps the entire area will be shut down after Fright Fest. Which is probably a good thing.  I did photoshop in some of the artwork in the picture above to show what the entrance to the area could potentially look like. Looks pretty good. I'm sure it will be a bit bigger than that, but I didn't want to distort the image too much.  Nothing new in the station area, but they were working on removing some more of the old Colossus track.   Doesn't really look much different from this angle.   Around The ParkNot really much else going on in the rest of the park. This is your VERY last weekend to visit Fright Fest for 2014. In fact, only Friday and Saturday. Hard to believe it's already over. You can see our full Fright Fest review here. We'll likely be there on Saturday night to say goodbye to all of our favorite monsters until next year .  Noticed these in a couple of the stores, and they seem to be a trend at a lot of parks now. They are "don't scare me necklaces". IMO, if you don't want to be scared, don't go to a Halloween event. Although things like this make a bit more sense at Six Flags than other parks since the park doesn't close in before Fright Fest starts. With all of the recent issues with people at Halloween Events, I'm guessing this will become more of the norm.  Because we do so many updates I don't always go into the park to ride stuff, although I do attempt to ride at least every coaster in the park once per year. There were only 2 I haven't ridden yet, Riddlers Revenge and Tatsu. (I haven't ridden Green Lantern: First Flight, but I don't count that as I'll never ride it again). So I decided to take a spin on Riddler's during my visit. I actually got a front-row solo ride. Something to be said about starting your day in the back of the park. Since this is a theme/amusement park site, guess I should include some coaster photos once in awhile. =)   Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We won't have a Twisted Colossus update next week even if we do end up at Fright Fest as we'd only be going up in the evening. If anybody ends up at the park this weekend and would like to share pictures, feel free to contact us. We always give full credit for pictures. =)  Yesterday Six Flags sent out one of their "Advisory Panel Polls" and this one was exceptionally interesting. If there has been one complaint in the "Enthusiast Community" about Twisted Colossus, it was that on August 28 they announced that the theme for that area of the park would be "Back Alley". Nobody really knew what it meant, there was no artwork for the area, and for me (Gregg) who grew up with the park and went through years of "That place is overrun with gangs" talk (even though it's not) Back Alley just seemed like something that would remind people of that. So yesterday when we got the artwork below in the survey it was a pleasant surprise. The first image below is for the entire Colossus and Scream area. There are four names below, all which are better than "Back Alley". Take our poll and let us know which one you think is best.  These are the Twisted Colossus trains we saw in August. You'll also notice the sign says "Twisted Colossus", "Scream" and "Looking Glass Theater". Works for us.  They also had some artwork and a new name for the Magic Moments Theater. The names are ok, although "Gearworks Theatre" reminds us of the old Grinder Gearworks in Gotham (now The Flash).  Lastly, they added some artwork for trains, which we all thought looked great on the Aug 28 announcement, so not quite sure why they'd want to change it. We are guessing it's just for the actual car design, and they wouldn't actually be using a design for an existing coaster? Pretty sure these are the Wicked Cyclone trains and artwork with just "Twisted Colossus" on them? Do Not Like ...  They also included artwork for all of the existing RMC conversions or new coasters that are in operation at SF parks. Not sure why. Goliath  Medusa Steel Coaster  New TX Giant  Iron Rattler  So what do you think? Are you ok with the apparent "Steampunk" theme they are going with for the new area? It certainly seems to fit the theme and design of the trains we saw. What other things would you like to see in this new area other than what's shown in the artwork? Let us know in the comments below. |
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