The Media Day that wasn't at Six Flags Great Adventure

Today was media day for Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom at Six Flags Great Adventure. So Chris, Bill, Nicole and Jeff headed out to the park today to partake in all of the media day activities. 
About 5:50am (Pacific time) I happened to be up and got an email from the park that due to issues with the state signing off on the ride, media day was to be cancelled. I quickly got on the phone with park reps to make sure our four representatives could still get into the park for the day and they were MORE than accommodating. Thanks guys!!! 

The park actually allowed us to get lots of great pictures, see the ride up close, and do pretty much everything we would have done on a typical media day, except riding the ride of course. They took what was a bad situation that was out of their control and still managed to give our reporters a fun day. So thanks again for that!!! 

Below is the press release regarding the delay: 

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Preview of Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom Delayed

JACKSON, NJ―July 2, 2014―The press preview of Six Flags Great Adventure’s Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom has been delayed. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Carnival-Amusement Ride Safety Unit has not yet granted the operating permit. Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom is a very complex, innovative ride, and the state’s review of documentation is still underway.

All testing and inspection by Six Flags engineers, maintenance and operations teams have been completed. The ride is fully operational and in compliance with the manufacturer’s specifications.

Six Flags respects the function and responsibility of the Carnival-Amusement Ride Safety Unit of the DCA and looks forward to their completed inspection soon.

Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom stands a staggering 41 stories tall. Connected to the iconic Kingda Ka roller coaster—the 45-story monster that ranks as the world’s tallest and fastest coaster—Zumanjaro hoists riders 415 feet into the sky and plummets them back to Earth at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour.

Three soaring Zumanjaro towers stand on the face of the massive Kingda Ka coaster. The trio of gondolas rises to the top of the tower in approximately 30 seconds. Riders pause for a few terrifying moments 41 stories in the air—even higher than London’s Big Ben and twice as tall as Lady Liberty—allowing them to catch a glimpse of the skyscrapers in Philadelphia 52 miles to the southwest before gravity plunges them back to ground level in less than 10 seconds.

Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom was recently named the No. 3 most thrilling ride in the U.S. according to USA Today.

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Let's get to the pictures and Chris' review media day.  

Chris: After we got your call this morning we were already there. We spent an hour or so nerding out with me talking to the production team. We were pretty much the first media people there except for a couple satellite trucks. We followed signs to the media stuff, went through security..

After we were the only people inside the gates the made an internal announcement about it being canceled.

So once they did that.. we left and just left that area and rode stuff for a few hours since we were already in the park.

Heading into the Press Preview entrance. 

A plethora of satellite trucks were on site

The rides entry area, looks like it's pretty close to that awesome coaster. 

Chris: The queue has no theming and barely any shade.

A comment from our Facebook page that probably fits pretty good here: 
"You know what would have provided a lot of shade for the queue ... Rolling Thunder"

Heading into the loading area

Chris: They legally couldn't allow anyone to ride.

Chris: Even though we couldn't ride, they were really cool with letting me take photos and videos and selphies (blah) on the ride

Picture of the selfie thanks to Bill. 

Some pictures for all you camera rigging nerds. You know who you are. =)

Doing some filming 

Caution: Intamin Nerd Porn Ahead!!! 

A look at the rest of the queue

Hopefully something will be added here

Walking back towards the park

I only got to ride Rolling Thunder once, but I think this was part of it? Forgive me if I'm wrong. (Gregg)

A few shots of the ride provided by the park as well as some great B-Roll footage.  

That's going to wrap it up for our "Media Day" coverage. If/When the park ever sets up another Media Day we'll try to be there so we can get some reverse POV and our review of the ride. 

Thanks again to Chris, Bill, Nicole and Jeff for going to the park to cover this. I'm glad that you managed to still have a great day. And thanks again to the park for doing everything they could. We really do appreciate it. 

And because we didn't get to ride Zumanjaro today, we made up for it by riding the ride pictured below. So look for more on that early next week. 

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