Six Flags Great Adventure

About Six Flags Great Adventure

Six Flags Great Adventure, also known as Six Flags Great Adventure Resort, is a 510-acre amusement park and resort complex in Jackson Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, sitting roughly between New York City and Philadelphia and adjacent to Interstate 195 along Monmouth Road. It first opened to the public on July 1, 1974, as Great Adventure, and Six Flags acquired the park in 1977. The complex now includes an amusement park, the Hurricane Harbor New Jersey water park, an animal park called Wild Safari Adventure, and a glamping resort called Savannah Sunset Resort and Spa. In 2012, Six Flags combined its 160-acre Great Adventure amusement park with its 350-acre Wild Safari animal park to form the 510-acre complex known today, which is described as the second-largest theme park in the world after Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Annual attendance has been estimated at roughly 2,153,000 visitors by industry analysts, since Six Flags itself does not release attendance figures. The complex is organized into a series of named sections built up over five decades, and it continues to add new attractions; construction on an unnamed roller coaster, publicly referred to during development as "Project Purple" and later announced as Bakunawa, began in 2026 and is expected to open in 2027.

History

The park's origin traces to 1972, when restaurateur and entrepreneur Warner LeRoy proposed an entertainment complex containing seven distinct parks, including an amusement park, a safari park, a floral park, a sports complex, and a campground, on land in Ocean County previously owned by the Switlik family. LeRoy worked with Hardwicke Industries, which had built safari parks in Canada and Europe, and the project opened to the public on July 1, 1974, after a 4,500-guest invitation-only preview on June 30. Only the Enchanted Forest area and the Safari Park were operational at the time, built for roughly $10 million.

Six Flags purchased the park in late 1977, then under the ownership of Penn Central. Through the late 1970s and 1980s, the park added rides including the wooden coaster Rolling Thunder (1979), Roaring Rapids (1981), and the Sarajevo Bobsleds (1984). A fire at the park's Haunted Castle attraction on May 11, 1984, killed eight teenagers and led to new fire-safety laws for amusement park fun houses and dark rides nationally. A 1987 accident on the Lightnin' Loops coaster, in which a rider was thrown from the train, prompted new safety features on roller coasters both at the park and industry-wide.

Time Warner acquired a controlling stake in Six Flags between 1990 and 1993 and used the parks to promote its film properties before selling a majority stake to Boston Ventures in 1995. Batman The Ride opened in 1993, followed by Viper (1995) and Skull Mountain (1996). Premier Parks bought Six Flags from Time Warner and Boston Ventures in 1998 and added the floorless coaster Medusa, which was later re-themed as Bizarro in 2009 before reverting to the Medusa name in 2022. Hurricane Harbor New Jersey, a separately gated water park, opened in 2000. Nitro arrived in 2001 and Superman: Ultimate Flight in 2003. In 2005, the park opened Kingda Ka, at the time the world's tallest roller coaster; it was permanently closed in November 2024 and demolished in February 2025. El Toro, a wooden coaster, followed in 2006.

More recent additions include SkyScreamer (2012), The Joker, a 4th Dimension coaster (2016), the Justice League: Battle for Metropolis dark ride (2017), and the Jersey Devil Coaster, which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and opened in 2021. In June 2019, the park completed a 23.5 MW solar facility, including 11 MW of solar canopy over its parking area, that produces about 30 million kWh per year and is described as the largest net-metered solar farm in New Jersey. Six Flags merged with Cedar Fair in 2024, and the park opened its Savannah Sunset Resort and Spa glamping resort, with 20 suites adjacent to Wild Safari Adventure, the same year, prompting the complex to be renamed Six Flags Great Adventure Resort.

Exhibits and habitats

The complex is divided into a series of named sections. Main Street serves as the park's entry gate, themed as an early American town centered on the Main Street Fountain. Dream Street functions as the park's midway and includes the Carousel and Enchanted Teacups. Adventure Alley, opened in 2012 alongside the SkyScreamer, carries a retro theme with family rides including a relocated Scrambler and bumper cars, and its soundtrack draws on the Broadway show Jersey Boys. The Pine Barrens, previously called Adventure Seaport, sits on what was formerly part of Movietown, which is itself themed as a Hollywood back lot built around DC Comics attractions such as Batman: The Ride.

Other sections include Jr. Thrillseekers, a children's area once known as Wiggles World; Frontier Adventures, a western-themed section built around a fort and the Best of the West restaurant; Bugs Bunny National Park, a camp-themed area opened in 2006 alongside El Toro; Plaza del Carnaval, with Spanish and Latin American theming around the station for El Toro; Lakefront, with nautical-themed rides along the property's lake; and Shoreline Pier at the Boardwalk, a New Jersey oceanside pier theme that replaced the area formerly known simply as the Boardwalk. Within the resort complex, Hurricane Harbor New Jersey is a separately gated water park with a dozen waterslides, a kiddie water play area, and a wave pool, and Wild Safari Adventure is the animal park integrated into the resort grounds.

Animal highlights

Wild Safari Adventure is the animal park within the Six Flags Great Adventure Resort complex, formed when the original 350-acre Wild Safari animal park was combined with the amusement park in 2012 to create the 510-acre resort. Guests can experience the safari aboard an open-air vehicle as part of a guided Safari Off-Road Adventure tour. No published species list or animal count for Wild Safari Adventure was available for this page, so no specific species can be named here with confidence; visitors interested in which animals are currently on view should check the zoo's official site directly.

Planning your visit

Six Flags Great Adventure is located at 1 Six Flags Blvd, Jackson Township, NJ 08527, with Hurricane Harbor New Jersey sharing the same address. The park offers rentals for electric wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, and single or double strollers, each subject to a processing fee in addition to the rental cost, and electric wheelchair rental is restricted to guests 18 or older. The park publishes an accessibility program alongside ride manufacturer guidelines and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, and offers a Guest Accessibility Guide along with an Attraction Accessibility Program and IBCCES Accessibility Card option.

Season passes and various dining plans are available, including meal plans redeemable across a set number of visits and drink plans offering discounted fountain beverages. Fast Lane line-skipping passes are sold separately from admission in several tiers. The park runs seasonal events, including Fright Fest and Oktoberfest programming in the fall. Group discounts are available for parties of 15 or more, and discounts are offered for active and retired military personnel and first responders. Because the sources used for this page do not include specific operating hours, general admission prices, or parking fees, visitors should confirm all of these details, along with current ride and safari tour offerings, on the zoo's official website before planning a trip.