Tag: History

In the mid-1970s, a brand-new full-sized theme park opened just off Exit 7A on the New Jersey Turnpike. It was (and is) located in Jackson, New Jersey, mid-way between New York and Philadelphia. Great Adventure. Back then it wasn’t Six Flags Great Adventure, as it’s known today. Nope, it was just “Great Adventure.”

Developed by businessman Warner LeRoy (he later bought and renovated Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room), the original plan was for the single park to develop into a multi-park resort, just as Walt Disney World (which had only opened 3 years before Great Adventure) eventually would do. Over time this just didn’t happen and only the original park and safari were developed and Hurricane Harbor, the park’s water park, opened about 25 years later.

The original Great Adventure opened to the public on July 1, 1974 with the following attractions:

Continue reading “#TBT: Great Adventure Theme Park, Before It Was Six Flags”