Six Flags America and/or Six Flags Great Adventure Trip Advice?

I have never been to SFA but I've been to SFGA about 15 times in the past 3 or 4 years, so I can give you my insight on that.

There are a bunch of shops all over the park to buy souvenirs. There are shops for the most part next to every attraction, and yes the best ones are near the entrance on Main Street.

From my experience, the lines DO start to get shorter around 7 pm. That's when people start to leave the park. The parks peak is usually around 12:30-4 depending on the weather. If the lines were very long that entire day, don't expect it to get much better at night. It will lessen down as the park reaches closing time, especially past 8 pm, but don't expect less than 30 minute waits for popular rides there like El Toro and Kingda Ka.

Park attendance all depends on the day you go and the weather. On nice sunny days expect the park to be packed, no matter the day. The less sunnier the day is projected to be the more the park attendance depends on the day. Usually weekdays are less packed than say a Saturday but it can certainly vary. From my experience, I've had to most success, even on nice days, on Wednesdays. But I'm sure Sundays are not as bad as the other days as well. In general, SFGA is a hot spot and does get crowded. It has world class attractions. But the lines are definitely worth it. I would go there at least 2 and a half hours before opening time which is 10:30. They start to let season pass holders through earlier now so make sure you're there by at least 10 am. I'm usually there by 945 am, I leave by 7:30. If you stay the whole day you will find yourself satisfied with the day, no matter the lines. The people who take their time out and put in the effort to stay from 10 am to 10 pm are the people who leave the happiest.

Kingda Ka does get long lines. When I go I try to get to every coaster before the rides. I think universally everyone agrees that El Toro and Nitro are the hardest hitters and best rides in the park. I would get to one of those first because their lines get extremely long, they max out. Usually I start off with El Toro. But my advice is start off with the rides Ka and Zumanjaro. El Toro is 30 times more fun when the train is full or at least 3/4 full because of the weight. If you sit in the back it will feel much faster because of the amount of drag the ride will present, makes for a great ride. So yeah I would hit Zumanjaro and Ka first, knock those two out of the way. For Ka I would get a row in the first cart. Everything after that is pretty rough. Then after that the lines for the rides will start building. The closest and most worthy to those rides is Superman. Try to get on that ride because the lines get EXTREMELY long. If by the time you finish Ka and Zumanjaro the lines for Superman are already long, then skip it and save it for the night for around 7 or 8 pm when the park starts to clear out. It's better at night anyway and you'll end up waiting less time. However if the line is tolerable, definitely hop on it.

Green lantern is right next to it but I definitely do not recommend that ride. It is uncomfortable and painful and not very thrilling. I would much rather re do one of the hard hitters. If you want to do it, save it for later when you come back to the area. Because at this point you would want to head for El Toro, the big wooden one near Ka. The line should be pretty long at that point but not that long, still tolerable and not enough to get in the way of your trip. Just enough to Max out the train maybe which is what you want. I recommend the back since it's the most fun and the fastest, packed with the most airtime. You will not regret it. The line moves at a good pace so if it's long, ride it anyway. It's a must do.

After that head to Nitro. In my opinion Nitro is the second best ride in the park after ET. it's massively acclaimed just like ET too. It might have a line but the lines move extremely fast because the loading process is so easy and they 3 trains running. Any row on Nitro makes for a good experience, but the best is the front. If that has a pretty long line which it will, head for the back.

Right next to Nitro is Batman, so I would get that out of the way also. If the line is too long, wait for the day to wind down like at about 5 pm. If you think it's tolerable, ride it.

I usually eat after that point then head to Bizarro. Bizarro is the big blue coaster and never really has that long of a line. At that point, if you did SUF and Batman already, you will have 6/7 of the big coasters complete, with the exception of Green lantern. After that, I usually try to knock out some of the smaller but still fun coasters, like Skull mountain and dark knight which are all near Nitros area so from Bizarro take the sky ride to that area instead of walking. I would skip Runaway mine train which is a painful ride that's really not fun at all. Depending on the attendance, you should still have a good amount of time left. Maybe hit a pay for ride like dare devil dive, or ride the sky screamer. The park doesn't have a lot of good traditional rides so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Maybe if you're bored and wanna try something new, try The Twister which always has no line, or Houdinis Great Escape. Whatever's left of the big coasters, which are Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Batman, Superman, GL, that you haven't done I would ride them at this point. Then you can start to re do your favorite rides until the park turns dark and it closes. That to me is a succesful trip to six flags.

I would not recommend the water rides, Congo Rapids and the log flume there. The lines can get long and it's not worth it. The wetness just makes you uncomfortable.

Hope this helps. If you never been to SFGA before, grab a park map definitely so you can point out all the rides I mentioned.