Two riders on The Joker got stuck in one of the coaster's cars near the end of a run. Watch video
JACKSON -- Several rides after the unveiling of Six Flags Great Adventure's newest roller coaster on Thursday, the ride was shut down for the day.
The maintenance team worked to fix a car on The Joker, the park's new 4D, free-fly coaster, for several hours after two riders got stuck.
But, shortly before 3:30 p.m., officials decided to close The Joker down for the day. Kristin Siebeneicher, a spokeswoman for Six Flags, said park officials hope to reopen the ride to the season ticket holders on Friday and the general public on Saturday, but they possibly wouldn't know that for sure until Friday.
Season ticket holders were given passes for another ride or to ride The Joker at a later date.
The car had stopped about an hour after the unveiling ceremony. Siebeneicher said the vehicle's "dampeners," equipment that controls the flipping of the car, needed to be adjusted.
The ride was running flawlessly non-stop for the three days prior to the unveiling, Siebeneicher said
"It's a new ride and new rides occasionally need to be tweaked," she said.
Park President John Fitzgerald said the fix itself only took minutes but the car had camera equipment on it due to media day, delaying the process. He said two passengers at the end of the ride were trying to swing the car and it got stuck.
"We clearly don't want that to happen, so we swapped out that vehicle," he said. "No one's safety was ever at risk."
Toms River resident Joe Bracco was one of the riders who was stuck on the ride. He said he wasn't intentionally trying to flip the car but that the ride "swings back and forth so much maybe our momentum just got it stuck there."
Bracco said he wasn't completely upside down but was "definitely not where we should be." It took workers about 15 minutes to get him off the car, he said.
Park employees worked to fix the ride for more than an hour. At approximately 1:30 p.m., employees started doing test runs. But no one was allowed back on the ride, and at around 3:30 p.m., they closed it down for the day.
The ride stopped about an hour after an 11:30 a.m. unveiling ceremony, which featured comedian Joe Piscopo.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.