<P> In August 30, 2012, Six Flags combined its 160 - acre (65 ha) Great Adventure Park with its 350 - acre (140 ha) Wild Safari animal park to form the 510 - acre (210 ha) Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari park, making it the second - largest theme park in the world, after Disney's Animal Kingdom . </P> <P> In 1972, entrepreneurial businessman Warner LeRoy developed concept plans for the Great Adventure entertainment complex, proposing seven parks be built within the complex: An amusement park, a safari park, a show park, a floral park, a sports complex, a shopping district, and a campground with beach / waterpark and stables . His proposal also included plans for hotels, which were connected to the parks and could be reached by boats, buses, a sky ride and / or a monorail . LeRoy wanted his parks to flow naturally through the forest and lakes, capitalizing on the back - to - nature movement of the era . He chose a property then owned by the Switlik family, in an area centrally located between the New York City and Philadelphia regions . The property on CR 537 had easy access to the newly constructed Interstate 195, which connected central New Jersey to the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95) and would eventually (in 1981) connect to the Garden State Parkway . </P> <P> LeRoy collaborated with Hardwicke Industries, who previously built safari parks in Canada and Europe . Together, they set out to open the seven parks in stages over a 5 - year period . After a 4,500 invitation - only guest opening on June 30, 1974, the Great Adventure entertainment complex opened to the general public on July 1, 1974, at a price tag of $10 million . At the time of the opening, only the Enchanted Forest and Safari parks were operational, and despite plans for a seven - park complex, only those three (if you count Hurricane Harbor) parks were ever realized, with elements from five of the other planned parks being used to create the Enchanted Forest . </P> <P> The Enchanted Forest was designed and built to look as if it appeared through the eyes of a child . Almost everything was designed to be bigger - than - life . A Big Balloon was a tethered hot - air balloon that loomed over the park's entrance and was the biggest of its kind in the world . The Log Flume was the longest log ride constructed in the world at that time and it was accompanied by a giant "Conestoga Wagon", an over-sized log cabin restaurant called "Best of the West" and a huge Western Fortress, in the park's Rootin' Tootin' Rip Roarin' section . The Giant Wheel (now Big Wheel), then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, and the Freedom Fountain, then the largest spraying fountain in the world, were located on the opposite end of the park . One of the few smaller - than - real life attractions was an outdoor walk - through attraction called the Garden of Marvels . It used working G - scale (o-g scale) LGB trains and boats amongst models of American landmarks and 1 / 25 - scale recreations of European castles . </P>

When did six flags great adventure first open