Sunfire

Well since the park's closed right now, perhaps mechanics will be working on the ride. I don't know anything about the maintainence department, so I still don't know what day the ride will open up again. Hopefully soon, but you know what they say, "Better safe than sorry."

That looks like a lot of fun! But not very Dan friendly...

^Believe me, the Invertigo crew members are suffering too. We're getting sent to other rides in the park that need a hand. It's particularly annoying when I'm sent to a ride with no shade (Survivor, I'm looking at you). I will be happy when the ride is back up. I'm sure the guests will be happy as well. They have been disappointed since it is a major coaster that isn't open.

Now you can buy tickets online for Halloween Haunt at California's Great America! Here's the link to the site: http://www.cagreatamerica.com/shop/shopping_corporate_partners_list.cfm Tickets are $34.99 if bought in advance online. I'm not sure what the price will be for the event at the door.

It's still down.

Yeah, I do see the point that massive woodies like Mean Streak and Texas Giant are marvels just to look at, but for me, it's about how they ride. The Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a perfect example of a small but good ride. The coaster is only 70 feet tall, but it's got fast paced turns, crazy lats, and in the back you get plenty of airtime. And for it's small height, it can reach speeds of up to 55 miles per hour, a speed that some steelies can only acheive if they're more than 100 feet! Giant Dipper is my favorite woodie out there and it's not even tall. So I'd rather ride a small agressive woodie, than a massive boring one.

Don't forget the ever painful Vortex at CGA. It is uber rough and crushes the jewels.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to DLR, and here's what I noticed about some of the queues. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: The line was out the door, and standby said 15 minutes. I didn't think that was correct. "What? A full line only 15 minutes?" They were right. Only 15 minutes. Surprisingly accurate. Indy. Standby: 30 min. We waited only a few minutes in the outside queue, so I thought, "Okay, maybe it's shorter than they posted." Then we walked through the inside portion. It was very long! No wonder they said 30 minutes. That's how long it took to walk through and get to the ride! But it was worth every minute. It's such an exciting ride. Splash Mountain and Soarin' over California however are both extremely popular and always have extensive queue times. Nemo Subs are totally insane. About 45 minutes after opening, the line can be up to 60 minutes! I wouldn't wait that long for the ride. Okay, I've made my point that Disney has surprising lines. End nerd rant.

^^Yeah, it'll be open by October. In fact, it should be up around Labor Day, but I couldn't give you an exact date. I'll let you guys know if there's any more info.

I worked...at CGA! So I guess I can consider that a holiday well spent. Even if I was at Survivor the Ride all day.

No, it didn't stall on the lift. But some parts on the train need to be replaced and the ride will stay closed until they are. So if you're planning on going to CGA, and you want the Invertigo credit, wait a little longer. BTW, I've heard that CGA's Invertigo is one of the smoothest Vekomas. Is that true? It's the only Vekoma I've been on (other than Boomerang at SFDK and the late Stealth), and I think it's pretty bearable.

^Yeah, you're right (and you double posted). Besides, I do see the ride every day, and all rides have downtime sooner or later.

For anyone planning to go to Great America, Invertigo is going to be closed for a while. I work at the ride, and it has been down since Monday. The ride is experiencing loads of mechanical problems (Vekoma...What a surprise), and maintainence will be working to get it up as soon as possible. I will update you guys as soon as there is progress. Sorry for the inconvience.

I was actually near the epicenter! I just came home from vacation at DLR, and we were visiting family that lives in Chino. We didn't feel it in the car, but the family felt it, they were surprised.

This is really sad, another person dead because of a lost hat. I work at CGA, and when someone loses a hat, the person can usually come back at the end of the night to see if a manager can retrieve it. But people shouldn't even wear hats on rides. Whenever I'm at ride controls, I say over the PA, "Welcome to (insert ride name here). Please take off any hats, glasses, or bags as they may fly off during the ride." That would be nice, if the GP actually listened to the ride ops, then we could avoid some horrific accidents.

I'm stoked for Haunt this season! But I can't do scaring since I'm already working in rides and I want to stay in rides.

^I'd have to agree. The restraints on Firefall at CGA are killer when they hang you upside down. I would hate to be stuck like that for a long time. At least it wasn't like the Magic Springs incident where they were stuck for over an hour. If that had happened on a Top Spin, it would be much bigger news. But of course, from working at a theme park, I know that rides malfunction, many times in fact. This just happened to be a more major downtime.

I have to work (at CGA) from 9:30 to 4:30. I guess that means at night I get to do fireworks!

Yeah, It's Kinda Annoying Seeing All These Capital Letters. However, California Screamin' rocks. Too bad it was down like this. But all rides break down sooner or later, and life goes on.

^I have to open the next day at 9:30, so I can't. But still, you must go to Invertigo (and Firefall, it's fun).

^I'm working 10:30 to 6:30. VISIT INVERTIGO (or Whitewater Falls)!

I don't have super impressive records, but I have a lot of great memories of marathon riding with my friends and family, especially at CGA. A couple of years ago, on a dead summer night, I rode Greased Lightnin' (Schwarzkopf shuttle loop) 10 times in a row without getting off. Also, I've ridden Invertigo 6 times in a row (my ears hurt so much after that. The ride is not made for marathon riding). I've gotten to ride the Orbit (Enterprise) 5 times in a row, though afterwards I nearly lost my lunch. During the ride's opening weekend, I rode Firefall (Top Spin) 8 times in one day, and the lines weren't that bad. Other than CGA, I haven't really done much marathons.

I think one of my favorite flats are Top Spins. I love how they flip, swing and hang you upside down. The only thing that sucks is that they are crotch killers.

^Regarding the program: other than Firefall and Voodoo, I'm a Top Spin virgin. I haven't actually ridden one with a good program. However, since Firefall has the amazing fire and water effects, I think it kicks Voodoo's A$$. Has anyone else noticed something? When the ride first opened, Firefall had a really fun program, I remember lot's of swinging and flipping. But lately, I've been noticing they hit the brakes and causes it to swing much less (I see this backstage while on break and such). It would be nice to see them have a program with multiple flips. However, the ride is still worth it for the special FX.

This is a great TR of CGA. By the way, you might have seen me at Invertigo, Berserker, or Whitewater Falls (the splash flume). I was working yesterday from opening to around 4. I'm really stoked about next year's coaster, and I'm really surprised how great the effects are at Firefall.