robman

The elephant was from the water maze, back when it was Nickelodeon. I saw it the other day when scanning some customer family photos, their kid at GA running through the maze. The elephant was in the background. Not sure if it sprayed water or not. It did indeed spray water every once and awhile. I know the elephant was also "beat" up a bit and was used in the Witch Doctors Trail scare zone for a year.

Awesome pictures! I would love to go on a backstage tour there, it must be interesting how much they do down in those basements.

The rumored name was Santa Clara Stampede or just Stampede. Like many others I prefered the name Stampede with out adding Santa Clara to it. Now it's hard to say if the it will still use that name or something else. I forgot to add this picture, the elephant is still in the same spot! Makes one think if the name is going to be Stampede and this is a little clue? (It's by the green tree near the Imax theater.)

At the park now, waits are not too bad, I waited 10 mins for Flight Deck. There was some work going on in the construction site, mainly just dirt moving. Now I'm about to watch Happiness is Snoopy. I have some pictures to post when I get back home. EDIT: Im back from a short visit at the park, just as I was leaving it seemed that the waits started to increase some. Compared to the morning, there was hardly any waits for some of the major rides. To my surprise when I entered the park today I heard the sound of construction equipment! It seems like they want to get this coaster built so they can do all of the sound testing. Now on to the pictures! It's still dirt but there are people working today! Still just dirt but I think we will see some construction soon! On the other side of the blocked off part of parking lot there is only a white trailer. Here is my mini review for the show, The show is put together really well, and if your at the park GO SEE IT! I was also surprised at how fast some of the performers seemed to switch costumes.

New construction picture posted on the park's facebook!

^That's what I was assuming also. I wonder if they are going to post hints or teasers on that construction wall. (Assuming thats what it is.) Also looks like Club Blood is going to be re-routed once again. If it does return for this years Haunt.

Apparently the systems are all still down, don't know what happened today but it sounds like a huge mess. On another note, I was making reservations for the Blue Bayou yesterday and the CM told me that they might begin taking reservations for Carthay Circle Restaurant on Thursday. I would only take that with a grain of salt because we all know how CM's can be.

I am an Admin of that page and I have no idea where they get the information they do. I don't know if they know someone in the higher ups at Cedar Fair or what. Basically what im saying is, don't believe anything they post unless its confirmed. Although we all know the coaster is going to the park now, just by the pictures that have been posted.

Or GCI could develop new trains and do this.....

Also the park was throwing an event for the Girl Scouts, which I just found out that would also cause for a more crowded park. I literally rode one ride, Star Tower so I could check out the construction. Here's a little bit better picture that shows some more land clearing near Whitewater Falls.

Could it have been busy due to Cinco de Mayo? I'm also going tomorrow. Could be, there were a lot of busses also, not sure why school groups would be at the park on a Saturday.

I was at the park for an hour than left, the park was surprisingly busy today. I'm going to be going back tomorrow to get some rides in.

I thought I would post a comparison of the construction site, I took the same picture in just about the same spot on opening day. On another note im going to be going to the park later on this afternoon, I doubt much has changed from yesterday but I will take some pictures if I see anything different. This is from opening day, make note of the elephant. Now here's the picture from yesterday, also again make note of the elephant towards the bottom left.

If you look on the comments on the parks facebook you will find some of the best comments. The ones im about to post are my favorite from the same person. *Edit* Another great comment I saw. Yea.....im sure the park is going to bring back a coaster that they had removed already.

I just uploaded an image as well but not seeing it on there yet...how long did it take for it to appear? I think around 20 minutes, I went to eat dinner and it was uploaded. Im not sure why it took so long im guessing its the websites servers.

Did it! I was at the park a few days ago and saw the Crazy Surf in person, it really stuck out like a sore thumb. I really did not like the background carnival images. The ride itself looks like it might be an improvement over the old one. Awesome thanks a lot! Im looking forward to the new Crazy Surf, the OTSR were brutal on that ride. So the lap bars will be a huge improvement.

If anyone doesn't mind, Im trying to win a contest that lets you have a mini vacation in Santa Cruz and tickets to the Boardwalk. I would really appreciate it if you vote by clinking on the LINK and vote 5 stars and put in your email. Thanks a lot ahead of time!

Not really sure I think it may depend on how the dirt has settled over the years. There is a decent sized hill closer to the Imax theater and I would assume that it would be leveled out because it is around the general area of station and part of the lift I believe.

There's really not much to clear out, it's just a few trees and bushes literally. Also, half of the land the GCI is on is currently jsut dry grass. So, don't think of some huge demolition going on. With the wooden coaster construction, I can see Star Tower being closed for the last part of the 2012 season. There's quite a bit of leveling out they have to do also. The ground back near Whitewater Falls isn't completely flat. Im just glad we are getting one step closer to the project happening,I wonder how soon we will see land clearing.

This year I have a California's Great America Gold Pass and Disneyland Resort Premium Pass.

I think if they were to extend the parks hours and have very good advertising it could be a success. If the new coaster were to be built also it would give a longer opportunity for people to ride the coaster also.

Today was a great day and the lines went by fairly quick. The highlight of my day was when Angry_Gumball, rlrcstrluvr, and myself rode Woodstock Express. Me and rlrcstrluvr had to both fit in the front row together because the sit belt was a little larger compared to where I was sitting. Then to top it off some children's mother was just looking at us in disgust. To top it all off the dispatch was even taking longer due to parents not being able to fit on the ride. Best part, I didn't even feel dirty about doing it.

We'll see how far this goes... I'm sure this is a shocker to the mayor and SCCC. I got the same automatic email I'm sort of curious to see what they reply with.

Ha, that's awesome, small world!

I completely agree with what above has been mentioned. I even recall the mayor (I think) was excited for the new coaster and planned water slide going into the park. Which was mentioned in an article,that is sadly no longer available.