jab88

Not sure if everyone's seen or not, but the Mercury News has an article now-just saw it on the yahoo home page http://www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_18928012?source=rss

^ Same here. It seemed that it was coming, the 'future attraction' they said was planned for the Invertigo site had to of been just this, the sale of the park. They kept putting off anything until this announcement was made. That said, this might not all be a bad thing for the park or Santa Clara, granted I'm trying to stay positive as well with this announcement about the sale, but Santa Clara does lack one thing- a central Downtown/Entertainment area and this could become it (despite it's not really central though), everything is spread throughout the city as it stands right now-theaters, restaurants,etc. If the stadium does happen, the park would be a good thing to have around to be open on the days nothing is happening in the stadium. It all might seem far fetched, but there could even be the working of something along the lines of what Paramount had proposed for some of the property (seen a few posts back as well), the Redwood Ampitheater could be replaced with something like that, same with the large entry area into the park and even the parking lot near Star Tower, the IMAX building (removed of course)and surrounding areas could be worked into that as well. But there is always the one sticking point, the lack of parking to accommodate multiple uses on the property. Of course it's all speculation at this point and chances are none of what I said will happen with the Downtown type portion, but in the least I'd hope the park could be saved.

Went to the park today as well around 3 or so, mostly to take advantage of the free tickets I got for being an employee. Only to then discover they were not valid after labor day and would not let us in, however after going to guest services were we able to get in after all. As seen, the Haunt decor has gone up through most of the park and most of the mazes are basically up, I'll only put up a few images on here, since I did take far too many of the park and it's decor today. Overall, it was not a bad day, not too crowded (as noted), rode most of the 'flats' and a few coasters, I think the longest I had to wait was 10 minutes for Psycho Mouse, it was walk on for most of the other rides. Delirium, I spent more time waiting for it to start than I did in line, I'm sure we all know how those seats and restraints are, that they will not close properly (or need to be pushed to be closed right) for many guests-myself included and I'm not even that large, tall yes, but I've fit on everything else in the park. So several times later of the restraints opening and closing so guests could exit (and of course multiple times of the associate pushing to close my harness again and again) did the ride start. After the delay over at Delirium, made it to Flight Deck a few minutes before park closing, it was walk on for the back row (same with the middle rows) and by the time the ride was done, the park was closed. After reading the comment about Demon, I too hope that's not true, I'd hate to see Demon go for nothing. Firefall has also gotten all it's fire effects back, both in the volcanoes and in the front, lower pond area, of course they get it all working one week after I quit working at Great America, oh well, at least I got to see it working though once this season.

Yeah, I was glad to have gotten a picture of it finally-I'd been wanting too, just forgot to bring my camera with me, it's not the easiest to see since it's blocked by trees (mostly) and cut off by the control room for Celebration Swings and is hidden and unaccesible by the general public ( I got into it through Triple Play's old spot) But it is indeed pretty cool to see the small remnant that used to lead up to the station. I think I've seen that part of the old rail bed before, last season when waiting to go back into the station at Flight Deck. Is that bridge leading over the channel near Flight Deck as well? If so, I've never been in that section of backstage area before, but that is neat too, especially if it is a remnant of the train line. When they did the backstage tour, did they cover mostly all parts of it?

Took some photos before the park opened today and some on my break, There are some of the Haunt decorations up around the park, mostly small things right now, such as scarecrows and clowns, and of course Jack over in front of Carnevil. Also got a few images of the remainder of the old ramp that lead out of the Hometown Square Train Station, since I had mentioned it a while back, but had no images of it to show. And on another note, Firefall had half of it's fire effects working in the lower pond area this morning (I assume they were testing it to see if it works on the one side for now), but after that they did not come back on at all. Hopefully they'll have the fire effects fully working soon.

Wow, If anything, the guest should of apologized to you, they did after all instigate it. Oh well, not much can be done now. I'll leave it be now and not bring it up anymore and I agree, I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to work there ever again. Actually today, it seemed a little less busy than normal, just at our 3 rides, it was not too bad the lines for them (well Flying Eagles, that thing always has a line....) But like you noted, I'm almost sure too that it will be busy, the fireworks almost always make it that way. I'll be working the closing the shift tomorrow, hopefully it'll be easier than the last time I worked a closing shift during the fireworks (one time at Eagles, everyone for the most part left the line to watch the fireworks, but returned as soon as they ended, making the line long again and having to spend the half hour after closing clearing it out) I've made it a habit to check it too from time to time, the permit page, hopefully something will either be announced or filed on that site for a new attraction.

It's better when it's the full gondola, there are settings we have for the amount of people on it, it'll only do the one full flip with between 29-40 people on the ride. Sometimes it'll do a full flip with less than 29 riders from time to time when I am at control, I'll try to explain it, there is a few seconds more of hang time than when it has a full gondola, before flipping completely. It'd be nice if Firefall did do more than just one flip, or even one half flip on the lesser settings, but I'd not want to push Firefall right now since it's been working ok. As far as the 'wobbles' yeah, it still does it, I've noticed it when having to test ride it sometimes in the morning and especially having to test ride when we got it back (before we could open it) that was the first time I had been on it in the season and was quite honestly scared to ride it at first! I get asked often about what happened to the fire in the lower pond, the guests want to know why it's not working, from what I've heard, it's the piping for it, but it would be nice to get it working again since the ride is lacking what it's named after. I see, well it might of come across as wrong to the guest (but then again what doesn't most of the time with what we say), but you know though, none of it would of ever really happened if they had not called you a d*** or even said the "I shouldn't say that to the person strapping me in' line.Did they still ride after the said conversation above? And your welcome-about finding another job, still hope you do soon.

Firefall had no wait for the most part either today, about a cycle if the line had more than 40 people in it. We did end up getting back the two seats that had the red harness covers on them (that so many guests sat in anyways, and in turn having to take time to make everyone move over one seat) bringing 40 seats total again. Knock on wood, the ride has had no downtime either, like it was when we got it back in July. Vomit is a pain to clean, especially when it's on the ride itself. When it happened on Firefall last season (hasn't happened yet this season, but then the ride has only been back for a short time), I had the pleasure of having to clean it up and even when it was cleaned after with cleaner, the smell lingered through the day and the guests could smell it and generally were hesitant to sit in the are where it happened. That does suck and it does seem rather unfair how it was handled- did they even listen to your side of the story? I highly doubt you'd tell a guest that they were going to fall off the ride but typical of guests though, hearing things incorrectly and then complaining about it later. Hope that you are able to find another job soon. I know many retail stores are hiring right now (both seasonal and permanent positions) as I've applied at my share of them over the past few months.

they are working on it. a lot has to be done for the actual update as a lot of things are being re-written. as for the walls, yes those would be for CarnEVIL I saw another set of the wood walls today (one of the two sets was the one I saw being moved yesterday) , sitting under Vortex right now. Given where they are sitting, thinking back to last season, there were changing rooms built under Vortex and they are likely for them this season as well and not for Carnevil. But then again I could be wrong and they could just be keeping them there for Carnevil. And as noted a while back, Rapids does close on September 5th for it's conversion to begin into Werewolf Canyon, as does Barney Old Field speedway for it's use as Cornstalkers. Boomerang Bay's last day of operation is also on September 5th.

Yeah, those seem to be the ones people applying want to go to first, the coasters in the park. If you go to Vortex, it has Columbia Carousel and Star Tower with it, If you go to Demon, it has Whitewater Falls and Berserker with it. It's nice that way in that you don't get stuck at one ride for the entire day, but are moved around among the ones in your ride area. As for the light rail, yeah, you would need to transfer trains there at Tasman and First unless you walked the difference down Tasman, but it's kinda a long walk. And with the talk of Haunt, when leaving work today, I saw some pre built wood "walls" being moved, likely for one of the mazes, maybe for Rue Le Dodge since it's closing soon. And last week when I was attempting to ride Star Tower to take some pictures from it (it would not dispatch for some reason, so we all had to leave the ride) Anyway, I saw the panels up for Club Blood in the area in front of the Imax, though they have likely been up for a bit, since I don't go near the Imax often.

Your Welcome! Yeah, the earlier the better with the job fair, so that way you can start in March when the park opens for the season and hopefully get what ride you want. There will be lines though, so it is better to get there early (as I learned when I went in January) Which rides where you thinking about doing? Most of them are in paired into sections (such as Firefall/Celebration Swings/Flying Eagles or Flight Deck/Delta Flyer/Rue Le Dodge for example are paired like that) Though it could change from season to season, for instance in the 2010 season, Firefall did not have Celebration Swings, we only had Flying Eagles. Yeah, the light rail site can sorta be confusing, dependent on where you live you in San Jose, you might need to take a bus or another light rail line at first, then you would need to use the Winchester-Mountain View light rail line (it runs down Southwest Expressway, through Downtown San Jose and then North First Street) to get to Great America. Hope this helps, it is easy to mix up the lines, the few times I've used it, I've wound up on the wrong train at least once.

As was said by CGA_88, you can ask to be put at a certain ride. However, it depends on openings at each of the rides and amount of positions each ride has. Last season when I applied (at the second job fair in May) not all the rides had openings and when I asked what rides did, there was only a few-Firefall, Kidzville, I think Planet Snoopy, and a few others, I opted for Firefall the 2010 season and in turn when I came back this season, went back to Firefall. I'm sure if you go to the first job fair in January, they will have openings at mostly all the rides, I just made the choice to return to Firefall for ease of being certified for the positions at it. Once on the light rail, it'll take you directly to the park and the light rail station is right in front of the park on Tasman, near the intersection that exits out of Great America (across from the convention center) There is the pedestrian trail that runs next to the park, that leads to Agnew Road and to the back employee parking lot.

Didn't know that either about having more than one account. That's good, about Skyflyer, I've been thinking about a different ride to go to next season if I do go back to work at Great America. About having free time, that's good, so it's not as 'fast paced' as most of the rides are, such as Firefall, not that it's a bad thing, it just can be hectic at times though. True, I forgot about Survivor, it does have a longer line at times and on another note, after having having been spit on by another guest when I came on my day off last season (it hit me and at least 3 others I was with due to the spinning of the ride and I had security called to deal with it) I haven't been on it since. About Fangs last season, I did see it last season when the park had Haunt Preview Nights for the associates, thinking back to what it was about (besides vampires...) they sang various songs and did dancing mostly. I wish I could be more descriptive than that, but it was quite a while back now since I had seen that show.

^ It depends, the park is having fireworks on that day and the park does get busier than normal when they have them, a few rides might have longer lines and a wait time, but nothing too long, unless of course it's Flying Eagles, that is the only ride that takes a long time to get on. But if you want no lines, this week would be a better option, there really was not that long of a line at either of the rides I was at yesterday, but the park closes at 6, so there's not as long a time in the park this week.

Being it was the first day of closing at 6, when it came around, it seems many guests were unaware of it, they likely still thought we closed at 8. It's 10 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday and I think Labor day weekend it's 10 on both Saturday and Sunday. After we had closed our ride and finished the last cycle, many were still going up past the garbage can and getting in line, thinking we were still going to run the ride. What's it like at Skyflyer to work there?

^ Have you had the guests ask why it was removed as well, that's almost always what they ask me after they find out Invertigo is no longer at Great America. I'll tell them I really don't know what lead to it's removal-which is true, we really don't know why it was removed, but many assume we do.

^ Having Krsipy Kreme donuts is one of the things I like, it's also the cheapest item they sell in the cafeteria-at 86 cents- and when they are buy one get one, it's even better- usually on the weekends only, I'll save one for a snack later on in the day. But there are times that it will be a few days before they come to restock the donuts, leaving the case empty otherwise for those few days.

On the subject of guests and questions they ask about rides, I once had a guest come up to me and ask if the park still had Tidal Wave/Greased Lightning ( I guess it had been years since they went to the park, or they really just did not know that coaster has been gone, long gone from the park) There also was this one other guest who every week (sometimes even every few days) come through my line and ask me the same questions about Invertigo and what's going on with where it was, though I had just answered them for him the last time I saw him, however I have not seem him around lately.

Too bad there might not being anything on it next season, but at least you asked about it. I, like almost everyone else, I'm sure have wondered what was planned for it. I still get asked from time to time what is going to replace Invertigo by the general public, to which I still tell them that I don't know what will be. With the talk of the coaster going in revived, I'm hopeful they will put something on the site and do have plans for it beyond it's current use as 'the green'. And looking at the Invertigo site on google maps, surely that pond could be filled in to further enlarge the area, they did, after all fill in a pond (for the most part) for Firefall to be put in. True, there is always that use for 'the green' running around, using your imagination, having fun, something many now days don't do as often

So if this stays on track, then this could be the "gateway coaster", the one that starts coasters to be built here once again...lol I think it's interesting that they also mention the noise concerns by the neighbors, which makes me think the coaster will (most likely) go around the tower right next to them. Otherwise, if it was (possibly) going in the other location then why would they mention that? You know, we all have waited this long, one more season isn't going to kill us. It sucks waiting more but it will be here before we know know it. That's good to know,that the noise levels will be tolerable for the offices there, like noted, if it is built around the Star Tower. I always thought though that they were not that close, there is a considerable distance between the coaster site and the offices, in addition to the parking garage for the office and Great America's section of parking lot. True, it has been this long waiting for the wood coaster, hopefully though for next season we'll at least see something on the Invertigo site.

I'd hope, it would be nice to see the park finally get a new coaster sometime in the near future. Makes me wonder where it will be put though, well, either in the original location proposed around the Star Tower or the alternate location presented back in 2008 on the Redwood Amphitheater.

Interesting, makes me wonder why they were open these other times, I've never seen the front ones open, but then I'm never really going by the front of it that often to have seen them open. It is odd in there though with no one in it, it's mostly dark and the screen is still there as well, it would be nice if they did bring back two Halloween themed 3-D shows for Haunt, or at least one in the Spongebob side. About the arcade portion, I actually noticed that yesterday too when cutting through the exit side to get backstage, that many of the machines have been removed. I guess we'll find out soon enough if they have something planned for the space or even not for that matter.

Have they had the front doors for the right half open, I've only seen the back ones open (where the exit would be) I haven't heard any plans for the right half of AFX (yet anyways) but last time I was in that side- I was helping move some items from one storage area into the theater, adding to what was already in it. I wonder if they could actually make that side usable again because from what I saw, it looks like they could, but I doubt they will. I think they've used some parts from the seats in there to fix the ones in the working side.

Interesting, but I'm still surprised though they never did come up with something to fill in where Greased Lightning was, rather than having it sit with it's old station platform as it does to this day. Surely something could have worked, especially before Firefall was installed in front of that area. (though the AFX Theater likely played a role in something not going on the site) That said though, the AFX theater could still be removed if needed and a coaster could fit there easily along with the old Greased Lightning site.

Never knew until now that Demon did photos, the Green Slime Mine Car Coaster (later Runaway Reptar and now Woodstock Express)-I have a photo from that ride- did them at one time, as did, as much as I don't want to bring it up, Invertigo.