rjvader
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Posts posted by rjvader
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Get your barf bags ready, CGA just posted this on their Facebook page:
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Had a great time at Haunt opening night! For an opening night it was pretty crowded, with some mazes reaching 45+ minute wait times.
The Good:
-Hanging out with Angry_Gumball and Flagg O'Dim at Madame Marie's Voodoo Chophouse, and meeting Madame Marie herself!
-Consuming more food than Angry_Gumball and Flagg at said Chophouse
-The lake in front of the carousel is now lined with propane-powered flamethrowers that shoot fireballs into the air at various intervals.
-Watching Robman terrorize his victims in the Gauntlet.
-Dia de los Muertos. I wasn't looking forward to this maze after hearing people talk of it being a non-scary hand-me-down from Knotts. I was pleasantly surprised with the maze though, the scenery is very detailed and beautiful, and there's lots of it since the maze is fairly lengthy. This was probably my favorite of the night.
-The Gauntlet, while it didn't seem as populated as in the old days, the talent that works there are all awesome. In my opinion this is hands down the best scare zone.
-Fun House Express was actually a lot of fun! I found it to be a much more enjoyable experience than Happy Feet.
-Huge shocker: Werewolf Canyon was actually pretty good! There's a bunch more talent than last year, and they were all getting into character. The "long periods of nothingness" were almost completely eliminated.
The Not-So-Good:
-Massacre Manor, Cornstalkers, and Dead Man's Cove were all missing their theme music. Instead we got heavy metal music, which kind of worked for Dead Man's Cove.
-Zombie High was a big disappointment. After experiencing the wow factor of Massacre Manor last year I had high hopes for Zombie High. While this maze isn't bad, it's just OK. In my opinion it's way too bright inside most of the rooms, and some of the theming fell flat (piling up school desks to make a walkway barrier). The talent in the maze was pretty good though, they're doing great for what they have to work with (a super-bright maze with not too many places to hide).
-The awesome ending to Toy Factory is no more
-Underworld Alley was only a shadow of its former glory, it seemed extremely understaffed, and most of the talent didn't seem too enthusiastic about being there. Hopefully once they get into a rhythm they'll work up the scares.
-The new layout of Cornstalkers wasn't all that great in my opinion. The maze operators now assign you to one of three entrances, which are small walkways devoid of any monsters. These walkways eventually converge together, causing a big traffic jam and some general confusion about which way to go. The rest of the maze is very narrow, it's basically a compressed version of the Cornstalkers we all know and love.
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Then CGA builds an awsome woodie, only SFGAm builds what will likely be an even better one.
Haha for sure, they wasted no time dropping that bombshell, we haven't even had our woodie for a full season yet and they are already trying to top it!
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^Maybe it's now an "evil magic seat."
There's definitely some dark magic going on with that ride. On my last visit I made the mistake of riding the Demon while a headache was forming, needless to say I was in pain for many hours afterwards haha.
On a side note it's too bad they rarely play the opening sound clip of the demonic voice welcoming us to the ride.
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^It received a re-haul in 2010 and is still an awesome maze.
If they want to add another maze or two, I don't see why they can't utilize Boomerang Bay, there's plenty of space they could use inside there since it's closed in the fall.
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I heard terror of London is replacing warewolf canyon. I also heard that uncle bobos is replacing carnevil. Looks like we are getting hand me downs from knotts. All solids mazes but was hoping for something new. We shall wait and see
I really hope these rumors aren't true, Carnevil is my favorite maze and I'd hate to see it get eliminated. I guess I should be happy that effort is being put in to try and improve the whole event, but swapping out solid mazes is disappointing. Last year's Club Blood "Re-vamped" was great, and now it's gone for no reason...
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Space Gold Striker?
This calls for some half-assed photo editing!
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On the second run, I smacked my head into Angry_Gumball's shoulder at the end, which hurt, but in a way that added to the sheer insanity. Definitely want to do it on another visit this summer.
That second run ended in some pain for me too, as Flagg O'Dim's shoulder plowed into my nose haha. It was awesome to get some 5-man runs though! I felt myself lift off the raft a bit during some of the highest wall-climbing sections, definitely a rush.
It must have been crazy with the temps yesterday, I applaud you guys for braving the park on such a hot day.Thankfully it wasn't all that hot, I was expecting high 90s, but it seems we only got high 80s. Judging by how packed Boomerang Bay got, I suspect everyone else was expecting blistering heat as well.
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Had a great time at the park yesterday, despite the initial feeling of dread upon seeing around ten buses in the parking lot. We hit Gold Striker first (surprise surprise), and were lucky to get in line when the zig-zag queue section was only half-full (only a half-hour wait ). The queue filled up pretty fast though, and as we were climbing the steps to the station the line was already spilling out of the ride's entrance.
Most of the park was pretty crowded thanks to the buses dropping off all the kiddies, but many lines weren't that bad thanks to Gold Striker swallowing up the crowds. Boomerang Bay was absolutely dead, I have never experienced so many walk-ons on those slides in previous visits. This was especially nice at the body slides, me and Flagg O'Dim had them all to ourselves. Kudos to the slide operators for putting up with our repeated visits and cracking some jokes with us.
Shockingly in the early afternoon Gold Striker's queue was only out to the tunnel, so we were able to grab three more rides on it before we left the park.
Side notes:
-I finally got to try out row 12 on Gold Striker, and I love it! Airtime all the way down the mine shaft
-After five years and countless lost, stolen, or damaged items, Firefall finally has a storage container at the ride entrance.
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Happy Feet sucks.
It's like what am I..? Am I a camera? Am I a penguin? Too many changes in POV, pick a side Great America we're at war.
I happen to like Happy Feet, especially the initial descent down the mountain. Spongebob had gotten stale during its extended lifespan at CGA, it was a great run and an enjoyable film, but we needed something fresh and new.
Boomerang Bay is only open on the weekends for now (I'm not sure when it opens during the week or if it ever does?)I'm bummed that it's not going to be open full time this week, we are planning on heading to CGA sometime before the weekend. It certainly opens for weekdays at some point, because my brother and I used to hit the slides on Tuesdays during the summer.
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Honestly, the painted walls look pretty decent in my opinion (see walls on middle finger turn). I'm sure the rest of the walls will receive paint as well.
It's not so much the fact that they aren't painted, mostly it just looks odd because the walls are scattered here and there, with inconsistent heights. Looks really tacked on (which it is I guess). Oh well, I can't wait to get some hand-chopper action, still waiting to get my first hands up ride since we weren't allowed to do that during the photo-shoot.
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Finally got a chance to ride Gold Striker during today's promo shoot, I'm completely addicted now! Nothing could have prepared me for how forceful and intense this ride is, it just doesn't let up at all until the brake run. I felt like I spent the majority of the ride with my butt flying off the seat . I got 9 rides in tonight, and I can't wait for more! Sorry Giant Dipper, but I have a new favorite woodie.
Many thanks to CGA for holding this promo event and letting us all come and ride. It was great to see the TPR gang and get some rides in with them
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^Are you guys guaranteed any seats? Or is it a race to the finish line?!
I'm actually wondering this myself. I got a confirmation for Thursday, so I guess I can just wait and see what our fellow TPR members say about tonight's promo shoot. If I'm just going to be standing around for 3 hours watching everyone else have fun riding (without getting any chance to ride), I might as well save time and gas money by staying home.
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Did anyone get a response for the promo shoot?
I haven't received anything, fingers crossed that they are just running late with the replies
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Nothing like seeing the finishing touches! It was nice of them to include comfy couches with our GCI.
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I signed up for Thursday. Even if we don't get in, we'll all be riding Gold Striker soon.
Yep, if we don't get chosen, let everyone else break in the ride during the promo shoot, it just means we'll get a faster ride when Gold Striker officially opens
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Knotts recently repainted their Riptide and it looks amazing!
That paint job looks great! It would definitely be fitting for Firefall to receive those flames.
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I doubt they will invest in another coaster so soon after giving us Gold Striker. What I do wish they would invest in are proper repairs for Firefall, that ride is completely run down. When we rode it last Friday there was extreme brake slippage all over the place. It's sad to witness the last bit of the ride program, it used to slowly lower you upside down, now you cruise back to the station in an upright position while you listen to the squealing brakes struggle to hold the gondola in that position.
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Sorry, if I came off wrong, it's just a little pet peeve of mine when people call some coasters pet names.I agree about the pet names, sometimes it gets irritating.
Agreed, it makes me grit my teeth every time.
CF is finally investing in the park, it just took 5 years to do it!Took them long enough to give CGA some love. The park looks great with all the new paint and signage everywhere, amazing what a little freshening up can do.
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There, fixed it. Last image ran out of bandwidth.
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Not a lot of employees knew about double ride time, so that event was sort of a fail.
The ride ops were definitely not on top of their game, quite a few rides we went on had slow operations. Understandable since it's the first day and they haven't gotten into their groove yet, but it was still somewhat annoying/funny to get locked inside both the bumper cars and Centrifuge because the ride ops forgot to release the magnetic locks on the exit gate
Still had a good time despite the long lines in the afternoon. I enjoyed the new Happy Feet show in Action Theater, so nice to have a change from Spongebob. Also liking my Gold Striker souvenir cup!
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California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
The football team is named after the real 49ers in the gold rush...