Angry_Gumball

According to the Season Pass podcast and an interview with Matt Ouimett, CGA's Haunt event is has the 2nd highest attendance. The highest attended Haunt in the Cedar Fair chain is Knotts.

I don't see the airtime being as "jarring/ejector" or as sudden as it's cousin in the bay area (Superman, referring to our local Premier coaster as its cousin) but do see some nice, graceful airtime (butt out of seat, sustained air as you crest), if not at the very least the "floater sensation/tummy tingles." Having ridden Superman Ultimate Flight at SFDK (16 times now, planning on riding it more this season as I have my SFDK pass), and it completely surprising me, I have faith in YOLOcoaster being something nice...though I think I still may favor S:UF over it in the long run.

^I betcha we (our group) can drown them out! So yesterday was a first real solid visit to CGA and the first visit when pretty much the whole gang was there. I got a bit concerned at first because suddenly 2 large buses appear and event goers come out of the woodworks like the zombie apocalypse. The group consisted of JeffyJosephNorcal, Rolercstrluver, BlueFireGuy, Robman, Flagg O' Dimm, RJVader, my cousin, neighbor, and myself. Naturally, we kick off the day with the Flying Eagles as there was no line for it. Traditionally we've done Flight Deck but due to the flyer's low capacity (you can easily wait 30 minutes for this) it's best to hit that first. Amazing warmup rides, that's when we spotted Flagg O'Dimm, and RJVader and a couple of us decide to go for a second round. After yet another fun ride, it was time to let the birds rest and head to the back. Psycho Mouse had a minimal line so we took advantage and hopped on that, followed by a quick session on Drop Tower. Grizzly had then just opened so again, more taking advantage before the lines would get potentially long. Even a station wait can be 15-20 minutes easily...let's take 3.5 - 4 minute dispatch times, plus let's say you're waiting 5 trains/5 pairs of people to board/10 people ahead of you...you get the idea... Upon completion of our first round, Demon had a minimal line/next train wait but instead we opted to ride White Water Falls...surprisingly not as soaking as anticipated. Amazing lapbar-less airtime though! Still haven't ridden Flight Deck, it was time to ride some B&M so Vortex was it. I decided to try an outside seat in the middle of the train and it was a little rougher but really not all that bad! So we eventually made it to Flight Deck almost 2 hours later and the line was pretty minimal, maybe 5 minutes at most. The day was much lighter than opening weekend and getting on rides was much easier. Maybe it was the threat of rain (which hadn't arrived until night time on my way home. I feel like I got even more out of this visit than my opening weekend visits...light crowds. Gold Striker tidbits: I didn't actually take that many photos as not much has changed/the coaster looks pretty much complete from our vantage points. No need to repost what was posted Some highlights of the rather nice day: -Riding Flyers 5 different times, the 5th ride just making it (We literally booked it as soon as we got off FD, only having less than 5 minutes to get in line before they closed it off) -Finally riding Firefall this season...it is rather slippy on the final maneuver over the fire pond...but that fire was nice and toasty! -Watching park management serve some line jumpers/rail hoppers and embarrassing them quite good ...let that be a lesson learned, kiddies! -Still being able to enjoy Vortex even further back -More line jumpers at Flight Deck...2 kids meet with their group ahead of us after passing us by (as we shake our heads in disgust)...followed by me hearing them tell the rest of their x amount of friends and family to come up there...glad I can understand some foreign language Luckily they didn't come up there as instructed as I would have notified staff at the soonest possible point. And we just had to try this classic electrical chair known as "The Screamer." It sounds worse than it really is though. Yay here well before the parking lots open...some people coordinated quite well today Gold Striker sure is lookin' purdy! Meanwhile in line...let's mess with the Nintendo 3DS and it's "Face Merge" feature...creepy, no? (Blue Fire Guy and I's faces merged) Meanwhile inside the park...someone stole the sign NERD! Wait, what's this? I spy some queue theming! Lone worker on top of the scream box No trains yet... Wild 94.9 was at CGA today but the area pretty much looked like this all day. Meanwhile, over to Flyers...Flagg, RJVader...are you guys tall enough to ride? Heading toward Psycho Mouse before it became Psycho Queue Drop Tower fun... Wheee! Over to Grizzly before lines get insane Slowly cruising to the lift... Ok, we got our Grizzly ride in for the day! In line for Rue Le Wrist-Snapper Over to Happy Feet since BFG hasn't gotten his Happy Feet credit yet...why does he look evil? It's so peaceful back here! *visions a launched coaster running along former train track bed* Meanwhile, my cousin decides to ride the Rapids...one should never trust leaving anyone in our group behind. We've got our spotter in place... Getting the quarter ready She's coming, she's coming!!! All clear, dispatch!!! *Psssssshhhhhfffftttt* Reason why the rest of us opted out on riding. Aftermath.. The old train bridge...I can totally see a coaster zooming down this path and across the bridge Flyers, we aren't done with you yet! Wheee! After riding the flyers, it was time to ride the other flyers. The 3 stooges... Sorry BFG, I don't think you'll be striking any gold here! I don't think we will either So in turn, the tiki gets the FALCON PUNCH!!! and the FALCON KICK!!! treatment. And a final visit on the flyers, in gusty winds...provides some interesting, challenging rides! And when I say interesting rides, I really mean it! (Wind gust plus a nice swoop turned me backwards for a brief moment) Alright, I guess good things must come to an end as much as we weren't quite ready to finish the day off...

I think they still have some infill to put in. But if there is ventilation, at least screams won't be so bad...referring to those high pitched shreikers... Gonna come off the ride deaf...bringin' me some ear plugs

90 minutes to ride Grizzly is just nuts, especially if it was just a station wait Too bad earlier's light mist crippled Grizzly operations even more than it already is...Reducing Grizzly down to single train (in its current situation) is like getting kicked in the balls while being blindfolded...

Agreed, it is looking quite striking! *rimshot*

. Way too crowded

She's a brave one that's for sure! Even far quieter than I was when I recently rode CGA's skycoaster with some fellow TPRers...that initial ripcord pull always gets me! Not to mention, the first forward flop when the platform drops under our feet.

You mean, this? (Yes I did some digging )

So I found a Nintendo DS Lite earlier, completely random...I've always liked the style of the Lite aesthetically. Only problem is, it thinks it's a virtual boy (Screen loves red for some reason). Anyone know if this is an easy fix (maybe reseating the ribbon cable?) or am I going to have to replace the screen? Also the floppy hinge is a bit annoying...but it was free so I guess I can't complain. Wouldn't mind getting a spare DS up and running though especially since they had pretty decent battery life.

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Oh, those Morgan trains won't leave for a while...will continue to operate for the foreseeable future... Hey, maybe we'll see some more restraining systems come into force (like leg and arm cuffs, OTSRs, maybe a few extra seatbelts for each rider...and maybe put the triangular wheels back onto the train...maybe square wheels if we're extremely lucky! (Skip to approx the 25:50 mark to get to the Grizzly hotness, or just watch the whole thing ) To give Grizzly some praise among the sea of criticizing, that final turn was pulled off rather well and no longer jolts you. Now I wish they'd reprofile and insert some element between the 2 turnarounds, spice it up! I'm not expecting Grizzly to become El Toro but would be nice to have a little "whee!" factor to it. I feel like whoever was at the drawing board for designing Grizzly designed this as a mean joke...Almost like taking the SNES Wolfenstein 3D game, and turning it into Super 3D Noah's Ark (for you video game nuts out there).

Yes our Grizzly is really just drawn out! While the Eastern Grizz has multiple humps between turns, ours just kind of...just goes through a looooong flat curve. Why ours got neutered/designed this way is beyond me.

True example of turd: Psyclone when it was at SFMM...it was a true 'Row! row!' Moment and left me wondering if we would valley.

Well, more theme park than just coaster but here goes... - When you ride the swings at the playground to seek the tummy tingle sensation - When you ride the swings so high at the playground your chains slack and you then 'snap' much like on the flyers - When you ride the swings at the playground and as you swing down, you drop something to watch it 'float' as you fall at the same speed as it. Yes I'm guilty of all 3 of these.

Man I miss this ride...

I noticed White Water Falls hauling the other day when I rode it, as well as a huge amount of wetness...and that was with partially filled boats. I actually rode in the front and felt some crazy airtime...still much stronger at the 'end of the paddle' so to speak. LOL at the polished turd thing...sure you can buff it up all you want but it's still a turd The line for Grizzly, I feel is going to turn me away from really riding it this season...atleast when all the switchbacks are full...After that hour wait for 'nothing to really happen' in that blue train, it really turned me away from really wanting to ride it. Well at least the transition into the final turn is smoothed out. Vortex on the other hand I feel has lost it's turd-like characteristics and actually felt like riding it again for a second ride. I've been having Vortex cravings as of lately...something's going on that's for sure! Just watch for the spray paint touchup OTSRs...they have a funky smell to them, and that's all I could smell getting off the ride first time I rode it. Spray paint was done around where your head would be, just about near where the OTSR is mounted on the train. I'm still trying to find that one lone Dr Pepper fountian...it lives somewhere in the Food Festival area. Will have to try some Vault again, been a while since I've had it I can't wait for Sunday and also really hope it isn't ridiculously crowded. But it is spring break so we shall see. I honestly would have thought that today would have been pretty dead even for spring break...makes me glad that we planned our SoCal trip after the bulk of spring break happenings.

While the SJ Mercury News said they'd be unveiling it on the first (I can only assume that the rider auction will also be media day), but when CGA shared the news article on their Facebook, they made it a point that the date was still tentative/up in the air/not confirmed. If this was the case I'd imagine Media Day being on an 'off day' and opening to the public that coming weekend. I've been debating on picking up a Fast Lane on GS's opening day especially if it's crowded...then I can bypass the regular line and get my rides in on the first day. I have a feeling testing will be right around the corner, sooner than we realize.

I'll go ahead and confirm the high water table. We asked about this at Bay Area Bash in 2011 (the mini bash) being able to dig underground but can't due to the water table. CGA is pretty close to the wetlands, maybe about a mile away from a bunch of marshes. The water table thing is probably what caused the so-called sinking Flight Deck years ago. I'm going to have to agree with Rob and be happy with what we have right now rather than have the 'more, more, more!' outlook. I'm sure the minor park improvements (paint and maintenance) will continue on next season. In the mean time, we still have a wood coaster to look forward to riding that hasn't opened yet. The park is going to feel way different and improved once Gold Striker is actually running rather than sitting there waiting for construction to finish. Not to mention, we don't even know what exactly is in store for Haunt other than a brand new maze structure to be built plus 2 revamps/refreshers.

I'd love to see Firefall get a full on makeover during the off-season. It is rather faded. I have yet to ride Firefall this season as we all had our bags with us (and didn't have a bag-sitter)...and I don't like exactly leaving my stuff out on a crowded day. I have seen though last season on the final 'hang' over the lake where we were essentially just being gently lowered while remaining in an upright position...complete with the squealing. Knotts recently repainted their Riptide and it looks amazing! I'd absolutely love to see FireFall actually receive a paint job like this...So, CGA, this is my request...I know you guys are reading the boards (Oh and let's paint Star Tower to be like the one at Knotts with the American flag while we're at it!) Does that not look quite fitting for FireFall? Minus the surfboards of course. But the flames are far more appropriate than the twisty tornado paint job it has from it's days of being Texas Tornado at Geauga Lake. And fitting coasters into places...it just takes creativity (yup, creativity, not cloning an existing layout). One would never think you can cram a B&M into a small plot like Vortex. Yes it's a shorter coaster but the space looks quite impossible to even fit anything of that scale in its plot of land. I realistically don't see a coaster coming again for a few years but you never know what tricks they have up their sleeve. CGA has received back-to-back coasters for several years during its 1990s heyday. Realistically though I can see a flat coming in, or maybe something to increase the value of the waterpark they have...in its current state it feels like a mini water park, as fun as the slides are.

Maverick Clone...nope! Maverick-like coaster, would be nice, but an exact clone is not going to happen. They don't have the space for it...or in SFMM/Sweet Brown speak, "CGA aint got no space for dat!"

Head Choppers, definitely an effect and this ride will be generously loaded with them!

Monty, Pocky, Goldy, Grizzly-y? All coasters we love or have a soft spot for...thus nicknames are made:)

Nice update/report! I'd like to check out the Drench show on my next visit, which I assume will be a warm day...where a soaking will be a must. Last time I got soaked was when I was little and visiting Marine World Africa USA...no rides, just animals...and Yakka & Vigga were the star attractions. I remember that we had taken a family trip for my birthday and getting a cold shower of salt water.

I'm just waiting to see the truth get revealed with Grizzly's top speed. It may be time to use the speed checker app I use with my RC, will highlight the top speed it records via GPS. I've used it on the freeway before too and was strikingly accurate. Bet you I will get a max speed of less than 5mph In the end I can care less about top speed. It's what the ride is capable of pulling off, the meat and potatoes...top speed is just the extra dash of seasoning...darn it now I'm hungry!