California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[KIEnthusiast]

26 minutes ago, RAWKIN_coaster38 said:

Speaking of CGA hyper, I heard a weird rumor yesterday. Take it with a grain of salt. My coworker's second job is at KI and he said he heard Orion was supposed to be CGA's hyper, but it ended up as KI's giga. According to my coworker, KI was originally supposed to get something much taller and more extreme.

Honestly, I could easily see Orion fitting perfectly at CGA but it's underwhelming because it's at KI and we all know they *could* have gone more hardcore with it.

That sounds like something someone made up for sh*its and giggles. Has there ever been anything like that happening before? Plus on the Orion website, its says, "Orion was exclusively designed for Kings Island by Switzerland-based Bolliger and Mabillard." Not "exclusively designed for CGA." 

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Why would they say exclusively designed for CGA on their site, even it that was the case? Plus, technically adding the 13 feet or whatever to make the drop 300 means that it was exclusively designed for KI, even if the coaster was originally intended for CGA. 

I still think the timing of removing Vortex and completely clearing the land is weird. I can easily believe that the land was intended to make a longer giga and for some reason plans changed. Whether or not CGA had anything to do with the change of plans, who knows?

[KIEnthusiast]

Ok. Idk, I still think the story is a little fishy, but who knows?

[WolfBobs]

Rumors like this pop up often enough.  The same thing was said about Valravn and CW.  CP stole it!  

I would believe that the funding and cap-ex budget would change parks more so than the actual design was flat out cut, copied and pasted from one park or another.  This isn't an old Vekoma Clone or an RMC Raptor clone.  Most large investments like custom layout roller coasters are 2-5 year projects depending on scope, scale, and budget involved.  

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Good point. I'm not sure if he meant that the exact layout of Orion was intended for CGA, or that CGA was intended to get a B&M hyper this year and instead the money went to KI for Orion. I'm thinking moreso the latter.

[thrillseeker4552]

It's the "Leviathan was originally intended for Knott's" rumor all over again! lol

With that being said, I think Orion would have received MUCH more praise if it were at CGA!

[Manic Monte]

40 minutes ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

It's the "Leviathan was originally intended for Knott's" rumor all over again! lol

With that being said, I think Orion would have received MUCH more praise if it were at CGA!

Yes, it would have. Orion plus Railblazer? You'd hear no complaints at CGA

[rolercstrluvr]

Oh yeah, no complaints alright. I just hope all this virus crap doesn't affect our 2021.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

 

On 10/14/2020 at 1:15 PM, thrillseeker4552 said:

It's the "Leviathan was originally intended for Knott's" rumor all over again! lol

With that being said, I think Orion would have received MUCH more praise if it were at CGA!

We do love to rehash old rumors! 

[KIEnthusiast]

1 hour ago, COASTER FREAK 11 said:

 

We do love to rehash old rumors! 

What r u trying to say?

[Manic Monte]

If people would say , “The capital originally intended for CGA was repurposed for KI instead”, that makes more sense. But saying a coaster went to park A instead of park B... there’s absolutely no way any of us could even know that, and seems far less likely.

[rolercstrluvr]

Just found out not too long ago the parks in our area can reopen but Santa Clara county is forcing them to stay shut. In other news, scbb might be the first to open under newsoms new guidelines. 

[joelwee]

Santa Clara County is still in the orange tier, which means only small parks can open with a 25%/500-person capacity, so this does not include CGA.

[Jew]

On 10/14/2020 at 10:53 AM, KIEnthusiast said:

Ok. Idk, I still think the story is a little fishy, but who knows?

We would have known because CGA would still have to have filed permits with the FAA for permission to build the ride.

[KIEnthusiast]

5 hours ago, Jew said:

We would have known because CGA would still have to have filed permits with the FAA for permission to build the ride.

I thought they did file permits for the hyper???

[rolercstrluvr]

I think they only presented a future plan for cga as a plan to show Santa Clara county officials. It was harder to build before because Cedar Fair didn't own the land under that park. Now that they do own it, if they were to continue with the proposed coaster, it would be a lot easier to get past city officials as long as they're in guidance with sound checking like they did with Gold Striker. 

[thrillseeker4552]

I'm surprised nobody has posted in here about the park's recently-announced opening day - May 22!

Are they being hopeful about California's regulations? I wonder why they announced a date for CGA but not Knott's. Any thoughts?

[AmyUD06]

They also have not yet announced a date for Cedar Point, the flagship of the chain.

[ryder]

I think it's being overly optimistic, given all the problems the vaccine rollout in CA has had.

[thrillseeker4552]

3 hours ago, Mike240SX said:

They also have not yet announced a date for Cedar Point, the flagship of the chain.

Actually, Cedar Point announced May 14!

[joelwee]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:11 AM, thrillseeker4552 said:

I wonder why they announced a date for CGA but not Knott's. Any thoughts?

CGA is a seasonal park and would normally be closed right now anyway. Knott's, on the other hand, is open year round and are just waiting for Gov. ScienceTM to decide that they can reopen. They most likely have the rides mothballed and can be ready to reopen within a few weeks of getting the okay.

[thrillseeker4552]

^That makes sense. I guess the point I was getting at is that I will be stunned if either park will be permitted to open before May 22.

[joelwee]

Same here. Even with the recent stay-at-home order lifted, nearly every county in the state is a long ways away from graduating from the purple tier.

[Jew]

Not a chance in hell any large county in CA will make it to the yellow tier by May, but it’s also not feasible to have no idea when you can open and expect to open in a timely manner: hiring, training, inventory, etc. all take time. 

[DBru]

On 10/14/2020 at 10:28 AM, KIEnthusiast said:

That sounds like something someone made up for sh*its and giggles. Has there ever been anything like that happening before?

There are only a few (heavily rumored) examples I can think of off the top of my head, such as:

• Two Vekoma Flying Dutchmen being intended for Kings Island and Kings Dominion, only for Paramount to dump them onto Six Flags after the issues with Stealth
• DCA's Rockin' Rollercoaster being canceled last minute and picked up by Six Flags Holland

The only example I can think of that can be verified is the last minute switch of Chang being moved to Six Flags Great Adventure instead of Six Flags Great America... of course, being a relocation, this is kind of a different situation.

There are definitely other coasters that were rumored to be designed for a different park than they ended up in, but I can't recall any of them at the moment.