California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[XYZ]

This is some crazy idea but since The Chiller is on Ital, JMA could purchase that coaster for the 2012 season for a cheap amount.

 

Where would they put it? My guess would be Redwood Amphitheater since no pesky neighbors would bother it.

[MrSum1_55]

^Or Speed. Hopefully that will be rebuilt. All the other coasters in the Vegas area are painfully rough, so I really hope the city's best coaster moves somewhere else.

[Angry_Gumball]

I was starting to eyeball that compact woodie GCI showcased on their Facebook...seems like it would be a perfect fit and the perfect type of coaster for the park size-wise, as much as I still really want that proposed GCI to still happen. Incase you don't follow GCI, they posted a photo and link to their Youtube page with this coaster:

 

Here's a photoshopping of the ride in place. However, 2 woodies next to each other may be kind of awkward.

[invisibleinthedark]

I'd much rather see a Eurofighter or a X-Car Coaster on Invertigarden, It would just be really awkward to have a compact woodie and Grizzly in such close proximity of each other.

 

On another note, Great America now has street view in Google maps.

[Angry_Gumball]

I'd much rather see a Eurofighter or a X-Car Coaster on Invertigarden, It would just be really awkward to have a compact woodie and Grizzly in such close proximity of each other.

 

On another note, Great America now has street view in Google maps.

 

My preference would be something launched (X-Car, Premiere, or....you know we could really use a nice Intamin coaster). I took a 'walk' around the park earlier, looks really cool. I did spot a familiar face several times (Being Ryan, the one who gave us the backstage tour and arranged stuff with TPR for TPR day). Of course, the faces are blurred. In reality, I was looking to see if any GP were caught on the Google camera doing stupid GP-ish stuff.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Angry_Gumball

[ABW]

 

Well, obviously you haven't been to SFMM recently and compared it to how it was 2 years ago.

As far of the rides that were removed, they were just rides that no one liked or rode. So it's not like you'll really notice they're gone.

Those new trains on X will increase capacity so more people will get to ride, making the line not be so painfully long.

Thomas Town will give the park a better variety so that more families will come and give the park more money to make more improvements.

And the New Paint on Ninja and Viper. That just makes the ride look nicer. It's eyecandy. Which is something Cedar Fair could really use.

Plus much more.

 

And now let's see what Cedar Fair has done to CGA

Made everything an eyesore

New coaster for 2009

More Trash Cans

More Typical Cedar Fair Crap.

 

If you like what Cedar Fair has done, that's fine. But let's end this war on whether Cedar Fair ruined CGA or not before it gets out of hand.[/i]

 

Just wanted to re-quote this post from three years ago about Cedar Fair's take-over of CGA.

 

"THEY DIDN'T HELP THE PARK AT ALL GO TO SIX FLAGS NO PLACE IS BETTER EVERWHERE ELSE IS DUMB BUT SIX FLAGS!!11!1"

Edited November 17, 2011 by ABW

[Angry_Gumball]

Here's my recap/take:

Made everything an eyesore

They really haven't done much visually to the park, actually seems rather clean.

New coaster for 2009

Wishful thinking, not sure what's up with the project now that CF has gotten rid of their red-headed stepchild.

More Trash Cans

Yep but kept the park clean for the most part.

More Typical Cedar Fair Crap.

If you count turning a park's attraction into a lawn area, I'd have to agree. Didn't Demon Drop become a lawn also?

 

On the plus side, atleast the park now has a Haunt event that turns out that it's a huge success for the park.

[CGA_88]

^It was, but then they moves their swinging pirate ship to the lawn for this season.

[Nibbler]

ABW- I took offense to that post. please refrain from using "Gay" as a derogatory term, thanks.

[netdvn]

Just wanted to re-quote this post from three years ago about Cedar Fair's take-over of CGA.

 

"THEY DIDN'T HELP THE PARK AT ALL GO TO SIX FLAGS NO PLACE IS BETTER EVERWHERE ELSE IS DUMB BUT SIX FLAGS!!11!1"

 

Did CF really help the park much? I don't remember them making many investments outside of Firefall and Planet Snoopy and even then, CF not only removed a ride, but pretty much dropped the park altogether.

 

Compare that to all the stuff SF's pumped into not only SFMM, but SFDK.

 

Hell, compare that to the stuff CF's pumped into every single other former Paramount park. Most of them received B&M Hypers and all of them received Windseeker towers/Planet Snoopy expansions. CW got a hyper AND a giga while KD managed to score a nice Floorless coaster and a giga coaster. It seems that CF is treating the other Paramount parks better than some of the older CF parks like WOF and Knotts.

[CGA_88]

^The Paramount parks, especially CW and KI, are huge money makers. I mean, when CF purchased the chain they were forced to take CGA because it was a package deal. The top 4 performing parks as of the 3rd quarter were CW, CGA, KBF, and KI as stated on the CF website.

[netdvn]

^ Interesting, if CGA is one of their top performing parks, then chances are the it's the city's fault the park hasn't gotten a major investment under CF.

 

That makes me wonder why Paramount stopped investing in the park after Boomerang Bay or why CF/Paramount didn't invest in smaller additions like Italian Job clones or more family attractions during the 2000s.

[Angry_Gumball]

Doing some digging, was reading some old posts last night in this thread and remembered a post stating this (I believe from Cedar Fair):

Although the acquisition of the Paramount Parks in 2006 continues to meet the Company's collective operating and profitability goals, the performance of Great America fell below its original expectation and resulted in this impairment charge.

 

Until this year, CGA wasn't consistently a top performer. It could have been a better performing park however if there were some more TLC pumped into the park during the Cedar Fair era.

 

I wish we would hear some more news about the park as the 'wait and see' mode's starting to drive me crazy. I'm still patiently waiting to see the so-called opportunity that the Cedar Fair design crew's been working on (that probably made its way to the shredder and recycle bin).

[Flagg O'Dim]

^I guess this can be considered "news": Flight Deck and Star Tower are still standing! You can see them in this construction video of the Global Winter Wonderland event: (some reason I can't get the embed code to work)

 

 

I hope they do something to cover up those parking lines. "Parking Lot Wonderland," anyone?

[Blue Manta]

^I guess this can be considered "news": Flight Deck and Star Tower are still standing! You can see them in this construction video of the Global Winter Wonderland event: (some reason I can't get the embed code to work)

 

 

I hope they do something to cover up those parking lines. "Parking Lot Wonderland," anyone?

 

I actually passed by CGA earlier today heading west on Tasman and caught a glimpse.

[Flagg O'Dim]

The city will decide on December 6th if they want to approve the sale to JMA. Here's the document:

 

http://sireweb.santaclaraca.gov/cache/2/c4voga45demwfc45utmol4zn/58977911202011063042156.PDF

 

In my understanding of the document, apparently JMA is also looking to modify the lease.

[Angry_Gumball]

Modifying the lease to suit their financial needs, kind of what I'm getting out of it...I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this or not, but am approaching with extreme caution.

 

While this makes me feel relieved:

It is

in the City's best interests to ensure that the new owner/operator has the financial and operating capability to

continue the long-term success of the Park.

 

It is this that's got this funky stench in the air:

JMA is requesting an amendment to the existing

ground lease with the intent to make the project more financeable and to clarify and/or modify certain terms

and conditions of the lease.

[jab88]

Modifying the lease to suit their financial needs, kind of what I'm getting out of it...I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this or not, but am approaching with extreme caution.

 

While this makes me feel relieved:

It is

in the City's best interests to ensure that the new owner/operator has the financial and operating capability to

continue the long-term success of the Park.

 

It is this that's got this funky stench in the air:

JMA is requesting an amendment to the existing

ground lease with the intent to make the project more financeable and to clarify and/or modify certain terms

and conditions of the lease.

 

I agree about that last quote there, when reading that, it just seems strange and makes one wonder what they want to modify on the ground lease to make the project "more financeable". Of course, it is early in the process of all this and I could be wrong, but from that, it seems like they have other ideas for land the park sits on, or in the least, portions of the land, to become some other uses, that is if the city approves it all. I'd hope this is not the end for Great America.

[CoasterBeagle]

Be positive

[greatamerica1990sfan]

They will announce the closing of Great America all of a sudden & be a shocking surprise like the removal of Invertigo. Nobody will be ready for the unexpected news that might come. To me things aren't looking good for Great America. I'm not even sure if Great America will operate next year.

[MrSum1_55]

Then why are 2012 season passes on sale? That being said, I believe we are safe for at least the 2012 season. After that, well, who knows what?

[gforce532]

^But remember Six Flags announced Kentucky Kingdom's closure in February.

[Angry_Gumball]

A thing to think about, as much as I seem to be talking back and forth, torn between sides. Perhaps the lease on the land does not call for an entertainment and retail plaza, in which I have a feeling JMA has in store to 'link' the stadium and park, to give people something to check out en route to the stadium or park (much like Universal's City Walk, or the PGA "Front Gate" concept). Too soon to tell though.

 

Doing some Google searches a few days ago to see if I find anything showcasing the stadium concept and if there's any other concepts, I did find a couple note-worthy things. First off, I know this will not solve all of the parking issues but this should help (create nasty traffic issues getting out) minimize some of CGA's lot usage.

This lot will sit across the street from CGA's overflow lot/stadium site on Tasman. Apparently, groundbreaking has already happened.

 

This looks like an older concept, when the plans were to have the stadium sit right in CGA's main lot. Disregard the missing Flight Deck!

 

Lastly, what appears to be an older concept (and solidifies my thoughts about retail, entertainment, and restaurants:

Looking at this, and the above photo, the Sports Central area looks like the car parking structure, "Wateropolis" and "Coastal Boardwalk" sections to be something along the park's edge (so much for park expanding into lot), and the Entertainment Central area adjacent to the car park to probably feature maybe restaurants and other entertainment opportunities.

 

This is all guesswork and sort of like putting a puzzle together, all 99% speculation. In the end, maybe the ground lease doesn't call for such things to exist but who really knows?

[XYZ]

The old concept doesn't show Great America in much detail and even though Flight Deck is missing, I don't see Star Tower or any other actual ride there. Also, it's odd that an amphitheater is on the Whitewater Falls location. I think Great America won't have anything special in 2012, it will just be the same, but 2013 will be a different story. Plus, how could there be a new ride from JMA when they would only own the park for 3 months when the park opens, it takes some time to install a large ride.

[Flagg O'Dim]

Sorry to change the subject--

 

Those of you who've read my posts know that I'm obsessed with the Pictorium. So now, I've been doing some research about it online, and in the near future, I'm planning on writing an article for my CGA blog based off of my "findings." (The journalist in me can't resist). Perhaps I might start a series of "Lost Attractions" articles.

 

Just thought I'd share something interesting (well, at least to me) that I found: Contrary to popular belief, the Pictorium was actually open after 2001. Paramount had an anime festival in 2004, and the Pictorium was open for a day showing anime films. Although, the Imax equipment was already gutted, and the films were being shown on some "quickie" standard projection system.

 

I need your help! I'm looking for any images of the Pictorium that you might have when it was open. I'm really interested in what it looked like inside during it's final years (or any time, really). If you have any pictures that I can use for my article (and I would give you credit in my article, of course), I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

 

What I've found so far: