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California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread


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Opening day... Was really easy to spot each other, often seeing each other over the course of the day. I remember spotting you and your brother a couple times before we actually introduced ourselves at the bumper cars.

 

And it sounds like Fast Lane is finally waking up as people were complaining on Facebook on how they waited 10 minutes for their row as people were constantly coming.

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I know this is a little old, but I just noticed this from robman's opening day trip report. That's my brother and I on the edge seats in the back row (I'm wearing a white sweatshirt). Great timing with that shot!

 

[attachment=0]firefall2.jpg[/attachment]

 

Ha, that's awesome, small world!

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Opening day... Was really easy to spot each other, often seeing each other over the course of the day. I remember spotting you and your brother a couple times before we actually introduced ourselves at the bumper cars.

 

And it sounds like Fast Lane is finally waking up as people were complaining on Facebook on how they waited 10 minutes for their row as people were constantly coming.

 

I saw some of you while I was walking to get ready for Party in the Plaza. I work backstage this season, so If you want to say hi you'll have to go see that show as I'm always there for it.

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I scratch my head on the whole Prudential thing. #1, I'm positive that CGA brings far more tax dollars to the city so I can not see how the city would weigh or take into consideration what Prudential has to say all that much. #2, I feel as though Prudential is meddling more with CGA's business far more then any "noise" distraction would ever cause harm to Prudential's business. #3 and finally, if the park noise is such a concern to their operations, why don't they relocate? Would be far easier for them to move then for a whole theme park. I really hope the city sticks it to them. I think CGA has the most potential for growth in the next decade as it has not been receiving the love and care as it should have been getting, and I'm sure attendance has been lower then its potential as a result.

Edited by Gnome
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I scratch my head on the whole Prudential thing. #1, I'm positive that CGA brings far more tax dollars to the city so I can not see how the city would weigh or take into consideration what Prudential has to say all that much. #2, I feel as though Prudential is meddling more with CGA's business far more then any "noise" distraction would ever cause harm to Prudential's business. #3 and finally, if the park noise is such a concern to their operations, why don't they relocate? Would be far easier for them to move then for a whole theme park. I really hope the city sticks it to them. I think CGA has the most potential for growth in the next decade as it has not been receiving the love and care as it should have been getting, and I'm sure attendance has been lower then its potential as a result.

 

Good point with regards to part 3,not to mention it'd probably cost far less to relocate than to repeatedly hire lawyers & conduct sound studies as part of their opposition to the project.

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Back on Page 453 Angry_Gumball posted the complaint the Prudential Real Estate filed in 2008. I assume they are following the same tact.

 

For Prudential Real Estate, which owns the 8-year-old office complex along the park's western edge, those concerns about noise quickly came down to one word: location. Their property line sits about 150 feet from the proposed coaster site, home to another coaster some 20 years ago but empty since then. Prudential's lawyers argued their noise report showed that the employees in those buildings, occupied by telecom equipment maker Nortel, will find their workdays unduly disrupted by the ongoing howls just across the way.

 

Just so everyone has the facts straight, this is a Real Estate company. They own an office building that they rent. They can not just pick up and relocate the office building to another location.

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Disrupted by howling themepark guests....really? Sorry but no, not likely and that seems really petty on their part and if these people are that distracted by the howling then they need another job.

 

I would love to have monitors and speakers installed in every office, hall, room, everywhere in that building, turn the volume up all the way and loop the newest commercial for them...all day, THAT is distracting!

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^^I'm amused that these complaints are coming from a real-estate company. Did they not notice the theme park next-door when they moved in?

 

Oh, they noticed,I mean how can you miss a 100 acre parcel of land that contains amusement park rides and 'howling' people?

 

They just like to bitch and complain about stuff they should keep their nose out of.

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Back on Page 453 Angry_Gumball posted the complaint the Prudential Real Estate filed in 2008. I assume they are following the same tact.

 

For Prudential Real Estate, which owns the 8-year-old office complex along the park's western edge, those concerns about noise quickly came down to one word: location. Their property line sits about 150 feet from the proposed coaster site, home to another coaster some 20 years ago but empty since then. Prudential's lawyers argued their noise report showed that the employees in those buildings, occupied by telecom equipment maker Nortel, will find their workdays unduly disrupted by the ongoing howls just across the way.

 

Just so everyone has the facts straight, this is a Real Estate company. They own an office building that they rent. They can not just pick up and relocate the office building to another location.

 

To further add to it, if I'm reading right... Prudential (back then anyway) seems to be speaking up on behalf of Nortel, who would potentially be distracted. Prudential themselves are located on the other side of 101.

 

But yea, why rent an office space next to a theme park anyway? Perhaps easily distracted and whiny tenants should relocate, as much as prudential would dislike that.

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Further thinking about this, perhaps Prudential is worried that their tenants will leave since they aren't in the best location for a business. Perhaps some thought should have been put into the 8-year-old property to control noise factors as they are next to a 36-year-old amusement park...but again, that is common sense...which doesn't exist these days, sadly. Perhaps if Prudential is worried of their tenants leaving and Prudential losing money (100% assumption and speculation by the way), they should cut the rent and say "Well since you are next to a noisy location, you are getting a discounted rent so cut your complaining."

 

Hopefully others outside of TPR and the coaster enthusiast world (who are working with this project) have also thought the same.

 

Random note: some residential area in a neighboring city has lower costs due to a nearby dump. The odor from that dump can carry when a sea breeze kicks in for quite a distance. But the residents are getting a cut in their cost due to that inconvenience. I'm sure this goes for people who live under the BART tracks (Us bay area folk know BART trains are loud...they howl, screech, etc...I'm a distance away from the tracks but can still hear them throughout the night but I'm not complaining), and as noted, airports.

 

Random note 2: I wonder what Namco/Bandai thinks of this project...they're right in that building as well.

Edited by Angry_Gumball
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I'm assuming that those buildings are already outfitted with double paned glass. The location I used to work at on Sundays had double pained glass and I could just barely hear a siren as the ambulance passes by (about 150 feet away from where I was at), and couldn't even hear people driving down the street the building was located. So how could CGA really be all that noisy when the only sounds I hear at the front of the park are Vortex and Flight Deck? (Mainly being Vortex as that's right at the entrance). Honestly, the sound of Vortex/Flight Deck is no different than the jets flying overhead.

 

Rather than hiring a bunch of lawyers to defend their case, why don't they use that money elsewhere, building up a wall on their existing parking structure. The building is not exactly right up at the site; the parking structure is somewhat of a buffer (or possibly a noise enhancer as the sound could echo). They could do that, and on CGA/CF's behalf, could outfit the coaster with 'Ghostrider Sheds' (which would probably create an amazing headchopper effect throughout several moments of the ride.

 

Below is a rough sketch of the coaster and proximity to the pesky neighbors. I don't see why something can't be worked out to benefit both parties, as much as the park was there first. Why what used to be orchards surrounding the park became an industrial park for major companies is beyond me.

cgawoodie.jpg.4df24da06000e2da1c15e4ef04408ea2.jpg

Really rough photoshop painting of coaster and proximity to the offices. They should be able to make things work.

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Something I never understood, what about the other noise in the area? Why single out CGA. There's an airport nearby, and the stadium and the park has other rides close by, why do they single out this one ride at this one time? Is it just stupidity, or is there something I don't know?

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It is an extreme case of the disease known as NIMBYitis. NIMBYitis occurs when an idea is proposed that could benefit the city/business/whatever but locals shoot it down in fear that it will be an eyesore, cause pollution (in this case, being noise), and cause traffic congestion.

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^^^Or maybe it is just a publicity stunt. At Knott's the back door of the TGI Fridays is located right next to the far turnaround of Ghostrider. With my party, I sat at a table close to the back door, and not once did I hear the sound of a single train. Now, this was in a resturant, so the echoing must have masked some of the noise. But, really, the TGI Friday's is probably less than 50 feet away from the coaster. Here, you are talking three times that distance, and still indoors. Also, the walls of an office building must be much thicker than those of a standard TGI Fridays. I will bet that the only reason this company is complaining is for a publicity stunt. If they really think an almost undetectable increase in noise is worth going throught that much trouble, then I believe someone should send a letter to the main Prudential headquarters in Newark. Maybe I should do that...

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Just realized...IOA has a neighboring school right across the street from Dueling...I mean, Dragon Challenge. From what I read, after the coaster opened, the park had to set up sound walls as neighbors were complaining about the noise from screams. I can imagine something like this being done as a solution to muffle the sounds.

 

^^You do have a good point about TGI's, it is definitely closer the ride structure. But on the flipside, unless it's a ritzy upscale restaurant, I can't really see complaints being made about the coaster. In fact, my guess is that the TGI's is there because of the location, to bring in more customers who opt not to dine in the park.

 

Lastly, part of me wonders how much all of us (including myself) are overthinking this and maybe the appeal will be denied anyway? Wishful thinking, right?

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Traffic, Emergency Vehicles and Homeless people make all kinds of noise outside of the building I work in in San Francisco... can I have the city make all those things go away? They are definitely louder and more common then a coaster. In fact, in the time it took me to write to this point of my post I've heard one cop drive by the sirens blaring and a homeless guy has been playing a flute (poorly) the whole time.

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Traffic, Emergency Vehicles and Homeless people make all kinds of noise outside of the building I work in in San Francisco... can I have the city make all those things go away? They are definitely louder and more common then a coaster. In fact, in the time it took me to write to this point of my post I've heard one cop drive by the sirens blaring and a homeless guy has been playing a flute (poorly) the whole time.

 

I hear sirens and their train-like airhorns all the time when I'm at work, even through our wall (Gotta love the bay area's new paramedics). Doesn't phase me one bit though. I hear them even moreso when I'm at home as I live right off of a main road, often in the middle of the night when I'm half-asleep. I live right next to a radiator shop who has a blower revving up every morning, workers banging on metal, whistling, etc. at 7:00am when I'm getting my last hour of relaxation. Again, am I complaining about it? Nope. I'm aware that where I live is zoned for commercial and it's just one of those things you get used to.

 

Hopefully, they will just move forward and build the coaster...then conduct the true noise studies rather than going off of the theoretical noise studies/assumptions they are doing now. I really don't see it being all as noisy from inside their insulated double paned glass window'd offices.

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