California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[IronWolfman]

Hey all! Do you think I'd need Fast Lane on a Monday at the beginning of August? I will likely be visiting by myself.

[scooterdoug]

Hey all! Do you think I'd need Fast Lane on a Monday at the beginning of August? I will likely be visiting by myself.

I don't think so. I've done a few August weekday visits, and it's been dead every single time.

[coasterbill]

We made our first visit to the park yesterday and had a great time. Full report to come, but a few thoughts since it's 5AM and I'm sitting in a hotel room near the park wide awake thanks to the wonders of jet lag and Brit's asleep thanks to the wonders of her being Brit and being able to sleep no matter what. God I wish I could do that.

 

- Railblazer looks amazing. We got to see it test a few times. For those wondering why we would plan a trip a few weeks before it would open, CGA isn't the reason for this trip and we don't mind since we love it here and we know we'll be back. We went in knowing it wouldn't be ready and we were cool with that. It looks INSANE though.

 

- I knew it would be good, but Flight Deck... HOLY HELL. Best ride in the park for sure! While I prefer some of the longer inverts I'd actually go so far as to say that this is the most intense invert in America. What a ride!

 

PS: We fit, but is it just us or are the seats on this invert more restrictive than every other invert? It was a tight squeeze.

 

- Gold Striker is phenomenal

 

- Patriot is trash. Trash...

 

- Grizzly wasn't great, but why does this thing get ranked where it does? The seats are dumb but the ride is fine.

 

- Worst ops of any Cedar Fair park ever. Thank god for Fastlane!

 

Finally, I know a few people reached out to us about meeting up. Please don't think I'm rude for not shooting you a message. We woke up at 2:45 at Newark Airport yesterday, caught a 5 AM flight, a connection in Denver, drove 2 hours from Sacramento to San Francisco, went to Golden Gate park, drove down the twisty bits of Lombard Street, went to the Giants and Dodgers Game and then went to the park.

 

By the time we left the park we had been up for close to 24 hours straight. We had a GREAT TIME but we basically just Fastlane'd the coasters, rode the Sky Ride and hit Gold Striker once for a reride on the way out before grabbing a sandwich, going to the hotel and crashing hard. We were more awake than we should have been and we had a blast but I sort of figured we'd hit a wall at some point and we knew we wouldn't be there long. Thanks to everyone for the PMs. I owe you all a beer when we make it back for a slightly less insane day at the park.

What an awesomely crazy day

Edited April 29, 2018 by coasterbill

[Condor]

Yeah, Flight Deck is crazy intense and it and Gold Striker make an ideal 1-2 punch for the park. It's been a few years, but if I remember correctly the seatbelts on FD are a couple of inches shorter than on other inverts.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^^ Oh nice, didn't expect to see a TR when I opened this thread. That does sound like an insane but really fun day. Have a good time at Discovery Kingdom today (just a guess...but you know...probably).

[thrillseeker4552]

Great mini report! From the looks of things, I’ll finally be heading to Northern California this summer with my family. So excited to finally ride Gold Striker, Flight Deck, Railblazer, plus all the coasters at SFDK.

 

I’m interested to see how I feel about Patriot. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, some saying it’s lots of fun and leaps and bounds better than Vortex, and others saying it’s a piece of crap that the park may as well have removed. But people’s thoughts on Gold Striker and Flight Deck seem pretty consistent, so that’s getting me pumped up.

[singemfrc]

Great mini report! From the looks of things, I’ll finally be heading to Northern California this summer with my family. So excited to finally ride Gold Striker, Flight Deck, Railblazer, plus all the coasters at SFDK.

 

I’m interested to see how I feel about Patriot. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, some saying it’s lots of fun and leaps and bounds better than Vortex, and others saying it’s a piece of crap that the park may as well have removed. But people’s thoughts on Gold Striker and Flight Deck seem pretty consistent, so that’s getting me pumped up.

I think for Vortex veterans, Patriot is viewed in a much better light because it's an improvement, but if you havent ridden Vortex a lot, and are just comparing Patriot to other Floorless B&Ms, it doesnt compare as favorably. I dont think it's bad for what it is, its just not much. Kinda like Grizzly.

[edgeboy]

Patriot is a lot better than Vortex was, so I give it a pass. Also, isn't it essentially the #2 coaster B & M ever made, after the now defunct Iron Wolf? Which, if true, makes it the oldest operating B & M ride. Can anyone confirm or refute that?

[JG-77]

Patriot is a lot better than Vortex was, so I give it a pass. Also, isn't it essentially the #2 coaster B & M ever made, after the now defunct Iron Wolf? Which, if true, makes it the oldest operating B & M ride. Can anyone confirm or refute that?

Iron Wolf isn’t defunct, it was relocated to SFA and renamed Apocalypse. I rode it just a few weeks ago.

[singemfrc]

Patriot is a lot better than Vortex was, so I give it a pass. Also, isn't it essentially the #2 coaster B & M ever made, after the now defunct Iron Wolf? Which, if true, makes it the oldest operating B & M ride. Can anyone confirm or refute that?

Iron Wolf isn’t defunct, it was relocated to SFA and renamed Apocalypse. I rode it just a few weeks ago.

Otherwise correct though. Iron Wolf was the first B&M and opened 4/28/1990, Vortex was the second and opened 3/9/1991. Didn't know that before. #3 is Vortex at Carowinds, #4 was the original Batman at SFGA, and the fifth B&M (and second B&M invert) ever was Top Gun right here at CGA.

[edgeboy]

^Glad to hear that. So if nothing else, there's a pretty strong historical context. Even if it's not the greatest ride, you have to honor where they began. Not unlike the Matterhorn at Disneyland.

 

I actually gleaned that fact from an ACE magazine article. It's funny, because the Wikipedia page for B&M doesn't even mention CGA's Vortex/Patriot, only Carrowinds, that's why I wasn't 100% sure. Someone should probably correct that.

 

It's also a bit interesting to me that I've actually been on their first 5 rides ever made.

[clem2754]

Just returned home from a trip to the Bay Area. Was at CGA for last 2 hours on Saturday and a little over 4 hours on Sunday. The park was dead. Everything was a walk on today with the exception of Gold Striker and psycho mouse which each had 10 minutes waits.

 

First time for me at the park. I really enjoyed Gold Striker. I got 17 rides in between the 2 days. Great coaster! I really enjoyed the pacing of the ride. Even when they had to stop it at the top of the lift hill to tell someone to put there phone away the ride still just took off. I will also say that the operations on this ride were great. Much faster than Knott's and Ghost Rider. Also operations would accommodate

 

The other ride I really enjoyed was Flight Deck. I got 4 rides on that one. Afterburn is still my favorite invert but this layout really packed a lot into that ride.

 

After those 2 I was not really impressed with the remaining coasters. I rode Medusa at SFDK earlier on Saturday, and Patriot was average at best after that ride. I guess it is what it is and I should judge it for that. I did ride it twice to be objective.

 

Demon brought back memories of growing up in IL and going to SFGA. The roller coaster provides a nice starting point for those jumping into inversions, but the coaster is showing it's age a little bit.

 

I found Grizzly to be the worst wooden roller coaster I have been on. The restraints are horrible. You get no air time what so ever. Not sure if this is something that the park could get RMC to convert. Ride it once for the credit but I would avoid it after that.

 

Rail Blazer looks awesome. Will have to make a trip back later in the year to ride this one. It is really amazing to look at. This is clearly a bucket list coaster for me.

 

My take away from the park is it has a lot of potential. If Cedar Fair is going to pump money into this place over the next 5 years it really has the making of a solid park. It looks to have a nice top 3 if Rail Blazer lives up to the hype. IF over the next 5 years, they could RMC Grizzly and I am not sure what they are legally able to do but I know a Hyper has been talked about for this park. I am not a big flat ride guy, but I think that is another area that they will have to address.

[thrillseeker4552]

^Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m pretty sure a Hyper is coming first (my guess is 2020), but down the line I could totally see RMC Grizzly. RMC has proven with Twisted Cyclone and Twisted Timbers that they can work with basically any layout, so I’d love to see what they would come up with for Grizzly.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Bill, I pretty much agree with what you said about the park, but I'm surprised you liked Flight Deck better than Montu and Afterburn. Or at least, you feel Flight Deck was more intense. The final helix of Flight Deck will definitely knock you out, but I still don't feel the coaster has the same charging intensity of Montu and Afterburn. Maybe the settings factor in?

 

Also, haven't been on Patriot (yet), but I can't imagine it went from an F ride (Vortex) to an A ride as some people assert. You can polish trash, but it's still trash.

 

Hoping Railblazer opens before my probable late May trip. Glad to hear it's been testing more!

[ABW]

EDIT: Deleted

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Forgot to mention, I bought FunPix through CGA's website and here is the answer about whether the "hack" works:

Yep. Basically just had to have the employee scan my Platinum the first time. Second time I used the kiosk, no problem.

[coasterbill]

I found Grizzly to be the worst wooden roller coaster I have been on. The restraints are horrible. You get no air time what so ever. Not sure if this is something that the park could get RMC to convert. Ride it once for the credit but I would avoid it after that.

 

I'm really surprised that so many people feel this way. We thought Grizzly was fine.

 

It doesn't have any airtime, it doesn't really do anything and the restraints are hilariously asinine but I'm shocked by how many times I hear people refer to it as the worst wood coaster they've ridden.

 

It's not the most interesting ride in the world but it's pretty smooth and in no way uncomfortable. I'd much rather ride a forceless but smooth wood coaster than a rough, jarring POS like Mighty Canadian Minebuster (you know... just as an example). Grizzly isn't super exciting but I can't say we didn't enjoy ourselves while riding it. I would never even dream of listing it as my least favorite wood coaster. To each his own but I don't get it. Even if you find it boring, wouldn't you rather be bored and semi-comfortable than in pain while having the sh*t beat out of you on a rough ass Dinn coaster or something?.

 

I think for Vortex veterans, Patriot is viewed in a much better light because it's an improvement, but if you havent ridden Vortex a lot, and are just comparing Patriot to other Floorless B&Ms, it doesnt compare as favorably.

 

This is probably accurate. If I visited again I would probably re-ride the thing. I feel like I'd overlook the fact that it's the only B&M floorless coaster I would ever dream of describing as "rough" if the layout wasn't so uninteresting but when you put the two together it feels like a bit of a turd. It's rough but not un-rideable, it's just that when you combine the fact that it's rough, the layout sucks and (upcoming TR spoiler alert) my new favorite floorless coaster is an hour away and has been there for almost 2 decades it sort of makes the ride feel like a huge turd. I'm actually eating some crow on this because I was really confident that this thing would be smooth after seeing how well Rougarou turned out but god damn.

 

On the plus side it's a really pretty turd. That blue paint is nuts.

[laqueefa]

Grizzly will, and always be a family coaster. It’s not a thrill ride by any means, and serves the park as that “next step” ride to take your kids on when they get too big for the kid coasters.

[clem2754]

To be honest the Demon serves the purpose of the next step for kids as long as they get past the inversions. That ride is better suited for kids to enjoy it, while it may be a little rough for audits from a comfort perspective. My niece and nephew loved the Demon at SFGA last year.

 

My problem with Grizzly is that it offered nothing. I would rather ride a wooden roller coaster that offers something entertaining even if it is a little rough. For example I prefer Apocalypse at SFMM any day of the week. It gives some air time despite being a little rougher. Also the restraints were a big problem for Grizzly to be honest. It slowed operations to a crawl. They are poorly designed. I just didn't enjoy the coaster. I enjoyed the Little Dipper at SFGA more because it offered up the opportunity to ride a historic coaster

 

I did perfer Grizzly to Kong at SFDK. I felt that coaster was the worse one that I rode during the trip .

[cal1br3tto]

^Funny you should compare Grizzly and Little Dipper. I'm not totally consistent, but sometimes in wood coaster polls I've ranked Little Dipper dead last because it's the smallest and tamest woodie I've ever ridden (other than its cousin Meteor, now). Often, though, I move up the kiddie and junior woodies ten slots and make my bottom ten out of the worst full-sized ones I've ridden. When I do that, Grizzly takes the honor.

[Superbatboy]

Demon is trash, I hope it's on the chopping block eventually.

[Srosdude]

Hello Everyone! I'll be visiting CGA in June. I'm and was wondering if anybody had any tips, such as order to do rides and places to eat. Thanks in advance!

[coasterbill]

I've now spent less than 3 hours at this park ever so I'm in no way an expert, but I'd suggest riding Railblazer right at opening due to it's capacity.

[singemfrc]

Absolutely, especially as it will be brand new and extremely popular. I would get to the park at least 45-60 mins before gates open to get in line and then head straight to Railblazer. Even with higher capacity it's going to be crazy for a while since it's brand new.

 

Pro Tip: if you can't be there early, watch for the ride to go down for whatever reason, at which point they will empty the que. This happens very frequently with brand new rides, and most GP guests will not wait at all, which to me is crazy..youll wait in line for 2 hrs+ but not for 15 mins for a breakdown? Anyway, if they empty the que, just stand near the entrance, and when it comes back up, you can walk right on. I did that a lot with Gold Striker when it was new.

The employees will never give you an uptime ETA because they dont want to be responsible for being wrong, but you can kinda gauge it yourself based on what activity is going on in the station. If there are mechanics on the track, especially if there is also no one in the station, it might be a while. If there's a mechanic at the operators panel, theyre probably about to test cycle. First they test cycle empty, then they test cycle with an employee. Usually when you see it start to test cycle, it's 10-15 min wait to be back up if there's no problem.

[coasterbill]

^ That's way too risky for a first time visitor and you may get burned with it.

 

In my mind there has to be a balancing act between riding rides early based on capacity and riding better rides first since you'd feel pretty dumb if you missed Railblazer because it had an extended breakdown while you were whoring the wild mouse and it didn't reopen.

 

If you don't get there at park opening strategy barely matters anyway so I'd just hit rides in order of how much I care about riding them.