California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[Angry_Gumball]

Last saturday (10/2) Invertigo had quite a long line about an hour or so into Haunt which also reached the blue canopy. I went to the park today for a normal 'day visit' and everything was walk-on. Invertigo was dead, you could pretty much choose what row you wanted with no wait. Flight Deck at one point would have only had 2 of us riding and some stragglers came at the last minute. Learned a valuable lesson though...never ride Vortex with a bunch of cheerleaders on board. Your ears will really be in pain. We were there until 5:30 for closing and waited out front of the park for our ride for probably another hour. Tonight looked like it would have been a dead night for Haunt as even at 6:30, lines were minimal for purchasing tickets. I'll be going the following few weekends to Haunt for some more visits and am expecting it to be more packed...which will be good for the park.

[Sunfire]

^Yeah, defenitely try to avoid Saturday nights. The lines can get REALLY long as it gets closer to Halloween.

[Angry_Gumball]

Last year I did haunt about mid October on a Saturday and it was busy but doable I think the longest we waited was probably 15 minutes. Rides on the other hand were a tad more busy.

[Tmcdllr]

Just out of curiosity, have they announced what they are doing for 2011? I don't remember if they did but I believe it's zilch again.

[greatamerica1990sfan]

I am 100% sure it won't be a coaster so don't count on that. If it were a new coaster we would have heard about it well before now. So far nothing! CGA always gets left out.

[Tmcdllr]

This "no coaster-we get the shaft again" nonsense really pisses me off! That place needs an amazing new coaster... NOW!

[Angry_Gumball]

Yea, nothing's been announced in regards to 2011 yet. I'm sure that if any new attraction was going to be announced we would have heard about it by now, or hopefully soon as Six Flags uncovered the idea that a Star Flyer is headed their way. When Firefall came in, when did they hint that a ride was being added? Even if it's a flat ride, they need something to keep things 'fresh.' I say this because with Haunt, even though nothing major was technically added and just had a swap-out, it really added a lot to it this year. And the slight tweaks in the mazes freshened things up.

 

Figured I'd throw this in for you...a little project I'm working on with an iPhone app called 8bitone. It's basically the "Here in the Toy Factory" part of the song and is still a work in progress. Enjoy!

[CoasterBeagle]

I think the only reason CGA is not getting coasters is due to two things, 1. airport nearby and 2. the whole damn football thing....i asked my dad about the football thing and he said its all politics now even though the stadium got cleared to build. It is really all turf war. with the raiders thinking that people won't go to them because of the stadium being there. I think it's stupid is why would 49ners fans go see the raiders in general right? Though I think that it could help the park with business

[Angry_Gumball]

I'd probably take the airport off the list as that's been there since the birth of CGA. They are however affected with height limitations. On the other hand, I completely agree with you about the 49ers situation. Until this blows over (I hate you, politics!) I'm sure CGA will be holding back from what they could potentially be doing. Hopefully the stadium dilemma comes to a solution soon so that CGA can carry on with their business.

 

On a more positive note, Haunt tomorrow! This will be my second visit this season and I'll see how things have changed since opening...perhaps the monsters coming out even more with their character as now they are fully in the groove.

[CoasterBeagle]

I hope, when the politics blow over, that we can get a new coaster. Maybe that would bring in new buisness

[DarkStitch626]

I think it will bring a fresh crowd honestly.

[greatamerica1990sfan]

It's not just the stadium you have also those noise complainers in the office buildings on the other side so CGA is trapped in the middle. :cry Last giant coaster CGA er PGA saw was Stealth 2000 how frigen sad & pathetic!!! & It's not even there anymore!!! I hardly got to go on it since the line was always long. I miss Stealth. It was a great addition. It sucks it lasted for 4 years. 2003 was it's last season.

[gforce532]

I really don't think that the statium would be much of a problem. I mean SFOT has the Ballpark in Alington right accross the street and Elitch Gardens has the Pepsi Center practically on their doorstep.

[CoasterBeagle]

It's not just the stadium you have also those noise complainers in the office buildings on the other side so CGA is trapped in the middle. :cry Last giant coaster CGA er PGA saw was Stealth 2000 how frigen sad & pathetic!!! & It's not even there anymore!!! I hardly got to go on it since the line was always long. I miss Stealth. It was a great addition. It sucks it lasted for 4 years. 2003 was it's last season.

 

Well one I went to the theme park where stealth was relocated to (Carowinds as Nighthawk) and two when the stadium is built CGA will be the least of their problems for noise. They would probably much rather have park noise instead of a bunch of drunk rowdy football fans.

[Tmcdllr]

Apparently the people of Santa Clara are morons. Not only is this going to be bad for noise issues, but traffic will be a big giant nightmare. It doesn't matter what they do it will still be horrible. It's a shame the people of Santa Clara got snowed into this stadium scam.

[Angry_Gumball]

Switching gears here, just got back from Haunt again. Was completely different than opening weekend in terms of crowds. This is probably the most crowds I've ever seen there at the park which is a huge plus for them. Invertigo's queue was maxxed out using every switchback from what I could tell. Flight Deck's line was spilling out into the main midway and Drop Tower was using some of it's switchbacks as well from what I could tell. Plus side was that doing the buffet got us in a half hour early to snag some walk-on rides, we were the only people at the back of the park. Was kind of cool to have what felt like having the park to yourself. I snagged a few more shots as well, probably upload tomorrow (well later today) showing how busy it was. Only maze we did not do was Werewolf Canyon as it's line was stretched across the other side of the flying scooters ride.

[skaunit]

Hey I'm gonna head to the haunt tomorrow night, just seeing if anyone will be there and wants to meet up. Pm me, or email skaunit@gmail.com I only have one buddy coming so it would be nice to hang out with some tpr folk. I'm planning on getting there a bit early and staying till like 11 or so.

[Sunfire]

^^Wow! It looks like things are really picking up for Haunt. Friday night, Invertigo's line nearly reached the blue canopy and I saw that Toy Factory had a full queue, so business is booming this season at Haunt.

 

^I'll be working tonight at Haunt (I'm a ride op at Invertigo), so come by and say hi to me! Just look for the nametag that says Matthew and you'll find me.

[Angry_Gumball]

^wait til I get the pictures up later. Blue canopy wait for Invertigo would look like nothing. The line spread beyond that using some of the switchbacks between the station and loop. Line started at the rides entrance. Toy factory's line which I braved started by the coke stand next to drop tower. That alone took probably a half hour.

[Sunfire]

Wow, sounds like Invertigo had a crazy line! Good thing I wasn't working, would have been a nightmare dealing with that. If it was only using some of the switchbacks, it was probably around a 75-80 minute wait. That's how long it was when the ride reopened after it's loooong hiatus. Still, I love hearing about the park being crowded once again. It really is depressing to work when crowd levels are so low.

[TheCoasterTaco]

WOW! Great America sounds like it was packed last night! I'm glad I'm going tonight as there probably won't be much of a crowd due to rain and it being a Sunday night. Tomorrow I do not have school which is nice. I will be wearing a Club TPR shirt and will be with a couple of friends. I'll make sure to stop by and say hi to any fellow TPR members and ride ops.

[Sunfire]

^Yes, come to Invertigo and say hi to me! Also, keep in mind that since it still might rain, there may be some ride closures. I know that Invertigo stays open in the rain, and I believe Demon and Flight Deck go down to one train in rainy weather. I'm not sure if Psycho Mouse will be open due to multiple cars running on the track. So yeah, other than that, the mazes should not have long waits tonight since everyone was driven away by the weather.

[Angry_Gumball]

As promised, here's some pictures from 10/16 to give you an idea what we were up against. Consider this as a mid-month update. As mentioned we did each maze except Werewolf Canyon. Here's the rundown of what we did manage to do:

Toy Factory: 3x - Line reached near the Drop Tower exit just past the Coke stand

Slaughter House: 2x - Shorter line of the evening

CarnEvil: 1x - Line fairly long, wrapped around the side of the building, starting at the gates to the Amphitheater.

Club Blood: 1x - Lines reaching past Celebration Swings

CornStalkers: 1x - Line spilling out into midway slightly. The walkway back to the maze is fairly long as well.

Black Widow's Cavern: 1x (managed not getting wet this time) - Line reached almost to Endeavor's exit.

 

As far as rides, we (cousin and I) did Psycho Mouse, Swings, Flight Deck, and Drop Tower. When we did drop tower we were the only ones at the back at the park and the only ones on the ride.

 

As far as crowd behavior goes, everyone seemed well behaved. I feared dealing with line jumpers, obnoxious teenagers, and stupid people in general but everyone was pretty mellow.

Kick off the update with the UnderLord. I know this guy lol

Iggy Mac and Cedar Fair trash can. Iggy pulled some great stuff on my cousin last night and got the people around in line laughing at what happened. Props Iggy!

Hi Iggy!

This is what I call a pseudo back road tour. Actually, this was shot through the fence by the entrance we used to get into Haunt.

Our greeters.

Medusa at CGA? Nah, can't be.

And the fog starts rolling in.

Booga!

Making our way to the rear first...doesn't this park look deserted? Well just wait!

This was my first night out with the SLR camera and was trying out some stuff with it. This came out good and eerie with the clouds in the background.

BANG! These guys were pretty good!

One of the scare zones. Note that there are people that are now showing up.

lol

Haha! You can't get me! I'm moving! Hahaha!

*Click*

Haha, gotcha! (Well, kinda!)

Me and UnderLord

Ok, here you have it. This is the line for Toy Factory. The line started where I shot this. Note that you can see the "Y" in Toy Factory signage off in the distance.

Ultra Power Mega Ranger!

Constipated Ranger?

Ok, looks like we won't be riding this tonight!

Too bad it's out of focus. You kind of get the idea with the line.

So the next best thing is to pull off some artsy fartsy stuff!

Iggy with the crowds. This picture does not do justice for the CarnEvil's line.

I captured their souls!

Here's the line for Slaughter House. This was one of the shorter lines last night. Club Blood however stretched out beyond the Swings.

Artsy or just bad focus? You decide!

Heading to our last ride for the evening around 11:00 or so.

Our wait started at this point and moved fairly quick though I think it took us about 20 minutes to get through.

And just after our ride, this happens.

BANG! Once again. Good Night CGA and thanks for a fun evening though it was much more crowded.

[Vffreak07]

 

Haha! I wear the same coat for the Halloween Haunt at Valleyscare! Looks like it must be a chain-wide costume. Cool stuff!

Here's my variation on the costume.

[Angry_Gumball]

^That's pretty interesting though it does make sense. There are multiple Slaughter House's, Cornstalkers, CarnEvils etc. Making/purchasing similar costumes would be easiest to have some consistency.

 

This is probably a bit of old news now as of 2009 Haunt anyway but I still can't seem to get over the Toy Factory theme, as well as the new CarnEvil theme (now that I've heard it long enough to fully appreciate it). I recorded the whole Toy Factory theme to share with everyone so if you guys want to download it to an MP3 via FLV2 or Download Helper feel free.

It's not the same quality as the official file but it is clear enough and kind of feels like you're actually there in the park (with some decent headphones or speakers anyway)