California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[Angry_Gumball]

Just now got back from CGA, though they closed at 8:00. We hung around waiting for our ride. Firefall was definitely great especially the second ride on it. It does periodically seem to slam it's breaks though which kills the crazy rocking experience.

[sfmmrules!]

Firefall looks nice. I would like to go on it but I'm not sure if I can since spinning rides make me feel sick. When I went in March I went on Survivor, Spongebob & the Beserker & I felt sick. Should I take a chance & try going on Firefall if I go to CGA again or forget it?

[Angry_Gumball]

Try it. I felt a bit sick after riding SFDK's Voodoo when it used to flip like crazy. Firefall, I did not feel the slightest bit. Maybe because it really does a couple flips on occasion..otherwise, it just makes the full single flip. The best parts of Firefall though are the locked gondola swing at full speed, and the unlocked gondola swing at full speed...you kinda get some floater air if you weren't pressed so hard in the seats. The floater air tingle still comes out though. Do give it a try though...won't be disappointed or sick.

 

The real question is that how well can you handle hanging upside down for a few seconds? Love the hangtime, ride it! If not, then not sure what to say...try it anyway?

[sfmmrules!]

Well I might. I'll let you know if I go on it. It looks like it flips only a couple times. Do you actually get wet & can feel the heat from the fire?

[Angry_Gumball]

Fire wasn't working, got a light spray from the water when the breeze started to blow. Otherwise, it's all pretty much for show.

[laqueefa]

FD was down again today, making my lunch time trip worth a lil less in the thrill department. GET THAT THING UP AND RUNNING!

[Kingbooba]

Firefall looks fun. I've ridden The Crypt at King's Dominion, which is a Floorless Top Spin. It has fire and water effects too though. You get 4-7 flips on The Crypt during the whole ride. My favorite part of The Crypt is when you go face-first towards the fire and water.

 

Anyway, has anybody here ridden both Firefall and The Crypt? If so, which one do you think is better?

[Bush985]

I've ridden both within the last two weeks and The Crypt is def. the nicer of the two, but Firefall is fun in it's own way. Crypt has a much nicer theme, but firefall's lake of fire is gigantic compared to the crypt.

 

Hope that helps a little.

[laqueefa]

I went last night around 8:45pm, the park looks AWESOME at night. They do need to add lights to a bunch of the rides, but all in all it was really pretty.

Firefall looked amazing, but was closed. The sky buckets were closed as well, not too sure why these aren't running at night, I can only imagine the views. FD was open finally, got to walk on that and stay for a couple rides. The Demon was smoother for me than it has been lately for some reason.

Invertigo was also closed for some sort of repair, so that night ride will have to wait.

[tkkyj]

Screamscape reported a rumor about the Nick characters:

Cedar Fair - (7/4/08) In a shocking bit of news, Screamscape sources tell us that Cedar Fair is planning on cutting the Nick character loose for the 2009 season and cutting all ties with Nickelodeon. We can also assume that the various kiddie areas will then be rethemed to take advantage of Cedar Fair’s other long time character franchise, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Apparently this would bring some big changes to all five of the former Paramount Parks in 2009 if true. Anyone know more?

 

I think that is a bit strange, because every article I read about the Paramount aquisition seemed to suggest that CF was actually interested in the Nick characters anyway... though perhaps something happened with the MoA deal to spoil it a bit.

 

Nothing against Spongebob, but I love Snoopy... so I hope it is true and that they try to work with the Charles Shulz museum or Snoopy Home Ice in Santa Rosa for some cross-promotion...

[Manic Monte]

Wow, and the Nick Stuff is plastered all over Great America. It will be interesting to see how they pull this off.

 

I'm guessing Great America will get some sort of Knotts makeover. I'm also guessing the new wood coaster will have a "western" theme?

[laqueefa]

Screamscape reported a rumor about the Nick characters:

Cedar Fair - (7/4/08) In a shocking bit of news, Screamscape sources tell us that Cedar Fair is planning on cutting the Nick character loose for the 2009 season and cutting all ties with Nickelodeon. We can also assume that the various kiddie areas will then be rethemed to take advantage of Cedar Fair’s other long time character franchise, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Apparently this would bring some big changes to all five of the former Paramount Parks in 2009 if true. Anyone know more?

 

I think that is a bit strange, because every article I read about the Paramount aquisition seemed to suggest that CF was actually interested in the Nick characters anyway... though perhaps something happened with the MoA deal to spoil it a bit.

 

Nothing against Spongebob, but I love Snoopy... so I hope it is true and that they try to work with the Charles Shulz museum or Snoopy Home Ice in Santa Rosa for some cross-promotion...

 

I think for all biz purposes they should really stick to one brand of character to help carry the CF image, and to me, the Peanuts characters are Americana itself. Maybe they're seeing the Nick characters drop in popularity and want to switch to the ones with longevity. I dunno, I could just be thinking about it too much

[robman97]

Wow that would be a HUGE makover if there were to do that they have to change every thing. If they go forward with this i would like to see what the final product would look like.

[tkkyj]

Knott's "Camp Snoopy" is the best Snoopy area I've seen at any of CF's parks.

 

I wonder.. Cedar Point's Planet Snoopy seems like an awkward cousin of the other Camp Snoopy area at Cedar Point... I wonder if the older Camp Snoopy stuff will somehow merge with the newer Planet Snoopy, possibly giving CF a few rides to send out to its other parks to refresh their kiddie areas, while opening up another area of Cedar Point for some future attraction.

 

Or they can reopen the Pictorium and expose more kids to that mindf%*@ of a movie, Snoopy Come Home, which I still refer to as the saddest movie in American cinema. "yay, a Snoopy movie! wha-?" {sniffle}

[ILoveRitalin]

The only thing I care about at CGA now is the new GCI woodie coming in next year. Everything else I've had my fill of and then some. Although I still have yet to ride Survivor, I hear it's not all that and a bag of sweet potato fries. Oh, and I'm not a big fan of Top Spins either, but that's just me.

[tkkyj]

Yeah... if CF wanted to really excite me, they would announce that some Intamin steel will be taking the place of The Grizzly soon

 

Can't wait for the GCI....

[ILoveRitalin]

Destroy Fizzly, clone Maverick, happy happy joy joy for all. Yeah, I like that idea...

[Kingbooba]

Part of me thinks Cedar Fair will ignore Great America like Paramount did. I have a feeling that King's Island will be their main focus, despite the fact that it's near their flagship park.

[Manic Monte]

Well they will invest in GA, and see if they can get the attendance to rise to the 2 million mark like it did in the 90's. They will never HEAVILY invest in the park like they would their larger attended parks like Kings Island or Knotts, but I think Great America will end up playing an impotant role for them.

 

And luckily the park does have some competition, so they can't just sit back on their hands. SFDK is a big threat.

 

Paramount gave up on rollercoasters at GA because they got tired of battling the city of Santa Clara over height limits and building permits. So attractions allocated to GA wound up at other parks. Cedar Fair is key to getting the 49ers studium built, so they have some power right now.

[tkkyj]

I'm hopeful because I think CF's experience with Knott's should serve them well in managing Great America. Both are using up their somewhat diminuitive real estate already, and CF has managed to keep Knott's pretty fresh... earning them both acclaim and criticism.

 

I look at Knott's and I can see why people are upset about losing irreplaceable pieces. But for CGA, it seems like Paramount already DID that

 

Though I hope it doesn't come down to replacing American Cafe with Johnny Rockets, Maggie Brown's > Chick-fil-A.... It wouldn't be a disaster.... other than the funnel cakes, none of the food seems like "oh that great thing I get at CGA".

 

And oh, I do want an Elephant Ear and some Frozen Custard...

[ILoveRitalin]

Mmmmmm.... elephant ear.... mmmmmmm.... *drool*

 

If CF is smart, they will develop CGA into much more than it is now. It has potential, but those darn land constraints are a thorn. It's not like people here in the BA don't want good coasters or anything...

[Drop-Out]

I'm betting that Nickelodeon Universe at MOA was the straw that broke the camels back. I'm sure that CF wanted exclusive Theme Park rights to the characters, but then Nick strikes a deal with MOA and essentially sours the deal. I personally blame Nickelodeon, they really should have thought about the CF deals before they decided to do NickU. So by 2010 Nick will be out of all Universal and former Paramount Parks and have a grand total of one theme park.

 

 

I suppose it's kind of stupid for CF too, though, Nick is way more relevant and will sell more tickets than Snoopy ever will.

[thrillgeek]

I've been hearing a mix of reviews from everyone on here about CGA. There is a good chance I'll be going there this Sunday or Monday for a few days. Sam and I will be staying in a hotel so we can go multiple days! So i'm going to have plenty of time to check it out for myself. Yay I can't wait.

[laqueefa]

I've been hearing a mix of reviews from everyone on here about CGA. There is a good chance I'll be going there this Sunday or Monday for a few days. Sam and I will be staying in a hotel so we can go multiple days! So i'm going to have plenty of time to check it out for myself. Yay I can't wait.

 

Hit me up, I've got a platinum pass and am always down to stomp around the park. I went last Sunday at 8:30pm and rode just about everything that wasn't closed. I would suggest getting some rides in the AM and spend the afternoon at the water park, and return around 7ish for the rides at night when its much cooler

[thrillgeek]

I now have a regular season pass! I've decided that next year I'll get a platinum pass so I can ride the new GCI all the time as well as go to CP and KBF.