California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[robman]

I also forgot to mention that the line for Slaughterhouse: Annihilation was insanely long! It almost stretched all the way to Panda Express at one point. Luckily I went through right at 7:00 o'clock.

[Zeppelinfreak]

Next year if there still is a haunt, will they be able to have the same mazes/scarezones or even monsters? Or will they have to start from scratch.

[Sunfire]

That's a good question. I wonder if Cedar Fair holds the copyrights to the mazes and scare zones. That may be something to ask in the coming months.

[Angry_Gumball]

I don't think they hold copyright to our beloved theme songs but as far as CarnEvil and what not, I do believe that's a Cedar Fair thing. With this noted, I noticed a couple of the former Six Flags park still hold a "Fright Fest" branded event, which is a Six Flags name...I wonder how that's gotten away with.

 

Being as last night was crowded, how were lines for some of the other rides in general? I definitely plan on using the Boofet perks to my advantage and get CarnEvil and Club Blood out of the way, do Slaughter House once they're open, then jet to the back of the park to do Toy Factory, Cornstalkers, and Black Widows Cavern.

 

Last year, I waited in a line for Toy factory that utilized several layers of switchbacks plus the line spilling as far back as Drop Tower and the coke stand next to it.

 

I'm posting photos from last year around the same time frame as this second weekend into Haunt for you guys to compare with in terms of crowds.

Here in the very long line, there's lots of time to wait, here in the very long line, I'm glad that I just ate

CarnEvil's line last year used the whole switchback setup outside and the line started at the maze entrance, plus using the bumper car switchbacks...very stuffy and claustrophobic inside I might add!

Initially when we headed straight to the back, we were happy, everything was just empty...But did not last too long

[kidcoaster 2]

I don't think they hold copyright to our beloved theme songs but as far as CarnEvil and what not, I do believe that's a Cedar Fair thing. With this noted, I noticed a couple of the former Six Flags park still hold a "Fright Fest" branded event, which is a Six Flags name...I wonder how that's gotten away with.

 

I know they hold the copyright to the toy factory song.

[robman]

Didn't it say somewhere in one of the articles that Cedar Fair was still going to give some guidance to Great America? If its true maybe that guidance could be Halloween Haunt?

[Angry_Gumball]

^This:

JMA could begin operating the park in the final three months of the year, although, as a real estate company, the outfit could retain an experienced park operator, including Cedar Fair, to continue running Great America. The company, perhaps best known for its Lake Tahoe resorts such as Alpine Meadows and Homewood, says it will keep all of Great America's current employees.

Taken from the Mercury news. I don't know how likely this is, or if this means that CF will be holding their hand through the proposed woodie project (since that was part of a Cedar Fair influence back in the day), or what any of this means... We will find out soon enough though.

 

About CGA's music: Last I knew, that song (along with the rest of these songs) were written exclusively for CGA. Whether if Cedar Fair had influence on having these songs made or if the park made an executive decision to have some uniqueness to their event and have one of their people write up the music, I don't know...Only thing I do know is that one of CGA's people wrote the music.

[jab88]

Well guys, the crowds have definitely arrived for Haunt! Last night, the park was unexpectedly very busy. In fact, an area supervisor told me we actually surpassed our projected attendance, which is a great thing! People have heard about how great Haunt is, and they're checking it out finally.

 

That said, the lines for different attractions are starting to get very long. Yesterday, I saw that Cornstalkers was spilling way out into the midway, and they actually ADDED more rope queue for Toy Factory! I was operating Tiki Twirl last night, and at one point we had a 45 minute wait. It was definitely busy for only the second Saturday of Haunt.

 

I would say that if you can only come to Haunt on a Saturday, do the Boofet! Beat the crowds and get more mazes in, because yesterday made it clear that lines are going to be VERY long as we get closer to Halloween.

 

Yeah, it definitely was busy that night, never had seen them use all the parking booths before to pay for parking, but they were. It took a but of time to get into Slaughterhouse, well maybe around 40 minutes, but it was neat to see how it has changed. The night ride I did on Demon was actually fun, especially in the dark and the tunnels it goes through.

 

Were you at Tiki Twirl around 9 or so and making mention of not turning on the fire if the guests on the ride did not scream? I was on the ride during that time, and if so can you really control the fire and when it goes off or does it just not work at times. When I worked Firefall, there were times it would not work and we had no control over it, other than an emergency stop for it.

[Sunfire]

On Tiki Twirl's control panel, there's a button called the Homing button. You hold onto it throughout the cycle and it triggers the water and fire effects. Back when it was themed to Survivor, Homing would also trigger the video response telling the guests that they were doing a great job on their "challenge". However, if the balance on the gondola is not just right, the fire will not go off. Still, the guests don't understand that, and that's why they booed me when the fire didn't work.

[Angry_Gumball]

So that's why I've seen the fire work on 1 cycle, telling me "Hey let's go ride" to "Oh cool, the magic seat!" Once our ride began, our seat wasn't so 'magical' and to my shock, no fire. After riding, I never paid attention to see if the next cycle got fire or not, assuming it was having problems or if it got too 'breezy' to use fire effects.

 

I do wish however that the misters/sprayers actually functioned rather than 'hissing' air at us. Initially, I was under the impression that a stream of water actually came out but it was just a matter of it just being a really light mist that's barely felt.

[Zeppelinfreak]

^This:

JMA could begin operating the park in the final three months of the year, although, as a real estate company, the outfit could retain an experienced park operator, including Cedar Fair, to continue running Great America. The company, perhaps best known for its Lake Tahoe resorts such as Alpine Meadows and Homewood, says it will keep all of Great America's current employees.

Taken from the Mercury news. I don't know how likely this is, or if this means that CF will be holding their hand through the proposed woodie project (since that was part of a Cedar Fair influence back in the day), or what any of this means... We will find out soon enough though.

 

About CGA's music: Last I knew, that song (along with the rest of these songs) were written exclusively for CGA. Whether if Cedar Fair had influence on having these songs made or if the park made an executive decision to have some uniqueness to their event and have one of their people write up the music, I don't know...Only thing I do know is that one of CGA's people wrote the music.

That's good news that Cedar Fair might still operate the park. Then not too much unwanted change will happen. Ex. Halloween Haunt, GCI etc.

It could be like Discovery Kingdom when the City owned the park but Six Flags ran it.

[Angry_Gumball]

On the flipside, if CF were to be still running the park, I'm a bit shocked that they have all (well most) of their Cedar Fair branded shirts on sale. The haunt stuff on sale however were dated as far back as 2008. I don't recall seeing Snoopy stuff marked down, and the merch that were marked down were things I saw sitting around for the past couple seasons. I also noticed that there was some new Haunt gear this year as well as stuff sitting around from the past couple years. The new gear is not marked down, expect to spend about $18 if you want a new Haunt shirt and possibly $40 for a matching hoodie.

 

One of the other things that had me wonder about CF and their relationship with the park was the "Amazement Park" app I'm sure a lot of you have played. I am surprised that this was released before selling CGA since CGA's on the list of parks. Not that it's a life or death situation but for those who have been playing the game and if CF were to be no longer in the picture with CGA, then those who had CGA as their starter park would no longer have it. Just an interesting observation.

[jab88]

On Tiki Twirl's control panel, there's a button called the Homing button. You hold onto it throughout the cycle and it triggers the water and fire effects. Back when it was themed to Survivor, Homing would also trigger the video response telling the guests that they were doing a great job on their "challenge". However, if the balance on the gondola is not just right, the fire will not go off. Still, the guests don't understand that, and that's why they booed me when the fire didn't work.

 

Interesting, thanks for explaining about how it all works with Tiki Twirl. So back when it was Survivor and the guests were put into the queue areas with the colored circles and had to perform the stomp/dance being shown on the television, that really had no effect over whether or not the fire went off. As far as guests, true most don't understand why something may not work, but then again most don't care either, such as happened last night when they booed you, among them the rowdy (and rather annoying) group of teenagers that were in front of me, chances are I was the only one not booing you since I know what it's like to be in the position of a ride operator and dealing with guests.

 

So that's why I've seen the fire work on 1 cycle, telling me "Hey let's go ride" to "Oh cool, the magic seat!" Once our ride began, our seat wasn't so 'magical' and to my shock, no fire. After riding, I never paid attention to see if the next cycle got fire or not, assuming it was having problems or if it got too 'breezy' to use fire effects.

 

I do wish however that the misters/sprayers actually functioned rather than 'hissing' air at us. Initially, I was under the impression that a stream of water actually came out but it was just a matter of it just being a really light mist that's barely felt.

 

Firefall's effects work that way (it's Wind Meter is on top of the control booth) , the wind speed limit varies from day to day for it, sometimes it's 25 MPH and the fire will not go off, other times, it is as low as 7 MPH. I assume the mechanics set the max. wind speed each day before the fire will turn off there, especially with all the wood there, would be a big mess if any of that were to catch fire.

[Angry_Gumball]

Yea, I've seen the wind reader on top of the booth. Also, random side note in regards to Firefall. One of the last times I rode it, one of the ride operators did his spiel and for humor added in 'for the safety of this bear' (holds teddy bear up). During the ride cycle, he was messing around with the stuffed toys making them peer over the window and whatnot...I found that quite funny and was watching that take place while flinging up and over, flipping, and hanging.

[CoasterBeagle]

On the flipside, if CF were to be still running the park, I'm a bit shocked that they have all (well most) of their Cedar Fair branded shirts on sale. The haunt stuff on sale however were dated as far back as 2008. I don't recall seeing Snoopy stuff marked down, and the merch that were marked down were things I saw sitting around for the past couple seasons. I also noticed that there was some new Haunt gear this year as well as stuff sitting around from the past couple years. The new gear is not marked down, expect to spend about $18 if you want a new Haunt shirt and possibly $40 for a matching hoodie.

 

One of the other things that had me wonder about CF and their relationship with the park was the "Amazement Park" app I'm sure a lot of you have played. I am surprised that this was released before selling CGA since CGA's on the list of parks. Not that it's a life or death situation but for those who have been playing the game and if CF were to be no longer in the picture with CGA, then those who had CGA as their starter park would no longer have it. Just an interesting observation.

 

Snoopy stuff is 30% off I think. I went and bought some stuff today and overheard that.

[jab88]

Yea, I've seen the wind reader on top of the booth. Also, random side note in regards to Firefall. One of the last times I rode it, one of the ride operators did his spiel and for humor added in 'for the safety of this bear' (holds teddy bear up). During the ride cycle, he was messing around with the stuffed toys making them peer over the window and whatnot...I found that quite funny and was watching that take place while flinging up and over, flipping, and hanging.

 

I might know which operator that it was, there's only a few that would goof around and have fun like that. Did his spiel, besides the teddy part, (as long as this may be, but at Firefall he's the only one to do it) include an extended safety spiel, announcing for everyone's safety, in turn pointing at the exit operator and everyone around the control booth?

 

And as far as the teddy bears, they sort of became an unofficial 'ride mascot' left behind by guests who never came back to get them, first it was a Garfield, then a brown bear joined in, and after that I don't know, they could of gotten more, since I no longer work there. It had of been funny to have been there during that and sounds like some of the associates I remember, often doing something funny or random.

[Nibbler]

Thanks to those of you who have gone into the Gauntlet and said Hi to me haha, I got to hop back into costume last night and show my monsters how a pro handles scaring =p

 

Behold, making "her" first appearence, I present..

 

"Ash-Schlee"

 

 

Suffice to say, it was amazingly fun to skip as flamboyantly as possible through the fog.. not to mention making people so confused as they tried to figure out if i was really a girl or not, only to run away screaming after I switched back talking in a deeper voice.. it was a success hahaha all my talent want me to come back with this character more this season =p

 

P.S. I Invented a new sport.. seeing how many napkins i can stack on top of a guest's head while they eat funnel cake.

[Angry_Gumball]

^I'll have to keep a lookout for this...you know what my cousin look like by now, you can have loads of fun chasing and tormenting her, she's an easy target as you saw

[Zeppelinfreak]

I know this is off-topic, but does anybody have pictures of Vortex in its original color scheme.

[robman]

^Here you go! I pulled this picture off of the park's Facebook page.

[Angry_Gumball]

More green Vortex greatness, with a hint of sunbaked green!

[robman]

I love the way Vortex looks with the green and black paint. That's the one thing that the park needs to do is paint the coasters. Especially Demon & Vortex they are both really faded really bad. At the bottom of the first drop on Demon you can even see the white paint from when it was Turn of the Century! Vortex is just faded and peeling quite a bit.

[Angry_Gumball]

At the bottom of the first drop on Demon you can even see the white paint from when it was Turn of the Century! Vortex is just faded and peeling quite a bit.

 

Is that 'Turn of the Century' white or is that a primer? It looked like a greyish white to me...but it does need a nice coat of paint, it will give it a fresh look. Flight Deck on the other hand has always looked cool in it's matte faded black look.

[robman]

^It could be primer, I always just looked at it as Turn of the Century white. I think the last coaster to get repainted in the last 10 years was Woodstock Express which is kind of sad.

[Zeppelinfreak]

Thanks for the pics, I do agree that Great America should consider repainting their coasters more often. When Magic Mountain did it, it brought a whole new life to rides like Superman, Goliath, Batman X2.