California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[QueerRudie]

Honestly, the 2013 coaster will be the GCI coaster, the permits are all in, the design is all in, the coaster is ready for construction, I would be shocked if it was something else.

 

As for the waterpark ride, it may be a ProSlide Tornado or Bowl in the field in between Flight Deck's lake and Ripsnort Ridge/Screamin' Wombat.

 

Just like Kings Dominion's VOLCANO coaster by Arrow? Or Turbulence Tower at HersheyPark?

 

There's one rule that is -universal and paramount- in the world of theme parks. Never say it WILL be anything... as that's the second that something else will be made. Parks have a LOOOooooong history of 'confirming' rides, then never building them- at all. Look at how many Premier Parks/SF parks ended up with coasters that "WILL be built here" and ended up being built elsewhere- or not at all (Dark knight anyone?)

 

I agree that the best GUESS is that the GCI is coming... but never say WILL with regards to an unconfirmed by the park plan set. The park has been saying it WILL be coming now since... 2008. Kinda like the Flying Turns WILL open in 2009, er 2010, er 2011, er 2012... Yes, GA has the plans, YES they have SOME of the permits, but NO there is NO confirmation the GCI is coming to the park- yet.

[Angry_Gumball]

 

 

 

There's one rule that is -universal and paramount- in the world of theme parks. Never say it WILL be anything... as that's the second that something else will be made. Parks have a LOOOooooong history of 'confirming' rides, then never building them- at all. Look at how many Premier Parks/SF parks ended up with coasters that "WILL be built here" and ended up being built elsewhere- or not at all (Dark knight anyone?)

 

I agree that the best GUESS is that the GCI is coming... but never say WILL with regards to an unconfirmed by the park plan set. The park has been saying it WILL be coming now since... 2008. Kinda like the Flying Turns WILL open in 2009, er 2010, er 2011, er 2012... Yes, GA has the plans, YES they have SOME of the permits, but NO there is NO confirmation the GCI is coming to the park- yet.

 

*Rimshot*

I take it as the pun was not intended

 

In all seriousness, I'd have to agree that the woodie seems to be the best logical guess, but in the long run we will not really know unless something is actually confirmed and/or announced. I only feel that it's the best guess other than seeing the concept for it when we were informed that the project was not 'dead' and we saw something happen on the permit page back in June. But I also agree that things could switch just like that...we've seen that before, we saw the sudden removal of a coaster, the sudden change in who's going to own CGA, etc.

[CoasterBeagle]

I think that if they were going to put in a coaster that wouldn't be a woodie it would be something like sky rocket at kennywood. I've also always wondered if they don't update the permit site regularly. The reason I say this is because the company wouldn't want the public to know a ride is coming out before they announced it. So it might be possible that they don't put the permit up there until CF announces it.

Now when I told my mom about CF getting the park back she actually said "i should be worried". She said this because cedar fair has been trying to sell the park constantly. I tried to explain to her some other aspects of it but her point was that they have tried to get rid of it twice so what would make them not try to sell it again.

[Angry_Gumball]

^My guess would be the influences of Kinzel vs the influences of Ouimet. Kinzel seemed to be the one gung-ho about ridding CGA from their portfilio of parks. Only time will really tell and once something's announced, I would say that things should be pretty solid with CF for a while anyway.

[deathbydinn]

^^ They can't put up a new sign without getting a permit. Any new ride will definitely be on the permit site the minute they apply for it.

[ABW]

I just love this "arguing" and going back and fourth between the nay-sayers and the people who think the park might go somewhere. Please continue the show, it entertains me greatly.

 

Grizzly is much smoother than...................

 

I think that is the first time I have ever seen those words used in a sentence....lol

Wow. You seriously think that Roar is SMOOTHER than Grizzly?! If you listened to anyone else who have talked about that recently, you'd know that it's a much smoother ride than Roar*. I don't know where anyone gets the idea that Grizzly is rough... It's the smoothest wooden coaster in NorCal! Seriously? You have to be joking. It's hated becuase to some people, it doesn't DO much, they DON'T hate it because it's "rough".

 

If you think Grizzly is rough, you would quite literally die on Roar, Ghostrider, Mean Streak, Giant Dipper..

 

I could go on ALL DAY if you'd like, just go ahead and keep calling Grizzly rough.

 

*Corrected

Edited December 10, 2011 by ABW

[ScottBrown]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the people who are saying Grizzly is rough have not been on it since the re-tracking - It was getting really bad before they did all of that work to it

[Andrewoplis]

I just love this "arguing" and going back and fourth between the nay-sayers and the people who think the park might go somewhere. Please continue the show, it entertains me greatly.

 

Grizzly is much smoother than...................

 

I think that is the first time I have ever seen those words used in a sentence....lol

Wow. You seriously think that Roar is SMOOTHER than Grizzly?! If you listened to anyone else who have talked about that recently, you'd know that it's a much smoother ride than Grizzly. I don't know where anyone gets the idea that Grizzly is rough... It's the smoothest wooden coaster in NorCal! Seriously? You have to be joking. It's hated becuase to some people, it doesn't DO much, they DON'T hate it because it's "rough".

 

If you think Grizzly is rough, you would quite literally die on Roar, Ghostrider, Mean Streak, Giant Dipper..

 

I could go on ALL DAY if you'd like, just go ahead and keep calling Grizzly rough.

 

I will admit, Grizzly isn't that rough, but it acts a lot like a boring kiddy coaster to me. And what's with people slamming Ghostrider and Mean Streak? Mean Streak really wasn't that rough to me, but maybe I was sitting the right seat or something, and I just rode Ghostrider a few weeks ago and it wasn't TO rough, but it wasn't amazing.

[robman]

^^ I agree the first drop used to be painful at times, since the re-tracking it has ran a lot smoother. It is even running 30 seconds faster than it has in the past. (We were told this at Bay Area Bash.)

[ABW]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the people who are saying Grizzly is rough have not been on it since the re-tracking - It was getting really bad before they did all of that work to it

Even so, they should at LEAST get a clue by what other people are clearly saying about it. There's plenty of coverage on here that Girzzly continues to get smoother with each season thanks to the re-tracking job that the park is doing. Even if I hadn't ridden Grizzly since say 2006, I would at least get a clue and trust that what other people saying on here is true and not come out with an opinion of exactly the opposite when haven't even ridden the damn ride in five years. Do you see what I'm saying? It shouldn't be so hard to understand that a ride has gotten smoother when it's been communicated very clearly through here.

I will admit, Grizzly isn't that rough, but it acts a lot like a boring kiddy coaster to me. And what's with people slamming Ghostrider and Mean Streak? Mean Streak really wasn't that rough to me, but maybe I was sitting the right seat or something, and I just rode Ghostrider a few weeks ago and it wasn't TO rough, but it wasn't amazing.

Please ride Ghostrider and Mean Streak in the back (which you obviously didn't do) and then talk to me. I'm serious.

[Andrewoplis]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the people who are saying Grizzly is rough have not been on it since the re-tracking - It was getting really bad before they did all of that work to it

Even so, they should at LEAST get a clue by what other people are clearly saying about it. There's plenty of coverage on here that Girzzly continues to get smoother with each season thanks to the re-tracking job that the park is doing. Even if I hadn't ridden Grizzly since say 2006, I would at least get a clue and trust that what other people saying on here is true and not come out with an opinion of exactly the opposite when haven't even ridden the damn ride in five years. Do you see what I'm saying? It shouldn't be so hard to understand that a ride has gotten smoother when it's been communicated very clearly through here.

I will admit, Grizzly isn't that rough, but it acts a lot like a boring kiddy coaster to me. And what's with people slamming Ghostrider and Mean Streak? Mean Streak really wasn't that rough to me, but maybe I was sitting the right seat or something, and I just rode Ghostrider a few weeks ago and it wasn't TO rough, but it wasn't amazing.

Please ride Ghostrider and Mean Streak in the back (which you obviously didn't do) and then talk to me. I'm serious.

 

The funny thing is, I rode Mean Streak in the front row of the back car.

[MrSum1_55]

Hell, even Grizzly east makes Grizzly west look smooth. Cedar Fair has many wood coasters that need the topper track, and Grizzly west is not one of them. Mean Streak, Ghostrider, Grizzly east, the Hurler clones, Wild Beast, Minebuster, and (the SBNO) SOB are all rougher than CGA's Grizzly, and all of these rides could really use topper track (and the NTAG treatment for the last one). Actually, if I were to rank my wood coasters from smoothest to roughest, my list would be El Toro>Apocolator>Lightning Racer>Phoenix>Grizzly> all the others I have ridden. I would put Grizzly ahead of Phoenix in thems of smoothness if the trains weren't so uncomfortable.

 

If Grizzly were removed today, I doubt many people on these forums would miss it. However, the waits are generally quite long, sometimes almost as long as Flight Deck. Grizzly isn't going anywhere. I do believe it could use some new trains, as any pain you can get on the ride mainly comes from the trains and not really the actual roughness.

 

^Four friends and I decided to ride Mean Streak in the back 3 rows, just to say we did it. It was worth it.

[Tmcdllr]

I just love this "arguing" and going back and fourth between the nay-sayers and the people who think the park might go somewhere. Please continue the show, it entertains me greatly.

 

Grizzly is much smoother than...................

 

I think that is the first time I have ever seen those words used in a sentence....lol

Wow. You seriously think that Roar is SMOOTHER than Grizzly?! If you listened to anyone else who have talked about that recently, you'd know that it's a much smoother ride than Grizzly. I don't know where anyone gets the idea that Grizzly is rough... It's the smoothest wooden coaster in NorCal! Seriously? You have to be joking. It's hated becuase to some people, it doesn't DO much, they DON'T hate it because it's "rough".

 

If you think Grizzly is rough, you would quite literally die on Roar, Ghostrider, Mean Streak, Giant Dipper..

 

I could go on ALL DAY if you'd like, just go ahead and keep calling Grizzly rough.

 

I never said that. If you would actually read my post, that YOU quoted, you would see it doesn't say anything about that.

 

So please, continue going on all day reading into things that are not there.

[djw44]

I think Grizzly east and Hurler aren't really rough.

[TPDave]

^^ Keep it calm guys, I know he misinterpreted your post but there's no need to get bitchy about it.

[XYZ]

I never experienced a really bad ride on Grizzly as the back seats in each car are rougher than the front seats, even the back seats of the car is smoother than Roar.

 

I have been on Giant Dipper, and it is only relatively smooth in the front, if you go near the back, it bashes you around painfully, that is why I don't ride GD anymore since I can't pick my seats and I don't want to take chances on wasting my money on a really rough ride.

 

I have been on Roar, NorCal's 3rd woodie and I just sit in the front because I don't even want to know how the back feels, and I personally enjoy Roar over Grizzly because Roar pushes you around, not too much, but enough to make it still in the fun category, though it is rough.

 

Overall, Grizzly never has really rough rides, and I believe that the 2010-2011 off-season that they re-tracked the drop since the drop used to be the worst part of the ride because of how rough it was, though don't quote me on this, I just BELIEVE that they re-tracked it, I'm not 100% sure.

[154bmag]

I've never had a rough ride on the Grizzly, (Especially when I compare it to ghost rider) I've only had boring rides.

[ABW]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the people who are saying Grizzly is rough have not been on it since the re-tracking - It was getting really bad before they did all of that work to it

Even so, they should at LEAST get a clue by what other people are clearly saying about it. There's plenty of coverage on here that Girzzly continues to get smoother with each season thanks to the re-tracking job that the park is doing. Even if I hadn't ridden Grizzly since say 2006, I would at least get a clue and trust that what other people saying on here is true and not come out with an opinion of exactly the opposite when haven't even ridden the damn ride in five years. Do you see what I'm saying? It shouldn't be so hard to understand that a ride has gotten smoother when it's been communicated very clearly through here.

I will admit, Grizzly isn't that rough, but it acts a lot like a boring kiddy coaster to me. And what's with people slamming Ghostrider and Mean Streak? Mean Streak really wasn't that rough to me, but maybe I was sitting the right seat or something, and I just rode Ghostrider a few weeks ago and it wasn't TO rough, but it wasn't amazing.

Please ride Ghostrider and Mean Streak in the back (which you obviously didn't do) and then talk to me. I'm serious.

 

 

The funny thing is, I rode Mean Streak in the front row of the back car.

 

I wasn't really reffering to Mean Streak when it comes to roughness as much as I was with Ghostrider. Mean Streak is tolerable if you don't get a wheel seat. Forgive me, but when I rode it in 2010, it was semi-smooth in the front, but rough as hell in the back. It could easily have changed in a year, but that's how it was when I rode it last time. At least Cedar Point is actually re-tracking some of the ride unlike Knott's Berry Farm is with Ghostrider. But seriously, you have to try Ghostrider in the back, it's the most painful, but it's worth it! Some people simply can't handle rides of that extent, but that I can see why, it's not as enjoyble however it could, I will say that. The trims really killed it, but it's still a good ride.

[Flagg O'Dim]

Overall, Grizzly never has really rough rides, and I believe that the 2010-2011 off-season that they re-tracked the drop since the drop used to be the worst part of the ride because of how rough it was, though don't quote me on this, I just BELIEVE that they re-tracked it, I'm not 100% sure.

 

You are correct, the first drop was retracked this past off season. From CGA's Facebook:

 

 

I'm going to say it: Grizzly is a fun ride. The retracking they did last off season made a HUGE improvement, to the point where it doesn't even feel like the same ride. I was amazed just how much faster, and smoother, it was after the retracking.

[Justice]

Grizzly is still in my opinion, by far the worst wooden coaster I have ever ridden.

 

To hoot-and-holler and label something as "rough", especially a wooden coaster, does nothing but show that someone is looking for something to complain about. I've never ridden a wooden coaster that I wouldn't call rough. To me, the rattling and shaking is part of what makes a wooden coaster. Its not a flaw for me, but rather an expectation.

 

Now I'm no fool. Yes there are woodies that are more rough than others. Ghost Rider, Roar and Giant Dipper mentioned earlier may all be more rough than Grizzly but the fact of the matter is, those rides have great layouts. Roar features plenty of twists and turns. Giant Dipper has the hills, and Ghostrider is by far, for myself, the greatest wooden coaster on the planet.

 

Grizzly's layout sucks. It sucks completely. Its awful. The ride's trains are uncomfortable, there is no high speed turns or interesting maneuvers. Its just a miserably bad coaster. Its rough AND it does absolutely nothing.

 

So sure, rant about how CGA has the "smoother" wooden coaster, but atleast Knotts, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, have wooden coasters that actually DO something.

 

-A CGA fanboy

[greatamerica1990sfan]

^100% AGREED! Couldn't have said that better! My view is this: First replace Invertigo with a decent coaster like that woodie they want to put in or a Maverick clone, then replace Grizzly with something like Top Thrill Dragster/Melinimum Force type coaster, then finally replace Vortex with a coaster with something like a floorless. For replacing Tidal Wave/Stealth make Boomerang Bay twice the size-double the slides. & There you have a nicely turned around decent park.

[Mechanic]

^100% AGREED! Couldn't have said that better! My view is this: First replace Invertigo with a decent coaster like that woodie they want to put in or a Maverick clone, then replace Grizzly with something like Top Thrill Dragster/Melinimum Force type coaster, then finally replace Vortex with a coaster with something like a floorless. For replacing Tidal Wave/Stealth make Boomerang Bay twice the size-double the slides. & There you have a nicely turned around decent park.

 

I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while. Thank you.

[MrSum1_55]

^^Grizzly is not too rough, but boring as hell. However, for the last time:

GRIZZLY IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

[QueerRudie]

^100% AGREED! Couldn't have said that better! My view is this: First replace Invertigo with a decent coaster like that woodie they want to put in or a Maverick clone, then replace Grizzly with something like Top Thrill Dragster/Melinimum Force type coaster, then finally replace Vortex with a coaster with something like a floorless. For replacing Tidal Wave/Stealth make Boomerang Bay twice the size-double the slides. & There you have a nicely turned around decent park.

 

I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while. Thank you.

 

Agreed COMPLETELY!

 

Someday, all fan-boys will realize their perfect park dreams are not appliciable at Great America.

 

^^Grizzly is not too rough, but boring as hell. However, for the last time:

GRIZZLY IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

 

Never say never.... "Big Bad Wolf isn't going anywhere!" "They'd never remove Great American Scream Machine!" "Shockwave's too popular to be removed!"

[154bmag]

^They would never remove the invertigo!