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California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread


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Running from Gold Striker to Grizzly will be like jumping into the pool after soaking in the hot tub.

 

It would be like jumping into an empty pool!

 

I would like to see a Maverick clone here too, it would fit somewhere, or some other nice airtime coaster.

 

But GS will hold me over until this- can't wait to ride it!

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I really think that grizzly's days are numbered once Gold Striker opens. I expect there to be a sharp decline in riders on Grizzly. So I guess my only question would be what would replace it, some RMC work or a new steel coaster? And does anybody know what the height limit is for the park?

 

Many amusement parks have a new GCI coaster and an older, inferior wooden coaster such as Worlds of Fun, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valleyfair!, Hersheypark, etc.

 

Grizzly is a very popular ride at CGA and while Gold Striker might decrease Grizzly's popularity a bit, I doubt Grizzly is going anywhere. Plus, Grizzly just got so much re-track.

 

For the park's height limit, it is 230ish feet because of the nearby San Jose International Airport.

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I really think that grizzly's days are numbered once Gold Striker opens. I expect there to be a sharp decline in riders on Grizzly. So I guess my only question would be what would replace it, some RMC work or a new steel coaster? And does anybody know what the height limit is for the park?

 

Many amusement parks have a new GCI coaster and an older, inferior wooden coaster such as Worlds of Fun, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valleyfair!, Hersheypark, etc.

 

Grizzly is a very popular ride at CGA and while Gold Striker might decrease Grizzly's popularity a bit, I doubt Grizzly is going anywhere. Plus, Grizzly just got so much re-track.

 

For the park's height limit, it is 230ish feet because of the nearby San Jose International Airport.

 

 

Yeah I just would like to see it gone and its space put to better use. I still think it will be the first thing to go if there were to be something big done towards the back of the park.

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I doubt Grizzly will go anywhere anytime soon, as it is somewhat of a family friendly alternative to Gold Striker and still seems relatively popular. The biggest issue with the attraction seems to be the trains, but if Cedar Fair ends up doing the rumored GhostRider refurbishment (or does a Rocky Mountain treatment on another woodie), they'll have a set of PTC trains to use on Grizzly. If CGA is to remove another coaster in the near future, I'm guessing it would be Demon due to age, but I doubt the park will lose another coaster in the near future.

 

As for the next coaster, I don't really know what would be best for the park. I think pretty much anything that doesn't exist at SFDK or SCBB would be a good fit, and a first on the west coast an even better one, but I don't know how much Cedar Fair would be willing to invest into the park. I doubt the park would recieve a Blitz Coaster due to price (Maverick was $21 million). Perhaps a Euro-Fighter or Mega-Lite...those seem like good fits for a park like CGA. Either way, I'm guessing it will be a few years before the park gets another coaster.

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If CGA is to remove another coaster in the near future, I'm guessing it would be Demon due to age
Perish the thought! Aside from my obvious bias (Demon is one of my all time favorites and I have a soft spot for almost anything Arrow), I think Vortex would be removed long before Demon, despite Demon being older.

 

Demon has some sentimental value for me because it's kind of the original intense coaster in Northern California. Before 1992/1993 this was the coaster you went to for intensity..it was the one people talked about. Before Top Gun, before Hurricane at SCBB (Which was significantly more intense in it's debut year), before the entire SFDK park (or at least before it had coasters).

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If CGA is to remove another coaster in the near future, I'm guessing it would be Demon due to age
Perish the thought! Aside from my obvious bias (Demon is one of my all time favorites and I have a soft spot for almost anything Arrow), I think Vortex would be removed long before Demon, despite Demon being older. .

 

 

Can't disagree with that one bit. I personally love Demon, was my first coaster with inversions.

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Running from Gold Striker to Grizzly will be like jumping into the pool after soaking in the hot tub.

 

It would be like jumping into an empty pool!

 

I would like to see a Maverick clone here too, it would fit somewhere, or some other nice airtime coaster.

 

But GS will hold me over until this- can't wait to ride it!

 

After riding Xcelerator for the first time this past Wednesday, I'm sold on anything Intamin...Xcelerator had me hooked, couldn't leave the area and had to go back for more! But right now I think I should just focus on Gold Striker, if anything, it should give Apocalypse a good run for its money...and Apocalypse was a really good ride!

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^^Demon is a classic to me too because it was also my first looping in 1993 & Demon started my love of coasters. It can't go. What needs to go is Vortex!

^You lucky you got to go on Xcelerator! First & only time I went to Knotts was in 7/08 & it was the day after the earthquake so it was closed. I so wanted to ride that. I won't ever get back to Knotts anytime soon but I hope someday.

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Was the Cedar Fair removal rumor just for Vortex & Anaconda, or was it for all of the Arrow loopers? I personally wouldn't see it leaving (before Grizzly/Vortex at least) as it seems to fit in the landscape better and take up less space than Anaconda or Vortex (KI) do.

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So yesterday was a great day at the park for one main reason, Gold Striker made it's first test runs while the park was open! This thing hauls a lot of a** and never loses speed. This is going to be one hell of a ride when it opens up. If you want to catch the ride testing visit the park on the weekend, yesterday it started about 6:30 and I heard today it ran a little after 12 noon.

 

 

Now onto the Gold Striker pictures!

I have a short video from the testing, it's not very good as I was focused on getting pictures, im hoping to shoot a better one next weekend.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flF6yVtXGZY

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I headed over to see if Star Tower was open, it wasn't but it will reopen this coming Saturday. It also has this new sign showing the correct entry point.

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The park had the flags half mast around park for the recent events that took place in Boston.

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I can never get tired of this view, it's amazing!

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The new interior of the one gift shop, it looks really nice!

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The bottom is now filled in, not really sure what the material is.

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It goes all the way down the tunnel and a little bit outside of it.

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A new staircase has gone up.

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The station and the elevator are coming along nicely.

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As noted a page back, the Orleans Place sign is now back!

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Took a ride on the carousel to kill time until testing starts. Still some work going on in the roof.

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You can get some very nice views from here!

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Waiting by Gold Striker Gifts, and then the train rolls right into the station!

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Slowly rolling on in.

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Now it's heading up on the lift!!

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...

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It's cresting the top!!

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It's now leaving the tunnel.

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Flying over Star Tower's entrance.

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Wait for it...

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Train flying by.

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Going into the turn around near Xtreme Skyflyer.

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Flying on through the Prudential Turn.

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Entering the midway turn.

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Going on up into the turn.

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Amazing....

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Leaving the midway turn.

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Then last turn into the breaks.

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Good night Gold Striker, you running fantastic.

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Awesome! This only makes me anxious to see this in person! Let's just say when I first watched the POV I was at Disney California Adventure, taking a break at the Cozy Cone Motel when I heard the POV was uploaded. Watching it made my Disney day that much more magical! When I saw the off ride footage, it looked like it was flying through those turns! Thanks for sharing!

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The first rider auction has been pushed from May 1st to the 8th so it looks like opening day could be the second weekend in May now.

 

On a related, but unrelated note, I will be in town for the first weekend and now that Goldstriker most likely won't be open I'm thinking of doubling up Six Flags and CGA. Does locals think both are doable in a day? I'm staying downtown San Fran, was going to rent a car, thinking I could get to SF at opening, leave around 2, get to CGA by 3:30, and close out the park? Would that work to credit whore? And how is the drive between the parks?

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The first rider auction has been pushed from May 1st to the 8th so it looks like opening day could be the second weekend in May now.

 

On a related, but unrelated note, I will be in town for the first weekend and now that Goldstriker most likely won't be open I'm thinking of doubling up Six Flags and CGA. Does locals think both are doable in a day? I'm staying downtown San Fran, was going to rent a car, thinking I could get to SF at opening, leave around 2, get to CGA by 3:30, and close out the park? Would that work to credit whore? And how is the drive between the parks?

Should be possible now that there is Flash Pass and Fast Lane at both parks. Worst case scenario it might cost you a bit more at one or the other, but you could totally do both in one day for a "credit run."

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On a related, but unrelated note, I will be in town for the first weekend and now that Goldstriker most likely won't be open I'm thinking of doubling up Six Flags and CGA. Does locals think both are doable in a day? I'm staying downtown San Fran, was going to rent a car, thinking I could get to SF at opening, leave around 2, get to CGA by 3:30, and close out the park? Would that work to credit whore? And how is the drive between the parks?

Should definitely be doable, especially in that order and if you go on a Sunday and have a gold pass (which gets you into Kong & Medusa 10 mins before park open at SFDK). On my last visit to SFDK I had ridden every coaster in the park (except Cobra) and was walking to my car by noon.

 

There are only 6 coasters at SFDK plus Cobra and without GoldStriker only 5 at CGA plus Taxi Jam. It's about a 1 hour drive in between parks. Crowds at both parks have been pretty light recently, I think you should be able to do it pretty easily. I'd plan on bringing cash for a FastPass/FastLane just in case, but barring something unexpected I don't even think you'll need it unless you're doing flat rides as well and even then, you'll probably only need it at CGA.

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