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California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread


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Hopefully this turns out to be a big success for them. It also seems like a guarantee that Patriot will be added next year due to it's location. Personally I don't understand why this park is seasonal at all so hopefully this helps bring them to their senses.

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Weren't there rumors a while back of talks of making this park go year-around? I could see this move as the first step in transitioning to year-around operations.

 

Since Discovery Kingdom (less than an hour north) is year round, the fact that this park isn't is insane. I would hope that it's only a matter of time, but Cedar Fair is usually way more conservative than Six Flags is with these types of things.

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Really excited to see what CGA does for Christmas. If they actually pull off the ice skating where the pond is I will be very impressed. With such a beautiful entrance it should be one of the more beautiful ice skating rinks in the Bay Area.

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I wonder if their lease with Santa Clara prevents it?

 

That seems like a strange clause to put in a lease. I am pretty sure this park has been seasonal since opening, so it must predate any current conflicts of interest with businesses. I also do not really see the practicality in giving a permanent establishment like this limited operating times, especially since being open in summer should bring in a good deal more traffic than winter. Also, if they were really not allowed to be open in the winter, it would probably still be a massive pain for them to negotiate with a California city to even open the park partway as they are doing now.

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I wonder if their lease with Santa Clara prevents it?

 

That seems like a strange clause to put in a lease. I am pretty sure this park has been seasonal since opening, so it must predate any current conflicts of interest with businesses. I also do not really see the practicality in giving a permanent establishment like this limited operating times, especially since being open in summer should bring in a good deal more traffic than winter. Also, if they were really not allowed to be open in the winter, it would probably still be a massive pain for them to negotiate with a California city to even open the park partway as they are doing now.

 

It hasn't always been seasonal. It was opened year round at opening but Marriott made it seasonal after 1 year

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Yeah, IIRC in the book written about CGA two years ago, Marriott had done a Christmas event at CGA but the cold weather at the time turned away guests, and they never did it again.

 

As for WinterFest, while it does sound a bit interesting, I'm not quite sure if I plan on visiting, especially since only 2/3 of the park is going to be open. And IMO, I think they missed an opportunity to have some sort of holiday themed attraction in the Mass Effect theater. I think I'll wait to see the general opinion before I decide if I want to visit or not.

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I can't tell anyone what they should be doing or how they should spend their money, but personally I think it's important for people to go out and support these parks when they start doing holiday events and extending their hours deeper into the winter.

 

The industry trend lately has been to push the season as much as possible and try to make Christmas events popular in colder climates. Not only are these events a ton of fun to visit just to see the decorations and holiday entertainment, but it gives us the opportunity to ride coasters in November, December and part of January... essentially cutting the offseason in half. Now I understand that in Northern California this isn't as big of an issue as Six Flags is now a year round park, and SCBB is also but going to these events, spending money and spreading the word about them is beneficial to the industry as a whole. I usually go out of my way to support them because I love this trend and I hope more and more parks continue to add holiday events and add coasters to their holiday lineups.

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Ever since I heard about winter fest for CGA, I've been looking forward to it a lot. I can't wait to see all the decorations up in the park. As much as it was awkward to see some during haunt, I can't wait to see the full event. I'll always support the park as it will be my home park. I can't wait for the ice skating, it'll make for some awesome pictures in front of the carousel.

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^Well, that tradition has not changed! It is still very common to have coasters not located at that park in trailers. I have even seen commercials for Cedar Point using stock footage of rides at other parks. (Seems kind of funny that the "Coaster Capitol of the World" sometimes does not even use its own coasters in advertising).

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I was just at work yesterday and one of the contractors fir winterfest came in. I asked if he could say anything, but alas he only said whatever is on the site or that you can see is all I can tell you. Other than that, it'll be awesome.

 

^^And yes, I'm probably gonna buy two of them. One for me and the other for my gf, we need travel cups badly.

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15129429_10154258903718155_6333198433928700373_o.jpg

 

Gold Striker is decorated for Christmas. This is looking great!

 

Also, we have a map...

ga_winterfest_map.jpg

 

It seems that Candycane Lane will be through the backstage areas and will create a convenient loop.

wow I LOVE the idea of decorating the top of the tunnel like that, very creative! Can't wait for Kings Island's winterfest to open next year!

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A few things I take away from this...

 

1) Why wouldn't you run the 3D Theater? It's an indoor attraction with heat. That's pretty puzzling. I'm also surprised that FireFall and Orbit are closed.

 

2) Patriot seems like it will be added next year for sure given the location.

 

3) Delta Flyer/Eagle's Flight should be open as a round trip journey. Great Adventure hit a home run with this this year and most of it's path would be over decorated areas. Hopefully next year they realize this if it proves to be a success at Great Adventure.

 

4) I'm intrigued by the Holly Jolly Trolley. It seems like a really cute idea.

 

5) Not all of Planet Snoopy is open, it seems like they're being really conservative with this event. Still, I think it'll be a hit and hopefully they'll continue to expand it.

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