California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[scooterdoug]

Agreed, except subtract half an hour in and half an hour out for SFDK, since the parking lot is stupidly far and Six Flags takes forever to get people through security/front gate.

Also, Britt will probably want to see the animals and you totally should! Skip the Vekomas at SFDK in favor of seeing the dolphin show, butterflies, and a lap around the park to look at the other animals. Also, if there aren't a lot of kids near the splash zone at Drench! that day, see if she can volunteer to be in the show. I've done it, it's legit (Unless she doesn't want to get soaked, in which case don't).

Good point, I forgot about the entire zip code that exists between the parking lot and front gate. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to walk from the front gate to my car (less if I get lucky and catch a tram). If you're hitting up SFDK first, then you don't have to worry about security getting in, and that will save time. So, factoring in going from the gate to your car, driving to CGA (90 minutes or less), and getting from your car to CGA's front gate, you're looking at about 2.5 hours, which still gives you 3.5 hours in each park. So, doable, but yeah, the walk from SFDK's parking lot to the front gate is somewhat interminable. Also, I second the Vekoma advice, though I generally apply that to all Vekomas.

[coasterbill]

Thanks guys! Like I said, it's a worst-case scenario type thing. In theory we'll have a full day at each park (aside from leaving one of the parks a little early on Saturday to go to the Giants game).

 

The downside is that we have a ridiculously short 42 minute layover in Denver.

 

The nice thing about Denver is that all United flights are in the same terminal. (I've made the 42 minute connection multiple times.) The downside is that the terminal is over a 1/2 mile long so if you get parked on the west end and you have a regional jet flight out, it's a long walk over. The airport flows really well even in weather so you should have no issue once you land. So just remember if you have a CRJ200/700, or ERJ170/175 listed as your flight to Sacramento prepare for a longer distance to cover.

 

Glad to know you've made that connection! It's a regional jet so we'll be heading all the way to the east end of the airport. Yay for us.

[Mr. Corn]

all these demolitions have gotten me thinking, what if 2019 is the waterpark expansion year, knock down the amphitheater, relocated the 2 kids rides (and demolish woodstock express), and expand the waterpark south so it's dry park on the left side, and water park on the right side:

-throw the drop/tube slide complex on the go kart track

-the mat racer in woodstock express's space

-add a 2nd raft slide on the existing main slide tower

-put the kiddie splash stuff on the space of the old amphitheater

-throw a typhoon twister style ride over the logger's run (rip) lake

-and have the water coaster wind all around the whole area with the station taking either the place of the 2 kiddie dry flat rides or stealth's old station with some minor changes to the slide tower steps.

 

then throw a nice looking gate in the current entry plaza, and repaint every slide (and rename em all) and you got yourself a seriously good waterpark. and bonus points if they rename it to something like yankee harbor

[laqueefa]

all these demolitions have gotten me thinking, what if 2019 is the waterpark expansion year, knock down the amphitheater, relocated the 2 kids rides (and demolish woodstock express), and expand the waterpark south so it's dry park on the left side, and water park on the right side:

-throw the drop/tube slide complex on the go kart track

-the mat racer in woodstock express's space

-add a 2nd raft slide on the existing main slide tower

-put the kiddie splash stuff on the space of the old amphitheater

-throw a typhoon twister style ride over the logger's run (rip) lake

-and have the water coaster wind all around the whole area with the station taking either the place of the 2 kiddie dry flat rides or stealth's old station with some minor changes to the slide tower steps.

 

then throw a nice looking gate in the current entry plaza, and repaint every slide (and rename em all) and you got yourself a seriously good waterpark. and bonus points if they rename it to something like yankee harbor

 

They've outlined their 20 year plan, which is available to the public to view.

[Mr. Corn]

all these demolitions have gotten me thinking' date=' what if 2019 is the waterpark expansion year, knock down the amphitheater, relocated the 2 kids rides (and demolish woodstock express), and expand the waterpark south so it's dry park on the left side, and water park on the right side:

-throw the drop/tube slide complex on the go kart track

-the mat racer in woodstock express's space

-add a 2nd raft slide on the existing main slide tower

-put the kiddie splash stuff on the space of the old amphitheater

-throw a typhoon twister style ride over the logger's run (rip) lake

-and have the water coaster wind all around the whole area with the station taking either the place of the 2 kiddie dry flat rides or stealth's old station with some minor changes to the slide tower steps.

 

then throw a nice looking gate in the current entry plaza, and repaint every slide (and rename em all) and you got yourself a seriously good waterpark. and bonus points if they rename it to something like yankee harbor[/quote']

 

They've outlined their 20 year plan, which is available to the public to view.

 

this is their 20 year plan for the waterpark, just predictions on where the stuff will go

[805Andrew]

Looking forward to getting back to CGA when Railblazer opens.

[singemfrc]

[CoasterInk]

According to the Park's Blog Page (In one single discrete sentence in the middle of the page), the Peanuts Playhouse Theater is being removed. I believe that this is the one next to Loggers Run...

 

https://www.cagreatamerica.com/blog/2018/full-steam-ahead

[Invertalon]

Any word on Rail Blazer lately? We will be at the park around April 14/15 or possibly the week after, hoping it might open in time for our trip... But no real updates lately on this one like SFFT (given they are closed, I know).

[coasterbill]

No chance. We're going in late April too and I've fully resigned myself to missing this one on this trip.

[Invertalon]

Bummer! I pushed back our trip a few weeks to the area to give a little cushion on the opening of this ride, thinking they wanted it ready by opening day... But I guess my month cushion may not be enough. Oh well! This trip wasn't really focused on the parks anyway, but I was looking forward to riding this one since we would be in the area. May have to fly to Texas some weekend to visit SFFT (have not been there yet).

[Rougarou]

Anyone go to opening weekend?

[leqant]

Anyone go to opening weekend?

 

I did go today and here are some observations. It was a slow day to the point where I even the Gold Striker was a walk on. The pavement at Celebration Plaza was redone and I like how they did it. Railblazer's track construction is now complete but rockwork needs to be done before testing can begin. The coaster look quite compact in person and there were crew working on-site. A few rides were closed (Tiki-Twril and The Orbit; Bezerker was down for a brief period). There were celebrations at Flight Deck for it's 25th anniversary with people in themed uniformed operating and standing outside the ride and the movie 'Top Gun' was being screened Theatre Royal, under the zero-g-roll of Flight Deck.

 

Here are some pics of Railblazer I took today:

[ThemeParkJunkie51290]

^ Railblazer is so visually stunning!

[Domm]

Anyone go to opening weekend?

 

Went today as well. All rides were walk-on's. Park was empty, felt even emptier after walking by the former sites of Endeavor and Loggers!! They had a cool Top Gun miniature an employee claimed was used to sell the model to the park. It wasn't working today though

it'll be interesting to see how much progress will be made on this by next weekend

[JJLehto]

Wow! It almost doesn't look real. Amazing looking coaster.

Can't wait for the WCB, deff gunna spend some time in the bay area parks, esp CGA!

[laqueefa]

Wow! It almost doesn't look real. Amazing looking coaster.

Can't wait for the WCB, deff gunna spend some time in the bay area parks, esp CGA!

 

It will be worth it! I saw it in person on Saturday and pictures don't do it justice

[coasterkyle]

That model was made with Coasterdynamix (they don't sell the system anymore) which was developed long after Top Gun was put into the park

[Domm]

That model was made with Coasterdynamix (they don't sell the system anymore) which was developed long after Top Gun was put into the park

 

So funny! He was adamant about it being ‘the way rollercoaster concepts were sold back then- because video POV’s weren’t a thing yet.’

 

Had a suspicion there was a hint of blah blah blahshyt in there. Either way, would have been cool to see it working. Hope we get some hints on what’s going in the cleared space soon! Rip out the go-carts too!

[805Andrew]

Since I had to be in the Bay Area yesterday for another reason, I decided to swing by CGA for a couple of hours before 6PM park closing. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be crowded or not because of Spring Break, but it wasn’t at all. Everything was a walk on or a one train wait, and all the coasters that were open were running two trains expect for Patriot. It was a limited operations day, so certain rides and restaurants were closed like Tiki Twirl, Grizzly, most of the kiddie rides, and the rapids. But the good rides and the sky ride was open, so all good. I arrived at the park at 4PM and did a loop around the park doing eight rides in two hours. Gold Striker is still my favorite woodie in CA, though I’ll give Ghostrider another chance next week to dethrone it. I wasn’t crazy about Patriot (my first time riding it since it was Vortex) and although it’s better than Vortex that’s not saying much - it’s got the B&M rattle and I prefer Scream even. Demon was decent though for how old it is, Drop Tower is as great as always, and Flight Deck is still running great. I also got to ride the Sky Ride back towards the front of the park since it was open , and since it was 85°F (which is hot AF for the Bay Area in March) I even rode the splash down water ride (forgot what it’s called) near were RailBlazer is going.

 

RailBlazer looks sweet - the track is pretty much complete and now they are working on the rock wall/theming, queue path and station. I got some pics of RailBlazer from different angles - here they are.

 

The first view of RailBlazer I got when walking from Gold Striker and Patriot.

 

The crew was working on the rock work as I was taking this shot. The rock theming is going to add an extra nice touch to this ride.

 

The right side of RailBlazer and the entrance station.

 

Close panorama of RailBlazer. What a great use of the former Invertigo spot! Will Dorney Park get lucky enough to get one of these?

 

The best view of RailBlazer is from the nearby water ride which I rode because it was so damn warm (for March) and I got mildly splashed on the face. I’ll definitely be back to CGA when RailBlazer opens to ride it.

 

RailBlazer isn’t open yet but the main gift shop by the front entrance already has a RailBlazer section with a ton of their merchandise to sell.

 

Guess who already bought a RailBlazer shirt and is going to wear it to Boysenberry Fest next week?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RollerManic]

I was at Silver Dollar City today and someone was wearing a Steel Vengeance T-shirt when neither the ride nor the park have even opened yet this year. Things happen.

[805Andrew]

I was at Silver Dollar City today and someone was wearing a Steel Vengeance T-shirt when neither the ride nor the park have even opened yet this year. Things happen.

 

I wonder where they got the Steel Vengeance shirt when Cedar Point isn't even open yet for the season. Which Cedar Fair parks are selling Steel Vengeance shirts? Or is someone selling fan made shirts online?

[CoasterInk]

I was at Silver Dollar City today and someone was wearing a Steel Vengeance T-shirt when neither the ride nor the park have even opened yet this year. Things happen.

 

I wonder where they got the Steel Vengeance shirt when Cedar Point isn't even open yet for the season. Which Cedar Fair parks are selling Steel Vengeance shirts? Or is someone selling fan made shirts online?

Cedar Point was selling them during Halloweekends last year in some of their gift shops I believe.

[John Peck]

^ Yes, Cedar Point was selling them in the fall. They tend to start selling merchandise for upcoming attractions early to get people excited... and make a few bucks. Did they not have Railblazer shirts back in the fall?

[viking86]

RailBlazer looks sweet - the track is pretty much complete and now they are working on the rock wall/theming, queue path and station. I got some pics of RailBlazer from different angles - here they are.

 

Those are some cracking pics! Definitely a visually stunning ride. The narrow track also makes it looks a lot taller than it really is. I'm really curious to hear the first reviews of these rides, and I hope we see a lot more of them in the coming years.