California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[laqueefa]

Has anyone seen any recent pictures of Firefall? I haven't seen any since week after opening. I'm still very curious to see if Cedar Fair took the theming on this one to any real extent.

 

Mike

 

I was there on Sunday, and it was almost in the same state as this pic from another site.

 

The formation to the back left of the ride was completed as far as the molding was concerned. Maybe that will spit out the fire?

 

Also, if anyone is interested, here is a list of new discounts provided you own a season pass.

 

http://www.pgathrills.com/special/passinfo/pass_benefits_08.cfm

[sfmmrules!]

I am sure Firewall will have the fire effects like the one at Kings Island. The Knotts one has water so the one at CGA will have something. Especially since Survivor still has its fire effect.

[dpxtreme]

FireFall is looking impressive in my opinion. They have a huge area to work with and they are taking advantage of it. A second "volcano" is going up on the back of the ride. The rock work in the front of the ride is looking nice where the water is going to be. I just hope there are a lot of trees and plants around it. I also hope the program will be decent.

[Tmcdllr]

Seats auctioned off? Never hears of that before.

[Angry_Gumball]

I kinda have a feeling that maybe we'll get a fresh ride program as they seem to be doing quite a bit around the ride to make it seem 'new.' Never really heard of auctioning off seats either, especially for a flat ride.

[Sunfire]

^I wouldn't count on it. We're talking Cedar Fair here. They've done some good things, but I don't think they will change the ride's program. Most likely, I think it will be the same program that it had at GL. But I'd be pretty happy, because the ride did around 5 or 6 flips. That's AMAZING compared to Voodoo at DK. So I'll be thankful about that.

[Angry_Gumball]

I was originally supposed to go to CGA today (4/12) with some people from my church but never made it there as I had to work. Was it busy out there/hot? I'm assuming that the water rides finally saw some decent lines, but I could be wrong.

[dpxtreme]

It was extremely hot. I saw some pretty decent lines.

[robman97]

^^ I was there today to me it had a nice saturday crowd it was pretty hot today. The only water rides that were going was Splash Waterfalls and Rip Roaring Rapids. I don't know what was wrong with loggers but whenever I waled by it was closed so I don't know if it opened during the later hours. Firefall has made a lot of progress since I was there on opening day but other wise today was a pretty good day.

[tkkyj]

What time does CGA turn on ride lights? Is it possible to see ride lights on an day when the park closes at 8PM, or is that too early?

[Sunfire]

^^^ and ^^^^ Gosh, it was insanely hot. I was tortured by going 3 consecutive hours at Berserker. BTW, I heard about a pleasant surprise taking place on one of the rides. I'll talk about that later.

[Angry_Gumball]

^My guess is that someone left "street pizza" behind?

[eli]

Man, in 2007, I was bummed out when I realized they changed the Bedrock Cafe to Four Corners or something Cafe.

 

 

Anyways, they wicked pizza.

 

That year I operated what was then known as:

 

Top Gun (Announcer dude/control panel/dispatch)

Delta Flyer

Action FX Theater

Star Tower (I gave epic speeches about the legend of ol' ManBearPig)

Delirium (Dispatch and the control thingy)

Carousel (The bottom level)

Height Checker/Wrist Band Giver Guy Person...

 

In 2005:

Boomerang Bay

LAzy River

Taz and that other large one

Pool

 

 

 

Good times... good times...

 

 

Wait what the hell? I was paid minimum wage. Bah! Oh well, it was fun still.

[robman97]

Sunfire,

 

 

 

I don't know if you knew this but when me and my brother were riding Phyco mouse I guess a girl fanited or something like that my mom wasen't really sure do you know anything about this?

[chmilo24]

^ I remember that, I was in line when it happened.

[robman97]

^ Oh really do, I was probelly mid-course of the ride I think it happend do you know what happed?

[Sunfire]

^My guess is that someone left "street pizza" behind?

 

I'll PM you about it, but don't tell anyone. I want it to be a surprise for people when they go.

[laqueefa]

UPDATE: Just got back from the park for a quick lunch time ride of Flight Deck and to check out the new Firefall.

 

Things I noticed when walking up to the park.

- Lite crowds, most of which consisted of charter bus delivered visitors.

- & TONS of signs stating that Firefall will not be operating today.

 

After passing through the security check point, I asked "why?! why no Firefall???" Apparently they didnt finish the fencing around the ride or training employees how to operate the ride. They projected its opening for next Friday. I wanted to get some over head shots for you guys, but the sky buckets were closed.

[tkkyj]

dang! That's kind of lame.... since they sent out e-mails saying that it would open today... and auctioned seats, etc...

 

Oh well... i guess i want a trained crew instead of an untrained crew when I ride.

[Pokkito]

I was there at the park today for the Firefall opening because I was one of those winner bidders for the first ride. I spoke to the man that set this event up and he told me that a part from Germany that was suppose to come in this past Wednesday, did not show up. It has been lost in transit and no one knows where it is. I take his knowledge and explanation over the parking attendent that told me there were still some bugs to work out. Seems lots of people were telling different stories.

[KGA29]

I went yesterday. No Firefall , but the park was surprisingly crowded, which is a good thing. I have not seen the park that crowded on a normal weekend in a long time. Still lines were only like 25-30 min.

[Angry_Gumball]

Just got back from CGA today, and I was impressed with the crowds...Was busy, but not ridiculously busy. Grizzly had the longest wait of probably a 1/2 hour. Vortex was walk on, and all the water rides were pretty well packed. Even had some stupid line jumpers who claimed to be 'security' as I got ready to block their path, and people who stole our seats when we went to put our goods in the storage cubby thingy. Grizzly actually ran smooth, got to enjoy it's first drop. Still a little slow though and lacking airtime. On the 10-minute turn around, I spotted something....some good news! It was Firefall.

 

 

Now, before I go on, I don't want to make you think that it was actually open because it wasn't...but it was somewhat running. So after ridding Grizzly, we ventured our way toward FF while hitting a few rides along the way. Sure enough, as we got there, I saw operators pulling harnesses down, giving the thumbs up, and off the ride went...well, sort of. My guess is that maybe they're just doing mechanical tests to make sure that it's functional, as it wasn't running like it should...not even 1 flip. Caught a clip of it going, just to show you.

 

 

About Demon: it's got some miner (yes pun intended) theming up, hoping they'll consider doing more with it but it's a start. Basic signs stating that there's a mine shaft, possessed mine carts, and so on. There is a new audio track in the first tunnel. Here's pretty much what's up with Demon...

[Johnny Upsidedown]

It was testing today so I would figure it to open next friday. Steven Wilson of http://www.greatamericaparks.com/ posted some photos of the testing here http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezeiza/tags/20080427/

 

By the way anybody know if this ride will have the fire/water effects like the one at Kings Dominion. Its one of the coolest effects I have seen.

[Angry_Gumball]

In the lower pond, what exactly were those lines they had running in it? (They looked much like those 'silly straws') My guess was it was probably for maybe lighting effects?

[Sunfire]

When I saw it testing, I was so disappointed. I hope that the "part" they're waiting for will actually make it flip. Otherwise the ride program looks far worse than SFDK.