CreditCrazy Posted October 9, 2009 Posted October 9, 2009 I went up to Northern California from 7/29/09 - 8/1/09 for quick visits to Gilroy Gardens, CGA, and SFDK. I've been to all of these parks before and had all my credits at each of the parks, except for Tony Hawk's Big Spin which I decided to ride even though I have motion sickness. I know there have been a lot of trip reports from these parks in all of the West Coast Trip threads, so I'll try to keep this short. Part 1 - Gilroy Gardens. Gilroy Gardens is an amaing park; I can't compare it to any other park I've been to. I wouldn't say it is one of my favorites, just because it's hard to spend more than an hour at the park, but I always enjoy the place and it is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. Here is your view entering the park. Ooooh Ahhhh This is probably my favorite part of the park. Is that a Wacky Worm I see? Awww...nevermind. If you look to the right you can see a waterfall. If you look to the left you can see the spinning boat ride of death. Gave some really great views. POV! Quicksilver Express! I used to love this ride when I was scared of bigger coasters, I even rode it 13 times in one day. Didn't bother this visit. K, I officially love this park. I'm not stalking you. A cool tree. An interesting tree. Trees. Banana Split. What? What's so weird about a banana shaped pirate ship flat ride? "They're everywhere..." And that's all for GG. I took a lot more pictures, but like I said before, most of this has been posted in the last month. I guess I either need to get quicker at posting my PTRs, or avoid going where TPR goes every year! CGA is next.
ebl Posted October 9, 2009 Posted October 9, 2009 I went to Gilroy Gardens back in 2004 when it was still Bonfante. Very nice park in my opinion. Love the swinging banana and the monorail with lap bars! Eric
Angry_Gumball Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 Looking forward to your CGA trip, curious to see the park through someone else's eyes rather than just mine all the time (I have tons of CGA photos that haven't made it to being on a TR...too many to sort through).
CreditCrazy Posted October 10, 2009 Author Posted October 10, 2009 Part 2 - California's Great America. This was my third visit to the park, and really, it's not a bad park! People like to think of it as a just horribly-run and gross park, like SFKK (and SFA and La Ronde I've heard) but it's actually really nice. Really the only downside to the park is the coaster collection. Flight Deck, by far the park's best coaster (which doesn't say much, but it is good) was closed during the visit, leaving only Demon, Grizzly, and Vortex for me to ride. The park actually has a pretty nice flat ride collection, including one of my favorite Drop Towers...Drop Tower. It'd be really sad to see this park sold or taken down, because it could be a great park with just a few more rides. Pshhh, that was like, so yesterday. Best shot I could get of the entrance, it's always crowded! Too bad carousel's make me sick... See? Nice grass. This park is good. That's a...nice sign there. Vortex actually has some force. But that doesn't mean it's good. This corkscrew was fun to take pictures of. Flight Deck... ...Closed I remember this part being really forceful. Over to the other side of the park... We have the rough-but-could-be-fun-but-it-isn't-cause-it's-rough Demon. Invertigo Which is my 126th favorite roller coaster. Out of 126. Are they stuck? Oh wait that's until a couple weeks later...in the future.
CreditCrazy Posted October 10, 2009 Author Posted October 10, 2009 Then there's Grizzly... Which is so rough/boring it's fun. Okay...nevermind what I just said. Except for the rough/boring part. Oh boy!...We're next! Best ride in the park! Rode it 6 times. I like KI's Drop Tower more because it's taller and faster, but for some reason CGA's felt more "powerful". It is a Psycho Mouse. I saw this...and went inside. These were in there...funny. Lonely? Come join the party over here! I think this is the most popular ride in the park. A broken flat. The park lake. You know you're bored at an amusement park when... ...you go see Scooby Doo on ice. A lot of empty space around the park. Hi there. POV! Firefall The Sky Tower...or was it the Star Tower...can't remember the name. What? You don't see the GCI? Didn't go to Boomerang Bay this time. Only thing worth riding is Down Under Thunder. That's all for CGA. SFDK next.
atem122 Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 Haha that was an awesome PTR, the Nerds seemed to fit right in!
Angry_Gumball Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 It's funny about that Thrillseekers store..Coaster gear? All I see is Fox Racing and a bunch of band t-shirts. Ok, maybe they have 1 small spot with their Ride Warriors stuff. Too bad Flight Deck was down during your visit...it had a couple weeks worth of downtime this summer, leaving one of my visits feel 'incomplete.'
stuartnz Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 I missed CGA in favour of SFDK... and now I'm not sure if I made the right decision. Looks like a great little park!
CreditCrazy Posted October 10, 2009 Author Posted October 10, 2009 ^ Nooooo, you definitely made the right choice. SFDK KILLS CGA.
Angry_Gumball Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 It's weird. Back when I had a pass for SFDK, (when it was SFMW) CGA (Then PGA) was known as the killer park. Now that I get a pass for CGA, then SFDK is now the killer park. Personally, I think both parks are great in their own ways.
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 Looking at all your pictures make me regret how much I missed out on my CGA trip... We were in a hurry that day to go to a family event right afterwards so yeah. Yeah, Drop Tower is pretty good and I love how there's like no lineups for it unlike the one at CW. Is CGA still as quiet and abandoned as I've seen it as?
Angry_Gumball Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 I guess it depends on when you go. When I went during the summer, there had been some light crowds, and even some decent ones towards August (probably school starting up that week, kids squeezing the last of summer out, Flight Deck's queue was just about full at points) and I have seen it dead in October on my last visit (last weekend) where even Psycho Mouse and Delirium were only a couple minutes of waiting. They're typically the most popular rides in the park.
Sunfire Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 ^^Working there, I get a lot of insight into crowds. Generally, beginning of season is pretty dead March through April. During May the crowds pick up a bit, with it being SUPER crowded on Christian rock concert day. Weekdays during the summer are never too bad, the only long lines being Psycho Mouse, Logger's Run, and the water slides. Saturdays in July and August are the most crowded, with the popular coasters having wait times of up to an hour or more. September and October are DEAD, but Halloween Haunt gets pretty crowded towards Halloween. Most of the time, the park is not crowded. Even on Sundays in the summer, the longest wait times are about 30 minutes.
rcdude Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 When I went to California's Great America last year, on a weekday in July, the longest line all day (in the amusement park) was for Barney Oldfield Motor Speedway at about 20 minutes. Logger's Run and Invertigo had 10 minute waits and nothing else was more than 2-3 trains/cycles. However, everything in the water park had at least a 15 minute wait, so I guess everyone goes over there. I did a similar trip to this last year when visiting my cousins in the San Francisco area, so it's nice to see pictures of all the parks. I actually thought CGA was better than SFDK in everything but roller coasters, but I guess everyone has their own opinion. Maybe I'm just biased toward CGA since I got on nearly three times as many rides in one day (32 at CGA, 12 at SFDK, both parks open to close).
CreditCrazy Posted October 24, 2009 Author Posted October 24, 2009 Part 3 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. My 4th visit to this park and it seems like every visit gets better! This park is amazing, and my favorite SF park. It is exactly what SF parks should/are trying be like; clean and family friendly. There are some really good shows too, and the coaster collection isn't bad at all. Never got to go when it was Marine World...no Zonga for me. My 125th credit. This coaster is definitely in my Top 120. Moving on to a coaster in my Top 15... Medusa was great! A lot better than I remembered it. Smooth...fun...re-ridable...un-original...no, I did not just mean to describe B&M. Pre-lift I don't know why I rode Kong...especially since I already had the credit...and a re-ride...and a ride on it's terrible cousin in Kentucky... Oh right I remember...I used to like it! Well not like it...but not hate it. It was in my Top 30 when my count was 70, so I guess it was okay. It sucked, but it's still a lot better than T2. Overbanked turn is fun though. An overview of Kong...from the ground. Didn't bother riding Boomerang after Kong. But I do remember it being a lot better than KBF's Boomerang-with-Arrow-trains-POS. The cobra roll (or is it called a 'boomerang' on a boomerang coaster?) goes right over the path. Reflection shot fail. This rapids is one of the best I've been on! It's fast-paced, there's two waterfalls (one which half of the raft actually goes in) and after several turns and random ways of getting wet, you get SHOT with the water guns. And yeah...I know I used the wrong picture to describe this. SOAKED. But...sorry SFDK, I just have to take a moment to show how much better Disney is than Six Flags (even if this is a SFDK TR). Here is SFDK's water. And here is Disney's. Notice any difference? And if you're thinking SFDK's looks like chocolate milk, I agree.
CreditCrazy Posted October 24, 2009 Author Posted October 24, 2009 Roar was good. Not as good as my night ride in December though. V2 disappointed me. Twas once a Top 5 coaster... Ahhh, so SFDK has M&M stairs too. OVERRATED. I was really looking forward to this, and I kept waiting for something to happen, but it was simply just talking about the tigers and feeding them... UNDERRATED. I didn't even know about this show. It's great, a definite must if you visit SFDK. You were lame. Butterfly house Dolphin fountain Since when are waves colorful? Skyline from the parking lot. The lake That's all for this report, thanks for reading!
atem122 Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Awesome PTR! I also love SFDK and find it as one of the most enjoyable parks for me. It has a nice atmosphere, and a great variety in their rides, something SFMM lacks.
CreditCrazy Posted October 25, 2009 Author Posted October 25, 2009 ^ Thanks, I agree. Plus elephants, what more could you want?
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