Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (SCBB) Discussion Thread

[joelwee]

^ You're right... my bad.

[SoCalJasonland]

The problem with California's system is that Santa Cruz is already slipping back to the red category on adjusted cases per 100,000, and if they are like Riverside County, will be given one week to improve their numbers before getting slipped back a color category.  If they go back to red, no boardwalk rides and they have to lay everyone off again.  I know Riverside Country restaurants have closed their dining rooms three times since March and laid off servers/cooks and had spoiled food each time.  There appears to be no limit on how many more times they can shut any of us down either.

 

[SoCalJasonland]

Santa Cruz is back to the red level with amusement parks closed again.

 

[rolercstrluvr]

Well, that didn't last long. As we all expected.

[KBrylczyk]

 

8 hours ago, SoCalJasonland said:

Santa Cruz is back to the red level with amusement parks closed again.

[rolercstrluvr]

Almost no point in opening at all with how newsoms guidelines are. Theme parks are in the green tier and I've never seen any green on any covid map. It's dumb that he did that when florida is working smoothly. 

[coasterbill]

These tiers are designed to give people false hope but these metrics aren't realistic anywhere but the most rural areas. It just sounds better to give people false hope than to say "Theme parks aren't opening until the middle of 2021 when a vaccine is available to a reasonable number of people even though they're not really a source of covid spread but we don't care about that. Also we're following the science® ".

[ryder]

^^Theme parks are the yellow tier.  There is no green tier, which should explain why you've never seen it.  It doesn't exist.  It was intentional, because (paraphrasing), "we will never be entirely safe.".  And he's not really wrong on that point.  At this point, it's like getting toothpaste back in the tube. 

[Jew]

7 hours ago, coasterbill said:

These tiers are designed to give people false hope but these metrics aren't realistic anywhere but the must rural areas. It just sounds better to give people false hope than to say "Theme parks aren't opening until the middle of 2021 when a vaccine is available to a reasonable number of people even though they're not really a source of covid spread but we don't care about that. Also we're following the science® ".

The flaw with the tiers is a one size fits all approach.  Newsom touted how San Fransisco was able to move into the yellow tier...with a population of 850,000 and a total area of 46 square miles. As well as the highest housing costs in the country and a median income of $130k. So basically, you don’t actually live in San Fran unless you’re a millionaire.  Of course they can afford to safely stay home.

Totally comparable to Santa Cruz County, with less population (250k), but 445 square miles of land and a median income that is half is much, so people in Santa Cruz actually have to work and travel to get places.  Or larger counties like LA county and Orange County, with 10m and 3m people respectively...

[ryder]

Actually, Orange County is in the red tier, and (at the moment) shows no sign of slipping back.  And I was thinking, "how can they be in red, when so many there are anti-mask?"  But I think the answer lies in what you said about SF:  it's a wealthy area, so they have no issue staying home.

[Jew]

1 hour ago, ryder said:

Actually, Orange County is in the red tier, and (at the moment) shows no sign of slipping back.  And I was thinking, "how can they be in red, when so many there are anti-mask?"  But I think the answer lies in what you said about SF:  it's a wealthy area, so they have no issue staying home.

I know Orange County is in the red tier. They will be stuck there, since the odds of a population of 3 million that also spans a much larger area than SF with a lower median income (only parts of OC are high income). LA county will forever be purple for that same reason.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Man, that sucks. I'm sorry they gave you locals false hope for like... 2 days?  

Maybe you'll get another chance in the spring but I highly doubt it's going to clear out of the red/orange during or shortly after the holidays. As it is, my family doesn't know if there are going to be statewide travel bans and I might not be able to come home for Christmas for the first time in a long time. 

[swfan1988]

Hi Everyone!

Wow...and I thought my homepark's thread was quiet! I'll have to liven it up a little bit!

When it came to planning my NorCal trip I knew I wanted to hit CGA, and since I had a rental car and a Six Flags pass I decided I should do SFDK. When looking for what else to do in the area, and being a fan of independent parks in general, I decided to throw in the Boardwalk as a nice bonus. I figured it would be a nice way to kill a few hours before heading to the airport or after spending most of my day at CGA. I man did I regret planning it that way cause was I blown away by this place!

I'll kick this off by saying: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the best park in Northern California.

The whole place made me think of Knoebels, but at the beach! Which to me was like a perfect match! I love the old school feel of Knoebels, and the beach added a whole different atmosphere. I wish it was a little bigger, but the crazy multi-level-ness really added to both the unique-ness and the ride lineup.

The star of the show is of course Giant Dipper. Now you here "Giant Dipper" and you think old wooden coaster (with Morgan trains), like REALLY old. And old wooden coasters are hit or miss. Some are fun, some are rough, some are just plain boring. To me though, Giant Dipper is hand's down the best coaster in NorCal and easily the best classic wooden roller coaster I've ridden. It beats out Phoenix, Racer, The Beast, Judge Roy, and Flying Turns for me. The best way for me to some it up is "They don't build 'em like that anymore...". It was totally out of control feeling from the minute we went into the tunnel to hitting the final breaks. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted too I could smack one of the support trusses at 40 mph those tolerances are so tight, and your just flying every which way in your seat. I would not call this ride "smooth" nor "rough", more like I don't know..."smough". It felt like a well cared for old school wooden coaster, lovingly cared for but still having the many engineering and construction imperfections of a ride built at that time and operating for so long. Some might find it uncomfortable, and I unfortunately ran out of time before I could grab a non-back row ride, but for what I like this is what I want in a wooden coaster like this!

Oh yeah, they have a Maurer spinner called...uhhh...Underflow? (Check's rcdb) Undertow! Pretty standard family spinner, but my vote for best of it's type. I liked it better than Pandemonium or Sierra Sidewinder.

On top of having an awesome wooden coaster, the Boardwalk has not one (but two!) awesome classic dark rides! Cave Train Adventure is a hilarious journey under the boardwalk into a black light filled city of cave men. I got a lot of laughs from this one! The Haunted Castle was a fun old-school haunted house, again on par with Knoebels. I think this one has a few more modern effects than the one at Knoebels, but same kinda of scary but also fun experience.

I wanted to ride Logger's Revenge, since I'm a sucker for log flumes, but the long line and my limited time prevented me. I got some custard from a stand next to Haunted Castle (I think) and enjoyed that while watching the ocean. I know most of the vendors here are third party, but dang that was some good custard!

And after a few hours my time was up... I really wish I had planned a full day for this park, or even had skipped SFDK and just come down to Santa Cruz for a night. There seemed like so much to do on the Boardwalk and the near by warf. I really REALLY liked this park, and it's probably the only one in NorCal that I legit want to go back to soon. It is a little spendy, but it's also in a resort area and I think it could have been much more expansive. But that's really it's only con in my book. Otherwise, Knoebels on the Beach? SIGN ME UP!!!

And that concludes my little trip to NorCal, and my 2023 TR's! I don't have much planned other than a Florida trip this summer, so we'll have to see where I end up this year.

See you guys all next time!

[DJeXeL]

You did the right thing by fitting this into your trip. SCBB is a very well-kept park

[moviemansig]

Here is a trip report.  The Giant Dipper was the first ride of the day we did and it had just one train operation.  I did Wave Rider for the first time, where you sit in a roll out rug and slide feet down.  It was pretty enjoyable.  Surge, which came out this year, is a spinning ride that goes up, down, and sideways.  I definitely enjoyed it.  Dream Wheel, which also debuted this year, is a gondola like Ferris wheel.  It's an open-air configuration that rotates, but it feels like you're stationary as much as you're in motion.  The views are quite good, but overall it's just a so-so ride.  I did Twirlin’ Teacups for the first time.  This is a spinning ride where you control the spin.  It's tame, but kind of fun.  Lastly, I did Lighthouse Lift-Off for the first time.  This one has a unique design.  You determine the height of the ride by pulling on an attached rope and then can release it anytime, but for the best experience would want to release it at the top.  You can do this multiple times.  I liked it, especially for its different approach.