TR: Northern California and Pacific Northwest Trips 2013

[rcdude]

Even though I live in Southern California, it is rare that I visit the Northern California parks. I have relatives in the area and it isn't that difficult to drive up there, but for whatever reason I rarely do it. My previous visit was in 2008, and before that 2004, 2003, and 2001. However, since three of the parks have received a new coaster in the past two years, I decided it was time for another trip. Also, for the first time, I decided to visit all four parks in the same trip.

 

Park 1: Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park-July 14th, 2013

 

I was not originally planning to visit this park, as I went here on my 2008 trip and the park has not changed one bit since then. However, my grandparents (who were traveling with me) really wanted to stop, and my uncle and cousin (who had never been to the park before) were willing to drive down and meet us here. Add in $22 tickets thanks to Club TPR and it was a done deal.

 

Gilroy Gardens is not a ride park. Their most intense ride is a family coaster, and even parks like Disneyland or LEGOLAND feature more thrilling attractions. Instead, Gilroy Gardens is more of a horticulture park, with spectacular landscaping and plenty of interesting plants. Yes, there are around a dozen or so non-kiddie rides, but the real enjoyment of the park is just exploring all the gardens. The park is small, so a half day is plenty of time for the park (those going just for rides would need no more than two hours here), and crowds are rare on any day of the week.

 

Ride Reviews: Other than Quicksilver Express (which I rode twice), we did each of the following once over the four hours we were at the park.

 

Paddle Boats: A paddle boat ride out on the lake. Unlike most parks, Gilroy Gardens does not have an upcharge for this attraction. Capacity is low, however, so I recommend doing this early (within an hour of opening), as it is one of the few rides in the park that actually gets a line. Decent ride, not too difficult to paddle, and gives a good view of the park. You have a time limit (5-10 minutes) depending on crowds.

 

Rainbow Garden Boats: Also known as the spinning boat ride, this attraction is little more than a scenic tour of the Rainbow Garden. This is another attraction that does get a line due to low capacity (4 people per boat). I like this ride, but I do think it is a little on the short side.

 

South County Backroads: One of my favorite rides in the park, a dual tracked car ride with exceptional theming and landscaping. The two tracks run in opposite sections but feature most of the same sights. If there's a short wait, I'd recommend going with the 1950s track as it features a few extra bits (such as driving through a car wash and getting pulled over), but the line for the 1920s track moves faster as its cars can seat four riders instead of two.

 

Mushroom Swing: Waveswinger that looks like a giant mushroom. Pretty good ride compared to others of its type, but the seats feel a little tighter than most.

 

Quicksilver Express: A custom Morgan Mine Train coaster, this is a decent family coaster. The first half isn't all that exciting, but after the second lift hill the ride gets going fairly fast and is quite fun. To my knowledge, the ride only has one train, but it is rarely more than a station wait and operations are pretty good.

 

Sky Trail Monorail: The lapbar monorail, this gives a tour of the Monarch Garden greenhouse and surrounding area. The ride is accompanied by narration and goes past a few animatronic displays of insects (as well as one of raccoons playing with dynamite). Good ride, short, but never has a line thanks to two train operation.

 

Coyote & Redwood Railroad: A train around the entire park with two stations, one at the front and one at the back. Guests may ride this one way or on a round trip. The entire voyage is narrated, although it isn't always easy to hear. I'm not a huge fan of this railroad because almost everything can be seen by walking and the wait can be long due to only one train. For a shorter wait, board at the back station.

 

Pinnacles Rock Maze: Another of my favorites at this park, a challenging maze with plenty of dead ends and circular paths. You can also go up above the maze and watch your friends trying to escape. Of the five people in my group, I was the second out and one person couldn't even make it to the exit.

 

Timber Twister: The park's kiddie coaster, a standard medium Tivoli model from Zierer. I find this ride pretty dull, but it's a good starter coaster for kids. Like Quicksilver Express, this ride rarely has more than a station wait.

 

Garlic Twirl: Teacups attraction that looks like a giant garlic. It was just my cousin and I on this and we got it spinning pretty good, so I imagine a group of three or four could really get this going. I'm not crazy about teacups rides, but I'm guessing this is probably one of the better ones for those that like them.

 

We spent approximately four hours in the park (slightly past opening to about 2:30 P.M.), then left and headed up to my relatives' house in Kentfield (about a two hour drive north). My cousin didn't really care for the park, as he found it boring, but my uncle (who doesn't really enjoy theme parks in general) and my grandparents loved it. I think Gilroy Gardens is a nice park and everyone should check it out, but once you've been there is little reason to go back. After two visits, I doubt I'll bother to visit the park again unless I'm visiting with first timers and/or the park adds a major new attraction. It certainly is a nice park, one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks, but it is too small for the price they charge (without a discount, tickets are $50 and the best online discount is still $30+) and the park is not very exciting for a ride person.

 

Pictures: As Gilroy Gardens is not a ride park, most of these are not ride pictures.

Welcome to Gilroy Gardens, the second best landscaped park I've been to.

Entering the park, you must cross this bridge. The trees actually grow through holes in the deck.

Claudia's Garden is the closest garden to the entrance. You enter under one of the park's famous Circus Trees.

From here, it doesn't look much like an amusement park.

There are certainly rides here, however. Several of them are food themed.

The Garlic Twirl, probably the best themed Teacups outside of the Mad Tea Party.

View from the Paddle Boat dock. At 7 acres, the lake occupies about a quarter of the park's total area.

Every park needs a carousel. Gilroy Gardens actually has two, but I don't have a picture of the smaller one.

Sky Trail Monorail. Quicksilver Express runs all over the hillside in the back.

Most of Quicksilver Express is hidden by foliage. I also wonder if the queue has ever been filled up.

There was a little animatronic show next to where we stopped for lunch. I didn't watch it, but it looked like it involved talking fruits and vegetables.

Typo in the learning shed.

This picture was taken around 1 P.M. and shows the maximum crowd on a normal day at the park.

Bonfante Falls is named after the original owner of the park and is a neat little diversion.

The attraction has five types of waterfalls, each of varying intensity.

If you choose to walk behind the waterfalls, you will get wet.

The park really is a nice place to spend half a day, and can easily be combined with the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to make a full day of fun.

Time to head out. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom up next (most likely Friday).

Edited August 30, 2013 by rcdude

[XYZ]

I went to Gilroy Gardens last month and it was a great park. I actually spent the whole day there and got to ride Quicksilver 12 times throughout the day.

 

Can't wait for the next trip report!

[kailisun98]

Quicksilver express hasn't been repainted in years. Its pretty faded.

[singemfrc]

Thanks for posting this, I live in Northern CA (2.5 hrs away however) and have never seen Gilroy Gardens before.

[rcdude]

Park 2: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom-July 16th, 2013

 

Of the four parks in Northern California, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is the only one I'd consider a thrill park. Although not a place worth traveling a great distance for, the park does have some good coasters. For those not interested in thrill rides, however, the park has a collection of animal exhibits and several shows, as well as some family rides, though not as many as most Cedar Fair parks.

 

Unfortunately, when I last visited in 2008, the park had the worst operations I had ever seen (at the time). One train operation on all coasters except Medusa, and very slow employees on almost all rides. I remember Medusa being over a half-hour wait when the line wasn't even out of the station as the second train would often stack behind the station before the loading gates were even open. Worse, I noticed that on most rides, any cycle with Flash Pass riders was loaded and dispatched rapidly, leading to my theory that the park wanted slow operations to sell Flash Passes. Additionally, there were several ride closures on that day, and due to a late arrival we encountered 30 to 45 minute waits for every attraction on a summer weekday in July when it wasn't even excessively crowded. Naturally, re-rides were few and far between, and we didn't have time for anything other than coasters and a couple flats.

 

This visit, however, was completely different. It was a summer weekday in July again, but we managed to be inside the park fifteen minutes prior to rope drop. To my surprise, not only was everything open (although a few rides had delayed openings), two trains were in use on every coaster that could accommodate them and stacking was minimal despite adopting the extremely ridiculous visual scan. As a result, we managed to ride every coaster by 1 P.M., do several non-coaster rides, get any re-rides we wanted, and check out the animal section. Also, with only one exception, no line was more than 30 minutes despite similar crowd levels as my previous visit.

 

Last year, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom added Superman Ultimate Flight, and I planned a trip to the bay area to ride it. However, due to a surprise family trip to Europe and the announcements of Gold Striker and Undertow, I decided to delay my trip by a year so I could get all three coasters in. Of the three new Northern California coasters, Superman was the one I was most looking forward to, as I had heard it was the best coaster at the park (and the best steel coaster in all of Northern California). Did it live up to the hype?

 

Ride Reviews:

 

Superman Ultimate Flight: We went straight here upon opening and ended up in the back seat on the first train of the day. I knew what to expect, but my aunt (my only companion for today) did not, and after the ride could only think "what just happened?" Now, I may be biased since Xcelerator and Full Throttle are at my home parks, but I found Superman fun but underwhelming. It is certainly a very different ride than any others I've been on, but I don't think it is an amazing travel-worthy coaster like the reviews said. We did ride a second time later in the day (in the front seat this time), but after a 60+ minute wait due to average 90 second dispatches (not the fault of the crew, as it was caused by priority boarders) it just didn't seem worth it. I would definitely try to ride this coaster on a future visit, but would not consider it a must ride and would probably skip it if the line was anything over 30 minutes.

 

Roar: I'd heard this coaster had gotten very rough. After riding, I agree that yes, it is rough, but it is not nearly as bad as many other woodies (including my local woodie, GhostRider). I love the first drop on this coaster, and although it is my least favorite GCI, I still prefer it to any non-GCI woodie in California save SCBB's Giant Dipper. Rode twice, including a back seat ride, and I definitely could have rode again if time permitted it. The line was only about ten minutes, despite appearing significantly longer due to the hold position being right inside the entrance.

 

V2: Vertical Velocity: I really like this ride. In fact, it's probably my favorite inverted coaster in California. The ride is short, but the entire thing is just pure fun, and I feel that this has a better launch than Superman. Rode twice, including a front seat ride, and I would have done a third ride if the line was shorter (my first ride was a walk-on, but my second had a 20 minute wait and the switchbacks were over half full when I checked on it for a third).

 

Sky Screamer: This was new since last time I visited, and while the ride isn't really tall enough to be scary it is still a fun ride. We rode twice as the line had shrunk to nothing by the end of the day (the first ride had a 15 minute wait, during which we got to see everyone streaming into the park). Given its height, I prefer Windseeker, but I think a taller Sky Screamer is probably better than a Windseeker.

 

Kong: Last time I visited, this was my first SLC, and I thought it was terrible. I wasn't planning to ride it, but since my aunt wanted to, the line was only about ten minutes, and I wanted to compare it with my other SLC experiences, we decided to ride. We chanced the back seat, and I don't know if the ride is better there or is just running smoother, but it wasn't horribly rough. It wasn't smooth, but I agree with what my aunt said: "It's not great, but I'd ride again with a short line." Kong is no longer my least favorite SLC, now ranking 4th out of 5 (Canada's Wonderland's Flight Deck now ranks in last place).

 

Medusa: Since the line was never more than 30 minutes for this, we ended up getting three rides on it including a front seat ride, and if we had more time I would have rode more. This remains my favorite coaster in Northern California, and after the front seat ride has replaced Dominator as my favorite floorless coaster. My aunt, who had never experienced a floorless coaster in the front before, thought it was amazing and couldn't believe how convincing the foot-chopper illusion is. Medusa has the best zero-G roll on any non-inverted coaster I've been on, has the only Roll Over on a B&M, and although the second half is somewhat dull it is still better than the whole of many B&M coasters (especially the recent ones). Easily the best ride of the day.

 

Boomerang Coast to Coaster: This was broken last time I visited, so instead of being my 2nd boomerang it became my 8th. In terms of smoothness, this is the roughest of the four I've been on with the original Vekoma trains, but still smoother than any of the ones running Arrow trains. The wait was only about 15 minutes, which was fortunate as even though boomerangs can be fun it would still feel like a waste after a long wait, even though it is a new credit.

 

Tazmanian Devil: This remains my favorite of the Frisbee rides and my favorite non-coaster ride at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The swinging isn't as intense as the newer models, but the ride spins more, especially at the end when the ride cranks it up to nearly 30 RPM. The wait was only about 20 minutes for this one.

 

White Water Safari: I've always found SFDK's rapids ride to be just okay, as most of the wetness comes from water cannons fired by spectators and a single waterfall as opposed to rapids and other automated tricks. I'm also not a huge fan of the style of boats used on this attraction, as the walls block splashes to some degree. Still a fun ride, but if the line was over about 30 minutes I would probably skip this one.

 

Monsoon Falls: A pretty good splash boat ride due to a steeper drop than most and only simple seatbelts to keep you in. This ride gets you fairly wet, and water cannons may add to the wetness. We got lucky and only had to wait about 2 minutes as one of the boats had two empty seats and it was just larger groups in front of us. After the rapids and then this, we were dripping wet for most of the remainder of the day.

 

Cobra: I wasn't planning to ride this, as I already had the credit and the line was longer than the larger coasters for most of the day. Since it shrunk to a one-train wait, we decided to stop by on the way out. Still my least favorite of the three large Tivoli coasters I've been on, but a good coaster for kids.

 

Ride Totals:

 

Boomerang Coast to Coaster: 1

Cobra: 1

Kong: 1

Medusa: 3

Monsoon Falls: 1

Roar: 2

Sky Screamer :2

Superman Ultimate Flight: 2

Tazmanian Devil: 1

V2: Vertical Velocity: 2

White Water Safari: 1

 

Total: 17 rides in 8 hours (2.125 rides per hour)

 

Coaster Rankings:

 

1. Medusa

2. V2: Vertical Velocity

3. Roar

4. Superman Ultimate Flight

5. Boomerang Coast to Coaster

6. Kong

7. Cobra

 

I did not attempt to get the Roadrunner Express credit as I wasn't sure if adults were allowed to ride unaccompanied or not. On my last visit, anyone over 54" needed a child to ride, but I thought I'd heard the rules were changed. If so, I'll just have to get the credit next time. I did find it funny that Roadrunner Express (as well as several other kiddie rides) were included on the Flash Pass, and I wonder how often they are accidentally booked by groups without kids.

 

In addition to rides, we spent a good hour browsing the animal exhibits (which I deducted from the time above). Compared to the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld San Diego (my local zoo and marine life park, respectively), Discovery Kingdom's exhibits are nothing special. However, as a complement to the ride park, the land and sea sections are great. For the land animals, the Elephant exhibit is probably the best, and the Walrus exhibit was the nicest in the sea section (although we skipped the sharks, so that could be better). I also really liked the butterfly garden, as it was unlike anything I've seen elsewhere.

 

Overall, a great day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Although the park has improved since my last visit and is a decent park, it is still my least favorite Six Flags branded park and my least favorite of the parks in Northern California. Even though the park has a lot to do, there just aren't that many unique attractions, and I think that is the biggest flaw of the park. While no other Six Flags parks have animal exhibits (except Great Adventure's Off-Road Safari), everything at Discovery Kingdom would also be found in a normal zoo or marine park, and the rides are mostly standard models. I did not get a chance to see any shows, so perhaps these help to set Discovery Kingdom apart, but until my next visit I won't get a chance to find out.

 

One other random comment about the day: I heard a lot of people comparing the park to their local Six Flags. SFOT, SFOG, and SFMM were all mentioned, and in every case people seemed to have a preference for their local park (not surprised, as all of them were riding coasters and SFDK's coaster collection isn't anything special). I just thought it was funny that there were so many non-locals at a park the size of SFDK (it's one of the smaller Six Flags parks) and everyone seemed to think Six Flags was nothing but thrill rides (which is true of some, but not all, of their parks).

 

Pictures:

 

Might as well start off with Superman since it is the main reason I visited.

Superman is one of the most linear complete circuit coasters out there.

Since the line is right below the ride, you can get some good shots while waiting.

Trains get really close to going all the way over the non-inverting loop on the backwards launch, but even the rearmost set of wheels falls short of the peak.

The 150 ft tall barrel roll gives some good hangtime. Not as good as Full Throttle, but still better than most coasters.

Sky Screamer...not too effective when placed next to a taller coaster, but still a fun ride.

Medusa has one of the few straight drops found on a B&M coaster (excluding hyper coasters and dive coasters).

I remember the Roll Over (or Sea Serpent Roll) being highly publicized when Medusa opened. I'm kind of surprised B&M never built another.

Animal Time! First up are the cougars.

SFDK has four cougars, but they're never all out at once as three of them don't like the fourth.

I really like how the tiger enclosure has an underwater viewing area, even though it wasn't of much use today.

This one was just hanging out in the middle of the exhibit, while the other one was pacing in a corner.

So SFDK has Lions and Tigers, but no bears? I guess they're only worth an oh m

There were a lot of people watching the giraffe feeding, but very few people actually doing it. If I remember right, it wasn't too expensive or anything.

Just a shot to show the crowds at the park. More crowded than Gilroy Gardens, but not excessively crowded or anything. I'd consider it a Flash Pass optional day.

The Walrus Encounter. I didn't get an underwater shot since that viewing area was filled with people, but due to where they were swimming you couldn't always see them from down there anyway.

While this is about the maximum height of the swing on Tazmanian Devil, at full rotational velocity you'll do about a half rotation before falling back down.

A couple shots of Medusa on the way out.

It may be a parking lot coaster, but it is a very good parking lot coaster (it certainly wipes the floor with SFMM's parking lot floorless).

Finally, a shot from the parking lot at the end of the day. Good park, not spectacular, but certainly fine for a fun day out. California's Great America coming next week (probably Tuesday).

[singemfrc]

Roar above Superman? The hell you say.

[bottom_feeder_13]

Nice report, I really love the second and last pics, the last one really shows how complete and good looking a skyline SFDK has for a mid-sized park.

[The49er]

Nice TR! You have much more luck with lines than I do. On my last SFDK visit, three of five rides we fit in had 30+ minute waits!

[rcdude]

Thanks for all the comments (for both reports). I meant to reply to previous comments, but forgot about it, so I'll post replies for everything so far and do anything else posted with the CGA report.

 

I went to Gilroy Gardens last month and it was a great park. I actually spent the whole day there and got to ride Quicksilver 12 times throughout the day.

 

It is certainly a nice park, and one you could easily spend longer in. The first time I visited, we planned on four hours and stayed for six just because of how much we all enjoyed the park. Quicksilver 12 times in a day...not sure I'd make that, but I'd definitely ride it four or five times during a full day visit.

 

Quicksilver express hasn't been repainted in years. Its pretty faded.

 

It is faded, but it doesn't really look bad. Living in southern California, I can think of at least half a dozen coasters at my local parks that look worse.

 

Thanks for posting this, I live in Northern CA (2.5 hrs away however) and have never seen Gilroy Gardens before.

 

You're welcome. If you are ever down in the Gilroy area, have the time and can get a reasonable discount, I highly recommend stopping by the park, even if you can only visit for a couple hours. I wouldn't drive 2.5 hours for the park, but if it's only a 30-45 minute detour it's worth it.

 

Roar above Superman? The hell you say.

 

I do like GCIs, they are my favorite wooden coaster manufacturer and four of my top ten woodies are GCI. However, I don't officially rank wood and steel coasters against each other and placed Roar based on its relative ranking compared to V2 and Superman (as all three are in my B group of coasters). The only important thing is that, in my opinion, V2>Superman>Boomerang.

 

Nice report, I really love the second and last pics, the last one really shows how complete and good looking a skyline SFDK has for a mid-sized park.

 

Glad you like them. SFDK does have a nice skyline, although it is a bit cluttered due to everything being at the front of the park and being approximately the same height. I'm not patient enough at a theme park to sit there and wait for a perfect shot (nor do I have anything fancy for a camera), so I tend to just take random photos when I happen to see something interesting as I'm walking by or waiting in line. Typically I end up with a handful of good photos, a number of average ones, and a few not so good ones (which don't make it into the report).

 

Nice TR! You have much more luck with lines than I do. On my last SFDK visit, three of five rides we fit in had 30+ minute waits!

 

I've been to SFDK three times (previously in 2001 and 2008), all on summer weekdays in July, and this was the only one without significant lines. On both previous visits, most attractions were 30 to 45 minutes, with the most popular rides approaching an hour.

[rcdude]

I'm a little delayed but that's okay. I'll definitely have Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk up by the end of the week as well as I'm leaving on another trip this weekend (which may or may not include additional parks).

 

Park 3: California's Great America-July 18th, 2013

 

Even though Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has a better coaster collection, I've always felt that California's Great America is the better of the two larger bay area parks. They have a larger ride selection, the park is nicer, operations are generally better, and it is rarely crowded. Yes, it is still my least favorite Cedar Fair park, and up until this year it didn't have anything world-class, but the park is still a nice 2/3 of a day park (full day if you also visit Boomerang Bay).

 

Due to traffic I was unable to arrive at opening, but I did get there shortly afterward. The park was a little more crowded than when I last visited in 2008, probably due to the influence of Gold Striker. However, I never waited longer than 20 minutes for anything, many rides were 10 minutes or less, a number were walk-ons, and I was able to do everything I wanted to, re-ride everything I wanted to, do some bonus rides, and leave the park by 6 P.M. Keep in mind that this was a summer weekday when most parks this size experience 45-60 minute waits for their headliners, but here both were under 15 minutes all day (the waterpark did look busy, but probably nothing more than 30 minutes).

 

So, how was the brand new Gold Striker?

 

Ride Reviews:

 

Gold Striker: I am a huge GCI fan, so I was really looking forward to this ride. It did not disappoint. While not my favorite GCI (that still belongs to Thunderhead), and I think an opening year Apocalypse would probably edge it out, Gold Striker is my favorite wooden coaster in California, my favorite ride at CGA, and my second favorite GCI. The ride maintains a breakneck pace throughout the whole ride and has much stronger forces than most wooden coasters. My grandfather rode with me and was surprised how intense the ride was. My aunt rode as well and thought the ride must be launched or powered in order to maintain its speed, and couldn't believe it was all gravity driven. I like the tunnels on the ride, and while people complain about the walls I didn't really pay any attention to them while riding. My only complaint about the ride is assigned seating, and although it is necessary with the station design it is the main reason I only rode twice despite a 15 minute wait (both rides were in the middle, and I didn't want to wait and get placed there again...grouper was not allowing requests).

 

Vortex: Wow, this ride has gotten bad. I've always remembered it as being rough, but this time it hurt. I've been on smoother Vekoma and Togo rides. Easily my least favorite B&M, both due to the roughness and the uninteresting ride. Since it was a walk-on, I rode twice (once in the middle, once in the back), and surprisingly the back was smoother, but both hurt to a degree. Even though CGA is short a couple coasters, this ride needs to be retired or completely refurbished.

 

Demon: This one hurt too, but unlike Vortex I was somewhat expecting it. Rode twice as it was a walk-on (once in front, once in the middle), and...yeah. I do like the layout and setting of this coaster (especially the double corkscrew over the water), but the ride is just outdated and could use a replacement. Still one of my least favorite Arrow loopers, though not the worst out there.

 

Barney Oldfield Speedway: I really like this vintage car ride because it let's you drive around and under the structure of Grizzly. It is a fairly long ride, and although the layout is basic it is still fun. It was also one of the few rides my grandmother could do. The wait was only five minutes, but it certainly got longer later in the day due to limited capacity.

 

Drop Tower: I hate the name, but I love the ride. Standard Intamin tower, but there's nothing wrong with that. I got my aunt to ride, even though drop towers are one of the few ride types of ride she doesn't like. When we got down and were asked if we wanted a re-ride (since there was no line), she shook her head and was the first one out the exit. I did re-ride later even though there was a short wait.

 

Tiki Twirl: I like this better than the regular Disk-O rides, but they're just so common now that I can't get excited by them. Fun ride, but not one I'd wait long to do.

 

Psycho Mouse: This was the longest line in the park at 20 minutes. Fairly standard wild mouse, not specifically good but not bad either. It is smoother than most of them and uses less braking due to banked turns, but the layout is standard and operations left a bit to be desired. Still, I rode twice as it is one of the better coasters in the park (surprisingly).

 

Grizzly: This also had a 20 minute wait (yes, the 1980s woodie has a longer wait than the brand new one). Before, I've said that the ride was fun but nothing special, but after riding Gold Striker I realized this is boring and a bit rough. Yeah...this was the only coaster I didn't re-ride, and I honestly wouldn't care if I never rode it again. Loading takes forever due to extremely overkill restraints, and other than the first two drops the ride is slow and dull without so much as a hint of airtime.

 

Eagles Flight: I always like any type of aerial lift (possibly due to my love of skiing), and this one is quite useful as a method of transportation. It's about a four minute ride from the back of the park to the front, and you get a good view of everything. The line to go from back to front was 10 minutes, but the other direction it would have been a walk-on. Go figure.

 

Rue Le Dodge: One of the better bumper car rides I know of. The cars go at a reasonable speed and the arena is large enough to avoid pileups. I do wish they allowed head-on bumping, but even without that the ride is still quite fun. Certainly far better than my local bumper cars (the ones at Knott's).

 

Flight Deck: Outside of ERT sessions, it is rare that I get off a ride and go right back on. However, I did with this ride. Of the three B&M Inverted coasters in California, this is my favorite, and while not one of the best (mainly due to the shortness of the ride), it is still excellent. The helix at the end remains my favorite part of the ride, but it's all good. I got assigned a middle row for the first ride, and requested the front for the second (glad I did). My aunt rated this as her favorite coaster in the park, but I prefer Gold Striker as I don't think I'd want to ride Flight Deck more than a couple times in a row but could easily do an hour (or more) on Gold Striker.

 

Firefall: This was broken last time I visited, so I made sure to ride this time. It wasn't that great. The program is rather uninteresting with only a couple flips, and the restraints are horrible. I'll stick with my local top spin (Riptide at Knott's) as it is much more intense and doesn't crush you into the seat.

 

Flying Eagles: I enjoy flyers, and while this one isn't particularly special it was still fun. I couldn't get the cable to snap, but still got some pretty good swings. The line was about 15 minutes due to slow loading times.

 

Rip Roaring Rapids: Good rapids ride, certainly better than the one at SFDK. I really like the use of pools on the ride to slow boats in areas where spectators can blast riders and at the end when you pass under the sprayer. The ride is also deceptive, as you'll go a while without a significant splash and then suddenly hit a rapid that soaks the boat. I got pretty wet, my aunt not as much. I wish they would load more than one group per boat, though...even though the line was only ten minutes, it was a bit annoying to see a stream of boats with only 2 or 3 people when they seat 6.

 

Loggers Run: Good log flume, but not great. The ride is a bit drawn out for my tastes, but I do like the double drop at the end and getting to tour the water park. I saw a couple groups get kicked off this for trying to ride with swimsuits (odd that they allow it on the rapids but not this). I got wetter than I expected, but as I rode right after the rapids it didn't matter.

 

Orbit: I like enterprises, but they are a rare ride. The ride is not too intense, but is just intense enough to be a thrill ride. It also never feels like you're inverted on this rides, even though by glancing to the side you can tell that you clearly are.

 

White Water Falls: This probably gives the most airtime of any splash boat I've been on since there are absolutely no restraints. However, there is zero wetness factor to the ride. I was surprised to see three boats in use on the ride even though there were only about ten people riding (I would have gone by myself until the boat behind me pulled in and a few kids joined me).

 

Star Tower: I actually hadn't been on this before because it always seemed pointless, but now that Gold Striker is there you get a neat view while going up. I ended up getting a double ride as somebody freaked out and they had to bring the cabin down prematurely.

 

Celebration Swings: There was no line and I like swing rides so I figured I'd give it a ride. Pretty standard, although I encountered some terrible kids (story below).

 

The only ride I missed that I would have liked to ride was Delirium (it was down every time I walked past). I probably would have done several of the other non-kiddie rides if I had more time in the park, but none of them were on my must-ride list.

 

Ride Totals:

 

Barney OIdfield Speedway: 1

Celebration Swings: 1

Demon: 2

Drop Tower: 2

Eagles Flight: 1

Firefall: 1

Flight Deck: 2

Flying Eagles: 1

Gold Striker: 2

Grizzly: 1

Loggers Run: 1

Orbit: 1

Psycho Mouse: 2

Rip Roaring Rapids: 1

Rue Le Dodge: 1

Star Tower: 2

Tiki Twirl: 1

Vortex: 2

White Water Falls: 1

 

Total: 26 rides in 8 hours (3.25 rides per hour)

 

Coaster Rankings:

 

1. Gold Striker

2. Flight Deck

3. Psycho Mouse

4. Demon

5. Vortex

6. Grizzly

 

Although it was mostly a good day, there were a couple annoyances of note...

 

Poor Groupers: On Gold Striker, assigned seating is somewhat necessary due to the station design, so although I don't like it that's how it is. However, I found it annoying that seats were being assigned on Vortex and Flight Deck, both of which have never had assigned seating and have room for several trains of riders on the platform. Neither one had much of a line, so I'd always see the back car or two empty (waste of a perfectly good backseat ride). Also, even though there was a short line on Flight Deck, the grouper was not pairing up groups of two, so trains had a number of empty seats. Yes, the line was short, but in my opinion the grouper should either do their job to keep the line moving or just hold the line with necessary to merge in Fast Lane users (never buy this Saturdays and holidays) and let everyone pick their seat. I already mentioned that the Rapids grouper wasn't filling boats either, and at Psycho Mouse it was one group per car (even if they were a single rider next to a group of two or three). I would hope this isn't the case when the park is busier, as it would be unacceptable at most parks.

 

Terrible Guests: I saw more line jumping at CGA than I usually see at my local parks (even SFMM). I also saw tons of graffiti on the walls of Gold Striker's queue, despite the ride being brand new, and both times I rode there were a couple people adding to it (I would have alerted the operators but didn't want to start a fight...I was getting some strange looks from the vandals who saw me with my camera even though it was always pointed at Gold Striker). The park really needs to crack down on this, as it is the worst I've seen at any park. Finally, there was a group of kids on Celebration Swings who needed to be ejected: first they were holding hands and spinning chairs, even after being told not to, then a couple of them removed their shoes and tossed them from the ride (while it was spinning at full speed), and finally one undid his bar and would have jumped while the ride was still spinning and about ten feet off the ground if the operator didn't yell at him. I'm very surprised the ride operators didn't stop the ride and remove the kids, especially after they started dropping shoes intentionally.

 

For the most part, however, the day was pretty good. CGA is a decent park, but isn't really worth traveling a long distance to visit. The park needs more attractions, and hopefully after a decade long drought they'll get some in the near future. Tear out Vortex, Grizzly and Demon, add another headliner coaster and another family coaster, fill in some of the dead space with modern flat rides, revamp the kidde areas, and add a slide tower or two to the water park and this could be a great park. Unless Cedar Fair wants to make CGA a thrill park (which it really isn't...it's one of the most family friendly Cedar Fair properties), simply adding more coasters isn't the answer.

 

Pictures: Since the CGA gang already has this park pretty well covered, I didn't take many pictures, but here are the handful that I have.

I always like to show my traveling companions at some point. This is my aunt, who visited SFDK and CGA with me.

And these are my grandparents, who accompanied me everywhere except SFDK (they were mainly going to visit my Kentfield relatives, but volunteered to visit other parks so I wouldn't be by myself).

Okay, so this is the primary reason for visiting CGA. It may not be the tallest or fastest of its type, but it is one of the best.

An example of trying to be artsy and goofing up. I was trying to get the train under the lamppost but pressed the button a half second early. Oh well, it's still the best shot I've got with a train.

I liked this better when it was Survivor themed and had a storyline and soundtrack.

There are better wild mouse coasters out there, but this one isn't bad.

Master Schwarzkopf's spinning disk, an oldie but goodie.

One thing I like about CGA is that the park just looks nice. Too many corporate parks feel generic and cheap (especially Six Flags parks).

Kids enjoying the kiddie credit I will likely never have.

And finally, is this an acceptable amount of wetness? The final park, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, should be up tomorrow or Friday.

[kailisun98]

Vortex is actually ok if you know how to ride correctly.

[DJeXeL]

^Please explain said "correct" way to ride Vortex........

Last time I checked, Vortex was still a piece of sh*t.

[Blue Fire Guy]

^Vortex is unpleasant regardless of where you are in the train. For the least amount of pain, sit in one of the middle seats (not middle cars, but next to the train's line of bilateral symmetry), which will still give headbanging, just not really bad headbanging. The worst beating you can get would be the edge seats of the back row. Those are rough as hell, and you might want to take some ibuprofen afterwards.

 

If you can manage to focus on all the rows in front of you and try to ignore the headbanging, you can see all of the cars rattling about like crazy! I have yet to encounter a B&M with worse rattle than this one. Evil, EVIL Giovanola trains!

 

And lastly...

Terrible Guests: I saw more line jumping at CGA than I usually see at my local parks (even SFMM). I also saw tons of graffiti on the walls of Gold Striker's queue, despite the ride being brand new, and both times I rode there were a couple people adding to it (I would have alerted the operators but didn't want to start a fight...I was getting some strange looks from the vandals who saw me with my camera even though it was always pointed at Gold Striker). The park really needs to crack down on this, as it is the worst I've seen at any park. Finally, there was a group of kids on Celebration Swings who needed to be ejected: first they were holding hands and spinning chairs, even after being told not to, then a couple of them removed their shoes and tossed them from the ride (while it was spinning at full speed), and finally one undid his bar and would have jumped while the ride was still spinning and about ten feet off the ground if the operator didn't yell at him. I'm very surprised the ride operators didn't stop the ride and remove the kids, especially after they started dropping shoes intentionally.

Thanks for mentioning this. I have seen too many people at the park that are worthy of being ejected. There's the usual lovely line jumpers and Gold Striker vandals, but then there are those that really infuriate me, such as "tub jackers" over at the flyers (two incidents, one was a kid who wasn't watched by his parent(s), and the other was a kid where I was walking toward the tub and he ran and snatched it from me). I will also never forget those pre-teen imbeciles who built up a large quantity of spit in their mouths and released it onto Angry_Gumball and I during a back row ride on Flight Deck. We went to the ride ops to inform them of what happened but the kids got away...oh well, they'll get it someday.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Blue Fire Guy

[Angry_Gumball]

^Yes, those spitting "South Park" kids as I like to say (the 4 kids reminded me of the quartet of kids from South Park, up to no good)... That spit actually lasted quite a while and felt continuous, much like a mister (Since when did Flight Deck become equipped with misters?) I'm sure when we followed them as they got to mommy and daddy, they felt a little uncomfortable. Yes, I hate kids who are old enough to know better yet have more spit coming out of their mouth than a baby sucking and teething. In the end, lesson learned...don't talk about it (to where they can hear you, just go straight to ride op...and let the kids be surprised). In the end, I believe in karma and something will nip them in the butt

 

Further adding on in regards to our lovely B&M (rocking non B&M rolling stock), I typically keep the restraints lower (shoulder pressure) in a way that it keeps the uncomfortable blocky saddle away from my crotch. Keeping the OTSRs low, I'm able to kind of stretch my neck and keep the ears clear of smashing. But standing on an end seat regardless of what row just sucks, period. My shoulders were smashed, along with my lower jaw. So yea, stick toward the center of the train. I posted this in CGA thread but here goes my seating diagram for Vortex:

 

(this applies to all rows)

 

I would have to say that Vortex and Scream were the 2 roughest B&Ms I've been on. Scream is a notch below Vortex, but it still shakes your body around.

 

In the end, you know there's something wrong when you have to 'ride a coaster correctly' instead of just hopping on and enjoying the ride!

[rcdude]

Vortex is actually ok if you know how to ride correctly.

 

I rank coasters using a letter grade system, where A is an ERT-worthy ride (such as Gold Striker or Medusa), B is really good, but not something I'd necessarily want to ride continuously (such as Flight Deck or V2), C is good, but not worth a long wait (surprisingly, none of these in Northern California), D is only worth riding if there is almost no wait (most family coasters and mass produced coasters fall into this category), E is I don't need to ride again (Grizzly would be here) and F is never again (only a handful of non-kiddies rank this low). In general, anything that requires a trick to enjoy will never rank above a C, and Vortex I actually rank as a D (the only B&M ranked this low). My belief is that if a coaster is good, you should be able to sit normally and enjoy the ride, and if you can't it is at best an average ride.

 

And lastly...

 

Terrible Guests: I saw more line jumping at CGA than I usually see at my local parks (even SFMM). I also saw tons of graffiti on the walls of Gold Striker's queue, despite the ride being brand new, and both times I rode there were a couple people adding to it (I would have alerted the operators but didn't want to start a fight...I was getting some strange looks from the vandals who saw me with my camera even though it was always pointed at Gold Striker). The park really needs to crack down on this, as it is the worst I've seen at any park. Finally, there was a group of kids on Celebration Swings who needed to be ejected: first they were holding hands and spinning chairs, even after being told not to, then a couple of them removed their shoes and tossed them from the ride (while it was spinning at full speed), and finally one undid his bar and would have jumped while the ride was still spinning and about ten feet off the ground if the operator didn't yell at him. I'm very surprised the ride operators didn't stop the ride and remove the kids, especially after they started dropping shoes intentionally.

 

Thanks for mentioning this. I have seen too many people at the park that are worthy of being ejected. There's the usual lovely line jumpers and Gold Striker vandals, but then there are those that really infuriate me, such as "tub jackers" over at the flyers (two incidents, one was a kid who wasn't watched by his parent(s), and the other was a kid where I was walking toward the tub and he ran and snatched it from me). I will also never forget those pre-teen imbeciles who built up a large quantity of spit in their mouths and released it onto Angry_Gumball and I during a back row ride on Flight Deck. We went to the ride ops to inform them of what happened but the kids got away...oh well, they'll get it someday.

 

While I wouldn't necessarily consider "tub jacking" ejection worthy (although the operator should make them wait for the next cycle or send them to the back of the line), anything that either causes a safety hazard, could be considered criminal activity, or results in an unpleasant experience for another guest definitely deserves an ejection. I don't work at a park, but to me it certainly seems like too many people get away with stuff they shouldn't because parks don't police guests well enough. The sad thing is parks shouldn't need to police guests to keep trouble from occurring, but due to the number of dumb guests they do. Some parks are certainly than others, but I have yet to visit a park and not see at least one person during the day who deserves an ejection (usually line jumpers or people taking illegal POVs).

 

Further adding on in regards to our lovely B&M (rocking non B&M rolling stock), I typically keep the restraints lower (shoulder pressure) in a way that it keeps the uncomfortable blocky saddle away from my crotch. Keeping the OTSRs low, I'm able to kind of stretch my neck and keep the ears clear of smashing. But standing on an end seat regardless of what row just sucks, period. My shoulders were smashed, along with my lower jaw. So yea, stick toward the center of the train. I posted this in CGA thread but here goes my seating diagram for Vortex:

 

(this applies to all rows)

 

I would have to say that Vortex and Scream were the 2 roughest B&Ms I've been on. Scream is a notch below Vortex, but it still shakes your body around.

 

This probably explains why I thought the back was smoother. In the back, I was in the right-center seat, but when I rode in the middle I was in the outer-left seat. Perhaps new trains could improve the ride, but when a basic 1976 Arrow is better than a 1991 B&M there's certainly a problem. Any coaster that requires a specific seat to enjoy or a specific riding technique to avoid having your ears bashed into oblivion is obviously in need of a serious overhaul.

 

And I've never had an issue with Scream, but I don't generally mind rough or shaky coasters as long as they aren't painful (and I've never had more than minor headbanging on Scream, usually when riding in the back).

[Angry_Gumball]

Getting seat jacked is just highly annoying and I have called people out on snatching my seat when I was putting my goods in the bin. On a ride like Flying Eagles, it is even moreso annoying as you have 8 tubs, a group of 8 adults who are going to ride as a group (single rider/tub, otherwise we'd exceed weight limit) and 1 little (unsupervised) kid slips past the ride op and literally shoves you out of the way as you're getting ready to climb in...then you get the lackadaisical ride op who says "well, I didn't see them come in so I can't do anything..." Actions like this, I feel that just making them get back in line/back behind air gates is sufficient unless they decide to not listen to instruction. When it comes to being defiant is when it comes to being kicked off. Back to the lazy ride op... Well, you did count how many people went past you so you should be paying attention!

 

On the flipside, I have seen where the park has put their foot down...and at one time had seen a group of rebelious/violent line jumpers get ejected (yup, escorted by security and police) off park property. I've also seen where they continuously stop the lift on Gold Striker when one decides to whip out their phone and film themselves a shakey 'illegal' POV.

 

When it comes to the rest of the rides where we're riding with a friend, we usually designate 1 bag person for each row, or in the group while the rest of us gets seated and saves the empty seat for their riding buddy. Doing it this way also helps reduce congestion at the bins, therefore speeding up loading times!

 

I usually ride Vortex once a visit as a 'courtesy ride' and to make my day feel like I've done more different rides. Otherwise, that's that. On rare occasions, I'll ride Grizzly...which was last ridden a month ago...last ride before that was before April/spring break. I'll gladly spend my hour wait for Gold Striker instead.

[singemfrc]

I typically keep the restraints lower (shoulder pressure) in a way that it keeps the uncomfortable blocky saddle away from my crotch. Keeping the OTSRs low, I'm able to kind of stretch my neck and keep the ears clear of smashing.

I initially did that for other reasons, but it does work. I had a relatively non-painful ride on the outer seat of the front row that way.

 

With most older coasters you should pay attention to the restraints, it can make a difference between painful and not painful. The only coasters that I find egregiously painful are Revolution, Kong, and X2. For Revolution and Kong I've figured out how to ride painlessly but it really goes beyond just correct use of restraints, its ridiculous. For X2 if you're on the outside seat there's no escaping it, it will be painful, there's nothing you can do. X2 is the only ride that I absolutely cannot ride more than once per day.

[kailisun98]

I typically keep the restraints lower (shoulder pressure) in a way that it keeps the uncomfortable blocky saddle away from my crotch. Keeping the OTSRs low, I'm able to kind of stretch my neck and keep the ears clear of smashing.

I initially did that for other reasons, but it does work. I had a relatively non-painful ride on the outer seat of the front row that way.

 

With most older coasters you should pay attention to the restraints, it can make a difference between painful and not painful. The only coasters that I find egregiously painful are Revolution, Kong, and X2. For Revolution and Kong I've figured out how to ride painlessly but it really goes beyond just correct use of restraints, its ridiculous. For X2 if you're on the outside seat there's no escaping it, it will be painful, there's nothing you can do. X2 is the only ride that I absolutely cannot ride more than once per day.

I just find Revolution painful. How do you ride it so that it is painless?

[singemfrc]

^ It's comfortable by any means, but it does at least stop the concussions and/or ear bleeding. Putting your hands up by your ears seems the thing to do but usually ends up with you basically punching yourself in the head..I've found that gripping the OTSR lower down by the neck keeps your head from moving back and forth and hitting the sides of the restraints.

 

It really is extra sad on this coaster since these OTSRs are so unnecessary.

[rcdude]

Time to wrap this up, at least for now. I'm going to a cousin's wedding in Washington next week, so if time permits I might try to visit a couple of the Pacific Northwest parks. If I do, I'll be sure to add those reports here, but for now I've got one more Nor Cal park to report on.

 

Park 4: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk-July 19th, 2013

 

Unlike the other three Northern California parks, which I visited in 2008, the last time I had visited Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was in 2004. I think this is overall the best of the Nor Cal parks, and with a new coaster it was definitely time to return. Unfortunately, the day was the worst of the four park days on the trip.

 

To start with, we had terrible service at an IHOP in Santa Clara and encountered traffic getting to Santa Cruz. As a result, it was close to noon by the time we finally arrived. It was a Friday and supposed to be overcast, so I figured people would come in the afternoon and evening, leaving the crowds relatively light until around 2 P.M. Well, it ended up being nice weather, and my crowd predictions couldn't be more wrong. Every single attraction had a full or overflowing queue when we arrived, and by the time we left all the headliners had additional temporary queuing set up. As if that wasn't bad enough, operations were not very good and line jumping was just as bad, if not worse than what I saw at CGA the day before (fortunately operators would deal with it if they saw it). I was hoping to do the dozen or so rides on my checklist and get out of there by 3 P.M., but I ended up staying until 5 P.M. and not even completing my checklist.

 

Ride Reviews: I only rode each of these once, as the lines did not allow for re-rides.

 

Double Shot: I was expecting this to be like the smaller double shots with extreme airtime, but I was disappointed as it felt more like a small space shot with some airtime but not a ton. It was fun, but I wouldn't wait 20 minutes for it again. This was one of the few rides with good operations, as the loading only took about 60 seconds each time. Also, the restraints seemed tighter than on other S&S towers, as I was barely able to get the belt buckled but have never had a problem on another S&S tower (and I had just rode Supreme Scream a month earlier).

 

Haunted Castle: Definitely the most elaborate of the three dark rides at the park, this one was probably my least favorite but still very good (my grandparents said it was only a step below some Disney dark rides). All of the sets were well done, but it was very dark so some stuff was difficult to see. I didn't realize the cars rotated throughout the ride, so that was a nice surprise and something I'd like to see on more dark rides, and the ride was significantly longer than I expected. Unfortunately, even though there was a 20 minute wait only four cars were in use, which meant all four would go and then the line would stop for a couple minutes until they came back. They really should use at least 6-7 cars on a dark ride of this length.

 

Giant Dipper: I really like this ride, but it is a bit overrated. The ride is extremely smooth for its age and is certainly fun, but I've never got any of the airtime I hear about and it's more of a large family woodie compared to modern coasters. Still, I'd rank it third in California (behind Apocalypse and Gold Striker), and while it doesn't quite make my top ten list it still is in the top quarter of woodies I've been on. Annoyingly, the ride was only using one train even though the wait was 45 minutes and the second train was just sitting there (I did see both later in the day, but why not start with both if you're expecting crowds).

 

Logger's Revenge: Good log flume, but not great. I rank this one as about on par with CGA's even though it's only about half as long. Not quite as wet and the drop is smaller, but still fun. Due to the temperatures, this was one of the few rides with a short wait (10 minutes), but it moved slowly due to only one loading station in use.

 

Ghost Blasters: I like this ride. In fact, it's probably my favorite of the Sally shooters I've been on (it certainly has the catchiest theme music). I scored 1,610, which I assume is a pretty good score (it was certainly higher than either of my grandparents' scores). This is the only other ride that I thought had decent operations, although the queue was full so it was still a bit of a wait. This ride also had the worst line jumping of any ride in the park, although I saw a couple groups kicked out because they were caught (usually it was a parent waiting separately and then their kids rejoining them when they got off so they could ride again without waiting).

 

Wipeout: This was new since last time I visited, and all I knew was that it was a breakdance. This is a very good ride, easily the best breakdance I've been on and one of the best spinners. While I still think the Astrosphere at Funtown Splashtown is the best in-the-dark flat ride, this is definitely one I'd like to do again. This ride would also be the worst nightmare of anyone who suffers from even a tiny bit of motion sickness.

 

Cave Train Adventure: My favorite of the three dark rides at the park as although it is very cheesy, it is done very well and is a unique attraction. I don't know if this ride has more than one train, but it was only using one even with an overflowing queue. Other than Giant Dipper, this was the longest line I waited in.

 

Cyclone: Only did this because the line was short. I like round-ups, but they're not one of my favorites, and this was just a typical model.

 

Rock-O-Plane: This is a very old ride, but still a very good one. While I could not get the cage to flip completely, I did get it locked in a number of interesting positions and still had a fun ride. The only thing I don't like with this attraction is that it can be very uncomfortable as you're only restrained by an unpadded lap bar, but for a ride as interesting as this it's worth it and just adds to the somewhat sketchy feeling the ride has.

 

Skyglider: Even though it would have been far quicker to walk, we decided to take the Skyglider just for fun when we were heading out. Nothing too special, just a chairlift running approximately 1/2 the length of the boardwalk.

 

The following rides were on my checklist but I did not get a chance to ride them:

 

Undertow: Not open yet. In fact, nobody was even working on the ride. The cars are on the track, but it doesn't appear to have run once. The station area was only half-done, and other than missing catwalks next to the brake runs everything looked in place. I don't know if it's Maurer Sohne or SCBB's fault that this isn't running yet, but I'd think the park should be doing everything they can to open it as soon as possible. If it can be tested without the delayed parts, test it, and if not get the station and queue completely done so once the parts arrive and are installed it just needs to be tested and opened. No park should be opening their new ride the last week of their peak season.

 

1911 Looff Carousel: I really like this carousel as it still has a working ring dispenser, but the line was out the door and I didn't want to chance waiting and not getting an outside horse. Hopefully next time I'll get to ride, as this is one of the must rides at the park in my opinion.

 

Crazy Surf: I mainly just wanted to ride this since it was new. Unfortunately, the line was too long.

 

Sea Swings: Same as the Crazy Surf...new ride, long line. At least this one is a common ride.

 

Fireball: This ride frustrated me more than any other. I'd heard it was one of the better rides of its type, and especially after missing Delirium I really wanted to ride. I got in line after getting off Giant Dipper and waited for about ten minutes only for the ride to break down. Since SCBB is a pay per ride park, they kick everyone out of line when the ride goes down so that was a waste. Later in the day, I saw the ride running so I tried again, even though the line was overflowing into a temporary queue. I waited all the way through the line, and when I got to the point where I'd be on the next cycle the ride broke down again and everyone was kicked out. Unfortunately, we had to leave so I didn't have enough time to wait and try a third time. In total, I wasted at least 45 minutes trying to ride this and not being able to, and I could have easily done one or two other rides with that time.

 

I like the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, but I just did not have a good day there. Perhaps this is normal crowds for a Friday, in which case I need to avoid Fridays for future visits. If not, I got unlucky in encountering excessive crowds and poor operations simultaneously and it will hopefully be better next time. I'll try again next time I visit the Bay Area, if for no other reason than getting on Undertow, and I'll be sure to allow a full day if possible (or at least more than 5 hours) in case of crowds. Perhaps it is better to visit in the evenings and/or midweek.

 

That's about it for this trip. Overall, it was a good trip. I left out the two days I did stuff with my relatives, but none of it was that interesting (most exciting thing was taking the ferry to San Francisco and walking around a bit). I don't know when I'll get the chance to return to the bay area...if there's a bash next year, I may have to come up for that, but otherwise it will likely be anywhere from a few years to a long time.

 

Pictures: I've only got a handful from SCBB because I was busy running around trying to complete my checklist and get out of there at a reasonable time.

From here, it isn't obvious that Undertow isn't open, other than the fact that it's not cycling.

However, upon closer inspection there are some missing parts and the station area is only half-done. People always rip SFMM for construction delays, but I have to nominate SCBB for worst delay of 2013.

Giant Dipper is the signature attraction of the park, and one of the oldest coasters in the world.

If only the ride was running two trains...I really wanted a second ride.

Either Fireball is more unreliable than most Intamin rides or I got super unlucky to have it break twice on me.

This is about as close as I got to the ride.

Surprisingly, the beach was not as busy as I thought it would be.

Yes, there were still plenty of people there, but it wouldn't be hard to get a decent spot or anything.

If I'm not mistaken, this is one of Sally's most popular shooting dark rides. It certainly is a good one.

Another of Santa Cruz's dark rides. I described this to my grandparents as Kingdom of the Dinosaurs crossed with the Calico Mine Ride but done in a cheesy cartoony style.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has a traditional Ferris Wheel. However, it's not worth riding.

Instead, ride the Rock-O-Plane. Probably the park's second best flat ride after Wipeout.

This is roughly half of Logger's Revenge. The ride is no more than three minutes long, but is still a decent flume ride.

I'll end with an overview of the park. It really was a very busy day. Next time will hopefully be better. Thanks for reading, and check back in a couple weeks as there may be a few reports from rarely seen Pacific Northwest parks.

[singemfrc]

Yeah, I had the same traffic problem when I went from CGA to SCBB..never take the 880 into or out of Santa Clara. Strange that the park was so busy and the beach wasn't, stranger still that the Dipper was so busy they had temporary queues set up but still only one train running.

[Angry_Gumball]

Typically when I've gone, while the boardwalk and beach looked insanely crowded, wait times were relatively short. Too bad you got the (mis)pleasure of missing out on Fireball. It is my favorite of it's type of ride. And I agree, Wipeout is actually my favorite flat ride at SCBB...sure it's just a small 'family-sized' Breakdance Type 4/Huss Rodeo but it runs faster than the one at CGA...combine it with being enclosed with loud techno/surf music and dramatic lighting package. And the 'pods' feel like they're looser/more free to spin...which leaves me with an insane ride full of spinning (I tend to shift weight at the right moments). Last time I rode Wipeout, when the ride stopped, I managed to keep my pod continuously spinning fast...my ride wasn't quite over yet! And then the locking brakes engaged.

[rcdude]

Time to bring this thread back in a modified form.

 

Earlier this month, I attended a cousin's wedding up in Washington. My Dad had been planning to go for some time, and had come up with a week and a half road trip through Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Since I only decided to go about a week before departure, I didn't expect to have any say in what we did along the way, but when he asked for suggestions I mentioned (among other things) stopping at the three parks in the area: Wild Waves Theme Park, Oaks Amusement Park, and Enchanted Forest. We did manage to get to all three, but only for brief visits at each (3 hours at Wild Waves and 2 at the others).

 

While I do have photos from the three parks and will be doing those reports over the next two weeks, I figured I'd first cover all the non-park stuff we did on the trip (except the wedding, which I forgot to bring my camera to). So here is everything we did on the way up from Saturday, August 3rd to Thursday, August 8th, and the first park report (Wild Waves) will be up tomorrow.

The first day was a drive day. We drove up US 395 through the California high desert, but took a couple detours along the way.

Sunday found us in Reno, but we're not here to gamble.

The museum also had several display galleries. The first had antique cars, such as this one from the 1910s.

The museum was really nice. Everything was decorated to look like the appropriate time period, with the right cars on the street.

Another street in the museum.

The predecessor to an RV.

A row of cars in the 1930s display gallery. I found this the most interesting of the four main galleries.

Old engines. They also had a working display of a 1930s engine.

Some of the old cars were quite odd, such as this one.

The Thomas Flyer was the single most interesting vehicle in the building. Built in 1907, this was the winner of the 1908 New York to Paris race.

Instead, we're visiting the National Automotive Museum. My Dad is a car guy, me not so much, but I still really enjoyed this museum.

The last gallery contained competition cars. They were neat, but...

The 1950s display gallery. Several movie cars were present here.

We first went to Sulphur works, the most accessible of the park's active locations. You could feel the heat from this mud pot from the walkway.

Volcanic vents in the landscape.

While the area is volcanic, there were plenty of areas that looked like any mountain forest.

Brokeoff Mountain, one of the four main volcanoes in the park (all four are currently dormant).

Here I am at the Ridge Lake.

The first day we hiked to the Ridge Lake, a short but strenuous hike.

We then headed up to the first of four national parks on the trip: Lassen Volcanic National Park. Of the four, this was probably my favorite, especially since I prefer active natural features.

Before moving on, this is the hotel we stayed at while at Lassen. It was located about ten miles from the park in Mineral, CA, and with a restaurant and general store attached, this was pretty much the whole town. Neat place to stay, but don't expect many modern conveniences (the rooms didn\'t even have television).

On our second day in Lassen, we went for a longer hike. The next several pictures show a panoramic view of the south section of the park from a lookout on Bumpass Mountain.

The descent into Bumpass Hell, the most active area of the park.

Bumpass Hell is entirely covered in sulfur deposits. As a result, it is unsafe to walk anywhere except the boardwalks, as you could easily fall into a boiling pool otherwise.

There were bubbling mud pools all over the place in this area of the park.

Steam vents were also scattered all over the place. The whole time we were down here, you could smell the rotten-egg smell sulfur gives off.

One of the steam vents close to the path.

There were a couple of pools down here, but I wouldn't want to go swimming as the water was still very acidic and quite hot.

Lassen Peak from the Bumpass Hell trail.

Lake Helen, with a great backdrop of Lassen Peak.

This was the trail up to Lassen Peak, but it was closed for refurbishment. Due to road construction, a couple other hikes we planned to do were not easily accessible so this was it for Lassen park (except for driving through to the north exit).

We took a scenic route up to Oregon using Forest Service roads to go around Mt. Shasta. It gave some great views of the mountain.

The next day (Tuesday), we visited Crater Lake National Park. Unfortunately, it was very smoky due to fires in South-Western Oregon.

One of the tour boats at Crater Lake.

The water is very clear in the lake, so you can see down quite deep. I have no idea how far down it goes here.

Without the smoke, this would be a beautiful picture. Even though this is the best view I got, I'm glad I got to see the lake.

We hiked down to lake level (a short and somewhat strenuous hike). It's hard to imagine that even down here you're only a third of the way to the bottom of the caldera.

Here I am at Crater Lake.

We drove up to Mt. Hood that afternoon and went to Mt. Hood SkiBowl to do the alpine slide. Great ride, probably the best of the three alpine slides I've done. But that's not the only reason we visited Mt. Hood.

Timberline Lodge is the location of Timberline Lodge Ski Area, one of the two primary ski areas on Mt. Hood (the other is Mt. Hood Meadows). However, it's August, so why would we be at a ski area?

This is the start of the Magic Mile chairlift. It runs a mile up the mountain from the lodge, gaining a thousand vertical feet along its length. In the summer, the lift is used as a scenic skyride and to transport skiers to the Palmer snowfield.

Perhaps for hiking? While we did walk a little way up the mountain, this is not the reason we are here.

We spent the night at Timberline Lodge, a historic building on the mountain. According to a documentary, it was built in the 1930s as part of the WPA during the Great Depression and President Roosevelt himself dedicated the lodge.

Surprisingly, the snow was great, at least on the upper half of the run. We skied for a couple hours, and while it got a little softer on each run it was no worse than typical spring conditions.

Yes, I did say skiers. Timberline Lodge is the only place in the United States where you can ski 12 months a year.

Skiing takes place on the Palmer Snowfield, an area that receives so much snow it stays year-round. The entire area is upper-intermediate difficulty, and the run is over a mile long with 1,500 ft. of vertical.

My Dad on the chair for one last run (green jacket on the left). I called it quits before he did because I was getting tired and skiing the same run over and over gets boring to me after seven or eight laps.

There's a great view from up here. According to signs, on a clear day you could see as far as Mt. Bachelor from the top of Timberline.

Since we were done skiing by 11, we headed down to the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland to look at some waterfalls and do a bit of hiking.

Latourell Falls is the first one you come to going east on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Although quite large, it is not the most impressive waterfall in the gorge.

This was one of two you could walk behind, but it was very muddy back there so we passed.

Bridal Veil Falls, a smaller waterfall. This one required a short hike as it wasn\'t visible from the road.

Multnomah Falls, the largest waterfall in the gorge at over 600 ft. tall. This was the popular spot for sightseers.

While the waterfall is tall, not that much water flows down it. As a result, a little wind can significantly alter its path.

Lower Multnomah Falls from the pedestrian bridge.

Our final stop was Horsetail Falls, which is actually two waterfalls. This is the lower portion of the falls.

And this is the upper portion, which required a half-mile hike. Like Latourell Falls, it was possible to walk behind this one.

The backside of water. Disney has nothing on the real thing.

Ok, story time. We saw a sign at the beginning of the trail and at the bridge that stated "The steel bridge on Horsetail Falls Trail is open, but limited to one person at a time crossing. There is some damage to the bridge, but engineers have determined one person crossing at a time is safe." This left us wondering how they determined it was safe and what counted as one person.

I love how forested the Pacific Northwest is. It's definitely a region I wouldn't mind moving to.

We took another scenic route through Washington that took us near Mount St. Helens, one of the most well-known volcanoes in North America.

The next day (Thursday), we drove up through Mt. Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier is magnificent. It is one of those mountains that towers over everything else, and it is relatively easy to get close to it.

This would be a challenging mountain to climb, however, as the entire thing is covered in glaciers. I know people have done it, but I'm guessing all are serious mountaineers.

Since we were only a few miles away, we decided to drive up to Crystal Mountain just to see it. Although it is Washington's largest ski area, I've been to several that are larger in California and Utah.

The Mt. Rainier Gondola was open for scenic rides, but we passed. From here, it was onward to Wild Waves Theme Park, which will hopefully be covered tomorrow.

[rcdude]

The Pacific Northwest is not a region for amusement park enthusiasts. There are only five or six parks in the entire region, and all of them are small. The largest and most talked about is Silverwood in Idaho, which unfortunately was too far out of our way. However, I did manage to visit three of the other parks in the region.

 

Pacific Northwest Park 1: Wild Waves Theme Park-August 8th, 2013

 

Excluding the Washington State Fair, Wild Waves Theme Park is the only full amusement park in the state of Washington. It is a small park, comparable in size to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire. The park used to be owned by Six Flags, during which time it was known as Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, but now the park is independently operated and the whole place goes under the name of the attached waterpark.

 

The main draw of the park is the waterpark, which is large enough that it would make a decent stand-alone waterpark. However, as time was a concern (we only had 3 hours for the park), I only did the ride park. To our surprise, nothing was longer than a ten minute wait, so I was able to do most of what I wanted and leave early.

 

Ride Reviews: Other than Timberhawk, I did each of the following once.

 

Timberhawk: Ride of Prey: Without a doubt, this is the best ride in the park (in fact, it was the best ride of the three parks I visited). I'd never been on an S&S woodie before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the ride was very smooth by wooden coaster standards and was quite intense in the back. Anywhere else, however, the ride still has a good first drop but is more of a family woodie. The longest the line got for this was three trains, so I rode four times. Good ride, but not worth traveling all the way to the park just to ride it.

 

Downhill Tubin': This recently replaced the park's sack slide, and while more unique I don't know if it is necessarily better. The ride is basically a dry form of the snowtubing hills found at ski resorts. Since there are only three lanes the line moves very slowly and a 48" height restriction prevents younger children from riding (and they would most enjoy this).

 

Kiddie Coaster: A Zamperla Tornado, this was not that great. The ride is a simple single-helix powered coaster that does four or five laps. Surprisingly, most of the people riding this were older children (4th and 5th grade age) and not young kids.

 

Lumberjack Falls: A standard splash boat ride, this is the only water ride at the park. As far as these types of rides go, this one was great because it got you fairly wet (but not absolutely drenched), it only had seat belts instead of a lapbar, and the line was short.

 

Wild Thing: Old Arrow Loop & Corkscrew, this is the biggest, most intense coaster in the state of Washington. It also had the longest line in the park at 10 minutes. The ride was okay, not terrible but not particularly notable either. It was smoother than the other one of this model I've been on (Steamin' Demon at Great Escape), and you were allowed to go twice if you wanted without getting off.

 

Disco Flashback Boogie Ride: Despite the fancy name, this is just a standard Disk'O ride. These are one of my favorite medium-intensity flats, and although they are quite common for some reason there isn't a single one in Southern California, so I try to ride them if I can. Nothing particularly notable about this one.

 

CW Parker 1906 Carousel: I don't always ride carousels, but when I see a historical one I like to ride just because of it's significance. Standard carousel that was lacking music, so it wasn't anything special other than being almost a hundred years old.

 

The only ride I would have liked to ride but didn't was Klondike Gold Rusher, which was closed for the day. It is a missed credit, but fortunately it is just a wild mouse. There were a handful of other flats I considered riding, but didn't due to one annoying rule Wild Waves has: On any ride with a shared restraint, single riders are not allowed. Even rides I've ridden as a single rider elsewhere had this rule, and since my dad doesn't do flat rides for the most part I wasn't able to ride most of them. Fortunately, a vast majority of the rides at Wild Waves are standard models that are present at many parks around the country.

 

Wild Waves is a decent park. For a local's park, it's quite good, but for a traveling enthusiast three or four hours is all you'd need unless you also do the waterpark. The park is nicely landscaped and has some theming, employees were great, operations were above average, but the park is just lacking in the ride department with only one attraction worth multiple rides. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, but I wouldn't go out of the way for this park.

Downhill Tubin', the unique dry tubing attraction at the park.

Even though the park is small it was split into themed areas.

Me on the powered Kiddie Coaster. Yes, I count these.

The one missed credit of the trip, Klondike Gold Rusher. Fortunately, I didn't miss much if my past experience with this model is anything to go by.

In about five seconds these riders are going to be soaked.

Best themed swinging inverter I've seen. Klondike Gold Rusher, Lumberjack Falls, and Timberaxe (this ride) all form a mini Northwest themed area.

A look at the north section of the waterpark. While none of the slides there are particularly interesting, it did still look fun.

Wild Thing, the biggest, most intense coaster in the state of Washington, is just a standard Arrow Loop & Corkscrew.

The park's antique carousel. Nice location on a hill surrounded by trees and flowers...shame more people weren't riding (my cycle only had three other riders).

First up, Timberhawk. The ride is a bit of a hike, but it's worth it.

Most of the coaster is hidden by trees. It's a double out-and-back ride with a bit of a wavy layout.

We didn't do the Dodgems here as it had one of the longest lines in the park.

Most parks have a bus or airplane for this ride, but Wild Waves has a covered wagon.

I don't think this wagon will be going anywhere anytime soon.

When spinning, Gambler looked like a roulette wheel.

It was kind of a cross between a sack slide and snowtubing. Pretty fun, but I would hate to wait for it if the line was long.

Kang-A-Bounce in the kiddie section. Wild Waves actually has a great kids area, better than a lot of larger parks.

Random theming left over from the Enchanted Forest days.

Here I am on the 1906 Carousel. It may be just a carousel, but how many rides are close to a hundred years old?

The longest named Disk'O ever: Disco Flashback Boogie Ride.

If I ever come back, I'd like to spend some time in the waterpark. Today, however, we're just doing rides.

And I'll end with the Ring of Fire, one of my least favorite rides out there. The Oregon parks will be up at some point next week, both in the same update.

Wild Waves is situated around a lake. On one side of the lake is the waterpark and on the other is the amusement park.

[Sidra]

Nice report man. Saw a lot I haven't seen before. Thanks.