California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[XYZA village is missing its IDIOT!]

Not a big fan of the new commercial, I thought the screaming commercial was better. At least the coaster wasn't from SFMM.

[Flagg O'DimI'm a know-it-all about donkeys!]

Just got back from a busy, yet bearable Sunday at the park.

I was stunned by the utterly pointless new extra restraint on Grizzly. Big surprise -- dispatches were slow because of it. At this point, we'll be seeing OTSRs on the new coaster...

I'm annoyed at how the line system works on Grizzly now, just doesn't make sense. Also, why completely redo the whole layout of the line when the existing exit ramp could have been used for Fast Lane?

On the plus side, kudos to ride operator Terriss (sp?) for his comedic entertainment. Also, the ride was flying around the track (for Grizzly, that is).

Quote of the day: 11-12 year old girl touches support for Grizzly, and asks "Is this made out of wood?" When she gets an answer, she then says, "Look at it! It's going to fall apart any minute!"

Speaking of Fast Lane, they were really pushing it today, with signs every 20 feet and a loud new ad playing over the speakers. I found the "Caltrans vest" themeing for the Fast Lane line operators to be laughable. Come on, that really wasn't necessary.

We had a wild ride on Firefall today. It did a backwards flip, and as a result we flew over the water Stealth-style. At the end, the wind picked up, covering us and the whole station in propane fumes.

Construction on the stadium is in full effect. Trailer offices have taken up about a fourth of the parking lot, and there is an imposing dirt patch where the stadium will sit. The parking garage is monstrous as well. I heard a lot of people commenting about the "new Niners stadium" all day.

[Angry_GumballIt's All About Quality!]

So an additional seatbelt has been added, eh? Talk about redundancy. Next, we'll see seatbelts for the seatbelts for the seatbelts for the....yea, you get my drift. I don't understand why the extra redundancy has to be added especially since a neighboring woodie just south (sort of) just uses the lapbar, that's it...and operations on that fly.

To answer the question of Grizzly's material: it is merely a hologram that you can actually touch, feel/ride, generated by one's imagination. Everyone knows the only real (reality) coaster is Tiki Twirl

So that path I took a photo of a couple weeks back, that's only for Fast Lane users I'm gathering? Also, is Grizzly still only on 1-train mode or is Red finally alive and running? Lastly, are people still being ushered to their given row (as on an attendant at the top of the stairs directs traffic and tells you which row to go to)?

I'm going to see about going next weekend to get some rides in. The Firefall maneuver sounded cool sans the odd scent of propane.

[Flagg O'DimI'm a know-it-all about donkeys!]

So that path I took a photo of a couple weeks back, that's only for Fast Lane users I'm gathering? Also, is Grizzly still only on 1-train mode or is Red finally alive and running? Lastly, are people still being ushered to their given row (as on an attendant at the top of the stairs directs traffic and tells you which row to go to)?

I'm going to see about going next weekend to get some rides in. The Firefall maneuver sounded cool sans the odd scent of propane.

They're still building the staircase for Fast Lane (which that path leads to), looks like they still have a way to go. Yep, Grizzly was running two trains. We rode on the red train, the addition of the extra seatbelt could explain why it was down for so long. I didn't see if the blue train had the seatbelt though. And you're still forced to wait at the bottom of the ramp, while the (nice, shady) station is sitting nearly empty, which I find annoying.

That's the second time Firefall has done the backwards flip for me. The trick is to have a nearly empty gondola (it was just my brother and I and two other people in the front). Really disorienting, but fun!

I would imagine both trains have the belts as is this seems to be a required thing now so they would not be running one train with and one without.

[Double0KevinJar-Jar Binks smells like Donkey]

Both trains have the new lap-bar seat belt. When I was at the park on April 20, the blue train did not have this belt (Red was in the transfer station). Then when I went on April 28, both did. It absolutely murders throughput because people can barely fit. I watched 2 young teenage girls that each weighed maybe 95 pounds struggle to get the bar down far enough to buckle. I'm not sure if my seat had a slightly bigger belt, but no way I would have fit on the row they were in. I just barely got in on the one I rode (which is making me a little worried that I'm becoming a little Acer or something). I think it's time for CGA to buy new trains.

On a side not, everyone was loving Grizzly; and honestly both times I've ridden this season, my rides were pretty enjoyable. The ride is still not overly thrilling, but it's been fun so far.

I don't completely understand this belt. When I went a few years ago I remember a single belt for both riders plus the lap bar. Is this an additional belt so there are now two and this belt connects to the lap bar similar to Drop Tower for example?

[JeffyJosephNorCalI teach at the school of donkey!]

Is it like Demon where you pull the seat belt from below and attach it to the restraint or in this case the lap bar? Being that the lap bars on each car are connected to each other, meaning when one moves the other does as well, sounds like a big pain when comes time to exit when the people in front of you have their seatbelts unbuckled and you are still connected to the lap bar and vice versa...

I always thought it was stupid how the front and back row lap bars are connected together.

[XYZA village is missing its IDIOT!]

I think it's about time for Grizzly to get timberliners.