Paramount's Great America

My favorite theme park is Paramount's Great America. I like all the roller coasters and thrill rides they have. My favorite roller coaster is Vortex. I also like the Delerium. The water park expansion is awesome. I even rode my first roller coaster at PGA which was the Grizzly. This forum is just for PGA. Post whatever you think of PGA.

PGA #1

i like pga. im going there the 24th of april. its the only park close to me that has a drop tower. i love drop towers. its so wiered because they are thrilling and extreamly relaxing at the same time. well any way pga is a good park.

it would be good if they could get rid of demon. no one likes it, its old, its taking up a lot of space, they could probably put something else in the spot. i just dont understand why they get rid of something like greased lightning slash tidal wave which was not taking up any space and more popular than demon. oh well i guess it maybe the park wants it.

I like PGA, but I do not like the Grizzly, sorry, My favorite coaster thier BY FAR is Top Gun, its short, but very good

It's a pretty good park. Top Gun is great, though short. I disagree that they should take out Demon. It might be a little rough, but it's nowhere near as painful as Grizzly. I also like how Demon is almost completely covered with trees.. few coasters hold surprises like that. I don't, however, think it's a great park. It's a fun way to spend a day, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit when there are much better parks in southern CA. What they need are more innovative rides. "Innovative" in the way Top Gun was when it was first installed. I still don't understand why they took out Stealth for a so-so waterpark. The only positive side of the waterpark is that it sucks all the kids away from the other side of the park. But yeah, it's a decent park.

I agree, the Demon is fine, no real reason to replace it, it's the Grizzly that needs to go, its always on lists of coasters that need to be either, retired, replaced, or have an accidental fire

it's the Grizzly that needs to go, its always on lists of coasters that need to be either, retired, replaced, or have an accidental fire

Accidental fire! Now, that's an idea! (evil grin) I'm sure it won't be necessary as the coaster will probably collapse on itself over time. There's nothing more comforting than seeing a crooked lift hill because the wood is all warped.

Then again, maybe Grizzly wouldn't be considered so terrible if the Giant Dipper wasn't right over the hill.

The grizzly is just terrible, from the first day, granted the Giant Dipper is right there, but the Santa Cruz Beach Boadwalk absolutly kills PGA in attendance(most likely thanks to the beach portion)

All they had to do was get someone who knew a little bit about coasters, instead they had a local contruction company do it, and you know what, it shows, even if that thing was smooth, it would still be crap

I'm all for the "accidental Fire"

Have the Gravity Group come in and redo the coaster, then it would rule

PGA, right now I could live without it, as I've been living without it for a few years now. I'm about 20 minutes away, so a few years back I had a VIP Pass and my dad had a WOW Card. We would just go after he got home from work during the summer and basically re-ride Top Gun over and over. So now I'm a bit tired of PGA. I think that Grizzly should be torn down and a newer age smoother (but not too smooth, not steel smooth) woodie be put in. Demon's a great ride, probably the 4th best ride in the Bay Area behind Giant Dipper, Top Gun, and Medusa. I love being shrowded in trees, and it has some great airtime in the back. Long Live the Demon!

It is true that Grizzly has become terrible in the last couple of years but I don't want to see it be torn down. If they tore it down, that would make me sad. Can Paramount's hire some company to do major repairs on the coaster like add new wood and some new trains. I just think that the Grizzly can be restored and be as good as it used to be. Wouldn't it be more cheaper for PGA to have the Grizzly restored instead of tearing it down and buying a new coaster?

Sorry to post again but I had a question. Is it true that PGA had to take down the Stealth and Top Gun for a while because they started sinking into the marshy land that they sat on?

It's a pretty good park. Top Gun is great, though short. I disagree that they should take out Demon. It might be a little rough, but it's nowhere near as painful as Grizzly. I also like how Demon is almost completely covered with trees.. few coasters hold surprises like that. I don't, however, think it's a great park. It's a fun way to spend a day, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit when there are much better parks in southern CA. What they need are more innovative rides. "Innovative" in the way Top Gun was when it was first installed. I still don't understand why they took out Stealth for a so-so waterpark. The only positive side of the waterpark is that it sucks all the kids away from the other side of the park. But yeah, it's a decent park.

they wouldnt get rid of grizzly becaause its thier only wooden coaster, and its kinda classic. also, earlier i meant you would think they would have took out demon instead of stealth.

It is true that Grizzly has become terrible in the last couple of years but I don't want to see it be torn down. If they tore it down, that would make me sad. Can Paramount's hire some company to do major repairs on the coaster like add new wood and some new trains. I just think that the Grizzly can be restored and be as good as it used to be. Wouldn't it be more cheaper for PGA to have the Grizzly restored instead of tearing it down and buying a new coaster?

I have ridden the grizzly since its inception, and it has always been underwelming, and crappy, it does not need new wood, and while it could use some retracking, you would be smooting out a boring coaster.

I think it should be torn down, and replaced with a half way decent wooden coaster, the park needs one more good coaster, considering they basically have Top Gun, and thats it

they wouldnt get rid of grizzly becaause its thier only wooden coaster, and its kinda classic. also, earlier i meant you would think they would have took out demon instead of stealth.

The Grizzly is not a "classic", it was not built by anyone who knew what they were doing, and it opened in 1986, the Giant Dipper on the SCBB is a classic, built in 1924, and desiged by Frank Prior, and Fred Church, and built by the son of legendary carousel maker Charles Looff, Aurthor Looff.

As for the Demon, yeah I think that is the only coaster in the park that qualify's as a classic, and its still not to bad, they should not have taken out stealth, but I'm assuming they are trying to catch up to the SCBB by adding a water attraction, sorry, but taking out your most hyped coaster for a small water park, that will be under used cause on very hot days EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE drives the 30 or so miles to Santa Cruz, where you have the Dipper, the beach, and the temp will be about 10 to 20 degrees cooler will not raise attendance

I'd rate PGA as "pretty decent", but not a whole lot more than that. Yeah, I take the family there a few times a year, but that's because it's fairly easy to get burned out on the other few Nor Cal parks.

I agree that Grizzly needs to go in favor of something at least decent. If it's a classic, then it's a classic example of how NOT to build a roller coaster.

Top gun is definitely cool.

I'm on the side of those that don't want to see Demon removed. I rode that coaster when it originally opened as "Turn of the century" back in 1976, before it had any vertical loops. It was cool then and I think it's even cooler now. It's a little rough, but not too bad. About the only part that really bangs me around enough to be of any concern is the entry into the first spiral, and I can deal with it.

My favorite Great America coaster was "Willard's Whizzer". I still have pretty vivid memories of riding that thing over and over as a kid. I really wish they hadn't removed it.

I'm looking forward to checking out the water park expansion this summer. I'll do the slides a time or 2 just to say that I did, but I mostly like water parks for kicking back and just floating around. I think I'll enjoy the lazy river that they're adding. It's supposed to be really long. I should be able to do some serious relaxing there.

My favorite Great America coaster was "Willard's Whizzer". I still have pretty vivid memories of riding that thing over and over as a kid. I really wish they hadn't removed it.

Yup I remeber the Wizzer, and I agree, it was a mistake to pull that ride, they seem to follow a trend, lets pull a good ride and replace it with crap WOOHOO

What did they replace Whizzer with? The first time I went was after they took Whizzer and Greased Lightning out. I think the entire park could use an overhaul, mostly with little things though. Since the park runs in a circle, it's a pain to get to get across to the other side without walking all the way around. I definetely agree that they need to do more to compete with SCBB. When it's 90 in San Jose and 75 in SCBB it's not a hard decision to make. Especially seeing as SCBB is free and has wristbands for sale for much cheaper than entry to PGA.

When I lived in Santa Cruz there was a joke that no locals went to the Boardwalk. If you go there on any weekend in the summer you can tell that everyone there came from San Jose. Not to mention the awful traffic going down Ocean St. :shock:

Well it looks like they opened up the area and put in the White Water falls drop ride. That was the time the had TWO logs style rides, so why not a third.

Yeah the whole park need an overhaul, instead of improving it, they have been chipping away at it

When I lived in Santa Cruz there was a joke that no locals went to the Boardwalk. If you go there on any weekend in the summer you can tell that everyone there came from San Jose. Not to mention the awful traffic going down Ocean St.

Yup, hardly ever went unless family came to town and wanted to go, good thing is, living there for many years, you learn the back road in the area

PGA is my favorite park (and closet). Top gun and invertigo will always be my favorite rides. One thing bout invertigo is that the line IS SO SLOW! Im there every weekened. Anyone thinking about having a meet there this summer? Im there every weekened

Top gun in invertigo will always be my favorite rides

Well those are the best rides in the park, well if you like Vekoma, which I do

Well those are the best rides in the park, well if you like Vekoma, which I do

I'm still baffled how Invertigo is such a good ride and all of Vekoma's other non-boomerang SLCs are terrible.

its the only one I have ever ridden, and its pretty fun, except for the painfully slow line