Semi Photo TR: CGA Opening Day

Well, for those who weren't aware, California's Great America opened today. I was expecting opening day to be busy like the closing day was but it was more like a ghost town. I got a little uneasy as I didn't hear any B&M roars for a while when I got in...closed rides? So, let's begin with the day.

Season pass processing

One of the glitchiest systems ever (that I've seen)! A ton of people who did the E-tickets were having trouble getting the computers to recognize the pass. It kept reading "Invalid number" or something to that extent. They reprinted a receipt for us and got our pass and Cedar Fair jackets. People's vouchers were being accidentally taken at the processing building as well and had some confusion when redeeming their jacket. (Happened to my brother)

So finally, we all got our passes taken care of.

On with the rides

Over to Flight Deck we go. I'm anxious to see the new signage they have going and on arrival to FD, I'm hearing the Top Gun anthem playing...(Why? Are they teasing us?) As I got to FD, an attendent (who stood there all day) told us that it would not be open at all today. For some reason, it kept doing test runs throughout the day. So we head toward Flying Eagles to get some sort of ride going...Vortex also had Diarrhea and caused a lift hill evacuation. Finally snagged a ride on Orlean's Orbit (I still call it that) and over to Rip Roaring Rapids & the log flume. We noticed that Drop Zone, now Drop Tower, was also down. (Again, why? Answer is beyond me, was told that it may not be open today as well) so we hit up Survivor. Seemed to run shorter than usual, didn't see any flames going for the finale. Demon ran amazingly smooth but had no voice when going through the beginning tunnel. So over to the swing ride and sky tower as Screamscape claimed that some prepping work has begun for the new woodie. I will not comfirm that as everything looked exactly the same as it did last season. (Atleast they were correct about Firefall not being up and ready.) We finally saw Vortex running so we snagged a torturing ride on that. I made the fatal mistake of having the restraints too low, shoulder killer. Little did I know, we'd be chilling in the brake run due to yet again another malfunction that lasted about 15 minutes of sitting...I mean standing. (The ops kept telling us to remain seated...??? This is a stand up coaster, aren't we supposed to stand?)

Finally saw Drop Tower "Scream Zone" working so we got on that. Great ride, still had "Drop Zone" stuff everywhere on it. From there I met "Sunfire", TPR member who was hired to run Invertigo. We hit up a couple rides and pretty much called it a day as we all had to get going.

To sum things up: New signs, Flight Deck's sign does not seem to have anything to even do with fighter jets, Drop Tower's sign looks like a cartoon, (I miss that huge neon "Drop" sign) and not all Paramount-isms are gone. They still live on people's bags, some directional signs (That read "Top Gun" and "Paramount Pavillion," wheel chairs, and our season pass forms we had to fill out. Those are so outdated that the boxes you'd check off for when you last went there maxxed out at '06, probably before the Cedar Fair purchase. Got a few pictures to show of the new signs and stuff.

Still retaining the old Paramount logo's shape, with new logo...doesn't quite fit.

Inside CGA...this works only if the letters matched! You can see where letters were replaced.

Why? They could have thrown in a fighter jet or something...It will always live as Top Gun!

WTF? Scream Zone? What did they do? Take Drop Zone Stunt Tower and just eliminate stunt to come up with a new name? So creative! Still a great ride, will always live as Drop Zone.

Lift hill pre-evacuation

Snapped this in Vortex's break run. We were stuck for a while anyway, so may as well do something. Anyway, Firefall is erected (lol, hehe...erected...) but still has a bit more work to be done.

Dark, but front shot of Firefall sitting there. Has some pipes being layed in the ground, probably for electrical/water/gas?

Top Gun?!? Paramount Pavillion? Outdated signage, but keep that "Top Gun" there!

Green Hill Zone! Future area of the new woodie. No prepping yet, not sure how soon they will start this stuff.

These "Drop Zone" signs were everywhere! You can see a couple here. The Paramount ghost is still lingering!

Well, thanks for reading/viewing the pictures, I'm curious to see what the rest of the Drop Tower/Flight Deck treatments got throughout the rest of the former Paramount parks!

IT IS RISEN!!!!

Yes, long live Flight Deck! All must praise its holy name!

Sigh! I remember when Marriott's Great America used to be fun.

Well, I haven't been since 1995, and as infrequently as I visit, I think waiting until 2009 would be the best thing.

Wow, all the new signs suck. It seems like the park has fallen a little bit.

--Jay

Yeah, a lot of wierd stuff in the park today. I'm hoping the bugs will be fixed when I go in for work next weekend.

Great Semi-TR. It was nice meeting you!

Wow, that TR made me realize I have *no* desire to go to that park this year!

Not that it was a bad TR, just a bad park!

My poor baby...

I grew up going to and working at PGA, haven't been since 2004 but don't really care about going back. It was going in an incredibly positive direction right before the end of Paramount, with tons of new theming and tie-ins and Boomerang Bay, and now... Cedar Fair. Time will tell I guess, but the fact that they haven't replaced signs for 2 years now is a bit worrisome.

Nice TR though!

I can't believe that new Drop Tower sign. It is pathetic. I am embarrassed for the creative department of Cedar Fair...So So So sad!

Thanks for the TR.

I'm just happy I won't be visiting CGA till next summer.

Just to clarify, as Elissa did--good TR, weak park. Thanks for sharing the pics and the changes.

It'll be interesting to check out KD (it opens next weekend).

Wow, that TR made me realize I have *no* desire to go to that park this year!

Key words are this year.

Wow I was under the impression that the whole reason they were renaming it Drop Tower was so they would be able to retain the massive neon sign. What would be so wrong just naming it simply Drop? As far as Top Gun goes, since the theming had deteriorated and was looking pretty crappy I was hoping they would just remove it all and give the coaster a Cedar Fair name like Raptor Thunderhawk or Talon. There are so many much better sounding names that could have been used while keeping the theme, even generic model names of fighters sound better such as Tomcat, Vampire, Sabre, Venom, Crusader, Voodoo, Phantom, Falcon, Hornet . . . Or even Stealth would have worked and since I am sure the old sign is still in the park somewhere the money used for the Flight Deck sign could have been used for much needed park improvements. One can only hope that that incredible looking GCI going in next year doesn't end up with the name I have been hearing.

^and what name have you been hearing?

I noticed last years opening date was met with a handful of down rides.

This is just downright depressing to see what Cedar Fair has done to this once great park. CF has removed the "Great" from the Great America.

^and what name have you been hearing?

Wooden Coaster: Stunt Ride!

Forgot to add some positives about yesterday's visit (not that my TR was intended to bash the park, just to show the changes). Crews were running fast and efficient for the most part. Delirium had slow dispatch mainly because they were waiting for people to get on...was a walk-on. Demon's crew was fast, we were on and off within reasonable time. About Demon, did it ever have 3 trains? It ran 2 trains, had it's third train sitting on the transfer track. (One is red, one is orange and one is yellow striped). I'm not sure, but I though that I had read somewhere that Demon's third train has been gone for a while...forgot where I had read this.

Also, Flight Deck definitely retains some of Top Gun's audio in the station. From the rapids ride, I could hear the screaming/jet sounds from the station. I'm not sure if the rest of the queue has audio or not.

Lastly, staff both this year and last year were pretty nice, had conversations with me as well as asking if I was reviewing their park...(Theme Park Review - go figure!)

^Were the other 3 major coasters (Grizzly, Vortex, Invertigo) dispatching quickly? Hopfully FireFall has some decent themeing when it opens. I also hope they keep the audio for Flight Deck. They could just cut out the part that says "Top Gun".

Vortex was running efficiently, was a walk on, had the next train (was running both trains when working) within seconds. Unfortunately, our ride lasted 15 minutes, mostly in the break run. I never did get on Invertigo or Grizzly. I noticed that Invertigo's queue was backed stopping just before you can split off to the different rows, and saw a couple switchbacks full of people so I didn't bother riding. When it was clear, we had to get going.

Also, I forgot to add: the renaming of all rides. We were joking around yesterday to possible renames that I would hope never be true.

Flipping Platform Ride - Firefall

Rotating horse platform - Carousel Columbia

Stand-up coaster - Vortex

Jungle Disc/Rotating jungle platform - Survivor

Rotating Swinging Buckets - Orlean's Orbit

About Demon, did it ever have 3 trains? It ran 2 trains, had it's third train sitting on the transfer track. (One is red, one is orange and one is yellow striped). I'm not sure, but I though that I had read somewhere that Demon's third train has been gone for a while...forgot where I had read this.

Yes, Demon has always had 3 trains, even back in the Turn of the Century days. Paramount for some reason stopped using the 3rd train. SFGAm, however, still runs all 3 trains pretty often during the summer (and Fright Fest if they have enough employees).

This is just downright depressing to see what Cedar Fair has done to this once great park. CF has removed the "Great" from the Great America.

I believe that was Paramounts doing...

This is just downright depressing to see what Cedar Fair has done to this once great park. CF has removed the "Great" from the Great America.

 

I believe that was Paramounts doing...

Yup, it was all Paramount's fault. Granted they gave us some good stuff like Top Gun and Invertigo, but there was more damage done than good, like:

-Shorter hours

-No more Halloween events (except Nick-Or-Treat)

-No more themeing (Cedar Fair and Paramounts are themeless with CGA).

-Triple Play, gone.

-Tidal Wave, gone.

-Orbit, almost gone.

-Stealth, gone.

-And probably a lot more.

I bet if Paramount's was still around, CGA probably would've lost Orbit, Berserker, and maybe even Endeavor. We probably would never see a new coaster for a long time. The park would just be in a huge hole if they were still around.

What exactly revived Orbit? I was wondering that when riding it yesterday. Glad it was revived, probably one of my favorite spinning flat rides there.

Wow, that TR made me realize I have *no* desire to go to that park this year!

My thoughts exactly.

Not only are Top Gun & Drop Zone's new names an earsore, but their signs are an eyesore.

Cedar Fair is killing CGA and will probably start to kill all the other Paramount parks in no time.

We didn't get passes for CGA this year and so far I'm not regretting it.