Yet Another Northern Cali Coaster Trip?

This past weekend, Cheryl and I flew BACK to San Francisco (we were just there in February) to score some more credits that hadn't been open during our last trip. As it goes with this hobby, we had our triumphs and our disappointments. We also did a HUGE amount of driving. Enjoy.

First stop was CGA, a park we had not visited since May of 2008! I was a lot thinner back then.

In the intervening years, I read with interest as Santa Clara, Cedar Fair, and the 49ers became involved in a brouhaha about the construction of a new football stadium that would cut into Cedar Fair's parking. You may recall that the 49ers and their partners even talked about buying the park outright. Ultimately, CF caved for about $12.5 million. And now here is the actual stadium before my very eyes!

Ugh, long lines due to security check.

We didn't see that very much had changed since 2008, other than the disappearance of the Nickleodeon characters.

We were sent to the left to get our Fast Lane bands, and this was what we found. The nearby gift shop said that their bands were locked away and they sent us to the gift shop over by Gold Striker. We went to take care of that.

Now, I had messaged CGA and asked if we could ride Taxi Jam without kids. They said it was okay if an ops supervisor would give approval.

Many thanks to Danny and Daniel for escorting us to Taxi Jam for a ride!

Everybody wants to get into the act!

Credit!

One other credit to get here: Gold Striker! My woodie count has been stuck at 158 for a long time.

We enjoyed this coaster. I like GCI woodies. I even love some of them.

It's not my favorite GCI, but we still liked it.

See? And it's about time that the park got another woodie.

Found some theming.

Found some retro theming.

And of course, some dippin' dots. Next park!

From Santa Clara we drove up to Lodi and Funtown at Micke Grove. I think Micke Grove is a state park and they have a little amusement park for kids. We had last tried for this credit on November 2, 2011. The park was open that day, but we were told that the coaster operator was not in.

Things were a little more busy in May 2014. Cool little train.

The weird strawberry flat.

And an operating roller coaster! Credit!

Thank you, Funtown at Micke Grove!

Our last park of the day was a bit further up the road in Sacramento. Funderland! We had corresponded via email with the park and they had said that we were welcome and that the coaster could be ridden by adults w/o kids.

WTF? Apparently the coaster had just gotten new seat belts and now had to await a "state inspection" before it could once again reopen to the public. I had just heard from them 10 days prior. You would think that they...argh. The people in the booth didn't know who might have sent us the emails. Is the staff of Funderland so huge that...? I apologized for my sarcasm.

We did get a follow-up email apologizing for the closure. We didn't stay for much longer.

Until next time, Funderland. It actually looked like a cute little park. Back to San Fran for dinner.

Day 2: A REALLY LONG DRIVE TO FRESNO. And we arrive at Blackbeard's Family Fun Center.

Coaster is gone!!!! This is great!

There's the new one. It turns out that they tore out the old coaster and bought the one from Peter Piper Pizza in Las Vegas.

Here's the sign! And as luck would have it, we already have this credit!

Of course we met up with one of the nicest fellows we've ever met on a TPR trip, Cliff, aka soilooklikemanson, who got off work early just to meet us!

A quick look around Blackbeard's. There are, of course, pirates.

Kiddie flats!

Go Karts!

Batting Cage!

Mini Golf! And much much more. From here we traveled across town to Fresno's other park, Rotary Storyland Playland.

Yes, this park is actually owned and operated by Rotary, which is kinda cool. I've never heard of this kind of thing. And in Merced, California, Kiwanis operates Kiddieland. More on that later.

Rotary theming.

And a credit!

Here we are, waiting for Cliff. It was really hard to find parking. There's my posse: My sister, Laura, my nephew Bochay (son of a different sister), and Cheryl.

Coaster manufacturer's plate.

And another view. Credit!

Lot's of cool stuff at Rotary Playland, like this put-your-head-in-the-lion's-mouth water fountain.

And a cute lady bug ride.

And car ride.

And helicopter ride.

A Rock-o-Plane!

An historic carousel!

And this cool train that goes between Playland and Storyland. We did not check out Storyland. We had lunch with Cliff and said goodbye. We were going to drive up to Kiwanis Kiddieland at Merced, but they said no way for adults on the coaster. So we switched to Plan B and drove a zillion miles to...

Santa Cruz!!!!!

First stop, delicious new credit, Undertow!!!! Actually, first stop was the men's restroom. Whew.

This park is full of great stuff. This is one of the original Laffing Sals and SCBB paid $50,000 to get it. I think John Wood told me that Sally Dark Rides got its name from these early animatronics.

Other great things: dippin' dots! And no Mini Melts to be seen.

And the Giant Dipper! This seems to run so much more smoothly than the Belmont Park Giant Dipper.

I love this classic.

Deep fried PB&J looks so amazing.

You don't have to go to D-LandWorld for a Dole Whip.

Mmmm.

Did go for the corn dog, which was heavily battered with what was like real corn bread. Yum.

Got a chance to try the new Haunted Castle, which was great.

The park closed at 8pm, which was a bummer. There was still a pretty big crowd. Another 90 minutes back to San Francisco and the first 30 miles are over the twisty windy steep CA-17, which I always end up driving in the freaking dark because we never stay overnight in Santa Cruz. I'm pretty sure that I drove a total of 7 hours on Saturday. According to the map I drove 442 miles in one day. Ouch.

Thanks for joining us on yet another California credit-whoring trip!!!! Hope you enjoyed! Go Roxy!

Awesome!!!!! with AWESOME sauce

Another great report!

I too experienced the Funderland issues first of May, good ol' CalOSHA. Glad I didn't drive to Fresno!

I too experienced the Funderland issues first of May, good ol' CalOSHA. Glad I didn't drive to Fresno!

 

Argh. They sent me the "Sure you can ride the coaster!" email on May 18. RichBan said it was closed when he visited May 25. Argh. On the bright side, they said they were getting on the phone to the State to get the inspection done sooner, not that it's going to benefit me here in NYC. Argh.

Thanks for the fun TR, especially Blackbeard's Family Fun Center. You two should get out and travel a little more though.

You missed the Patterson Apricot Fiesta. Then again, it has no credits.

We did have apricots! But not at the festival. Is Patterson near Sacramento?

Cool trip you had!

 

But personally do not like this photo filters...

But personally do not like this photo filters...

 

Same here... but great report regardless.

But personally do not like this photo filters...

 

Same here... but great report regardless.

 

Do allow me to apologize for that.

 

We accidentally left my camera at home. I borrowed my San Fran sister's camera, and those photos came out fine.

 

The other photos come from my iPhone. I have been thinking that something was wrong with my iPhone's camera because the pictures have had a yellow tinge for the last month or so. I never use filters, but I checked it and, sure enough, there was a filter ON. Gosh darn it. I must have done this by accident. The situation has been corrected.

 

Again, my deepest apologies for that stupidity.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the TR.

Great TR! I enjoyed your photos as well.

And don't stress about the filter. I had the same problem on my iPhone when I took my Christmas photos- they were all blue too!

You only make that mistake once lol!

Great TR! I enjoyed your photos as well.

And don't stress about the filter. I had the same problem on my iPhone when I took my Christmas photos- they were all blue too!

You only make that mistake once lol!

 

Hicksville? I work at Farmingdale State!