California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

^ I miss this Great America... This was pretty much the last season that park felt well rounded to me. Ever since it's just felt like it's missing something. I look forward to the park getting new stuff in the coming years.

It still baffles me as to why Stealth had such a short stay at the park. So short, that I never got a chance to ride it.

It makes me laugh to see that 1999 park map. I was driving the trolley that day when they were taking pictures and I was shocked that they actually used that picture in the park map that year. Awe... the memories of driving that trolley

^^I can see how removing Stealth sounded like a good idea at the time. It was unrealiable, and SFDK had just finished adding several coasters year after year for the past few years. The park decided not to compete with Six Flags, in order to be more family friendly. So, they built Boomerang Bay, which was more a success than Stealth.

However, I do still wonder if it would have been better for the park in the long run if they kept Stealth. My reasoning is that, after 2003, Six Flags decided to take the family-friendly route as well. Before S:UF, I saw many advertisements for SFDK that featured few to no coaster shots, instead just animals. With these advertisements, it is clear they were advertising for a family environment, and, after this season, I could easily see them going back to the old ways of commercials. on the other end, now most of GCA's commercials feature coasters in them. CGA may not have been desperate for a new coaster at the time, but attendance has fallen so much that they are now one of the most desperate parks needing a new coaster. And, thankfully, they are getting one, now.

And, in terms of capacity issues, it does seem like Carowinds did work out the bugs with this ride. The four ride ops they had were only stacking for 10-15 seconds! I am sure the supervisor crews on stealth did their best with what they had, but you really do need a big crew to run one of these things, which it doesn't seem like Paramount was willing to provide to PGA. Also, Carowinds did solve the issues of baking in the sun, with a covered final block brake, complete with fans.

Although BoomerangBay was a hit, I do wonder if keeping Stealth would have helped in the long run.

New Au13 pictures posted!

Of all the parks that deserve coasters I think that this park takes the cake for #1. So happy there finally getting something to be proud of.

^Now let's see some theming.

On the other end, now most of GCA's commercials feature coasters in them. CGA may not have been desperate for a new coaster at the time, but attendance has fallen so much that they are now one of the most desperate parks needing a new coaster. And, thankfully, they are getting one, now.

Erm...has the park's attendance really dropped? I was under the impression that they were still doing relatively good business.

^Now let's see some theming.

 

 

On the other end, now most of GCA's commercials feature coasters in them. CGA may not have been desperate for a new coaster at the time, but attendance has fallen so much that they are now one of the most desperate parks needing a new coaster. And, thankfully, they are getting one, now.

 

Erm...has the park's attendance really dropped? I was under the impression that they were still doing relatively good business.

Totally agree I thought they were doing pretty well still which may be why nothing has been added for such a long time.

Definitely surprised this park is still open- let alone getting a new roller coaster. Top Gun and Vortex are right at the top of my coaster bucket list. I'd like it if they hung around long enough for me to take a few spins.

Also, Carowinds did solve the issues of baking in the sun, with a covered final block brake, complete with fans.

CGA added a shade to the block break before the station. In fact I'm fairly confident it's the same one that's on the ride now, though I don't recall fans.

Those pictures look awesome. I was thinking he whole turn was elevated, not it turning upward the way it does. So excited to see updated concept artwork for this thing.

Cga is really moving along nicely with this project. At this rate we'll see it open by opening day at least. I seriously can't wait any longer for the 29th to come around, it'll be like a late b-day present for me.

Love those curves! Only 13 more days till the big announcement! Regarding attendance, CGA's been doing real well considering they haven't added a major attraction since '08, they were one of the top performers, if I'm not mistaken, along with CW, KBF & KI according to CF's press releases in 2011. As I said before 2013 will be the start of something good...

Construction seems to be going smoothly. The Prudential Turn is almost finished, but it seems the design of the Prudential Turn is different from the original design.

(Photo Credits: CGA, LA Times)

While browsing the Au13 construction photos on their facebook, I found this comment:

Andrew E----: B&M Wing Coaster clearly...

Who did this, I know one of you guys did it.

Wow, the prudential turn looks way different than my No Limits rendition and the proposed 2008 rendering Actually, it looks far more amazing and twisty! I really can't wait to see this thing come Saturday!

Doing further looking, especially at this image, that is some serious banking going on there, looks almost 90-degrees! I can only imagine how fast the train's going to fly through this!

I think it looks pretty similar, just that render is lacking the actual banking. Depending on how tall this ends up being it does appear much shorter though, but overall the render looks much more spread out than the actual site

The one in the rendering looked more like a basic fan turn while this seems to have more of a swooping motion to it, swooping upward (or downward?) Either way, I'm excited! It does definitely sit lower than I thought, and I noticed that a lot of the recent GCI coasters tend to lay low after the initial drop (been watching a lot of GCI POVs as of late). I'm assuming the low-ish maneuvers provide a nice high-speed out of control ride.

Now I'm going to have to rework my No Limits track. I had plans on it anyway and decided to start with the turn that we just saw today. Previewing the motion in NL, it is going to be an amazing turn!

No Limits-ified Au13 turn

Wow, this thing is going up faster than I thought! I'm already thinking of blasting through that turn...it looks beautiful...

I had to awkwardly stretch and skew this to get it to fit, but this is how the rendering would kinda sorta have looked in the park.

By the looks of the footers, and the straight portion coming off the foundation in the left corner of that photo, it does appear the middle potion of the ride will be quite different.

Well we established a while ago that the original plans have definitely changed. That's why I'm excited for the announcement, to see what the ride is like now.

^Agreed. I'd rather there be several surprises we know about rather than being exact to what we saw (and studied since) from 2008. I have a feeling the overall layout will still be pretty similar but as we already saw, some of the elements will be quite different.

And one of the many reasons why I love NL...for making guesses of how the track could be. I should probably go ahead and start a thread in the games forum regarding the NL track.

Another rendering/photoshopping...I know that final turnaround is in the wrong spot but everything else sort of makes sense. Can't wait for the official release!

Looks like I'm going to have to tweak my RCT2 recreation again. I'll just wait until the 29th to do that though.

So....

I got home earlier and had another surprise awaiting for me in the mail.

Hmmm...what could it be?

Striking new records - some sort of nicely printed material!

Ok, I got an invite for August 29th, announcement event at CGA! I'd like to thank Great America for doing such, definitely one of those rare opportunities!

I also received the same invitation this afternoon! It's really awesome to be finally going to a media announcement for a new coaster, even better its a park I have been going to half my life.

Now I feel all left out, I wish I could get one.

It's wierd because the pictures above make Au13 look like it belongs on the periodic table. Gold is Au, but the 13th element is aluminium. I wonder if that means anything.