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California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread


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A decent size crowd turned out for opening day. After a short opening ceremony it was down to business with everyone running to Gold Stiker which had a solid hour wait for most of the morning. Happy to report no new walls or tunnels!

 

Heavy rain hit around lunchtime, the park emptied significantly and lines reduced respectively.

 

A big change this year is the installation of TVs in the lines for each of the major rides, broadcasting fun facts, weather forecasts and blaring out music videos. I was kind of dubious about this new addition as I was worried it would be used for nothing but intrusive, incessant advertising, like the TVs at Six Flags, but actually there was actually very little advertising and the programming was quite well done.

 

Operations were typical for opening day, with most crews still finding their rhythm a little, Demon operations however were a shambles; nobody seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing on that ride.

 

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Flight Deck has brand new coat of paint! The ride looks awesome.

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The new wheel covers aren't as fun as the old sharks and eagles.

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Despite the new paint job all the early 90s fighter jet junk is still in the queue. The new track color scheme and train details make me wonder if a de-theme was originally on the cards (or maybe for the future?)

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The rain set in at around 1pm and a number of rides closed, including Pyscho Mouse, Tiki Twirl and Delta Flyers/Eagle's Flight. The bad weather thinned the crowds significantly.

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The rain was no problem for Gold Striker, which is still running phenomenally.

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The big stage has been removed from behind the carousel, looks like something new may get aded here for a new show called -ugh- "#playlist".

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Felt bad for these guys stuck in line for season pass processing during the rain. The line stretched right back around to the entrance to Orleans Place.

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A decent size crowd turned out for opening day. After a short opening ceremony it was down to business with everyone running to Gold Stiker which had a solid hour wait for most of the morning. Happy to report no new walls or tunnels!

 

Heavy rain hit around lunchtime, the park emptied significantly and lines reduced respectively.

 

A big change this year is the installation of TVs in the lines for each of the major rides, broadcasting fun facts, weather forecasts and blaring out music videos. I was kind of dubious about this new addition as I was worried it would be used for nothing but intrusive, incessant advertising, like the TVs at Six Flags, but actually there was actually very little advertising and the programming was quite well done.

 

Operations were typical for opening day, with most crews still finding their rhythm a little, Demon operations however were a shambles; nobody seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing on that ride.

 

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I was in that line myself and trust me it was like wet hell. In one part, there was an roof like object that seemed more for sunny days and it would drip water on the people in line. The main reason for the long lines was probably confusion over the new system implemented for season pass processing. Speaking of flight deck, at one point it broke down and there was only one train running afterwards.

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Being a Cedar Fair park, "Flight Deck" should be changed to "Hawk Flight".

 

Oh please, that name is worse than "Flight Deck" and hasn't Cedar Fair used enough "hawk" in their ride name already? I much rather see Cedar Fair rename California Great America's and Canada's Wonderland's Flight Deck to "Iron Dragon"!

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Despite the new paint job all the early 90s fighter jet junk is still in the queue. The new track color scheme and train details make me wonder if a de-theme was originally on the cards (or maybe for the future?)

 

The only question for me is whether the new theme will be football or some Silicon Valley billionaire's subsidy.

 

A few years ago I'd have voted to retheme it to the nearby Big Blue Cube (google it) but they've relocated to Southern California. It would have been a good update to the jet junk theme but probably too obscure. And it could be the basis for a realistic "Haunt" theme - much better than Hollywood fantasy scares.

 

It's fascinating how CGA has one of the best B&Ms and one of the worst B&Ms next to each other.

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Shame about the wheel covers, though I believe I saw that mentioned somewhere earlier (for real, not the time I just looked at an old picture wrong), so I wasn't too shocked. As for the track itself, it looks right at home--for a minute there I forgot it was a new color scheme!

 

I'm glad, though not surprised, to hear Gold Striker is still awesome. I'm finding it harder than I expected to fit CGA into my plans for this year, so I might just hold off until another season, but I'll keep looking into it.

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I'm finding it harder than I expected to fit CGA into my plans for this year, so I might just hold off until another season, but I'll keep looking into it.

 

Keep an eye out for cheap Southwest flights, sometimes Virgin has great sales as well. Amtrak is supposed to be a beautiful ride down from Oregon.

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Hey, I'm heading up to Great America in a week. Does anyone have any recommendations for inexpensive, yet decent, motels in the area? I'll just be staying the night, then heading down to Santa Cruz.

 

Thanks.

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^ Do you already have tickets or a season pass? The Hilton right at the parking lot entrance usually has decent package deals with park tickets, room and breakfast- ~$140 total for two of us last time for all of that. The rooms look into the park and you can walk to the turnstiles in about five minutes.

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Amtrak is supposed to be a beautiful ride down from Oregon.

 

The northbound California to Oregon route is one of the nicest Amtrak routes. You go over five thousand feet elevation over Willamette Pass in the Cascades. Southbound it's night at the summit unless it's around summer solstice. You don't get to see Mt. Shasta either direction, but if the train is late you might see it northbound at dawn. The southern California route of the "Coast Starlight" is also dramatic, especially where it goes through Vandenburg Air Force Base.

 

It's easy to transfer from Amtrak to the light rail to get to Great America. CGA is probably one of the best parks in the country for access by train.

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^ Do you already have tickets or a season pass? The Hilton right at the parking lot entrance usually has decent package deals with park tickets, room and breakfast- ~$140 total for two of us last time for all of that. The rooms look into the park and you can walk to the turnstiles in about five minutes.

 

Agreed. The Santa Clara Hilton is a great hotel. I would call them directly to inquire about the CGA package deals as I don't believe the deal is available for Friday and Saturday night stays.

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I actually have season passes and free parking for both Six Flags and Cedar Fair, so I won't need any additional packages. The Hilton does look nice, but the rates are a bit out of my budget. Any opinions/experiences with the Super 8 motel chain?

 

 

 

^ Do you already have tickets or a season pass? The Hilton right at the parking lot entrance usually has decent package deals with park tickets, room and breakfast- ~$140 total for two of us last time for all of that. The rooms look into the park and you can walk to the turnstiles in about five minutes.
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Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful.

 

BTW, is Moffett Field still active, as far as aircraft flying over?

 

Moffett Field is still very much active these days. It's not uncommon to see a fighter jet flying over the western Santa Clara Valley, though Moffett's flight path is miles west of CGA.

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Thanks. I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Former Air Force brat here. Just miss the sounds and sights of jets.

 

Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful.

 

BTW, is Moffett Field still active, as far as aircraft flying over?

 

Moffett Field is still very much active these days. It's not uncommon to see a fighter jet flying over the western Santa Clara Valley, though Moffett's flight path is miles west of CGA.

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Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful.

 

BTW, is Moffett Field still active, as far as aircraft flying over?

 

I'll throw my hat in and suggest the Plaza Inn Suites: http://www.theplazasuites.com Every room is a two bedroom suite, they have a free shuttle, free happy hour from 5-7pm, and sometimes you can get a free breakfast thrown in as well. I live in the area and have stayed there just to "get away" without getting away. They had a romance package that came with two free movie tickets for the AMC by the park, free bottle of sparking wine, the free cocktail hour, breakfast, etc. Its really a nice place with plenty of free parking.

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I went to the park this past Sunday for the first time of the year, had a slightly amusing experience. We got there pretty early (maybe 10:30) and the park was relatively empty. The wait for Gold Striker was ~20 minutes, so we went on it twice then. It has held up beautifully, I forgot how good it is. Also got to ride it in the front for the first time, as there were no fast lane riders and we happened to be at the front of the next group to go. It was awesome, I loved having no one in front of us, especially on the stretch that runs past the station, it really feels like we're flying (although the air time in the back is still the best). We then wandered around the rest of the park (I need to learn the lesson to not go on Gold Striker first, since it makes everything else feel extra slow). Grizzly was closed, although they were running trains on it.

 

Then the kind of amusing bit happened. We got over to Flight Deck, and the line was almost empty. I turns out it was down for some reason, and the attendant at the front of the line had been telling people to leave instead of saying it might be fixed but they didn't know. That seemed odd to me. We asked if we could stay in line and he mumbled something, so we walked past him and got in line for the front. There were a few other people at different places in line, one group in front of us for the front seats. The technicians and supervisors were there, and they were running trains so we figured it would get back up at some time. In maybe 15 minutes they let the first load on, and we moved up to the front of the front row line. No one else had gotten back in line (we think the first attendant was at the main entrance to the ride turning people away). By the time the first train was dispatched and they were loading the second one, still no one else was in line. So the train loaded with just me and my buddy in the front and they sent us off, with the operator wishing us a pleasant "private flight." How often do you think it happens that Flight Deck has only two customers on it? It seems like it must be rare.

 

Then another thing I hadn't seen happened. The line was a little more crowded but still basically empty, so we went around to ride it again. We asked the attendant standing at the top of the stairs if we could ride in the front and he "no, that's only for Fast Lane holders." We looked around and there were clearly no fast lane holders, in fact there was no one in the front row line at all! We didn't feel like arguing, so we went to the back row instead, but the front was completely empty and they weren't letting people on it. What the hell is up with that? Is that a new policy, or just a new employee who is following the letter of the rules a little too closely?

 

Of course, after they loaded us onto the next train, the ride went down again and they made us get off, so we wandered back to Gold Striker for a couple more rides before heading home, thankful that we had managed to get a private ride on Flight Deck before it broke again.

 

So has anyone ever been the only person on Flight Deck/Top Gun before? And, does anyone know what the deal is with this new policy of not letting people wait for the front of flight deck? I understood it for Gold Striker last season because it was brand new and so crowded, but now Flight Deck too? And with the front row empty??? Lame. I should send an email to management, along with my regular complaint of "Rue le Dodge" being turned into a lame, boring, worthless, one-way non-bumping bumper car ride...

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An old friend of mine is at the park for a private event and just posted this picture...

 

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Security Guard: "Thank you guys! We're going to use this in our training video for 'What you can do at the park to get kicked out'"

 

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