This past weekend I swung by California’s Great America for a last visit of the season, which ends November 1st. I went in the morning, so missed the Halloween Haunt events, but the crowds were delightfully small during the middle of the day. I’ve heard positive reviews of Haunt this year, which boasts a whopping nine mazes plus three scare zones, and apparently crowds have been solid at night, but it was nice and empty at opening.
Nice cloudy fall day at the Halloween themed California’s Great America. And the fountains were on!
Not surprisingly Halloween decorations were in full bloom across the park, as well as the set-ups for scare zones and mazes. We headed back through the park towards Demon to start the day.
Evacuate, one of the scare zones at CGA, themed after a zombie apocalypse ruined highway looked pretty awesome during the day, with ruined cars dotting the path outside Demon. Sadly, no entry during the day.
Demon is a great coaster to open with. It feels tame if you’ve just ridden on Gold Striker or Flight Deck, but it’s still a solid ride with fun inversions. Riding it first helps get one in the mood, as it were. Plus it felt less rough than I remember it feeling early in the year, so that was a nice plus.
Haunt mazes dotting the park.
We continued around the back of the park. Grizzly typically doesn’t open until later in the day, so we decided to skip it (it’s usually not worth the slow ops anyway). The back of the park is dotted with Halloween mazes (some of which can be seen from the coasters in the back), adding extra Halloween decorations to the normally sort of bland midways at back of the park. As we continued around we hopped on Psycho Mouse, the park’s Wild Mouse ride. It’s a decent, if sort of generic wild mouse. Normally I don’t like waiting for it as the operations tend to be kind of slow, but without a line it was worth a ride. Of course, every time I ride it I sort of feel like I could build something similar in my yard (if I had a yard).
Grizzly and more Halloween attractions.
We continued around the circle of the park, bypassing more Haunt attractions and taking a ride on Flying Eagles, the Larson Flying Scooters at the park. This is probably my favorite flat ride, or at least my favorite family ride. It’s amazing how much joy I get from being able to control my own scooter, and use my basic understanding of physics to swing myself back and forth.
Planet Snoopy themed for the daytime kiddie Halloween parties.
On the way back toward the front, and Flight Deck, we went past the Action Theater. It’s now closed as they upgrade it for the new Mass Effect ride coming in 2016. With the Theater already closed and work underway, giving about 6 months of build time before the park opens in the Spring, I’m hoping it’s a sign that the upgrades to the theater will be significant, and the ride will be a great experience. Crossing my fingers!
Coming 2016! Crossing my fingers for some major upgrades and a great new experience!
Getting to Flight Deck, it was mostly a walk on except for the front row. So we started with the back row, then followed it with a ride in the front. It remains one of my favorite coasters (especially in the front). It does feel short compared to other B&M inverted coasters, but it is so well paced and goes over great terrain, with the wooded grassy area around the initial loop and drop, the barrel roll over the entrance, and the final corkscrew and helix over the lake. I think I actually prefer it to many longer B&M coasters. It makes me wish CGA had more rides that took advantage of the lake neighboring the pond. Maybe some day…
Flight Deck, with Halloween decorations!
We made our way back across the front of the park to Vortex and the now running Gold Striker, through a stretch that was filled with shipping containers and various detritus. This is part of the “Lockdown” scare zone, which I couldn’t really figure out the theme of. Maybe it’s supposed to be an abandoned dock or something?
I also made a brief stop at one of the saddest parts of Halloween at Great America: The Graveyard of Lost Rides. It brings a tear to my eye to remember rides like The Whizzer, Tidal Wave, and the short lived Stealth (which lives on at Carowinds as Nighthawk).
Sigh…so many good rides lost.
We decided to take a ride on Vortex, despite generally not being a fan. There were rumors it was repainted earlier in the year, but I didn’t notice it being in noticeably better condition. There wasn’t much wait, so we went in the front on this one. It was actually less rough than in the past, but it still is sort of a dull stand-up coaster. I did hear the young kids sitting (or standing, I guess) behind us commenting on how great the ride is, so maybe it does serve a role as an intermediate coaster for younger riders.
Repainted? Maybe. Improved? Eh, not really.
What doesn’t’ bring a tear to my eye is Gold Striker. Well, sometimes it does, but that’s because of the wind. The ride actually went down briefly while we were in line, maybe for 10 minutes or so, but it was enough time to clear out part of the line in front of us (woo! My favorite of the stages of a riding out a coaster breakdown). We lucked into an empty back row when we got to the top. This was the first time I’d ever been on Gold Striker where the ride op was not directing guests into specific rows, but instead just limiting how many people were in the station. I’m not sure if this is the permanent situation now, or if it was because of the light crowds early in the day (anyone know?). Either way, we got a great back row ride.
Does not need improvement. Still a top-10 coaster.
With the relatively short line we got in line for another go. We decided to wait for the front row this time, which only added a couple cycles to the wait. This was actually the first time I’d ridden in the front, despite who knows how many Gold Striker rides in it’s three years of operation. It was awesome. I think I actually prefer the back overall, but the feeling of speed at which Gold Striker excels is amplified in the front. There were lots of wind caused tears (or maybe tears of joy?). Would I wait an extra long time for the front? Probably not, mostly because while it was fun, Gold Striker has been excellent in every row, but it was definitely fun. It remains one of my top coasters in the country.
Looks even better from the top.
With multiple rides down and our favorite coasters, we decided to call it a day and head home before the crowds started to grow. Overall, an excellent half-day at California’s Great America, and it was nice seeing all the Haunt decorations during the day. Looking forward to being back next year for more Gold Striker, and to see what the new Mass Effect attraction will have to offer!
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