This weekend California’s Great America opened Patriot, the newly converted Vortex, to the public. Vortex was one of the earliest Bollinger & Mabillard stand-up coasters, actually the company’s second ever coaster, opening in 1991 at the park. Over the years it had gotten rougher and rougher, a common issue with most of the B&M stand-up coasters. This made it a good candidate for a conversion to a floorless coaster, following the conversion Cedar Point did to Mantis (now Rougarou) in 2015. The ride shut down after Labor Day weekend to begin the work, and completed basically on schedule. Friday March 31st the media was invited to preview the ride.
Patriot, the new floorless conversion at California’s Great America.
Introducing the Ride
On hand for the opening of the ride were Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, as well as Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe, who had just recent been involved in the approval of the new Great America rezoning and Master Plan. The park also invited members from all branches of the US Military to participate in the opening in a nod to the name of the new coaster.
The introduction began with the singing of the National Anthem by one of the servicemembers, then words from Mayor Gillmor, and park General Manager Raul Rehnborg. They discussed the new ride, which Rehnborg described multiple times as being “the last attraction that (California’s Great America) has added pre-rezone approval.”Both spoke a lot about the future of the park, and what might be coming next (stay tuned for a future post with more details on the future of the park we learned at the media day).
With that, the ribbon for the ride was cut, and members of the armed forces got the opportunity to be the first to ride the coaster. The first ride was a little more exciting, as some extra pyrotechnics were added to help usher in the coaster.
Park GM Raul Rehnborg, Snoopy, and Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor cut the ribbon.
Sharp New Look, and Some Shade
The conversion was completed in roughly seven months, with the ride closing in early September. The most striking differences are the striking blue and white color scheme, replacing the fading purple and yellow, and the conversion of the station.
Painting of Patriot during the construction of the floorless conversion (courtesy California’s Great America)
“Fortunately we didn’t have to do much with the actual structure. The structure itself is well designed,” Lowell Esposo, construction manager for California’s Great America explained. “Most of (the work) was at the station. If you recall it was a very tight station, we made it bigger, and then we put a shade structure up.”
The deeper station gives more space at the top of the stairs and is now shaded!
The increase in space at the station, and addition of shade covering, an oddly rare find at Northern California Parks, was a nice surprise. As for the paint, the sharp blue will hopefully keep it’s color for several years. Esposo told me, “There are certain colors that fade faster than others, for example red does fade a little bit faster than the blue. So in this case it will probably stay pretty well in tact for a good amount of time before we start to notice that we need to paint it again.” Hopefully that will be the case, as the ride is visible from most of the park and currently makes a good looking addition to it.
The sharp blue coaster looks good, visible from multiple sections of the park.
Not the Most Thrilling, but No Longer Painful!
So, it looks better, and the station is shaded, but how does it ride? Vortex was known for two major issues. First, it was rough, to the point of being unpleasant to ride (I’d usually skip it when at the park). The standup seats weren’t very comfortable, and the over the shoulder harnesses were constricting. The second issue is that it wasn’t a very thrilling ride. It has a short layout at just 1,920 feet, a max speed of only about 40-45 miles per hour, and only two inversions. So, does the new version improve on these issues?
The ride experience has definitely improved in comfort area, with no violent shakes and a less constricted feeling.
The answer to the first issue is definitely. The new ride felt as smooth as “from scratch” B&M floorless coasters, with no violent shakes or jarring moments. The trains were also just more comfortable in general. While the stand-up trains felt constricting, these felt open and loose. At no point did my head hit the shoulder harness, and I could look around comfortably.
The smoother ride is especially noticeable on the inversions.
On the issue of excitement, the ride remains a pretty mild coaster. The speed remains the same, and the ride feels sluggish. It’s max speed is only 10 mph slower than the park’s B&M inverted coaster, but it feels slower than that. The improved comfort does make the inversions more fun as riders don’t have to “brace” themselves anymore. The lack of a floor does make the ride more fun, with dangling feet, and I imagine for riders less experienced with floorless coasters it’s an exciting sensation.
The short layout and relatively low speed still mean Patriot is a pretty mild ride, but with the improved comfort it’s not an unpleasant one.
All in all, the conversion definitely improved the ride. It doesn’t compare to the excitement and fun of the parks best coasters, Gold Striker and Flight Deck, but while before I considered it a coaster to avoid riding, it now falls solidly into the middle category of being worth at least one ride on the visit to the park. It seems like it should fill an important role as a middle thrill coaster for younger coaster fans who might not be ready for the more intense rides, without being as rough as the parks other less intense coasters (Demon and Grizzly). As a conversion of a bad ride, I won’t complain about it as an improvement to the parks coaster portfolio. Check out the PoV below for a sense of the ride.
Other Improvements and New Food
Along with the new ride, Patriot souvenirs are available, along with some new food items. The old Firehouse next to the ride entrance is now a “refreshment station”, rather than just closed up.
The firehouse next to Patriot (from the original Marriott days) is now open to guests as refresh drink station.
Patriot themed dippn’ dots are available next to the ride, and we got to try some of the new food from the updated Maggie Brown’s across the plaza from Patriot. The new food included pulled pork, tri-tip, and spicy fried chicken sliders. Of the sliders, the fried chicken was the best, implying Maggie Brown’s Famous Fried chicken is probably still the best thing to order there. It was nice to see some improvement to the area around the Patriot entrance to go with the new ride.
Patriot souvenirs are available around the ride, including Patriot themed dippin’ dots…
…and the awesome “Street Fighter”-esque Patriot v Demon T-shirts.
As GM Raul Rehnborg mentioned, Patriot is the last of the “pre re-zoning” coasters, so we expect the future will hold bigger and better things. We’ll have another article up soon with some more information about what might be coming next we learned from Rehnborg. For now, California’s Great America and Patriot are open to the public. And in honor of the new coaster, all current and past members of the military can gain free entrance to the park through Memorial Day weekend, plus bring up to 6 guests for $30 each. For more info, and the operating hours of the park, check out their website.
If you’ve had a chance to ride it yet, let us know if you agree or disagree with my take in the comments below, and for the latest news as parks begin opening their new rides for 2017 make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Recent Discussion