Episode 31: California's Great America (Uncertain)

Stop number two on my northwestern trip was California's Great America in Santa Clara, CA.  This park has an interesting history of ownership changes, and despite its sister park, Six Flags Great America being one of the darlings of the legacy Six Flags chain, this park's future is uncertain.  Cedar Fair sold the land beneath the park to a development company post-pandemic with a lease set to expire in 2028.  Join me for my first, and quite possibly last rides on coasters like Flight Deck, RailBlazer, and Gold Striker at this awesome NorCal amusement park.  

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Transcript

Welcome Episode 31 of Coaster Redux.  My name is Erik, and this is the story of my revived roller coaster fandom.  For years, I’d all but forgotten my coaster obsession from high school and college.  Then during the pandemic, I started following the amusement world again, and for the last two years, I’ve been on a mission to ride as many new coasters as I can, and share my experiences through this podcast.

It all started with a week-long road trip back in 2022, and I just completed my longest road trip yet, visiting eight parks over a span of 16 days.  I finished that trip in June, yet like most coaster enthusiasts, I quickly got to work planning my next one shortly upon my return.

Fast forward to October when I hopped a flight heading northwest from Florida to tick off three more parks I’d yet to visit.  My first stop was Lagoon, Utah’s only amusement park, and I was blown away by my experience riding their built-in-house attractions yesterday.  Cannibal was an absolute rush with its dramatic enclosed elevator lift and 116 degree drop.  The new Primordial shooting dark ride roller coaster combo shocked me with its immersive theming, exterior rockwork, and surprise ending.  Lagoon is a charming traditional park that makes its own rules, and it’s worth a detour to Utah by itself.

My next stop is California’s Great America.  Located just south of San Francisco, it’s a park I wanted to get to sooner than later, because its future is highly uncertain due to its unusual ownership history, and the Six Flags merger.  Plus, it’s home to a classic B&M invert, a highly praised GCI wood coaster, and one of the original RMC Raptor single rails.               

I know as a roller coaster fan that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is getting the reaction of somebody coming off of a ride they’ve never ridden before.  That’s what I want to share with you.

And with that, join me for my first, and quite possibly last experiences on Rail Blazer, Gold Striker, Flight Deck, and more.  California’s Great America is my next stop on Coaster Redux.

It was another overcast day as I left my hotel bound for the airport in Salt Lake City.  I got to say goodbye to Lagoon as I passed its thrilling skyline with the majestic Wasach peaks providing a backdrop.  My mission this Friday was to fly to San Francisco, and drive south to my next hotel near California’s Great America to spend the night.  I’d visit that park on Saturday, spend the night in the same hotel, then drive the hour north to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Sunday before flying home Monday morning.  It was going to be a whirlwind couple of days, but I thrive doing this.  Experiencing new places and new theme parks gets my motor runnin’ like almost nothing else.

I swiftly returned my rental car and made my way into the airport with plenty of time.  As I said in the last episode, because of the multi-leg nature of this trip, I intentionally booked flights on different airlines and aircraft types to compare experiences to satisfy my aviation-geek side.  My ride for this short hop was a Boeing 737-800, this time from Delta Airlines.  

I was still pretty close to the back on this full flight, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a much more comfortable seat than on the same airplane from United just two days before.  Padding was noticeably better, and there was substantially more leg room as well.  We departed on time and I was treated to stunning mountain views on the two-hour journey to the City by the Bay.  And what a bay it is.  The approach took us around the majority of the area, and I marveled at the myriad of islands, with vessels large and small plying the waters below.  It looked like a boater’s paradise; a place I would love to explore by water some time.

I deplaned and followed signs for the rental car center as I exited the concourse.  I was directed upstairs to board the Air Train, an elevated people mover.  At the top of the stairs, I waited for the next train to arrive among a decent sized group of fellow travelers.  We were all kinda clumped in the same area, and as the train pulled in, everybody crowded to board at that end of the train.  Being a fully automated system, the doors closed leaving about half of us in the station..  I should have known better and walked further down the platform to guarantee I would get on the next car out.

Successfully onboard, I then found that the train would stop at three more terminals before leaving the airport proper for a lengthy journey to the remote rental car facility.  While I enjoyed the view of widebody aircraft at the international terminal, I made note of this nearly 20-minute ride for my return trip.  I had plenty of time today, but I didn’t want to cut it too close for my flight home.

The rental car center was massive, but the signage was good, and I found myself at the Hertz area in short order.  I booked an SUV this time because I like the feeling of driving from a higher position in urban traffic.  As I navigated to my assigned vehicle, I was pleased to find a grey Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line with blacked out wheels and leather interior.  Seemed like I’d hit the lottery as I climbed into my second sweet ride of the trip and connected my phone to Bluetooth for navigation and entertainment.

I settled in for the hour drive south on the 101 Freeway to the Marriott SpringHill in Milpitas, CA, about a ten minute drive from the park.  I passed the Meta World Headquarters located at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park.  It’s a massive complex home to Facebook, Instagram, etc, and that was cool to see.  The 101 then traversed the southern end of the Bay with more picturesque sand brown mountains surrounding the landscape.

Being about 2:30 in the afternoon, I was hungry, and I wanted to eat at the California staple I’d missed out on during my SoCal trip last year, In-N-Out Burger.  I found one close to the hotel and walked inside to see what the hype was all about.  The menu is simple as can be.  Hamburger.  Cheeseburger.  Or Double Double which is two cheeseburger patties with lettuce, tomato, onion, and the special spread.  Add fries or don’t.  It’s pretty hard to mess up, yet the person in front of me created scene berating the staff and management debating the doubleness of her double double, and despite repeated downright heroic attempts by the manager to appease this human, she ultimately ended up demanding a refund with a promise to give as many zero-star reviews as possible to any website that would listen.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my double double with fries and double-timed it back to the Tiguan to enjoy my meal away from that chaos.  The review?  The burger was fresh and flavorful, as far as fast food burgers go.  It’s delicious in its simplicity and I’d get it again.  The fries however were hot garbage.  Bland, no salt, soggy.  

I headed for my hotel to settle in for the evening and get some podcast work done.  As I said when I was in LA, I was shocked by the EV charging infrastructure here.  Most of the parking spots at this Marriott were located beneath solar panels providing power to charge the twenty Teslas plugged in beneath them.  Seeing this, maybe next time I’m in California, I’ll rent an EV to try it out.  

Anyway, I checked in, got some work done, and ordered Indian food for delivery.  While always a go-to for me when I want solid take-out, while browsing Door Dash, I found that Indian food is everywhere here owing to a huge Indian-American community in Santa Clara County.  Feeling beyond full, I headed to bed looking forward to my first visit to Great America tomorrow.

You just gotta love California weather.  It’s amazingly consistent.  Crystal clear blue skies, comfortable temperatures that are neither too hot nor too cold, and none of the sweat-inducing humidity that makes everything sticky.  I departed my hotel this Saturday to find exactly that.  California’s Great America was a short jaunt down the interstate, and I pulled into the parking lot which is shared with Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.  I had about ten minutes before rope drop.

Upon entering the front gate, the similarity to sister park Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL is unmistakable, and since I’d been there in June, it would be fun to compare the two.  The double deck carousel stands proud behind a large fountain pool flanked on both sides by massive palm trees.  An observation tower rises to the right just like Six Flags, but it’s surrounded by the wooden lift hill and covered first drop of Gold Striker.  It’s a beautiful first impression.  Before we’re allowed in, the National Anthem is piped in over the PA.  Great America indeed.

As I entered the park and turned left, it donned on me that this park would likely appear more true to its original form than its Illinois sister, as Six Flags applies its predictable themes to areas throughout their parks.  There would be no DC Universe or Metropolis here.  No Gotham City or Looney Tunes, though Snoopy’s a sure bet.  Cedar Fair’s been known to keep their parks more classy.  Play up the local flare and focus on aesthetics and charm rather than characters and cut-outs.  Then again, Six Flags Great America is one of the darlings of their legacy parks receiving frequent investment, and boasting one of the best coaster line-ups in the country.  California’s Great America is on the chopping block.  So how did two nearly identical parks located in major markets end up on such radically different trajectories?

Both parks opened in 1976 as Marriott’s Great America as the hotel chain briefly dabbled in the amusement industry.  Regional theme parks were popping up all over the country as corporations wanted to bring the magic of Disney World to local markets.  Great America was originally themed to regions in the Americas; the midwest, the county fair, New England, New Orleans, and the Canadian Yukon.  While they did experience initial success, the parks failed to generate the revenue Marriott had hoped for, and after eight years, both were sold.

The Illinois park opened as Six Flags Great America for the 1984 season and continues under that name to this day.  The California park, on the other hand, has changed hands several times.  The first interested party in 1984 was a development company that wanted the land for housing, and the deal almost went through, however, a legal battle over the details ensued between Marriott, the City of Santa Clara, and the development company.  In 1985, the City ended up purchasing the park from Marriott, and contracted Kings Entertainment (think Kings Island and Kings Dominion) to operate the park.  Four years later, Kings purchased the park from the City, however, the City maintained ownership of the land taking 5% of the park’s annual revenue as rent payment.

Then three years later, in 1992, Paramount Communications entered the theme park market with the purchase of Kings Entertainment.  Paramount was then bought by Viacom who then acquired CBS Broadcasting, but then in 2005 those companies split with the Paramount parks again up for sale.  They were subsequently purchased in 2006 by Cedar Fair.  By 2011, Cedar Fair was looking to decrease its debt and reached an agreement to sell the park to another company.  This deal ultimately fell through, however, the company simultaneously reached an agreement with the 49ers for their stadium to be built on the property sharing the parking lot.

Fast forward to 2019, when Cedar Fair purchased the land beneath the park from the Santa Clara.  Things were looking up for California’s Great America.  It’s been rumored that the Orion giga coaster at Kings Island was originally intended to be a hyper for this park.  Then the pandemic happened, and amidst mounting debt, Cedar Fair sold the land beneath Great America to Prologis, another development company, leasing the park from them through 2028 with an option to extend through 2033.  So now despite both Great Americas being under the same corporate umbrella for the first time in 30 years, this park’s days appear to be numbered.

I strolled through Orleans Place, and it felt similar to Six Flags except there wasn’t a Superman flying coaster or a Batman enclosed spinning wild mouse haphazardly placed along Bourbon Street.  Just charming two-story buildings with that French Quarter feel, restaurants, shops, and a theater.  It looks great.  Signs are posted throughout for two simultaneous special events: Tricks and Treats for Halloween, and Oktoberfest.  Being minutes after rope drop, those festivities have yet to begin, but the vibe of this area was marked improvement over the Illinois park.

I made a left and headed for my first ride of the day, Flight Deck.  Opened in 1993 as Top Gun, this was the second B&M inverted coaster to open, the first interestingly being Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America.  While the ride was stripped of the Top Gun name when Cedar Fair took over, there’s still a loose aviation theme here.

You enter the queue beneath a low-to-the-ground crimson zero-G roll, and a test train thunders through with that raucous B&M roar. The station is completely open air with no roof, which I guess mimics the feel of a carrier deck.  I climbed into the back row right and was shortly heading upward with a stellar view of Levi’s Stadium to the right.     

Being an early invert, the stats on this ride aren’t all that impressive.  The lift hill is 102 feet tall with a 91 foot first drop.  You experience three inversions over a mere 2260 feet of track.  While Flight Deck is short, everybody says it packs a punch.

You bank left at the top and drop down to the ground before a strong pull up into a vertical loop.  You then pull up and snap right into a super intense upward 270 degree helix before plunging into a zero-G roll with amazing whip.  You take a breather with a brief S-bend as the jet buzzes the station.  You dip down over a pond and rip through a corkscrew before a low level minimum radius just above the water before the positive G’s relent and you’re in the brakes.

Flight Deck is short, but it’s smooth and intense.  They just don’t build B&M’s this way anymore.  When it opened in 1993, this must have been a mindblowing roller coaster, and 30 years later, it’s still a rush.

I left Flight Deck and continued my way clockwise through the park.  I passed through All- American Corners, home to flat rides, and the Rip Roaring Rapids ride.  A covered bridge leads into the Planet Snoopy kids area.  It’s got all the feels of similar lands in other Cedar Fair parks.  

I continued to the back of the park and found my next roller coaster, Psycho Mouse.  Being super low capacity, I knew if I didn’t get this credit now, I probably wouldn’t.  It’s a Mad Mouse model from Arrow Dynamics, and after about 15 minutes, I was onboard my own four person car headed up the green lift hill.  

So despite the line being very short, operations were crawling on this coaster.  They had six cars in service, yet only one could be on the course at a time, meaning I wasn’t dispatched until the car ahead of me entered the final brakes.  It’s strange.  The ride itself was surprisingly good!  It begins with the typical unbanked switchbacks on the upper level, but once you dive beneath those, Psycho Mouse delivers several decent airtime pops over its snappy drops and bunny hills down below, which hit pretty hard due to the minimalist lap bars.  This is one of the better wild mouse style coasters I’ve ridden, and I’d make a point to ride it early due to slow operations.

I continued my loop around the park through the NorCal County Fair area.  The Grizzly wood coaster towers to the left where X-Flight would have been at Six Flags, but it wasn’t open yet.  The food court to the right is a dead ringer for the one in Illinois, but it’s empty as the day has just begun.  I approached RailBlazer, the second RMC single rail Raptor coaster to open, and it was thundering through its compact layout looking way too fast!  This is a mirror image of Wonder Woman: Golden Lasso Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and it opened just a month after its Texas twin.  The orange track with tan supports is placed right against the main midway, and it’s beautifully presented above water while winding through rockwork.  I wanted to work up to one of the best coasters in the park, so I bypassed RailBlazer, and walked up the adjacent hill towards the Demon.  This classic Arrow looper opened with the park in 1976.  Like its Chicago counterpart, it originally sported two airtime hills after the first drop before the corkscrews which were replaced with a pair of vertical loops for the 1980 season.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ride this Demon as it was closed for the entire day.

My next ride was Patriot.  Located in HomeTown Square with a classic Americana vibe, this B&M floorless coaster originally opened as the Vortex stand-up in 1991.  It’s also interesting that Vortex was the second B&M stand-up ever, and it opened one year after Iron Wolf at none other than Six Flags Great America.  What a time this must have been at the two Great America parks, who despite having different owners, both opened a pair of new B&M’s within two years of one and other.  Anyway, Cedar Fair replaced the stand-up trains on Vortex in 2017 after giving a similar treatment to Mantis at Cedar Point in 2015, transforming that ride into Rougarou.  The Patriot name was re-used from the B&M invert at Worlds of Fun that I rode in the summer, but the logo was slightly tweaked based on the blue color scheme of this coaster.  The ride looks great, and that B&M roar can be heard through much of the park.

Unfortunately, operations were less than ideal.  I entered the open air station with no roof, similar to Flight Deck, and selected the back row right.  There was zero hustle from this crew who took their sweet time checking the simple shoulder harnesses.  Once they’d wandered back to their stations, the all-clear was given, and the seven-row train left the station. 

You make an about face before engaging the 91 foot lift hill.  You get a great view of Flight Deck and Levi’s Stadium up ahead before the train banks sharply left into B&M’s trademark curving first drop. There’s some solid whip in the back row, and a great head chopper before you pull up into a vertical loop.  You then rise up into a horseshoe turnaround above Hometown Square, and dive back down into the park’s infield. You make an S-bend then climb upwards to cross through the vertical loop.  You then drop back down into another S-bend with some strong whip that reminded me of the wicked direction changes on Rougarou.  Then comes the corkscrew, and this also has excellent snap on its exit.  You rise up into a gentle turn and return to the station.  

So Patriot was a pleasant surprise!  It’s short, and not overly intense, but it does have some strong whippy moments, and for the most part, it still rides smoothly.  Iron Wolf was relocated to Six Flags America and got the floorless treatment as Firebird, and it was overall rough and not enjoyable.  Patriot, on the other hand, is still going strong as a fun, smooth looping coaster.

As I left Patriot, I looked up and saw that Grizzly was up and running, so I headed it back to County Fair for a ride, but I was skeptical on this one.  Kings Donimion’s Grizzly was pretty rough and unremarkable when I rode it in 2018, and it looked like one of those older wood coasters that still trudge along at legacy Cedar Fair parks.  Think Hurler at Carowinds, or Timber Wolf at Worlds of Fun.  I entered the queue and was pleased to find a mere station wait.  Unfortunately, this did not translate to a quick boarding.

Grizzly features unusual fiberglass bodied trains. While RCDB doesn’t name the manufacturer, I think they’re from D.H. Morgan.  They have seatbelts for each individual rider as, a single lap bar shared between riders, and a secondary seatbelt to secure the lap bar.  It’s a lot to check.  I’ll give the park credit for having two trains in operation, but it almost didn’t matter.  The first drop is probably about 50 degrees, and it feels like riding a ramp.  The train crawls around the flat turnarounds so there are no laterals.  There is also no airtime on any of the hills. The good news is that it’s relatively smooth, but that is probably because Grizzly does nothing.  There’s just no bite to this bear.  I recorded audio starting just before boarding and stopped it when walking down the exit, and the clip was 18 minutes yielding no interesting audio.  Bummer there, but it was finally time to ride Great America’s headlining roller coasters.

I returned to Rail Blazer, the newest coaster in the park.  Opened in 2018, this RMC single-rail is ulta-compact, and I know it’ll pack a punch.  I’d ridden its mirrored clone at Six Flags Fiesta Texas two years ago and lovingly described it as a car crash.  Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster featured a ferocity I’d never experienced in a roller coaster before, and there was a certain grit in the way it rode.  I’m not gonna call it rough, but you could feel every dust mite or grain of sand resting on that single rail on the track.  The ride experience was raw.  Wonder Woman just completed a multi-phase refurbishment including the addition of new trains.  Rail Blazer received none of this treatment, presumably because of its uncertain future, so I was concerned that this one would be jankier.  Only one way to find out.

I entered the queue which is masterfully placed beneath the ride’s structure, providing stunning views of the roller coaster in action.  There’s one spot in particular just below the straight drop after the S-bend where the train thunders mere inches above your head.  While RMC’s IBOX coasters are rather quiet, these Raptors have a roar to them.

From that point, you’re only a few minutes from the station.  Operators did a great job hustling guests onboard.  Seating is assigned, and I was placed in row 4, dead center in the train.  The restraint consists of an over the shoulder lap bar with a vest restraint with some elastic give, and trust me, you’re gonna take full advantage of that stretch on this ride.

The train leaves the station and climbs to 106 feet.  My preferred riding position on Raptors is arms straight out versus arms up because of the vests.  I think this maximizes freedom and airtime without fighting the harnesses.  At the top, you dip down and bank left before rising up and into the 100 foot vertical drop.  Here begins 1800 feet of absolute adrenaline as you’re launched out of your seat stretching those vests to the breaking point with thighs pinned to the lap bar.  At the bottom, you hurdle through a rockwork tunnel, and then rise up into a dive loop.  You climb up and get thrown upward before the track quickly twists left and dives beneath itself.  Next, you bank right and rise up into a camelback airtime hill providing awesome ejector combined with a head chopper as you narrowly miss the lift hill.  RailBlazer than drops and turns left low to the ground before spiraling up and to the right.  You then plummet back to ground level with an explosive airtime pop passing just over the queue and pause briefly in a cutback inversion which quickly transitions into a corkscrew.  It’s so fast and so smooth, you can barely process it.  You then careen around a high banked turn to the left before a final airtime pop into the brakes.   And this is how legends are made.

I stumbled off RailBlazer probably more impressed than I was by Wonder Woman.  While I was in the middle of the train, this roller coaster has phenomenal power, and it was the smoothest single rail I’ve done yet.  Even the newer Jersey Devil Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure, and Lasso of Truth at Magic Mountain have a shuffle I didn’t notice on RailBlazer.  This coaster is an intensity beast with some of the best airtime and whip found anywhere, and it was an absolute blast!

By this point I was hungry, and I wanted to sample the fried chicken at Maggie Brown’s, the park’s best known food spot, but the line was spilling right to the door, and I wasn’t about to wait that long.  I ended up just grabbing a quick burger from the food court at NorCal County Fair.  I chose this because it had the shortest line I could find, and it was still pretty slow, and to say my burger and fries were mediocre would probably be a compliment.

With a full stomach, I had only one more roller coaster to ride, and I returned to the front of the park for Gold Striker.  This wood twister was built by GCI in 2013 as is said to have one of the strongest layouts of the type.  Hot off the heels from my summer road trip where I rode some of the finest GCI’s out there like Prowler at Worlds of Fun, Thunderhead at Dollywood, and Mystic Timbers at Kings Island, I was psyched to see how this one measured up.

The queue is located in Celebration Plaza, right by the park’s entry fountain, and the beginning of the line is right in the infield of the spiral first drop.  The line was posted at 35 minutes, and while waiting just beneath the first drop, it seemed like trains were only being dispatched every few minutes.  Still, it was really cool to be up close and personal with those 12-car Millennium flyers rocketing by at 53 mph  with screaming riders onboard.

The queue passes beneath the structure in a tunnel, and I ended up stuck here for about 20 minutes while the ride went down.  I opted to wait it out as this was the last coaster I needed to ride in the park.  During this downtime, I got to thinking about Cedar Fair’s strange use of the word “striker” in recent coasters.  Of course you’ve got Gold Striker, which was followed by Yukon Striker, the B&M dive at Canada’s Wonderland, and then most recently Thunder Striker, the rebrand of Intimidator when Carowinds lost the rights to the Dale Earnhardt name.  I’ll throw in Copperhead Strike at the same park just for conversation.  I can’t think of a time I’ve used the word “striker” in conversation.  I find it odd.  Single rider queue line thoughts.  Which also might be odd. 

Anyway, operations eventually resumed, and many people left the line, but it was still a healthy 45 minutes of total wait time.  Watching operations, I thought they only had one train running, but, again, Great America’s operations weren’t so great on this ride resulting in the second train being stacked on the brakes nearly every cycle.

As I finally entered the station, rows were being assigned, and I was placed in the third.  Not bad, as I typically find GCI’s to be best near the front.  I saddled up, buckled the seatbelt, and lowered the familiar ratcheting lap bar.

You roll out of the station and make an S-bend before engaging the lift.  Gold Striker’s bringing you up to 109 feet and the track length is 3,197 feet, so its stats are right in line with GCI’s other greats.  At the top, you enter the covered first drop. Like GhostRider at Knott’s Berry Farm, this was done to minimize noise for the surrounding area.

As you head down, there’s no airtime here since it’s not terribly steep.  The track banks sharply right on the pull out and you’re then roaring past the start of the queue below.   Gold Striker then gets to the action as you bank left beneath the lift hill and fly over a surprise speed hill providing crazy airtime.  You climb up over the lift and bank right then switch back to left before rising up  into a high banked turnaround.  You drop back down and do another S-bend where GCI gives you that crazy airtime upon direction change.  The pace slows for a heartbeat as you head up again and into a left swooping turn.  You make another series of turns heading up and down with plenty more of that GCI magic on the final approach to the brakes.

This is definitely the most intense GCI I’ve ridden.  It’s raw and outta control the whole time.  It’s got airtime in spades.  The only negative is that it’s got three or four potholes where the train jackhammers pretty hard.  Forgive me, but this is such a disorienting ride I can’t remember exactly where those were.  Still, save for those moments, and this would be my favorite GCI by a long shot.  There’s just so much going on here with ridiculous laterals, incredible airtime pops, and a layout that simply doesn’t let up.  It’s beyond awesome. 

I exited Gold Striker, content that I’d ridden everything I wanted to at Great America.  I headed back towards RailBlazer to find it was closed for maintenance.

I then made another complete loop around the park looking for my next ride, and the place was really filling up.  They had two festivals going on, and the vibe was pretty electric.  I expect people were coming in late for Tricks and Treats, the Halloween event.  There were also several spots playing up the Oktoberfest event.  There was live music and craft beer in HomeTown Square and All-American Corners.  A trio of very talented female vocalists were singing spooky songs from the second level of a building in Orleans Place.

Flight Deck’s line had burgeoned to 45 minutes at this point, so that was out.  The only other coaster, save for RailBlazer, I wanted to ride again was Gold Striker.  I stepped into the queue with that same 35 minute wait posted.  It was quicker this time as the ride didn’t go down, and the line started right where you enter that tunnel.  This time I was fortunate to be placed in row 11, so second to back.  As I said before, I typically prefer GCI’s in the front, but on this one the back was way more intense!  The train was flying through the layout, and while the airtime was stronger in back, so too were those potholes.  Gold Striker is an incredible wood coaster, bordering on elite.  It’s just those few moments of roughness that hold it back.

The sun was beginning to set.  I returned to RailBlazer to find no maintenance activity, leaving me to believe it would remain closed for the rest of the day.  I like to work up to riding the best coasters when I visit new parks.  It’s fun for me to build that anticipation while riding a park’s supporting line-up, and I also believe it makes for a better story for the podcast.  I walked past RailBlazer with a wait of ten minutes or less several times throughout the day, and I thought I’d have the chance to re-ride later.  That didn’t pan out.  I’d love to have experienced this thing in the back.

I left California’s Great America satisfied with the rides I’d gotten, but also wanting more.  This is a great park in a massive metropolitan area.  One that seems more than capable of supporting a major amusement park like this.  It’s a pretty park with a stunning entrance area, some top notch roller coasters, and tons of potential.  Cedar Fair has been retheming outdated areas in their parks lately, and with their executive team at the reins of the new Six Flags Entertainment Company, I see that practice continuing into the future.  Sadly, the newly minted chain has been unapologetic about removing costly and unreliable attractions, and this park’s land was sold to a developer in 2022 before the merger.  I suspect this was a desperate move to improve the corporate balance sheet by selling the land it had bought from the city only four years prior.

The Six Flags and Cedar Fair merger was done to consolidate costs, like insurance, management, sales, marketing, human resources, IT, and the like.  Cedar Fair seemed to be putting the pedal down on investment in California’s Great America in 2018, before the pandemic turned the world upside down.  Just this year, the chain bought out the minority share it didn’t own in Six Flags Over Georgia.  Could there be a chance that they’ll double down and buy Great America back from Prologis? Right now I doubt it, but how incredible would it be to see new investment into this park?!  Imagine Gold Striker re-tracked with ipe wood like Thunderhead at Dollywood, or Grizzly being replaced with the B&M hyper that became Orion?  Recent events have shown that the American theme park world is about as uncertain as it’s ever been right now, and a lot can happen between now and 2028.  

As of now, Six Flags has cancelled all special events at California’s Great America in 2025.  A bad sign.  But they also cancelled Winterfest at Kings Dominion.  I can’t pretend to guess what’s going on in that home office, but if you haven’t done so, I strongly recommend you get out to Santa Clara to experience this park as soon as possible.  It’s got some great rides, and if it becomes the next strip mall or condo development, it would be a tragic loss.

I returned to my hotel to rest up for the next day, and on that Sunday, I would visit the other Six Flags park that would carry the Northern California coaster flame should Great America close for good.

Join me for the next episode when I travel to the mountains of Vallejo, CA.  I’ll ride the B&M floorless with the world’s only sea-serpent roll, RMC’s first GCI conversion, and get my 250th credit. My first visit to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is coming up next time on Coaster Redux.