California's Great America announces Gold Striker wood roller coaster

Windseeker, Gatekeeper, Goldstriker - looks like "er" is the new "hawk".

The miner in the logo looks like Stinky Pete the Old Prospector from Toy Story 2. Maybe they can get Kelsey Grammer to do the recorded spiel.

ApolloAndy said:

So does this mean CGA is no longer on the block?

That was announced December 2011

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/buyer-backs-out-on-californias-great-america-cedar-fair-will-keep-the-amusement-park

Now I ain't sayin she a gold striker...

How are Great America and SF Discovery Kingdom? I live in LA. Worth the drive up or nay?

I really liked SFDK, loved Bonfante Gardens, and have an affinity for Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk that is hard to put into words on a PG-3 site...

IMO, well worth the drive. And Gold Striker will be a great addition, something to complement CGA's under-rated B&M invert...

If you do drive up to SFDK and CGA, make sure you do Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Like rollergator said, it's a great place. I went this year and it was very fun. There adding a new Spinning Coaster in 2013 so you could hit a new coaster at all three parks. Giant Dipper is by far my favorite wooden roller coaster.

Rides-wise, the only thing going for CGA before Gold Stiker was Top Gun/Flight Deck/whatever, as far as I'm concerned.

Tekwardo said:

Now I ain't sayin she a gold striker...

..but she ain't messin with no broke hiker.

rollergator said:

...on a PG-3 site...

Hey! We're immature, but give us a little more credit!

:)

Looks like I will be planning a family trip up the coast next year to finally see this park along with Santa Cruz and hopefully the Gardens. We did SFDK on New years Eve last year and had a really good time before it became extremely crowded.

Looks fun! The design looks like Roar at SF Discovery Kingdom.....

kpjb said:

..but she ain't messin with no broke hiker.

You have the cool explicit version. All I have is the radio edit:

...but she ain't messin' with no broke broke.

Both of you got lucky. I have the gentleman's version:

"But she is not currently involved with a fiscally irresponsible bloke"

ApolloAndy said:

So does this mean CGA is no longer on the block?

And I don't know if it was discussed in the previous thread when CGA was no longer for sale or not but this article:

http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2012/01/sweet-stadium-deal-for-californias.html

Indicates Cedar Fair got a fairly good deal and the city is providing incentives to invest.



I'm definitely going to go to Santa Cruz BB. Hearst Castle and Russian River Brewery. Those were the initial reasons for the trip. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Cedar Point, but SFDK and Great America never looked very appealing. With the new Superman and Gold Striker it's probably worth the trip. Thanks for the insight.

cpubradley said:
Cedar Fair got a fairly good deal and the city is providing incentives to invest.



That does look like a very good deal for Cedar Fair. They must have had a lot more leverage than seemingly indicated.

I walked into my office lobby a couple weeks ago and found one of our telepresence systems dialed into our office in Santa Clara, right across from CGA. At first I thought the cranes were for the new coaster, until I realized how huge they were. Looks like construction for the new stadium.

Vater said:

Looks like construction for the new stadium.

Yep 4 huge cranes... a video about the cranes - takes a 90 ton crane to put those 4 cranes together.

http://www.49ers.com/media-gallery/videos/Stadium-Tour-Cranes/51d95f4c-199d-42c3-afc9-facd78364307

I was last out there three years ago...

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is well worth a visit.

Great America seemed like nobody there really cared. That worked to my advantage when I was riding their Larson Flying Scooter, but my overall impression was that they had a collection of really dull rides. Grizzly was not rough, but it was boring. Great America has, or at least had, a Bayern Kurve that they really don't deserve, as it runs at about a quarter of proper speed; and a Break Dance that sits in their Kiddieland...and appears to run like it belongs there.

Overall, I spent too much time at Great America, at least in part because I was killing time waiting for the Mouse to open. Ultimately that meant I didn't have enough time to spend at Gilroy Gardens. Gilroy Gardens is a neat place, and while their ride selection is nothing fancy, the park is pretty remarkable and well worth a visit.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.