My first opening day.
Antonio: Yep, you read that right, as a member of the coaster community for nearly 4 years I, oddly enough, had never been to an opening day event. Since I now have a CGA Gold Pass I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to head on down to CGA for it's first day of 2018 operations as well as meet up up with countless other coaster dorks.
originally I was there alone, but heading in that was the least of my worries... Or so I thought...
originally I was there alone, but heading in that was the least of my worries... Or so I thought...
I was around pretty early so I did get to see park staff raise the flag. You can see the whole raise in my new video here.
After security started letting people in everyone waited anxiously at the black gates outside the turnstiles. (Though there was the classic push and shove...)
After security started letting people in everyone waited anxiously at the black gates outside the turnstiles. (Though there was the classic push and shove...)
After getting inside I staked out a spot to film the opening ceremonies... again, or so I thought... Cause my phone crashed seconds before rope drop. RIP. So I don't have any photos of the actual ceremony. However it was basically an ad for everything coming this year then some confetti (no fireworks sadly). I was able to find a roll of confetti later in the day.
After the ceremony I made my way over to The Demon to start my totally PROBLEM FREE DAY... (I think you get what I mean now...)
If you tried Demon Re-Ignited, then you'll LOVE Demon EXTINGUISHED. Yeah, the rain came DOWN on us not ten minutes after rope drop. Clear skies and no rain to grey and pouring. Because of this Demon had to drop to one train ops and then immediately went down right after.
So what would have been my first coaster of the season turned into me ditching that for watching Top Gun in Theater Royale for #FlightDeck25. Over there stood a totally-not Tom Cruise impersonator and a working model of Flight Deck/Top Gun, but work it did not because it was quite 'aged', if you will.
As promised during the ACE Off Season Tour, operators of Flight Deck are wearing the original Top Gun jumpsuits operators wore when the ride first opened more than 25 years ago. Of course this is not permanent and will only be for the next two weeks. However...
The one thing that I didn't know about, but LOVED that was back was the fog coming from the load platform. I really hope that this sticks around because it's a really neat effect and is not IP based. The one thing though is that it works intermittently.
To commemorate opening day I gave out a Giant Discovery Model Kit as part of a contest. Jacob from @fluffy.coaster.updates won the contest.
Me and Mr. Snail here in Planet Snoopy were discussing CGA new for 2019 and 2020. Good stuff.
After that it was then a quick ride over to Flight Deck for the Inside CGA Flight Deck takeover at 2pm. RailBlazer dominates the skyline, more on it later.
Rumors have been pumping about the Planet Snoopy theme biting the dust and I have to say I agree. With the removal of Joe Cool Café for Sierra Creek Lodge and Snoopy's Splash Dance being demolished and turned into a nice little 'campfire' esque resting area AND the theater being retired (although that's probably for Boomerang Bay) AND Carowinds currently transitioning their Planet Snoopy into Camp Snoopy, it's only a matter of time.
Sorry to drag this on, but also Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is likely slated to do a kids area for 2019 as well so the playing field will be quite level.
Also side note: Delta Flyer/Eagles' Flight has a sign that says 'no picture taking' among other rules. I think that's a bit weird because I have NEVER seen that rule enforced ever nor has anyone I know ever followed it. Even Six Flags Great Adventure, the self proclaimed kings of no photo rule enforcement, lets guests photograph and videotape on their skyway without issue. Plus a dad in a family has a gimbal and all, not a word from the op. I think it's time to smudge that out imo.
Rumors have been pumping about the Planet Snoopy theme biting the dust and I have to say I agree. With the removal of Joe Cool Café for Sierra Creek Lodge and Snoopy's Splash Dance being demolished and turned into a nice little 'campfire' esque resting area AND the theater being retired (although that's probably for Boomerang Bay) AND Carowinds currently transitioning their Planet Snoopy into Camp Snoopy, it's only a matter of time.
Sorry to drag this on, but also Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is likely slated to do a kids area for 2019 as well so the playing field will be quite level.
Also side note: Delta Flyer/Eagles' Flight has a sign that says 'no picture taking' among other rules. I think that's a bit weird because I have NEVER seen that rule enforced ever nor has anyone I know ever followed it. Even Six Flags Great Adventure, the self proclaimed kings of no photo rule enforcement, lets guests photograph and videotape on their skyway without issue. Plus a dad in a family has a gimbal and all, not a word from the op. I think it's time to smudge that out imo.
Meanwhile the station for Logger's Run and the HMB Endeavour have been destroyed as well. You can see the spot where the turntable use to be. I wonder what will become of this little area. There is some plans (I can't say anything), but hopefully there will be a new attraction or area that uses this space with a little nod towards HMB Endeavour and Logger's Run.
Jacob also pointed out that this anchor was recently put back near the plot of the HMB Endeavour. I wonder if it means something... ;)
Let the Inside CGA Flight Deck takeover...BEGIN... all, I'm gonna say 40, of us swarmed the station. While we didn't get a full train full of nerds, we sure tried. Thanks to Mike for organizing this little micro event. It was fun to see the camaraderie between all local NorCal enthusiasts.
After we took over, we did get these schweet #FlightDeck25 aviator sunglasses from the park...
Here were the Flight Deck inspired food that were offered this weekend. I tried the Maverick and it was quite good. Plus it was included with my dining pass which is always a bonus. (full disclosure: I've never had a dining pass until now)
Before getting to RailBlazer, I made sure to hitch a ride on Star Tower, who knows if it'll flood again... Probably not, but still...
The pathway for RailBlazer's queue, and a lot of other theme, rockwork and all are nearing completion. Hopefully it's not long until we can walk on this little bridge.
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However, due to likely clearance reasons, the cave has been turned into more canyon than cave as you can see. The crew had tarps above their work to shield it from the temperamental downpour.
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More rockwork is being worked on as environment around the course. If anything GoldStriker has shown the park's willingness to less guests get as close as possible to the ride and walk beneath it, something Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster doesn't really have. Hopefully these little posts only have a grid fence attached and nothing more so we can get some nice shots.
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The crew was hard at work preparing the station for our future enjoyment. The rustic color of the station supports might be temporary, but I hope it stays because I kind of like it. The station still has much work to be done such as the sheet metal silver roof that was in the render and it seems the render will be about 98% accurate to what the final product will look like.
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Before anything else we stopped by Drop Zone, home of a good ride with fading paint and a look of being stuck in the 90s... It's okay, but it could be better. With the park quickly moving away from the quirky theme implied in this area as well as Food Festival, hopefully we can see a full retheme of this area to something a bit more sophisticated as we've seen with Patriot and now RailBlazer. Always room for improvement, but luckily this is CGA, a park very attentive to detail, so hopefully it'll get some love very soon.
Grizzly was also still closed amid partial retracking, so for now it seems no RMC hybrid for Grizzly for the foreseeable future.
Grizzly was also still closed amid partial retracking, so for now it seems no RMC hybrid for Grizzly for the foreseeable future.
Sadly though because of rain and scheduling, the tiki gods were not in our favor Saturday as Tiki Twirl was closed. Bummer.
Find out how this ride works here!
Find out how this ride works here!
It's neighbor Psycho Mouse, the super overengineered Arrow wild mouse, was operational for some of the day, but went down later and remained closed amid computer freezing and maintenance being a bit stretched for personnel due to the usual opening day ride hiccups.
Here are some #FlightDeck25 photos before we wrap things up for the day. You can even spot the moon peeking in the upper left corner.
Flight Deck/Top Gun was an early age B&M so transitions vary, but her is the streamline of the dip into the zero-g roll.
The queue of Flying Eagles offers some great photos ops of itself, Delta Flyer, Patriot and more rides at around 6pm.
Inside CGA (the shop) was stocked up with some great (and cute) RailBlazer goods. As a former patron of other chains I was blown away at pricing as well. I picked up a slick blue anodized aluminum water bottle for $11.33 after tax and gold pass discount, a steal in my book. Also it's been shown that the park is also in the process of installing those fancy water fountain/water bottle filling stations outside bathrooms so I'll definitely be bring my bottle with me more.
New event offerings for the 2018 season!
During the ACE 2018 CGA Off-Season Tour Mr. Clayton mentioned many of the incoming entertainment offerings for the 2018 season. Many favorites such as 'Red, White and Brews' and 'Taste of Orleans' will be returning as well
Backyard Bands & BBQ starts really soon as well as many other notable events around the park.
(sorry that the photo is blurry)
(sorry that the photo is blurry)
I was honestly surprised that the rain was able to scare away as many guests as it did. here was the view from Star Tower mid day.