Flowers are blooming, the air is warming and California’s Great America has opened for 2018; must be spring. After a small opening ceremony featuring park Vice President and General Manager Raul Rehnborg, Hometown Square Mayor Cornelius G. Appleseed, Snoopy and the gang, and, of course, Maverick from the major motion picture Top Gun, the rope dropped and all headed to their first destination.
Flight Deck seemed appropriate since this is the 25th anniversary of the Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster, their first that wasn’t called Batman The Ride. In fact, it wasn’t called Flight Deck either, because in those days of Paramount ownership it was known as Top Gun.
Operators of Top Flight Deck Gun were sporting the old flight-suits from days of yore, and all riders received a commemorative dog tag at the exit. Although they didn’t repaint the track in the original black and grey, the model on display at the Theater Royale served as a reasonable facsimile. The theater also screened Top Gun on a continuous loop, and it is an OK film, I guess. Even more entertaining were the families seeking refuge from the rain that literally began as I sat in my traditional left, back seat of the train waiting for dispatch.
Outside, our season of weather stranger than a female rooster with antlers continued, but it was not enough to stop Eagles from twisting stomachs nor the rhythmic dispatch of empty, redundant boats. Some objects took shelter in the long-abandoned tunnel from the time when a railroad circled the park.
I was going to invest some of my own coin into the new food offerings, but, well, the signs and construction walls throughout the park were practically Disneyesque.
Hang on, that last sign seemed particularly interesting, go back a tick.
Yep, that’s RailBlazer rising up out if the mud; can’t let a little rain interfere with that (I hope those guys are well paid). The track with its innovative single rail seems mostly complete, but clearly, some of the other aspects: queues, landscaping, functional station, finished rock-work at the bottom of the 90° drop ,that sort of thing, are still ahead. With a bridge next to the construction, everybody can get a good look, and the benches beside the fence make it easy to get different photo angles. The only commitment the park will make public as to the opening is “Spring”; your humble narrator was unable to trick anybody into saying anything more specific.
Here’s the concept visualization of the new coaster. Looks real to me:
I like including Great America’s signature double-decker Columbia Carousel in photos, as it is so majestic beside the blue waters of the adjacent fountain. But as I realized it could be a good place to ride and stay dry, I started noticing the detailed menagerie of cool and unusual creatures scattered among the mighty steeds, and the overhead panels and their depictions of Americana.
And that’s just the start for California’s Great America In 2018.
Looks like a few interesting events on the horizon, so maybe the rain will clear by then on another Day…..no……wait, just stop. I’m writing these words a couple of days later; this is ridiculous. The AC is straining to keep up with a day that had me in shorts. We’re closer to the debut of the Backyard BBQ than the preceding images. Let’s stay in our seats, pull down the lap bar, and take this ride again.
Backyard Bands and BBQ
What a difference a week makes! It’s warm, Dry, noticeable progress on the RailBlazer rock-work, and the first of two weekend Backyard Bands and BBQs. The bands will change daily, but we enjoyed some good sounds from Big Blu Soul Quartet and California Sons. This is much more low key than Taste of Orleans or Red, White and Brews but there was a choice of three specialty sausages or pork shank; both were good but wouldn’t have suffered from being warmer. There were fewer closed signs around the park, and it didn’t feel so much like a dress rehearsal. So toss a bag at the corn-hole, play the giant jenga or ride the rails while the crowds are still manageable. For now we’ll look around a bit more as California’s Great America eases into 2018, and be back soon for the next Day by The Bay.
Any Great America fans in the house? And what about that beautiful twisted monster, RailBlazer, that’s on the way?