California's Great America

Visited: May 8, 2026

Attending: Just Brian

The two-level carousel just inside the entrance of California's Great America.

Although I was just in the Bay Area in March, I found myself back there again in early May for my company’s Replay conference. The difference this time was that California’s Great America was open. Although I lived not far away from here from 1998 to 2000, I never went to the park during that time. I definitely seized the opportunity this time, because I have pretty solid info that the park will be closing after the 2027 season. So I figure this may be my one and only chance.

The day after the conference, I rented a car at SFO and drove down to Santa Clara, arriving just after 10:00. Pretty good timing, but as I walked toward the entrance, I noticed a large number of school groups present. Turns out today was “math and science day” at the park, and there were also plenty of school groups who weren’t doing anything but attending. That set a rather unfortunate tone for the day.

Psycho Mouse

Psycho Mouse, before it got busy.

Following the advice of several enthusiasts, I went straight to the back of the park to ride this first. Why ride a wild mouse first, of all things? Although it’s a ride type I skip when the park is busy, this is an Arrow wild mouse, of which there are only three left in the world. (Another one is at Michigan’s Adventure, which I didn’t know when I was there. Wish I had.) It’s only mildly unusual for a wild mouse. It doesn’t seem as wide as other mice I’ve ridden, and the switchback section seemed rather perfunctory. The next level down seemed to have somewhat steeper drops than other mice, so that was kind of neat. There was a small section just before the brakes where the track tilts to the outside, but if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have known it happened. I liked the color scheme, but as expected, the ops were terrible. Definitely a one-and-done.

Grizzly

This is really the most exciting image I could get of Grizzly.

As I was heading back toward the middle of the park, I passed by Grizzly first, so I decided to use it as a test case to see how bad the lines were. The park app said the wait was 15 minutes, which was a complete lie. It was more like 30 minutes or more. Oddly, the ride queue doesn’t have any switchbacks, because I imagine there’s rarely any line to speak of. Unfortunately, that wasn’t true today, and I was subjected to both nattering teenage girls and posturing teenage boys, neither of which I’m particularly interested in. The ops were downright awful, because they didn't have enough staff for all the roles. And the ride was a complete waste of time. I was toward the front of the train, hardly an ideal position, but the entire thing seemed completely forceless and shallow to me.

After grizzly, I decided that I needed a Fast Lane, if only to keep me from having to listen to mobs of teenagers, so I had to find customer service for that.

Railblazer

By far the most photogenic coaster in the park.

Armed with a Fast Lane band and the freedom of choice that provinces, I went straight for Railblazer, my highest priority in the park by a reasonable margin. Fast Lane got me right to the platform and a row 7 (of 8) seat. I have to say that Railblazer did not disappoint. It’s fast, it’s whippy, and it has absurd amounts of air for a short coaster. Yet I was comfortable the whole time. Everything feels slightly too fast, from the dive through the rockwork to the last inversion. I agree with the standard observation that the only thing wrong with the ride is that it’s over too quickly. This is definitely the ride that I wish Jersey Devil could be. After two sub-par rides, I was very impressed with Railblazer, and I wanted to get another, but I opted for the rest of the credits first.

Gold Striker

That's some GCI twistiness right there.

This was the next highest priority, with a wide gap after it. I’m not a huge fan of wooden coasters; even the smoothest seem kinda rumbly to me. And while I like a good GCI creation, I don’t fall all over myself to ride one. So while I knew that Gold Striker is considered by many to be the best wooden coaster in California, I didn’t know what to expect. I managed to snag the last row, partnered with another enthusiast. Wow, this thing is intense. Unlike almost everything else in this park, it seems longer than it should be, but it never lets up on the intensity, seeming to keep its speed all the way to the brakes. The first drop wasn’t really the showpiece. That was fine, but the huge overbanks that come after were incredible, and the speed hill between the second and third major hills was so unexpected, and so fun. And the hits just kept coming. It wasn’t super-twisty like Mystic Timbers, but twisty enough to keep you guessing where you were going. Hitting the brake run felt celebratory. I wish I could’ve gotten a second ride, given that it’s unlikely to be moved when the park closes, but the one I got is a great memory.

Flight Deck

After Gold Striker, I was near the front of the park, so I decided to circle around through the New Orleans section to find something to eat. Unfortunately, most of the eating venues were closed, probably because it was a school day. I did find Flight Deck, though, and decided I might as well do that. I wasn’t sure what to think about Flight Deck, as it’s rarely mentioned in discussions of B&M inverts. Unfortunately, Fast Lane users can’t always be choosy about seats. I got assigned row 2, but at least I was on the edge, and next to an enthusiast who was marathoning it for some reason. However, once we hit the lift hill, the train stopped. I haven’t encountered that before, but the B&M seats are reasonably comfy, especially when inclined like that. What I didn’t appreciate was all the teenage girls on the train, who were delighting in panicking each other, even though we were only 20 feet off the ground, if that. After about five minutes, we were moving again, but the shrieking never stopped.

There’s definitely some rattle to Flight Deck, and I had to ride defensively. The first loop was nothing to write home about, and the first zero-g was sharp. After that, it jumps over the station with a dull straight section, then an excellent second zero-g and a low helix over the water that’s great fun. Overall, the primary impression is that it’s way too short for what it is, and the second half is much better than the first, which doesn’t leave much to get excited about. I thought about trying to get a front-row ride, but seeing as the (empty) train after ours was also stuck on the lift, I decided to leave it to its own devices.

Demon

The only part of Demon you can see from outside; also the only part that's not painful.

I had to go all the way through Camp Snoopy to find a decent place to eat that was actually open, so I rested there for a while. I had the beginnings of a coaster headache, so I wanted to be careful to eat and hydrate. Then I completely ruined all that by going on Demon. This is a clone of the Demon at Great America outside Chicago, one of very few remnants of the Marriott era. While I couldn’t call the other Demon “good,” it was sort of cute in a try-hard way. So I knew what I was getting into with this demon. The first difference I noticed was that this version is much more hidden behind foliage and rockwork. The Chicago one is out in the open, providing a nice angle on the double corkscrew. I ended up in row 2, which I thought might make for an interesting experience. It did not. The arrow shuffle, the hard restraints, and the shrieking teenagers in the tunnels all made the ride unpleasant, and given that there wasn’t much interesting about riding a clone, I got off in a worse mood than I got on.

Patriot

You can't see Patriot from the midway, and you're missing out on nothing.

I had very low expectations of Patriot, especially right after Demon, but it was the only remaining credit, so I just wanted to get it out of the way. I ended up in the front row edge seat, which at least gave me a good view of what was coming. Which was almost nothing. Vertical loop, single corkscrew, done. Even riding defensively, it still managed to make my headache worse. As a stand-up, this must have been about the size of Carowinds’ Vortex. I never rode Iron Wolf / Apocalypse after its conversion to Firebird, but I imagine it was like this. With a small, land-locked park, I get why they’d want to convert instead of tear down, but I don’t think anybody’s going to miss this one.

With my headache rather pronounced now, I was feeling disappointed. However, I noticed that it was around mid-afternoon at this point, and the school groups were starting to depart. Unfortunately, not quickly enough to make a real difference. I thought I’d try Railblazer again, just to see what happened. Unfortunately, it broke down while I was in line, so I left, frustrated. I didn’t really trust Gold Striker not to beat me up worse, and there was nothing else in the park worthy of a re-ride, so I left. On the whole, I can’t say it was a good trip. I wanted it to be, and I tried my hardest both strategically (Fast Lane) and pyschologically (forced good cheer) to make it one, but I don’t think I succeeded. I did try to get some merch, since the passholder discount helped me there. I came away with a nice t-shirt, a nanocoaster of Gold Striker, and a mild sunburn.