Gold Striker Review! Was it worth the hype?

Gold Striker has been running some laps the past couple days with riders on board as California's Great America had a promotional shoot going on. The park has had camera crews filming the new coaster in action, complete with riders in tow at almost every possible angle. With the promotional shoot going on, this could only mean some nice, early rides on the park's hottest coaster!

As you all know, Gold Striker was officially announced back in August (August 29, 2012) but had broken ground approximately a year ago. Almost a year later it's taken on it's first riders. Gold Striker is the park's first major attraction of this scale to come in many long years! With the many attractions actually being removed, it only left fans wondering which ride was next on the chopping block. But with the addition of Gold Striker, I like to call this a new beginning for the park. So, was Gold Striker worth the hype?

I was one of many riders who were selected to participate in the promotional shoot and between the  4/30 shoot and the 5/1 shoot, I've gotten in 17 laps in almost every row. In short, I'd like to say that Gold Striker is a more than welcome addition to the park. Let's take a look why.

Getting In Line:
Starting off with the queue, you enter under the ride's first drop, just past where the train comes rocketing out of the descent tunnel. You will have many times entering the ride and have a train screaming overhead! Once you're inside of the coaster area, you go through several sets of switchbacks. This area offers some amazing, up close views of the track. Even behind a fence, there are plenty of photo ops. Also, having a train screaming by you as you wait in line only builds up the anticipation of actually riding! About wait times: With about half of the switchbacks used, I timed a 30 minute wait that seemed to go by insanely quick! After you navigate through the switchbacks, you pass back under the first drop and run along the track heading towards the ride's signature speed hill.

The "Mine Shaft" portion of the queue, offers a nice moment of shade!

 I like to call the "Mine Shaft" themed portion of the queue the 'almost there' mark as just a bit after is the flight of stairs up to the station. The rest of the queue keeps pretty close to the track so if you have some friends ahead of you, you just might be able to snag a photo of them!

The queue can offer amazingly up close views of a train flying by!

As you head up the stairs, the path is literally adjacent to the track, and the park had actually installed mesh to keep guests in line from reaching out toward an oncoming train (which can be insanely dangerous if such happened). Finally we reach the station.

The first riders on the first train, 4/30/13. Yes they approve!

The Ride Experience:
My first ride took place in row 12, the last row of the train. As soon as I got seated, locked in, checked, and dispatched, my body just started getting the chills...as in, I can't believe the day has come to ride Gold Striker! Once you pull out of the station, the ride takes you through what I like to call a 'taster' which is something common of wooden coasters. There is some fun, gentle laterals as you make way toward the lift! After a quick climb up the 108 ft peak, the descent tunnel comes to greet you. While it isn't quite pitch black as initially anticipated, it is pretty neat plunging down and seeing the framework overhead whizzing by. This gives the illusion that your hands will get chopped off. In the back row, you gently come up out of your seat, giving you your first moment of zero gravity/air time!

This is just one of many forceful moments on Gold Striker!

As soon as you come out of the tunnel, it feels like the ride just suddenly floors it. The forces are quite strong and after a quick directional change, you go flying into the speed hill. At this moment, your butt is out of that seat for a nice period of time. A nice added feature was the overhead beams, that look like an open mine shaft. Great head chopper moment for sure! As you go plunging back down from the speed hill, you dive under 3 sections of track that pass by overhead. As you hit the bottom of the small drop you are finally planted back in your seat. But for how long? Not very long actually! As you enter the first turnaround, your are quickly back out of the seat before being forced into the seat with some nice positive G's. Coming out of the first turnaround, you are once again experiencing some nice ejector airtime, and once again greeted by some good positive G's.

The second turnaround starts you off with yet another moment of ejector air, combined with laterals. This is where some 'body slams' will begin! As you head up that turnaround, you are firmly pressed into the seats until  coming out, where again, you're experiencing another moment of air. Starting from this point is what I like to call "Airtime Alley" as you get a series of 4 strong pops of air back-to-back. Yes, the entry into the midway curve (facing towards Celebration Plaza) gives yet another strong moment of air!

The 85-degree Midway Turn, leading into the 'sudden drop' element.

After coming out you experience a 'sudden drop' accompanied with a head chopper from the brake run overhead, followed by the ride's strangest moment: the double up! If you are not paying attention, this moment will catch you by surprise! The double up provides double pops of air followed by a good 'body slam' moment. Coming out of one of the final turnarounds, you're greeted with a final pop of air. Finally entering the brake run, you can tell that the train is still retaining much of its speed but is slowed down smoothly via magnetic brakes.

After the first round on this, I realized that this ride was designed to be a 'hands up' kind of ride! Keeping the hands up vs hanging on for dear life provides a whole new experience! The ride's moments are thus enhanced as your body's more free to move about. But since this was a promotional shoot, the park requested that hands stay down so nobody's faces would be blocked out. After all, they would like to capture the rider's expressions!

Final Verdict:
So in the end. Was Gold Striker a hit or a miss? Well, let's just say, Gold Striker is relentless and it completely surprised me! I counted 14 moments of air in the last row. As you sit in different rows, forces are applied differently and you may feel more positives than negatives, as well as feeling some of the directional changes differently. After riding virtually all of the rows, I'd have to say that the last several rows were my favorite when it comes to looking for airtime. If you're after the forceful positives, stick toward the front. Toward the middle gives a nice mix of both. In the end, this ride is going to be a huge hit. Not only will it be a huge hit for the park but it just may bring in a lot of people across the nation to try it out.

Gold Striker is set to open some time in May. The actual date has yet to be confirmed. But once it is open, you should get out there and ride it ASAP! Also I'd like to give kudos to GCI for making such a great coaster, as well as to CGA for putting on such an event and giving all of us an early opportunity to ride the coaster before it opens to the public!

Gold Striker Nearing Completion!

I'm back with a mini update as Gold Striker nears its completion. Testing should happen real soon. In the mean time, let's take a look at some of what's happened over the past week!

One of the most noticeable differences coming up to Gold Striker is the now shiny roof! You have been warned, it will produce some bright reflection later in the afternoon if you happen to be walking up to the park gates. The top has been covered with corrugated metal.

 From inside the park, there were people working on it this past Sunday. In all of my visits to the park since construction started, the site remained quiet on Sundays. The worker is standing at the highest point on the coaster. Lift crown ornament anyone?

 Also inside the park, those thick posts we saw last week were indeed sign posts. Obviously the sign hasn't made it onto the board yet but should be real soon. The entrance to the ride is looking quite striking in itself!

 Looking over at the station, not a whole lot has changed. Soon enough, a train will be parked in there and will begin making some laps around the track!

 Remember the tour last month? It looks like some mine shaft theming has gone up where the queue will pass through, behind the former Carousel Souvenirs shop.

In the mean time, Irvine Ondrey Engineering, a company responsible for ride control systems posted some photos on their Facebook page, offering some unique views of the coaster.

 This view is from inside the station area. Looks like some soda machines have made way into the queue. Also the lift structure looks like it should provide some nice shade from the late afternoon summer sun, while remaining open air.

Gold Striker will feature a magnetic braking system to slow the cars down as they approach the transfer house. The magnetic brakes should produce a smooth, quiet stop, not to mention, less physical wear and tear on components.

 Here's a look at some of the control boxes, revealing that this is a magnetic braking system. Also you can see the massive 49ers stadium rising above in the background!

The station begins to take shape as a set of stairs lead up to the platform. It appears as though the path will come from under the station and pass by the flyby. In the mean time I hope people don't decide to throw goods onto an oncoming train at full speed.

 Another station view, this time inside the station. What initially looked like it was going to be rather narrow is now looking more like a standard station. Unlike Grizzly's station that is quite massive and gets quite noisy and crowded, this one should be much less crowded while Fast Lane attendants let people up to the platform.

Stay tuned for future park and Gold Striker updates! And be sure to give CGA Insider a like on Facebook for more park updates!

Opening Weekend 2013 Report

For those unaware, California's Great America opened for the 2013 season on March 29th. The park wanted to try something different with their kicking off the season by throwing in some extra perks. One of the big ones that pulled in the crowds were that if you were one of the first 2500 guests, you would receive a Gold Striker souvenir cup, plus unlimited FREE refills that day.

 

It turned out to be a HUGE hit and with how nice the weather was on Friday, free drinks were definitely a nice thing to have. Not to mention, a free first Gold Striker souvenir! On Saturday, the park did 3 raffles: one for early entry for a group of 10 into the park, one for a birthday package, and one for a first ride on Gold Striker for 2 on the first rider day. On Sunday there were Easter festivities as well as random prize giveaways (Opening Weekend t-shirts).

Great America kicked off the 2013 season with an opening ceremony with the Peanuts Gang, which is a first for Cedar Fair to pull off. The gates opened at 9:30AM and everyone congregated in the Carousel Plaza. At 10AM, the ribbon was cut, confetti was fired and the park was officially open!

Great America's Roger Ross makes his opening day announcements.

Meanwhile crowds gather around the signature Reflection Pond.

The Peanuts Gang make their way around the Plaza and greet park guests.

And the confetti is fired, and the park is now officially open!

In the mean time, there were some interesting changes over in the front plaza, most notably on the Gold Striker side of the plaza. Star Tower was closed due to construction but should be ready soon. In the mean time, Star Tower received some new signage making it easier to now find the somewhat hidden entry.

The font they chose is a nice homage to the Marriott days. I could be wrong
but it looks nearly identical to the old MGA logo font.

While over this way, let's see what's up with Gold Striker! Most obviously, the inside portion of Gold Striker's tunnel received the panels and the tunnel really stands out. Actually coming upon the park from 237, one of the first things you see adjacent to the Star Tower is a huge, curved box. It's quite striking to see in person, no pun intended!

This is actually the view from the parking lot but it almost creates the same
feel as what was described above and what was seen from GA Pkwy.

A closeup view of the tunnel. As you can see, the left side has yet to be covered.

This is very surreal to see! The nice thing is that it now masks out the offices
next door to the park, as well as masking out a dormant building.

Another change in the plaza which is still in progress is the entrance to the line. Great America DOES NOT skimp out when it comes to landscaping an area and Gold Striker's entrance only proves that! While it may not be colorful flowers or palm trees, they chose plants that fit the theme of the old west. Let's have a look at the plaza in progress.

Gold Striker's sign hasn't gone up yet but this is what they have going on so far.
It is going to look really good when completed!

A closer look at the landscaping. It gives a nice first impression and impact
walking up to the ride, something I feel is highly important.

A closeup of what plants are being used. This is actually over by the Midway turn,
where the ride's exit will be.

Fun fact: These boulders are not molded concrete.
These are actually existing bouldersthat once lived on the former Whizzer site.
This is a great way of recycling and reusing existing material.

Let's take a look around the park and see what other things have changed. One of the key changes is a new show in the AFX theater, Happy Feet: Mumble's Wild Ride. It is a nice changeup from the Spongebob show, which has been there for a bit too long. I found it rather enjoyable, though the show did seem to end abruptly. In a way, it reminded me of those old short cartoons we grew up with as a kid. It is definitely worth checking out though! Other things pretty much consisted of fresh paint on buildings, as shown a month ago on the hardhat tour of the park.

Happy Feet: Mumble's Wild Ride

Psycho Mouse's queue house is all back together and it looks good!

The upcharge go-kart attraction also received a new banner sign.

Centrifuge received fresh paint and it really stands out.
The turn table is also coated with a no-slip paint.

Food Festival with fresh paint. Lots of people were here and taking
advantage of their free refills from their free cups.

White Water Falls looks like it received a fresh sign too.

As well as Berserker. It's simple but it does the job better than seeing the
ride's name only at the safety signs.

Barney Oldfield Speedway looks really good. Well it did until...

...you get guests who begin picking at the paint and eventually peels it right off.
Such a shame that people have to go and ruin things so fast.

Before we wrap up this report, let's take a look at some of the construction that was actually happening today with Gold Striker. One of the most noticeable things was the huge crane lifting anti-rollback sections onto the lift. For those who don't know, anti-rollbacks are what keeps the train from going reverse back down the hill should the lift chain stop. It is responsible for producing that 'chatter' noise you hear heading up the lift.

An anti-rollback section gets lifted into place.

Station building. You can see the airgates in the shadows.

Assuming these huge wooden posts could be for the entrance sign.

Closeup of the tunnel structure.

Appears to be securing some bolts.

You can see the anti rollbacks now in place (metal strip running up the center of the track).

From this angle, the lift looks massive!

Here's a panoramic shot of the entire coaster. Opening day
will be here soon enough!

To wrap up the report, here's some miscellaneous highlights/low lights of opening weekend.

• The park felt rather alive, as opposed to the 2012 opening season
• The AFX theater new show was quite a hit as there were long lines all day
• Fresh paint can make an aging place look like new again
• Parking Lot is easier to navigate now and appears to clear out rather quick
• There were no rides (other than Star Tower) out of service this weekend
•  Parking Lot lighting is much improved - the park is now using LED lighting which is brighter and more energy efficient.

• Rides were breaking down several times thoughout the day. They are machines so it's expected.
• Some ride operations could be swifter while others were fairly quick (Quickest being Flight Deck and Vortex, slowest being Grizzly)
• The double rides promo was a bit confusing as one would actually have to search the park for it. However with the heavier crowds, the double rides only leads to double waits

Stay tuned for the next update!