California's Great America - Opening Day & Flight Deck's 25th

Oh my god you guys I'm back! Jim is gracious enough to fly me from HQ to California Adventure for things. I think it's just because he wants some, and I quote in all caps "SOME GODDAMN PEACE AND QUIET YOU IDIOT INTERN, JESUS JUST SHUT UP." 

Anyway, I'm really happy to have a project and get out of my broom closet once in a while, and this week I got to go to California Adventure for Goofy's Sky School's 25th Anniversary!

So I'll (try) to be professional here and do a decent write up, because this park really does deserve it. Raul, California's Great America's general manager is fantastic. He opened the season up with a quick speech and introduction about all things yet to come for the 2018 season (for those living under a rock, they're the quarterly events CGA has really been slaying lately: Taste of Orleans, Red White and Brews, Halloween Haunt and Winterfest). 

Let's play SPOT THE SOYSTER!

So for the Flight Deck 25th Anniversary they had TOM FREAKING CRUISE SHOW UP. 

I don't even want to know how much that appearance fee ate into their budget. 

And then the MAYOR SHOWED UP. Okay, it's actually promoting Red White and Brews. Which, you can't go wrong with. I mean, coasters and booze. That's literally NEVER a bad idea.

Taste of Orleans chick showed up and didn't even drop a 'Party Gras' pun. 10/10 disappoint.

I thought I got a shot of the halloween guys, but I obviously had to screw something up, so HERE IS CHRISTMAS LADIES. Or, CHRISTMAS, LAAAAADIES. 

AND BOOM! CONFEEEETTTTII! 

So now it's time to show off the old fart of the park. Yeah, that's right, Flight Deck is 25 years old. That means it can rent a car, and is the same number as everyone's favorite coin: the quarter. 

The coaster's still running top, and even in the rain, really fun to photograph. That helix over the pond is really fun when you ride on the left side of the cars and fly low to the water. 

Top Gun was playing in the theater all day.

MODEL PORN.

They've got a model of the original coaster before it was renamed to Flight Deck. Obviously it's the same layout, just y'know, different colors. 

Now here's the deal. We brag a lot about the Norcal park sister to Knott's, and for good reason. This park's honest-to-god a beautiful park that's growing. Don't believe me? Look at this place in the rain. All the popping colors, springtime flowers...it's beautiful. 

Now, we'll have a more comprehensive update later this week regarding what's just below, but a major note of conversation here for CGA is RAILBLAZER. I cannot express how intimidating this small coaster looks in person. These photos don't do it justice. The footprint may be small, but the placement of this along the main route is so open to the walkway that you see pretty much everything as you're walking around it, giving a great view to the small pond and rock work that surrounds the coaster.

It's ridiculous. Like flat out stupidly ridiculous. The twists on this thing are almost as insane as our current political climate on a daily. 

Let alone the fact that the track is small, you're sitting single file and those elements are so jam-packed, that I can only imagine just how fast you'll roll through it all. This easily has to be in the top ten list of most anticipated coasters for the year, and the fact we've got one here in California only makes it that much better for us.

Check out more of the twists below.

PS: I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how they got this thing built so closely together as they did. The clearances are stupidly close in the best (most terrifying) way. 

So folks, that about wraps it up. This park is building up some great things. Railblazer is going to be a fantastic addition to the park that we'll cover soon in detail. We're so excited to see love for new attractions as well as respect and celebrations of the older coasters. Flight Deck is still a great B&M that really packs a punch, even 25 years later. 

If you haven't considered checking this park out, or haven't been in a while, you really need to think about getting over here to see what they've been up to. But for now, my time limit is up at the internet cafe down the street from HQ. Jim won't let me use the work computers because he thinks playing Agar.io during work hours is 'bad'.