The second day of our trip began in the Silicon Valley, on Great America Parkway across the road from numerous major corporations. When the gates opened at 10AM, we were disappointed to hear that Flight Deck was down for the morning, so we headed to the next closest coaster, Vortex. As B&M’s second coaster, this ride has picked up a few shaky spots over its time, however it was pretty smooth overall and was a very fun ride despite being pretty short. The front seat was worth a few trains to wait, and it was only a few minutes to wait, and the ride had over a thirty-minute wait within the hour.

Next up was the Arrow looper, Demon. It originally opened in 1976 as Turn Of The Century, and in 1980 two loops were added as the ride had its name and paint changed. As the Ron Toomer “Fifth Car” rumor goes, I decided to give it a try in row five, and what a pleasure it was. Almost no head banging at all, and the forces in the loops were very powerful. The tunnel that separates the loops comes as quite a surprise and is a great head chopper. The brakes didn’t slow the train at all, giving a great second half with two exciting corkscrews and a helix before the ride came to an end.

Psycho Mouse and Grizzly were the next coasters on the list. Mouse was actually quite impressive to me. It is one of the rare “Mouse” models that was made by Arrow, but this ride made me wish more of them were around. As far as Grizzly goes, it was designed to be tamer and gentler than the original Cincinnati Coney Island Wildcat and the other two clones, Grizzly at Kings Dominion and Wild Beast at Canada’s Wonderland. Anyone who has ridden the others will notice the differences, and they do indeed make the ride less intense and in my opinion, a bit less thrilling. Hopefully with the rumors of a 2013 GCI coaster coming to the park, this coaster will get a much-needed companion in the wood coaster department.

After grabbing some camera footage, it was time to get in the smaller coasters, including the famous “kid borrowing” technique used to get on Taxi Jam. Why go all the way to California and not get on one of the smallest rides? Both Taxi Jam and Woodstock Express are good rides for kids, and with the latter being a bit higher and faster, it acts as a good middle ground between Taxi Jam and some of the bigger rides.

After learning Flight Deck was still closed, we decided to sample some of the park’s pizza. It reminded me much of Dorney Park’s pizza, which is pretty good. Not the best I have ever had, but I would certainly say it was above average for amusement park food. The operators at Flight Deck were very friendly, and as a fellow operator we had some discussions about the rides until Flight Deck finally opened up around 2PM. Despite its relatively short length, this ride is by far the best ride in the park. It is incredibly intense and never lets up from start to finish. I rode in the front row on the first train before returning to the back row for another ride before the line built up. Both seats give good rides, with the highlight being the corkscrew and helix finale over the lake, which pummels riders with positive G forces before hitting the brakes.

With Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk closing at 5PM, we decided to end our day at Great America around 2:45PM, hoping to get to the Boardwalk in about an hour or so. My advice for CGA is that most of the major rides can be done in less than a full day unless you are there on a weekend, but if you’d like to take your time and stop by the water park (I am not as much of a water park fan), then plan to spend a full day at the park, especially if a new coaster should pop up next season.

After a short jaunt southwest to the coastline, we found ourselves with a little over an hour to hit three coasters on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. First up was Hurricane, a “Windstorm” model from SDC. This is actually a fun little ride, and although it is not very large, the curving drop in the middle of the ride is one of the most intense anywhere. The Sea Serpent kiddie coaster is actually quite fun as well. Since it lies on a little hill, the drop is actually much larger than the lift, which allows for some decent speed and pops of air along the way.

Without a doubt though, the highlight of the Boardwalk is the Giant Dipper, an incredible classic wooden coaster that reminds me much of the Coney Island Cyclone, another beachside woodie from the 1920’s. The first time, I rode towards the back, which gives a pretty good ride. There are some awesome lateral forces as well as some moments of airtime especially towards the end of the ride. The second time, I was lucky enough to get the front seat, and let me tell you, the front seat is absolutely the place to be on this one.

From the tunneled beginning to the last hill, this ride is an airtime machine, on large and small hills alike. Every turnaround is chock full of lateral forces without banging you around. The ride is wonderfully maintained and provides a smooth ride that still feels like a classic wooden coaster. The coaster looks great too, with its white structure, pink track and catwalks, and chasing lights lining the entire layout.

In review, Great America is a park that is pretty decent, but really lacks the ability to keep guests at the park for a full day until they add a big, signature attraction. Santa Cruz has a wonderful thing going with the Boardwalk, and I really wish there were more of these seaside parks on the east coast. Wednesday of our trip truly was a special experience. Stay tuned for day three, where we spent our day at the monstrous Six Flags Magic Mountain.