California's Great America - Summer 2013 Photo Trip Report, Santa Clara, CA

Theme Park Overload headed over to California's Great America todat, and don't worry, we brought back a Photo Trip Report of all the excitement we had! Today we check out Gold Striker's recent sound tunnel modifications, the new Happiness is Snoopy ice skating show, the Free Family Friday Flicks movie night happening in the park, and much more!


 First stop, the recently updated Action Theater! The new Happy Feet film is definitely fun (that thing shakes you around like no tomorrow!) But personally, I prefered the old Spongebob film.


 Now for the park's New for 2013 Ice Skating Show, Happiness is Snoopy at the Great America Theater!


They have a "Tough-Beagle-Motorcycle-Rider" scene which was pretty funny! I also appreciated all of the references to the actual park's location in all the freeway signs in the background.


Yeah! Snoopy! The show's entertaining and creative, and has a few tricks up its sleeve too! The skaters did a fantastic job, and this is definitely an upgrade over the old Ice Skating show.


 Onto the mighty Gold Striker....Aw mannn, a line?! Actually it wasn't that bad, as it stayed at about 45 minutes all day.


 One thing I LOVE about Gold Striker's queue line is how close the train comes to guests in line! You basically have a 360 Degree View of the whole first drop, and let me tell you, that train HAULS as it rockets by! I was very happy to hear all the eager guests in line talk about how excited they were to ride. If you didn't realize already, this ride is a sure winner for the park!


 Here's the barricade they added to the stairs near the station for safety. Yes, you get THAT CLOSE to the train accelerating to almost 60 MPH!


 Also, their has been a lot of speculation about the additional sound tunnel added mid-ride to meet the park's strict noise requirements. But, that's not the only place they added sound barricades. All around the ride, here pictured on the bottom of the first drop, they added semi-enclosed barriers to keep the sound levels down. Nobody seemed to mind, though....it brings more head-chopper elements to the ride and makes it more fun in my opinion!


Here's where the July Friday movie nights are, near Drop Tower.


 Looks like Great America wanted in on the fun Six Flags Magic Mountain was having with Full Throttle and YOLO!


 Who had a great day at the park today? Me!


Well, CGA has definitely improved for the better since the last time I was here...I thoroughly enjoyed the park! I was a little skeptical about the coaster collection (because it is a little on the small side) but I never had a moment where I was like "Okay I did everything, now what?". Meaning, that even though the park doesn't have the most coasters, the variety of other exciting attractions makes the park very well rounded and a lot of fun! Make sure to LIKE our Facebook page for up-to-date news and exclusive access to prize giveaways! Facebook.com/ThemeParkOverload My name's Nicholous, and Thanks for Reading!

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