California's Great America Breaks Out the Bulldozers

© California's Great America

Five years late is better than never!  After recently gaining the approval from the city of Santa Clara to build a new wooden coaster, California's Great America has already started land clearing.

It was back in 2008 that Cedar Fair proposed building a new Great Coasters International wooden ride, only to have approval for the project drag on due to protest from one of the park's neighbors.

Eventually the delays became too much to get the coaster completed in time for the 2009 season, and the ride was pushed off.  The ensuing debate over the new 49ers stadium then took the spotlight, and basically all big spending on the park for new rides was cut due to the uncertainty of the park's future.

But nowadays the plan for the stadium is set and agreed upon, and Cedar Fair has some catching up to do.  The new coaster was originally proposed to be around 100 feet tall and utilize a twisted layout that snaked around the park's observation tower and used a slight grade change to its advantage.

One would think the original plans would sill stand, and if so that's a great thing because the designed ride had many filled with anticipation.  I think this will be a Summer of wood coaster building for California's Great America!