Great rides, at rip-off prices
Written: Jun 20 '04 (Updated Jun 23 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great thrill rides, large variety for families, and new waterpark.
Cons: Expensive park admission, high priced food, and stupid line cutters.
The Bottom Line: A fun park, for the whole family. Be sure to carry enough money to have a wonderful time.
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| akit's Full Review: Paramount's Great America |
Paramount's Great America, located in Santa Clara, California (nearby San Jose), has been around for over 15 years. Before, it was owned my Mariott (yes, the hotel chain) and Paramount purchased it, and made major changes to the park ever since.
The major theme of this park focuses on Hollywood style entertainment. They use Paramount's famous movie names, Viacom's character names and other related things to their themed sections and their rides. For example, there is a ride titled "Top Gun" and there are rides that feature the character "SpongeBob."
For the 2004 season, I've currently visited the park three times, and was able to purchase a WOW! Card in order to visit as many times as I wish.
Admission Prices and Promotions So... what is a WOW Card? It is basically a season pass without the perks, basically, no frills. The card gives the park guest unlimited admission to the park on any public operating day.
However... a season pass costs a little more, but you also receive: Free parking (a $10 value), discounts at certain stores (except film), and discounts at certain food places.
A way to save money on admission is to purchase your ticket on the internet at their official website: pgathrills.com. There, you can purchase an e-ticket and only pay $29.99, instead of $47.99.
If you feel like you are going to visit the park twice, there is another promotional offer being sold right now, buy one ticket, and your second visit is free. You must pay for a full price regular admission ticket at either the park's ticket booth, Blockbuster stores, and Safeway supermarkets.
**UPDATE 6/23/04** I've how heard that the $29.99 offer is now sold at Safeway and Blockbuster. The buy one, get one extra day free ticket offer is only sold at the park's ticket booths.
How to access the park
You can surely access the park by driving, a trip from San Francisco can take about an hour (take highway 101). However, if you don't want to rip off yourself by not paying the $10 parking fee and all that high priced gas you pumped into your car; there is another easier way. Public Transit! The park can be easily accessed by using the VTA transit system. Various bus lines stop there, and there is a VTA light rail train that stops there too ("Bayponte/Mountain View" line). The VTA light rail to Mountain View can connect you to Caltrain, a regional commuter rail system. A trip from San Francisco onboard Caltrain, with transfer to VTA Light Rail at the Mountain View station takes approximately 2-3 hours. Round-trip prices: $8.50 for Caltrain, and $3.00 on VTA. If you live in Fremont, you can ride VTA's 140 or 141 line from the Fremont BART (rapid train/subway transit) station.
The Rides
It takes many years for a theme park to have a variety of rides for various people, from the tame to the thrill seekers. For the past few years, the park has reached its peak of how many rides they can place in this park, and due to their limited space, may have to tear down older rides to accomodate new attractions.
For the thrill seeker...
Take a hop onboard Top Gun, the "Jet Coaster" which you are in a suspended seat, and is one of the best coasters in the park.
Like standing up, but don't want to get injured? Take a ride on the Vortex. This ride has been here for over ten years, and is still an intense stand-up ride.
Want to ride a coaster backwards? Take a chance on Invertigo! This ride lets you face your fear, literally. You sit in a face-off position, with a person sitting right accross from you. Warning... the lines may look short, but the line moves VERY slowly.
Can't afford to skydive? try Drop Zone! This freefall ride, drops you from about 220 feet and makes a safe landing. At the end of every ride, everyone smiles and wants to ride again.
The Grizzly and the Demon are the two classic coasters of the park. They have been in operation ever since I can remember (when Marriot owned the place). The Grizzly is a wooden coaster and the Demon was one of the first coasters in the world that featured a double-loop.
Want to get SOAKED?
There are a few water rides that will get you defintely wet.
Whitewater falls is a boat ride that simply brings the boat up a hill, and drops you and gets you wet!
Logger's Run is a classic ride, you ride in a log and go up twists and turns, until you reach the final hill and splash!
Rip Roaring rapids, is a tube rapids ride. You may get your pants all wet, but watch out for the cannons! Observers can pay a quarter for three shots on the blast cannons that will definitely get people soaked! Plus you'll laugh like crazy.
Don't forget about Boomerang Bay, the new waterpark. They offer a water playground, raft rides, and slides. For people who want to lock-up their stuff, there are lockers located in that area and changing rooms are on site. The park employees kindly ask people that they do not go shirtless, not walk in bare feet, and do please cover-up their swimsuit (especially ladies) when outside of the water park zone.
For the Kids and tame adults...
The park features a variety of rides for the children and offers two themed sections for the Kids. There is KidsVille and Nickelodeon areas that offer roller coasters, tame rides, and shows.
For the tame adult, there are is the observation tower, the carousel (the world's tallest double-decker carousel), and so much more.
The Food...
As with all theme parks, prices are absolutely high. It's basically a Monopoly because there is no competition nearby, not even McDonald's! Be prepared to spend $10 a person for lunch. The variety of food options are quite large, there is fried chicken, pizza, burritos, freshly baked funnel cakes, and always... tons of drinks.
What do I recommend? Visit the food court and purchase a "Popcorn Chicken platter" that comes with seasoned popcorn chicken and fries. They give you so much chicken and fries, you'll skip dinner. Don't forget a cold soda, it gets hot there. Prices... Chicken/fries: $6.99, Soda: $2.99 to $5.50.
Wait... "but I can't afford that!" Here's some tips to save yourself money. Heres one: Don't purchase a small soda, like all fast food restaurants that fill your soda for you, they put a ton of ice in your drink. The park sells a very large reuseable and refillable cup for $5.50. You can return later to any food stand and get a refill for only $0.99 cents. If you feel that you will dump your cup of soda, get yourself an Icee. For an extra dollar, you can get a decent size Icee and it lasts a while.
What I recommend...
Here's some personal tips on when and what you should do at the park.
You should pick a day that works best for you. If you can visit the park on a weekday, you are in luck. The parking lot is only 1/3 full at around 3PM. Watch out for any special events that may fall on a certain day (concerts, "Math and Science day," fireworks night...), you'll pay the price when you wait in line for rides. Check pgathrills.com for a calendar.
Try to arrive just when the park opens. The gates open daily at 10AM, and most of the rides are in operation, except certain ones, not until 11AM.
I won't stress this enough, it's the park's policy that if you cut in a queue line, you will be ejected from the park. Also, saving places in line is not acceptable either. The park officials HARDLY ENFORCE THIS RULE, so it is your responsiblity to stop them from passing you. If you can, partner up with another adult nearby in line to stop them. If you CONFRONT THEM, they will back off, and others will support your cause. You and I don't want to wait an additional several minutes that could have been used to go enjoy another ride.
A majority of violators are usually middle school and high school aged kids and teens, especially ones in organized summer camp groups.
Author's note: Sorry for being so harsh, but I'm sick of being ripped-off by stupid kids that don't have any common sense or morals.
Expect to spend about five to six hours in the park (it may vary), leave at about 4PM, so that you do not expect delays on the busy 101 freeway, you don't want to mess with commuters. (The 5-6 hour estimate is that you expect to ride about 3 major rides, a couple of tame rides, play a few midway style games, and have lunch. This does not include Boomerang Bay)
For public transit commuters... If you expect to take the Caltrain Baby Bullet express home (to S.F.), leave the park at 3:45PM to make the 4PM VTA light rail to the Caltrain Station (train arrives at 4:58PM). If you want the 5:58PM express, leave the park no later than 4:45PM.
For a thrill seeker, be sure that you ride Top Gun, Vortex, and Drop Zone before you leave the park that day.
Here's some helpful phone numbers and websites to assist you
Paramount's Great America's phone #: 1(888) PGA-PASS
Paramount's Great America's website: pgathrills.com
"511" Transit/Trafficinfo: 511 (a free (landline) phone call within the Bay Area, and most wireless companies.) Otherwise, call (415) 817-1717.
"511" Transit and TripPlanner (make your own individualized trip plan, like Mapquest): http://transit.511.org
I hope this review is helpful to you, I will update this information if it changes.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
akit
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Location: San Francisco, California
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 0 members
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