We were so excited to be present at California’s Great America for the opening day of their 40th season! Although it may not have been the perfect start to the season, we still had a lot of fun, and we are very happy to have this park back open! Please keep in mind there may be some mild complaints throughout this article. They are not meant with malicious intent, but rather honesty. Nonetheless, we had a fantastic day.
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When we arrived at the park before opening lines were long, but we were still one of the first 5,000 guests and received this awesome drawstring bag! The ticket booths were cleaned but not repainted.
Unfortunately not all gates opened simultaneously. The gate we were standing at opened about five or ten minutes late, leading us to miss the fireworks, darn.
Greg Sanders the director of maintenance, Snoopy, and General Manager Raul Rehnborg cut the ribbon for the opening of the season. (Pic: CGA)
There are balloons surrounding the reflecting pool in honor of the 40th season opening.
We then headed over to Planet Snoopy immediately, which has had three new rides open, this year’s main addition. The families and kids really seemed to be enjoying all the whole area with the new attractions.
The new Gr8 S8 is very popular and should be one of the highlights of the area. 
Peanuts 500 is also new in the area. Both of these attractions have been relocated from Knott’s Berry Farm, and have been entirely refurbished. They look great!
Lastly, the brand new Snoopy’s Space Buggies has also joined the area.
The whole area has been re-themed to Peanuts characters such as Taxi Jam transforming into Lucy’s Crabby Cabbies. Wow, look at those airtime hills.
Overall, the whole area looks great, and it adds a whole other level of entertainment for the younger guests.
Now onto the bigger rides! Who doesn’t love Flight Deck? If you do, you’d be frustrated to not see it open with the park. It did however open up at around noon, and it is running really well. The lines were a bit long despite the two train operations, but it was well worth it for a short, but sweet ride.
The nearby Orleans Theater is under construction.
The crowds today were pretty insane. Vortex had an approximately hour long wait, which is ridiculous for a ride that’s almost always a walk-on. It ran like it usually does, but that did not warrant an hour of waiting.
Gold Striker! What an amazing fast- paced ride. Unfortunately, it had an ill-fated opening day. It started the day running one train, not very smart. They quickly started running a second train however. This however is where the problems really started. It broke down numerous times throughout the day, including multiple times while we were in line. With all these breakdowns, we ended up waiting in line for three hours. Not fun. Was it worth it? Yes! It is a truly fierce experience.
Not convinced Gold Striker is the flagship coaster? We beg to differ. They have even added this plink-o games for a front of the line pass.
Artsy lift-hill shot!
Grizzly was on and off throughout the day. We got a chance to ride it after this off-season’s re-tracking, and it may be a bit smoother, but that’s not going to fix the ride. It’s really just a mundane ride, it was then, and it is now. Demon was running nicely, with smoother transitions than usual. It did however, have an hour and a half long line.
Psycho Mouse was drawing it’s usually crowds, and seemed to be one of the few coasters not experiencing a lot of down-time.
Unfortunately, the park’s flat ride collection had trouble staying open as well. Firefall was operating on and off, and while operating, the fire effects didn’t work.
Drop Tower was open and fun as always, with one car not running.
Tiki Twirl also was closed most of the day. Berserker was straight up closed all day with no intention of it opening.
Delirium, was running all day however, and running well. Man, we love these Huss Frisbees. We’re glad Knott’s Berry Farm’s La Revoluccion reopened recently as well! 
Even Delta Flyer had a large line, about 20 minutes worth of one at that.
Star Tower actually didn’t, unfortunately we didn’t have time to ride it. We advise you check it out during any visit though! The line’s always short and provides a great opportunity to see the park from above! 
Peanuts party in the Plaza started at 5:00, which is always fun and entertains families.
Here’s what you can expect for 2015 entertainment this year.
The park has also posted some signs with the major events for the season, which can be seen here.
Lastly, the park is advertising their revamped Planet Snoopy, and Season Passes.
We hope you all enjoyed this update, we certainly enjoyed creating it. We are very excited for this upcoming season, and we’re sure you are as well. 
Although it wasn’t a perfect opening, or very close to perfect, but we’re just glad it is open for its 40th season, and we are excited to be covering this park consistently! So, here’s a question; What’s your favorite aspect of CGA, ride or other? Comment below, and let us know!
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Actually i noticed a lot of changes around the park and will be posting them to my website tomorrow and overall it was pretty fun. Plus Planet Snoopy isn’t 100% complete yet!