|
 Paramount’s Great America was a part of our honeymoon trip so it will always be consider a “special” park for us. I found PGA to be an interesting park and I was surprised by the size of the rides, everything seemed a little on the small side, like they were miniature versions of real rides. There’s a great mix of coasters and flat rides and there’s definitely no shortage of rides. The park offers something for everyone and it would make a great destination for the entire family.
The landscaping was well done but the theming was hit and miss. I’ve read reviews of the other Paramount parks and PGA seems to falls a bit short on the issue of theming when compared to the rest of the chain. We were however impressed with the kid section of the park, which featured several cartoon characters from our childhood. This area was very colorful and offered several photo opportunities with the characters and since I’m basically a giant kid we made use of this opportunity. We didn’t really experience the food situation since only ate a small snack but the quality is what you would expect from most parks. Crowds were not an issue on the day that we visited but Thursdays at most parks are usually pretty slow. We only spent about half the day at PGA and we were able to ride everything that we wanted and we even hit some of the rides two or three times.
Here’s a quick run down of PGA’s collection of coasters.
Top Gun: 6 out of 10
This is one of the miniature rides that I mentioned earlier. It’s drop is a mere 91 feet and it reaches a speed of 50 mph and this makes it one of the smaller inverted coasters out there. Size and speed aside this is a fun ride and it’s also the best themed ride in the park in my opinion. The que and passenger load area are themed to resemble the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. My favorite part of the ride is after the train flies over the station and dives the water into a high speed helix. If you have the time I would recommend riding this one until you can’t take anymore.
Stealth: 5 out of 10
Stealth provided us with our first flying coaster experience and I have to say that I wasn’t very impressed. The concept is nice and all but the ride was a rough and the g-forces were a little extreme at times. This is the only ride that we ran into a line issue and I think that it was due to the amount of time that it takes to load everyone into their seats. It’s worth a ride but one should probably be enough.
Vortex: 5 out of 10
This is the other miniature ride that offers another 91 foot drop. I’m not usually a fan of the standup concept and this only because they’re usually a bit uncomfortable. I think that Vortex’s size makes it a better ride since it doesn’t experience extreme g-forces. The track is in a compact area and there are only two inversions but the pace of the ride is just about perfect for a stand-up. There were absolutely zero people in line so we made sure to ride it a couple of times.
Invertigo: 4 out of 10
Another boomerang style ride except this time it’s inverted and you’re face to face with the seats in the adjoining car. For some reason my body doesn’t like going backwards through loops and for some reason I continue to attempt this feat. The face to face experience is interesting and definitely adds something to the thrill. Invertigo is the tallest coaster in the park at 160 feet.
Psycho Mouse: 4 out of 10
This is your run of the mill mouser with zig-zag action followed by drops and flat turns. I’m a fan of all mousers so we rode this one a couple of times. It just doesn’t differentiate itself from the competition.
Grizzly: 3 out of 10
Grizzly is PGA’s lone wooden coaster and guess what, it’s 91 feet tall. I’m a tall fella and I found the seats to be uncomfortable and this was mainly due to my knees being wedged against the seats in front of me. It was a rough ride with few thrills. I’m sure that there are plenty of Grizzly fans out there so be sure to give it a shot and decide for yourself.
Demon: 3 out of 10
This is your run of the mill Arrow corkscrew coaster and I’ve been on several other variations of this ride. An added bonus includes a ride through the mouth of a demon.
Non-coaster Thrill ride ratings (the ratings are based on other thrill rides and not coasters).
Delirium: 7 out of 10
This ride positions 32 riders in circular formation all facing inward and situated in suspended seats. The circular formation dangles like a large pendulum and swings to a point where riders are almost upside down. It also turns at a leisurely pace during the swinging. This type of ride has been popping up all over the country and I can’t get enough of them. It’s a blast!
Drop Zone Stunt Tower: 7 out of 10
I love dropping and this ride provides just that, a 200 + foot drop. It doesn’t have the thrill factor that a turbo drop has since it’s pure free fall but it’s a drop and that’s about all I need.
Celebrations Swings: 6 out of 10
This is another ride that you’ll find at a lot of parks and it’s another ride that I never pass up. Riders are placed into seats that resemble lawn chairs and then swung around in a large circle. I love these rides!
Loggers Run: 5 out of 10
You guessed it, it’s a log flume. It didn’t really stand out from the other log rides so I figured that a 5 out of 10 would be fitting. Just like every other log flume it’s great fun for the whole family.
Flying Eagles: 4 out of 10
This ride is another circular swing ride but it’s smaller. I liked it because you get to do a little steering by using a rudder. You’re not going to fly off into the sunset but you do have a little control and that takes this swing ride a level up in my book.
Join us in our forums for more information.
http://coastercommunity.com/smf_forum/index.php
|
