Californias Great America announces Gold Striker

[DeathbyDinn]

Gold Striker melds together most exciting features of best wooden roller coasters in the world

Official Ride Page: http://www.cagreatamerica.com/goldstriker

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- California's Great America will open the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Northern California in the spring of 2013.

High-speed twists, turns, drops, station fly-by and the Old West are the top features of Gold Striker, currently under construction at Northern California's leading thrill park and family destination. The ride will stand 108 feet at its highest point with a first drop of 103 feet at a 50-degree angle. Riders will careen along 3,197 feet of track at speeds up to 54 miles per hour. The ride experience on Gold Striker will last more than two heart-pounding minutes.

"Gold Striker reflects our commitment to providing our guests with the best thrills and entertainment value in the region," California's Great America Vice-President and General Manager Raul Rehnborg said. "This ride was uniquely designed by melding together the highest performing and most exciting features of the very best wooden roller coasters in the world. Everyone who enjoys the thrills of riding a roller coaster will want to experience Gold Striker."

The name of the ride was chosen to recognize the pioneering and adventurous spirit of the California gold-seekers who rushed the area in 1849.

Gold Striker will be located in the Celebration Plaza area of California's Great America and will be the park's eighth roller coaster. The ride will wrap around the park's Star Tower attraction.

Gold Striker is custom designed and built for the topography of California's Great America by Great Coasters International, Inc. (GCI) of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Two trains will accommodate 24 passengers each (four riders per car and six cars per train) with a capacity of 850 riders per hour. Guests must be at least 48 inches tall to ride.

Those who cannot wait until spring may take a virtual ride on Gold Striker at cagreatamerica.com. Visitors of cagreatamerica.com may also access exclusive Gold Striker updates and features, including virtual ride renderings, ride statistics, construction photos and a live construction Web cam.

California's Great America is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FUN." In addition to California's Great America, Cedar Fair owns and operates ten other amusement parks, six water parks, one indoor water park resort and five hotels, including Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, Calif. under a management contract.

http://www.cagreatamerica.com/goldstriker







Offride - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKhTIh8095g

Pov - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qvCAIwxfLU

[6Flags4Evr]

Glad to see that this park is finally adding this coaster after many years of waiting. This looks like a very nice GCI woodie. Looks like it will have nice speed throughout the entire ride and dare I say a little bit of airtime as well (reminder this is Californa ) Hopefully this is a sign that Cedar Fair is more committed to this park now than it has been in the past.

[Coaster Justin]

Glad to see that this park is finally adding this coaster after many years of waiting. This looks like a very nice GCI woodie. Looks like it will have nice speed throughout the entire ride and dare I say a little bit of airtime as well (reminder this is Californa ) Hopefully this is a sign that Cedar Fair is more committed to this park now than it has been in the past.

Hopefully this will be a sign Grizzly will be removed.

[Director_Guy]

little bit of airtime as well (reminder this is Californa )

Boy, did you say a mouth full. Was hoping Full Throttle would bring us some Maverick-style ups and downs. Instead, more twists and turns. This looks more promising, however.