California's Great America

I went with my friends, and it was a total blast. The rides were really fun. I do have a complaint, I took only cash with me because I don't have a card. Guess what, they didn't accept cash, and I didn't get what I wanted to buy. Overall a great experience 8/10

Can be fun but lots of issues really add up. It's nice that Great America is an amusement park with rides, arcade games including claw machines, carnival games, and a water park. But the amount of problems present can really ruin an experience.

Buying the fast pass is extremely worth it if you're a roller coaster fanatic. Your time is worth more than waiting in 90 minute lines for a 3 minute experience. If you have a big group though, it's not as bad because there's lots of conversation and then the roller coaster isn't the main purpose of your visit. So gauge your priorities.

However, the fact that you pay an entry fee and then have to pay separately for arcade games or carnival games is quite annoying. I mean it doesn't have to come with, but there should be some discount or way to add it onto the entry fee because it is part of the park. You can buy rides and dining together which are part of the park, obviously, but the others are still very present in the park. Also lots of rides just aren't operating.

Website claims that "the food and drinks at California's Great America will satisfy all tastes" because they have classics and "Bay Area favorites like boba tea and sushi rolls" but pretty sure that's a bait. The latter (boba and sushi) aren't open or available.

Though I will say food is actually not bad. The Premium All Day Dining is valuable and I highly recommend it. Roughly three visits will make back the money as some entrees and sides can be close to $20. Though the variance between places is weird, like Panda Express only offers a bowl which is a rough $10 value versus a $16 entree at other places. Also the drink system doesn't include Icees and even though it says Coca Cola products, Fairlife that they display isn't included either. So a tad misleading.

On the gondola ride, the Eagle's Flight, we were paused at the top for 20 minutes and later it was explained that some of the employees just left in the middle? I noticed everyone else had a smooth ride and was confused why we were stuck, almost worrying that the ride broke. After we got off we got an apology and note that "some of us," referring to employees, just left.

Whitewater Falls is a fun experience because you get wet and suffer together and the ride itself isn't as frightening as others. Highly recommend doing it early on so that you have tons of time to dry off from the heat. We opted to do it at the end on a whim and well, we spent extra time at the carnival games in order to dry.

Some carnival games accept the Great America game card whereas others do not so it's a poor experience that you have to either be selective with your choices or rely on a regular credit card. The latter is fine, but don't even give us the option of getting a game card if it's not compatible. The purpose of getting a game card is for the extra credits when you buy large amounts but if they're not usable, it's worthless.

I'm a Bay Area local and wanted to like this park but our experience was .. underwhelming. No, worse, it was almost an ordeal. The water park is closed, lines for even mediocre rides were too long, and the food is pretty bad and overpriced to boot.

Many rides were closed, which probably drove the long lines for the rides that were open. There aren't really a lot of maps around, and no good signage so it's easy to keep wandering around without ever finding what you're looking for.

I had to try to make the best of it for my kids' sake so I feigned cheerfulness, having already decided that I'd be taking them to Legoland later in the year. Such a bust.

Bought tickets online for 4 to visit Great America on Wednesday 12/27/23. We drove all the way to the park and when we reached the entrance at 7:30 pm saw signs that said "Park Closed". Other guests who arrived had to turn around in their cars too. We called the main number Great America and the recording stated that "due to expected inclement weather" the park would be closed on 12/27. The recording stated that tickets would be honored until 12/31/23. There was no notice given ahead of time on 12/27 of the closure. No email, no phone call, nothing. I can only imagine all the hundreds of guests who didn't know about the closure who were disappointedly turned away. It wasn't even raining when we arrived at the park! No drizzle even!

The fact that Great America would only honor tickets through 12/31/23 which is only 4 days from
12/27 is completely unreasonable and not practical for scheduling with busy families. They should allow a grace period of at least 6 months or more to honor the tickets! Otherwise I am out $164 for nothing.

I tried all day on 12/28 to call customer service during operating hours to ask for a refund and the line would just ring and ring. Not even a recording to leave a message. I tried calling again on 12/29 to talk with someone for a refund and still no answer, just incessant ringing to an absent "customer service" line. No one ever picks up! I ended up having to file a merchant dispute with my credit card company to get my money back.

Great America, you need to work on your customer service and sending notice of closures to guests who have pre purchased tickets online.

So disappointed today. We come to great America all the time and chose to get the churro sundae, that is 15$$!!! And attached is the lamest sundae ever. We will be bringing our own food 100 percent from now on if this is the status quo of their food.

We purchased Gold Passes last winter 2022. With this season pass, we were able to visit GA in the summer, fall (Halloween), and again this winter! If you buy season passes and go several times throughout the year, it's a good value. We were also able to get the free pre-k pass for our daughter so we only had to pay for 2 adult season passes.

I feel like GA has done a great job of making the park feel safe and family friendly. We never go/stay very late, but when we visited during the day or early evening (around 5-7pm), it has consistently felt safe. They have security at the front and just in general, the crowds feel different than when I was in high school. There are a lot of young families, especially during the Halloween trick-or-treating and Winterfest.

We watched the Winterfest ice skating show last year and this year. Both shows were excellent! The show is 30 minutes and entertaining for the whole family. I was impressed with the quality of the performances, and it was a completely different production last year versus this year.

Winterfest has ice skating, singing reindeers, Santa, and tons of lights everywhere. There's "snow" and a beautiful Christmas tree lighting near the carousel. Lots of fun and we are likely to renew our season passes for next year!

We love coming!! I have so many tips on dining and coming to this park since we have had season passes for at least 4 years?

Don't forget free pre-K passes!!

It's a fun, accessible park for locals

I also love what they've done with season events lately!! Totally worth the price especially compared to other holiday events that are outrageously priced! Winterfest is one of our favs!

At California's Great America Again With My Fiancée's Postpone Club And Two Other Salinas Schools; Alisal HS. And Everett Alvarez HS. So Many Rides And Dood Stands..!! Gonna Get Our Ride On And Food On..!!!

2024 Opening Day, 70% of the rides and 80% of the food locations are closed. The water park is completely closed so that's not even an option. This is the worse experience I've ever had at a theme park. I'd strongly recommend saving your money and doing something else. Not worth the time or money.

Love love love Great America. Not what it used to be but there is still a lot of fun to be had. I've been coming here since the 90's. Railblazer, Gold Striker, Flight Deck and Drop tower are amazing rides. Go have fun before it's gone.