Why GREAT AMERICA?
Feeling guilty about my kids' only wish being temporarily denied them (they want to go to Disneyland), I settled on the next best thing... Great America.

Okay, maybe it's not really the next best thing... I still have to check out the new 6 Flags Marine World in Vallejo. But until then, this is a major amusement park and it's only a few miles away... relatively speaking.

GETTING THERE
We live in Oakland, and the park is in Santa Clara (southern Bay Area). So without traffic, it's a 40-minute trip. The problem is, however, you want to be at the park right when it opens (10am), but to do that, you're going right in rush hour traffic. Maybe not the peak of the traffic, but traffic none-the-less, with a minimum of an additional 45-60 minutes. The park is officially located 45 minutes south of San Francisco and 6 miles north of San Jose on Great America Parkway between highways 101 and 237 in Santa Clara, California.

The directions are easy. It's not a hard place to find.

CROWDED?
So we get there on the second weekday the park is open for the season, April 20th. I'm thinking it's going to be packed because of Spring break, but it turns out to be... not too bad. Perhaps it's because so many schools are having their Spring break at different times. The only really long lines are for the wilder roller-coasters, and even those lines aren't as bad as some I've seen in other amusement parks. The longest we waited was maybe 20-30 minutes.

This was my first time to Great America, and I had with me a five-year old, a seven-year old, and a grown-up. Since we all had different interests and not all of us could even go on all the rides, we knew there'd be: some waiting, some things missed, and some things endured.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Their "ride riding" scenarios were vast and it's hard to please everyone. For example, if one child couldn't (because of height restrictions) go on a certain ride, a grown-up could go with the other child or by himself. Or if both children couldn't ride, a grown-up had to go alone. If the kids wanted to go on kiddie rides, the grown-ups had to sit and watch.

It sounds bad, but it wasn't. I had warned everyone ahead of time that this would be a scouting mission, that we'd scope out the scene, see what we like, then come back at other times to do exactly what we wanted.

I had purchased season passes, meaning the four of us could go at any time during Great America's 2000 season. So I have it in my head now, that I will one time go with my boyfriend and do mostly grown-up rides, one time go with my son and do what he wants, and one time go with my daughter for her preferences. Sounds good in theory; I hope it works out in practice.

And there are things to do for all age levels.

Things for BIG PEOPLE
For the grown-ups, there are at least five, if not more, roller-coaster or otherwise "big peoples'" rides (including the free-falling Drop Zone... which I'd never go on in a million years! but others seem to like it). Also for the grown-ups (and I'm not sure about the inclusion of this ride with the season pass) is "Project Stealth: the world's first FLYING COASTER where you'll fly, strapped to the outside of a rocketing train hurtling through 2,766 feet of curves, twists and turns at up to 50 miles an hour" (which made little sense to me, until I saw that you seem to lay down on the ride, horizontal to the ground... we didn't do this one).

There's an IMAX theater, but I'll have to wait until I'm there without the kids to see what that's all about.

Things for MEDIUM PEOPLE
For young kids, there are some not-as-crazy roller-coasters and some other fun things to do and rides to go on.

Things for LITTLE PEOPLE
For the wee-little ones, there are even tamer rides, activity play areas, and theaters with shows. KidZville the new 2.3 acre area with four "neighborhoods": KidZville Town Square, KidZville Airport, KidZville Construction Company and a Scooby-Doo area. The main kid attractions are: KidZville, Nickelodeon, Splat City. And in the Nickelodeon area there's a slime section and if you bring your bathing suit you can have a blast playing in the waterfalls, sprinklers, and geysers.

I was actually surprised (and pleased) by the height requirements on some of the rides. All four of us, for example, got to go on The Grizzly, a large roller-coaster on a wooden track. The look on my daughter's face when we went down the first swoop was worth a thousand dollars. I thought this ride might jade her to the kiddie rides, but not so... she loved it all.

FOOD
There's food, but not all the concession stands were open (I'm guessing because the season doesn't officially start until June 2nd). Typical amusement park food, and as expected over-priced.

At one point, my son wanted a drink and I spied an actual soda machine. "Way cool!" think I, since this has GOT to be cheaper than the food stands. Ha! $2.50 it wanted for one soda. I look at my son and he understands then moves over to the (thank goodness!) water-fountain right next to the soda machine.

Other than the food stands, I think I recall seeing two regular-looking restaurants. They didn't seem overly-crowded, but I also didn't look at the prices.

RESTROOMS
We didn't have problems finding restrooms when needed and they were large and clean (of course, this was the beginning of the season).

NAVIGATING
I held onto the map they give out at the entrance. It's pretty clear and easy-to-read, tells you where everything is and has s nice overview picture.

I was also given a sheet of paper for the scheduled events and shows. We didn't make it to any of these, but remember... this was my "reconnoitering" trip. We'll definitely hit up the shows when it's just me and each kid.

SHOPS
Boy, do they have shops. I got each of the children a small treat ON THE WAY OUT (otherwise you carry it with you the whole day AND you should keep this as a reward for good behavior or as a threat, whichever the case may be <g>).

They sell the usual: t-shirts, souvenirs, edible goodies.

Okay, let's see... what did I love about this place? I think it's got a good variety of attractions for various ages. And I like how close it is to us Bay Area folks. I like how they have shows as well as rides and I love that they do have enough things to keep young children entertained.

What did I hate about it? Well, no one's gonna like standing in lines waiting for rides, but I can hardly blame the park for that... can I? I definitely hated the fact that the park is laid out in a large oval and I couldn't find anyway to "cut through" the middle if I just wanted to get to an attraction on the other side of the middle of the park, so we had to walk ALL THE WAY AROUND the long ends of the ovals (not a small hike in the 100+ acre park). I also wish they had non-traditional hours, like opening at 6am <g>, or at least wasn't open only when kids are out of school. I'd like to see a park that's open year-round so I can play hooky and go when maybe it's not so crowded.

TICKETS
Season Passes
The benefits of being a season pass holder include, obviously, being able to go to the park anytime you want as many times as you want during the season. There are also special days set aside for ONLY season pass holders. You will have your picture taken so don't think you can get away with inviting Cousin Buster along when sister decides not to go. A one-day pass would be purchased for anyone else wanting to accompany the season ticket holders.

The season ticket price is for a Family Pass is $219.96 (for a family of four). They say it's supposed to be "immediate family only", but no one checked when we signed up for ours.

Family add-on season passes are $69.99.

And Individual season passes are: $74.99.

These prices go up May 8th.

There are also upgrades you can get for free parking and discount coupons, etc. Parking, by the way, is $6 a day if you don't have the upgrade.

You can purchase these passes online, but if you need them in a hurry you can go to BlockBuster Video stores.

Single Day Admission

General Admission, ages 7 through 59 -- $36.99

Senior Citizens, ages 60 and older -- $26.99

Children, ages 3 through 6 (or under 48" tall) -- $19.99

Children, ages 2 and under -- Free

Disabled -- $26.99

HOURS OF OPERATION

Opened for its 2000 season on Saturday, April 1, 2000.

Opens at 10:00 a.m. daily. Closing times vary, call 408-988-1776 for operating times.

Spring: Open weekends only April 1 through May 28; also open daily for Spring Break: April 19--22 (Closed Easter Sunday, April 23), and April 26-30, plus Memorial Day, May 29.

Summer: Open daily June 2 through August 28; also open Labor Day Weekend, September 1 through 4.

Fall: Open weekends only September 9 through October 15

If I've left anything out, forgive me... I already feel this epinion is way too long.

LAST BIT OF ADVICE
-- Wear sunscreen.
-- Think of how you're going to entertain younger children if they have to wait in the lines a long time (maybe take a book or a small toy... electronic devices are not allowed).
-- Prepare for the fact that on some of the rides you will get wet. This can be great, particularly on a hot day. But you don't want your camera getting wet, and you don't want your kids walking around in soaking clothes if it's cold out. And take extra socks for the kids at least.
-- You can't wear glasses on some of the rides, so either have a secure place to put them or have someone hold them for you.
-- Wear VERY comfortable shoes.
-- Bring pillows for the trip home... kids will be exhausted.

I'm hoping our return trips to the park will continue to live up to my expectations.




Recommended: Yes