Firefall thrill ride set to open at California’s Great America after delay
Maintenance crews gave the all-clear for the Firefall thrill ride to debut at California’s Great America on Saturday, May 17, 2008, after the grand opening was postponed three weeks while the Santa Clara amusement park awaited parts from overseas.
After auctioning off seats for the first public ride on April 25, Great America was forced to postpone the opening while parts for the seat-restraint mechanism system were shipped from the ride manufacturer in Germany. (Hat tip to Screamscape.)
The 40 top bidders will board Firefall at 11 a.m. on Saturday, with the general public to follow. Proceeds from the auction benefit charity. The highest bid: $85.
The 60-foot-tall spinning and flipping Firefall thrill ride sends riders head-over-heels through both fire and water effects at speeds reaching 20 mph.
Built in 1993, the $2.1-million Huss Top Spin ride was once known as Texas Twister before being relocated from the now-defunct Geauga Lake amusement park in Ohio to California’s Great America near San Francisco and rechristened Firefall, according to Thrill Network.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland.
[Image: California's Great America]
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May 19th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
FireFall debuted this weekend at California’s Great America without the pyrotechnics effects, which I guess makes it just plain Fall.
The erupting volcano and flaming lagoon are expected to be operational by Memorial Day weekend.
News Plus Notes tracked down some nice Flickr photos of the FireFall grand opening.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer + theme park blogger
May 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
A nice Firefall photo gallery from Theme Park Village plus a podcast featuring interviews with the first riders. (Hat tip to News Plus Notes.)
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer + theme park blogger
May 21st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Firefall set to open at California’s Great America…
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