Coastin' with Dan

On June 28th, 2018, I visited California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. I did not expect much from this park, just a simple regional amusement park with a few good coasters. I was really surprised by my experience and had a great day here! Let's Get on to The Rides! The star of the park is Railblazer, a Rocky Mountain Construction Raptor model! This was my 150th coaster credit, and it did not disappoint! Railblazer was fast, smooth, and full of absolutely relentless ejector airtime. The elements come at you so quick! The rock work theming really brought the ride to the next level with its interactions. I cannot wait to see more RMC Raptors pop up at other parks! ---- Gold Striker is the parks GCI Wooden Coaster. I had heard amazing things about this ride, but was actually a little bit let down. Don't get me wrong, it is a great coaster, but it was not as relentless as I had heard, and kind of meandered around at the end. Still, thi

On June 27th, I visited Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park, California. This park completely bypassed my expectations. I knew going in that the park had a great lineup of coaster, but I did not expect it to become one of my all time favorite parks! Let's get on to the rides! Silver Bullet is the parks B&M Inverted Coaster. I've heard a lot about this coaster being "boring" and "forceless", so I went in with low expectations. Instead, I absolutely loved this coaster! The inversions were a ton of fun, and even provided some great hang time, the ride itself was smooth, and the interaction with the water below was a really cool addition to the coaster. I do have to say, though,  the coaster really does not fit in great with its surrounding, and its all red lift hill looks odd.  ---- GhostRider is the parks wooden coaster, which was recently refurbished by Great Coasters International(GCI). Again, I had heard a good amount of cri