Great America in San Francisco Offers Up More Thrill Rides This Summer Than Any Other Park in California

Located in the San Francisco bay area in Northern California, Great America is one of the best-kept secrets in the world of amusement parks in America.
The company that owns Great America, Ceder Fair Entertainment, also owns and operates the very thrilling "Star Trek: The Experience" ride in Las Vegas, as well as one of the biggest theme parks in the world, Cedar Point in Ohio. Based on that track record , you just know that Ceder Fair Entertainment will not let any other amusement park get in their way of being the #1 attraction in the Northern California area when it comes to pleasing thrillseekers. They have more than ten thrilling rides that will get your heart racing at every drop and turn, as well as including twenty other family-oriented rides to their park so the youngsters won't feel left out of the fun either.

Let's take a look at eight of the fastest and scariest rides that Great America has in store for you this summer:

1. Grizzly This speedy roller coaster stands at a height of more than 90 feet in the air and it will drop you straight down when your coaster car reaches the 88 foot level, plunging you along the many twists and turns of this giant coaster to an excess speed of 50 MPH. This extreme ride lasts for over 2 minutes and forty seconds, and you will feel all of the 3,250 feet of steel under your coaster during every frightening moment!

2. Top Gun A more exhilarating and breathtaking riding experience cannot be found anywhere else than the one that "Top Gun" will take you on. Named after the famous Tom Cruise movie of the same name, this 100 foot tall behemoth of a roller coaster will take you to a speed of more than 50 MPH and send you screaming through a vertical loop, a zero g-roll (a completely upside down spin while rolling through a huge loop), and a wingover move, which makes the coaster fly out at a very dangerous angle which causes you to think you're going to fly off the rails! Because of "Top Gun's" inverted construction, you are actually riding the outside of the tracks, which allow the engineers to throw your body around at angles and speeds that you thought you would never be able to survive.

3. Demon Just as the name implies, this coaster will possess your soul as your death car takes you up to a height of more than 102 feet, and then sends you off to plummet 94 feet downward to reach the bottom of the track at a 54 degree angle, setting off screams from your fellow passengers like you've never heard before. See if you have the courage to live through the whips and turns of the two vertical loops and the other two dark tunnels that your coaster will be flung into for an experience like no other.

4. Drop Zone Stunt Tower If you feel like you can stomach a heart-stopping plummet from a 22 story tower in less than four seconds, has Great America got a ride for you! Yes, the "Drop Zone Stunt Tower" will send chills up your spine as you brave one of the tallest and most intense free-fall rides in the world. The tower stands at 224 feet in the air, giving you a great view of the theme park mere seconds before you are hurtled downward at excess speeds of 80 MPH!

5. Invertigo The minute that you are pulled up into the first of two 138 feet lifts, you will feel like screaming for mercy as you are sped down the lift, and then shot up into a "boomerang", which is a 180-degree turn with double inverted side-winders. After all that has taken place, you are then thrown into a 72-foot high vertical loop before being taken to the second 138 foot lift! Guess what happens then? Right- you get to do it all over again, only this time backwards. Enjoy!

6. Vortex This ride features over 2,260 feet of track which whisks you along at 45 MPH at a height of 91 feet, then whips you through a vertical loop and then finishes you off with a quick fling through a corkscrew loop. The "Vortex" is a stand-up coaster that allows the engineers to design more thrills per second because of the extra safety that the stand-alone bicycle seats and shoulder harnesses allow for, thus allowing your body to be slung around at a mind-numbing degree of speed and aggressiveness.

7. Survivor: The Ride Yet another "theme coaster", "Survivor: the ride" gives you all the tastes and smells of the hit reality series from CBS with the 40-foot tall torches that resemble the torches from the show, alongside the loud tribal music from the series which accompanies your speedy ride through this stimulating "Survivor" environment. After your coaster ride ends, you will then board a giant circular vessel, with a fiercely towering mask at its hub. You'll experience all the turbulence and fierce rocking motion that "Survivors" have gone through on their trip to their new island homes, along with the spinning motions as the platform swirls around a wave-like track.

8. Xtreme SkyFlier For an extra fee, you can take a heart-quickening ride on this 153-foot hang gliding excursion into the bright blue sky, but be warned: this is not for the faint of heart! You will be pulled 153 feet above the ground where you will then be plummeted downward in a diving spiral at speeds of more than 65 MPH, while free-falling 17 stories down towards the Earth, which will be coming at you like a speeding train!

For a little less intense action, there are many other choices you can make at Great America.There is a section of this massive theme park called "Boomerang Bay" which includes 11 different water rides and water-themed adventures for the entire family. "The Great Barrier Reef", which just opened on May 26th, 2007, features a 355,000 gallon wave pool which will allow surfing and body-boarding for a realistic beach-like experience.

Don't forget to visit "The Thunder Down Under" wild water ride which sends you down a two-chute tube over 3 stories tall, landing you and a friend with a huge splash to wind up in the 155,000 gallon "Boomerang Pool", the second largest swimming area at the park. The new water ride named "Castaway Creek" will really allow you to relax as you lay your tired body down on an inner tube and float around this park's longest river ride.

Single day admission adult passes are $36.95, while single day passes for kids 3-7 are $29.95. Senior passes are $29.95 as well. Be sure to check out the group ticket sales if you plan to attend with more than 8 friends.

So if you plan a summer getaway anywhere near San Francisco this year, don't pass up the chance to get all the thrills and chills you can stand at Great Adventure, San Francisco.