California's Great America
California's Great America
4
Friday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
About
#AmazingLooksLike the state’s only combination theme and water park offering more than 100 acres of world-class entertainment for guests of all ages!
Duration: More than 3 hours
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  • Vipulkumar R
    Sacramento, California12 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fun for the family; don’t get the meal plan
    We went with teens: let them just wonder. Usually for my wife and I, we just walk around, do a few rides. This time of year it’s great as you can just enjoy great weather with a nice breeze. For the rides, when we first got there it wasn’t busy but only a few rides were open. It got busier after lunch and more rides seemed to open up. The meal plan is not worth it. We did the Funday ticket which gives you all day meals every 90 min without drinks plus on top of admission. It’s a great price if you really think you’re going to have more than one meal. My experience is young kids rarely would eat enough to make a meal plan worth it, and teens don’t care to wait for the food that long as there are usually fairly long waits. Usually I find these very limiting-only some entrees included and for the money, I would have rather had something else. You basically choose from burgers, pizza, fried chicken and hot dogs. Snacks like churros, pretzels,nachos are not included. The website is very misleading when it comes to that. The churro and funnel cake place takes the premium dining meal plan only, but only other snacks are included not the actual churros or funnel cakes.
    Visited April 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 3 April 2024
  • ClaireleecherrySFEB
    Oakland, California61 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Grateful to have a decent little park nearby
    It is a great little park. So sad that it’s is going to close. The Bay Area needs a decent amusement park and CGA is so much more family friendly and better themed than Six Flags in Vallejo. CGA’s parking situation is also so much better than Six Flags. Food prices are exorbitant and options are limited. $90 for 6 pretzels and 5 drinks. $80 for 2 hot dogs and 5 icees. $12 for popcorn. You can bring your own water bottle and refill at the park. Restrooms aren’t the cleanest but they get the job done. Lines aren’t long but they move pretty slowly. Despite it all, we love the park and want it to get better and would pay the price to go. This is not Disneyland, so we have much lower expectations. Kids always have fun spending the day at the park, and we are grateful that we have an amusement park in less than an hour drive instead of having to drive 5-7 hours to get to the nearest park. Please please please keep this park open.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 29 June 2024
  • P and D
    Monterey County, California66 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A good family location!
    We participated in the Great America Food and Wine Festival, and we want to say that this park is a very good experience! All the staff were friendly and professional, the grounds were clean and well kept. The entry fees are very reasonable. There is plenty to do for the youg kids in the section towards the water park. We recommend the Cantina for lunch. When we return we will visit the New Orleans section.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 6 July 2024
  • Jennifer S
    San Jose, California7 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Plug for the Meal Plans...
    We took our kids (6 and 10) and had a good time. I came here trying to find info on food--for a meal, it currently costs about $18 plus drink plus tax. Buying a meal plan is also about $18, but comes with the (small) drink. However, we got two Premium meal plans and ate in shifts. It came out to $65 or so and we got 6 meals from our two plans. We could have gotten 8, since we were there all day, but we were all full and burnt-out on theme park food. (The food is typical for a theme park, nothing fancy, but it works.)
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 31 August 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles660 reviews
Excellent
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Very good
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Average
122
Poor
40
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44

mandatam
California27 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2021
Like other reviewer . . . disappointment. No paper maps or directories in the park. Long lines, the app says 25 minutes, and hour later we are still in line for flight Deck. We only picked rides which appeared to have shorter lines but the wait is still well over an hour. As other reviews said, lots of inefficiencies and all the fast pass people taking getting in front leaving fewer spots on the riders for the regular riders

Festival for food was a disaster. With the same receipt, you have to wait in every line. By the time we got all our stuff, the first item is cold! A pick up ticket for each station would be nice.

I emailed for early ride days info. On the website, it says season pass can go into the park 1 hour earlier on selected days. .. There is no where to find the selected days. I emailed customer service. 5 days later, no replied. I called 7/28 waited 2 + hours, only to be disconnected at 5:01pm. Today, 7/29/21, I called, waited 1:09, only to find out there is no earlier ride time for season pass holders due to covid. I pointed out their website is misleading and that is false advertisement.

Not worth the money unless you are don't mind waiting and watching the inefficiencies of the how they get people in and out of the ride. You will not able to get on all the rides with one visit.
Written 29 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Alex v
2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2021 • Family
This place is horrible. Yes you are going to wait in line, but too many rides closed funnels people to the ones left. Coasters running only one set of cars instead of two doubles times. Cars half full for no reason at all. Some rides way understaffed, others have multiple people standing around. Same price but reduced hours means during the week you pay $40 for maybe 6 rides if you are lucky. Or you can pay another $60 to $70 a person to cut to the front. I'm writing this review as there is nothing else to do except stare at chain link fence.
Written 25 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Adrianna
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2021
I have made a bit of a tradition of coming to Halloween Haunt. I knew it was going downhill but this year this is definitive proof that I will never be back, and if you have any sense- you won't go. Don't waste your money.

They have rules at the front such as no vapes, no weed, no smoking, yadda yadda yadda. The first smell in front of every Halloween maze is marijuana. You can watch kids in line vaping with their friends. There's rampant line cutting and no security. There was a false gun scare two years ago, this year after talking to a security guard there's a fight almost every hour. I witnessed one first hand.

A group of girls (high school age) were cutting in line- probably seven or eight of them- when one was grabbed by her hair and a fight started. The one who was cutting retreated and then came back fifteen minutes later with ten or eleven of her friends. I rolled my eyes and realized that this event is just attracting trash humans. No manners, smoking in line making it everyone's problem that they vape or smoke, and they have minimal security.

(On the night we went, October 1st, they had 58 security officers for an event that had THOUSANDS of people).

It's not worth your money, time, or energy to even be near great america. It breaks my heart because I used to love this place, but I'm never coming back.
Written 3 October 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Robert L
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2021
We came here 4 years ago and had a great time. Today was nowhere near the same. We bought the tickets and our dining plans online. The tickets were a great deal. The dining plans were a great waste. The only food actually available was cheeseburger and fries or chicken tenders and fries, they virtually had no other options, no salad no wraps, nothing remotely healthy. But after having paid online and spending nearly an hour waiting in line we had no choice. please do yourself a favor and pass on the dining option. We then got to spend over two hours waiting in line for rides as the fast lane folks and the fact that so many rides are down have caused the not fast lane peoples wait times to double. If you can't afford the extra 50 to 60 bucks per person don't expect to ride more than three or four rides during an 8 hour stay.
Written 27 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

claire50
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA303 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022
We just attended the Tricks and Treats Halloween shows and events and really liked it. It's all family-friendly, not scary, lots of families with small children. Older children there too but not like what we've heard in the past with troublesome kids. It was full of things to do for all ages of kids, even little ones. Some great musical shows, especially the trio in the New Orleans spooky section (although this would be appreciated more by adults.) The main stage show, waking up Patch the big pumpkin, was lively and fun. (When the park closes they have another shorter show to put Patch to sleep!). Great decorations all around, good soundtrack. Can't rave about the food but oh well. Very well attended, less crowded early, more crowded later but also something fun about being there after dark, Oh, also some characters walking around interacting with guests, Lots of little touches that add to the decor and atmosphere, plenty of photo-ops. Recommended
Written 2 October 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

chole w
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022 • Friends
Me and my friends are visiting here for her birthday. However, this trip has become a disaster. We’ve been waiting in line for bumper cars for over 30 mins and finally when we are done waiting, The birthday girl found out that her bumper car is completely broken. Not only that, there are several broken bumper cars that are removed and gotten used by people. All of us ended up upset because of this issue. You guys should removed equipments that are broken not only for our pleasure and also for our safety. No staff came up to help to issue this but went to us and told us there are a few that are broken. This is a serious issue of irresponsibility and also unprofessional. We came here for a happy start of spring break but ended up upset. Not satisfied with the trip in Great America.
Written 16 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

lorentz18
San Francisco Bay Area, CA1,027 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2022
First visit since 2019, with 13 & 11 yos & parents, and first time visitors to the water park side. We really like GA! I think it's well worth the admission, which is reasonable if you buy online in advance. A few rides weren't running (I don't know why not) so that's always a little disappointing, but not unusual for a theme park. We encountered a couple of great, engaging ride attendants who were amusing. Line was too long at Mass Effect, so didn't get to that (unfortunate) and our longest wait on a Sunday in July was 45 minutes for the rapids ride, which gets you soaked and I would just as soon not have done that since we went to the water park afterward anyway. The food is so-so and the lines are loooong. We always bring a picnic lunch, leave it in the car, and eat outside. Would recommend! We spent 8 hours and happy with them.
Written 2 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lance Hatleli
11 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022 • Family
We went to CAGA for memorial weekend. We went to South Harbor the first day which is the water park area within the main park.

Sadly a lot of the slides were closed and it seemed like the employees were ready for the opening for the season. We still had fun even though a lot of the water attractions were closed.

The second day we spent in the main park and had a blast. The lines were not crazy for a holiday weekend and the longest wait we had for a ride was 40 minutes. The park was clean and the staff were friendly.

You can expect to pay around 14 bucks per meal at the park and 5 bucks per drink.
Written 30 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lila
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2021 • Couples
Absolutely awful. I couldn’t believe how bad it was. I’d never experienced the park to be like this in the past. We were there for over 6 hours and only made it on three rides. One ride’s wait took two hours. Multiple rides were down throughout the day. They seemed really understaffed and mismanaged — there was very little clear signage or communication, the loading/unloading of people on the rides was so inefficient, and buying food at the park was chaos. Honestly, they just seemed not at all prepared for a post-quarantine opening. There was way too many people for how few rides were working — it didn’t seem like they limited the capacity at all. We literally saw two people faint in line from how long they had to wait in the heat. It became clear going here could only be worth it for the people with fast passes, who ended up extending the wait time for everyone without fast passes. I don’t usually write dramatic online reviews, or any online reviews for that matter, but the day was honestly a nightmare. Don’t do it! Save your money and your sanity! :)
Written 10 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David C
Hixson, TN601 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2021
California’s Great America is a nice Cedar Fair theme park. It offers a mix of roller coasters - inverted, floorless, wooden and Raptor style RMC. They provide free wi-fi but their mobile app could use some work.
For instance, Mass Effect has scheduled showtimes every few hours but their app says it is open all day which is misleading. Some restaurants accept the dining plan but the mobile app says they don’t (Great American Pizza Company). Very confusing and wastes your time. To be located in Silicon Valley, their mobile app should be top notch.
Written 20 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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