California’s Great America opened for the 2017 Regular Season on Saturday the 25th, but I visited on Sunday, the 26th. The park was not too crowded, with the only wait being for Gold Striker, which was at a manageable ten minutes. With that said, let’s get right into the happenings around the park.
Sadly, Patriot did not soft open while we were at the park, and did not do so at all this weekend. Make sure to sign up to come to Passholder Preview Night for Patriot.
However, Patriot has a test seat out by the queue. The seat is the “big-boy” variant of the B&M floorless seats. 
Patriot’s station is still being worked on, but it now has the floors and gates in place.
Now open at California’s Great America is the Firehouse Refresh Station. This is the new refill station for drinks, and was once used as a small shop a while back, so it is nice to see the park use it again.
Peanut’s Party in the Plaza is now Peanut’s Block Party in Hometown Square. Sadly, I was not able to see the show but the sets are very spread out which will create a cool environment when the show goes on.
Maggie Brown’s Fried Chicken has also gotten a refurbishment, and is now known as Maggie’s Smokehouse and Fried Chicken. In addition to the famous fried chicken, there is now more options, including pulled pork sandwiches and the likes. The restaurant also includes the fancy new automatic ordering machines like those found in Food Festival.
Right next door, the Pizza restaurant has been renamed Great American Pizza Company.
Moving along, Firefall has been removed over the offseason. This comes as no shock, as it has been pretty public for a while. The lagoon under it still sits there, but looks fairly good even by itself.
Patriot Merchandise
Patriot has plenty of keychains to choose from, most of which look great. The lanyard also looks great.
Pictured here are some of the shirts for Patriot, which take a more abstract appeal.
The plushes for Patriot are definitely the star attraction in terms of merchandise. The stuffed eagles are adorable and cute, and make for a great toy to put on the end of a bed or on the couch(from firsthand experience).
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I will leave you with a picture of the front of California’s Great America’s Map for 2017.
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