California's Great America Update - October 13th, 2023
Tricks & Treats Returns for Year 2!
Turns out the reports of our death has been greatly exaggerated! My apologies for the radio silence. My computer decided it didn't want to boot up anymore and when I migrated the data to my new PC (backups are important!) the environment for the site refused to build. I was running a very out of date version of my site generator of choice (Gatsby) and I started to update my software but it was a nightmare of tangled dependencies. I was starting to feel stretched running the site on that software so I took the opportunity to move to NextJS! After rebuilding the entire site in Next, I'm a big fan. Expect a better site experience in the future!
But regardless, it's Halloween time at the parks again! And at CGA that means Tricks and Treats, coming back for its second year. In this update, we'll cover the event again! What's changed? What's stayed the same? Let's go!
Table of Contents
Tricks & Treats
Let's walk through the park counter clockwise like we usually do and check out what each themed area brings us!
But real quick, let's talk about the themed food at the park. Like last year, this year we have plenty of themed food
And here's the corresponding map
Similarly, here's the entertainment overview for you to see before we keep moving!
Entrance
It's truly the best time of year!
I could sit at the entrance to the park all day. They do such a good job decorating!
The stage behind Columbia Carousel has a big pumpkin on it!
And that pumpkin is part of the Patch's Halloween Bash show
One cool thing I enjoyed around the park this year was the "Ding Dong Doom Neighborhood Watch Program" where you can take selfies of yourself at four doors around the park and post them on social media with a certain hashtag and get a prize! Here's the full rules if you're curious
These waypoint signs greet you and point you in the direction of any of the themed lands. Let's follow along!
Everfall
First up is Everfall. Like last year, this zone is in Hometown Square
And like before this zone is very heavy on the gourds and pumpkins, classic fall theme!
There's a merch booth set up here (and elsewhere), here's a quick look at what they're selling this year
Here's our Ding Dong Doom door for Everfall. Pretty traditional door here
Like last year, there's a little craft booth set up for kids
This year bfrings us a cute little corn/hedge maze
I love all the little pumpkins around!
The corn chair is back!!
Although this little pumpkin cow might be my favorite new decoration
As far as entertainment goes, Everfall features the stage in front of Great America Theater with a couple of shows, Cartoon Cowboys and Bonfire Tales
Sweet Tooth Acres
And like before, Sweet Tooth Acres is back in what's now NorCal County Fair
And like before, you should expect plenty of candy theming around!
The DDD door in this area is exactly what you might expect, lots of candy!
This was my favorite of the little candy theming!
As far as entertainment goes, this year had a little more organization when it comes to the Trick or Treat Trail
This time there was a line and a pretty clear progression from door to door where each little door had some little quirk or interesting thing about it instead of all just being plain doors
And if you wanted a little lollypop, you could pick it here!
Ickyville
That'll bring us around to our next area, Ickyville!
Unlike last year which had Ickyville near Mass Effect and Delirium, this year had it in All American Corners proper
It had the same kind of "gross" theming that you remember from last year
This time the slime shop was moved to the little cookie stand on the corner
The games were just in front of Liberty Twirler
And of course, you know the dabbing skeleton is back!
The DDD door looks the part of the gross/industrial aesthetic
There are a couple shows that get shown here. Wish I could've seen that Bean Boozled show!
And the modular screen they had for the stage was cool too!
Nerd shot. I thought it was so cool how they all hook together!
And finally, new this year was a decent number of street entertainers! Like this person
Or this guy that was playing some sort of game with guests! Seriously, this is so awesome from the park that I hope we get it year round! Some sort of New Orleans performer in Orleans Place, or classic 50s jock in All American Corners? Sounds cool to me!
Spooky Spires
Onward to our last zone, Spooky Spires!
This year again it takes place in Orleans Place
And again this year it is the more "spooky", scary Halloween area
Think skulls and tombstones and fog. But nothing too scary!
Wouldn't be a scary area without a hearse!
This is my favorite area and the area I saved for last for pictures. The sun setting just enhanced the mood
The DDD door looks the part
Although some parts of the park are already getting ready for Christmas!
There are several food booths set up around the area
And the blood bar makes a return!
The inside is so cool looking and eventually I'll try a drink here!
As far as entertainment here, we start with street performers! This guy was hanging around near the hearse
And there's a big stage set up near Flight Deck showing a couple of shows
But I'm a sucker for the shows on the Orleans Candy Kitchen Balcony. These are the Spectral Sisters!
Other Decorations
But not only the 4 themed areas were decorated! Let's take a look at some of the decorations in the rest of the park!
Over past the NorCal County Fair games area, you can find our usual pumpkin carriage!
Snoopy was as decorated as ever!
As was his area. Love the pumpkins!
The different bridge transitions between the areas are my favorite, this one between Planet Snoopy and All American Corners is great!
NorCal County Fair
So I had an entire update written about NorCal County Fair finally opening Pacfic Gliders but the site going down kinda put that on ice. Maybe I'll end up writing it in the future but for now, please take these pics that that's true!
It's finally open!
It's such a beautiful looking ride, I'm so glad to see the park continuing to add new experiences even given the uncertainty around the land situation
And that wasn't it. Grizzly has a spiffy new entrance sign!
Tiki Twirl is finally open!
As is Centrifuge. The area looks great and big props to the park for making it shine!
The area has its themed trash cans! Glad to see this small little detail in the new area
Misc Updates
Let's start with closed rides! It wasn't a cold day so only half of the water rides were closed
Railblazer is looking fantastic!
Over near Planet Snoopy, this little games stand is new!
Mass Effect got some new graphics on its facade
And in its queue. The ride looks much improved from the state it was in
And there you have it! It was another fun visit to the park and I continue to really enjoy the Tricks and Treats event. It's good to have a little balance in Halloween events and with SFDK just a drive away having a scarier event, it's good to have a family focused one. The park was pretty crowded too which is always great to see.
My next visit will be in November for Winter Fest!