Woodstock Express is a steel kiddie roller coaster located at California's Great America in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. The coaster has slight drops and turns and uses a lap bar for guests safety.

History

Since the roller coaster opened in 1987, it has been re-themed at least three times. It was designed by Intamin and originally opened in 1984 as Scooby's Ghoster Coaster at

Hanna-Barbera Land Hanna-Barbera Land was a theme park based on the cartoons of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio. It was located in the Spring, Texas, United States, north of Houston, and operated for the 1984 and 1985 seasons. After the park's closure followin ...

Spring, Texas Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 census. While the name "Spring" is popu ...

. The coaster moved to California's Great America, reopening in 1987 as Blue Streak. The coaster had a

Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...

theme when it opened within "Smurf Woods," a land featuring a Smurf village with mushroom houses. Smurf Woods was closed in the early 1990s.

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amuseme ...

acquired Great America in 1993 and opened

Nickelodeon Central Since the 1990s, ''Nickelodeon'', a worldwide children's television network and franchise, owned by Paramount Global, has had an involvement in the creation and theming of amusement parks rides. Several amusement parks have featured themed are ...

. They gave the coaster new yellow and green seats and named it Green Slime Mine Car in 1995. One Smurf house survived and can be seen in the Picnic Grove area. In 2002, Paramount Parks repainted the coaster orange and re-themed it as Rugrats Runaway Reptar. In 2007, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company acquired all 5 Paramount Parks ( Kings Island,

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

, Carowinds,

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and att ...

, and California's Great America). The park did not have the license to use Nickelodeon property, so Nickelodeon Central was re-themed to Planet Snoopy in 2010. Cedar Fair gave the coaster a new yellow paint job and the name Woodstock Express; famously named after Snoopy's best friend, Woodstock.

Ride experience

References

California's Great America Roller coasters in California The Smurfs in amusement parks {{amusement-ride-stub