The Grizzly is a wooden roller coaster that has anchored California’s Great America in Santa Clara since 1986. Designed by noted engineer Curtis D. Summers and built by Kings Island’s in-house construction team, it was part of a wave of classic wood coasters built across Kings Entertainment Company parks in the 1980s.
Laid out as a double out-and-back, The Grizzly sends riders through a traditional steel-wheels-on-wood track experience that emphasizes airtime and old-school pacing over modern inversions. Decades after opening, the ride remains a staple of the park thanks to major retracking work that kept it running smoothly.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: California’s Great America
- Manufacturer: Kings Island Construction (designed by Curtis D. Summers)
- Opened: 1986
- Height: about 91 feet
- Top speed: about 55 mph
- Length: about 3,250 feet
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
The Grizzly’s double out-and-back layout takes riders away from the station and back twice, a hallmark of classic wooden coaster design from the 1980s. With a height of about 91 feet and a top speed near 55 mph, the ride relies on sustained positive g-forces and quick directional changes rather than inversions, giving it the rattling, old-school feel that wood coaster fans seek out.
Each of the two trains seats 28 riders across seven cars, running the roughly 3,250-foot course in about two minutes and forty seconds. It’s a no-inversion layout, making it an accessible entry point into bigger thrills for riders who have outgrown the park’s kids’ area.
A Classic Kept Running
Like many wooden coasters of its era, The Grizzly needed upkeep to stay competitive against newer steel rides. The park brought in Great Coasters International to retrack sections of the course in 2014 and again in 2017, work that smoothed out rough spots and noticeably improved the ride’s speed and comfort.
That maintenance has helped The Grizzly remain one of the longer-tenured attractions at California’s Great America, giving it a different kind of staying power than the park’s flashier modern steel coasters.
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The Grizzly FAQs
How tall is The Grizzly at California’s Great America?
The Grizzly stands about 91 feet tall, with a main drop of roughly 88 feet.
Does The Grizzly have any loops or inversions?
No. The Grizzly is a traditional out-and-back wooden coaster with zero inversions, focusing on speed and airtime instead.
When did The Grizzly open?
The Grizzly opened in 1986 at California’s Great America and was designed by Curtis D. Summers.
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Photo: FASTILY / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.