California's Great America — Attraction in Santa Clara

hello im filing a complaint about an event that happened 06-17-25 today… this all happened after 8 pm when the park closed. so 8:10 to around 8:40 pm…

this is directly about your associate Nik at San Francisco Great American Santa Clara location

when i initially went to the park i had left my self defense items in a bush and told i could leave it as long as i didn’t take it into the park.

so initially, the problem was just that it was gone when i came back. i would have understood if it was just against the company policy but that was not made clear to me at all…

so i went to lost and found and there was the associate named Nik. He had light brown hair, pimples on his face and peach fuzz to describe him best. i told him the situation and he rolled his eyes at me and told me directly “yeah you’re not getting it back.” he even said “we are gonna keep it” when i asked if it was thrown away and he refused to answer the question. i know it could have just been kept in the black box because later security told me, but he just said “yeah we are keeping it.” he’s not even security he said. another employee said lost and found doesn’t handle these situations yet he was persistent on telling me off instead of getting me someone i could actually speak to. plus he smiled very concededly as if he took me as a joke for just asking a question. i know you guys are on your last limb with keeping up your parks, but to go out like this and with workers like this is just crazy. we had like a twenty minute back and forth conversation because he refused to call the manager several times… he was accusing me on his phone saying “yeah she’s just tryna get a mace back” when i started i wanted to speak to the manager. i’m a person of color, i felt he was being very demeaning and rude to me and my friends. and he called another african american employee “bud” and nearly threw a paper at him telling him “fill this out for me bud” that’s very racist slang. i felt very uncomfortable during this too. i asked if he was a manager and he is just an employee. he had no right to be so assertive and impolite. especially because i was very nice in return. i felt hurt and offended. i asked for manager multiple times. he was saying things to people on the phone like “yeah i already explained it she doesn’t listen” and proceeded to roll his eyes when i tried to correct him. then the worst part is he told me to wait 30 minutes (the manager came in less than 5 after i continued to ask for one) and kept saying “you can just wait” i told him okay ill will wait. and he told me to wait by the bush. i told him no i would like to wait here and he said “no i could help other guest” i looked behind me and there were no other guest… so i told him there’s no guests so im fine waiting here. that’s when he called security. he tried to tell another worker who was a women and talked badly about me to two other associates i dont know the names of as if i wasnt there. i’ve never felt so discriminated against. he has this very scary vendetta against people of color that i dont think youd want representing your company. when i spoke to security i spoke to the security supervisor bryant. he told me i should talk to nik again (who left lost in found to work at guest services for some reason) i mean seriously at this point is this a joke. bryant stayed close and helped me file this complaint since i didnt want to speak with Nik and his rudeness any further. they also gave me a number to call, so i hope after calling and sending this complaint i could receive a response. i’ll also have to leave a review on google and yelp because really you shouldn’t have workers like this representing you especially with so many locations already shutting down. i just feel bad for the people who have to...

We FINALLY got to take our 8 & 12 yr old to the park & they loved it all! Our 12 yr old literally rode every single coaster (multiple times)! While our 8yr old wasn't quite as adventurous, there were still allot of other ride options to keep her busy.

Boomerang Bay was a nice little added feature since you get access to both parks for 1 price. DO NOT go there if you're wanting a full on water park! Boomerang Bay is a mini park at best, with very limited slides and a log ride. The biggest feature is their play area which offers a great place to cool down in those hot days.

Two major downfalls - EVERYTHING IS WAY OVERPRICED - EAT BEFORE YOU GO! A hot dog is almost $12 !!! Vending machine drinks were $5! However, they do say even though you can't bring outside food/drinks into the park, they do have a picnic area where they allow you to bring blankets & coolers for your lunch/snacks. Check website for details.

The other downfall is STAFF TRAINING (or lack thereof) & BEHAVIOR - We visited 2 different days last week & both times we literally could not find an employee that could answer any questions! By the 2nd visit it had become a running joke for us & eventually shared with each staffer that, you guessed it, couldn't answer our questions! One employee at the swim store at Boomerang Bay didn't know where we'd find the large lockers, which the map says to find AT THAT STORE! Later the same day, same store, another employee had no clue how the lockers worked or what time they'd time out. I was forced to go online, search the website & eventually finding the answer, & read aloud to him so he could help the next person. That seemed to go right over his head as he looked at me saying "yea I don't know" as I read him the info...WOW.

But the worst part of it is both visits felt like we were at a summer camp being run by a bunch of teen councellors who were also attending summer camp, NOT running it. There are many capable teens out there that can handle that kind of job & responsibilites, but most were not there the days we were. There were 3 employees total that were good at their job, even if they didn't have answers for us. Every other employee on both days said they don't know (the answer) & that they usually work in other sections & they don't know this one. I could see that's possible for a few, but 90%? & it was just a big joke to most of them as well, which kind of made me mad seeing how much money I was shelling out!

But overall it's a great place, pretty clean, with decent ride choices. But they have allot of room for overall improvement & I hope they do. It's so close to a 5 star rating if they could train their employees a little better & lower their food/drink prices where they can. I hope our trip back next year will have me coming back here to add...

I came in yesterday with a party of 10 for Winter Fest. TLDR: DO NOT PRE-PURCHASE ICE SKATING TICKETS

Two huge issues here: One person in our party had fractured her foot, and was wearing a boot. So we rented a wheelchair to wheel her around, and the staff at the rental desk said nothing about documentation. So we go to our first ride and they said we need to go to Guest Services to get special wristbands to prove that she needed access to the Handicapped side of rides since she was in a wheelchair and most ride lines have stairs. But as an incentive, it also acts as essentially a front of the line pass because it's often the Fast Pass line. So I go with my friend in the wheelchair to Guest Services, across the park, allowing the other 8 to ride their rides. After waiting 30 minutes to speak with someone, we find out that only 3 others can accompany her, it needs to be the same 3 people, AND those 3 people needed to be present. Not wanting to split up our party for every single ride, we decide to opt out, but that required us to carry the wheelchair up and down lots of stairs throughout the rest of the day. Huge annoyance and I these things would have been communicated upfront.

Secondly, I had pre-purchased ice skating tickets AND pre-filled out the waivers. The park was only open 4-10, and we wanted to do it at night with all the pretty lights. So we get in line around 9. The line is very long and doesn't seem to be moving quickly. So I ask around to ensure there isn't a separate line for people who just need to pick up their skates. Nope. It's all one line. I ask what happens if we don't get skates in time and they had no answer for me other than to try with guest services. At around 9:45, it doesn't look promising (the skate rink closes at 10:30, so even if we squeezed in at 10, we would only get 30 minutes). So after wasting 45 in line, we head to guest services before they close. The man up front is curt, and says no refunds. The best they can do is switch me dates. After more investigation, turns out the QR codes are good without needing to do anything since they were never scanned. So we had no need to waste another 15 minutes walking to/from guest services! And they should have been more upfront about timing when I pre-purchased the tickets. So DO NOT BUY IN ADVANCE. There is no benefit. It's the same price and the same line. So now I have to spend more money to come to the park again just to use the skating tickets. So spend another $100 and travel here again for $40 or lose the $40 entirely. Very disappointing...