RailBlazer at California's Great America
90° drop Raptor trackbuilt by Rocky Mountain Coasters

California's Great America, Santa Clara, California

RailBlazer

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POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
Back row
What riders love
  • You then get tossed through a dive loop and then become a rag doll as you fly over an extremely twisted airtime hill.
  • The greatest combination of ejector and lateral forces I have ever felt on a coaster.
  • You get so much airtime that if you marathon your thighs will be sore
  • For basically the whole duration of that 90 degree drop you are in no way in your seat.
  • In the back, you just get launched and dragged all the way down.
  • The first drop is terrifying and kicks the ride off with a fantastic rush.
  • Saying that RailBlazer is intense from start to finish is almost an understatement because the whole ride it's just trying to throw you out of the train.
  • I LOVE how this whips you around with non-stop intensity.
  • Still, if you can take it, you can't help coming away from this ride grinning.
RailBlazer Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

RailBlazer Front Row (HD POV) California's Great America

youtube.com › coastercrutchfield

RailBlazer Back Row (HD POV) California's Great America

youtube.com › coastercrutchfield

2022 RailBlazer Roller Coaster On Ride 4K POV California's Great America

youtube.com › Theme Park POV

RailBlazer | California's Great America | 2022 4K Offride

youtube.com › zach_clarke

Railblazer Review California's Great America RMC Single Rail Raptor Track

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

RailBlazer at California's Great America Ride Review

youtube.com › Exploration Theme Parks

Railblazer Review | California’s Great America | RMC Raptor Coaster

youtube.com › Coaster Hour

RailBlazer - New Coaster coming 2018 to California's Great America

youtube.com › California's Great America

RailBlazer Testing (Wide Shot) | California's Great America

youtube.com › Amusement Labs

RailBlazer Premeire at California's Great America

youtube.com › Joe

Performance

Vs. other coasters at California's Great America

You snap through the layout at a speed that makes it hard to process what’s even happening around you as you’re getting insane whip and airtime.

Eli Lassiter Michael

Trying to explain the ejector on the off-axis airtime hill and the surprisingly sustained floater on the final zero-G roll will not do this ride service.

Jackson Bryman

The quality of forces and pacing on this thing is off the charts and it has what I believe the strongest airtime out of all coasters I’ve ridden.

Shmee

Saying that RailBlazer is intense from start to finish is almost an understatement because the whole ride it’s just trying to throw you out of the train.

HockeyNinja

There’s just like, you get really thrown out of your seat as it- as you’re going into the turnaround.

American Coaster Enthusiasts

You get a quick pop of airtime rising up and then the sudden deceleration throws you forwards.

Canobie Coaster

It’s pretty smooth, has excellent pacing, and all the elements give a crazy variety of forces, but man it’s way too short.

SwagMasterGeneral

The trains are so much more comfortable than Wonder Woman at SFMM.

Gabe S

This would be an amazing moment, but the comfort collars and hard lap bar completely ruin the moment, and you end up with a bruise on your neck.

Aiden BK

The trains have a vibration and the capacity is less than 400 riders per hour so the line moves at a snails pace.

Ryan B

EVERY SINGLE element on this ride is perfectly paced, giving an experience that doesn’t let up in intensity until you hit the breaks.

Rumham

This ride is insanely intense and the drop off the pseudo mid course after the turnaround in the back row has to be the single strongest moment of ejector in the world.

Ceiba Mesa

Railblazer has an awesome first drop and great pacing and intesnsity with even a few moments of decent airtime.

Kevin Li

Apart from that, all the inversions, elements, airtime, first drop, etc are all perfectly intense and smooth.

caden

It was not as intense as I was hoping it would be, but I could still appreciate other people’s reviews on intensity.

Joseph Chavez

After seeing the first footage of this ride, I could already tell the pacing of this ride would be insane, and it did not disappoint.

Erik C.

I love all the ejector moments that come with the fast transitions and it has relentless pacing.

Lightning Productions

As soon as you go down that first drop you’re absolutely hauling through the course; with how compact the ride is, the entire 30 second ride almost feels like one crazy intense element.

Evangelion Martini

The speed at which this coaster traverses the layout doesn’t look real until you ride it.

Valentin Schneider

While much of Railblazer is about breakneck speed and snappy maneuvers, this element is more graceful, instead giving nice hangtime.

Canobie Coaster

I mean, this thing just it goes so much faster than I think most people expect.

Coaster Studios

Unfortunately, capacity of this ride becomes a huge issue during busy days; each train is just 8 single seats so lines barely move with each dispatch.

Evangelion Martini

However, capacity is definitely an issue on this ride, causing long lines, and it’s unfortunate it can’t really be fixed.

NorCal Coaster Media

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

106 ftHeight
108 GoldStriker 106 RailBlazer 102 Demon 102 FlightDeck 91 Grizzly 91 Patriot
100 ftFirst drop
103 GoldStriker 100 RailBlazer 91 FlightDeck 90 Demon 88 Grizzly
52 mphTop speed
Grizzly55 Gold Striker54 RailBlazer52 Demon50 Flight Deck50 Patriot45 055 mph
90°Drop angle
90°RailBlazer54°Demon50°GoldStrikerdashed line: straight down, 90°
3Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

IntenseRider favouriteEjector airtimeStrong airtimeHuge first dropFeels fast

Criticised for

Too shortLong waitsUncomfortable restraintsOften closed

This is much better later in the day after it’s warmed up -- more intense airtime and ejectors.

Coaster Nut, Captain Coaster review

Still too short compared to Wonder Woman Fiesta Texas, but the intensity is toned down just enough to make things feel more complete.

Nyargleblargle, Captain Coaster review

I loved the first drop in the back row, the corkscrew at the end was also so much fun and is nonstop crazy till the end.

Coaster Tortoise, Captain Coaster review

Oh man this ride is just ruthless, loads of great airtime moments (That twisted airtime hill…), first drop is intense, the whole ride is just very intense honestly, especially for an RMC.

Niko Ramos, Captain Coaster review

It was a great ride, had amazing intensity and many moments where it whips you around.

Josiah, Captain Coaster review

It’s intense, the airtime is ridiculous, it just a beast compared to the other rides.

Airtime Lover, Captain Coaster review

Photos

RailBlazer at California's Great America
daveynin, CC BY 2.0

1 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

June 14, 2018Opened

A raptor track, built by Rocky Mountain Coasters, designed by Alan Schilke.

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 1 polls, 2024

47th2024, its first poll

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Height requirement: California's Great America. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, youtube.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: DestinationFearFan (CC BY-SA 4.0), daveynin (CC BY 2.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Aiden BK, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It's a twisted airtime hill that absolutely LAUNCHES you…”; Rumham, rider review on Captain Coaster: “You then get tossed through a dive loop and…”; NorCal Coaster Media, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The greatest combination of ejector and lateral forces I…”; Ceiba Mesa, rider review on Captain Coaster: “You get so much airtime that if you marathon…”; Eli Lassiter Michael, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Starting from the pre-drop, you already gain a surprising…”; Sarah Smith, rider review on Captain Coaster: “For basically the whole duration of that 90 degree…”; Aiden Davenport, rider review on Captain Coaster: “In the back, you just get launched and dragged…”; Duke Howard, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop is terrifying and kicks the ride…”; Evangelion Martini, rider review on Captain Coaster: “As soon as you go down that first drop…”; HockeyNinja, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Saying that RailBlazer is intense from start to finish…”; Coaster Nut, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I LOVE how this whips you around with non-stop…”; Marshall Bradley, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Still, if you can take it, you can't help…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: coastercrutchfield's back row POV, RailBlazer Back Row (HD POV) California's Great America (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.