GREATAMERICAparks.com

I think Steven's right about the reason for the low attendance. There are way too many attractions drawing away business, like Tanya mentioned there was Frontier Village but also Marine World Africa USA (30 minutes north) and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (30 minutes away on the coast). Not to ment...

The Tidal Wave was one of my faves, too. It was a great, fun ride that had a lot of details that added up to more than the sum of its parts: HUGE and overpowering physical structure--especially the towers, the elaborate chasing lights at night (best of any ride at MGA, you could see it from outside ...

Hey, does anyone remember which Looney Tunes characters were used as height and ride guides for each of the MGA rides? It's probably easier to remember for people near SFGA since they still use Looney Tunes. I could be totally wrong but I think I remember these: Skywhirl: Tweety Bird (?). I always r...

With the exception of Skyhawk those were great rides. Skyhawk was added post-Marriott, BTW and as I recall it was often closed due to technical problems.

PGA definitely does fireworks on or around 4th of July. This year, I think they set them off the Friday and Saturday before the 4th. All of the freeway exits that you could use to access Great America Parkway were closed in preparation (a big mess!). They didn't set off fireworks on the 4th itself--...

Thanks, Rick! Listening to the Carousel Song makes me nostalgic for the late 70s! Marriott's Great America was such a product of the late 70s with its contrived (but very effective!) innocence and quaintness. I doubt a song like this would even be written now because the general public have become s...

The Demon seems like it was an attempt to try a few dark ride elements. The only reason I can imagine they didn't do more is because their marketing studies determined that wasn't going to make them as much profit as traditional rides

I remember you would enter the first tunnel with the mist and I think the soundtrack was queued a bit past the point where the narrator starts to tell you how it became the Demon. I always remember hearing this part when I was in the first tunnel "A gigantic, subterranean upheavel of molten lav...

Looks like someone from SFGA posted the lyrics here: http://sfgam.net/carousel.php See the carousel spinning round and around there, It's a fantasy make believe. Take a journey on the merry-go-round, It's magic when you're young. Ride the sparkling steeds decked out in jewels, There's a knight in sh...

I noticed in this MGA park map that Gurnee had a rapids ride while the park was still Marriott's: <http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/maps/1984/margram1984.html> Was a rapids ride for the Santa Clara park in the planning stages when the park was sold to the city? If so, are there any differences betw...

Last time I was at PGA-a few years ago now-I seem to remember that some of the rock structures had been removed?

Sorry, this is all complete speculation but I noticed the "Get Carried Away" advertisement doesn't mention the "Marriott's"name. Same thing with the 1982 "Hand in hand" campaign. Interesting: I wonder if that was intentional? Perhaps Marriott was trying to disassociate ...

Selling off Great America fit in with Marriott's business strategy which has been to focus on its hotel branding. In fact, I don't even believe Marriott actually owns any of the hotels anymore--hotel ownership has been transferred to a independent real estate trust (Host Marriott) and even the food ...

Marriott's Great America was great at night. I especially loved the Tidal Wave at night how the white lights traced the outside of the track, through the loop and up the towers but then when the car shot out of the station the lights changed to blue and followed the movement of the car (or something...

There's also a cool (and really tall when it passes over the canyons) sky ride at the San Diego Zoo.