GREATAMERICAparks.com

The Southern Cross sky ride ran East-West across the park. It was taller than the North-South route of the Delta Flyer/Eagles Flight sky ride. The summer winds typically blew mostly in a southernly direction. On windy days, this caused operating problems for both sky rides...Southern Cross was more ...

During the first few years the park was open, Marriott was fastidious about paying attention to detail in every area of the park that a guest could possibly see. One of the visible "backstage" areas was the employee/service access road that runs from Orleans Place (next to Buffet Le Grande...

My vote is for the Orlean's Place French-maid type mini dress that the girls wore. The required black velvet choker worn with the sleeveless top and plunging neckline left some interesting tan lines on those lovely ladies. And the dresses were definitely micro length...not much left to the imaginati...

So is GSTARR actually the fabulous Gretta of MGA Wardrobe? I have only the best memories of all the Wardrobe staffers....they always were so very helpful to me. I totally remember Gretta as one of my very favorites. In '78, I worked closing shifts at Logger's Run. Gretta was such a sweetheart, she'd...

Wow, that's disappointing to hear so many rides weren't operating on Opening Day. Could you tell if it was because the rides weren't mechanically ready to open or was it because the park didn't have enough ride operators to staff the positions. Did you notice if any food units or retail units were c...

The Kennel at Santa Clara Great America was demolished when that park built the Redwood Amplitheater. It was no longer there in 1989 which was my first visit to the SC park. Gurnee still has a kennel and I don't think it's changed much since opening day in 1976. If you liked animals and didn't mind ...

If that guy can't do it, I also found the following company in NJ who's website says the can do 1" reel to reel....for $199 and they clean up the sound quality in the process.

http://canaanmedia.com/transfer-cassette-to-cd.htm

Yes, still expensive but way better than $1200.00

I saw RedFishPaw posted a link to some old park maps...here's the link

http://www.pbase.com/redfishpaw/great_america

scroll to the bottom...there's one folder with maps from 1976, 1986, 1987, 1988

Also in the Marriott 1978 folder, there is a park map from 1978.

Hey, I might have found someone who can help you with this way cheaper. Check out Ebay.com & search for item # 180231941921 His ad says he can transfer from reel to reel (as well as other formats) to digital for just $17.95 plus $8.95 shipping. I've never used his service but his ebay feedback i...

I have fond memories of going out drinking most nights after park closing with MGA friends. In the Marriott years, the legal drinking age in Illinois was 21 but it was only 18 in Wisconsin. However, I was 16 when I started in 1977. I was still able to get into Poor Richard's when I showed up with ou...

The more I think about it, the YELLOW nametags for employees under 16 weren't used in '76-'78. I think they started using those later...and they only had the employee's first name on the tag. In fact, I don't think there were any employees under 15 in '76 or '77. I started in 1977 and I had to be 16...

Thanks Tech Services 1, but that's a really really expensive option. Yeah, I can see how the 8 Channel reel-to-reel format would be a problem. I'm hoping that maybe some former Show Ops people might have a copy of it....probably on an old cassette tape. That would be fine too...I still have a casset...

Yes, this was so true especially in the early Marriott years. But Ride Ops management would go bonkers anytime we called in a downtime for any reason...even if it was just a couple minutes long. The problem with soap in the flumes is truly a very real safety concern. Once the bubbles float into the ...

I haven't been back to visit Great America in Santa Clara since 1993. I worked in Guest Relations during the 1990 and 1991 seasons and then moved to Atlanta. Shortly after 1993, most of the employees I was closest with had graduated college and moved on to other things, so it became less exciting to...

THE CAROUSEL SONG Music by Gene Patrick, Lyrics??? prolly Gene Patrick See the carousel, turning around and a round there, It's a fantasy, take a ride, you'll see, It takes us a long, as it spins to a song, It's a day dream, can you come on along now, To the carousel, catch a brass ring for luck, Me...