Santa Clara Tidal Wave / Greased Lightnin' signs today...

All about the rides at Marriott's GREAT AMERICA and post-Marriott rides, too
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steven
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Santa Clara Tidal Wave / Greased Lightnin' signs today...

Post by steven »

I requested that the Santa Clara park (Paramount's Great America -- PGA) donate the signs to the collection of the Roller Coaster Museum project. They were shipped last year to west Texas for storage at Larson International, a ride manufacturer -- builder of PGA's Flying Eagles ride. At a recent Texas ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) event, items for the museum were displayed. You can see the PGA Greased Lightnin' sign in the back here:
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3051

Here you can still see the Greased Lightnin' sign as well as the original Marriott Tidal Wave sign (faded) at the back and below it is one of the original Marriott exit signs that remained in use in the station through 2002:
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3071

Additional views are here:
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3073
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3074 -- best view of Tidal Wave sign here
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3075
http://www.acesouthcentral.org/PhotoGal ... ?pos=-3085

I also requested that PGA donate the Stealth sign. I packed up the letters of the sign myself for shipment. They're not seen in the photos here, though.

Check the rest of that photo gallery for photos of Astroworld's Greezed Lightnin' that, thankfully, will be refurbished and returned to service at a new west Texas home. Also there you can see a section of the Texas Cyclone that was donated to the Roller Coaster Museum collection.

I was very happy to see that "my" items from Santa Clara are in the collection. There was concern that the Tidal Wave sign might have to be destroyed because it had some termites that threatened the other museum pieces. I'm glad to see that they apparently took care of the termites and saved the sign. It does need a lot of restoration work, but it can be restored.

Please join me in supporting the National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives project.

Steven
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Post by Greezed Lightening »

Which Texas park will get Greezed Lightening? Is there any way we could get it to PGA instead?
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jonrev
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Post by jonrev »

Greezy from SFAW is going to Joyland park in Lubbock Texas.

Greezy from PGA will never run again. It's loop is being used on Greezed Lightning at SFKK (which is also Tidal Wave from SFGAm).
Gurnee Ride Op - 2007
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

Why is the loop At SFKK being replaced with the other loop?
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steven
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Post by steven »

Did anyone notice the Tidal Wave / Greased Lighnin' signs in the photos? That was the subject of the thread.

Also, you can click on each photo in that gallery to view a full-sized version of the image.

Steven
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BrianPlencner
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Post by BrianPlencner »

Steven,

I did notice them. Hopefully, the Tidal Wave sign can be restored. I also liked seeing the rest of the other items on display.

Thanks for sharing!

--Brian
===========================================
Mr. Brian Plencner
SFGAm Employee: 1988-1992
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

The sign links do not seem to be working this morning. But I did get a chance to catch them yesterday. I was wondering how the Tidal Wave got be so faded in the first place.
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that_guy
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Post by that_guy »

^The California sun :) ...
or it just wasn't cared for...
or it was left in some storage area exposed to the sun...
Now your making me curious...
The rides are GREAT, the shows are GREAT, the fun is GREAT, at Marriott's Great America! REMEMBER Marriott's GREAT AMERICA, REMEMBER Marriott's GREAT AMERICA!
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

The links are working again. Enlarging the photos helps, I can see all three signs now. Before it was hard to see the GL sign in front of the tin lizzie. I think the Tidal wave sign looks pretty cool, it would be neat to see it in person. Thanks for sharing the photos
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SFGAmfreak4life
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Post by SFGAmfreak4life »

Im happy to see that the sign was saved. I hope the sign will be restored in the future. Thanks for sharing!
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imdaman
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Post by imdaman »

Steven, thanks for posting the tidal wave video and the pics of the sign. I'm really glad you were able to get the all those signs saved, and thanks for working with PGA to save items rather than just throwing them out!
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that_guy
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Post by that_guy »

This reminds me...

Steven,
Did you ever think of donating one of your Sky Whirl cabins?

and
What is that status of this project, are all of these cool items going anywhere?
The rides are GREAT, the shows are GREAT, the fun is GREAT, at Marriott's Great America! REMEMBER Marriott's GREAT AMERICA, REMEMBER Marriott's GREAT AMERICA!
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steven
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Post by steven »

The museum items are being collected and stored at a couple of locations. The Roller Coaster Museum is a serious project and a lot of work is being done to make it a reality. Meanwhile, items for the collection are being saved as they become available in advance of the museum actually being built.

National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives

Oh, and the Sky Whirl cabins aren't so relevant to roller coasters, so I haven't thought of donating any of them.

Steven
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Post by Arrow Guy »

Steven, thanks for sharing those pics! Amazing that some things were saved. I cannot believe some of the thing I see in those pics, namely the City Jet trains I just rode a couple years ago at Gillians! And WOF's Arrow. :(

While on the topic of saving coaster items........I have long wondered what happened to the "waves" that lined the launch on both shuttles. Were any saved? I've never heard anyone mention them. It wouldn't be too hard to make one (with chase lights of course). Anyone know?
Brad Sherman
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Only 3 hours from Gurnee's Tidal Wave!
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