Bally's Great America

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:43 am

I know we want to keep to the subject of Marriott's, but I recall Bally's on the signage to the Gurnnee park around 1984. Can someone explain this? Its a question I've wondered about for some time.

dth1971 · Post by **dth1971** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:52 pm

The "A Bally Company" sign was added to the bottom when in 1984 Marriott's Great America became Six Flags Great America. Bally later sold the Six Flags theme parks to Time Warner, which much later sold the Six Flags parks to Premier Parks.

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 2:58 pm

It is interesting that only "A Bally Company" was attached at the bottom of the Great America sign rather than the words "Six Flags" positioned near the top. I mention this since Bally owned the Six Flags parks at the time, and that is the wording they use now at the Gurnee park.

I remember thinking at the time about the many changes that would inevitably take place because Marriotts no longer owned the park. It was kind of a feeling of abandonment, but also a feeling of curiosity of the changes that would occur.

Post by **steven** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:45 pm

Actually, when Six Flags bought the Gurnee park, it became "Six Flags GREAT AMERICA". So the "Six Flags" was above "GREAT AMERICA" and "A Bally Company" was below.

After the sale of the Santa Clara park to the City of Santa Clara, its name became just plain "GREAT AMERICA". That remained the name until 1993, when it became "Paramount's Great America". Despite the official names and the passage of time, lots of people still call it simply "Marriott's".

Steven

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:50 pm

Steven,

Do you happen to have any pictures of the entrance signs to the Gurnee and/or Santa Clara parks? I have fond memories of sitting in a line of cars waiting to enter the Gurnee park and seeing messages being flashed on the huge sign along I94. It would be fun to see a picture of the original Marriott's main sign as well as other pictures of signs at the various entrances to the park.

Thanks for all you are doing to make this an exceptional and FUN website!

Post by **steven** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:39 pm

Hi, JW!

That's the original Santa Clara sign (now replaced with a different sign). I also have a photo of the original Gurnee sign. I'll put it up soon along with photos of the park signs at the parking lot entrances.

Thanks for your participation on the forums!

Steven

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:13 am

Wow, What a cool picture! For those of you not in Illinois, the basic shape/construction of the SFGA sign in Gurnee now is the same as the original one Steven has pictured here from Santa Clara. I'll be anxious to see the original one from Gurnee too!

dth1971 · Post by **dth1971** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:03 am

But what does the current Paramount's Great America sign look like?

Also: When Marriott sold the Great America parks: The Gurnee park sold to Six Flags kept the Looney Tunes characters (and a year later incorporated the Looney Tunes characters to the other Six Flags parks) while the Santa Clara park sold to Kings Entertainment replaced the Looney Tunes characters with Hanna-Barbera characters, I don't know if Hanna-Barbera characters are still at the Santa Clara Great America which is now owned by Paramount's and even later added Star Trek, Richard Scarry Busytown, and Nickelodeon characters to the park.

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:46 am

There is a picture of the main sign for SFGA in Gurnee from January of 1999 on the web page shown below. Notice how the shape of this sign is basically the same as the original sign Marriotts used.

http://www.gurnee.il.us/history/history_recent.html

Scroll down the page so you can see it. There is other interesting information about Gurnee MGA/Gurnee history here too.

Post by **steven** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:50 pm

Here is the original Gurnee sign in a grainy photo:

Steven

BrianPlencner · Post by **BrianPlencner** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:12 pm

Here is a current picture of the Gurnee Sign. This was taken during a construction tour of the new Hurrican Harbor Water Park on May 21, 2005. I was up on one of the slide towers which was really close to the sign.

From what I've been told, the park is looking to replace the sign near the end of this season with a newer, modern version.

Tanya · Post by **Tanya** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:29 pm

Jw, your comment "It was kind of a feeling of abandonment" hit home. I remember the last night Marriott had the park. They had a huge firework show and over the loud speakers played every commercial ever done. I was in the audit office and was so upset I kicked a hole in the wall. I was there when Kings Entertainment took over, I think the city hired them to run the park.

FunnelCake · Post by **FunnelCake** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 3:32 pm

Tanya, Can you go into more detail regarding the changeover? What changes (management, company vision, physical park changes) became apparent in a very short time as opposed to the gradual change we've all seen here? This may be appropriate to answer in a new topic...

Tanya · Post by **Tanya** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:17 pm

FunnelCake,
It's hard to put into words. I think it was more a feeling of loss (like the death of a close friend). Nothing changed immediately. It wasn't like the next day all new managers came in or anything like that. I can't remember enough to tell you what little changes did take effect immediately.

redfishpaw · Post by **redfishpaw** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:57 pm

dth1971 wrote:The "A Bally Company" sign was added to the bottom when in 1984 Marriott's Great America became Six Flags Great America. Bally later sold the Six Flags theme parks to Time Warner, which much later sold the Six Flags parks to Premier Parks.

Not entirely true. Wesray also was an owner for a several years, between Ballys and Time Warner. When I worked at the park in the late 80s, Wesray owned it (not widely known). In 1987 Wesray Capitol purchased Six Flags from Bally for $610 million (Wesray 80%, Six Flags managers 20%). I do remember when Time Warner moved in. We were excited because we thought that the park would actually have money for new rides. In 1990 Warner owned 20%, in 1991 50%, and in 1993 they owned 100%. Anyway Time Warner was short lived. They sold it to Bosten Ventures a year later. Which in turn sold it to Premier parks (formerly Tierco Group Inc.); a waterpark company, was considered to be in over their head at the time. Once again, money became tight. Premier parks eventually owned Six Flags 100% by 1998 and they by 2000 Premier parks changed their name to Six flags Inc. This is the abbreviated version and if this is still confusing, just look at it the way I do, these parks are simply investments which are bought and sold every few years. Some owners are widely known and some are not.

GREATAMERICAparks.com