I was 14 when Marriott's Great America in Gurnee opened. I'd become a coaster fan the previous year when my parents took me to Six Flags over Mid-America.
But even better to have MGA just 50 miles from home. I’d read up about the place in various articles, and when I bought Gary Kyriazi’s book, The Great American Amusement Parks, it had an enticing aerial construction pic of the Santa Clara park in a near-finished state. I had a bit of jealousy about the western MGA because it opened two months earlier than Gurnee’s, and it had a slightly more realistic New Orleans because of its palm trees, which would not have survived Gurnee’s winters.
When the Gurnee park opened, I begged and begged my parents to take me there to no avail. However, my 21-year-old brother provided some hope. He'd gone there with a girlfriend who didn't enjoy scary rides, so they only went on the Sky Whirl and Logger's Run, and spent the rest of their time there seeing shows. So he hadn't gotten his fill of the place.
Dave's work schedule was always subject to change, but one week he said he might be able to take me on Saturday. Luckily for me, he indeed got that day off, so we got up early Saturday morning and headed to Gurnee. As we went north on the tollway, I was excited in the mere anticipation of seeing the park from the interstate. And as we finally turned off of Grand Ave into the parking lot, I could hardly believe I was there. The view of the carousel from the parking lot was impressive! There was nothing like that at any carnival I'd been to.
I think we went into Hometown Square first. At some point we'd gotten the news that the Turn of the Century wasn't operating, horror of horrors. But Willard's Whizzer was running, so we got in line for that.
I'd seen a model of the park at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL prior to the park's opening, and I have to say that the Whizzer was more impressive in person. Also, I'd mistakenly judged the spiral's function when looking at the model. I'd assumed that the low-grade hill attached to it was an incline and that the spiral would take trains down. However, it was the other way around - probably good, since I didn't care for fast rotations.
The trains were most unusual - log flume style. I even remember the guide on the Great America Railroad finishing her explanation about the Whizzer with the words, "...and there are no restraining bars!" Can you imagine that happening today?
The ride up the spiral held my interest in part because of the noise it made and in part because I'd never been on anything like it. I remember the sudden insecurity I felt when the last of the support columns to our right disappeared as we hit the final tier of the spiral. Yikes!
And then the descent down that modest decline. There wasn't much to it, except that it was long, and the speed kept increasing, and - wait a minute - we're going too fast for that ridiculous sharp turn coming up, and then - wham! We were banked 70 degrees and flying through the curve. Suddenly this second-rate ride was scaring me to death.
We climbed out of the curve, turned to the left, and then dropped into a tight clockwise circle that had our heads way too close to the ground. I'd lost my bearings and had no idea where we were in this tangle of steel.
After passing the spiral tower, the train dropped into the 360-degree curve. To this day I think that the end of that curve was anti-climactic, not as snappy as the first drop or curve by the railroad. But let's not quibble. This ride was a winner.
Later in the day the Turn of the Century was operating - with only one train if I remember right. The queue’s entrance sign had a corkscrew of steel ribbon on it that emulated the ride’s signature over-the-railroad double-turn. Being a fastidious computer nerd, I was noticed that the sign’s corkscrew was a mirror image of the ride’s, an inaccuracy that irked me at the time but which now is one of the park's quirks that I look back on with affection.
We waited about 45 minutes in the queue, doing far more standing still than moving. There was a whole lot of sitting on the railings in the zig-zag part of the queue.
The ride itself was great! The corkscrew was good, but the drops were my favorite part.
Later we did our lone water ride. Dave refused to let us go on the Logger's Run because he had been on it already! So we did the Yankee Clipper. An irony is that while this seemed like it would have been the better of the two rides, I found out on subsequent trips that I preferred the Logger’s Run. The Clipper had a bigger single drop, but it wasn't as fun. And while the jump at the bottom of the drop was kind of cool, it made for less wetness on a hot day.
The remainder of our day is a blur. I’m pretty sure we went on the Eagle’s Flight because I can picture us descending over New Orleans into the Delta Flyer station. And I remember eating at Pizza Orleans because of Dave’s leaky cup of orange soda there. I think we also hit the Rue Le Dodge and one or two other minor rides, and maybe a show or two. And Dave had to hit the County Fair games area, though it wasn’t my cup of tea.
The final memory I have is of seeing the parade of lit-up floats amble through Hometown Square while hearing the theme song ending in “the merry Mardi Gras parade!”
One slight beef I had with the park’s layout, which I have to this day, is that there’s no central walkway or tunnel in which to travel quickly between the east and west sides of the park. I.e., to go from the Music Hall to the Yankee Harbor required quite a circuitous walk.
But I certainly enjoyed my excitingday there. And the park was NEW. When I read people’s comments about the parks not being kept up well, I’m especially glad that I got to see MGA in its first season.
Thanks to Steven for providing this wonderful site to discuss the ex-Marriott parks!
Visit to Marriott's Great America in Gurnee - 1976
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WestBurbs14
- Yankee Clipper
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