Suggestion

[dth1971]

How about adding to the GreatAmericaParks.com site a section of photos of the Looney Tunes walkaround characters seen at Marriott's Great America - Bugs Bunny, Honey Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Petunia Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Cool Cat, and Merlin the Magic Mouse.

[steven]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll think about it! Whether the costumed characters get their own section or not, they will appear here and there in some of the rides photos and will often be seen in the shows section (as more photos get added there).

Steven

[ewilson]

Cool Cat and Merlin the Mouse? Who are they? I know who they are but were never part of the standard WB characters seen on anything in the park. There was never a Speedy Gonzalas character in the park either. even though he was a WB character. Honey Bunny was made up for the park by the creator of the shows and then later appeared on television.

[dth1971]

Cool Cat and Merlin the Magic Mouse were created in the late 1960's by Warner Bros. for the last years of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon shorts after the WB studios were bought by Seven Arts.

Don't know if Honey Bunny would be a forerunner to Lola Bunny (first introduced in Warner Bros. 1996 live action/animated movie "Space Jam")

Besides pics of Looney Tunes walkaround characters. What about pics of the Hanna-Barbera walkarounds used for the Santa Clara, California Great America theme park after Marriott dropped the ownership in the mid 1980's selling it not to Six Flags, but to Kings' Entertainment, which owned King's Island, King's Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland theme parks.? (Paramount Parks would later buy King's Entertainment parks)

[steven]

The site's primary focus for now is on the Marriott years right now. I don't expect to include photos of the Hanna-Barbera characters in the Santa Clara park for the time being.

Also, Marriott did not sell the Santa Clara park directly to Kings Entertainment Company (KECO). The buyer was the City of Santa Clara, who hired KECO to manage the park (much like Marriott had earlier been hired to manage Rye Playland in New York). Later, the city sold the park business and facilities to KECO, with the city retaining ownership of the land underneath.

Steven

[Santa Cruisin]

Hi Steven,

I love your site and noticed it's grown quite a bit lately. I'm glad to see you've added this forum.

How about filling in the names of all the shops, stores, attractions, etc. that existed in the Marriott era regardless if you have photos. You could always add them later. That way we could see what was at each park and maybe even contribute information on what you don't have.

[JW65]

Be sure to visit my posting in the Games, Merchandise, Food and more section of the forum. I've posted the names of the restaurants and shops from 1976 at the Santa Clara Park. I would imagine Gurnee had the same restaurants and shops in their themed areas. Hope this is helpful, interesting, and fun!

Jeff

[dth1971]

Even in the 1990's after Six Flags took over the Gurnee Great America, there were walkarounds of Tiny Toon Adventures characters (Buster Bunny, Babs Bunny, Plucky Duck, Hamton, Dizzy Devil) and Animaniacs characters (Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky, and the Brain) added to the park, I think.