Park Music

All about the shows, music, and performers at Marriott's GREAT AMERICA
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

retlawfan wrote:By the time I got there, Security had their "Annex" in the games wherehouse building, not the cash control building for use during the summer/operating months.
I remember the security ''annex'' in next to C.C., which later became space for a short lived audit office. Then after a year that space was turned in and expanded cash control lobby, which nearly doubled it's original size. I know what former manager in finance who would have liked to eventually had the whole building for C.C.
Last edited by redfishpaw on Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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redfishpaw
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Re: Park Music

Post by redfishpaw »


One of my prized possesions is a photograph of the Marriott-days Tollway Sign with my full name on it. When the park was sold to Six Flags, a member of the Marriott upper management went out to the grassy hill in front of the sign with the park photographer, and radioed back to me at the console, telling me to type in the name of each of the managers and directors. A picture was taken for presentation to all of them as a memento of the Marriott days. After they were done with the list, they asked if I wanted my name on the sign! They snapped the pic, and asked if I wanted to put anyone else up there, so I went through the names of the other guys in the shop. We each have the original 35mm slide with our names up in lights.

PPG
I worked for someone in management who has one of these photos with his name on it. He still has is today, 8x10 framed hanging in his house.

.
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Mr. D.T.
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Post by Mr. D.T. »

I remember back in '78 or '79 some disgruntled techie quit the park in mid-season and on his last day he programmed the Marriott sign to say
DISNEYLAND IS BETTER. It flashed like that for like two hours until someone at the park reported it.[/quote]

ROFL!
"Park Base to Unit 100 and all base stations please be advised.....we have the 4 O'Clock 1085. A. 1.4; B. 23.5; C. 28.7; D. 5.1. The temperature is 77 degrees.
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RLAiello
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Post by RLAiello »

Tech Services 1 wrote:
Signal 6 wrote:I remember the Santa Clara Tech Services was in the same building as Cash Control and Security. The Santa Clara Tech Services bldg had the same set up as the picture above. It also had a soundproof room that was located to the right of the Reel to Reel machines and a garage to the left. I imagine the soundproof room was used to record most of the park's announcements in the early days.
Yep, same setup in Gurnee. Summer Security had a small part of the building, and Cash Control took up the rest.

As for the rest of Tech Services:
To the right of the BackGround Music (BGM) system was a storage room, a counter / cabinet, desk area, supervisor's office, recording studio and soundproof voice booth. The counter and storage room was used for audio equipment and other items. The microphones for the Grand Music Hall and other sensitive items were "checked out" by the sound man at the theatre every day, then returned for storage and repairs.
In the studio, we recorded many of the announcements in the park. One of the supervisors in Show Ops provided his voice for several of them, and when he was unavailable, I filled in for a few of the spots. In fact, the "safety spiel" at The Edge was read by me. So if you remember standing in line for that ride, that was my voice annoying the crap out of you over and over and over! ( "Welcome to The Edge. When it is your turn to ride, blah blah blah . . . ")
We also made copies of the BGM music, edited soundtracks, and on occasion Gene Patrick used it for some last-minute editing of the show tracks.

Behind the BGM racks was an area with our service benches & test equipment, and lockers.
The garage was used for storage, fabrication, and repair of dirty or messy items, such as the in-ground BGM speakers. We would repair those on a daily basis.

The garage also once doubled as a clandestine Pizza Parlor, but that's a whole 'nother topic . . . :mrgreen:

PPG
I spent many many MANY years in that same building. 813B. That was the building number (and probably still is). Of course, I spent most of my years in Cash Control. Good times.

When I started in 1988, the setup was exactly as PPG explained-- Summer Security had the middle part of the building, Tech Services had the south end, and Cash Control had the north end. The lobby of Cash control was really small at that time-- only a little room in front. I was told that originally the lobby used to extend all the way to the north wall, which made the back area smaller, but that was changed sometime in the 70s or early 80s.

While I worked there, the lobby expanded a lot. First Summer Security moved out and the lobby was expanded into that area. There was a small audit office attached to that lobby for a while, and eventually that, too, was consumed by another expansion of the lobby and the back office as well. When I left Cash Control, it was still like this (in about 1997).

I remember Tech Services got rid of the reel-to-reel tapes in the mid-90s and converted everything to CD. I vividly remember the reel-to-reel machines though. It was sort of sad to see them go... but times they do a-change. :)
Rick Aiello
SFGAm Employee 1988-1999
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

RLAiello wrote: When I started in 1988, the setup was exactly as PPG explained-- Summer Security had the middle part of the building, Tech Services had the south end, and Cash Control had the north end. The lobby of Cash control was really small at that time-- only a little room in front. I was told that originally the lobby used to extend all the way to the north wall, which made the back area smaller, but that was changed sometime in the 70s or early 80s.

While I worked there, the lobby expanded a lot. First Summer Security moved out and the lobby was expanded into that area. There was a small audit office attached to that lobby for a while, and eventually that, too, was consumed by another expansion of the lobby and the back office as well. When I left Cash Control, it was still like this (in about 1997).
Nice summary Rick, and quite accurate. The original C.C. lobby did extend all the way to the north wall. While I never saw this in person, I did see the original lobby in the old C.C. photo album.

Also, this building was the first structure built at the Gurnee park in the 70's.
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RavenLenore13
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Post by RavenLenore13 »

Does anyone have the old area music in a downloadable form???

I managed to get a YH cassette from a tech friend before I quit,
but after all these years the sound quality isn't what it was...
"Clipper Kryis"
'88-94 Santa Clara Yankee Rides
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Demonlover13
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Post by Demonlover13 »

I need a great day this year, or 2, or 30!
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RavenLenore13
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Post by RavenLenore13 »

Thanks.

Too bad it doesn't have all the music.
I fear I actually LIKED my YH music.
It was one of the reasons I liked to stand at t Tidal Wave entrance during downtimes...You could hear the music better!
"Clipper Kryis"
'88-94 Santa Clara Yankee Rides
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