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'Great America' is an amusement park owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., located in the San Jose suburb Santa Clara, California. Great America is one of four major amusement parks that operate around the San Francisco Bay Area, the other three being Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz and Gilroy Gardens in Gilroy.

Contents

History

1970s and 1980s

1990s and 2000s

Rides and attractions

Current rides

Past rides

Ride/Attraction timeline

On film and television

Criticism

Injuries and accidents

Notes

References

External links

History

1970s and 1980s

'Marriott's Great America', built by Marriott, a hotel operator, was opened in 1976 along with a sister park located in the Chicago area bearing the same name. The Chicago park later became Six Flags Great America.
The park, although profitable, was still an earnings disappointment for Marriott, leading the company in 1983 to agree to sell the park to Caz Development Co., which valued the prized land appraised at US$800,000 to $1 million per acre. But Marriott also gave a first option to the park to the city of Santa Clara, which was already partially involved in the park, leasing 55 acres for parking space for $75,000 per year. Fearing development of the land would aggravate congested roads, on 31 January 1984 the city council approved a $101 million deal by a 4-3 count on the condition that the electorate authorize the agreement. City voters approved the sale by a margin of 3 to 1. Caz Development sued the city and Marriott in Santa Clara County Superior Court to block the transaction. The court nullified the sale, forcing the city to attempt to salvage their deal through negotiations with both other parties. Unable to broker a timely agreement, the city council voted 6-1 to scuttle the sale on February 5, 1985, although the city was still interested in owning the park. After Marriott refunded a $20 million down payment to the city, negotiations were started afresh. Finally all parties worked out a compromise, which was signed in marathon sessions taking place over June 4-5, 1985. The city for $93.5 million acquired the park and inventory from Marriott, which retained 20 acres for development. Caz Development settled its lawsuit and in exchange the city allowed the developer to build a hotel and an office on land near the park.
During the 1980s the park conducted a number of environmental analyses, many related to acoustical impacts of proposed new rides. Examples of these studies include the ''Grizzly'' ride and a proposed steel coaster.^[1]
Kings Entertainment Co., an operator of other parks, was hired to manage the park for the city. As planned, the city ended its ownership and sold the park structures to Kings in 1989 for $22 million but not the land, which would be leased for $5.3 million a year. In addition, the city earned 5 percent of revenue over $56 million.

1990s and 2000s

Three years later Paramount Communications, then owners of Paramount Pictures, sought to join other entertainment companies as a park owner. The company acquired Kings Entertainment, owner of three parks including Great America, and two other parks for $400 million and created Paramount Parks. Viacom then bought Paramount in 1994, allowing Nickelodeon theming into the park as well, since that network is part of Viacom's MTV Networks.
After Viacom and CBS Corporation split, Paramount Parks became part of CBS. That did not last long, as CBS announced plans to sell the parks.
On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. announced it completed the acquisition of Paramount Parks, including Great America.^[2] The transaction includes licensing agreements with Nickelodeon and Paramount, providing the park the option to retain its Nickelodeon and Paramount theming for several years.^[3]
Recently is has been rumored that Cedar Fair will change the name of the park to Knott's Great America due to the web address http://www.knottsgreatamerica.com redirecting to the Great America home page. However pages of the Great America web site continue to lack the Knott's name. Another possible reason for the rumored name change is that Paramount Parks may have let the Great America name expire, as it now is owned by Six Flags.^[4]

Rides and attractions

Current rides

'The park's current rides and attractions include:'

★ 'Demon'. Built by Arrow Dynamics, the park's oldest roller coaster, opening with the park in 1976 and originally named Turn of the Century.

★ 'Top Gun'. A B&M built Inverted roller coaster. Northern California's longest Inverted coaster, and based on of the movie ''Top Gun''.

★ 'Invertigo'. A Vekoma Invertigo shuttle coaster. North America's first inverted face-to-face roller coaster.

★ 'Vortex'. A B&M Stand-Up roller coaster. Northern California's first stand-up coaster.

★ 'Drop Zone'. A Giant Drop model drop tower (2nd generation Intamin freefall ride), named after the movie ''Drop Zone''. Eventually replaced the park's original 1st gen. Freefall ride, The Edge. 172 Feet. 62 MPH.

★ 'Carousel Columbia'. Double decker. Along with the clone at Six Flags Great America, are the world's tallest carousels.

★ ''. A Zamperla Disk-O.

★ 'Grizzly'. A wooden roller coaster designed by Curtis D. Summers and built by Kings Island Construction, Maintenance & Engineering Dept., opening in 1986. According to one poll, this rated as the worst wooden roller coaster in the country consecutively in 2005 and 2006.^[5][6]

★ 'The Orbit'. A Schwarzkopf Enterprise. Re-opened in 2007.

★ 'Centrifuge'. A Schwarzkopf Scrambler.

★ 'Berserker'. A Schwarzkopf Bayern Kurve.

★ 'H.M.B. Endeavor'. An Intamin Space Shuttle/Looping Starship. Formerly known as The Revolution.

★ 'Whitewater Falls'. A Shoot-the-Chutes.

★ 'Flying Eagles'. A Larson Flying Scooters.

★ 'Delirium'. A Chance Revolution.

★ 'Psycho Mouse'. An Arrow Mad Mouse.

★ 'Logger's Run'. An Arrow Dynamics Flume Ride.

★ 'Celebration Swings'. A Zierer Wave Swinger.

★ 'Rip Roaring Rapids'. An Intamin River Rapids Ride.

★ 'Barney Oldfield'. Classic style car ride for everyone of all ages.

Past rides

'Past ride and attractions include:'

★ 'Stealth'. A Vekoma Flying Dutchman, was removed for construction of the Boomerang Bay Beach Club, and relocated to Carowinds.

★ 'Great America Scenic Railway'.

★ 'Yankee Clipper'. An Arrow Hydro Flume that used to interlock with Logger's Run.

★ 'Greased Lightning'. A shuttle loop roller coaster known as Tidal Wave.

★ 'The Edge'. The first original free-fall ride.

★ 'Skyhawk'. The pilot ride with the barrel rolls around the tower.

★ 'Triple Wheel'. The three arms ferris wheels was removed to make room the Invertigo.

★ 'Lobster'. An octopus/spider ride.

★ 'Bottoms Up'. The classic carnival ride as Trabant.

★ 'Triple Play'. The roundabout twister ride that was next to Vortex.

★ 'Willard's Whizzer'. The original steel family roller coaster.

★ 'The Edge'. A tower-drop ride replaced by Drop Zone.

Ride/Attraction timeline

★ 2007: Wave pool added to Boomerang Bay. Park name changed to Great America. Themed Top Gun queue line renovated and painted, roll doors covering missiles have been re-opened for first time since 2002. The Orbit re-opened.

★ 2006: , opened as the first "reality coaster." Guests are involved in the experience before they even step foot on the ride.

★ 2005: Crocodile Dundee’s Boomerang Bay expansion.

★ 2004: Crocodile Dundee’s Boomerang Bay

★ 2003: SpongeBob SquarePants 3D; Nickelodeon Central (expansion of Splat City). Stealth roller coaster is removed and sent to Carowinds, another Paramount Park.

★ 2002: Delirium; Flying Eagles. Greased Lightning removed.

★ 2001: IMAX film ''Siegfried & Roy The Magic Box''; Psycho Mouse; Celebration Swings; 7th Portal; additional rides and attractions.

★ 2000: Stealth "flying" roller coaster, Scenic Railroad removed

★ 1999: KidZville; Taxi Jam.

★ 1998: Invertigo; James Bond: Licence to Thrill.

★ 1997: Xtreme Skyflyer; Paramount Pavilion.

★ 1996: Drop Zone Stunt Tower.

★ 1995: Nickelodeon Splat City.

★ 1994: Paramount Action FX Theater, with ''Days of Thunder''.

★ 1993: Top Gun

★ 1992: IMAX rehab, with film ''The Last Buffalo''.

★ 1991: Vortex.

★ 1990: Whitewater Falls.

★ 1989: Skyhawk

★ 1988: Rip Roaring Rapids.

★ 1987: The Blue Streak (later renamed The Green Slime Coaster then Rugrats Runaway Reptar); Revolution (renamed H.M.B. Endeavor).

★ 1986: Redwood Amphitheatre, The Grizzly (coaster).

★ 1983: The Edge.

★ 1980: The Demon (roller coaster).

★ 1978: IMAX Pictorium Theater, with film ''Man Belongs to the Earth'', Skytower debuts.

★ 1977: Tidal Wave (coaster). Later renamed to Greased Lightning.

On film and television

★ Though presented with the name "WonderWorld", Great America was used as the theme park in the 1994 film ''Beverly Hills Cop III''.

Criticism

Great America fans often criticized the park during the Paramount Parks era for the removal of several "Marriott-era" rides without any replacement attraction, including:

★ Pictorium (standing, but has not shown a film since 2001)

★ Great America Scenic Railway (was to be replaced by Hypersonic XLC)

★ Triple Play (Huss Troika)

★ Tidal Wave/Greased Lightnin' (Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop)

Injuries and accidents

There have been a number of notable injuries and accidents at Great America, some of which are listed below. Please see Incidents at Cedar Fair parks for additional information on these and other incidents.

★ In 1980, a 14-year-old boy was killed and several others injured on the (now defunct) Willard's Whizzer roller coaster.

★ In 1989, two boys intentionally jumped out of the Loggers' Run ride. One was killed and the other fell safely onto a platform.^[7]

★ In 1991, two couples were injured on the Yankee Clipper as their boat hydroplaned then capsized, leaving the riders temporarily trapped under the upside-down boat. The attraction was later modified to include a bump at the bottom of the drop in order to prevent hydroplaning.

★ In 1998, after riding Top Gun, a man, Hector Villegas Mendoza, disregarded the warning signs and entered a locked, gated area underneath the ride to retrieve a hat. He was hit and killed by the foot of a passenger on the Top Gun train. The passenger suffered a broken leg.^[8]

★ In 1999, a 12-year-old boy, Joshua Smurphat, fell out of the Drop Zone Stunt Tower and died.^[9]

★ On July 12, 2007, a 4 year old boy, Carlos Alexnoro Flores, drowned in the Boomerang Bay's Great Barrier Reef wave pool.^[10]

Notes

1. Ballard W. George, ''Acoustical Study for New Steel Roller Coaster Great America Park, Santa Clara, Ca.'', Earth Metrics Inc., Report 10029 prepared for the city of Santa Clara
2. http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=77
3. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/811532/000081153206000054/0000811532-06-000054-index.htm
4. http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=74662321
5. Detailed Wood Roller Coaster Poll Results 2005
6. Detailed Wood Roller Coaster Poll Results 2006
7. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5476441
8. http://www.rideaccidents.com/1998.html#sep7
9. http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/news/archives/august99/stories/082499_01.shtml article
10. http://www.nbc11.com/news/13672880/detail.html

References

★ Michelson, Herb. (June 7, 1984). "City will purchase Marriott's". ''Sacramento Bee'', p. A.

★ "Santa Clara drops Great America pact". (February 7, 1985). ''San Francisco Chronicle'', p. 4.

★ Ewell, Miranda. (June 6, 1985). "Santa Clara assumes ownership of Great America". ''San Jose Mercury News'' (CA), p. 8B.

★ Kava, Brad. (March 15, 1989). "Great America reopens". ''San Jose Mercury News'', p. 1.

★ Eng, Sherri. (August 1, 1992). "Paramount to buy Great America owner". ''San Jose Mercury News'', p. 1E.

External links

★ Official Park Website

★ Great America Parks Unofficial History Site

★ Flickr Picture Group

★ Satellite view of the site