Paramount's Great America
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View of Great America from above |
Paramount's Great America is an
amusement park owned and operated by
Cedar Fair, L.P., located in the
San Jose suburb
Santa Clara, California. Great America is one of three major amusement parks that operate in the
San Francisco Bay Area, the other two being
Six Flags Marine World in
Vallejo, California and
The Boardwalk in
Santa Cruz, California.
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
USD$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
January 31,
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.
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. Three years later Paramount Communications, best known for
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.
On
June 30,
2006,
Cedar Fair, L.P. announced it completed the acquisition of
Paramount Parks, including Paramount's Great America. [
1]
The park's rides and attractions include the following:
*
Demon. The park's oldest roller coaster. (
Arrow Dynamics)
*
Top Gun (Roller Coaster). Northern California's longest inverted roller coaster, based off of the movie
Top Gun. (manufactured by
Bolliger & Mabillard)
*
Invertigo. North America's first inverted face-to-face roller coaster. (
Vekoma)
*
Vortex. Northern California's first stand-up roller coaster (
B&M). California's first stand-up was the Shockwave at
Magic Mountain.
*
Drop Zone. A freefall ride, based off of the movie
Drop Zone. It served as the replacement for the park's original freefall ride: The Edge (
Intamin)
*
Carousel Columbia. The world's tallest double-decker carousel.
*
Survivor: The Ride!. The Universe's first Disk'O Coaster Prototype. (
Zamperla)
*
Grizzly. Wooden rollercoaster
*
2006:
Survivor: The Ride!,
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (Next to SpongeBob 3D)
*
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.
*
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.
*
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 Rugrats Runaway Reptar); Revolution.
*
1986: Redwood Amphitheatre. ,The Grizzly (coaster).
*
1983: The Edge.
*
1980:
The Demon (roller coaster).
*
1979: Skytower. Later renamed Star Tower.
*
1978: IMAX Pictorium Theater, with film "Man Belongs to the Earth".
*
1977: Tidal Wave (coaster). Later renamed to Greased Lightning.
*Though presented with a different name, Great America was used as the theme park at the end of 1994's
Beverly Hills Cop III.
Great America fans often criticize the park 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
*Tidal Wave / Greased Lightnin'
*The Orbit
There have been a number of ride-related deaths in the park over the years. In 1980, a young boy was killed on the now-defunct
Willard's Whizzer roller coaster. In 1989, two boys intentionaly jumped out of the Loggers' Run ride durring the
Loma Prieta Earthquake in the fall of that year. One was killed and the other fell safely onto a platform. In
1996, a 12 year old boy fell out of the
Drop Zone Stunt Tower and was killed 15 minutes later. The investigation seemed to show that the boy, who was mentally handicapped, was urged on the ride by his mother. He panicked when the ride reached the top and was able to wiggle free of his restraints. After the inccident, it was reported by park employees that the restraints were still secure when the car reached the base of the tower. Following the accident, modifications were made to add redundancy to ride restraints of not just Drop Zone, but all of the
Intamin Drop Towers around the world.In
1998, after riding
Top Gun, a Hispanic man who could not read English (cite) disregarded the warning signs and was hit and killed by the foot of a passenger on the Top Gun train. The passenger suffered a broken leg. (cite)
*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.
*
Official website*
Great America Parks Unofficial History Site
*
The NCC They claim to be the first "official" Great America fan site
*
Satellite view of the site
