on June 30th 2006 Cedarfair Corp purchased Paramount Parks including our local Great America theme park in Santa Clara California.
Cedarfair, a very good theme park company purchased the rather mediocre Paramount Parks. I am glad to see Cedarfair take over Great America. On the West coast Cedarfair has owned Knott's Berry Farm for many years and has done a smashing job on that park. In the Midwest, the flagship park Cedar Point Park is one of the best ride parks in the country.
Paramount Parks systematically dismantled everything that was a theme at Great America. Gone are all the themes of Hometown Square, County Fair, Yankee Harbor, Yukon Territory and Orleans Place. Paramount slowly began to install rides tied to Paramount movies as a cross promotional tool. It did not work. Invertigo the coaster in County Fair area was tied into the Face-Off movie with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. Top Gun was added to Orleans Place to tie in with the Tom Cruise movie. The Drop Zone tower in County Fair is tied in with some obscure skydiving movie with Patrick Swayze. Then there's Survivor the ride. The action 3-D theater that took up most of what was Yankee Harbor became the Days of Thunder movie ride.
Then there's just the neglect that Paramount tossed into the works. The Stealth flying coaster only lasted a season or two and was quickly yanked out of Great America and relocated to Paramount's Carrowinds park and rebranded with Star Trek's Borg assimulator. The train that once ran around the park on the berm that was meant to keep out outside visual intrusions into the park was removed. The berm quickly followed. The Hypersonic XL ride was supposed to be installed at Great America but once again ended up at another Paramount Park Kings Dominion in Virginia.
Thankfully Cedarfair and their people value a good entertainment experience. I now have hope that the bay area will get a park that is of higher quality.
On a side bar note. The San Francisco 49er's are eyeing the Great America parking lot as the location for their new stadium.
The heck with the parking lot. I say drop the new stadium right dead center of the great america park, salvage what ever rides they can and start from scratch with entirely new themes. My concept would be to have open public pedestrian avenues leading to the stadium. This avenue would be open year round even when the park is closed. with Hotels, restaurants and shops. The avenue should start at Tasman Avenue and work towards the center of the park encounter the stadium and turn toward Great America Parkway. Parking garages could be built to bring in close in parking.
One of the new themes could be SPORTS CENTRAL featuring sports themed rides attractions and shops. An ENTERTAINMENT CENTRAL could be another theme based around concerts that could be hosted at the new stadium.
COASTAL BOARDWALK could be another theme for classic coasters and such (salvaging many existing rides).
WATEROPOLIS could be the "Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay" water park from the existing park salvaged and relaid out.
Marriott's Great America started out in 1976 as a very nicely laid out family theme park. Once Great America was sold it became butchered up. The Great America Park in Gurnee Illinios suffered a better fate when it was sold to the Six Flags theme park group. The themes were left pretty much intact from the original marriott days and even expaned upon with a wild west area that was planned but never built at the Santa Clara counterpart.
I will work on a sketch of what I am talking about in a new layout.
