Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Boy, I got a brand new perspective on hodgepodge theme-ing and aging theme parks in general when we visited Great America Santa Clara yesterday. We took my 13-year old daughter and two of her friends, to celebrate her birthday. The last time I visited, it was Marriot's Great America and it was 1980. The park was just 4 years old -- it was fresh and new. 27 years later, and of course, I expected some changes. Man oh man, it's become a mere shadow of its former self. Lots of the charm has been lost, replaced with noisy, shoe-horned-in-the-middle-of--an-area-roller coasters, junky merchandise for sale, shuttered buildings, worn out signs, and lots of 'off-the-shelf' sections that look like every other theme park in the country. No live shows to speak of really. They had a karaoke show, where a hostess had visitors come up and butcher popular songs. They had a cute but way too short Nickelodeon parade, with Spongebob Squarepants, and other Nickelodeon characters. And of course, LOUD MUSIC piped in to every inch of the park. LOUD MUSIC must give people the sense of excitement and fun. I find it annoying. My wife and I would try to sit in an area and have a cup of coffee, and three or four different songs were playing within earshot. We've experienced this in other theme parks, and it is just ANNOYING!! The 'Great America' theme is non-existent -- like so many other parks of this ilk, new rides are just thrown in. The name of the park should just be 'Amusement Park.' I understnad the park was just sold to Cedar Fair. I was amazed that there was so much 'Paramount Parks' signs everywhere -- in fact, the boring, everyone-wears-the-same-shirt-and-khaki-pants-and-white-sneakers employees shirts all have 'Paramount Parks' logo embroidered into the sleeve. What is the licensing relationship with Viacom? Still lots of Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents et al [owned by Nickelodeon], and STILL some leftovers of Hanna Barbera characters[Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Snagglepuss, and JabberJaw]. Isn't that from the same era as The Brady Bunch visiting King's Island? yikes! The park was not busy at all, and on the positive side was quite clean. The trees and landscaping were lush and pretty, but, again, it's so tired looking. Lots of wear and tear on the eating areas. Way too many midway games, and food and beverage prices that I found a bit shocking. $3.50 for a large soda in a cup with ice. $8.99 for a large beer. $12.00 for a slice of pizza and a soda. Industry standard I'm sure, but wow. Hadn't been on a sky way ride in years. It was neat to see that running, fun to ride -- the perspective on a theme park from above is always fun. No steam train running around the park anymore.... The 'Survivor' ride is newer and was nicely done -- with some decent theme-ing, but again, it's a bit out of place, and why is it in that section of the park? Great America is like a living, breathing version of the video game 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' -- where stuff is added based on the amount of room you have, and colors are tossed on to each ride like a kid's birthday party. How does a park like this differenciate itself from so many others in the country? To me, this mutation of 'Great America' is just like 'Cedar Point' which is a lot like 'Magic Mountain' which I'm sure is in the same vein as 'Six Flags Discovery Kingdom' [the former 'Marine World/ Africa USA'] I have no idea what Cedar Fair's intentions are here, but this park needs so much work, it would be hard to know where to even start. When walking through what is called 'Orleans Place' on the map [it's a stripped down-to-the-bones New Orleans theme], I was remembering how so many times, people say here 'the average guest doesn't know' when it comes to quality theme-ing and crappy theme-ing. I completely disagree. The average visitor to 'Great America' may not be able to point to specific things and articulate design flaws, but they can 'feel' it. Disneyland is a fabulous park, and feels like it was desinged with care, and is maintained with care. A place like Great America feels cheap, looks run down and is maintained on a shoestring. Maybe it's okay. It gives people 'something to do' but as far as a 'theme park' goes, this one is bare bones.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Wow. During a theme park trip to the US a few years ago we had lined up a day to visit this park. Unfortunately we were SO tired out that we skipped this one for a day of R&R. I don't feel so bad now.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Yep. It's in a sad state. I used to spend my summers there as a teenager. Probably ordered a taco from Mr. & Mrs. 2oon man then. It's depressing.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Found an excellent site about Great America. Lots of pictures of 'the old days.' <a href="http://www.greatamericaparks.com/" target="_blank">http://www.greatamericaparks.c om/</a>
Originally Posted By jonvn Moved reply: "we visited Great America Santa Clara yesterday." Terrible, isn't it. We had passes the other year, didn't renew. You should go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It's not like this at all. It's actually a very nice park. I suggest a visit. "The name of the park should just be 'Amusement Park.'" When the park was first built, it really did have things relating to America, slowly, by putting in stuff that had no relation to the surroundings, it slowly just became nothing in particular. "A place like Great America feels cheap, looks run down and is maintained on a shoestring." This is one reason why when I hear people make these complaints about DCA, I just shake my head at the level of ignorance in these comments. There is just no comparison between DCA and places like this, which are all across the country.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan The 'Great America' theme is non-existent -- like so many other parks of this ilk, new rides are just thrown in. The name of the park should just be 'Amusement Park.'<< When it first opened in 1976, Marriott's Great America was no Disneyland, but their heart was in the right place. There were themed lands, and employees costumes fit the various rides and restaurants in that land. If you worked somewhere on "County Fair" you wore much different clothing than someone in "Yankee Harbor". The stage show featured a live orchestra, and there were at least three theaters PLUS a circus arena and a dolphin/sea lion show, all with live acts, music, etc. Employees had to meet strict grooming standards under Marriott's time, and if you didn't you got sent home. The Looney Tunes characters were the featured characters at the park, and there was a stage show starring them, plus two parades a day. Then Marriott sold off the park (and its twin sister in Guernee, Illinois) in the early 80's. The city of Santa Clara ran the park for a few years, and it wennt downhill fast. Paramount Parks bought it and ran it for a good number of years. Themed costumes were gone, replaced by look-alike blue pants and white polo shirts for everyone. While much cheaper and probably efficient, that removes a whole layer of specialness as well, creating a very generic look. The live show went to recorded music. Family-friendly rides were out, replaced by iron rides primarily for teens. A large section of the parking lot was sold off to developers, so that now a Silicon valley generic office building looms alongside the park, visble throughout. As a former cast member there (yep, they called us cast members back then), it is depressing to go there now, knowing how it used to be. It's about as generic and uninspired as they come.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Oh, and their wooden coaster -- Grizzly -- has square wheels. That's the only thing that could possibly cause the ride to be that rough. I'm sure the ground below it is littered with dentures, glass eyes and anything else that can be shaken loose from a person.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Kar2oonMan, I would agree that 'Great America' it its first few years of operation, did an exceptional job on theme-ing, costumes, clean-cut and wholesome. As did many of the theme parks that opened in the early-to-mid 70s. It seems to me that the next few years will be a 'now or never' for many of these parks. If the companies that run them can't figure out a proper strategy, I see many of them closing for good.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I have one memory of Great America. I went to buy a soda and asked for no ice. I was told that without ice they would only fill the cup half way with soda.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan It seems to me that the next few years will be a 'now or never' for many of these parks. If the companies that run them can't figure out a proper strategy, I see many of them closing for good.<< Could be. I think Great America survives on its annual pass. A family of 4 can get annual passes for far less than the cost of a single Disneyland annual pass. In fact, i think the cost of an annual pass is not a lot higher than the cost of a single day pass, if memory serves (haven't priced it in awhile). I was very disappointed that Paramount never did much with the park. They had Klingons walking around, there were a few oversized movie posters in the entry plaza, and they had a "Days of Thunder" motion simulator ride (which was el-cheapo -- rather than shoot new footage to coincide with the ride, they used clips from the movie, complete with crowd reaction shots, so only part of it was actually in the driver's POV. Weird.) Even removing the little train that ran around the park was a step in the wrong direction, in my opinion. Other than the Columbia carousel and some of the kiddie rides, I can't think of vary many rides the whole family can enjoy (unless its a family of coaster enthusiasts.)
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Prices are listed for Season Passes at Great America. <a href="http://www3.cedarfair.com/greatamerica/shop/shopping_season_pass.cfm" target="_blank">http://www3.cedarfair.com/grea tamerica/shop/shopping_season_pass.cfm</a> Yes, a good value. And for the VIP pass, they're including Gilroy Gardens [formerly Bonfante Gardens]
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA My wife and I are not coaster riders. [I'll go on coasters sometimes, and not extreme ones]. So, Kar2oonMan, you're right, there's not much for the 'non-thrill seekers' to do. We went on the skyway, and the Psycho Mouse....and that's it really. Although, 'Survivor' seemed fun but not too scary, and the log ride is fun, but we didn't feel like getting wet.
Originally Posted By ABBY Sad to hear...My family used to frequent the park. Great America was the place that I rode my very first roller coaster with my dad - Turn of the Century (later to become the Demon) In the late 80's my boyfriend and I bought season passes. If you had season passes back then you could get into some pretty good concerts for$10 or $15. Cheap Trick comes to mind. We would go once or twice a month. I loved the double decker carousel, the Imax theater(one of a kind back then), the Whizzer (I think it was called), and the Demon. Have some pretty fond memories of that park. From the sounds of it I don't think I'll be visiting anytime soon.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I hope my post doesn't come across as bashing Great America. It wasn't my intent. More so, I felt a strange sadness for the place -- I would guess if you had any sort of connection to it, or had visited frequently in its hey-day, that seeing it now would also make you feel sad.
Originally Posted By LPFan22 Willard's Whizzer was my first coaster as a kid. I was there for my 7th (1977) birthday and kept going back until Paramount took over. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G reat_America</a>_(California)
Originally Posted By SuperDry When I was a teenager, Great America was the closet park to me. Actually, at the time it was still under original ownership as "Marriott's Great America" and everyone just called it "Marriott's." When the ownership changed, I tried to get people to refer to it simply as "City of Santa Clara's" but the trend never caught on. I remember Willard's Whizzer, which I believe had a circular vertical corkscrew lift hill of sorts, and Orleans Orbit, which always seemed like one of the cars was about to fall off. Actually, I'm rather surprised that the park is still in operation. The real estate must be worth a fortune.
Originally Posted By xrayvision >>You should go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It's not like this at all. It's actually a very nice park. I suggest a visit.<< I second Jonvn on this suggestion. Mr. Shapiro did a great job with re-inventing Marine World into the new "Six Flags Discovery Kingdom," with the beautiful new animal sculptures, landscaping, live shows, Thomas the Engine Town, other new attractions and specialty merchandising. Discovery Kingdom, Gilroy Gardens and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk are the only theme/amusement parks still worth visiting in NorCal. Great America is still good for riding "Top Gun" rollercoaster and the Columbia Carousel. If Discovery Kingdom could acquire these two attractions from Cedar Fair, I wouldn't mind if Cedar Fair closed down Great America (aka Gaugua Lake West) to make more room for the proposed 49er Football stadium.
