California's Great America


California's Great America is a amusement park located in Santa Clara, California. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, it originally opened in 1976 as one of two parks built by the Marriott Corporation. California's Great America features over 40 rides and attractions, and one of its most notable is Gold Striker, which has been featured as a top-ranked wooden roller coaster in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication. Other notable rides include RailBlazer, a single-rail coaster from Rocky Mountain Construction, and Flight Deck, an inverted coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. The park appeared in Beverly Hills Cop III and Getting Even with Dad, two films that were released in 1994.

History

Marriott & KECO Era (1976–1992)

Marriott's Great America, built by hotel and restaurant operator Marriott Corporation, opened to the public on March 20, 1976. Less than two months later on May 29, the company opened a second Marriott's Great America – later known as Six Flags Great America – north of Chicago in Gurnee, Illinois. A third park was initially planned for the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area, but the idea was later abandoned after several failed attempts to sway local opposition.
The park, though profitable, was still an earnings disappointment for Marriott, leading the company in 1983 to explore options to sell. An interested party, Caz Development Co., appraised the land value at US$800,000 to $1 million per acre. Marriott also involved the city of Santa Clara in negotiations, which was already leasing of parking space for the amusement park. Fearing homebuilding on the land by Caz Development would lower home values of existing homeowners, the city council approved a $101 million purchasing agreement on January 31, 1984, by a 4–3 vote that also had to be approved by city residents. The citywide vote passed, approving the sale by a margin of 3 to 1. Caz Development then sued the city and Marriott in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County to block the transaction. The court nullified the sale, forcing the city to attempt to salvage the deal through negotiations with the other parties. Unable to broker a timely agreement, the city council voted 6–1 to scuttle the sale on February 5, 1985, though the city was still interested in owning the park. After Marriott refunded a $20 million down payment back to the city, negotiations were restarted. All parties were able to agree on a compromise, which was signed in marathon sessions taking place in early June 1985. The city acquired the park for $93.5 million from Marriott, which retained from the sale for development. Caz Development settled and was allowed to build a hotel and office near the park, which the city renamed Great America.
Kings Entertainment Company, who owned and operated other amusement parks, was hired in 1985 to manage Great America for the city. In 1989, the city decided to return the park to the private sector and sold it to Kings Entertainment. In the agreement, the city would earn 5% of all revenue that exceeds $56 million.

Paramount Parks Era (1992–2006)

Three years later Paramount Communications, the owners of Paramount Pictures, sought to join other entertainment companies as a theme park owner. The company acquired Kings Entertainment, who owned Great America, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland, for $400 million and created Paramount Parks. Viacom, the parent of MTV Networks, then bought Paramount in 1994, allowing Nickelodeon theming and merchandise into the park as well. During the Paramount era, attractions from the Action FX Theatre, Nickelodeon Splat City, Drop Zone Stunt Tower, Invertigo, and many more modern thrill ride attractions were added in. Because the park is landlocked in the center of Silicon Valley, several rides including the classic train ride and the Sky Whirl, a Marriott's Great America signature attraction, were removed to make way for newer attractions.
In its last years as a Paramount Park, Great America was co-owned with several broadcasting stations in the Bay Area, including KPIX-TV and KBCW.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (2006–present)

After Viacom and CBS Corporation split, Paramount Parks became part of CBS. The merger did not last long, as CBS announced plans to sell the theme park division.
Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. announced in May 2006 that they were acquiring the amusement park division from CBS. The transaction included licensing agreements with Nickelodeon and Paramount, providing the park the option to retain its Nickelodeon and Paramount theming for several years.
On October 25, 2007, Cedar Fair renamed the park California's Great America. For the 2008 season, the park saw the addition of a Huss Rides top spin ride called FireFall, a new ice show in the "Great America Theatre", and the addition of the Halloween Haunt event to the park.
In the summer of 2009, Cedar Fair announced that all the Nickelodeon themed areas would be replaced with Peanuts themed areas. In 2010, the newly rethemed Planet Snoopy opened in the park.
On January 27, 2011, the park announced Invertigo would be removed and relocated to Dorney Park, another Cedar Fair property.
On September 19, 2011, Cedar Fair confirmed reports that California's Great America would be sold to JMA Ventures, LLC for $70 million in cash. The sale required approval by the City of Santa Clara, and its city council was scheduled to vote on the matter on December 6, 2011. Cedar Fair, which purchased the park in 2006, expected to use the cash proceeds from the sale to reduce its senior secured debt. However, on December 6, 2011, JMA Ventures cancelled its plans to purchase the amusement park. In the same announcement, Cedar Fair also verified that a long-term agreement was reached with the San Francisco 49ers regarding parking and construction of a new stadium adjacent to Great America.
In the summer of 2018, the park opened RailBlazer, the first single-rail coaster in the US west of Texas.

Areas and attractions

''Note: Number ratings assigned per California's Great America, while the colors are unique to Wikipedia. For more details, see the California's Great America

Roller coasters

NameLocationManufacturerModel NameOpened
DemonCounty FairArrow DynamicsCustom Looping Coaster1976
Flight DeckOrleans PlaceBolliger & MabillardInverted Coaster1993
Gold StrikerCelebration PlazaGreat Coasters InternationalWooden Twister Model2013
The GrizzlyAction ZoneCurtis D. SummersWooden Double Out and Back Model1986
Lucy's Crabbie CabbiesPlanet SnoopyE&F Miler1999
Psycho MouseAction ZoneArrow DynamicsMad Mouse2001
RailBlazerCounty FairRocky Mountain ConstructionRaptor Track2018
PatriotCelebration PlazaBolliger & MabillardStand-up Coaster 1991
Woodstock ExpressPlanet SnoopyIntaminChildren's Roller Coaster1987

Thrill Rides

NameLocationManufacturerModel NameOpened
BerserkerCounty FairSchwarzkopfBayern Kurve1976
Celebration SwingsCelebration PlazaZiererWave Swinger2001
CentrifugeAction ZoneSchwarzkopfCalypso1976
DeliriumAll American CornersChance RidesRevolution 322002
Action ZoneIntaminGiant Drop1996
OrbitAll American CornersSchwarzkopfEnterprise1976
Tiki TwirlAction ZoneZamperlaDisk'O Coaster2006

Action Zone

All American Corners

Celebration Plaza

County Fair

Orleans Place

Planet Snoopy

Planet Snoopy is California's Great America's kids area, which opened in 2010.

Time Capsule

A time capsule was buried at then Paramount's Great America in the former KidZville area of the park on March 29, 2002. The time capsule is set to open on March 29, 2152. The time capsule reads, "At this site is buried a time capsule with essays by students in second through twelfth grades in the Santa Clara Unified School District and other local schools. What will the next 150 years in Santa Clara be like? In honor of the City of Santa Clara's sesquicentennial 1852-2002."

South Bay Shores

is a water park located within California's Great America that opened in 2004 as Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay. The name was later shortened to just Boomerang Bay in 2007. In August 2019, it was announced that Boomerang Bay would be expanded and renamed South Bay Shores. Access to the park is included with the price of admission to California's Great America.

Defunct attractions

Past rides and attractions include:
, first introduced at a Cedar Fair park in July 2011, is a secondary queue system that offers shorter wait times on the park's most popular rides. FastLane is a system where
in addition to a standard admission charge, visitors can purchase a wrist band. The band grants access to the Fast Lane queue. In theory, a limited number of wrist bands are available each day.

Halloween Haunt

Halloween Haunt is a seasonal event at California's Great America. It had a "teaser" maze in 2007, but officially began in 2008 and is patterned after other Cedar Fair HAUNT such as Knott's
SCarowinds HAUNT XL The annual Haunt includes over 500 monsters placed in various haunted mazes and scare zones throughout the park.

Current attractions

For 2017, Halloween Haunt features eight haunted mazes, three scare zones, four shows, and five Skeleton Keys. It gives guests with the Fright Lane pass an extra rooms to go through in which are scattered throughout the park. These rooms are interactive.
AttractionTypeOpenedLocation
BackwoodsMaze2017Celebration Plaza
Chaos HouseMaze2017Rue Le Dodge
CornStalkersMaze2008County Fair
Feary TalesScare Zone2017Planet Snoopy
JesterTownScare Zone2017Orleans Place
Madame Marie's Blackout Maze2012 Hometown Square
Roadkill RoadhouseMaze2014Celebration Plaza
Tooth FairyMaze2018Action Zone
Ripper's RevengeScare Zone2018County Fair
Wax Museum Chamber of HorrorsMaze2014All American Corners
Zombie HighMaze2013Action Zone
NytewalkersShow2014Celebration Plaza
Blood DrumsShow2016All American Corners
El Alonzo, the Second Greatest ShowmanShow2018Showtime Theater in Orleans Place
SideshowShow2015All American Corners
Demon Re-IgnitedAttraction2017Country Fair

Attraction history

California's Great America's timeline

Beverly Hills Cop III

Though appearing under the name "Wonder World", Paramount's Great America was used for exterior scenes of the theme park in the 1994 film Beverly Hills Cop III after Knott's Berry Farm declined filming rights.
Writer Steven E. de Souza originally wrote the story as more "Die Hard in a theme park". He was told that each of the rides he had designed would cost about $10 million to build and the whole film would cost about $70 million. When box office results for The Distinguished Gentleman came in, Paramount ordered the budget to be cut to $55 million.
Some modifications were made to the Columbia Carousel and Vortex roller coaster. Most of the Sky Whirl/Triple Wheel stunts were filmed in a studio. To film the exterior scenes, the motors of the Triple Wheel were left unpowered; instead, to ensure the ride did not move too quickly, some cages were loaded with sandbags to unbalance the mechanism. In this scene, George Lucas has a small part as the man Axel cuts in front of to get on the ride, also known as 'disappointed man'. John Singleton and Martha Coolidge also made cameo appearances in the film.
Many rides that were seen in the movie including Triple Play/Sky Whirl have since been removed. Also, the carousel at the back of the park was altered. The Ameri-Go-Round carousel has since been removed and Drop Zone is now in its place. The tunnels that supposedly ran under the park are a myth as well. No tunnels run under the park, as many thought after this was released.
The Alien Attack ride featured in the Wonder World theme park was in fact the "Earthquake: The Big One attraction" from the Universal Studios Florida theme park in Orlando, Florida. The "aliens" featured in the ride are suited actors that closely resembled the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica.

Other film and television