The upcoming season is sort of a year of anniversaries here on the West Coast (although everyone seems to count differently). Disneyland is celebrating their 60th anniversary, Universal Studios Hollywood is celebrating their 50th year, and California’s Great America is starting their 40th season this coming weekend, opening March 28. With all of these upcoming celebrations, nicely matched with our own 10th anniversary, we’re going to run a short series that briefly looks back at the history and the upcoming celebrations for each of these parks. With Great America starting their celebration first, we’re going to start with them.
California’s Great America kicks off their 40th season this weekend!
A Brief History of CGA
California’s Great America has had a bit of a tumultuous history, experiencing times of major growth and periods where rides disappeared. Sometimes it was at the center of legal battles, and it’s been owned by five different companies (or more depending on how you count companies being bought) over it’s 40 years. These days, though, the park seems to be on an upswing.
The Marriott corporation opened the park as Marriott’s Great America on May 20, 1976, nine days before it’s sister park in Gurnee, Illionois, now Six Flags Great America, opened. Several iconic rides from the park’s opening are still in place, others have been moved, others dismantled. Probably the most iconic, the original Carousel Columbia remains the tallest carousel in the world (well, tied with the similar carousel at Six Flags Great America), welcoming guests to the park. Of the original roller coasters, none remain, although the Demon, which technically opened in 1980, was a remodel of the original Turn of the Century that added two additional loops and demonic-theming. Several of the original flat rides still exist, and some of the versions of the original rides at the Illinois Great America still exist at that park (most notably, the Whizzer).
Turn of the Century, back before the park was surrounded by buildings. Notice the airtime hills in the background where the Demon’s loops are now. (Courtesy California’s Great America)
Over the next few years the park grew steadily, adding rides and attractions, including the Tidal Wave in 1977. My favorite defunct coaster, Tidal Wave was a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, one of several built around the time. However, in the early 1980s, Marriott began looking into selling off their parks. Initially they attempted to sell the park to the city of Santa Clara in 1983/1984, but a lawsuit between the city and a developer who wanted the land dragged out the sale. By 1985 the city managed to acquired the park and hired King’s Entertainment (of King’s Island and King’s Dominion fame) to manage it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehFX7eioZj4
Growth of the Park continued with the addition of the Grizzly in 1986, it’s still standing today. Sadly, the first major ride removal occurred a couple of years later when the Whizzer was taken out in 1988. King’s Entertainment took over ownership of the park in the late 1980s, and that meant that in 1992, when they were acquired, the park became Paramount’s Great America (what I remember it as from my childhood). During the 14 years of Paramount ownership, the park saw a large influx of new attractions. However, because of the parks location in the middle of Santa Clara and the development of offices and hotels around the park, new rides typically coincided with old rides being removed.
The park actually featured a few firsts and seconds in terms of rides over these years. As the terrible ad above tells you, when Drop Zone was built in 1996 it was the world’s tallest vertical drop ride. Top Gun, now Flight Deck, built in 1993 was the second ever B&M inverted coaster. Invertigo was the first inverted face-to-face coaster in North America when it opened in 1998. And, probably the biggest first, Stealth opened in 2000. It was the first Flying Dutchman even built, and the first true flying coaster to open in the world.
The short lived Stealth, the first ever flying coaster. (courtesy www.coaster-net.com)
Just a few years later, sadly, the park began to decline, losing some of their best thrill rides. Tidal Wave (now Greased Lightnin’) was removed in 2002, and these days only one shuttle loop still operates in the US (Montezuma’s Revenge at Knott’s Berry Farm). The following year Stealth was moved to Carowinds (where it still stands as Nighthawk), along with additional flat rides being taken out. Then in 2006, the park was sold to Cedar Point after Viacom split up (meaning the Paramount parks became part of CBS, which didn’t want to run them).
Goodbye Tidal Wave, still one of my favorites. (courtesy www.GreatAmericaParks.com)
The early years of the park under Cedar Fair saw few new rides, and in 2011 Invertigo joined the coaster exodus, removed and replaced with a grassy area (jokingly referred to by fans as the “InvertiGarden”). It was revealed that year that Cedar Fair was planning to sell the park. However, shortly thereafter the deal fell through and Cedar Fair retained ownership. At the time, Cedar Fair president Matt Ouimet was quoted saying, “California’s Great America was a strong performer in 2011 and we are confident this will continue into the future as we build the park’s customer base through new marketing initiatives and capital investments.” The mention of capital investments was a bit of a precursor to what would come next.
Gold Striker, signalling a new start for CGA! (courtesy California’s Great America)
With the sale cancelled, Cedar Fair began to reinvest in the park. 2012 saw refurbishment work on numerous rides, new landscaping, and construction began on a new roller coaster, the first at the park in over ten years. The following year Gold Striker opened, and quickly became rated as one of the top new rides and top wooden rides in the country. With the opening of Gold Striker and refurbishments of other rides, the trajectory of CGA seems to have changed again and is looking up.
Looking Ahead to the 40th Season
The big addition at the park this year is the expansion of the Planet Snoopy kids area. Previously, the park had two small, separate, kids sections, Kidzville and a smaller Planet Snoopy. The areas are being integrated into a new larger Planet Snoopy that includes the addition of three new rides.
New Peanuts rides being installed in Planet Snoopy! (courtesy California’s Great America)
Along with the new kids rides, a number of refurbs happened over the off-season that included re-tracking on Grizzly, new wood on the Carousel Columbia, and new cabling on the Sky Ride. Grizzly has been getting a lot of re-tracking love in recent years and it’s had a noticeable impact on the smoothness of the ride, so that’s nice to see.
Grizzly getting some new track. (courtesy California’s Great America)
The park also has plans for special events throughout the year, although not all of them have been announced yet. We do know that they’ve extended their summer hours (meaning finally some night rides), they’re increasing the frequency of fireworks shows, and they’ve announced there will be a new show and new food options. All in all, things are looking good for an exciting 40th season at California’s Great America, and hopefully the park will continue to grow in the coming years!
If you’d like to learn more about what’s coming to the park this year, you can check out their official site as well as their facebook and twitter pages. For more on the history of the park, take a look at www.greatamericaparks.com. And for the opening weekend the park will be giving away souvenirs to the first 5,000 guests both Saturday and Sunday and having discounted food options in honor of the 40th, so go check out the park if you’re in Northern California!
Woo, free souvenirs to the first 5,000 guests!
Finally, stay tuned in the coming weeks for features on the everything happening at Universal Studios and Disneyland for their respective anniversary seasons, and let us know if you plan to celebrate CGA’s 40th season this year!
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