1900
- J. Willard Marriott was born
1927
- The Marriott Corporation was founded as a root beer stand in Washington D.C.
- ?
- The company was renamed “The Hot Shoppe”
1934+
- The business expanded to Baltimore, and during WW2, the company started serving food in military bases and government buildings.
1957
- They expanded their business to hotels
- Opened their first hotel: the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel in Virginia
1964-67+
- The company was renamed to the Marriott Corporation
- It began acquiring various restaurant chains
- The company began expanding their business even more
- Airplane catering
- Tourism and entertainment
- Theme parks
1970+
- Looking to create three theme parks
- Found three areas with no nearby theme parks
- California, Maryland, and Illinois
- Illinois location was placed to bring visitors from Chicago and Milwaukee
- For America’s 200th anniversary celebrations
1972
- Marriott purchased land in Gurnee causing some speculation that there could be a theme park (the park had not been announced yet)
- The park in Maryland was planned to be the biggest of the three, but locals preferred a rural, less commercial life and strongly opposed the theme park
1973
- The plans were then scaled down slightly and moved to Virginia, but directly next to preserved lands of battles from the American Civil war. Additionally, the land upon which the theme park was to be built was found to have significance as well. Therefore, this theme park was also rejected.
- Eventually, after 7 years, Marriott abandoned the plans for a third park
- On January 29, 1973, the Illinois location was announced
- The parks in California and Illinois received much better reception
- City approved the park but not an interchange on the highway
1974
- The park had its groundbreaking ceremony on June 14th for Flag Day
- Park cost $50 million
- $277 million now
- 700 workers in 1975
1976
- The park opened on May 29, 1976
- The park was designed by Randall Duell
- He had previously designed the original versions of Six Flags Over Texas, The Universal Studios Tour, Six Flags Over Georgia, AstroWorld, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Hersheypark, Carowinds, Worlds of Fun, and more.
- Design (map):
- “Duell Loop” around the outside, instead of hub and spokes
- Like Islands of Adventure instead of Disney
- The park was themed to different parts of America
- Designers at the Marriott Corporation traveled all across America for inspiration
- Carousel plaza
- Columbia Carousel
- Double decker carousel
- 100 feet tall
- Just over 100 animal seats
- Designed by Duell Associates and Chris Mueller
- Manufactured by Chance Rides
- 16 oil paintings showing American history painted by George Gibson
- Cost $1.5 million
- Parker and Dentzel horses
- Silver Anniversary Horse for PTC’s 25th anniversary that won best exhibit at the Chicago Amusement Park Convention in 1928
- Daniel Carl Muller designed the chariots as WW2 was ending as symbolic representations of peace, freedom, and the Treaty of Versailles
- Source
- Reflecting pool
- Ticket booths
- Gift shops, guest services, restroom
- Hometown & Orleans Street Railway
- Trolley
- Manufactured by Custom Fabricators
- One green, one red
- Loop around Hometown Square and Orleans Place
- Switch track before each loop
- Place for trolleys to pass near bumper cars in Orleans Place
- Still used for parades
- Source
- Hometown Square
- Based on 1920s century small midwest towns
- Hometown Grill
- Served hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and frozen Milky Way bars
- Maggie Brown's Boarding House
- Served fried chicken, apple dumplings, and corn on the cob
- Grand Music Hall
- All-American music
- 1,600 seats
- Willard’s Whizzer
- Schwarzkopf speedracer
- Electric spiral lift
- Terrain coaster
- Bottoms Up
- Trabant flat ride
- Manufactured by Chance Rides
- Info and pictures
- Great America Scenic Railway
- Train ride that circles entire park
- Relaxing ride, doubles as transportation
- Trains by Custom Fabricators of Tennessee
- Triple Play
- Spinning flat ride
- Troika ride
- Manufactured by HUSS Maschinenfabrik
- Tot’s Livery
- Spinning flat ride
- Manufactured by Hampton
- Lady Bugs
- Spinning flat ride
- Roundabout ride
- Manufactured by Modern Products
- Red Baron
- Spinning flat ride
- Junior Jets ride
- Manufactured by Chance Rides
- The Great Midwest Livestock Exposition at County Fair
- 20th century rural county fair
- Farmer’s Market
- 11 booths
- Tacos
- Spaghetti
- Bratwurst
- Deli sandwiches
- Fresh juice
- Frozen yogurt
- Swedish waffles
- Submarine sandwiches
- Grandstand Pavilion
- The Star Spangled Circus
- 1,500 seats
- Turn of the Century
- Arrow coaster
- White
- Two airtime hills and double corkscrew
- Sky Whirl
- Custom triple ferris wheel
- Manufactured by Intamin
- Made to handle crowds
- Uninterrupted rides - two wheels were spinning while one was loading and unloading
- 110 feet up
- Info and pictures
- Eagle’s Flight
- Gondola ride - doubles as transportation
- 42 cabins
- 1-21 were red
- 22-42 were blue
- Manufactured by Von Roll
- Info, pictures, and videos
- Fiddler’s Fling
- Calypso ride
- Manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf
- Pinned riders against the walls while the floor dropped
- Ameri-Go-Round
- Carousel
- Dentzel Carousel Company
- Opened in Fontaine Ferry Park in Kentucky in 1922
- 3 rows
- 31 horses, some carved by Daniel Muller
- Barney Oldfield Speedway
- Antique car ride
- Manufactured by Arrow Dynamics
- Named after the race car driver
- Gas pedal
- Rail down the middle to keep cars in line
- Figure 8 with overpass
- Info and pictures
- Great America Scenic Railway
- Other station
- Whirligig
- Swing flat ride
- Wave swinger ride
- Manufactured by Zierer
- Only in Gurnee, not in Santa Clara
- Info and pictures
- Yukon Territory
- Logging camp in Canadian Yukon/Gold Rush-era Klondike
- Klondike Cafe
- Served beef stew, sourdough bread, sirloin steak, and barbeque ribs
- Served in large dishes like used for panning for gold
- Wilderness Theater
- Elephants, bears, monkeys, dolphins, and Zamba the 450-pound lion
- 1,300 seats
- Saskatchewan Scrambler
- Spinning flat ride
- Scrambler ride
- Manufactured by Eli Bridge Company
- Yukon Yahoo
- Spinning flat ride
- Bayern-Kurve ride
- Manufactured by Anton Schwartzkopf
- Info and pictures
- Loggers Run
- One of two interlocking log flumes
- Double down on drop
- Manufactured by Arrow Development
- Info and pictures
- Yankee Harbor
- 19th century port/fishing village in New England inspired by Cape Cod
- Captain Morgan’s
- Served shrimp, fish and chips, clam chowder, and other seafood
- The Lobster
- Spinning flat ride
- Polyp ride
- Manufactured by Anton Schwartzkopf
- Info and pictures
- Yankee Clipper
- Other interlocking log flume
- Steep drop with small jump
- Manufactured by Arrow Development
- Info and pictures
- Buzzy Bee
- Spinning flat ride
- Could control vertical movement like One Fish Two Fish
- Info and pictures
- Spinnaker
- Round Up ride
- Manufactured by Frank Hrubetz & Co.
- Orleans Place
- French Quarter of New Orleans around 1850
- Buffet le Grande
- Served wine, ham and shrimp jambalaya, chicken Creole, baked ham and beef, and deserts
- Theater Royale
- Bugs Bunny in color
- 1,200 seats
- Gulf Coaster
- Kiddie coaster
- Manufactured by Bradley and Kaye
- Wouldn’t last long
- Info and pictures
- Delta Flyer
- Other side of Eagle’s Flight gondola
- Orleans Orbit
- Enterprise ride
- Manufactured by Anton Schwartzkopf
- Info and pictures
- Rue Le Dodge
- Bumper cars
- Cajun Cliffhanger
- Rotor ride
- Manufactured by Chance Rides
- Info and pictures
- Traffique Jam
- Antique car ride
- Manufactured by Arrow Development
- Only in Gurnee, not in Santa Clara
- Info and pictures
- Great Southwest
- Planned as an expansion but not built until Six Flags era
- 40 rides and attractions
- 30 shops
- 28 restaurants and snack shops
- Throughout the park were served popcorn, Hillfarm ice cream, burgers, ice cream, soft drinks, and coffee
- 5 theaters and arenas
- Employees were all costumed to fit with the area
- Looney Tunes characters walking around
- Source
- 300 acres were used for the park out of 600 bought by Marriot
- The remaining area was planned to be used for a hotel, shops, and industrial areas
- Operations
- 10am to 10pm May 29 to Labor day
- Weekends 10am to 6pm after Labor day
- Off-season from October to May
- Pricing is for admission, not pay per ride
- $7.95 for adults, or about $44 now
- This has stayed almost identical somehow - tickets are priced at $45 in today’s money
- $6.95 for children 3-12, or about $38 now
- 3 and under admitted free
- Group admissions for companies, schools, etc. could be made
- Over 2,000 children from High School and College were planned to be hired
- Marriott projected the park would benefit the Gurnee area by generating $500 million for it
- Source
- Opening
- Immediately very popular
- Partly because of bicentennial
1977
- Gulf Coaster was removed due to fires and had many issues
- Ride openings
- Sky Trek Tower
- Gyro Tower
- Manufactured by Intamin
- 310 feet tall
- Tallest freestanding structure in Lake County
- In Carousel Plaza
- Southern Cross
- Another gondola ride
- Station on one side was in Orleans Place where the Gulf Coaster was
- Station on the other was nothing - planned future expansion that didn’t happen until much later
- ~125 feet tall
- Sign at other side saying that the Great Southwest would come in 1979
- Round trip, did not get off at other side
- Crosses the other gondola(s)
- Info and pictures
- Big Top
- Spinning flat ride
- Swing around ride
- Manufactured by Arrow HUSS
- On a pedestal in the Barney Oldfield Speedway in County Fair
- Davie Jones Dinghies
- Spinning flat ride
- Intamin Flying Dutchman
- On a pedestal in the Traffique Jam antique car ride in Yankee Harbor
- Built in Gurnee only, not in Santa Clara
- Hay Baler
- Spinning flat ride
- Matterhorn ride
- Manufactured by Mack Rides
- In County Fair
- Hilltopper
- Spinning flat ride
- Himalaya ride
- Manufactured by Wisdom Rides
- In County Fair
1978
- Fort Fun
- Kids area
- In Yukon Territory
- Must be <45in tall and <105 lbs
- 12 “attractions”
- Giant yellow rope net
- Suspension bridge
- Curly-Q slide
- Spiral slide
- Ball Crawl
- Ball pit with over 100,000 plastic balls
- King-o-the-Hill
- Foam-padded mountain
- Tangle-up Passage
- Colorful maze
- Punching Bag Forest
- Cloud Bounce
- Foam Swamp
- Patchwork Theatre
- Puppet shows
- Revolving tunnels
- Cable Slides
- Info and pictures
- Saskatchewan Scrambler relocated to Hometown Square
- Renamed Hometown Fun Machine
- Tidal Wave opened
- Fourth roller coaster
- Shuttle loop
- Manufactured by Anton Schwartzkopf
- In Yankee Harbor
- The Great America Singers performing Broadway hits in the Grand Music Hall
- Pirate’s Alley Gallery
- Electronic shooting gallery
- In Orleans Place
1979
- Pictorium
- IMAX theater
- Biggest screen in the world
- 64.5 x 88.25 feet
- Showing “To Fly” - the history of aviation
- The Great America Singers performing 50 years of Hollywood songs in the Grand Music Hall
- The Bugs Bunny Story in the Theatre Royale
- 50’s rock and roll with lighting, costumes, and dancing on the Grandstand-Bandstand
- The Great Southwest was not built
- Turn of the Century’s corkscrews were painted red
1980
- Turn of the Century was converted to Demon
- The two airtime hills were replaced with loops, becoming the second four-inversion roller coaster
- The track was painted black
- Rockwork was added with a blood red waterfall
- Two tunnels with lights and fog were added
- A giant sign was created
- The trains were painted and given 3d logos
- The ride was given a theme song and queue soundtrack
- Ferris Wheel opened
- A ferris wheel
- Manufactured by Eli Bridge Company
- In County Fair
- Hilltopper was moved and renamed Industrial Revolution
- After a serious incident on California’s Whizzer, there was an investigation of the Whizzer in Illinois as well
- Seatbelts were added
- Braking system was modified
- 3 trains instead of 5 on the track
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission discovered 2 station collisions in 1976 where people were injured
- Marriott was fined $70,000
1981
- New production with the dolphins Nemo and Neptune in the Wilderness Theater
- The Bugs Bunny Show is performed in Theatre Royale combining actors and animation
- The Great America Singers performing Music! Music! Music! touring music from cities around America
- American Eagle opens
- Racing wooden roller coaster
- Tallest, fastest, and longest racing wooden coaster
- Second Intamin coaster
1982
- Davie Jones Dinghies was removed
- It’s a Magic World performed with dancers, music, and magic
- The Evolution or Rock performed, celebrating 30 years of Rock ‘n’ Roll
- Bugs Bunny Super Circus performed, featuring characters on highwire, trapeze, and trampoline with Bugs Bunny as the ringleader.
- Fort Fun was renamed to Kid Kingdom
- The Picnic Grove was built, to accommodate events
- No new rides were added
- Bally Manufacturing bought Six Flags
1983
- Orleans Orbit was renamed to Orbit and moved to Hometown Square
- Bottoms Up was removed for this
- Southern Cross was removed after no Southwest Territory was built
- The Edge opened
- A freefall tower
- Manufactured by Intamin
- In Orleans Place
- 131 feet tall
1984
- Eagle's Flight and Delta Flyer were removed
- Ferris Wheel was removed
- Industrial Revolution was removed
- White Water Rampage opens
- River rapids ride
- Manufactured by Intamin
- Last ride Marriott added
- Traffique Jam was removed for this
- Marriott was unhappy with their theme parks as they were less profitable than they had hoped
- They looked to sell both
- The Santa Clara park was sold to the city of Santa Clara
- The Gurnee park was sold to Bally Manufacturing/Six Flags for $114.5 million
- $350 million today
- Renamed to Six Flags Great America
- This acquisition is what gave Six Flags rights for the Looney Tunes characters
- Willard’s Whizzer was renamed to Whizzer
- CEO said it would be "foolish to change anything major" at the park
- Accident on The Edge
- May 22, 1984
- Fell almost 60 feet down lift shaft
- 3 teenagers were injured (though not seriously)
- Led to congressional hearings over roller coaster safety
- Park made safety improvements, but that didn’t improve the public’s view of it
1985
- Z-Force
1986
- The Edge removed after low ridership[2]
1987
- Z-Force removed to be relocated to Six Flags Over Georgia for ride rotation program
- Power Dive added[3]
- Intamin looping starship
- Replaced The Edge
- Bally Manufacturing sold Six Flags to Wesray Capital Corporation
- Theme bark business required lots of excess resources and created issues due to fluctuations in business because of matters outside of their control[4]
- Under new leadership, Six Flags started focusing on major thrill rides over theming
- James H. Wintrode became park president
1988
- Shockwave
- Mega looper
- Manufactured by Arrow Dynamics
- World's tallest coaster
- Most inversions on a coaster
- First of 3 mega loopers
1989
- Rolling Thunder
- Bobsled
- Manufactured by Intamin subcontracting Giovanola
- Relocated from Six Flags Great Adventure (ride rotation program)
- Newly split B&M company was asked by Robert Mampe to reconfigure its trains
1990
- Iron Wolf
- Stand-up coaster
- Asked B&M to manufacture it
- Six Flags was on verge of bankruptcy
- Time Warner bought a 19.1% stake in Six Flags
1991
- Condor added
- HUSS Condor
- IMAX Pictorium screen updated to 3D
- Tidal Wave removed
- Time Warner gained a 50% share
- Six Flags had new capital and could have increased usage of Time Warner properties
1992
- Batman: The Ride
- Went back to B&M
- Strong relationship with them already
- First B&M invert
- B&M's fourth coaster overall
- Yankee Harbor
- Replaced Tidal Wave
- Surrounding area was rethemed
- The Lobster was renamed to East River Crawler
- Incredible success for the park
- Concept of cars going around the outside of a loop was thought of by park president Jim Wintrode
- Designed by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, as well as Robert Mampe and Jim Wintrode
- Went back to B&M
References
edit- ^ "What Was: Z-Force". coaster bot. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ Tribune, Chicago (12 March 1986). "SIX FLAGS DISMANTLES THE EDGE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ "Six Flags Great America Power Dive". The Dispatch. 5 August 1987. p. 58. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ Clavé, Salvador Anton (2007). The Global Theme Park Industry. CABI. ISBN 978-1-84593-208-4.