My home park is Six Flags Great America, and I'm really upset to be losing the former twin.
My one visit to California's Great America was in 2015 when I was in town for my aunt's wedding-turns out she only lives about 10 minutes away! Although much of the Marriott-ness had been stripped out by that point (and Six Flags seems to have ramped up its efforts to do the same in IL), there was still a lot of charm and it was fun to play the comparison game. Gold Striker is genuinely a great ride that will be a huge loss. I also didn't get a chance to ride Flight Deck, whatever they're calling Vortex now, and Rail Blazer didn't yet exist. I'm hoping to go back out there next year and, well, pay my respects.
Cedar Fair sold the land for $310 million. You would think, that area being so moneyed and the only other amusement park being Six Flags Vallejo, that Cedar Fair would realize they were sitting on a gold mine: literally the one of the best markets in the country just begging for a theme park. Somehow though, it looks like the company is struggling, and they decided to take the money now instead of trying to do something incredible. A shame. The Bay Area certainly could support multiple high quality theme parks, and there's obviously plenty of investment money in that area.
In fairness, gold mine is a bit of a stretch-it was a bit of a money pit as far back as Marriott, who was never happy with the park's performance, and initially they, back in the 80s, sold it to developers who wanted to level it. The only reason the park is still around is that the city negotiated with said developer to buy the park themselves and hired out others to manage it. The city only sold the park land to Cedar Fair a few years ago when they too needed money. But make no mistake, had the city not owned it and remained passionate for it, the park likely would have closed long before now.
They've been hemmed in on all sides and dealt with all sorts of restrictions and complaints from their neighbors over the years that have hampered expansion. There was a park representative interviewed for the Season Pass Podcast at one point who claimed that because of how the Bay area is set up, whereas your average park will draw visitors from x mile radius, Great America only gets visitors from about half what your average park would, and that has presented challenges for them. Rightly or wrongly, the park has been seen as something of an unwanted burden for some time by every company that has managed it. While there's a lot worth celebrating about the park, it's not like the park was managed by idiot, incompetent companies-far from it. Marriott, Kings Entertainment/Paramount, Cedar Fair-all companies that have or had highly successful parks in other locations. If all of them struggled to make it work and/or eventually gave up at Great America, perhaps there's a reason.
Agreed! That fabulous carousel would look great at Gilroy Gardens that's now owned by Cedar Fair.
Or, heck, perhaps it could go to Knott's Berry Farm? Maybe surround it with water along their boardwalk section?
There was some detective work done by some coaster nerd site, and they discovered that the city of Gilroy and Cedar Fair quietly decided not to renew the management agreement last year. The park will stay open, with no apparent intent to close, but Cedar Fair is out of the picture.
www.greatamericaparks.com
