Early SFGAm question - CoasterBuzz

I was standing in line for American Eagle when I noticed that the queue lines and the food court are built under the canopy that looks as though it used to be over a stadium/grandstand area. Looking at the back wall, there also appears to be an announcer's box, and it looks like grandstands had been in that little pavillion. Does anybody remember what this area was used for prior to the construction of American Eagle?

The American Eagle tent used to house a circus show.....until one of the elephants went mad, broke free, and marched down Washington Street.

Seriously?

You sure about that mad elephant? I always heard the circus was there until 1980, and then in 1981, American Eagle was built, and Mariott probably thought it would be the perfect place to make the entrance and maze, and knowning the whole tent wouldn't need to be a maze, put in some stands and an arcade.

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That's what I heard. Could anyone back me up on this? I tried searching google and couldn't find anything, so maybe I was thinking of something else, but I thought I saw this on one of those "When ____ goes wild" FOX shows.

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Krazy, I heard the same thing about the elephant and as far as I know its true about an elephant escaping out onto Washington Street. I have nothing to back it up but I remember reading about it on another coaster site that talked about past rides and shows at SFGAM.

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Mike
Favorite Wood: Viper at SFGAM,Shivering Timbers
Favorie Steel: Magnum and Raging Bull

That area was where I saw Tom T. Hall when I was a kid. It was the area where performers that came to the park performed. It had grand stands, stage lighting, and a central stage that also served as a lookout with a lifeguard chair for line guarding on the stage when the American Eagle first opened. I remember this cause it happened the same year I graduated high school.

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When it first opened, they didn't have the queue lines there? Or was the stage just still there?

The stage was just there and the eagle que started at where you walk out of the back of the canopy.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!stoogemanmoe,the page coming soon to a computer near you!!

As stated above, the American Eagle tent used to house a circus before the giant woodie was built. The old SF site used to have an editorial called "SFGAm from the back door" and it did mention that an elephant escaped the circus and was walking down Washington St.

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