If Marriott was still in the industry?

If Marriott didnt sell off their 2 amusement parks(SFGAm and PGA) , what do you think the state of the amusement park industry would be today? Would they be right up there with SF and CF? Would they have constructed more parks? Remember that Marriott didnt buy existing parks. They built their 2 parks from scratch. Also , Marriott made both of his parks identical in the beginning. Would they have changed their ways and made their other parks of different rides and layout?

Personally I think they would have been a top amusement park company today. They created a unique experience back in the 70s and I feel they would have went with the times and had top world class coasters today.

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"The Peoples Elbow" or "The Spinaroonie?. Cant decide which is the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!!! LOL

One thing's for sure, Chitown. is that the "early admittance" policies for guests staying at On-Site hotels would have another advocate...LOL.  Both parks have trurned out really well anyway (only been to PGA, but hear SFGAm getting good reviews from its regulars - they COULDN'T be biased, could they).  BTW, "The People's Elbow", as administered by Hakeem or the Mailman by 2 to 1 over "The Spinaroonie"...ROFL!!!
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Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

Six Flags GAM is indeed a great park and I am not a regular.
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Does CCI know how to make a bad coaster?

Good question....

I believe you would have seen the theming stay in tact much better at both parks.  Six Flags has did an ok job at keeping the theming and a very good job at adding coasters(Southwest Territory is excellent, while some rides like Batman in a Nantucket theme and a shoot-the-chutes in a County Fair theme are way out of line).  Paramount has managed to destroy all the theming in California, that park is just a ride park filled with mediocre coasters now. 

The parks would have most likely went in different directions with the coasters as Chicago got American Eagle, and California did not.  And Marriott may have taken more pride in their unique Sky Whirl ride.....

super7 is correct. Marriott's original plan was to make the Great America parks as identical as possible. But they discovered how useful it is to be able to market unique attractions, so they started building rides that would be at only one park. The American Eagle, for example.

At the time the first two parks opened, Marriott's announced intent was to build more Great America parks; I recall reading they were looking to build the next one in Maryland, near DC.

So, if Marriott's had never sold the Great America parks, today the country would probably have quite a few Great America parks. A big Marriott hotel and a Great America in Orlando, maybe?

One interesting change would be the Looney Tunes and DC characters. Six Flags initially got the rights when they bought Great America; if Marriott's had never sold the parks, then Marriott's would be the company with the rights to Looney Tunes characters, certainly, and probably the DC characters, since DC and Looney Tunes are both AOL Time Warner properties. What character license would Six Flags end up with?

The Hillbilly Bears, maybe?? (jk)

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Looney Tunes was not connected with DC until the early 90's late 80's when Warner Bros. bought up DC Comics, and even today they are seperate license's. I think things would different in those areas. My old hometown of Gurnee would be somewhat different, though probably would still have the huge build of shopping areas. I believe they had actually bought the land for the DC area park and where to start on it when they sold it. We probably would see more of them around, such as in Texas and in the South. We also would probably not see as many Six Flags parks out there.
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Any resemblance to living or
dead people is purely coincidental.

Actually, DC has been part of Warner Bros for decades. I'm not at home, so I don't have my reference books at hand, but I believe DC was acquired back in the late 1960s; certainly by the mid-70s.

Marriott was shopping for property to build a park in several areas of Maryland before they got out of the theme park business. The major problem they ran into in maryland was the "not in my backyard" mentality that seems to shoot down every major entertainment idea that is ever brought before the state. I just don't understand it. Several of the sites proposed still sit unused, vacant with local governments looking for a way to put it to a profitable use. One such site is an old US Naval base that Marriott, Six Flags and even Disney have proposed theme parks and entertainment complexes for. All to no avail. Also, up until the late 1960's or early 1970's, DC Comics was National Periodicals. I believe when it became DC is when it became part of Time-Warner, but I'm not totally sure.

I have a feeling if SFGAm and PGA were both still MGA, the parks would be top notch in the ride department and theming.  In the just 7-8 years Marriott owned both parks, they added basically whatever ride was ultra popular at the time and then some.  I'd wonder what rides they would have kept and what rides they wouldn't have kept.  Both parks have space problems (more so PGA) so in order to keep up they, would have to have gotten rid of some stuff.  I'm guessing the Edge freefalls would both be gone, as they are now, and maybe even both Tidal Waves given there tough maintenance.  Thankfully, K.E.C.O and then Paramount were nice enough to let Tidal Wave stay in California.

-------Now a little Marriott's Great America info---------

*SFGAm*

1976 - Turn of the Century - Arrow airtime filled extended corkscrew (largest corkscrew of its time)                    
1976 - Willard's Whizzer - Schwarzkopf speedracer
1978 - The Tidal Wave - Schwarzkopf shuttle-loop
1980 - Demon - Arrow 4-loop modified Turn of the Century (1st coaster to go upside down 4 times)
1981 - American Eagle - Intamin/Summers wooden racer (opened with tallest drop, steepest drop, and fastest speed of any roller coaster)

**Exclusive Gurnee Marriott Rides:**

1977 - Von Roll Southern Cross round trip sky ride (was meant to be for transportation from Orleans Place to the 1979 proposed Southwest Territory.  As you know, this wasn't finally built until SFGAm picked up the plans 17 years later.  Unfortunately, the sky ride was gone by this time  ('77-'83)
1977 - Cajun Cliffhanger (rotor) -- now S.B.N.O. ('77-?)
1977 - Traffique Jam (another car ride)  ('77-'83)
1977 - Haybaler (himilaya type carnival ride without music) ('77-'00)
1977 - Big Top swings (now Ricochet in  SWT)
1977 - Whirligig (carnival swings)
1977 - Davey Jones Dingys (boat swings) ('77-'83)
1980 - American Eagle (see above)
1984 - White Water Rampage (now Roaring Rapids)
 
*PGA*

1976 - Turn of the Century - Arrow airtime filled extended corkscrew (largest corkscrew of its time)                    
1976 - Willard's Whizzer - Schwarzkopf speedracer
1977 - The Tidal Wave - Schwarzkopf shuttle-loop
1980 - Demon - Arrow 4-loop modified Turn of the Century (1st coaster to go upside down 4 times)
**Ride installation and placement differences**

Not only were there differences in what parks got, but there were also subtle differences in when the rides were put in and where the were put in.
1977 - PGA Tidal Wave
1978 - SFGAm Tidal Wave
1977 - PGA Pictorium IMAX
1979 - SFGAm Pictorium IMAX
1983 - PGA Edge Freefall set in County Fair (same area where Iron Wolf at SFGAm is set in)
1983 - SFGAm Edge Freefall set in Orleans Place (set where Power Dive is because County Fair space was occupied by Whirligig, unlike PGA)---Power Dive queue is the same one as the Edge's, and the orange onnings on the queue were finally replaced not too long ago.

*** This post was edited by Hotshot on 10/24/2001. ***
*** This post was edited by Hotshot on 10/24/2001. ***

*** This post was edited by Hotshot on 10/24/2001. ***