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Six Flags Great America
This article is about the Gurnee, Illinois park originally known as Marriott's Great America. For the California park that was once known by this same name, see California's Great America.
Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park located at Gurnee, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. It first opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America. Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain.[1] As of 2016, the park has ten themed sections, a 20-acre (81,000 m2) water park, three specially themed children's areas, and various other forms of entertainment.[2] The 2016 attendance of the park is estimated to be 2,950,000 million visitors.[3]

Six Flags Great America
Six Flags Great America logo.png
Location 1 Six Flags Pkwy. Gurnee, Illinois
Coordinates 42°22′11.99″N 87°56′8.86″W
Owner Six Flags
Opened May 29, 1976
Previous names Marriott's Great America 1976–1984
Six Flags Great America 1984–present
Operating season April – November
Area 304 acres (1.23 km2)
Rides
Total 53
Roller coasters 14
Water rides 4
Website Six Flags Great America
Six Flags Great America is 5th in number of roller coasters at any theme park in the world.

Contents
Marriott era (1974–1984) Edit

Marriott Corporation began construction on the park in 1974 and opened it on May 29, 1976, as "Marriott's Great America" (a sister park, with almost identical layout and attractions, opened in northern California in Santa Clara the same year). The park was an immediate success due in part to its Americana themes and grand opening during the American Bicentennial. It originally consisted of six themed areas: Carousel Plaza, the first section beyond the main gates; small-town-themed Hometown Square; The Great Midwest Livestock Exposition at County Fair, with its early 20th century rural-fair theme; Yankee Harbor, inspired by a 19th-century New England port; Yukon Territory, resembling a Canadian/Alaskan logging camp; and the French Quarter-modeled Orleans Place. A seventh area, The Great Southwest, was planned but was not built until 1996, when it opened as Southwest Territory.[4]

Each themed area had its own staff costumes, and the design of buildings, shops, and restaurants were also all unique to each theme. For example, the Klondike Cafe in Yukon Territory served beef dishes in large pans like those used for panning for gold.

From the beginning, the park made use of the Looney Tunes characters as costumed figures to interact with the park attendees, a tradition that continues since Time Warner took over maximum ownership of the park in the 1990s.[5]

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