From: hempling@quorum.com (David B. Hempling)
Subject: Paramount's Great America Press Day Announcements
Originator: hempling@parker
Keywords: New Look and TOP-GUN
Organization: Quorum Software Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 02:13:42 GMT


Well folks, now it's official. Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, 
California, has staked its claim on the Silicon Valley and made its
intentions clear. 

Along with the two Northern California ACE reps, I attended a press day
held by Paramount's Great America. There were basically two points to
the announcement:

	The official unveiling of the Paramount's Great America new logo/
	look and feel.
  and
	The official unveiling of TOP GUN, the B&M inverted looper 
	currently under construction.

The event started with a look back at Great America's history. Starting
with Marriott, a path was traced from Marriott's signing GA over to
Santa Clara, in 1985, in which Kings Entertainment was signed to manage
the park, with an option to buy in 5 years, which they did in 1989. At
that time, the park entered into a 50-year land lease with Santa Clara.
Then, on July 31, 1992, GA was acquired by Paramount, along with 
three other US parks owned and/or managed by Kings. Those parks are now

	Paramount's Kings Island, Cincinnati, Ohio,
	Paramount's Kings Dominion, Richmond, Virginia, and
	Paramount's Carowinds, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Paramount Parks, the new theme park division of Paramount 
Communications, also has 20% ownership of Canada's 
Wonderland, Toronto, Onterio.

The new logo features the familiar Paramount mountain and stars centered over 
a cinemascopic "Great America" done in royal blue with gray shadowing.
Very crisp and clean. 

In addition to the introduction of TOP GUN, Paramount plans to bring
more Hollywood style entertainment to the park. Plans include a 
Walk of Fame, Paramount movie and television characters that will 
mingle with guests, and souvenir shops offering an "enticing
selection of movie memorabilia" - as quoted from the press releases. 
The traditional American music that fills the park will be replaced
with movie sound track themes.  Also planned is an attraction for small 
children based on the characters of childrens book author, Richard Scarry.

It was announced that Klingons and Ferrenghi will greet guests at the 
gate. Paramount has contractual agreements with Universal to share
the characters from ST:TNG. Plans for a Star Trek attraction werr
mentioned as a definite possibility. 

Here's the official fact sheet on TOP GUN:

Description:			A looping steel roller coaster with
				floorless coaches suspended below,
				rather than on top of, the track.

Ride Designers:			Walter Bolliger & Claude Mabillard
				Bolliger & Mabillard, Monthey, Switzerland

Production Designer		John DeCuir, Jr.
				Motion Picture Production Designer
				Hollywood, California

Opening:			March 20, 1993

Location:			Orleans Place themed area
				Paramount's Great America
				Santa Clara, California

Ride Duration:			146 seconds

Track Length:			2,260 feet

Height of Lift:			100 feet

Top Speed of Descent:		50 miles per hour

Number of Trains:		2

Number of Coaches:		7

Seating Capacity:		4 passengers abreast per coach

Ride Capacity:			1,380 guests per hour



The ride itself is less compact that I expected. The Vortex, the 
B&M Standing Looper that went into GA last year is _very_ compact and
the pictures of BATMAN in Chicago show that it, too, has a small
footprint. TOP GUN stretches into a forgotten eastern corner of the park, 
behind a theater, tracing a figure eight pattern. 

After the chain lift, the train turns to the left and dives down and
into a 360 loop, it then makes a large outside clockwise 270 turn,
dips down and then up into a hyperbolic, 0 g, roll. This roll, btw, is
cleverly placed directly over the theater which should make for good 
display.

The roll finishes in a dip down and up, bending left across the 
station and out over water. The track then bends right and twists 
into a corkscrew and then into an outside counter-clockwise 270 turn. 
A 90 degree turn to the right heads the track straight into the station.

Theming concepts were presented that centered around the idea of creating
an aircraft carrier deck "look" on the loading platform. Ride operators
would be dressed in aviator jump suits. While in line, guests would be
treated to views in large box displays that showed three
dimensional vistas from a flight deck. These displays would include
rear projections of planes taking off, etc. It was made clear that no
additional theming would be done to TOP GUN after its opening.

There will also be an observation area that will allow guests to enjoy
the line theming without riding the ride. This area will also double as
access for handicapped guests who wish to ride.

The theming, btw, is designed by John DeCuir, Jr. who was responsible for
the production design of the movie, TOP-GUN.

The track will be painted black - though the primer battleship gray looked
good to me. So far, the only track standing runs from where the station will 
be to the top of the chain lift. The track at the station includes the
maintenance bay. No other piers are standing. We saw crews working on
the track as well as pouring cement for the pier foundations. I took
lots of pictures and will forward copies on to Scott Rutherford for 
ACE News.

GA plans to test run TOPGUN by mid January.

The trains will be silver with red/blue/yellow highlights. 

And no, Tom Cruise will not make an appearance at the opening.

dave
hempling@quorum.com