California's Great America Reviews and Guide

Located in Santa Clara, California's Great America is one of the lower-profile parks in the Cedar Fair chain. While it features a number of roller coasters and thrill rides, these are mostly not on the same scale as those at parks such as Cedar Point and Kings Island. Its biggest draw is Flight Deck (only the second Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster ever to be built), while the park is also home to a large number of kids' rides. These are spread across two main areas: KidZville and the Peanuts-themed Planet Snoopy.

History: California's Great America was originally known as Marriott's Great America, and was one of two parks in a chain started by hotel chain Marriott (the other being Six Flags Great America near Chicago). Both parks proved to be disappointments financially, with Six Flags acquiring the Chicago park in 1984. The California version subsequently changed hands a number of times, eventually being acquired by Cedar Fair when it took over the former Paramount Parks properties in May 2006. The park has not received the major investments that some of its sister parks have benefited from, and Cedar Fair agreed to sell it in 2011 before the prospective buyer pulled out of the deal.