- Columbia Carousel
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Columbia Carousel 
The Columbia at Six Flags Great America in 2005. California's Great America Cost USD $1.5 million Opening date 1976 Six Flags Great America Area Carousel Plaza Opening date 1976 General Statistics Attraction Type Carousel Manufacturer Chance Morgan Model Double Deck Carousel Height 100 ft (30 m) Vehicles Over 100 Riders per vehicle 1 Carousel Columbia (also known as Columbia Carousel) is a pair of double-decked carousels at Six Flags Great America and at California's Great America (the parks were built by the Marriott hotel chain as sister properties but later sold to separate owners). To this date they are the world's tallest carousels.
History
In recent years a stage has been set up in front of Columbia at the Gurnee park.
The first Columbia opened in the Santa Clara park in 1976 and the Gurnee Columbia opened later that year. They opened as the world's biggest carousel and continues to hold that title to this day. Each horse on the carousels was a replica of one of the world's most famous carousel horses. In front of the carousels was a large reflecting pond with historic replicas of American flags flying along the sides. Today the flags still fly. The Columbia is often associated with the Carousel Song, produced especially for the Marriott's Great America theme parks by Gene Patrick. A clip of the Carousel Song can be heard here. The Carousel Song still plays at the Gurnee park every evening when the park closes.
In 1994, Santa Clara's Columbia received some minor renovations for its appearance in the movie Beverly Hills Cop III.
In the early 2000s both carousels received touches of red and blue paint. The original paint scheme was white with gold trim, however some of the gold trim still remains.
References
External links
- Columbia page on GREAT AMERICA parks
- The Un-Official Columbia Carousel site
- 37°23′50″N 121°58′28″W / 37.39731°N 121.97445°W at California's Great America
- 42°22′10″N 87°56′07″W / 42.36942°N 87.93533°W at Six Flags Great America
Six Flags Great America Coasters American Eagle · Batman: The Ride · The Dark Knight Coaster · Demon · Little Dipper · Ragin' Cajun · Raging Bull · Spacely's Sprocket Rockets · Superman: Ultimate Flight · Vertical Velocity · Viper · Whizzer · X-Flight (Opening in 2012)Other rides Past rides Cajun Cliffhanger · Déjà Vu · Gulf Coaster · Iron Wolf · Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension · Power Dive · Rolling Thunder · Shockwave · Sky Whirl · Tidal Wave · Z-ForceCalifornia's Great America Roller coasters Other rides Past rides Categories:- Amusement rides by name
- Carousels in California
- California's Great America rides
- Six Flags Great America
- Six Flags rides
- Chance Morgan rides
- Amusement rides introduced in 1976
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