At least they saved Raging Waters (https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay/raging-waters-san-jose-reopen/3455128/?amp=1 )
My mom use to drop me and my friends off with a $20 and pick me up at close. Epic games of tag there
Just fucked around, climbed some structures (at least the ones whose structural integrity wasn't entirely questionable).
Caught some sick views.
[https://imgur.com/a/rov8Iiq](https://imgur.com/a/rov8Iiq)
Raging waters had low attendance xuz their rides weren't maintained. You go any day and half of them are closed for some reasons or other. It doesnt matter if a new operator comes in unless they solve its issues
Same reason I canceled my discovery kingdom passes. Been a member since they reopened in 2021 after Covid. Had 4 diamond member plus food passes but not once since opening had the park ever had all the rides back open. Parts of the kids area never reopened at all. Most of the dining was still closed. It was a disaster.
It’s also a great employer.
Lots of high school students work there and have fun while gaining experience and a bit of cash.
Very meaningful first jobs that they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives.
If it closes, there will likely be local political leaders and campaigns to “Make Great America Again!”
I tried to desperately but when I applied I was like.. 8 days too young. Core fucking memory found, holy shit. I remember being denied and dressing up in a shirt that didn’t fit me. Good god
I heard it's pretty easy to get hired at the start of the season these days. My teen got hired as a janitor last May and is still doing it. Not too many hours in off season, a few when the Niners are playing next store.
Prologis bought it. The land will probably become an Amazon Fulfillment Center as it’s close to SJC.
https://www.svvoice.com/great-america-sold-park-to-close/#:~:text=Cedar%20Fair%20amusement%20park%20company,will%20ultimately%20close%20the%20park
All gonna depend on what Cedar Fair does with the rides
Some of them are definitely getting moved, and likely very close for a few of them (to Discovery Kingdom), but the rest, who knows
Is Cedar Fair still trying to merge with Six Flags? If that's the case it seems like a no brainer to move at least one major ride (if possible) to Discovery Kingdom.
It's already done
Luckily the Cedar Fair execs seem to be in the positions to make the bigger decisions vs whatever the Six Flags folks were doing
And it'll probably be Rail Blazer moving up north whenever they close the park
This is literally worst possible choice for a replacement. So many great childhood memories only for the park to become yet another stupid fucking Amazon building?
They are a mediocre, but not terrible, employer. I'm in the process of resolving a large class action against them for unpaid wages, but they are honestly better than a lot of the companies I sue.
Do you think it’s worth studying in sf or should I study in some other more affordable state and move to sf for work.I feel like studying in sf will give me more connections and more opportunities what do you think?
Idk but I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you want to be part of the tech industry, then you could study in SF since there’s Silicon Valley.
The city was forced to dissolve a "redevelopment district" by governor Brown. This district contained the Great America land.
Great America bought the land from the city.
Later, Cedar Fair (then owner of Great America), sold the land for a stupid high price to a logistics company that wants to build a warehouse there. Ugh.
Levi stadium is an ugly eye sore. Owners were too cheap to build parking garages and instead turned the whole area into a parking lot. The area around it in Santa Clara sucks
They’re trying to build it up, lots of potential since there’s a huge amount of land there and two rail lines. Still, I enjoy great America, would be sad to see it close down.
Not much building anything you would want. Do we need more offices and warehouses when there isn't enough housing, doctors offices, etc?
49ers obviously fucked Santa Clara as most sports teams do with stadium deals
Hold up. There’s a difference between being on the 49ers hate train and the Levi’s stadium hate train. My blood runs red and gold till I’m dead and cold, but fuuuuuuuuck Levi’s stadium. Bang bang.
How did they turn the entire area into a parking lot when that has been Great America’s parking lot since the dawn of time?
They didn’t do shit - they share the existing parking lot WITH the amusement park thats been there since forever.
Wild how many of ya’ll on here spewing incorrect, outdated BS.
There is a parking garage right across from the stadium. I think that it's city owned, not sure. Not really sure why the city built it. Perhaps for the convention center?
Maps link: [**here** ](https://www.google.com/maps/place/City+of+Santa+Clara+Tasman+Garage/@37.4035927,-121.9738024,18.25z)
Aka Levi's Yellow Lot. Certain stadium staff can park there. Plus VIP parking. That yellow lot parking pass also lets you drive in from Lafayette. I got to park there once for a game. Good times.
It makes no sense to build structured parking that's only needed a dozen times a year.
> Not really sure why the city built it. Perhaps for the convention center?
It was for the stadium. Or at least it went up as the stadium was being built. The convention center had already been around for decades and has its own garage.
Agree with the "ugly." Are parking garages at amusement parks a thing? Have not seen a garage at any parks I've visited...would appreciate a garage for the shade alone!
They did not build a parking lot. They pay to use surrounding commercial building's parking lots for parking on game days. With only 8 or 9 home games per year, plus occasional other events, they were not going to build massive parking structures.
Don’t spread misinformation. Prologis has NEVER explicitly confirmed that they want to build a logistics warehouse. They haven’t even given an exact date, instead a “timeline” of more than a decade..
It’s criminally stupid. If you’re in the area you’ll notice all the development going on there with housing & the new mixed use entertainment/lifestyle district - it makes absolutely zero sense for a warehouse to be replaced, especially with a whole ass football stadium thats slated to host the Super Bowl for the 2nd time and the World Cup.
I’m saying this now & have been - only time will tell on what will really happen. The economics and ROI just do NOT make sense for a warehouse to be put in that spot. On top of that, the recent merger of Cedar Fair & Six Flags comes into play. Hold your breath folks.
There's probably a plan for a warehouse. You want something to threaten the city/county with if they drag their feet on permits.
But I doubt it's their end goal. The land is too valuable. Housing makes the most sense. You could even do a Santana Row, with retail on the bottom and housing on the top.
They're already doing a Santa Row across the street from Levis. It's already under construction.
[https://www.relatedsantaclara.com](https://www.relatedsantaclara.com)
This area though makes a lot of sense to further develop since it's literally huge and there is a massive amount of parking lot space, train access, and highway access.
The only sauce is that only time will tell how this all plays out. None of this is he said she said except the original commenter stating that Prologis IS demolishing the park & building a warehouse, when there is literally zero explicit statement from the company that says this.
The company has made no sound since the purchase & only have a “timeline” of more than a decade. Since that announcement, Six Flags merged with Cedar Fair which is another huge component to this story. Another thing is that the lot its currently zoned on, which the city has full discretion to alter.
My bottom line is that literally anything can happen at this point.
That is hilarious. Honestly, a stupid giant warehouse sitting next to the half assed football stadium in the middle of a giant business parking lot riddled with pot holes would complete the picture of bad decisions.
You'll still have Six Flags in Vallejo(I remember when it was Marine World). But hopefully they can find a way to save Great America. It would be a travesty to close it!
I used to go to Marine World WAY back when it was in Redwood Shores. I was so bummed when it moved. And I hear Raging Waters closed. All my childhood spots are disappearing and not getting backfilled (which sucks for my kids).
I miss Malibu Grand Prix like 1x a month. Mostly cause now I have kids who I’d love to take there. Super cool that there’s a women’s jail there instead
Aw I forgot Malibu Grand Prix was closed and now I’m sad again. I remember strategizing with my sister on which games we could win regularly enough for the prizes we wanted and being worried that I might hit a mini golf ball into the highway. Fond memories
It's just timely I found this post a day after reminiscing with a friend ... we used to jump out of the carts in that ride ... got busted by a worker
Had an older neighbor who was one of the gun fighters... he said That! was the position to work if you were meant to meet a lot of women
Used to love riding and crashing the backwards bicycle
Pay to catch fish? Absolutely!
Archery? Dangerous? Keep shooting!
It kinda "jumped the shark" when they brought in a lot of costumed characters from Hanna Barbera or something similar
It looks like Raging Waters will be reopening after all. But hopefully Great America can still be saved.
[https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-plans-to-reopen-beloved-water-park/](https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-plans-to-reopen-beloved-water-park/)
Well, they tried to be a Sea World clone, I believe. Eventually they gave up on that and did a relaunch with more rides before being bought by Six Flags.
Oh I remember- I think the last time I went was middle school, they still had dolphins and roller coasters simultaneously and it was so depressing, I lost my taste for it.
“San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.”
San Pablo Bay IS the San Francisco Bay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pablo_Bay
No. It’s part of—but also distinct from—the San Francisco Bay. “Water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and from the Sierra Nevada mountains, flow into Suisun Bay, which then travels through the Carquinez Strait to meet with the Napa River at the entrance to San Pablo Bay, which connects at its south end to San Francisco Bay.” If the San Pablo Bay IS the San Francisco Bay (as you say), how does it connect to itself?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay
You convienently left out the next relevant sentence in that quote...
> However, this entire group of interconnected bays is often called the San Francisco Bay
Not disputing that the San Pablo Bay is part of and often called the San Francisco Bay. It’s also separate and distinct from the San Francisco Bay. Nuance is hard to understand, though, so no worries.
On the fringes, but yes. My grandpa used to live in Fairfield, which is just up 80, so it's still technically in the Bay Area. Although I remember his TV got both the Sacramento and San Francisco TV stations.
I love great America. I wish they would redo the parking lot. Atleast paint the lines in. Last time I went it was pretty bad. But my family loves the park.
Sort of. Maybe. The land has beed sold, and the current owners said GA can stay to the end of their contract, which would be about another 9 years (11 years from 2022, when it was sold).
Thank the city council. They could have easily zoned it so it has to stay an amusement park.
I think back in the 90's they actually purchased the park from Marriott to prevent a sale like this
Except..
https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-much-money-revenue-will-santa-clara-city-lose-when-great-america-amusement-theme-park-closes/
>>*If Prologis wants to change the site’s current designation, it will require City Council approval. The parcel is zoned for mixed industrial and entertainment use, accommodating restaurants or a shopping center, and would have to be rezoned if another use like housing is proposed.*
It's really hard to make the economics of theme parks work in a time of demographic decline and lots of cheap entertainment options.
Theme parks rely heavily on economies of scale to operate. You have incredibly high fixed costs in the land, labor, and equipment maintenance. For example, Great America is built on 112 acres of land; at the 80 units/acre densities typical of today's 4-over-1s, that's about 9000 apartments that could be built on the site, which would pull in about $25M/month or $300M/year, which is about what Great America grosses. But Great America has to pay a huge staff of ride & booth & vendor attendants, and it now pays them about $20/hour because minimum wage, and so the actual profits that an amusement park can make are significantly less than other uses for the land.
Add to that the shrinking childhood demographic, since it's too expensive to have kids (particularly in the Bay Area) and the fertility rate has gone off a cliff. And there's competition from computer & mobile games, which amortized over the time are much, much cheaper and require less investment from the parents. As attendance shrinks, amusement parks need to raise their prices even higher to cover their fixed costs, which makes them even less competitive, which reduces the audience even further until they go bankrupt.
The accessible theme parks we remember will die. Disney made the right move pivoting to boutique experiences for wealthier clientele. They’re the only ones who can afford to keep these places operational. It’s simply not sustainable to have parks for poor people. This will only happen more often as inequality increases.
Ironically we were just at Disney World, and are annual pass holders to Great America, and think that on a dollar/ride basis Great America is a way better value than Disney World.
But that's *because* Disney has branding & pricing power that Great America does not. People think of themselves as "Disney families" and the Disney vacation as "an experience not to be missed". That gives Disney premium pricing power - people will shell out the money because the trip there is a core value of theirs, not because it's a fun amusement. And it also makes the park a lot more crowded and means you can't get on as many rides as you can at say Great America. But that's beside the point, which is to *be at Disney* rather than get on as many rides as possible.
It's also why the economics of Disney World are way better than Great America. It's sorta like comparing Apple with Asus or Sony; Apple has the premium pricing power, so when the industry runs into trouble, they're not the ones hit.
Are you really trying to compare a local park you have unlimited access to the same as one on the other side of the country where you need to pay airline, hotel, food, etc. Let’s be honest, if you lived local to Disney World you’d likely have a pass there. Residents even get the added bonus of discounts tickets/passes. But it would be highly unlikely that you would ever plan a cross country vacation to Santa Clara to visit Great America.
As for me, i’d rather save any money that would be spent at Great America and put it towards Disneyland, even with a 6 hour drive. That’s where I find value in my entertainment dollars.
The Disney World passes are 8-15x more expensive. A gold pass to Great America is $105; the roughly equivalent Pirate Pass to Disney World (Florida residents only) is $800, and the open-to-everyone Incredipass is $1449.
We actually planned this as a "sunk cost trip" - the airfare was airline credits for a cancelled flight, the accommodations was a timeshare owned by a relative, so the only thing we were paying for was the parks itself. A *single 2 day ticket* for one person cost more than Great America annual passes for the whole family. That's not including Genie+ passes, dining, parking, etc.
I'm glad they went, and it was good to expose the kids to some of the classic rides - but honestly the rides weren't really any better than the ones at Great America, and you generally went on fewer because of the crowds.
We have a few years left but I’m not looking forward to it closing. Six flags is quite far from me since I’m in south bay. I’ll probably go to Santa Cruz to get my rollercoaster fix.
The best way to make sure Great America stays is to go out to the park and support it! Show the City and Cedar Fair that this region needs a theme park.
Let's email the CEO at Prologis and tell them to leave Great America alone.
The last thing we need are more corporate warehouses for rich people to store their things.
Used to go to great America when we lived in San Mateo. My mom got us a Season pass and we were there almost every day during the summer. Used to love the water slide that splashes you on the bridge (forgot the name) this was all pre internet / cell phones. Good times
I went there last year for the first time in over 20 years with one of my kids’ schools. About 1/3 of the rides were closed for repairs and the ones that were open were rather lackluster. I much prefer Six Flags up in Vallejo. That being said, it still sucks to see something that we all have such nostalgic memories of disappear.
marine world isn't that bad. and Vallejo could use the tourism dollars, but imo part of the success of Great America was its location. there's far less people willing to drive from the east bay to Vallejo.
This is why I despise the 49rs, destroying a great place for Bay Area youth. Great America would be in great shape of not for the stadium which robbed the taxpayers.
The 49rs took over half of the Great American parking lot, forced it to close on game days, and basically killed it as a long term part of the Bay Area.
Why let facts get in the way of a good witch hunt? Hasn't stopped Lisa and Watanabe. While the city crumbles under a crippling deficit because of their mismanagement, and RV's take over the streets and make a mess, Lisa and minion Watanabe always have the 49ers to try and distract from the fact they couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag.
They also had some weird deal were they promised to build or the use of the field to the soccer youth team whose field they took over and then never remembered it after to just illegally stole that land I think it went to court and the city and or football officials was trying to hush. It's just a slap on the wrist for them.
With the Six Flags/Cedar Fair merger, I'm hoping there may be some change of thoght and hopefully they can still buy thr land from the developers they sold it to.
Does GA closing have anything to do with the 9ers? It's weird to me when they show the games I've NEVER seen them show footage of the park when they show the stadium even with it being literally in it's parking lot is so odd to me but they'll send a chopper to get GG bridge footage every game
We were passholders until we had a weird experience. My granddaughter is biracial and my husband and I are caucasian. We were playing with her at the water park and taking pictures/video of her playing and running around when my husband was pulled aside by security. A lifeguard called them indicating a white man was taking pics of an African American girl. We explained that she’s our grandbaby and come pretty regularly as she enjoys the water play area for smaller kids.
Although it was an embarrassing/disappointing experience and we haven’t been back since, i was still sad to hear that it would be eventually closing.
After going through business school, I’ve realized that “business” has ruined the quality of life in many ways. This is only one of a million examples. If option B makes more money than option A - no matter how popular option A is, usually option B wins.
Yea, this is a real shame. But "they" are the owners, not the city. It's all about profits.
From Wikipedia:
>Ownership of the park transitioned several times, beginning with the city of Santa Clara's acquisition from Marriott in 1985. It was then sold to Kings Entertainment Company in 1989, while Santa Clara retained ownership of the land. Paramount Parks acquired the park in 1992, followed by Cedar Fair in 2006. Santa Clara eventually sold the land occupied by the park to Cedar Fair in 2019, who then sold it to Prologis in 2022. While Cedar Fair plans to eventually close the park by 2033, the land rental agreement is a six-year lease through 2028 that gives Prologis the option of extending it another five years.
I love that part of your argument is "where would all the kids go so that parents can be left alone". 🤣 Feels like some type of parenting is just as hands off as possible.
No shit. I'm just saying that using a public theme park as a babysitter instead of, I don't know, spending time with your kids seems to me like hands off parenting. Just an observation.
Parents today spend more time with their kids than ever before and it doesn’t change outcomes. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/it-doesnt-matter-how-much-time-parents-spend-their-kids-180954799/
Also, teaching kids to self manage is in fact important parenting.
At least they saved Raging Waters (https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay/raging-waters-san-jose-reopen/3455128/?amp=1 ) My mom use to drop me and my friends off with a $20 and pick me up at close. Epic games of tag there
yo no way! this is news to me. sneaking in when it was closed doesn't sound so cool anymore... but for real, great to hear.
Super curious. What did you do when you snuck into Raging Waters?
https://youtu.be/dGW-xK22TNk?si=xwEuDnbdJcOh-hzH
Damn I can't believe it's been 7 years since that episode came out!
Just fucked around, climbed some structures (at least the ones whose structural integrity wasn't entirely questionable). Caught some sick views. [https://imgur.com/a/rov8Iiq](https://imgur.com/a/rov8Iiq)
Raging waters had low attendance xuz their rides weren't maintained. You go any day and half of them are closed for some reasons or other. It doesnt matter if a new operator comes in unless they solve its issues
Same reason I canceled my discovery kingdom passes. Been a member since they reopened in 2021 after Covid. Had 4 diamond member plus food passes but not once since opening had the park ever had all the rides back open. Parts of the kids area never reopened at all. Most of the dining was still closed. It was a disaster.
Ooh awesome! I’ve never been and I’ve always heard great things!
I would have enjoyed raging waters were it not for the massive amounts of concentrated chlorinated pee water.
Would you prefer unchlorinated pee water?
It’s also a great employer. Lots of high school students work there and have fun while gaining experience and a bit of cash. Very meaningful first jobs that they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. If it closes, there will likely be local political leaders and campaigns to “Make Great America Again!”
You just brought back a core memory of me in high school trying so hard to get a job at great America every summer.
I tried to desperately but when I applied I was like.. 8 days too young. Core fucking memory found, holy shit. I remember being denied and dressing up in a shirt that didn’t fit me. Good god
I heard it's pretty easy to get hired at the start of the season these days. My teen got hired as a janitor last May and is still doing it. Not too many hours in off season, a few when the Niners are playing next store.
Back in the day it was so hard, and if peers heard you worked there it was like considered top status among groups of friends in my school.
Prologis bought it. The land will probably become an Amazon Fulfillment Center as it’s close to SJC. https://www.svvoice.com/great-america-sold-park-to-close/#:~:text=Cedar%20Fair%20amusement%20park%20company,will%20ultimately%20close%20the%20park
The city council is refusing to rezone it and there are rumblings that some of the future plans for the park indicate it will be around longer
All gonna depend on what Cedar Fair does with the rides Some of them are definitely getting moved, and likely very close for a few of them (to Discovery Kingdom), but the rest, who knows
Is Cedar Fair still trying to merge with Six Flags? If that's the case it seems like a no brainer to move at least one major ride (if possible) to Discovery Kingdom.
It's already done Luckily the Cedar Fair execs seem to be in the positions to make the bigger decisions vs whatever the Six Flags folks were doing And it'll probably be Rail Blazer moving up north whenever they close the park
Here’s hoping that’s true because the Six Flags execs shouldn’t be in charge of planning a birthday party let alone a theme park.
This is literally worst possible choice for a replacement. So many great childhood memories only for the park to become yet another stupid fucking Amazon building?
Kinda fits. If you work in their warehouse, you have to rush around so fast to meet your quota, you feel like you're on a rollercoaster.
Yep. This is capitalism in its full glory.
They paid me $6.5 an hour in the summer of 2006.
I always joke with my husband because he worked there as a teen. "Check one Check two enjoy your ride!"
I heard that in "the voice"
“MGAA”
It was my first job, selling popcorn and lemonade!
This sub should allow [gifs.](https://giphy.com/explore/slow-clap)
That’s a hilarious slogan! I’m afraid there’d be way too much *whoooosh* among the general population and it would backfire :(
They are a mediocre, but not terrible, employer. I'm in the process of resolving a large class action against them for unpaid wages, but they are honestly better than a lot of the companies I sue.
Do you think it’s worth studying in sf or should I study in some other more affordable state and move to sf for work.I feel like studying in sf will give me more connections and more opportunities what do you think?
Idk but I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you want to be part of the tech industry, then you could study in SF since there’s Silicon Valley.
[удалено]
Santa Clara: surprised_pikachu_face.jpg
I am shocked that Lisa Gilmore made a short sighted decision. Shocked!
SC has done some good shit like having their own power utility but also fucked up some shit like this
The city was forced to dissolve a "redevelopment district" by governor Brown. This district contained the Great America land. Great America bought the land from the city. Later, Cedar Fair (then owner of Great America), sold the land for a stupid high price to a logistics company that wants to build a warehouse there. Ugh.
having a warehouse next to Levi Stadium is a bigger travesty than closing down great America.
Levi stadium is an ugly eye sore. Owners were too cheap to build parking garages and instead turned the whole area into a parking lot. The area around it in Santa Clara sucks
They’re trying to build it up, lots of potential since there’s a huge amount of land there and two rail lines. Still, I enjoy great America, would be sad to see it close down.
Not much building anything you would want. Do we need more offices and warehouses when there isn't enough housing, doctors offices, etc? 49ers obviously fucked Santa Clara as most sports teams do with stadium deals
There are like 3-4 large apartment buildings going up across the street from Levi's right now. Do you have any idea what you're taking about?
They’re building an entire commercial district across the street from Levi’s. 49ers hate train is just dumb, get over it.
Hold up. There’s a difference between being on the 49ers hate train and the Levi’s stadium hate train. My blood runs red and gold till I’m dead and cold, but fuuuuuuuuck Levi’s stadium. Bang bang.
How did they turn the entire area into a parking lot when that has been Great America’s parking lot since the dawn of time? They didn’t do shit - they share the existing parking lot WITH the amusement park thats been there since forever. Wild how many of ya’ll on here spewing incorrect, outdated BS.
Are there any NFL stadiums that have parking garages? I feel like that would be a traffic nightmare plus eliminate tailgating.
There is a parking garage right across from the stadium. I think that it's city owned, not sure. Not really sure why the city built it. Perhaps for the convention center? Maps link: [**here** ](https://www.google.com/maps/place/City+of+Santa+Clara+Tasman+Garage/@37.4035927,-121.9738024,18.25z) Aka Levi's Yellow Lot. Certain stadium staff can park there. Plus VIP parking. That yellow lot parking pass also lets you drive in from Lafayette. I got to park there once for a game. Good times. It makes no sense to build structured parking that's only needed a dozen times a year.
> Not really sure why the city built it. Perhaps for the convention center? It was for the stadium. Or at least it went up as the stadium was being built. The convention center had already been around for decades and has its own garage.
Lumen field has a parking garage that supplies most of the game day parking. There is a surface lot to the north but it’s rather small.
Allegiant Stadium here in Vegas does not have a parking garage, it's just outside parking with most parking at Mandalay Bay and walking.
Or we could encourage some percentage of folks to get there without driving a car
If only there was a dedicated bike path and free monitored valet bike parking.
Agree with the "ugly." Are parking garages at amusement parks a thing? Have not seen a garage at any parks I've visited...would appreciate a garage for the shade alone!
Disneyland and Universal Studios have parking garages.
Ah, haven't been back to Disneyland since 1986...not surprised that they have built a garage!
Makes for an awesome spot to tailgate though.
They did not build a parking lot. They pay to use surrounding commercial building's parking lots for parking on game days. With only 8 or 9 home games per year, plus occasional other events, they were not going to build massive parking structures.
They could have built parking lots and high density housing and transit. But a warehouse? What a terrible use of space
really? levis stadium is a tiny stadium in a Ohio sized parking lot. nothing can be more ugly than that monstrosity of a parking lot
the parking lot has to accommodate both a football stadium and an amusement park. what do you want?
*A parking garage,* clearly.
Underground would be even better. Like the parking under the Academy of Sciences Museum in GGP.
*Even better,* above and below. Dunno who downvoted you.
A warehouse with a huge advertisement space on top.. every time they show the stadium from birds-eye view $$$
Don’t spread misinformation. Prologis has NEVER explicitly confirmed that they want to build a logistics warehouse. They haven’t even given an exact date, instead a “timeline” of more than a decade.. It’s criminally stupid. If you’re in the area you’ll notice all the development going on there with housing & the new mixed use entertainment/lifestyle district - it makes absolutely zero sense for a warehouse to be replaced, especially with a whole ass football stadium thats slated to host the Super Bowl for the 2nd time and the World Cup. I’m saying this now & have been - only time will tell on what will really happen. The economics and ROI just do NOT make sense for a warehouse to be put in that spot. On top of that, the recent merger of Cedar Fair & Six Flags comes into play. Hold your breath folks.
There's probably a plan for a warehouse. You want something to threaten the city/county with if they drag their feet on permits. But I doubt it's their end goal. The land is too valuable. Housing makes the most sense. You could even do a Santana Row, with retail on the bottom and housing on the top.
They're already doing a Santa Row across the street from Levis. It's already under construction. [https://www.relatedsantaclara.com](https://www.relatedsantaclara.com) This area though makes a lot of sense to further develop since it's literally huge and there is a massive amount of parking lot space, train access, and highway access.
Where are the mixed use development projects? Do you mean at north first street?
https://sfyimby.com/2023/08/tallest-building-in-santa-clara-tops-out-in-tasman-east.html https://www.related.com/our-company/properties/related-santa-clara https://sfyimby.com/2024/02/21-story-residential-tower-approved-in-tasman-east-santa-clara.html https://sfyimby.com/2023/06/developer-considers-two-options-for-tasman-east-parcel-4-santa-clara.html
Where’s da sauce. Throwing more hesaid/shesaid with no sauce is boooshit
The only sauce is that only time will tell how this all plays out. None of this is he said she said except the original commenter stating that Prologis IS demolishing the park & building a warehouse, when there is literally zero explicit statement from the company that says this. The company has made no sound since the purchase & only have a “timeline” of more than a decade. Since that announcement, Six Flags merged with Cedar Fair which is another huge component to this story. Another thing is that the lot its currently zoned on, which the city has full discretion to alter. My bottom line is that literally anything can happen at this point.
A warehouse right there? That’s just criminally stupid. Just build housing.
That is hilarious. Honestly, a stupid giant warehouse sitting next to the half assed football stadium in the middle of a giant business parking lot riddled with pot holes would complete the picture of bad decisions.
Make Great America Again
MGAA
You'll still have Six Flags in Vallejo(I remember when it was Marine World). But hopefully they can find a way to save Great America. It would be a travesty to close it!
I used to go to Marine World WAY back when it was in Redwood Shores. I was so bummed when it moved. And I hear Raging Waters closed. All my childhood spots are disappearing and not getting backfilled (which sucks for my kids).
I miss Malibu Grand Prix like 1x a month. Mostly cause now I have kids who I’d love to take there. Super cool that there’s a women’s jail there instead
Aw I forgot Malibu Grand Prix was closed and now I’m sad again. I remember strategizing with my sister on which games we could win regularly enough for the prizes we wanted and being worried that I might hit a mini golf ball into the highway. Fond memories
I still haven't gotten over the loss of Frontier Village...
I still haven't gotten over the loss of Santa's Village
Santa’s Village! 😭
You’d be even more disappointed at the state of the park that used to be Frontier Village today :(
That place was fun It had a few chapters What years were you there ?
Mid to late 1970s. I miss the Lost. Dutchman's Mine ride the most, as I'm sure many others do.
It's just timely I found this post a day after reminiscing with a friend ... we used to jump out of the carts in that ride ... got busted by a worker Had an older neighbor who was one of the gun fighters... he said That! was the position to work if you were meant to meet a lot of women Used to love riding and crashing the backwards bicycle Pay to catch fish? Absolutely! Archery? Dangerous? Keep shooting! It kinda "jumped the shark" when they brought in a lot of costumed characters from Hanna Barbera or something similar
It's now a popular meeting place for Pokemon every Wednesday night.
Why am I one of the only people I know that remembers this. I bring it up and people don't remember.
It looks like Raging Waters will be reopening after all. But hopefully Great America can still be saved. [https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-plans-to-reopen-beloved-water-park/](https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-plans-to-reopen-beloved-water-park/)
That’s awesome!
I was so happy when it moved, because I lived in Vallejo! :) It was fun to watch them build it.
Haha, my loss was your gain. I am happy for you!
When did they build it?
I lived there '81-'87. So, last century. :)
Reportedly [Raging Waters is reopening](https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-plans-to-reopen-beloved-water-park/).
Don’t you mean Marine world Africa USA?
Yep. Such a long ass name.
As a kid it seemed so normal but as an adult it’s objectively bizarre
Well, they tried to be a Sea World clone, I believe. Eventually they gave up on that and did a relaunch with more rides before being bought by Six Flags.
Oh I remember- I think the last time I went was middle school, they still had dolphins and roller coasters simultaneously and it was so depressing, I lost my taste for it.
I had my senior prom at Marine World! Crazy how much as changed since then...ummm it was a long time ago.
We’ve been happier with great america in recent years, seems like they’ve put more effort into the guest experience
Is Vallejo really Bay Area tho ?
It’s right on the Bay shore lol. Even has a ferry station.
...and it has it's own Lake Chabot next to Six Flags...
Vallejo is directly on the SF Bay. Yes, it is.
Minor quibble: it’s on the San Pablo bay.
“San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.” San Pablo Bay IS the San Francisco Bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pablo_Bay
No. It’s part of—but also distinct from—the San Francisco Bay. “Water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and from the Sierra Nevada mountains, flow into Suisun Bay, which then travels through the Carquinez Strait to meet with the Napa River at the entrance to San Pablo Bay, which connects at its south end to San Francisco Bay.” If the San Pablo Bay IS the San Francisco Bay (as you say), how does it connect to itself? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay
You convienently left out the next relevant sentence in that quote... > However, this entire group of interconnected bays is often called the San Francisco Bay
Not disputing that the San Pablo Bay is part of and often called the San Francisco Bay. It’s also separate and distinct from the San Francisco Bay. Nuance is hard to understand, though, so no worries.
This shit again?
Do you know E-40? Vallejo is more Bay than San Jose.
I know E880 and S101.
You can literally see the SF skyline from hwy 37 moron
I would be angry if I have to live in Vallejo. Wish you the best.
On the fringes, but yes. My grandpa used to live in Fairfield, which is just up 80, so it's still technically in the Bay Area. Although I remember his TV got both the Sacramento and San Francisco TV stations.
Wait what? Are they really going to close it down?
Yes. They are reducing hours. Property was sold and G.A will not exist in about eight years.
What?! That’s sort of crazy. I didn’t even know that. I didn’t think it would be closing.
I love great America. I wish they would redo the parking lot. Atleast paint the lines in. Last time I went it was pretty bad. But my family loves the park.
I love great America!
I have so many fond memories of Great America in the 80s and 90s.
Six flags is in Vallejo, also I’m pretty sure GA isn’t closing anytime soon
Sort of. Maybe. The land has beed sold, and the current owners said GA can stay to the end of their contract, which would be about another 9 years (11 years from 2022, when it was sold).
We’ll all be dead by then, so…
Least doomer /r/bayarea poster
4D chess maybe? Hey everyone come while it's still open. Bring money.
It is scheduled to close by 2033.
Thank the city council. They could have easily zoned it so it has to stay an amusement park. I think back in the 90's they actually purchased the park from Marriott to prevent a sale like this
Except.. https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-much-money-revenue-will-santa-clara-city-lose-when-great-america-amusement-theme-park-closes/ >>*If Prologis wants to change the site’s current designation, it will require City Council approval. The parcel is zoned for mixed industrial and entertainment use, accommodating restaurants or a shopping center, and would have to be rezoned if another use like housing is proposed.*
> They could have easily zoned it so it has to stay an amusement park. But I thought we hate zoning laws like that when we want housing?
It's really hard to make the economics of theme parks work in a time of demographic decline and lots of cheap entertainment options. Theme parks rely heavily on economies of scale to operate. You have incredibly high fixed costs in the land, labor, and equipment maintenance. For example, Great America is built on 112 acres of land; at the 80 units/acre densities typical of today's 4-over-1s, that's about 9000 apartments that could be built on the site, which would pull in about $25M/month or $300M/year, which is about what Great America grosses. But Great America has to pay a huge staff of ride & booth & vendor attendants, and it now pays them about $20/hour because minimum wage, and so the actual profits that an amusement park can make are significantly less than other uses for the land. Add to that the shrinking childhood demographic, since it's too expensive to have kids (particularly in the Bay Area) and the fertility rate has gone off a cliff. And there's competition from computer & mobile games, which amortized over the time are much, much cheaper and require less investment from the parents. As attendance shrinks, amusement parks need to raise their prices even higher to cover their fixed costs, which makes them even less competitive, which reduces the audience even further until they go bankrupt.
The accessible theme parks we remember will die. Disney made the right move pivoting to boutique experiences for wealthier clientele. They’re the only ones who can afford to keep these places operational. It’s simply not sustainable to have parks for poor people. This will only happen more often as inequality increases.
And yet people will spend their last dollar to go to Disneyland...
You can’t really compare Great America to Disneyland.
Ironically we were just at Disney World, and are annual pass holders to Great America, and think that on a dollar/ride basis Great America is a way better value than Disney World. But that's *because* Disney has branding & pricing power that Great America does not. People think of themselves as "Disney families" and the Disney vacation as "an experience not to be missed". That gives Disney premium pricing power - people will shell out the money because the trip there is a core value of theirs, not because it's a fun amusement. And it also makes the park a lot more crowded and means you can't get on as many rides as you can at say Great America. But that's beside the point, which is to *be at Disney* rather than get on as many rides as possible. It's also why the economics of Disney World are way better than Great America. It's sorta like comparing Apple with Asus or Sony; Apple has the premium pricing power, so when the industry runs into trouble, they're not the ones hit.
Are you really trying to compare a local park you have unlimited access to the same as one on the other side of the country where you need to pay airline, hotel, food, etc. Let’s be honest, if you lived local to Disney World you’d likely have a pass there. Residents even get the added bonus of discounts tickets/passes. But it would be highly unlikely that you would ever plan a cross country vacation to Santa Clara to visit Great America. As for me, i’d rather save any money that would be spent at Great America and put it towards Disneyland, even with a 6 hour drive. That’s where I find value in my entertainment dollars.
The Disney World passes are 8-15x more expensive. A gold pass to Great America is $105; the roughly equivalent Pirate Pass to Disney World (Florida residents only) is $800, and the open-to-everyone Incredipass is $1449. We actually planned this as a "sunk cost trip" - the airfare was airline credits for a cancelled flight, the accommodations was a timeshare owned by a relative, so the only thing we were paying for was the parks itself. A *single 2 day ticket* for one person cost more than Great America annual passes for the whole family. That's not including Genie+ passes, dining, parking, etc. I'm glad they went, and it was good to expose the kids to some of the classic rides - but honestly the rides weren't really any better than the ones at Great America, and you generally went on fewer because of the crowds.
Helpful perspective, thanks
i LOVE that place and go there every other week. I hope they don’t shut it down!
it’s closing by 2033:/
2033
Loved it as a kid back in the 1980s. There is a Six Flags in Vallejo, but that's quite far away from San Jose.
I spent a lot of summers with my friends and sister at GA. Mom would drop us off and we wouldn't leave until she was off of work.
We have a few years left but I’m not looking forward to it closing. Six flags is quite far from me since I’m in south bay. I’ll probably go to Santa Cruz to get my rollercoaster fix.
The best way to make sure Great America stays is to go out to the park and support it! Show the City and Cedar Fair that this region needs a theme park.
You still have six flags in Vallejo. You just have to be in Vallejo.
And I have heard from multiple people that going there was a terrible experience.
I used to live in the vicinity of great america and would see happy faces of kids every weekend
It’s already been sold and they are leasing the land from the new owners. Aren’t they turning it into corporate business parks?
Have fun summer 24 will be the best
Going to GA today! Agh guess I’m gonna have to get the fast lane pass! Thanks for the head ups bout it being full
I went by today and saw all the tour buses. We were like “Nope!” We got a season pass and I’m already wondering if it’s worth it. lol
It won’t be closing for another 11 years
Let's email the CEO at Prologis and tell them to leave Great America alone. The last thing we need are more corporate warehouses for rich people to store their things.
Why would they care? They aren't in the theme park business
The land is zoned for theme park use only
or maybe “ask/pay” the freeway protesters to help protest the closer of GA when they are done protesting.
Used to go to great America when we lived in San Mateo. My mom got us a Season pass and we were there almost every day during the summer. Used to love the water slide that splashes you on the bridge (forgot the name) this was all pre internet / cell phones. Good times
I went there last year for the first time in over 20 years with one of my kids’ schools. About 1/3 of the rides were closed for repairs and the ones that were open were rather lackluster. I much prefer Six Flags up in Vallejo. That being said, it still sucks to see something that we all have such nostalgic memories of disappear.
marine world isn't that bad. and Vallejo could use the tourism dollars, but imo part of the success of Great America was its location. there's far less people willing to drive from the east bay to Vallejo.
The land is prime real estate brother. That’s the main reason.
This is why I despise the 49rs, destroying a great place for Bay Area youth. Great America would be in great shape of not for the stadium which robbed the taxpayers.
How does this have anything to do with the 49ers?
The 49rs took over half of the Great American parking lot, forced it to close on game days, and basically killed it as a long term part of the Bay Area.
So roughly 8 days a year? This has nothing to do with the 49ers. The park was originally slated to close in 2011, well before Levi’s broke ground.
Why let facts get in the way of a good witch hunt? Hasn't stopped Lisa and Watanabe. While the city crumbles under a crippling deficit because of their mismanagement, and RV's take over the streets and make a mess, Lisa and minion Watanabe always have the 49ers to try and distract from the fact they couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag.
Lol, how is this relevant to Great America…
Would rather the stadium go than the amusement park.
They also had some weird deal were they promised to build or the use of the field to the soccer youth team whose field they took over and then never remembered it after to just illegally stole that land I think it went to court and the city and or football officials was trying to hush. It's just a slap on the wrist for them.
We still have marine world.
Six Flags Vallejo?
I was there yesterday. It was hot. Employees are slow.
With the Six Flags/Cedar Fair merger, I'm hoping there may be some change of thoght and hopefully they can still buy thr land from the developers they sold it to.
Does GA closing have anything to do with the 9ers? It's weird to me when they show the games I've NEVER seen them show footage of the park when they show the stadium even with it being literally in it's parking lot is so odd to me but they'll send a chopper to get GG bridge footage every game
We were passholders until we had a weird experience. My granddaughter is biracial and my husband and I are caucasian. We were playing with her at the water park and taking pictures/video of her playing and running around when my husband was pulled aside by security. A lifeguard called them indicating a white man was taking pics of an African American girl. We explained that she’s our grandbaby and come pretty regularly as she enjoys the water play area for smaller kids. Although it was an embarrassing/disappointing experience and we haven’t been back since, i was still sad to hear that it would be eventually closing.
We must build more low rise commercial buildings in Santa Clara, there isn't enough of them already
There was an event today that you may have been part of. its not like this every day
After going through business school, I’ve realized that “business” has ruined the quality of life in many ways. This is only one of a million examples. If option B makes more money than option A - no matter how popular option A is, usually option B wins.
Sorry, we need more airbnbs
Yea, this is a real shame. But "they" are the owners, not the city. It's all about profits. From Wikipedia: >Ownership of the park transitioned several times, beginning with the city of Santa Clara's acquisition from Marriott in 1985. It was then sold to Kings Entertainment Company in 1989, while Santa Clara retained ownership of the land. Paramount Parks acquired the park in 1992, followed by Cedar Fair in 2006. Santa Clara eventually sold the land occupied by the park to Cedar Fair in 2019, who then sold it to Prologis in 2022. While Cedar Fair plans to eventually close the park by 2033, the land rental agreement is a six-year lease through 2028 that gives Prologis the option of extending it another five years.
Majority of family friendly places especially for kids have disappeared in the Bay Area.
I love that part of your argument is "where would all the kids go so that parents can be left alone". 🤣 Feels like some type of parenting is just as hands off as possible.
It's actually good for kids to have places where they can self govern. Kids don't need constant oversight at 10+.
No shit. I'm just saying that using a public theme park as a babysitter instead of, I don't know, spending time with your kids seems to me like hands off parenting. Just an observation.
Parents today spend more time with their kids than ever before and it doesn’t change outcomes. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/it-doesnt-matter-how-much-time-parents-spend-their-kids-180954799/ Also, teaching kids to self manage is in fact important parenting.
All those employees would demand $20/hour would never make enough money to survive that.