Here's the long answer.
It'll never be the grand theme park it once, as Marriott's Great America. The corporations that have run it since then, especially in the last 15 years or so, have hacked up the once great themeing and sort of run the park into the ground.
Of the two former Marriott's Great Americas, the much better one is in Gurnee, IL, near Chicago, which has been a Six Flags park for the last 30 years, and is arguably one of the best SF parks. This is mainly due to the personnel that have been there since the Marriott days, and the fact a lot of the original themeing of the park still exists, even if watered down to Six Flags standards.
The Gurnee park has expanded several times over the years, whereas Santa Clara did not. Two parks that started out as near clones of each other, today look much different.
Marriott intended to build and open three Great Americas in 1976 on both coasts and the Midwest. They were never able to build a Great America in suburban Washington, DC, after local opposition blocked construction of parks in Virginia and Maryland. As it was, they went forward and opened their parks in Santa Clara and Gurnee as planned, in May of 1976, for the Bicentennial. The parks were heavily themed to different parts of the US, with elaborately themed areas, costuming, and live entertainment. Really, they were trying to be a regional version of Disney parks, even going as far as hiring former Disney designers and architects.
Marriott lost interest in the project after never drawing the large crowds from the Bay Area it anticipated. That left Gurnee as the only park that was highly profitable, and Marriott sold their two Great America parks to separate corporations in 1984-1985.
That all being said, for a park that seemed doomed to close five years ago, it has survived. No one wanted to buy the park, and the current owner, Cedar Fair, kept removing rides and replacing them with nothing. Even with all the 49'ers talk about building a new stadium in the overflow parking lot, it has survived. They finally added a new roller coaster in 2013, Gold Striker, which had been put on hold for years. (Awesome wooden coaster, BTW!)
It, like Gurnee, still has its trademark charming double decker Columbia Carousel, the tallest in the world. There are also several good flat rides remaining from the Marriott days, better than modern rides. Both parks also share the Demon coaster, while tame by modern standards, is still a fun corkscrew coaster. The layout is unique to the two Great Americas. Unfortunately, much of its themeing has been removed over the years.
Since I have been going to Santa Clara the past five years, the park has improved a lot. Attendance is also up. The one issue they have is, there is no room to expand. Marriott sold off most of the surrounding land years ago. When the park opened, there was no Silicon Valley, only orchards. Marriott still owns a business park in back of the park, as well as the Marriott hotel.
Flight Deck (was Top Gun...they opted to not renew the license) is still an awesome coaster if you are familiar with the Batman rides at Six Flags parks, which originated in Gurnee in 1992, and was cloned several times later in the decade. Its layout is refreshingly different from the Batman clones.
So, go to Great America...you're right there, so it's worth it.
Also, there are fireworks shows on Fridays and Saturdays, which can be easily seen from outside the convention center.
CAX and the hotel used to have a great discount ticket for Great America...not sure if they still do. But make sure to at least buy your tickets online, and not pay full price at the gate.
-Mark
Champaign, IL
