Check-In Clip: Remembering Marriott’s Great America Theme Park
by Daniel McCarthyFrom Check-In Episode 6 with Marriott’s Brian King.
What is now Six Flags Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois used to be something different. In fact, the theme park, which has been owned and operated by Six Flags since 1984, was originally opened by Marriott in 1976.
While the legacy of Marriott’s ownership, which included a double-decker carousel and a roller coaster named for J. Williard Marriott (Willard’s Whizzer), has somewhat faded for the general public, it has not faded for the thousands of people who worked the park during Marriott’s eight-year ownership.
That includes Brian King, the current president of Marriott’s Caribbean and Latin America divisions, who has spent his entire career at Marriott.
The full episode is available here.
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