Great America in "Getting Even With Dad"

Featured in this video is all park footage from the 1994 family film “Getting Even With Dad,” which starred child actor Macaulay Culkin as a boy that blackmails his father (played by Ted Danson) into spending time with him, which includes taking him to an amusement park.

This amusement park is California's Great America in Santa Clara, CA. Though owned by Paramount at the time of filming this movie, many of the rides featured in this footage remain there to this day.

0:00 — The Demon, a stunning Arrow Dynamics custom looper that is (to this very day) the oldest rollercoaster in the park with 46 years of operation under its belt. Demon originally opened as “Turn of the Century” on opening day in 1976. Though sections of track changed along with the name, the big double corkscrew prominently featured here has been there since the beginning. It was renamed “Speed Demon” for filming.

0:12 — Flight Deck, a Bolliger and Mabillard steel inverted coaster that was originally dubbed “Top Gun” when it opened in 1993, when the principal photography for this film took place. The ride has since been repainted red and white and renamed, with the ride continuing to operate to this day. The ride appears in a deleted scene and was renamed “Exterminator” for filming.

0:22 — The Demon's queue area. Back when the Demon operated as "Turn of the Century" it did NOT possess the vertical loops, instead offering airtime hills. In 1980, the Arrow was renamed and repurposed into Demon, with vertical loops taking the place of the airtime hills. The ride was themed heavily with the Tasmanian Devil when Marriott owned the park.

0:37 — Carousel Columbia, the park's signature double-decker carousel; it has been there since park opening in 1976. Still operating to this day and celebrated 46 years of operation in 2022.

0:42 — A great shot that showcases classic Great America storefronts and the trolley car in the tract of the park known as Orleans Place. The trolley car was removed at an unknown date. While the "Golden Oldies: Make Your Own Music Video" is no longer operating, the building remains.

1:00 - Centrifuge, a Schwarzkopf Calypso that has built up a reputation as one of the park’s premium flat rides. It opened as Fiddler’s Fling on park open in 1976 and as such, has celebrated a 46 year run with Great America. It originally had covered cars and was silver. It was reputedly given a retheme and repaint for this film and never transitioned back. Still in operation. It was renamed “Death Trap” for filming.1

1:10 - Berserker, a Schwarzkopf Bayern Kurve that opened with the park in 1976 and as such, marked 46 years running in 2022. As of 2021, it is the only Schwarzkopf Bayern Kurve still operating in North America and is 1 of only 5 left running in the world. It’s a unique flat that adds character/charm to this park!

1:13 - HMB Endeavor, an Intamin Looping Starship that opened in 1987. It was originally named "The Revolution." HMB Endeavor continued to both thrill and terrify guests until its removed at the end of the 2017 season.

The full view shot of HMB Endeavor gives us a truly spectacular glimpse of Great America’s history; key attractions on full display...

Firstly, we see the flumes of both Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper, which interlocked. Both attractions have since been removed — Yankee Clipper bowed out in 1998, while Logger’s Run was removed in the 2017 season alongside neighboring HMB Endeavor.

In the far left corner is Grizzly, an iconic woodie that has delighted families since 1986. Just visible up in front of it is the park’s Von Roll gondola lift, which is boarded from front-end station Delta Flyer and back end station Eagle’s Flight and has been in operation since opening in 1976. Both attractions are still up and running to this day.

Also visible in this shot... both the iconic Sky Whirl (a three-armed ferris wheel) and Tidal Wave, a pair of beloved park attractions that would be removed by Paramount. Both are sorely missed.

Sky Whirl was removed to make room for a yellow and blue Vekoma Boomerang known as Invertigo, added in 1998 -- only four years after this footage was shot. Invertigo would later be sold to Dorney Park in 2010 and renamed Stinger before being removed again.

In 2002, Paramount removed Tidal Wave, with the reasons still unknown and often debated today. A part of it still remains in the form of footers visible from Patriot, a B&M suspended steel coaster once opened in 1991 as Vortex, when it was a standing coaster.

The space both iconic attractions once inhabited would remain unused until spring 2018, when the innovative single-rail steel coaster Railblazer (the product of Rocky Mountain Construction) made a splash as the first of its kind.

Part of Demon's track is visible between the two removed attractions, and had this film been shot roughly 20 years later, the wooden coaster Gold Striker might have been visible on the far right.