The Ameri-Go-Round was the name given to two carousels, one at each of Marriot's Great America amusement parks,

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the ...

in Gurnee, Illinois and California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. Marriott's Great America parks were unusual at the time because they were among the few parks with two carousels within the park. Each park had a carousel called the Columbia Carousel at the front of the park in addition to the Ameri-Go-Rounds.

Gurnee Ameri-Go-Round

Gurnee's Ameri-Go-Round was built by the

Dentzel Carousel Company The G.A. Dentzel Company was an American builder of carousels in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. History Its founder, Gustav Dentzel, had immigrated to the United States in 1860, from German ...

in 1922 for Fontaine Ferry Park in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. It was sold to Great America when Fontaine Ferry closed in 1969, and operated at Great America until 2003. It's a Deluxe Menagerie model 3-Row Carousel. It has 43 horses, with 12 elaborately carved outside row standing horses and 31 jumping horses. There are five menagerie figures, a lion, a tiger a deer, a giraffe, and a rare mule. Many of the jumpers were carved by Daniel Muller. In 2003 the carousel was disassembled after the park closed for the winter. The ride was replaced with a HUSS Frisbee ride named ''Revolution'' in 2004. One reason for the ride's removal was that the ride was closed often due to low staffing and mechanical problems.

Current status

The Ameri-Go-Round is in storage at the park. The ride is in storage crates near the lift hill for '' Superman Ultimate Flight''.

Santa Clara Ameri-Go-Round

Santa Clara's Ameri-Go-Round was

Philadelphia Toboggan Company Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia ...

's 45th carousel, built in 1918. It was built for the Cincinnati Zoo, sold by the zoo to Great America in 1974 and debuted there when the park opened in 1976. It was taken out of service in 1995 to make way for the Drop Zone Stunt Tower attraction. In 2000, it was announced that Linda and Tom Allen had arranged to donate it to

Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo is a wildlife conservation organization and zoological garden located in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the recipient of over 65 awards across multiple categories, and had served appr ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. After a pavilion was constructed for it, it debuted there in 2006. WPZ carousel 06

References

External links

Ameri-Go-Round historyCarousel Fact Sheet (Woodland Park Zoo)
{{Six Flags Great America Carousels in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Seattle Amusement rides manufactured by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters