Carwardine's Great America

Located near Leesburg, Virginia, originally Marriott's Great America, which opened in 1977. Owned by Carwardine Parks since 1980, although Marriott operated it until 1985. Before ownership was purchased by Carwardine, this was treated as the flagship park of the Marriott’s Great America chain of parks, despite being the last to open; this park was also the largest of the three.

History
In 1980, Marriott sold the land under it to the then-new Carwardine Parks.

In 1981, not much happened to the park, as Gurnee's Great America was getting an Intamin wooden coaster named "American Eagle".

In 1982, American Eagle was added to the park, a near clone of the Gurnee location, but with alterations to the queue line to no longer necessitate the use of the "central island" platform Gurnee's uses.

In 1983, The Edge was added, which was also installed at the Gurnee park (leased to Bally Midway) and the Santa Clara park (leased to the City of Santa Clara) that same year.

In 1984, Traffique Jam closed for good.

In 1985, with Carwardine purchasing Marriott's operating stakes, three new rides (though technically two, as the Northern Cross wasn't it's own ride originally) were added, with the slogan "The Power of Three". Lobster also closed in 1985.

In 1986, once again, not much happened.

In 1987, Wild Wet: Frontier Flume opened, a Hopkins Shoot-The-Chute that has a 10-foot wave that soaks both the riders and the nearby passengers.

In 1988, not a whole lot happened with the park.

In 1989, Kids Kountry was added to a barren unused land near Turn of the Century and the Northern Cross.

In 1990, The Rock-Afire Explosion and The Great American Lakes waterpark both made their debut.

In 1991, The Great Canadian Rapids opened while Yukon Yahoo closed.

In 1992, Triple Play closed.

In 1993, Hometown Square became Simpsons Square and Yukon Territory became Nintendo Territory.

In 1994, The Great American River Rafting and Breakdancer closed.

In 1995, Playground Kountry was added.

In 1996, The Carwardine River Rapids Adventure was added while The Whizzer closed forever.

In 1997, Mario's Wingflyer opened while Ameri-Go-Round closed.

In 1998, Wild Itchy opened.

In 1999, Sky Whirl closed forever, parts were sent to Carwardine Colony as parts donors.

At CarwardineCon 2000, Catapult was announced.

In 2001, Catapult opened.

In 2002, Bourbon Street Arsenal opened.

In 2003, PBS Kids Neighborhood was added.

In 2004, Bowser's Braincrusher was added.

In 2006, Tipsy Tub opened.

Since 2013, Kate Ann Carwardine has managed this park, taking over from TBA.

In 2021, Darren's Loop was added.

In 2022, Monocoaster and Simpsons’ Road Trip Coaster were added.

Areas

 * Americana
 * Carwardine Fair
 * Kids Kountry (introduced in 1989; known as PBS Kids Neighborhood from 2003-2007 and "77 Kids Kountry" from 2009-2010; placed where the Great Southwest area was planned to be placed)
 * Time Harbor
 * Marshy Gras
 * Nintendo Territory

Other attractions

 * The Rock-afire Explosion (added 1990) [Americana]

Great American Lakes
Replaced unused land east of Kids Kountry on the other side of the Northern Cross station.

Trivia

 * This was Carwardine's second amusement park, and first acquired amusement park, having owned this since August 1980.