Carwardine's In-Park New Years Day Event

Carwardine's In-Park New Years Day Event was a tradition started by Carwardine Parks on December 31st, 1991, before 1991, the parks were often either closed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, or close way before midnight.

Mario's "Ball Drop"
At Carwardine's Great America over a barren section on Northern Cross, and broadcast live to the other parks in the chain, Mario drops a disco ball off the Northern Cross maintenance gondola, onto the ground, shattering it in the process, this was based on a kid who said to Chris Carwardine that his favorite part of New Year's was "watching the Times Square disco ball get destroyed onto the hard cement", which, in reality, the Times Square ball drop ball isn't technically a disco ball, and it's on a pole and thus, doesn't get destroyed, but that didn't stop Chris Carwardine from making this a reality every year at Carwardine's Great America.