California’s Great America opens with salute to ‘Top Gun’
A Tom Cruise look-alike will be on hand and the iconic “Top Gun” movie will be screened when California’s Great America celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Top Gun/Flight Deck roller coaster.
The events on Saturday and Sunday also mark the 2018 season opening of the Santa Clara amusement park.
Flight Deck, originally called Top Gun, opened to the public in 1993 when the park was owned by Paramount Communications, which had released the movie “Top Gun” in 1986. An inverted roller coaster, with riders suspended below the track, Top Gun incorporated theme music and exhibits that made the ramp to the ride look and sound like an aircraft carrier. Employees were dressed in “flyboy” attire.
After Cedar Fair bought the park in 2006, the ride’s name and colors were changed. On Saturday and Sunday, free commemorative 25th anniversary dog tags will be given to all Flight Deck riders (while supplies last); the “Top Gun” movie will screen continuously in the Theatre Royale; the soundtrack will play at the park; and fans can have selfies taken with “Cruise.”
Details: Grand opening and anniversary festivities start at 9:50 a.m. Saturday. The park opens at 10 a.m. Buy tickets online for best deals; daily admission starts at $39.99 at www.cagreatamerica.com.