designers traveled across the country, observing styles and collecting artifacts to help inform an authentic atmosphere. The park was broken up into six original themed areas, which are organized in a "Duell loop" that runs clockwise around the perimeter. The first of these was Carousel Plaza, located at the front of the park, centered around the double-decker Columbia Carousel, Hometown Square, and based on early 20th century small towns of the Midwest; followed by The Great Midwest Livestock Exposition at County Fair (now just County Fair), with its early 20th century rural county fair; Yukon Territory, resembling a logging camp in the Canadian Yukon; Yankee Harbor, a 19th-century New England port inspired by Cape Cod; and finally Orleans Place, modeled after the French Quarter of New Orleans. Each themed area had its own set of costumes for park employees, and the design of buildings, shops and restaurants were all unique to each theme. For example, the Klondike Cafe in Yukon Territory served beef dishes in large pans like those used for panning for gold. A seventh area, The Great Southwest, was planned from the beginning as a potential expansion, but was not built until 1996, when it opened as Southwest Territory. Opening and operation The park opened on Saturday, May 29, 1976, two months after California's Great America. The park was an immediate success due in part to coinciding with the bicentennial. From the beginning, the park made use of the Looney Tunes characters as costumed figures to interact with the park attendees, a tradition that continues today under Six Flags ownership. At its opening in 1976, Great America featured three roller coasters, Willard's Whizzer, Turn of the Century and The Gulf Coaster. The park had also included other flat rides throughout the park. These attractions included the elaborate double-decker Columbia Carousel, which opened as one of the tallest carousels in the world and the Sky Whirl, a unique, -tall "triple ferris wheel" custom-designed for Marriott. Transportation rides included Delta Flyer and Eagle's Flight, two one-way gondola sky car rides. In Orleans Place, attractions in the area were Orleans Orbit, (later renamed simply the "Orbit"), an Enterprise-type ride and Rue Le Dodge, a bumper car ride. The park's second season in 1977 saw the installation of several new rides. The Sky Trek Tower opened in Carousel Plaza and today is one of the few rides to still operate under its