1981 Marriott's GREAT AMERICA commercials

Post by **steven** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:03 am

Hi,

Eight commercials from 1981 are now in the new video album:
http://www.greatamericaparks.com/images ... ?album=161

Please share your feedback on this commercials here. Thanks.

Steven

MGA1 · Post by **MGA1** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:54 am

Steven, thanks for posting these! I love the one commercial where the wife makes fun of the wide lapels on the father's suit coat. It looks like all the scenes with the family were filmed at the Santa Clara park. The concert series commercials were definitely for the Santa Clara park.

I honestly don't remember seeing these commercials aired in the Chicago area back in 1981 when I worked in Gurnee. 1981 was the year the American Eagle opened and all I remember seeing was the America Eagle commercial aired over and over and over on the local television stations.

Post by **steven** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:53 pm

Thanks, MGA1. That brings up an interesting question. These commercials are dated 1981 and I understood the American Eagle commercial on the "old" multimedia page to be from 1981. But that American Eagle commercial is based on the "hand in hand" ad campaign. That makes me think that the American Eagle commercial on this site might be from 1982 instead. Do you remember any details about the 1981 American Eagle commercial that you saw on television during its opening year?

Steven

MGA1 · Post by **MGA1** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:10 pm

I believe the "Go Hand In Hand" theme commercials were only used for the Gurnee park. I remember the American Eagle commercial for 1981 was the one posted on here with the boy and girl in the "Great American Blue and Red" sweaters....btw, they were actors, not employees but the rest of the people in the train/station were employees/relatives of employees. The coaster officially opened to guests on May 23, 1981. I believe the filming for the commercial occurred in April 1981. If you look closely in the commercial, you can see there are no cars in the guest parking lot. In 1982, there were no new attractions added in Gurnee so the other "Go Hand In Hand" commercial that talks about "42 rides, 9 shows, 100s of games, and 30 places to eat".....was also specific to the Gurnee park since this commercial also talks/shows riding on the American Eagle (which didn't exist in Santa Clara).

I assume Santa Clara never used the "Go Hand In Hand" theme song and stayed with the previous "Maybe A Great Day Is Just What You Need This Year" theme and used those family commercials...I can see a copyright 1981 flash up toward the end of the commercial with the plastic dinner food. Perhaps someone who lived/worked in California in 1981 can confirm this.

Post by **steven** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:20 am

If the "go hand in hand" American Eagle commercial was used for Gurnee in 1981, then I wonder if maybe Gurnee just skipped the "maybe a great day is just what you need this year" campaign from 1981. Then, perhaps, both parks used the full "go hand in hand" campaign in 1982. Last year I received an email from someone who was in one of the "go hand in hand" commercials. She mentioned them being from 1982. She didn't mention which park, however. Maybe, Gurnee got an early version of it in 1981 for Eagle and then maybe both parks used "go hand in hand" in 1982. Hmmm.

Steven

RLAiello · Post by **RLAiello** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:59 am

I think you're right about Gurnee not being privy to the "Great Day" campaign. I don't remember any of those commercials either... I would have remembered that jingle-- it's VERY catchy and memorable. I still remember the original "Country of Fun for everyone" campaign from the first few years and the "Time after Time" campaign... so I can't imagine I would have forgotten about that!

However, I DO remember that Demon commercial!!!!

Thanks for posting these!

RLAiello · Post by **RLAiello** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 3:31 am

Just found this on YouTube: The "Go Hand In Hand" commercial!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjgxHT99rDM