Category: USA Section

Looney Tunes Land

In 1984, the Six Flags chain’s purchased Marriott’s Great America park. Great America held a license to use the Warner Brother’s Looney Tunes characters in the park since it opened in 1976. With the purchase, Warner Brothers expanded the license with Six Flags to include its other six parks, including Six Flags Over Texas. Six Flags now had access to a wealth of well-known and established characters to use within the parks. The characters became the park’s official mascots.

Several Six Flags Over Texas attractions were renovated to feature the various characters. The entire Pac-Man Land children’s section was rethemed to become the more child friendly Looney-Tunes Land.

While there was little change in the attractions available, there were changes in the names of the attractions. In the soft play area, the air pillows became the Porky Pig Play Pen and the ball pit was renamed as Tweety Bubbles. The children’s Ferris wheel became the Elmer Fudd Fewwis Wheel; the Rugged Buggy became the Roadrunner Runaround; and the Red Baron became the Tasmanian Devil Flying Aces. A fourth ride, a small boat carousel, was added and designated as Daffy Duck Lake. The other rides were relocated a small distance in order to make room for the boat ride.

In 1991, Loony Tunes Land underwent a major remodeling. As a part of the renovation, four new rides replaced activities in the soft play area.

One was the Martian Escape, a mini-swing ride manufactured by Zamperla, a ride manufacturer that specializes in smaller rides. The Martian Escape was a child’s version of the Texas Tornado swing ride. The ride was installed in the middle of Looney Tunes Land. In 2000, the name of the ride was changed and it was moved south of the railroad tracks.

Martian Escape, a mini-swing ride was installed in 1991 as part of the revitalization of Looney Tunes Land. In 2001 it was moved to a different location in the section and renamed Michigan J. Frog’s Tinseltown Parade.

The second new ride was a small train ride named Sylvester’s Jr.’s Train. The train was a Zamperla Rio Grande style train. Guests could ride in the engine cab, the tender, a gondola, or a passenger car. The ride was located under a covering to the east side of Looney Tunes Land.

The Convoy was the third new ride. The Convoy is a Zamperla Convoy truck style ride. The ride units resemble semi-trailer trucks, with cab seating for two children and an open back seat for an adult and child or two children. The trucks are connected to each other to form a train. It was installed in an open area on the west side of Looney Tunes Land. The Convoy is still located in the park at its original location. It is now known as Speedy Gonzales’ Truckin’ Across America.

The forth new ride was Porky Pig’s Magic Wheel, an Eli Bridge Company standard small Ferris wheel with twelve bench seats. Porky Pig’s Magic Wheel was larger than the park’s current Elmer Fudd Fewwis Wheel. It was added south of the railroad tracks, near the location of the section’s current four children’s rides. The ride was removed in 2001.

In addition to the new rides, a small jumping water fountain was placed at the north entrance in the section. The fountain was removed in 2006 and replaced with the Looney Tunes Gazebo stage.

As part of the Looney Tunes theming, the Kooper Kettle restaurant was renamed as Wascal’s Burgers and Fries.

At the end of the 1997 season, the smaller of the park’s two Ferris wheels, the Elmer Fudd Ferris Wheel, was removed from Looney Tunes Land.

The section underwent major changes in 2001. As part of a major overhaul, the name was changed from Looney Tunes Land to Looney Tunes, USA. Added was the Canyon Blaster roller coaster, as well as five other new small children’s rides.

A mini Empire Tower drop ride named Taz’s New York Adventure was added in the same location at which the small Porky Pig’s Fewwis Wheel had stood. For this ride, youngsters ride a bench seat that rises approximately 20-feet up the front of the “Empire State building”. When it reaches the top, the seat jumps up and down as it returns to the ground level.

The second ride was the Daffy for President Tour Bus. Known as a Crazy Bus style ride, guests sit in a small bus shaped unit that rotates in a vertical circle. The ride was also referred to as the Looney Tunes Capital Tours bus ride in some promotional materials. It is decorated as both a Hollywood tour bus and a presidential campaign bus.

The third ride, a teacup style ride named Yosemite Sam’s Texas Tea Cups, allows riders to ride in Texas style “oil barrel” teacups. The ride is located at the former site of the Daffy Duck Lake boats.

The forth ride was a miniature bumper car ride, the Route 66 Bumper Cars. Each car represented a different Looney Tunes’ character.

These four rides were manufactured by the SBF-VISA Group.

The fifth new ride was Sylvester & Tweety’s State Fair-is Wheel. This was the third Ferris wheel located in the section. It is a Zamperla mini-Ferris wheel. This wheel has six enclosed balloon shaped units. It is located at the site of the larger Porky Pig’s Magic Wheel, which was removed.

In addition to adding the new rides, each of the remaining current rides in the section were renovated and rethemed. The small Red Baron airplane ride became the Bugs Bunny’s Spirit of St. Looie. The miniature swing ride was moved and renamed Michigan J. Frog’s Tinseltown Parade, also called Michigan J. Frog’s Tinseltown Revue. The Zamperla convoy truck ride became Speedy Gonzales’ Truckin’ Across America. The miniature train ride became Elmer Fudd’s America the Beautiful Railway.

A new Looney Tunes Land Stage was added for live outdoor shows. In order to make room for the new rides, the Rugged Buggy was removed from the park. The Rugged Buggy was the park’s first off the shelf small children’s ride. The Daffy Duck Lake small boat ride was also removed at that time.