The Great Southwest

The Great Southwest was a planned themed area for Marriott's Great America in Maryland and later for Marriott's Great America in Gurnee.

While never built, the old west theme was eventually reused for the Picnic Grove and the idea was fully used when Gurnee opened Southwest Territory.

History
Marriott's Great America in Maryland was initially intended to be the flagship and the largest in the chain and Marriott purchased a big plot of land for it's ambitious plans. The large plot size allowed Marriott to fit in two additional themed areas, The Great Southwest themed after the old west and an unnamed themed area themed after the antebellum South.

Local opposition from residents near the Maryland site for Great America led to the project being abandoned in the 1980s after several years of attempts. Before the plan was abandoned, Marriott intended to also build The Great Southwest as an expansion to the Gurnee park (The Santa Clara park is landlocked in Silicon Valley which impeded and still impedes any expansion thus this addition was never planned at Santa Clara's Great America). In 1977, the Southern Cross, a gondola skyride, was opened at Gurnee which provided shuttle from Orleans Place to the future site of The Great Southwest, behind Demon (then known as Turn of the Century).

The area was scheduled to open in 1979. Ultimately, the deadline was missed and the Southern Cross was removed in 1982. The old west concept was eventually implemented in the Picnic Grove area. Marriott sold both its Great America parks in 1984 which meant that the original idea for the area was effectively dead. As the Gurnee park still had plenty of land to develop on, the old west themed area concept was revived and in 1996, Six Flags opened Southwest Territory on the land where The Great Southwest was originally intended to be albeit not exactly as the concept plans envisioned.