When Paramount revisited its lucrative Beverly Hills Cop franchise, it wanted a bigger set piece for the film. The studio decided that a crooked theme park located in Southern California would be what attracted Axel Foley out west. They set their sights on Disneyland, but the Walt Disney Company was unwilling to let them film there. As luck would have it, Paramount had just purchased a chain of theme parks, one of which was located a one hour plane ride away- Paramount's Great America.
The park had an interesting Hollywood pedigree. Development of the park was started by film and television star Fess Parker, who planned a Western themed park. When his business partner backed out, he sold the land and the project to J.W. Marriott, who built one of three planned Marriott's Great America theme parks on the land.
In 1984, the Marriott Corporation had grown tired of running theme parks and sought to sell the valuable land to a technology company. The city of Santa Clara saved the park from bulldozers and by 1993 it was owned and operated by Paramount Parks. The park would be a perfect set for Beverly Hills Cop 3.
The park was transformed into Wonder World, a Disney-Style theme park owned by "Uncle Dave", a Walt Disney surrogate played by Mr. Ed's Alan Young. His park's security force has taken the park over, making it the center of a counterfeiting ring which gets brought down by Axel Foley and Billy Rosewood.
The film makes extensive use of the park, though several scenes of more elaborate attractions were filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood.
One of the most exciting action sequences featured the park's imposing Sky Wheel, which is sabotaged, forcing Axel Foley to rescue park guests.
Sadly, the Sky Wheel was removed not long after so that the park could place a roller coaster in its place. Eventually, Paramount divested itself from the theme park industry, selling its chain of parks to Cedar Fair, who gave the place a nonsensical new name- California's Great America. Beverly Hills Cop 3 underperformed at the box office, putting an end to the franchise at that time. The theme park still exists, though it is a shadow of its prior self.
