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Geauga Lake - The Fallen Giant

Ian

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Earlier this morning an article popped up in my Facebook feed, and I think that it warrents sharing here. Pretty much everything in it was new to me, and in some ways it's quite a tragic tale.

http://www.themeparktourist.com/fea...lake-how-worlds-largest-six-flags-disappeared

If for nothing else this article seems to emphasise just how different our UK and European industries are to those in the States. The way that a park can rocket in scale over just a couple of seasons is quite unimaginable to me. I guess the closest the UK has ever come could be Thorpe in the early 2000s, but even that pales in comparison to the development Six Flags Worlds of Adventure went through.

The idea of two competeing attractions merging together to form a 'mega-park' is incredible, especially two such prominent companies as Six Flags and SeaWorld! The whole development blows my mind!

Personally I find it pretty tragic that this attraction met the fate it did. On paper it looks like it should have been a leading park, attracting crowds far and wide. Clearly the project was up against some serious issues bought up in the article above, which it appears Cedar Fairs were not willing or able to face.

Mistakes were made to lead to the demise, undeniably, but if nothing else it is a testament to just how volatile the industry can be at times, and that rapid expansion is not always the best move.

Especially now, with the fabled Paramount Park becoming closer to reality, it does cast some shadows out doubt around, and proves that nothing is unbreakable.

I'd be interested to hear other people's thought on this park, and if anyone is like me and is only just learning of this park and it's story :)
 
Fantastic Read Ian, Thank you for posting this. It certainly sheds a new light on plans for Kent, highlighting just how volatile and unpredictable this industry can be.

Is it me, or does this article remind you/make you think of a certain park in Chertsey?

Unfortunately, skeptically, I believe that Cedar Fair always intended to close down this park, and that it perhaps wouldn't have survived as a thrill park anyway due to the five reasons stated, but I wholly agree with;

Locals may never forgive Cedar Fair for what they did to Geauga Lake. To be fair, though, it was just a nail in a coffin that had been closing for some time. For the reasons above, Worlds of Adventure might have been doomed. That doesn’t necessarily mean Geauga Lake was. Despite Cedar Fair’s last comments on the subject, Northeast Ohio can support a family amusement park. Indeed, it did for 120 years.
'Spoilered' as the article is so interesting I don't want to give anything away & strongly recommend reading it first.

I can worryingly see myself reading a similar article about Thorpe Park one day.
 
I remember the rapid demise of Geauga Lake but I had no idea that the park's growth had been so meteoric and also that the park was so old. It seems somewhat tragic that a small, regional amusement park can exist for generations only to be destroyed by the mismanagement of two major park operators in under a decade.

It seems that when a US park chain buys an existing park, it will go one of two ways. They will start by investing heavily. If it's successful, the investment rate will drop off but the park will remain open. However, if it doesn't go so well and the company refuses to sell, the park will be closed, stripped of its rides and have all of its assets divvied up between the other parks in the chain.

It just shows how volatile and ruthless the US industry can be. Operators seem to duck in and out of bankruptcy, parks can change hands with little notice and can seemingly close just as quickly regardless of how large and established they are.
 
It's impressive that it went from being a massive park to pretty much nothing within two years though.

It's quite sad.. and it infuriates me reading it. It's blatantly obvious what Cedar Point were doing, as there's no reason as to why you'd get rid of an entire park instantly especially without trying any tactics.

Stupid park owners.
 
I also saw this article this morning and was genuinely really interested by it as I had never heard if Geauga Lake before.

Absolutely shocking way to lose a park but equally a frankly bizarre tale which built a behemoth of theme parks which was always probably going to be far too big for it's own good.
 
I've just got round to reading this article now. It really is a brilliant read yet a tragic, sad and shocking tale. I did not know much about this park at all before reading the article.

Ultimately it appears that the desmise of the park was a result of mad Six Flags and Cedar Fair days and the huge competition that exists between the two theme park operators. Six Flags bought the park at a time when they were going crazy with additions at many of their parks and they subsequently paid for this by going bankrupt. Thankfully their new management have a good strategy in place for their parks now. The idea of creating the worlds largest theme park at the time so close to Cedar Point was clearly far too much for Six Flags to resist. Greed got the better of them.

Then what Cedar Fair did to the park was basically theme park murder. I suppose when they bought the park off Six Flags they weren't quite anticipating the purchase of the Paramount Parks, so maybe they did see a future for Geauga Lake. However it appears that once they got their hands on Kings Island enough was enough for this poor park. They knew that as a company they could not maintain three parks in Ohio. However they clearly did not want to park falling into someone elses hands and have a mini revival, potentially threatening the success of Cedar Point or Kings Island. The only reason I can think of for flattening the whole park bar one 1925 wooden coaster is to prevent it from ever re-opening as a substantial theme park. And they way they closed it without any notice is shocking. I can't imagine the anger felt by local fans. Cedar Fair claiming that the area could not even suupport a familiy amusment park was utter madness, it so clearly could.

You know what would have been interesting, if SeaWorld had been successful in buying the theme park off Six Flags. As the article suggested it coud have been transformed into a third Busch Gardens branded park (although this would probably have required substatial investment). If this had happened though I'd imagine we would still have a Geauga Lake theme park in some form today.

I think the industry in the USA is much more sensible now after those naive early in the late 90s and early 00s. Hopefully we will never see anything quite like this again.

:)
 
Didn't think it was worth making a whole topic for this, so I decided to bump this one. It seems tha Geuaga Lake's waterpark that continued to operate after the theme park closed has finally bitten the dust http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-...er-kingdom-closing-for-good-after-2016-season

AURORA, Ohio - The last waves at Wildwater Kingdom will roll through the park in September.

The water park in Aurora will not reopen after the 2016 season concludes. According to company officials, the final day of the water park will be Monday, Sept. 5.

The Cedar Fair corporation, which owns Wildwater Kingdom and several other amusement parks, has been working with Bainbridge Township and the City of Aurora to redevelop the property into something to benefit the surrounding communities, according to company officials.

The company also owns the abandoned Geauga Lake amusement park, also in Aurora.

I'm guessing it was killed off thanks to the expansion of Soak City at Cedar Point? I wouldn't be surprised if the water park side at Geauga Lake gets redeveloped and the old theme park side is still abandoned for many more years.
 
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