I had season passes to Worlds of Adventure for the 2001,2002 and 2003 season because my dad lived Aurora,OH at the time. I was there legit every single day. Believe it or not, this park was like a huge part of my teenage years. Miss it dearly!
Same here man! Same years too. I worked at place that ran 3 on 3 off 12 hour shifts and my buddy and I used to go to Geauga Lake every single day we had off work in the summers!
I visited this park in 2001. My reason for driving more than 8 hours from Indianapolis was X-Flight - the first "fly-like-superman" coaster in the area. (It would eventually become Firehawk at King's Island). The one thing that sticks out in my mind from my one and only trip to this park was the lack of rest rooms. The largest theme park had only TWO rest rooms that we could find...one by the WOA front gate and one by the old Sea World front gate. It was like hiking across the Mojave every time you had to pee. It sucked.
If there's only one restroom and everyone is using it. It becomes more of a regretful experience. It's better to have restrooms spread out so they aren't being as heavily used and more accessible. If you are constantly worrying about a restroom, you aren't going to be buying as many beverages which ultimately Six Flags won't be making as much money. If everyone congregates and uses one restroom facility, you know it's not going to be as clean. You are going to at least need one or two bathroom attendants which can make people feel uncomfortable in terms of privacy where they would need to clean each stall at least on the half hour. Back when I went to Six Flags Great America in 2010, they became a smoke free zone in most places. So all the designated smoking areas where just outside the restrooms. So imagine when using the restroom, it stunk like pee and cigarettes. They might has well have a smoke room in the restroom.
Geauga Lake was my home park. I grew up there as a child spending countless hours there. Your research is spot on. It was crazy how busy the park was with all the new additions but then dropped off a few years later. I've have such great memories of that park that I will cherish forever. Thanks so much for making this!
Great video! I do agree that by the time Cedar Fair took over the parks, the damage had already been done. Six Flags had a strange marketing plan during that time where some of their commercials did everything to "attack" Cedar Point, but it backfired. The way I look at it, if you are going to challenge your competitor, you best have something grander to bring to the plate, and their lack of customer service overshadowed their large ride collection. If you don't have great operations to run those rides, then those rides don't mean a lot to a whole lot of people. Also, I appreciate you taking the time to thank other RUclipsrs that share footage. That truly means a lot.
It could be same thing for some coasters as just because they are taller, faster, and longer doesn't mean they will be better. I'm looking at you 3.......................Kingda Ka, Formula Rossa, and Steel Dragon 2000.
The Big Dipper at Geauga Lake was the first rollercoaster I ever rode. My dad told me the back wasnt as scary and oh how he lied haha! I loved every second of it though, and its sad nobody will ever get to enjoy that old girl again. Great memories though
For those of us that grew up in that area (I grew up in Mantua), it's almost unfathomable that something so long-standing, and so successful, could fail. It takes some serious stupidity from corporate executives to destroy something like Geauga Lake.
Growing up in Cleveland was a amazing. Living in between Cedar Point and Geauga Lake and a few hours away from Kings Island. I can happily say I have no need to leave the state to quench my thrill thirst :) although it still saddens me that Geauga Lake was torn down :( I rode my first coasters their
if Cedar Fair invested more into Michigan's Adventure it would be such a good destination park. there's so much land! and they should fix up Thunderhawk, that is a rough ride
same story as with AstroWorld's only coaster that was saved being their SLC, which got sent to La Ronde. I really don't get these park's obsessions with SLCs.
Geauga Lake is definitely one of the saddest stories in amusement park history. I was fortunate enough to visit once in 2001 with my family, and although my memory of it is foggy at best since I was so young, I do remember everyone in my group being exhausted at the park's size. The floating bridge that connected both sides of the park took what felt like forever to get across, and the pathways inside the park were not widened to accommodate the large attendance numbers they got in 2001, leading to a lot of congestion. I have to agree with your points about the park's location in a small township; it was so strange to be driving through areas that looked just like the small town I grew up in, only to be hit with the sight of multiple massive coasters out of nowhere. I seem to remember riding the park's Zierer kiddie coaster, but that's about it. I still need to get out to Kings Dominion to finally ride Dominator. Great video as always!
2:56 "premier helped the parks out" Oh ok "With a vekoma boomerang" Oh well those arent too bad.. Theyre kinda intense "And a vekoma SLC" Oh crap. That didnt help
I have to say Geauga Lake closing is one of the saddest memories in my childhood... I still get so upset about it. I have friends who still live in Aurora and it destroyed the community. Nobody wanted the merger, we all enjoyed the little parks and many knew it was too good to last.
My husband is from Aurora, and it is so eerie. You can see how the town expected to become a tourist destination with signs and one huge, empty road. It’s really sad.
Six Flags is terribly managed, and it literally goes from the top down. The infrastructure of their properties could be a college class called "Corporate owned, 101." I worked there for about a year not as a ride operator but someone a little up and beyond what you'd typically expect, and what I constantly heard was "That's not your job, let someone else do it." Well if that's going to be attitude of the work ethic of a theme park that needs TLC to have guests at least *think* that you care about their experience after paying to get in the park, nothing is ever going to get better. They don't seem to have changed after decades of that attitude so they deserve everything they get. Which is a shame because these parks they own could be SO MUCH BETTER if they just took some time and spent a little more money to make sure the guests, the PAYING GUESTS who actually keep you in business, are happy with their experiences and come upon employees of the park who actually act like they care about them having a great day.
yeah, I live in Europe and only visited one SixFlags park (it's not owned by SixFlags anymore) and the experience I got was that they were not in the business of giving guests a great day, but in getting their money. A lot of the rides were closed, those that were open were not well maintained and operating with few cars/trains causing long queues. The food and drink was expensive and the park wasn't clean. I only went back there when it wasn't under SixFlags anymore and it had improved a lot because of it. ;)
@@Robbedem Cleanliness is why Disney parks excel with families. And to achieve that, they have an ARMY of cleanup people that are constantly on the job. You can drop a gum wrapper on the ground at a Disney park and within seconds it'll get picked up by the crew.
I grew up 15 minutes from Geauga Lake. My teenage memories always go back to this place when it was 6 Flags Worlds of Adventure. I was spoiled, because my late father (and family) did the fireworks on the lake every summer. Before the parks were merged, Seaworld would always foot the bill for the fireworks, so my brothers and I would get to go there for free whenever we wanted. Always staring across the lake and hearing the thrilling screams from the rollercoasters, our childhood dreams came true when 6 Flags merged the parks together! Now we got to go to both parks in the same day. Being a teenager during those “golden years” I knew everyone...I knew the food service supervisor who grew up down the road from me. I knew basically every rode operator as they were classmates or acquaintances of some sort. It really was an amazing time! Now, in my 30s, I drive passed this empty place and get so sad to see what it has become. I can remember everything just as it once was, in the dilapidated remnants that are there today.
TJ Nance wtf??? Cedar fair ain't perfect lmao. Only giving coasters to their main big parks!! They don't give a crap about the bottom chain parks. No theme park chai is perfect dude...
@@Brandon-qd2lb Exactly. Cedar fair has given 0 thrill coasters the WoF, VF, DP, and MA for over TEN YEARS. Meanwhile, the big ones get massive B&M's every 3-4 years.
Torez Coasters Cedar Fair isn’t perfect, but those parks won’t give a good return in investment. If they were to add a huge coaster to these parks, they would probably making less money than the spent.
The best outcome would have been if SeaWorld had managed to buy Six Flags like they wanted, because they would have probably made into a destination and added rides and an Aquatica.
In hindsight Sea World should have said no to selling and then could have bought the park for less later when SF needed cash. I didn't care much about the amusement park (it wasn't bad per se, I just preferred other parks) but my wife and I miss going to Sea World. Wish it was still nearby for the kids to see.
Right in the childhood 😭 my first “big” coaster was double loop and by the end of that day I was lapping dominator and officially hooked. I was so sad when it closed so abruptly, and still sad to this day. It was the only interesting and fun thing to do close to my hometown. Make no mistake, I still went to cedar point all the time, but it was nice to have something 5-10 minutes away when the spontaneity hit.
@@erinolds7117 oh yeah and its so funny. My dad told me "it doesent go upside down". I was 6 and I was not a happy camper after 🤣🤣 but grew to absolutely love roller coaster
While Cedar Fair is not completely innocent in this either because they announced it would never open again after its last season ended instead of having a 2008 season and announcing ahead of time that it would be the last season, Cedar Fair is way over-blamed while Six Flags is under-blamed for Geuaga Lake's demise. Cedar Fair closed Geuaga Lake in 2007 because the whole park was in maintenance hell, so broken that it couldn't be fixed.
I did not know that a park so close to my home (MGM DIZZEE World) got the arrow corkscrew from Geauga Lake. Literally no on in India knows about that, not even the residents who call it their home park. This is really COOL!!!
As a life long Ohio resident from Cuyahoga falls, about 40 minutes south of Aurora I grew up going to WOA at least 4 times a year from 1996 to 2004. I had so many amazing memories of this place that could probably fill a book. I went on a private tour of the grounds at the end of my senior year of high school back in 2014 and just walking the grounds was heartbreaking seeing what had become of what was at once the best park on earth. I will never forgive SF for rushing the growth of such an amazing place and leaving nothing but memories for myself and so many others.
Loving the more historical videos you've been doing lately. I love the big new shiny rides as much as everyone else but coaster history is so facinating and important to know imo, especially considering how easy it is for stuff to get lost, dismantled, and tossed aside for the next big thing.
This is a prime example of how much better Cedar Fair is at business compared to Six Flags. Cedar Fair took over a mess and I think they knew it. Very informative video, I thought it was awesome!
Over several decades in Ohio since the 1970s, Sea World was what made Geauga Lake a destination. Sea World provided a yearly destination for families and served a purpose that stood successfully in co-existence with Cedar Point an hour or so away. Six Flags plus Sea World provided an attendance boost. However, many people (especially families) were primarily/only ever going there in the first place because Sea World was there, so the disappearance of the Sea World brand and ultimately the marine park concept entirely once Cedar Fair took over, meant the amusement park side was stuck trying to compete for a thrill market that was never really available for the taking.
Not to mention major population decline in Cleveland and many surrounding Ohio towns. Cedar point is obviously amazing and kings island is great and has location in its favor as it’s close to highway.
@@cherifew3485 Busch Gardens was an Anheuser-Busch creation. Seaworld was not. It was founded by a 4 person team in 1964, sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in the mid 1970's. AB bought Seaworld, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk & Baseball in 1989.
Not sure how I'm just finding this channel, but I'm glad I did! This story is so wild, one of greed and overreach. They should have taken more notes from Cedar Fair. Tortoise and the Hair all over again
I love how this place was basically open for like a hundred years and then six flags buys it to run it to the ground. I miss that whole area. So much fun and still so has so much potential. Ohio used to be the place to hit coasters in the midwest, with 3 major parks. Now they're down to one.
I went here 3x times in my life and I loved all 3 experiences. I lived in Detroit at the time and we would do a double trip, a few days in Cedar Point then drive to SF. It was quite a good deal at the time because CP and SF were so huge so the trips never seemed pointless!
I have fond memories of this park when I was in college in the early aughts. A friend of mine was a coaster enthusiast, and I worked in HR at Kings Island at the time, so he arranged a trip for us to Worlds of Adventure in 2003 - I ended up taking two more trips that summer and two the next! The next year, after Cedar Fair purchased the park, I remember going again and attendance was abysmal. I got to ride Dominator (formerly Batman Knight Flight) 4 times in a row, on the front car, before I got off from fatigue - not from other guests wanting to ride. This is one of my very favorite parks, and I'm glad I got to go 5 times, and introduce a number of friends, before it's eventual shut down. Thanks for the memories! Keep up the great videos!
This place held so many wonderful memories. I went there as a kid and we had years of season passes when I had kids. So sad they shut Geauga Lake down.
I lived a hour and 49 minutes away from this park and traveled regularly to it as a child. First when it was geauga lake and sea world then when it was six flags and sea world was gone but they had some animals still across the lake where sea world was. This was my absolute favorite theme park!!
I love watching your videos! Every time I see a notification that you have uploaded a new video, it makes me so happy and excited! Keep doing what you’re doing!
You’re missing a HUGE incident that killed 2001’s economy for 3 years. September 11, 2001 killed nearly everything that was considered a extra activity or frivolous. This event killed a lot of entertainment industry. People were terrified to travel. Scared to goto amusement parks. It was crazy. This is what killed that park. That investment money they spent all at once had to pay or else.
Great video. It's sad that the park died, but it's nice that many of the coasters still operate. Dominator at KD, Thunderhawk at MA, Possessed at Dorney Park (although maybe not for much longer), and Flying Cobras at Carowinds. And Firehawk would be on this list too if it weren't recently removed.
Didn't know they had a plan to add an Intamin Hypercoaster. Sadly, I wanted to go when it was Six Flags, but went when it was Cedar Fair......it was dying a slow death then. 3:52 would be the commercial I remembered most making me wanna go.
The Big Dipper at Geauga Lake was the first rollercoaster I ever rode. My dad told me the back wasnt as scary and oh how he lied haha! I loved every second of it though, and its sad nobody will ever get to enjoy that old girl again.
My mom grew up in the 70's and 80's going here with her cousin that lived (and still does) near the park. We live in PA and I was lucky enough to go once back in 2004 when I was 9 years old. My memories of it were great and I can picture it as though it were yesterday. This park was like Ohio's Kennywood. I could have seen a documentary being made called "Geauga Lake Memories," similar to what Kennywood had in 1988. Anyways, thanks for a great video about what was once a great park.
This is the best explanation of the failure of Geauga Lake. Lots of local Ohioans place blame directly on Cedar Fair for its closure, and to be honest, they ARE the people that shuttered it. But please be realistic. This video hits the nail on the head. Six Flags already dug the hole, and was pulling the dirt in on top of itself. The numbers don’t lie. I think Cedar Fair had the right idea to scale it back to what it once was, but they really didn’t promote it, or provide any additional reasons for people to go there. Make no mistake, Six Flags built the coffin, and drove in most of the nails on the lid. Bravo for a great explanation video. Now, what’s your ideas on Cedar Fair’s ownership of the park?
My family would usually go visit SeaWorld once a year when I was a kid, because that's where my grandmother always wanted to go. I always remembered looking across the lake at the fun looking Geuaga Lake, sad that I was stuck with all the boring damn fish. When I finally did get to go to Geauga Lake (I think it was the summer that Raging Wolf Bobs opened) it stormed most of the day, and all I really got to ride was RWB.
Over investment is what killed this park. If Six Flags hadn't over invested in the property like they did, not only would the park still exist today but it would still be a Six Flags park today.
This was my home park as a kid growing up as I grew up about 45 min away. Cedarvpoint being an hour and a half away.. This was awesome to see all this footage from my childhood and it brought back a ton of memories. Thank you. :)
I don't see why they thought it would be a success to make a mega park in the middle of nowhere right next to another mega park in the middle of nowhere. Where would the people come from?
>middle of nowhere >literally 30 minuets away from Cleveland The largest metropolitan area in the 7th most populated state, with a distant from Downtown Cleveland to Geauga lake, similar to Downtown Cincinnati to Kings Island.
@@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN Yeah, but no one from outside Ohio goes to Ohio, so you're pretty limited to just people from Cleveland. Which would be enough to support a small park, but not one this size.
Nice video! I grew up 20 mins away. Double Loop was my first roller coaster followed by the Raging Wolfbobs and Big Dipper. I also remember my first ride on the Texas Twister (Huss Top Spin) in 1993 when it first opened. I was 10 and it was super scary. I've always blamed Cedar Fair for the ultimate demise since they closed it, but this video puts things in a different prospective. I was one of those teenagers that had seasons passes during the World of Adventure days! We rarely ventured over to the Sea World side as it took awhile to walk over there and it was just full of flat rides and sting rays!
I’m from Cleveland!! Although I was born the year it closed, I still have heard about this park and I wish it was still here because then I can go like every weekend. But, I do have cedar point 1.5 hours away...
Absolutely heartbreaking. So many great memories at Geauga Lake and Sea World as a kid. I worked at Sea World for two years in college as a pyrotechnician and later in horticulture once they got rid of fireworks. It was a great company to work for and at least from my experience, they were very dedicated to their employees, guests and animals. When the park was purchased by Six Flags, I declined to return as the writing was on the wall for what would happen. Geauga Lake, while never "Disney quality" in park cleanliness, had become a dump in the time that Six Flags owned it and the clientele had changed significantly.
I grew up at Geagua Lake through the 80s and 90s. Many a company picnics there. We did travel to Cedar Point every other year but Geagua Lake was so much more feasible. No lines for the rides, family friendly and just felt comfortable. I did go back in 2003-2004 ish and half the rides weren’t even operational and I could tell it wouldn’t be long. Great video!
@@AirtimeThrills exactly, make sure you scale up operations at a good pace and invest in your resources, not just build at a pace that isn't sustainable and will ultimately result in a bad experience for guests
Ah Six Flags, the company that ruined Astroworld, introduced the short-lived and ill-fated ride rotation program and nearly brought down Magic Mountain.
I loved Geauga Lake as a kid in the late 70’s and as an teen in the 80’s and as an adult in the 90’s. I never made it there as Worlds of adventure. Sea World was also an excellent park. I have fantastic memories of both parks.
Great video! It’s quite sad what happened to this place. also, thank you so much for mentioning the footage thing at the end, because it’s something this community needs to seriously consider. why post Offride, without giving others the chance to use it with proper credit. makes no sense and im glad you’re not one of those people!
this was the park of my adolescent years and have many memories inside of worlds of adventure as well as Geauga Lake. I remember the customer service being horrible ALWAYS but always having a great time! The texas twister was among one of my faves in the park and to see it at the end brought a small happy/sad tear to my eye! great video.
What was Cedar Fair supposed to do with the park? Suck revenue from it's two superior parks not even 3 hours away? The place was very unkempt when I visited as Six Flags.
Yeah what they did was very very questionable. The economy in 2007 didnt help things either. But when they took the park over the attendance was already plunging. Down 65% in their first year of operation. That's a sinking ship.
Cedar Fair made some questionable calls, like building a new water park while leaving the old one to rot. But, let’s be honest; the park was already dying. If Cedar Fair doesn’t buy Paramount Parks, it may still survive on a small scale. But once that sale went through, plus the slowing economy, it was all over for Geauga Lake. When X-flight moves to KI, I knew the park was gonna become a toy box for the new kids.
You brought up interesting points in regard to Six Flags running the company into the ground. I grew up 5 minutes from the park and everyone in my town blames Cedar Fair for its demise. I liked the new perspective!
i've driven by this park my whole life. at least, the remnants of it. we see a lot of people looking at the barren property. definitely miss the lack of local waterparks, and if i was born a few years earlier (i never made it to geuaga lake) this would be my home park instead of cedar point. RIP wildwater kingdom and geuaga
I had no idea it was gone, we went on a roller coaster road trip (Hershey, Cedar Point and Six Flags Ohio) right near the end of Six Flags days here. So weird to think it is gone! Thanks for the video and the memories!!
I never got to go to Geauga Lake, but my dad grew up going to both Geauga Lake and Cedar Point, and Geauga Lake was one of his favorite places EVER. He even liked it better than Cedar Point for the prices. Even just mentioning Geauga Lake and its closing can put him in a bad mood. RIP Geauga Lake.
I live and grew up in Cleveland. This park was my childhood and it still saddens me that it was destroyed 😥 As amazing as Cedar Point is, this park was just as special to me. It was cheaper and had way shorter lines than Cedar Point and still had some awesome rides. I went on my first roller coaster here and got over my fear of tall roller coasters here at a very young age. The water park was also amazing and you didn't have to pay extra to get in it. I also didn't know that it was the worlds largest theme park! Thank you for this nostalgic video.
Long story short is that if Six Flags had either been more gradual with their growth for Geauga Lake, or if someone other than Cedar Fair had acquired the park in 2004, Geauga Lake would still be around as a serious competitor to Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Kennywood.
This all happened when King's Island was still a Paramount park, so within a single state there was a three-way coaster race going on for a brief time.
@@jimwhelan9152 that is absolute hogwash! The corporations leaving Ohio had a big big hand in the demise of Geauga Lakes failure! The corporations were leaving for the southern states. People were leaving Ohio to go where there work was! Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Ravenna, Mentor, and Warren all were industrial cities. All or a majority of the corporations along Interstate Rt 2 were leaving Ohio. Our cities have become ghost towns! The only money that was being made by anyone was the drug dealers. When people lost their jobs the drug dealer would entice them with this will make you feel better here have a hit of this!
@@cherifew3485 What's"hogwash" is any belief that general economic issues in Ohio were responsible. Cedar point and King's Island both thrived. They are both near major interstates and the Ohio turnpike in the case of cedar point. Geauga Lake required navigating a two lane surface street for a considerable distance. It could never succeed as a major tourist destination no matter what the Ohio economy was like!
Grew up visiting Geauga Lake; from parents' company picnics to fun summer day trips. Had season tickets from 01-03... So thankful to have such a fun park as part of my adolescence!
I want to make sure to thank all of the you tubers you thanked!! Because of all the you tubers Chris mentioned, we get to watch awesome videos like these, every single one of the channels he mentioned, you guys are amazing!! Thank you for making the coaster community better!!
I loved this park growing up!! Everyone in cleveland was so sad when it closed! So many memories going there, I never realized it was considered the largest park at one point. It really was great when you could walk from sea world to six flags and back!
As a local, my frustration with the park was their attempt at competing with Cedar Point. Geauga Lake was always a smaller scale park for the Greater Cleveland area. Was Cedar Point competition? Absolutely. But unlike CP, which has always attracted guests worldwide, Geauga Lake only had to reach out to folks who lived in Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs. That was the park's charm and identity; it was a local park. When we found out that they wanted to actually compete with Cedar Point, we almost laughed. Geauga Lake was never near the quality of a Cedar Fair park, in terms of efficiency and maintenance, and becoming the world's largest theme park wasn't going to magically change things. So many stupid mistakes were made.
Exactly. Charm and nostalgia was a big draw. Keeping it family friendly and affordable was key. Then Cleveland suffers some steep population declines which made it even worse. I never understood why they kept trying to make it another cedar point. My dad was a roller coaster enthusiast and we only went once because we found the park unkempt and dirty. Felt so ghetto and not like it used to be at all.
So glad I got to experience this! XFlight was new when I went. Batman Knight Flight, Superman Escape, Mind Eraser, The Villain, XFlight, Ragging Wolf Bobs, Dr. Hyde's Nasty Fall, and Time Warp were the best rides!
Went in 2007 and actually had an amazing time, had a cabana at the water park and walked over to the hard park and never once had to wait in line. Was a nice contrast to spending the previous days at Cedar Point and Kings Island, which we’re packed to capacity. That being said; the writing was clearly on the wall that CF had only bought the place with the intent of shutting it down. Hopefully Six Flags will learn their lesson and let their smaller parks STAY smaller parks and put charm over uniformity.
Man I used have a season pass to Geauga Lake in the late 90s and early 2000s and it was great. I live about 20 minutes away now and drive by that empty parking lot all the time and have flashbacks to seeing the coasters and all the people. I wish it was still around.
Double loop was my first ever coaster. I was so small that the g forces during the loops forced my head down so my chin touched my chest. I have never forgiven six flags for what they did, and even though cedar fair were the last owners, I legitimately don't believe the conspiracy that they closed it intentionally and I think they did what they could to bring it back, I don't think they would have bothered investing into the place at all just to preserve good will, and hell even if they did shut it down out of profit motive, that makes more sense to me than what six flags did. Geauga lake was a perfect family park and I went there several times as a kid. I still remember the energy of that place on a warm summer night, it was awesome. I went once after six flags took over and it just wasn't the same. It felt forced and cheap and thoughtless. They really gutted that place of it's soul and aurora has been worse off because of it. I drove by there about a month ago and it was just sad. All that is left are a couple signs.
Mainly to go to Sea World. It was no surprise attendance died even more after the animals were removed. I live between the two and preferred Kennywood but would go to Sea World too. Once the animal side was discontinued I had no reason to go. Plus if I'm headed that direction the extra drive to Cedar Point was worth it.
Well, Kennywood USED to be decent. I practically lived there as a kid. Now it's got gangs and metal detectors and lots of cops. I'd rather drive to Cedar Point -- a bigger, better park for not much more money.
I grew up 35 minutes from these 2 parks. Back in the 70's thru 85. I probably entered these gates 75 times over those years. After I move away from that area, I had no idea the trouble this park was in. Good information, now I know what happened.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
I had season passes to Worlds of Adventure for the 2001,2002 and 2003 season because my dad lived Aurora,OH at the time. I was there legit every single day. Believe it or not, this park was like a huge part of my teenage years. Miss it dearly!
me too! My mom would take us there six days a week to see the animals because we live in Bainbridge and it was just so convenient.
Same here man! Same years too. I worked at place that ran 3 on 3 off 12 hour shifts and my buddy and I used to go to Geauga Lake every single day we had off work in the summers!
Loved the double loop. That ride was so smooth. Didn't care for the cork screw, but the screw going over the main walkway was an iconic look.
Mines too
@@TheGibsOfTheTube 3 on 3 off ? Ur lucky. I worked there for a couple weeks, I worked 4 13 hour shifts and 2 6 hour and one off
I visited this park in 2001. My reason for driving more than 8 hours from Indianapolis was X-Flight - the first "fly-like-superman" coaster in the area. (It would eventually become Firehawk at King's Island). The one thing that sticks out in my mind from my one and only trip to this park was the lack of rest rooms. The largest theme park had only TWO rest rooms that we could find...one by the WOA front gate and one by the old Sea World front gate. It was like hiking across the Mojave every time you had to pee. It sucked.
Even 10 year old me playing roller coaster tycoon knows that’s bad for business
2001 that when premier parks Own them....
That is complete insanity lol
If there's only one restroom and everyone is using it. It becomes more of a regretful experience. It's better to have restrooms spread out so they aren't being as heavily used and more accessible. If you are constantly worrying about a restroom, you aren't going to be buying as many beverages which ultimately Six Flags won't be making as much money. If everyone congregates and uses one restroom facility, you know it's not going to be as clean. You are going to at least need one or two bathroom attendants which can make people feel uncomfortable in terms of privacy where they would need to clean each stall at least on the half hour. Back when I went to Six Flags Great America in 2010, they became a smoke free zone in most places. So all the designated smoking areas where just outside the restrooms. So imagine when using the restroom, it stunk like pee and cigarettes. They might has well have a smoke room in the restroom.
@Adam Efimoff what??
Geauga Lake was my home park. I grew up there as a child spending countless hours there. Your research is spot on. It was crazy how busy the park was with all the new additions but then dropped off a few years later. I've have such great memories of that park that I will cherish forever. Thanks so much for making this!
And it doesn't seem likely a theme park can ever come back there considering how close Cedar Fair's flagship property is to it.
Mine too. Hit GL like 4-5 times per summer from 86-96, but missed the investment, expansion, and rebrand😞
Great video! I do agree that by the time Cedar Fair took over the parks, the damage had already been done. Six Flags had a strange marketing plan during that time where some of their commercials did everything to "attack" Cedar Point, but it backfired. The way I look at it, if you are going to challenge your competitor, you best have something grander to bring to the plate, and their lack of customer service overshadowed their large ride collection. If you don't have great operations to run those rides, then those rides don't mean a lot to a whole lot of people. Also, I appreciate you taking the time to thank other RUclipsrs that share footage. That truly means a lot.
Yeah, that old CEO who had no clue just what the heck he was doing sucked.
Instablaster.
Six flags is kind bd they don’t know how to name stuff bad operations andthey have weird bisnusee
The embodiment of "Bigger isn't always better"
Ah yes, that statement shown on the Nitro trailer from the same time period.
It could be same thing for some coasters as just because they are taller, faster, and longer doesn't mean they will be better. I'm looking at you 3.......................Kingda Ka, Formula Rossa, and Steel Dragon 2000.
A-List Coasters Fan those 3 are better
Dragster: am I a joke to you?
Six flags jumped the gun on this park too fast and did not take in consideration for more lodging for out of town/State guests
saying I went to geauga lake in 2002 it’s like saying I fought in the Vietnam war in coaster enthusiast language
Haha aint that the truth
I went in 2002 😢😢😢
What's that mean ?
The Big Dipper at Geauga Lake was the first rollercoaster I ever rode. My dad told me the back wasnt as scary and oh how he lied haha! I loved every second of it though, and its sad nobody will ever get to enjoy that old girl again. Great memories though
They don't know maaan! They weren't theeeeeere!
For those of us that grew up in that area (I grew up in Mantua), it's almost unfathomable that something so long-standing, and so successful, could fail. It takes some serious stupidity from corporate executives to destroy something like Geauga Lake.
Imaging if this was still around, how even more of a enthusiast spot Ohio would be
I like ohio
Kings Island Fanboy just give it to the northeast. It’s so dense but a major theme park are 3 hours away
I live in Ohio and I loved Geauga Lake so much and I really miss it
Growing up in Cleveland was a amazing. Living in between Cedar Point and Geauga Lake and a few hours away from Kings Island. I can happily say I have no need to leave the state to quench my thrill thirst :) although it still saddens me that Geauga Lake was torn down :( I rode my first coasters their
@@flyingveda samesies
It is just so sad to see a park close down, especially one that has been around for over a century.
This is sad.
Whats even sadder is that the friggin slc was saved
And it was given to michigans adventure
At least we got a new coaster.
Suck it Gilroy.
@@DoswarePictures it isn't even new, it's just the big Dipper being moved to the new kids area
if Cedar Fair invested more into Michigan's Adventure it would be such a good destination park. there's so much land! and they should fix up Thunderhawk, that is a rough ride
same story as with AstroWorld's only coaster that was saved being their SLC, which got sent to La Ronde. I really don't get these park's obsessions with SLCs.
Eeeeew
Geauga Lake is definitely one of the saddest stories in amusement park history. I was fortunate enough to visit once in 2001 with my family, and although my memory of it is foggy at best since I was so young, I do remember everyone in my group being exhausted at the park's size. The floating bridge that connected both sides of the park took what felt like forever to get across, and the pathways inside the park were not widened to accommodate the large attendance numbers they got in 2001, leading to a lot of congestion. I have to agree with your points about the park's location in a small township; it was so strange to be driving through areas that looked just like the small town I grew up in, only to be hit with the sight of multiple massive coasters out of nowhere. I seem to remember riding the park's Zierer kiddie coaster, but that's about it. I still need to get out to Kings Dominion to finally ride Dominator. Great video as always!
2:56 "premier helped the parks out"
Oh ok
"With a vekoma boomerang"
Oh well those arent too bad.. Theyre kinda intense
"And a vekoma SLC"
Oh crap.
That didnt help
Ha :)
In the 90s that was seen as helping
@@AirtimeThrills lmao as long as its like riddlers revenge.
no way or Thunderhawk at Michigan’s Adventure.
Oh wait.
I have to say Geauga Lake closing is one of the saddest memories in my childhood... I still get so upset about it. I have friends who still live in Aurora and it destroyed the community. Nobody wanted the merger, we all enjoyed the little parks and many knew it was too good to last.
My husband is from Aurora, and it is so eerie. You can see how the town expected to become a tourist destination with signs and one huge, empty road. It’s really sad.
Six Flags is terribly managed, and it literally goes from the top down. The infrastructure of their properties could be a college class called "Corporate owned, 101." I worked there for about a year not as a ride operator but someone a little up and beyond what you'd typically expect, and what I constantly heard was "That's not your job, let someone else do it." Well if that's going to be attitude of the work ethic of a theme park that needs TLC to have guests at least *think* that you care about their experience after paying to get in the park, nothing is ever going to get better. They don't seem to have changed after decades of that attitude so they deserve everything they get.
Which is a shame because these parks they own could be SO MUCH BETTER if they just took some time and spent a little more money to make sure the guests, the PAYING GUESTS who actually keep you in business, are happy with their experiences and come upon employees of the park who actually act like they care about them having a great day.
yeah, I live in Europe and only visited one SixFlags park (it's not owned by SixFlags anymore) and the experience I got was that they were not in the business of giving guests a great day, but in getting their money.
A lot of the rides were closed, those that were open were not well maintained and operating with few cars/trains causing long queues. The food and drink was expensive and the park wasn't clean.
I only went back there when it wasn't under SixFlags anymore and it had improved a lot because of it. ;)
@@Robbedem Parque Warner Madrid?
@@Robbedem Cleanliness is why Disney parks excel with families. And to achieve that, they have an ARMY of cleanup people that are constantly on the job. You can drop a gum wrapper on the ground at a Disney park and within seconds it'll get picked up by the crew.
@@Syncopator not anymore
Six Flags won’t be around very much longer, imo. They probably won’t be able to recover from the current downturn. Sadly, I’m not upset about it!
I grew up 15 minutes from Geauga Lake. My teenage memories always go back to this place when it was 6 Flags Worlds of Adventure. I was spoiled, because my late father (and family) did the fireworks on the lake every summer. Before the parks were merged, Seaworld would always foot the bill for the fireworks, so my brothers and I would get to go there for free whenever we wanted. Always staring across the lake and hearing the thrilling screams from the rollercoasters, our childhood dreams came true when 6 Flags merged the parks together! Now we got to go to both parks in the same day. Being a teenager during those “golden years” I knew everyone...I knew the food service supervisor who grew up down the road from me. I knew basically every rode operator as they were classmates or acquaintances of some sort. It really was an amazing time! Now, in my 30s, I drive passed this empty place and get so sad to see what it has become. I can remember everything just as it once was, in the dilapidated remnants that are there today.
"And how they failed miserably" Thats six flags whenever they invest a ton
And left it for dead.
@TJ Nance And yet, Valleyfair hasn't gotten a new coaster until 2007.
TJ Nance wtf??? Cedar fair ain't perfect lmao. Only giving coasters to their main big parks!! They don't give a crap about the bottom chain parks. No theme park chai is perfect dude...
@@Brandon-qd2lb Exactly. Cedar fair has given 0 thrill coasters the WoF, VF, DP, and MA for over TEN YEARS. Meanwhile, the big ones get massive B&M's every 3-4 years.
Torez Coasters Cedar Fair isn’t perfect, but those parks won’t give a good return in investment. If they were to add a huge coaster to these parks, they would probably making less money than the spent.
The best outcome would have been if SeaWorld had managed to buy Six Flags like they wanted, because they would have probably made into a destination and added rides and an Aquatica.
Or if Six Flags invested more in infrastructure instead of just coasters.
When Geauga Lake transferred to Cedar Point, CF did nothing with the Sea World side and guests were unhappy with the lack of animals.
In hindsight Sea World should have said no to selling and then could have bought the park for less later when SF needed cash. I didn't care much about the amusement park (it wasn't bad per se, I just preferred other parks) but my wife and I miss going to Sea World. Wish it was still nearby for the kids to see.
Truth! The woulda shoulda coulda. Makes me want to build a park on planet coaster of what it could've been.
@@mennograafmans1595 a destination park needs a nearby interstate. 6 flags couldn't build the required 100 mile long grade separated roadway.
Right in the childhood 😭 my first “big” coaster was double loop and by the end of that day I was lapping dominator and officially hooked. I was so sad when it closed so abruptly, and still sad to this day. It was the only interesting and fun thing to do close to my hometown. Make no mistake, I still went to cedar point all the time, but it was nice to have something 5-10 minutes away when the spontaneity hit.
Omg same double loop and raging wolf bobs were my first 2 coasters!
You guys too??? Double Loop was my first upside-down coaster. The Wolf Bobs was my favorite.
@@erinolds7117 oh yeah and its so funny. My dad told me "it doesent go upside down". I was 6 and I was not a happy camper after 🤣🤣 but grew to absolutely love roller coaster
Where were you from? i grew up a 5 min bicycle ride away in Remindersville
While Cedar Fair is not completely innocent in this either because they announced it would never open again after its last season ended instead of having a 2008 season and announcing ahead of time that it would be the last season, Cedar Fair is way over-blamed while Six Flags is under-blamed for Geuaga Lake's demise. Cedar Fair closed Geuaga Lake in 2007 because the whole park was in maintenance hell, so broken that it couldn't be fixed.
And Premier slides in under the radar as the start of the downfall. 1994 was the real start of that park's demise.
@@Coaster_Universe premier is just current day 6 flags with a different name
I did not know that a park so close to my home (MGM DIZZEE World) got the arrow corkscrew from Geauga Lake. Literally no on in India knows about that, not even the residents who call it their home park. This is really COOL!!!
i hope to visit india one day and possibly perhaps ride that coaster so i can say I've rode the same coaster on 2 different continents :D
This is extremely sad for me as I live in a town 15 minutes from Aurora. At least I have cedar point
As a life long Ohio resident from Cuyahoga falls, about 40 minutes south of Aurora I grew up going to WOA at least 4 times a year from 1996 to 2004. I had so many amazing memories of this place that could probably fill a book. I went on a private tour of the grounds at the end of my senior year of high school back in 2014 and just walking the grounds was heartbreaking seeing what had become of what was at once the best park on earth. I will never forgive SF for rushing the growth of such an amazing place and leaving nothing but memories for myself and so many others.
Loving the more historical videos you've been doing lately. I love the big new shiny rides as much as everyone else but coaster history is so facinating and important to know imo, especially considering how easy it is for stuff to get lost, dismantled, and tossed aside for the next big thing.
This is a prime example of how much better Cedar Fair is at business compared to Six Flags. Cedar Fair took over a mess and I think they knew it. Very informative video, I thought it was awesome!
Over several decades in Ohio since the 1970s, Sea World was what made Geauga Lake a destination. Sea World provided a yearly destination for families and served a purpose that stood successfully in co-existence with Cedar Point an hour or so away. Six Flags plus Sea World provided an attendance boost. However, many people (especially families) were primarily/only ever going there in the first place because Sea World was there, so the disappearance of the Sea World brand and ultimately the marine park concept entirely once Cedar Fair took over, meant the amusement park side was stuck trying to compete for a thrill market that was never really available for the taking.
With the loss of corporate sponsorship at Sea World thus forcing its evntual closing Geauga Lake had no future period.
Not to mention major population decline in Cleveland and many surrounding Ohio towns. Cedar point is obviously amazing and kings island is great and has location in its favor as it’s close to highway.
If the largest amusement park in the world can be destroyed in 8 years, no one is safe.
It depends on management......which Premier Parks were very bad at, and NOW, Geauga Lake is no more😢
Imagine if Busch Gardens would have bought it, they would have developed the park in a mature way and would still be open probably
I hope you know Sea World owns Bush Gardens?
Actually anheuser-busch owned both sea world and busch gardens back then
They both belonged to Amheiser- Bush and they both were their creations!
@@cherifew3485 Busch Gardens was an Anheuser-Busch creation. Seaworld was not. It was founded by a 4 person team in 1964, sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in the mid 1970's. AB bought Seaworld, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk & Baseball in 1989.
@@kmabru how old are you well I grew up in the 1960's I'd knew first hand!
Not sure how I'm just finding this channel, but I'm glad I did! This story is so wild, one of greed and overreach. They should have taken more notes from Cedar Fair. Tortoise and the Hair all over again
I love how this place was basically open for like a hundred years and then six flags buys it to run it to the ground. I miss that whole area. So much fun and still so has so much potential. Ohio used to be the place to hit coasters in the midwest, with 3 major parks. Now they're down to one.
2*
Kings island , cedar point
And then Cedar Fair buys it to take away what made it unique from Cedar Point and then closes it, most likely due to being too close to said park
I went here 3x times in my life and I loved all 3 experiences. I lived in Detroit at the time and we would do a double trip, a few days in Cedar Point then drive to SF. It was quite a good deal at the time because CP and SF were so huge so the trips never seemed pointless!
I have fond memories of this park when I was in college in the early aughts. A friend of mine was a coaster enthusiast, and I worked in HR at Kings Island at the time, so he arranged a trip for us to Worlds of Adventure in 2003 - I ended up taking two more trips that summer and two the next! The next year, after Cedar Fair purchased the park, I remember going again and attendance was abysmal. I got to ride Dominator (formerly Batman Knight Flight) 4 times in a row, on the front car, before I got off from fatigue - not from other guests wanting to ride. This is one of my very favorite parks, and I'm glad I got to go 5 times, and introduce a number of friends, before it's eventual shut down. Thanks for the memories! Keep up the great videos!
This place held so many wonderful memories. I went there as a kid and we had years of season passes when I had kids. So sad they shut Geauga Lake down.
I lived a hour and 49 minutes away from this park and traveled regularly to it as a child. First when it was geauga lake and sea world then when it was six flags and sea world was gone but they had some animals still across the lake where sea world was. This was my absolute favorite theme park!!
I love watching your videos! Every time I see a notification that you have uploaded a new video, it makes me so happy and excited! Keep doing what you’re doing!
You’re missing a HUGE incident that killed 2001’s economy for 3 years. September 11, 2001 killed nearly everything that was considered a extra activity or frivolous. This event killed a lot of entertainment industry. People were terrified to travel. Scared to goto amusement parks. It was crazy. This is what killed that park. That investment money they spent all at once had to pay or else.
How uno???
Lol how do you know
Great video. It's sad that the park died, but it's nice that many of the coasters still operate. Dominator at KD, Thunderhawk at MA, Possessed at Dorney Park (although maybe not for much longer), and Flying Cobras at Carowinds. And Firehawk would be on this list too if it weren't recently removed.
Geagua died so that Michigan’s Adventure would live.
And if Michigan’s adventure get the SLC it would be in the list lol
JaysonYT they did get the SLC.
Flying Cobras hurt me last year
So what did Premier Parks help out with on Geauga Lake?
Premier Parks: 🤷♂️
My mom told me that she went to Sea World Ohio in the 70s.
My dad said he did too
I've seen 3 of your comments in the past days
I went to Sea World Ohio in the 70's several times
My grandparents took me in the 90’s
Eat your cereal👍
Great video! Can you do a Video on the Best Coaster in Every Park You have visited?
Feel like that woul be a 2pt series
Mr Giga yes Mr Giga
Mr Giga nah, it would be a three part.
When I see cool nice coaster man post new video. I click. I see Six Flags DESTROYED in the title. I click faster.
Didn't know they had a plan to add an Intamin Hypercoaster. Sadly, I wanted to go when it was Six Flags, but went when it was Cedar Fair......it was dying a slow death then. 3:52 would be the commercial I remembered most making me wanna go.
Not sure who woulda built the hyper. Could have been B&M also
Yea cedar fair just bought it and destroyed it
The Big Dipper at Geauga Lake was the first rollercoaster I ever rode. My dad told me the back wasnt as scary and oh how he lied haha! I loved every second of it though, and its sad nobody will ever get to enjoy that old girl again.
My mom grew up in the 70's and 80's going here with her cousin that lived (and still does) near the park. We live in PA and I was lucky enough to go once back in 2004 when I was 9 years old. My memories of it were great and I can picture it as though it were yesterday.
This park was like Ohio's Kennywood. I could have seen a documentary being made called "Geauga Lake Memories," similar to what Kennywood had in 1988. Anyways, thanks for a great video about what was once a great park.
This is the best explanation of the failure of Geauga Lake. Lots of local Ohioans place blame directly on Cedar Fair for its closure, and to be honest, they ARE the people that shuttered it. But please be realistic. This video hits the nail on the head. Six Flags already dug the hole, and was pulling the dirt in on top of itself. The numbers don’t lie. I think Cedar Fair had the right idea to scale it back to what it once was, but they really didn’t promote it, or provide any additional reasons for people to go there. Make no mistake, Six Flags built the coffin, and drove in most of the nails on the lid. Bravo for a great explanation video. Now, what’s your ideas on Cedar Fair’s ownership of the park?
My family would usually go visit SeaWorld once a year when I was a kid, because that's where my grandmother always wanted to go. I always remembered looking across the lake at the fun looking Geuaga Lake, sad that I was stuck with all the boring damn fish. When I finally did get to go to Geauga Lake (I think it was the summer that Raging Wolf Bobs opened) it stormed most of the day, and all I really got to ride was RWB.
We loved the RWB. Rode it a dozen times while we visited.
Over investment is what killed this park. If Six Flags hadn't over invested in the property like they did, not only would the park still exist today but it would still be a Six Flags park today.
I can’t believe they shipped Sky Rocket all the way to Pennsylvania!
Then they made a sequel to it in California!
I see what you did there
This was my home park as a kid growing up as I grew up about 45 min away. Cedarvpoint being an hour and a half away.. This was awesome to see all this footage from my childhood and it brought back a ton of memories. Thank you. :)
I don't see why they thought it would be a success to make a mega park in the middle of nowhere right next to another mega park in the middle of nowhere. Where would the people come from?
Yeah, if it’s in the middle of nowhere the only visitor would be a cowardly dog.
Ohio is the ninth most populated state lol
You mean Disney World and Universal in Orlando.
>middle of nowhere
>literally 30 minuets away from Cleveland
The largest metropolitan area in the 7th most populated state, with a distant from Downtown Cleveland to Geauga lake, similar to Downtown Cincinnati to Kings Island.
@@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN Yeah, but no one from outside Ohio goes to Ohio, so you're pretty limited to just people from Cleveland. Which would be enough to support a small park, but not one this size.
Nice video! I grew up 20 mins away. Double Loop was my first roller coaster followed by the Raging Wolfbobs and Big Dipper. I also remember my first ride on the Texas Twister (Huss Top Spin) in 1993 when it first opened. I was 10 and it was super scary. I've always blamed Cedar Fair for the ultimate demise since they closed it, but this video puts things in a different prospective. I was one of those teenagers that had seasons passes during the World of Adventure days! We rarely ventured over to the Sea World side as it took awhile to walk over there and it was just full of flat rides and sting rays!
I’m from Cleveland!! Although I was born the year it closed, I still have heard about this park and I wish it was still here because then I can go like every weekend. But, I do have cedar point 1.5 hours away...
Absolutely heartbreaking. So many great memories at Geauga Lake and Sea World as a kid. I worked at Sea World for two years in college as a pyrotechnician and later in horticulture once they got rid of fireworks. It was a great company to work for and at least from my experience, they were very dedicated to their employees, guests and animals. When the park was purchased by Six Flags, I declined to return as the writing was on the wall for what would happen. Geauga Lake, while never "Disney quality" in park cleanliness, had become a dump in the time that Six Flags owned it and the clientele had changed significantly.
It makes my day when Chris uploads. It cures my depression. Thank you Chris
I live in Cleveland, this just increased my depression lmao
I grew up at Geagua Lake through the 80s and 90s. Many a company picnics there. We did travel to Cedar Point every other year but Geagua Lake was so much more feasible. No lines for the rides, family friendly and just felt comfortable. I did go back in 2003-2004 ish and half the rides weren’t even operational and I could tell it wouldn’t be long. Great video!
I think it’s a good video with a good statement, that a park continuously needs solid investments
Not just bam 3 coasters
Especially when expanding like that requires additional investment in maintenance and employees which didnt seem to be a priority
@@AirtimeThrills exactly, make sure you scale up operations at a good pace and invest in your resources, not just build at a pace that isn't sustainable and will ultimately result in a bad experience for guests
Thanks for still finding ways to make cool videos during the shutdown. Nicely done.
Ah Six Flags, the company that ruined Astroworld, introduced the short-lived and ill-fated ride rotation program and nearly brought down Magic Mountain.
JCBro2014 They almost destroyed Elitch Gardens in Denver, too!
.....Still missing Astroworld
It’s a very underrated channel my man. Every video I watch so far has been excellent.
8:35 Did you have to do that to my hometown?! Really Chris, LMAO. DUVALLLLLLL
Poor jacksonville
I loved Geauga Lake as a kid in the late 70’s and as an teen in the 80’s and as an adult in the 90’s. I never made it there as Worlds of adventure. Sea World was also an excellent park. I have fantastic memories of both parks.
Ayyy an Airtime Thrills video! Great video, man 👍. Also, just thought I'd let you know that Alton Towers is 910 acres.
I wonder why that never comes up on lists of biggest parks. Is part of that land not technically used for the park?
@@AirtimeThrills i think it includes the gardens aswell
@@AirtimeThrills i think it includes the gardens aswell
I've been waiting for you to make a video on this park for the longest time. He finally delivers
I went to these parks in all their forms and I actually liked the end result. Cedar Fair did not have to kill Geagua Lake IMHO. It could've lived on.
Nice editing, and great job gathering all the footage. Very few repeated shots, which is pretty good for a 15 minute video.
Great video! It’s quite sad what happened to this place. also, thank you so much for mentioning the footage thing at the end, because it’s something this community needs to seriously consider. why post Offride, without giving others the chance to use it with proper credit. makes no sense and im glad you’re not one of those people!
Haha when people post offride and dont let peoppe use it it makes me wonder the same thing
this was the park of my adolescent years and have many memories inside of worlds of adventure as well as Geauga Lake. I remember the customer service being horrible ALWAYS but always having a great time! The texas twister was among one of my faves in the park and to see it at the end brought a small happy/sad tear to my eye! great video.
Ya better have a Cedar Fair side of this. They were just as responsible for its death.
What was Cedar Fair supposed to do with the park? Suck revenue from it's two superior parks not even 3 hours away? The place was very unkempt when I visited as Six Flags.
Yeah what they did was very very questionable. The economy in 2007 didnt help things either. But when they took the park over the attendance was already plunging. Down 65% in their first year of operation. That's a sinking ship.
Cedar Fair made some questionable calls, like building a new water park while leaving the old one to rot. But, let’s be honest; the park was already dying. If Cedar Fair doesn’t buy Paramount Parks, it may still survive on a small scale. But once that sale went through, plus the slowing economy, it was all over for Geauga Lake. When X-flight moves to KI, I knew the park was gonna become a toy box for the new kids.
Clay3613 this is why SFMM should stay with Six Flags or go to any company other than Cedar Fair.
You brought up interesting points in regard to Six Flags running the company into the ground. I grew up 5 minutes from the park and everyone in my town blames Cedar Fair for its demise. I liked the new perspective!
i've driven by this park my whole life. at least, the remnants of it. we see a lot of people looking at the barren property. definitely miss the lack of local waterparks, and if i was born a few years earlier (i never made it to geuaga lake) this would be my home park instead of cedar point. RIP wildwater kingdom and geuaga
What an awesome documentary!
It's still very sad looking back at what used to be, there really was no other park quite like it.
Imagine a RCT2 Scenario to rebuild and expand that park
I think that exists actually
I had no idea it was gone, we went on a roller coaster road trip (Hershey, Cedar Point and Six Flags Ohio) right near the end of Six Flags days here. So weird to think it is gone! Thanks for the video and the memories!!
Good thing they saved the slc and sent it to Michigans adventure
Because vekoma hang and bangs must be preserved at all costs
MICHIGAN’S ADVENTURE FTW!!!
To be fair, its one of the smoothest SLC's out there, maybe the smoothest stock SLC.
@@Morgetiud Nah riddlers revenge is in my opinion
Dragon Mountain Fanboy it’s the most intense but not the smoothest riddler revenge at New England is better and my favorite SLC
I never got to go to Geauga Lake, but my dad grew up going to both Geauga Lake and Cedar Point, and Geauga Lake was one of his favorite places EVER. He even liked it better than Cedar Point for the prices. Even just mentioning Geauga Lake and its closing can put him in a bad mood. RIP Geauga Lake.
Just a little tidbit here, Geauga Lake, Wyandot Lake and Darien Lake were all sister parks.
I live and grew up in Cleveland. This park was my childhood and it still saddens me that it was destroyed 😥 As amazing as Cedar Point is, this park was just as special to me. It was cheaper and had way shorter lines than Cedar Point and still had some awesome rides. I went on my first roller coaster here and got over my fear of tall roller coasters here at a very young age. The water park was also amazing and you didn't have to pay extra to get in it. I also didn't know that it was the worlds largest theme park! Thank you for this nostalgic video.
God I love it when Airtime Thrills spills the tea
Thank you for bringing back a wonderful memory of my childhood park, even though it ended in complete sadness :(
I see what you did at 10:13. Attendance Spike while going up the spike!
😉
Long story short is that if Six Flags had either been more gradual with their growth for Geauga Lake, or if someone other than Cedar Fair had acquired the park in 2004, Geauga Lake would still be around as a serious competitor to Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Kennywood.
This looked like such an awesome place. It looked huge
Love the way you give credit to collaborators - some awesome channels you repped!
Could you imagine if this place still existed? How much of destination state Ohio would be for roller coasters.
This all happened when King's Island was still a Paramount park, so within a single state there was a three-way coaster race going on for a brief time.
Geauga Lake was always difficult to get to so it could never compete.
@@jimwhelan9152 that is absolute hogwash! The corporations leaving Ohio had a big big hand in the demise of Geauga Lakes failure! The corporations were leaving for the southern states. People were leaving Ohio to go where there work was! Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Ravenna, Mentor, and Warren all were industrial cities. All or a majority of the corporations along Interstate Rt 2 were leaving Ohio. Our cities have become ghost towns! The only money that was being made by anyone was the drug dealers. When people lost their jobs the drug dealer would entice them with this will make you feel better here have a hit of this!
@@cherifew3485 What's"hogwash" is any belief that general economic issues in Ohio were responsible. Cedar point and King's Island both thrived. They are both near major interstates and the Ohio turnpike in the case of cedar point. Geauga Lake required navigating a two lane surface street for a considerable distance. It could never succeed as a major tourist destination no matter what the Ohio economy was like!
Great video!! It’s cool that everyone shares photos and info with each other!
FYI: I actually have a couple of virtual of ride throughs from Planet Coaster for the the wolf bobs and the Big Dipper.
Grew up visiting Geauga Lake; from parents' company picnics to fun summer day trips. Had season tickets from 01-03... So thankful to have such a fun park as part of my adolescence!
I love the fact that 6 flags invested so much into there parks. They were very stupid but I am glad they did
I want to make sure to thank all of the you tubers you thanked!! Because of all the you tubers Chris mentioned, we get to watch awesome videos like these, every single one of the channels he mentioned, you guys are amazing!! Thank you for making the coaster community better!!
Nobody
AirTimeThrills keeping us entertained during quarantine
I loved this park growing up!! Everyone in cleveland was so sad when it closed! So many memories going there, I never realized it was considered the largest park at one point. It really was great when you could walk from sea world to six flags and back!
As a local, my frustration with the park was their attempt at competing with Cedar Point. Geauga Lake was always a smaller scale park for the Greater Cleveland area. Was Cedar Point competition? Absolutely. But unlike CP, which has always attracted guests worldwide, Geauga Lake only had to reach out to folks who lived in Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs. That was the park's charm and identity; it was a local park. When we found out that they wanted to actually compete with Cedar Point, we almost laughed. Geauga Lake was never near the quality of a Cedar Fair park, in terms of efficiency and maintenance, and becoming the world's largest theme park wasn't going to magically change things. So many stupid mistakes were made.
Exactly. Charm and nostalgia was a big draw. Keeping it family friendly and affordable was key. Then Cleveland suffers some steep population declines which made it even worse. I never understood why they kept trying to make it another cedar point. My dad was a roller coaster enthusiast and we only went once because we found the park unkempt and dirty. Felt so ghetto and not like it used to be at all.
So glad I got to experience this! XFlight was new when I went. Batman Knight Flight, Superman Escape, Mind Eraser, The Villain, XFlight, Ragging Wolf Bobs, Dr. Hyde's Nasty Fall, and Time Warp were the best rides!
Good thing we live in Southern California, right Chris? Where’s our raptor?
Itll be here....hopefully soon...corona notwithstanding
Since Green Lantern’s curse has left the park, a vacant space is open. Come, RMC Raptor, we are waiting.
Airtime Thrills and what about el toro
@@JadneParks Yes! I think a Raptor would fit right where Green Lantern was
Went in 2007 and actually had an amazing time, had a cabana at the water park and walked over to the hard park and never once had to wait in line. Was a nice contrast to spending the previous days at Cedar Point and Kings Island, which we’re packed to capacity. That being said; the writing was clearly on the wall that CF had only bought the place with the intent of shutting it down. Hopefully Six Flags will learn their lesson and let their smaller parks STAY smaller parks and put charm over uniformity.
Worlds of Adventure is like when you toss a bunch of kindling on a fire but no logs
Man I used have a season pass to Geauga Lake in the late 90s and early 2000s and it was great. I live about 20 minutes away now and drive by that empty parking lot all the time and have flashbacks to seeing the coasters and all the people. I wish it was still around.
Double loop was my first ever coaster. I was so small that the g forces during the loops forced my head down so my chin touched my chest. I have never forgiven six flags for what they did, and even though cedar fair were the last owners, I legitimately don't believe the conspiracy that they closed it intentionally and I think they did what they could to bring it back, I don't think they would have bothered investing into the place at all just to preserve good will, and hell even if they did shut it down out of profit motive, that makes more sense to me than what six flags did. Geauga lake was a perfect family park and I went there several times as a kid. I still remember the energy of that place on a warm summer night, it was awesome. I went once after six flags took over and it just wasn't the same. It felt forced and cheap and thoughtless. They really gutted that place of it's soul and aurora has been worse off because of it. I drove by there about a month ago and it was just sad. All that is left are a couple signs.
Very nicely put together video and very informative as well. Thanks for posting this.
To add to this Kennywood is near Pittsburgh as well so why would people drive to that location when they had a decent theme park close by
Mainly to go to Sea World. It was no surprise attendance died even more after the animals were removed. I live between the two and preferred Kennywood but would go to Sea World too. Once the animal side was discontinued I had no reason to go. Plus if I'm headed that direction the extra drive to Cedar Point was worth it.
Kennywood is the best but last year they were having trouble finding enough employees. I hope it's not a sign of the times. I'll keep going forever
Well, Kennywood USED to be decent. I practically lived there as a kid. Now it's got gangs and metal detectors and lots of cops. I'd rather drive to Cedar Point -- a bigger, better park for not much more money.
I grew up 35 minutes from these 2 parks. Back in the 70's thru 85.
I probably entered these gates 75 times over those years.
After I move away from that area, I had no idea the trouble this park was in. Good information, now I know what happened.