For many years, people in the Cleveland area were able to ride roller coasters and enjoy other amusements and attractions in a charming lakeside setting. In the late 1900s, there were many changes as the attractions evolved. For a while, there were exciting developments that were very promising. Then all the big plans started to fall apart. Today, all the diversions are gone. What happened? Let’s explore the mountain rise and fall of the Lake Geauga area.
First, there was Lake Geauga
Located in Aurora, Ohio, Lake Geauga entertained generations of people in the Midwest. It dates back to 1889. Like many lakeside parks and turn-of-the-century cable car parks, Geauga Lake added roller coasters and other amusements in the early 1900s and thrived for many years. One of his first attractions was the Big Dipper wooden roller coaster.
Many similar old parks found it difficult to compete after the advent of the automobile and modern theme parks. But Lake Geauga hung there and continued to thrive until the latter part of the 20th century. Starting in the mid-1990s, however, a tumultuous phase began that eventually ended in his disappearance.
A company called Premier Parks acquired the classic independently owned amusement park in 1995. In 1998, Premier Parks bought Six Flags and adopted the Six Flags name for their company. Changed the name from Geauga Lake to Six Flags Ohio in 1999.
Then there was SeaWorld Ohio
In an attempt to compete against two other formidable Ohio parks, King’s Island and Cedar Point, Six Flags purchased neighboring SeaWorld Ohio, which was located across the lake from the amusement park. In addition to SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld San Antonio, Ohio Park was the fourth place where visitors used to see Shamu perform. Six Flags continued the marine life shows and exhibits (but dropped the SeaWorld brand and references to Shamu).
Luego hubo Six Flags World of Adventure
In addition to acquiring SeaWorld, Six Flags built a water park. In 2001, he dropped the name Six Flags Ohio and called the combination of the three parks “Six Flags World of Adventure.” A single entrance allowed entry to the marine life park, water park and amusement park. Phew! Are you still with us? We told you it was tumultuous.
The megapark never produced the numbers that Six Flags had anticipated. At the time, Six Flags / Premier Parks, which had quickly acquired parks both in the US and abroad, had racked up mounting debt and was a troubled company. In an attempt to reduce some of its debt, it sold its entire Ohio property to rival chain, Cedar Fair (owner of Cedar Point) in 2004.
Return to Lake Geauga
Cedar Fair closed the marine life exhibits and sold the animals, moved the water park’s slides and attractions to the former SeaWorld site, and changed the park’s name to its original name, Geauga Lake. After four disappointing seasons, Cedar Fair (which bought Kings Island and the rest of Paramount Parks in 2006 and faced its own debt problems) announced that it would permanently close the amusement park in 2007.
Without the roller coasters and other dry amusement rides, Cedar Fair retired the name of Lake Geauga in 2007. However, it continued to operate the water park and renamed it Wildwater Kingdom. The water park remained open until the end of the 2016 season.
Cedar Fair put the final nail in the property’s coffin by announcing that the 2016 season would be the last for Wildwater Kingdom. The water park was all that was left of the thriving amusement area. There are no more amusements on the property.
