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Geauga Lake Amusement Park Bites the Dust
Here are is an amusement park I've never been to, but I am sad it is closing. Partly because it holds memories for my husband's family, and partly because it is an indication of how history does change things. It's an era gone by.
Geauga Lake, at least the ride section, has seen its last season. Waterparks, like malls that look like small towns, are in in the U.S. (I don't quite get why people don't go to a real small town to shop instead of a mall that looks like a town. Pet peeve.)
Wild Water Kingdom that adjoins Geauga Lake has grown and grown in the past few years as the crowds on the coasters have diminished. Too bad. Founded in 1888, Geauga Lake is one of the oldest amusement parks in the United States. It started out as a place for picnics. In 1889, when a steam carousel was added, its role as an amusement park to entertain the masses was on it's way. In its 100th year attendance was high, but Cedar Point, also in northern Ohio, has been competition it couldn't keep up with. From what my relatives have said, Geauga Lake was a perfect place to go with kids because lines were not long and the rides were just the right size for the younger set.
I'm wondering what will happen to all the rides? Once when I was writing an article on Christmas light displays in Ohio, I interviewed a man who had bought the huge wooden soldiers from Coney Island (Ohio's Coney Island) in an auction. Coney Island closed as a major amusement park in the early 70s and Kings Island became home to some of its rides. This photo is from Geauga Lake Today. If you go to the site, you'll find a gallery of vintage postcard shots.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Business, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randall Sep 26th 2007 1:26PM
Honestly, Geauga Lake is a crappy amusement park. I worked at Cedar Point over the summer and went to Geauga Lake because it was free. They only have one decent ride. The other rides are just painful and old. The water park is awesome though. Probably the rides still in good shape will be spread out to the different Cedar Fair parks. Hopefully michigan's adventure since they are in a similar situation as Geauga Lake where their water park is way better than the amusement park.
Derek Apr 16th 2009 7:27PM
Randall,
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I definitely disagree with you. Geauga Lake was not a run down piece of crap. Have you taken a look at the Point lately? That park is not as clean as it used to be, and the workers have been rude the past few times I have visited. No amusement park can be spotless, and I understand that. I used to work at one when in college a long time ago. But, Geauga Lake was not filthy. I did not find workers to be rude as I did at "your" park.
Geauga Lake still had that hometown atmosphere mixed in with newer attractions. It still had history to the place which is more than I can say for Cedar Point, who seems to be intent on removing history.
GL may not have been your cup of tea, but there are many who enjoyed the park for what it was. No one park is tailor-made to fit everyone. The folks who partonized GL did so for their own reasons. Many of them may not have been or will never go to CP. There are those who have only been to CP and not to GL. Then there are those like me who visits all parks, including GL and CP.
You cannot judge the worth of a park on just one visit. Sorry that you had a rotten time at GL when you went, but you should have at least made an attempt to return sometime later to see if things had improved. My bad experiences at CP were on numerous occasions over five years....not much seems to have changed there. Attempts to talk to management about what I see happening there and the bad experiences I have had is not being taken seriously as I get a simple "kiss off" letter from the GM of the park who insists on reminding me that CP continues to be voted the #1 park in the nation.
You can have CP. I will miss GL and pray that a miracle will happen that it will reopen one day, beyond anything that a human can do to see this come true. I will enjoy Kings Island, Kennywood, Waldameer, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, and other parks who, to me, are doing an outstanding job of keeping customers satisfied.
Randall Apr 16th 2009 7:46PM
Wow, 2 years later.
I never said I had a bad time. I simply said it was crappy, which it was. That final summer, Geauga Lake was a shell of its former self. You could see pieces of Sea World and Six Flags and they had already removed two of their better rides. You can't mistake nostalgia for quality.
You know why the workers at Cedar Point were rude to you? Probably because you did something dumb.
Eric Sep 14th 2010 4:16AM
I've been there, and think it was to much like the fair. I live in Sandusky and worked at Cedar Point. It was by far 10 times better than Geauga Lake, yeah Cedar Point bought it, but unless you move all the rides and consession stands out so people had room to walk. If I had a choice between Geauga Lake or Cedar Point it would have to be Cedar Point
Mann Oct 19th 2007 9:06PM
Wow, I have a ton of memories growing up in Cleveland, and the routine summer outings to the park.
Part of me is sad, more saddened that the Cleveland area isn't what I remembered.
Thanks for the memories. Thanks for the thrills.
Amanda McFadden Sep 26th 2007 5:00PM
I remember going to Geauga Lake when I was little. It has that old time amusement park feel and I loved it. My name is Mandy McFadden and I am the social media specialist at Ripple Effects Interactive, an interactive marketing agency in Pittsburgh, PA. I am in the process of creating a blog for the state of PA that will focus on travel and tourism. I think it would be great to focus a post on the good old time amusement parks, you may be familiar with Kennywood? Feel free to check out www.rippleeffectsinteractive.com and www.visitpa.com and I'll keep in touch to let you know when our blog goes live. Keep up the great work, you have some awesome content on here and I love reading your posts!
Jamie Rhein Sep 26th 2007 4:54PM
Thanks, Amanda. Let us know when your blog goes live. It sounds like a terrific endeavor. I'll check out Ripple Effects Interactive.
Paul Habina Nov 23rd 2007 2:03PM
I remember Geauga Lake in the late 60s and 70s, before moving to VA. I remember the "OldTime" rides like the funhouse and some of the other old stuff. It was modernized and quite frankly was a great local park for notheastern Ohioans. All of the rides are being moved to other Cedar Fair parks. The Dominator, one of the largest steel coasters is being moved to Kings Dominion in Va and will eb up next spring, as all other rides are being moved to other Cedar Parks. Although it looks like Cedar Point eliminated the competition, they saved tons by moving the rides thus not having to invest in new construction of new rides at all of the other parks. I will always remember GLake Park, as well as Sea World accross the lake (now the water park)
tony casanova Feb 25th 2008 8:22PM
hey paul habina. Is that really you. This is tony casanova we used to hang out and go to the mad hatter in cleveland i was married to Mary We are divorced now are you still married to Patty? I hope this is the Paul Habina that I know My email is cas8ball@aol.com reply back if you get this message oh yeah i loved Geauga lake too. hope to hear from you soon bye from tony casanova