Abandoned - Geauga Lake

what's up guys my name is Jake welcome to abandoned episode 14 this is the show where we talk about some of the coolest abandoned places in the world as always before we start I do want to give a quick shout out to our amazing followers on Instagram and our amazing followers on Twitter you guys are literally amazing so today we are going to talk about one of the most heavily requested places Geauga Lake amusement park so to give you a little overview the giaggi Lake amusement park is a theme park located in Aurora Ohio the park is named after the lake it was built on and it is one of two parks on the lake the history actually dates back quite a long time ago in 1872 the land was established as a picnic and swimming area for the then named Jiles lake in 1889 the land took a major shift into an amusement park when it officially offered a steam-powered carousel in 1925 the Big Dipper roller coaster was completed and was the largest roller coaster in the entire world at that point after a massive fire which costed an estimate $500,000 in damages the park was put into seasonal operation in 1952 after a few years funtime Incorporated purchased the park in 1969 almost immediately after SeaWorld leased the land across the lake to build SeaWorld Ohio after its 1970 opening the two parks continue to add attractions and grow in 1995 Geauga Lake was purchased by premier parks this was a really big deal for the park as it was no longer owned by funtime Inc premier parks was becoming big the company went public in 1996 with just threw money into the vaults specifically 70 million for the company at $18 per share in 1997 the company began buying more parks with all of this cash flow the company made a big-ticket purchase how big well in 1998 they purchased six flags for a reported 1.86 billion dollars after this the company began renaming many of the parks that they bought to the six flags name in 2000 premier parks assume the name Six Flags theme park Inc which is probably why if you look up premier parks you probably won't find it in the same year jogger Lakes name was officially changed to Six Flags Ohio during this time forty million dollars was spent to upgrade and extend the park however on the other side literally Cyril Doha IO offered to buy Six Flags Ohio but was quickly denied however after this Six Flags actually bought C R old Ohio not too long after with the plains of combining both parks so with that both parks opened up as six flags world of adventure in 2001 the first sign of downfall for the park was apparent when Six Flags began considering putting the park up for sale since the company was facing some serious financial trouble these financial troubles actually put six flags in the chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009 the company did end up exiting after its restructuring in 2010 anyways in March 2004 Cedar Fair the owner of Cedar Point announced they would be acquiring the property for one hundred and forty five million dollars almost immediately all branding and IPS that came with Six Flags completely left many rides had their names change as well as most of the marine life portions which were left over from SeaWorld the name was once again switched back to its original Geauga Lake it's good to be back jiya gelec it's gonna be fun safer in 2005 the company invested 26 million dollars for a new water park named wild water kingdom to be placed on the former SeaWorld site this force yet another name change who incorporates the second Park as the summer season of 2007 rolled in rumors were ramping up on how the park was set to close permanently Cedar Fair refused to speak on the matter however with the Silence of the company the decline was quite apparent On June 16 the raging wolf Bob's coaster closed permanently after a dear ailing Laz we know this is never good following the end of the summer season on September 21st 2007 the announcement came that no one wanted to hear after a meeting with their Board of Directors Cedar Fair announced that the amusement park portion of Geauga Lake would be permanently closed basically our board of directors made the decision yesterday afternoon that the market demand simply isn't there to support the park as it's currently structured the student was made to operate the park exclusively at the water park only the park was a hundred and twenty years old when I closed and I think it's safe to say that it angered a few people the closure to be fair did kind of make sense there wasn't many hotels in the area no major highways around and Cedar Point wasn't too far away so what happened to the park well following its closure the majority of the coasters were removed and actually relocated towards the summer of 2008 the majority of the park's remnants were sold at auction which led to a good chunk of the park being removed or demolished the 91 year old wooden roller coaster the Big Dipper was attempted to be sold at auction for just nine thousand five hundred dollars if you're thinking as many of you are I'll buy it for the cars it's not going to work the coaster has been graciously and generously offered to American coaster enthusiasts and other groups and that is not all Xiang ladies get security to get her out of here the park was put up for sale in 2008 and since then the property has looked pretty rough today the park still sits completely abandoned right across from the water park which actually still does operate seasonally all that stands today is the Big Dipper coaster some small buildings the parts entrance and the majority of the parking lot many foundations and concrete mouldings are still in place so what does the future hold well it's hard to say the best possible case would be a theme park of some sort or maybe a restoration to the original Park Museum maybe however with no one wanting land in 2013 Cedar Fair announced they would be willing to sell the land in parcels for the first time in the property's history recently Geauga Lake has been in the interest of many for the location of sound stages as Ohio's filming locations has grown more popular recently though the Myer superstore chain has signed a contract to purchase at 41 acre portion of the land to build one of its stores on nothing is final but a spokesperson has said the earliest the chain would open a store would be 2018 so is Cedar Fair really to blame for this yeah probably to be fair though if the park was left in six flags hands it probably wouldn't have survived them much longer again it's hard to say the way Cedar Fair has treated the property though is kind of sad I would expect something more from the people who owned Canada's Wonderland oh wait seriously though out of all they have been in places we've done I honestly think this is the saddest one when a park carries that much history and it's such a massive landmark to millions it shouldn't be treated this way how clearing the land would be more respectful than what they're doing at the end of the day though the park made so many people happy and really that's all that matters it began with the intent to make families happy and I think they succeeded for a solid hundred and twenty years this place no matter what it becomes will live on with the people who got to enjoy it it's definitely a landmark in American theme park history but that's it for me guys thank you so much for watching if you have any memories from Geauga Lake feel free to leave a comment also a few weeks ago we opened a small t-shirt shop where you can get some pretty sick t-shirts from us so if you're interested there will be a link in the description my name is Jake and thank you very much for watching an alligator has killed a four-year-old for what

Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 1,603,663

Rating: 4.8994679 out of 5

Keywords: Geauga Lake, Abandoned Geauga Lake, Geauga Lake amusmenent park, Cedar Fair, Cedar Point, Cedar Fair Sucks, Aurora Ohio, Ohio, Abandoned Ohio, Abandoned, Urban Exploring, Urbex, Six Flags Ohio, Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure, Wildwater Kingdom, Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom, abandoned theme park, abandoned amusement park, intereting abandoned, Six Flags, USA, Abandoned America, Lake, Abandoned lake, roller coaster, Abandoned ride, abandoned rollercoaster, exploration, drone

Id: DPWFCqZ1jvs

Length: 8min 27sec (507 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2016