Wikipedia

Geauga Lake

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jesmcsel (talk | contribs) at 00:38, 29 January 2007 (→Capital Expenditures). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom is an amusement park located in Aurora, Ohio, United States, originally founded in 1888 as Geauga Lake. For a detailed history of the park from 1888 to the present, see The History of Geauga Lake at the park's official site.

Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom
Previously known as Geauga Lake - 1888 to 2000
Six Flags Ohio - 2000 to 2001
Six Flags Worlds of Adventure - 2001 to 2004
Geauga Lake - 2004
Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom - 2005 to Present
File:GLWWKlogo.jpg
Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom Logo.
LocationAurora, Ohio
Opened1887
OwnerCedar Fair, L.P.
Operating seasonMay through September
Area690 acres (2.8 km²)
Attractions
Total54
Roller coasters9
Water rides9
Websitewww.geaugalake.com

Geauga Lake is also the name of the lake along which the amusement park lies, which straddles Portage and Geauga counties in the city of Aurora and township of Bainbridge[1], as well as of a nearby unincorporated settlement[2]. The lake was originally known as "Giles Pond", in reference to Mr. Sullivan Giles, who established a picnic area adjacent to the lake in 1872. Eventually, the lake was renamed "Picnic Lake". In 1888, the lake was renamed "Geauga Lake" by Alexander G. Kent, the then owner at the time.[1]

Previous Names & Management

While it is not uncommon for amusement parks to be sold, very few have had the amount of ownership changes that Geauga Lake has had.

Year Name Owner Manager
1872 Giles Pond / Picnic Lake Sullivan Giles -Same-
1888 Geauga Lake Alexander G. Kent -Same-
1925 Geauga Lake William J. Kuhlman -Same-
1945 Geauga Lake Carl Adrian, Harvey Schryer, & Charles Schryer -Same-
1968 Geauga Lake Funtime Inc. Gaspar Lococo, Earl Gascoigne, Dale Van Voorhis, & Milford Jacobson
1970 Sea World Ohio Sea World Milton C. Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demont, and George Millay
1976 Sea World Ohio Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
1980's Sea World Ohio Busch Entertainment Company Daniel Trausch
1996 Geauga Lake Premier Parks Gaspar Lococo
1998 Geauga Lake Six Flags
2000 Six Flags Ohio Six Flags Jack Bateman, Daniel Trausch, Joe Costa
2001 Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Six Flags Rick McCurly
2004 Geauga Lake Cedar Fair William G. Spehn
2005 Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom Cedar Fair William G. Spehn

1968 marked the first time the park was owned by a corporation. Premier Parks(soon to be Six Flags) purchased the park from Funtime Inc. in 1968, and in 2000 Six Flags re-branded the park to become Six Flags Ohio. A year later they purchased the adjacent SeaWorld of Ohio and merged the two to form Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. On March 10, 2004, Six Flags sold the park to Cedar Fair, L.P. (parent company of Cedar Point in nearby Sandusky, Ohio), who returned it to its original name. In 2005, Cedar Fair announced the conversion of the south side (former Sea World Property) to a water park and the park changed names once more to become Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom.

Current Roller Coasters

Ride Year Opened Previous Names Description
Big Dipper 1925 Clipper, Sky Rocket A John A. Miller wooden coaster. The park officially became an amusement park when this coaster opened. The ride served as the park entrance gate.
Double Loop 1977 An Arrow Dynamics double looping coaster.
Raging Wolf Bobs 1988 A summers/Dinn wooden coaster based off the Bobs.
Head Spin 1996 Mind Eraser A Vekoma "boomerang" type roller coaster.
Thunderhawk 1998 Serial Thriller A Vekoma SLC inverted coaster.
Beaver Land Mine Ride 2000 Road Runner Express A Zierer kiddie coaster.
Dominator 2000 Batman: Knight Flight A Bolliger & Mabillard floorless roller coaster; currently the world's longest "Floorless" coaster.
Steel Venom 2000 Superman: Ultimate Escape An Intamin AG impulse coaster.
Villain 2000 A wooden coaster built by Custom Coasters International.

Past Roller Coasters

Ride Year Opened Year Closed Description
Corkscrew 1978 1995 An Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew coaster
Cyclone 1976 1980 A Pinfari Z47 portable coaster
Wild Mouse ~1958 ~1970s A Schiff Wild Mouse
X-Flight 5/26/2001 9/17/2006 Vekoma Flying coaster (2nd generation)

Capital Expenditures

The park has had millions of dollars spent by it's many owners.

Year Details Approximate Cost (U.S. Dollars)
1995 Added Grizzly Run & Texas Twister $4 Million
1996 Added Head Spin $5 Million
1997 Added Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall & Hook's Lagoon $2 Million
1998 Added Thunderhawk $8 Million
1999 Added three new rides: Ripcord, Americana, & Time Warp $2 Million
2000 Renovated to Six Flags Ohio, added 4 Roller Coasters, Water Park, Kids Area, Water Ride & Motion Simulator $44 Million
2001 Purchase and integration of Sea World Ohio, added X-Flight $127 Million
2004 Acquisition by Cedar Fair L.P. $144 Million
2005 Added Wildwater Kingdom, Dino Island, Robots Of Mars, and Lakeside Catering, Refurbishment of Raging Wolf Bobs $23 Million
2006 Tidal Wave Bay $3 Million

Historical additions and changes

In 1977: Geauga Lake unveils Double Loop, the world's first steel coaster with two consecutive vertical loops. The coaster was designed by Arrow Development.

In 1983: The park opens phase one of Boardwalk Shores, one of the first water parks to be included in an amusement park for one price.

In 1984: Boardwalk Shores expands again with the introduction of The Wave, the largest wave pool ever built at the time.

In 1988: Geauga Lake celebrates its centennial season with the introduction of Raging Wolf Bobs. The coaster, designed by Curtis Summers and Charlie Dinn, was inspired by the Bobs coaster from Chicago's defunct Riverview Park.

In 1995/1996: Corkscrew is removed to make room for Head Spin (Mind Eraser). Corkscrew now resides in MGM Dizzee World, India.

Friday, May 5, 2000 Six Flags Ohio opens for the first time under its new name. A total of 40 million dollars was spent rebranding the park from Geauga Lake. Among the featured additions were Batman Knight Flight, a steel looping coaster, Superman: Ultimate Escape, an Intamin Impulse coaster, The Villain, a large wooden roller coaster, and the Roadrunner Express, a family roller coaster. Also, a new children's area called Looney Tunes Boomtown was opened, as well as Shipwreck Falls, a new splash boat ride.

January 4, 2001 Six Flags Ohio Announces a Flying roller coaster, dubbed "X-Flight", that would feature a 115 foot hill, and numerous flying elements designed to enhance the design of the cars, which holds riders in a prone position.

January 10, 2001 Six Flags Ohio later announced they had purchased neighboring Sea World Ohio for $110 million, located around the same lake as Six Flags. The two parks would be combined as one park, Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure. The animal exhibits and shows from Sea World would now be included with admission.

January 20, 2002 Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure announces a new animal exhibition show called "Tiger Island", featuring four white Bengal tigers performing tricks, would open in 2002. In mid-2002, Shouka, a female orca, was brought to the park via a breeding loan from a marine park in France. Efforts to bring in a male orca from Argentina failed.

In 2003: Hurricane Mountain waterslides were built, billed as the tallest waterslide complex in Ohio, USA. Also the Starfish and Thriller Bees family rides were opened. The 3 Shark slides opened also, The Mako, The Great White, and The Hammer Head.

March 2004: Six Flags sells the park to Cedar Fair, who changes the name back to Geauga Lake. Six Flags keeps the animals and disperses them to other properties.

June 2005, a 20 acre (80,000 m²) Water Park located on the former site of SeaWorld of Ohio opens, under the name of Wildwater Kingdom. The expansion includes a ProSlide Tornado slide (known as Liquid Lightning), Children's Water Playground, an Action River, and the relocation of Hurricane Mountain (now known as Thunder Falls). In addition, Raging Wolf Bobs was retracked and received a new Gerstlauer train purchased from Holiday World, the Starfish and Thriller Bees were brought back, and new picnic pavilions built on the former site of Hook's Lagoon. The Peanuts characters were introduced and two new movies were added in the Geauga Lake Motion Simulator and 4-D Theater: Dino Island II and Robots of Mars. The biggest change for 2005 was the admission price, which was dropped 10 dollars to $24.95. Another new addition to the park was the "Picnic by the Lake" buffet which takes place daily in the newly moved lakeside picnic pavilions.

In 2005, the park announced that they would construct a new wave pool in Wildwater Kingdom. The pool would be 30,000 square feet in size, and would be called Tidal Wave Bay. This opened on May 27, 2006. 2005 would also be the final year of Hurricane Hannah's water park and Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall, which was dismantled in January 2006.

November 2006, the park announced the removal of the X-Flight roller coaster and the monorail. X-Flight will be relocated to Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio which is also owned by Cedar Fair LP.

2007 The park's 2007 operating schedule has been significantly cut back compared with the schedules of seasons past The park will now only be opening Memorial Day-Labor Day with Oktoberfest acting as a bonus weekend following the official closing of the park.

Ticket prices and calendar

Current admission is based on a pay-one-price ticket for the rides in the park. The current prices, as well as a Calendar of operating days can be found on the Official Geauga Lake Website.


References

  1. ^ "Cleveland Amusement Park Memories" (2004) ISBN 1-886228-89-2
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geauga_Lake&oldid=103965285"