When we were kids we went to all of them in the same summer like every year. Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, Sea World and Kennywood. But that is because we were from NE Ohio. So sad that my childhood favorites cant be shared with my kids.
Hindsight... The problem was always lack of hotel life around the park. The last coaster built was 25 million spent, they could have built a resort on property and made it a multi day destination like a discount disney.
Six flags added 4 coasters in 2000. Batman Knight Flight (B&M floorless, Renamed Dominator, now at kings Dominion) Villain (CCI Wooden Coaster, demolished in 2007) Superman Escape (Intamin Launch, Renaimed Possessed, now At Dorney Park) Roadrunner Express (Zierre kiddie coaster, renamed ‘Roller Coaster’, now At France’s Papea Parc)
@@kw6stheater539 Morgan. Rumour is the plans were cancelled because the GL side was landlocked and the Seaworld side had a height limit. Apparently the plans for the ride were modified so it became Superman: El ultimo escapê at Six Flags Mexico
I read that a fire burned down their beautiful roller rink!!!! To make the park complete they should build a new beautiful Roller Rink - complete with a new Hammond organ!!!! Now that would be so cool!!!!!
My alternate history would be SF accepts Seaworld’s offer in 2001. Based on that, X Flight never got built, and I’ll give that coaster to Michigan’s Adventure (Paramount was in a deal with Verona, and they backed out since the coaster that is now Nighthawk was then at Paramount’s Great America and it was plagued with problems, so paramount backed out. But the next model, intended for Kings Island, was already manufactured. At the time, Michigan’s Adventure was family owned and it had been 4 years since their last coaster, Shivering Timbers, and they could get a new coaster at a cheap price). With Seaworld running Geauga Lake, Shikra got sent to Geauga Lake instead of Busch Gardens Tampa (they still got a dive coaster the next year, and Williamsburg got one the next season. And with the proximity to Cedar Point, Valravn never got built).
Thinking about this, chances are they brand it as Busch Gardens since at the time Kraken was the only major coaster at a park branded as Seaworld, and there would be several major coasters at Geauga Lake so they would unknowingly make the best decision possible because Blackfish DEFINATELY still happens in 2013, when the Seaworld side would close and become just a family ride section. Anyways, back to the park. In 2009 Seriel Thriller would be sent to the scrapyard. After sitting vacant for several years, an Intamin blitz similar to Cheeta Hunt would be installed in it’s place in 2013, In 2015, Villian has gotten quite rough. GCI is going to come in and give it the Ghostrider treatment, as the rides have similar layouts. In 2018, a B&M gigs gets installed to compete with Steel Vengence (which still definately would happen). Crowds are very split about which one is better. But coaster enthusiasts are going for both, so it brings in the same kinds of crowds Steel Vengence has.
What do you mean Geauga Lake was one of their smaller parks? Geauga Lake was the Largest Amusement park in the world when they bought and added Sea World to the complex at 700 plus acres. They were also the Largest water slide complex in North America in 2003. Land locked? There was plenty of land to build on, part of the property wasn't even used as part of the park, but the park did own the land. So even more expansion could have been done if they developed the unused land.
@@NickyD as dusk stated, all of the land wasnt developed, and a lot blocked off. After the acquisition of sea world, the park was 700 acres, nearly twice the size of cedar point, and magic mountain is 262 acres, 100 less than cedar point.
Nice video of what might have been. Hard to believe that at one point this old family picnic park became the largest amusement park when it expanded to include the old Sea World area. Here is a good site with a very long and detailed history, but worth reading. www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140824/28153/lost-geauga-lake-how-worlds-largest-six-flags-disappeared
Really, the damage was done when Six Flags tried to expand the park too much and too fast. It's not entirely Cedar Fair's fault that the park met such a sad end.
@Dusk Raccoon how was it dumb, if they bought Sea World they would just compete with themselves which is Cedar Fair did when they bought the park so instead of making uneeded competition they stripped the park down.
A few notes on what you said... About your RMC on Raging Wolf Bobs, I don't even see it being RMCed. It was a one of a kind design, modeled after the original Bobs, and was really costly to maintain... I think your predicted Premier Rides launch coaster would replace the Raging Wolf Bobs around when you said, and Six Flags would keep the log flume. I think the Villain would be RMC'd in 2019 to compete with Steel Vengeance.
Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was the largest theme park when it reopened as such in 2001 with the Seaworld Park. It wouldn't have been landlocked. They had tons of room for expansion to the north of the park that wrapped around the whole parking lot. Plus there was some land to the south of the Seaworld side and there was a fairly sizable piece of land in between the Wolf Bobs and the Seaworld side. What I would have seen happening is Six Flags buying the parcel of land across Aurora Road/HWY 43 and building a hotel due to the lack of hotels in the area, something similar to the Great Escape Lodge. At some point, I see them relocating the water park to the opposite side of the property, directly across the parking lot from the main entrance. To help bring more income, they'd have a separate ticket for the new water park, but offer tickets at a discount with Six Flags Worlds of Adventure tickets. They'd of course fill in the space that the waterpark took up with new attractions (I see a new Sky Screamer and a new coaster, maybe the spinning coaster there).
You're off a bit. Premier ate Geauga Lake and then also ate a financially struggling Six Flags and put on the Six Flags skin down to making even more irrational spending decisions. They then chose a park with only 2 lane country roads leading to it and barely any hotel options nearby to over extend. Then Sea World sold their park and suddenly you get a monstrosity paying taxes in THREE counties. But park and local infrastructure was not ready for a megapark. There was no smooth, natural growth and symbiosis within the park or the local area like what goes on in Sandusky. The 2.7 million visitors still came, but they had a poor experience and so less and less returned. Further, Cedar Fair doesn't do animals stuff on a Seaworld scale, so they were never gonna use that side of the park like that. And yet Seaworld was essential, there were smaller parks and larger parks in PA and OH and so on for amusement rides, but a place like Seaworld was much rarer, so when it had to close attendance just kept plummeting as it did the last year Six Flags had been running it.
Cool video!!!! I'm outlining a book using a similar alternate timeline and found this while doing some research. Thank you for the nostalgia and education all in one!
4:58 I think it'd be more likely for Villain to get the RMC treatment, while keeping Raging Wolf Bobs and Big Dipper preserved. Raging Wolf Bobs didn't have a layout suitable for an RMC conversion.
I don't agree with this, in 2004 Six Flags was planning two flat rides for the park they were also approved for a 200 ft coaster (many believe that coast is Gialoth at La Ronde), 2005 Tornado water slide, 2006 would see Goliath. Also, that park was not landlocked and it was not smaller. On top of that, many of the rides at GL were older and could have been easily removed and make way for newer rides.
You would also have to assume that the Great Recession never occurred (or was less severe than in our timeline), because financial problems were probably a key factor in the park's closing (especially as Cedar Fair had 2 parks that would have competed with each other). If Six Flags still owned Geauga Lake in 2007, either Six Flags would have been forced to close the park anyway, sell the park, or downsize it (seriously, who thought it was a good idea to build the world's largest single theme park in the middle of nowhere?!)
i agree. it was in the middle of nowhere. there was nothing else in the area to support market. As shitty as it may seem to the locals and to everyone who loves the underdog, at the end of the day it was just business. Cedar fair at this point would have 3 parks in the same state within a four hour drive from the bottom to the top of ohio. That's not smart business. Now what i do believe is that cedar fair could have at least turned it back into the little family park that it once was or at least a camping park, or entertainment complex, maybe even kept the water park. Instead they were like we don't give a fuck about you're little nothing ass town. we got what we came for.
grassfish01 Middle of nowhere? Not in the middle of a city, but in a 5+ million population area. The NE Ohio market, with bleeding over from Western PA, southern Ohio, and such, is definitely not nothing...
haqq rasheed it would have worked well if it were more regional, like Dorney Park or something, just a bit bigger. It could’ve worked, and they tried, but six flags ruined it. It was too late for Geauga Lake.
The city of Aurora has already stated that they won’t let another amusement park open. Apparently they are going to build houses and a Ford dealership on the site.
Cedar Point would have "NEVER" compared to Geauga Lake! So, the only thing left to do is rid the competition...Boycott (Crappie Pig) aka Cedar Point-less!
Cedar Fair tried its best to save the park. They attempted to make the park more suitable for the infrastructure it was near. One of the reason attendance dropped and Six Flags threw the park away was because it was too big. Aurora Ohio was not fit for a park that size. Efforts in 2006 to downsize the park to a more regional destination (pre 1995 levels) failed and so they closed the park, leaving the most recent additions (the water park) to recoup the cost of building it.
... ... ...what is sad here is you should do an "alternative timeline/story" for :{The Original Six Flags OVER TEXAS!} that premier entertainment or partners or amusement "stole~away" the Heart & Soul of The Park That "made disney world work!" in orlando, florida... ... ...all ideas and creativity came from the True Six Flags Corp, not the "counterfit! ~ premier amusement"... ... ...they do not even use the Real Six Flags That Flew Over Texas, but some cheap~o dime store flags... ... ...they ruined the "disney world esk" fantacy land, striping it of its Heart & Soul,... ... ...and each "Countries" Flavor and Fair and "uniqueness" , for a hyped up version of roller coasters, that only mr.freeze fills a true coaster bill, though the double loop "shock wave", and mind train were unique originals... ... ...the safari water ride, pirates island, spindel top~gone ; the character from some "foreign state", ...premier ruined its texas glory... and "franchised it" too other states, when it created disney worlds theme park... ... ...i went too both as a CHILD,...disney was Six Flags Over Texas! but SFOT had Better Rides BECAUSE IT HAD THE ORIGINAL SCHEMATIC ; from the HEART!!! ; disney world was great! but Six Original Flags Over TEXAS was {{{b e t t e r}}}... ... ...ironicly it was voted number four~best ; too be number {4}, behind magic mountain!, because of its COASTERS!!! ... ... ...they should dismantle SFOT! because it SHOULD BE NUMBER ONE!!!!!!!!!!(10 ; "what a shame", ... ... ...please leave the double loops of shock wave and the orange observation tower as "museum pieces"; but what you have DONE is made a "burger king" out of SFOT; burger king, the best flavor original burger TRASHED BYE TERRIBLE OWNERSHIP!!! ; if only i could bye Six Flags Over Texas & Burger King ; they would be unrivalled! 🎶 llove Brother brent! 💘}}}
The sales sucked bankruptcy. Cedar Fair bought them from the bank than later bought Kings island (my home town park) which has 1,000s of open acres of development. Unlike Geauga and Cedar Pointe. Not to mention the Beast! They knew what they were doing. It is sad to see that area a skeleton of its former glory. I went to Sea World as a youngster.
I had never been to geauga lake. What i left in another comment was cedar fair could have done something with the land instead of leaving it barren. Camp ground, entertainment complex, left the water. or had all three. Camping ground being the most obvious.
Rollercoaster Rider No it was Priemer Parks who purchased Six Flags in 1999 (I think). When Priemer Parks purchased Geuaga Lake from the previous owner it was different. So in 2000 that was when the park became Six Flags.
Kurt Wetzel 1995 was the beginning of the end for Geauga Lake. They had a similar mentality to six flags. Funtime Inc. should have never agreed to be sold off.
