No more coasters at Geauga Lake - 9/21/2007
Cedar Fair announced today a "new direction" for Geauga Lake. So, for 2008 Geauga Lake will be solely a water park. The
dry rides and most importantly the coasters will be removed.
Now the guessing game will begin. Where will the coasters find new homes? I'm sure Dominator, Thunderhawk and Beaver
Land Mine Ride will find good homes. The popular rumor on the net right now is that Dominator will be headed for Kings Dominion
in Virginia. That seems quite reasonable to me. Double Loop, Villain and Head Spin may be headed for the scrap
heap. Raging Wolf Bobs and Big Dipper almost certainly have their future in the campfire industry. It is sad to see
the oldest coaster in the state fade into history without a fight or even a proper send off.
I believe the decision to close the ride side of the park was made a year ago, in the fall of 2006. That is when X-Flight and
Steel Venom were removed from the park. Cedar Fair's comment at that time stated that they remained committed to the future of
Geauga Lake. It wasn't a outright lie, just a bit of a fib. We can see now that the future they had in mind never
included coasters.
Several times I've driven 4 hours to visit Geauga Lake and paid for hotel rooms to stay. For the longest time I was never a
fan of water parks. But during one particular visit in 2006 to Geauga Lake I did take full advantage of the water side and fell
in love. Even so, I can't ever see myself driving 4 hours to visit a park that is purely water rides.
I'm sure Cedar Fair has good reasons for their decision. I wish Geauga Lake good luck in the future. Farewell.
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