Any Idora Info?

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if this has been asked yet. I was born in, raised in, and currently live in Youngstown, Ohio. I was born in 1988 and Idora had been closed for a long time. The only memories, that I have of the park, are the the videos that my grandparents have and actually being able drive by and see the remains of the wildcat and the jackrabbit rotting away. How sad that was!!

What I want to know is if anyone tried to rebuild the wildcat and if any park tried to relocate the jackrabbit. Too bad both were torn down. A sin that I will never be able to forgive the city of Youngstown for.

Well, all I can say is that I can't believe that there was a Ed Vettel and Herbert Paul Schmeck coaster 10 mins. from my house and I was never able to ride either.

So, if anyone can share their thoughts about the park, I would appreciate it.

Welcome to the Buzz, Junkie! I've never been to Idora, nor do I know much about its history, but if you haven't done so yet, look up the park on www.rcdb.com and take a look at the excellent photos of the Wildcat and Jack Rabbit. The destruction photos kind of make me ill, however. Actually, being the monstrous Schmeck fanatic that I am, the Wildcat pics make me ill, too, knowing that I'll never get to ride what looked like one of his typically spectacular (holy oxymoron) designs. Man, that thing looks incredible... *** Edited 6/25/2005 1:44:15 AM UTC by Vater***

Here's some stuff to get you started. There's actually a lot of stuff out there. Search around.

Idora Park: The Last Ride of Summer Rick Shale; Charles Jacques Jr.

Idora Park: Past and Present

IdoraPark.org

Building a tourist attraction in Youngstown makes about as much sense as building a restaurant in the middle of a landfill.

I like Youngstown. It's a hell of a lot better than some of the generic little commuter towns in northeast OH. Brunswick for example.

CPJ-2007,

The best bet for info online for the former Idora Park, which I frequented more growing up than any other park even now, would be http://www.idorapark.org

I live in the same region as you (one city north of Y-town) and I wish there was something to replace Idora, instead of the Boardman (waste my time) shopping district, and the hoards of independent batting cage & putt-putt courses, and the like around here. I honestly think we could have a new amusement park, on the scale of DelGrosso's or Waldameer, but just not in Youngstown city...more of a chance of success in Vienna or Jackson Milton, where the farmland is no more and there is alot of opportunity.

If you want to see what Idora could have become, and to get you a taste of what it was like, I suggest you visit Waldameer in Erie, PA, where we were a few weekends ago.

Don't let Jeff bother you...we all know he drives his 2005 Chevy Cobalt, regularly changes his GE lightbulbs, recently had new replacement windows installed from 2 different international window manufacturers, buys only Handel's Ice Cream, only buys Schwebel's bread, sneaks into the ToysRus warehouse to see what's new, has been seen buying DiRusso sausages to go with his Gia Russa pasta sauce, and his favorite pizza is 'Brier Hill'...all this, buy visiting our area :) hehe *** Edited 6/25/2005 4:58:52 AM UTC by midwave***

Thanks for the info. Actually, I just visited Conneaut and Waldameer on Thursday. I wrote a trip report about it.

I do know that Jack Rabbit was going to be sold to a park that was going to be built in the Indianapolis area, so the park started to disassemble the station. Then, the new park fell through and Jack Rabbit stayed.

I remember reading on message boards at www.idorapark.org that a businessman was going to build a "retro" version of Idora, with exact replicas of the Wildcat (no matter how hard you try, noone can ever recreate a ride like that) and Jack Rabbit. Then there would be a 2nd "world" of the park that would be all new rides. The park was going to be called 2 Worlds Park, one of the worlds would be a replica of Idora, the other a new park. But the plans never really got off the ground, and it probably will never happen :(.

Being the Schmeck fan that I am (Thanks Phoenix, Comet!), it's kind of upsetting that the Wildcat is no longer here. I would have paid any money to get one lap on it.

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millrace said:
I like Youngstown. It's a hell of a lot better than some of the generic little commuter towns in northeast OH. Brunswick for example.

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Is that supposed to hurt my feelings or something? Please. I think most people would prefer a suburb of subdivisions and over-zealous lawn trimmers with ascending property values to a burned out city with abandoned industry and amusement parks. Youngstown is a dump.

If you took the trip out to Youngstown, is there anything to see at Idora today?

Or is it just an empty lot?

I took a trip down to see Lesourdesville Lake, and it was devastating, but also very neat to see. I would really like to see Idora, but if there is nothing left I don't know if its worth the drive.

Oh please Jeff. Lighten up for cripes sake. Go play volleyball or something.

And there are a lot of people who detest the suburban lifestyle and see real value in revitalizing places with real history and real community. Should we keep on abandoning older places, build new and then abandon them when they get old?

I like visiting Youngstown because of my interest in old industrial sites, interesting old brick buildings etc. The only problem is driving through those traffic-clogged strip mall ghettos like Boardman.

Oh, and Mill Creek Park is a wonderful place, even without the Wildcat looming in the distance.

Go play volleyball. Good come back. That goes a long way in defending Youngstown.

If you like old run down stuff, that's your preference. I'm the first person that would choose a converted warehouse or loft for office space if the price and neighborhood was right. Our opinions don't make Youngstown any less of a dump.

Janet, after the multiple fires (arsons?) at the former Idora property in the last 20 years, and since the church that bought the property has now cleaned most of it up, 99% of Idora Park is not standing any longer.

Jack Rabbit was an average coaster but Wildcat, man that ride was awesome. I remember riding it the last couple years the park was in operation, loving it and wanting to ride it again and again, but my mom could only take so much, hehe.

On a side note, not to defend Jeff or anything, but Youngstown is a hole.