Demolition of Geauga Lake nearly complete

That is some sad stuff to watch. Sure feels a lot more real now. I can't believe Villain has already been entirely obliterated.

Very sad to watch that video. :( I am hating Cedar Fair right now for what they did to this park. But of course I will forgive them next time I visit CP which always makes me smile!:)

I guess I care more about these places than I probably should. They're just businesses, right? Why should it feel any different than when some strip mall gets torn down? But it does. It does. This really hurts to see.

ARGH...
I can't believe this still bugs me. This upsets me almost as much as Euclid Beach closing and getting demo'd...
If they build a shopping complex there, I will not shop there.

If you really blame Cedar Fair, and only Cedar Fair, you haven't been paying attention.

Is there another modern coaster that had as short of a life as Villain that wasn't due to problems with the ride?

Myrtle Beach Hurricane comes to mind as having a shorter lifespan, and the Mega Zeph appears to be heading towards this fate, though it was not artifically brought to its demise.

Lord Gonch: Chicago Loop: Old chicago, Arrow. 1975-1980.
Well, it was modern then. 5 years is pretty short.
*** This post was edited by FLYINGSCOOTER 8/13/2008 3:28:57 PM ***

I agree its very sad. It has an erie feeling for me. Almost like your returning to the scene of a horrible crime or disaster. I miss Villian. Well at least when it was new and ran properly. What a waste.

What i found amazing was how fast they ripped out the old waterpark. That was fast.

Just glad I got to visit when I did in 2005.

We visited Michigan's Adventure, Indiana Beach, Wyandot Lake, Cedar Point, and Geauga Lake that year. Geauga Lake was by far our favorite of that vacation, followed closely by Indiana Beach (then MiA, CP and lastly Wyandot).

I suppose this little park just had more atmosphere than CF could tolerate so it had to be destroyed. [/sarcasm]

Schlitterbahn is building that new mega resort/retail/thing in Kansas City, so I suspect they pulled the old slides out as soon as they could.

It is really heartbreaking, Im glad I was able to make a few extra trips up there in the past few years.

Had Sea World not been built, then who knows if Geauga Lake would have ever made it much into the 70's. It was pretty dumpy there in the late 60's from what my parents said.

I've stopped watching any coverage or looking at pictures. An overexaggeration, maybe, but to me it is like looking at someone in a casket. I'd rather remember them/the park the way they were.

I have friends for life that I can thank for having met them while working at the park. I owe much of my career thus far from my experience gained by working at the park. I have great memories of time spent in the park with family and friends.

Frankly, it just saddens me. I'm beyond the blame at this point. I can be upset at Premier/Six Flags (the incompetent uncle), Anheuser Busch (for being the parent that ran out), Cedar Fair (for being the boyfriend who may have prematurely given up on the old girl because a new, sexier girl came along...though her baggage is being unearthed now too) and...I even blame myself. I should have gone to the park at times that I did not. Certainly my absence had negligible effect but collectively "our" absence didn't help.

I think the Cleveland/Akron area is lesser now for the loss and when (I don't think it is a matter of if) the water park closes too it will end an interesting chapter of the amusement park business...to say the least.

I really have to wonder how differently things would have gone in Northern Ohio if the alleged attempt by SeaWorld/Busch to purchase Geauga Lake had gone through, instead of the other way around.

Makes you wonder which park would be turning into houses right now.

I am glad I got my trip in last summer. That video is very sad to watch. They just had Batman, er Dominator on The Travel Channel last night (also Hypersonic). Hard to believe that show was already so outdated.

I still wear my Geauga Lake shirt with pride!!!

Wahoo your dysfunctional family thing with the various companies that kicked the park down is brill. With good days and bad days it's a shame to see all that history getting bulldozed. Even Double Loop was like a snapshot of a once very exciting time in coaster history when the loopers started popping up.

One of the many good memories that I have of Geauga Lake is the awesome ERT we had on Texas Twister the year Geauga Lake cohosted CoasterCon. My little sister and I had so much fun on that trip and for some reason that particular ride stands out in my mind. I will definitely miss this park. It had become an annual trip for me after Coastermania even before they added on the extra day.

It's hard to watch. Almost a year later, I still get sad when I think about Geauga Lake.

I've been to plenty of parks that felt as though they were about to die. I've also been to a few parks that probably should have died. Geauga Lake is one park that didn't deserve its fate. When we were there last fall, there was a healthy crowd enjoying a bunch of good rides. Dominator continued to be one of the best looping coasters in the country and Big Dipper was just about flawless. As we walked from the waterpark to the rides section on the wooden bridge that crossed the lake, I couldn't help but think how it was the perfect location for an amusement park. I thought about how the haunted houses just a few years earlier were some of the best I had experienced outside of Orlando, and how it was so weird to know a park's fortune's had changed so drastically in less than half a decade.

Yeah, I still miss it.