Marineland closing

I had to day trip to Buffalo for work and after getting my bidness done I drove up to the NY side of the falls. I can't pass judgement on the city as a whole but the state park is really nice.

kpjb:

I'm of the opinion that Canadian Niagara Falls is way better than the American side.

Absolutely. We were aware of this when I planned our 1st honeymoon trip there 19 years ago, which prompted me to book a room on the Canadian side.

The American side has a nice park, and thats about all. The Canadian side has all that other "stuff". Sort of feels like Gatlinburg by the waterfall. I would say the Canadian side is for sure better, but the whole thing feels very tourist trap like.

Hmmmmm.

...

The Canadians say their side is better, no doubt, eh!
They have arcades and wax museums to check out
Just pay your quarter
Walk 'cross the border
and play Skee-Ball or Whac-A-Mole

(from "Niagara Falls", Hypnotic Clambake ca. 1995...at least that's when we recorded it in studio at WCBE. To the tune of "Here Comes the King". Don't know where Clambake put it, but it's on "Mixx on the Fly - Live from Studio A - WCBE Vol. 4")

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I always enjoy going toNiagara Falls on the Canadian side and always have a goodtime. The atmosphere there is awesome, even in the winter. So much to look at. Marineland is such in good spot, but perhaps the time has come for another operator to take over the park. It has been offered for sale for a few months now and with no schedule or ticket prices listed or their website makes many wonder if the park is in the midst of being sold, which could be awesome news. The park has a lot of potential, lots of space and it is located in the very touristy and beautiful Niagara Falls.

It's been confirmed Marineland will open this year on June 28th under new ownership. They will announce all the details on May 1st.

The conclusion to be drawn here is that the new ownership will change something substantial. The elimination of animal exhibits and changing the park name seem to be the obvious move. Whether it turns out differently than Geauga Lake remains to be seen.

Yes it seems there will be no more animals at the park (or very few) in the future. Apparently they have already started moving some animals out.

They should call it Canada’s Noanimalland. You know, just to avoid confusion with the previous set up.

This is great news. Love Dragon Mountain but have avoided the park for years because of the animal stuff. Even before the abuse allegations came out it was depressing because the animals looked miserable. Particularly the deer park and the bears.

Local speculation was that it would be sold and converted to residential real estate. Really glad to hear there's new ownership and the awesome Arrow coaster will live on.

Same on all counts, Le Monster. My current SO has never gotten to ride Dragon Mountain because we both don't want to go there, but I rode it many years ago before I knew better and I really loved it and would love to ride it again. I just hope the new ownership is actually completely new.

I don’t know much about anything but it seems like a good operator should be able to make it a competitive park.

It's kind of a shïte layout for a park to begin with, and if you take away the animals (as they should unless they greatly improve their care and enclosures) you end up with seemingly miles of open space with rides interspersed between. I'm not going to argue that the park won't have demand but they'll have to invest a lot of money to make it reasonably nice.

Yeah, this is a tough one. It's like a real life RCT2 scenario.

Problem is, is Niagara Falls even worth investing in? Do people still go there? I've lived in Cleveland area for 25 years, my wife her whole life, and you never hear anybody talking about their "Niagara Falls weekend." Now, this could be because people from Cleveland are terrified of leaving the state of Ohio, but let's be real here.

Personally, I can't see how sinking money into this park could ever work. I love Dragon Mt, but they'd have to do something amazing to make me return to the area.

That being said, if the park did make a "final year" announcement, I would probably try to find my way back one last time for some final rides on DM.

“They Bought It Just To Close It”

I've never been there, but I'm looking at the satellite image of the park... It would take a lot of additions, but it would make a wonderful park if they added attractions and stuff between everything already there. Maybe fix the layout a little too by building a bridge over the train tracks, among other things. If the back area that has two lakes but no attractions is open, close it off, or put animals there and do what Six Flags Great Adventure does/did with their animals.

That would make a really fun RCT scenario.

I've heard that Niagara Falls and the area gets very busy with tourists. I know it's on my bucket list. I wonder if more people would visit that park if it had a full days worth to do?

^ The period between mid-June and Labor Day in Niagara Falls can often be uncomfortably crowded, so I do still think that the area could support a major theme park. Marineland is reported to have 1000 acres… so perhaps a mild downsizing could occur? Or maybe Universal could come in and build 2 theme parks, hotels and still have room to expand 🤭. Very curious to see who the new owner is and what their plans are for the property, even if it isn’t theme park related.

Maybe it’s Gene and he can build a coaster that runs between Fantasy Island and Marineland. Just reserve a lane in border control to run it through.

Sooooooo Marineland updated their website, and now it only lists a couple of marine animal exhibits and says nothing about any of the rides. That was unexpected. https://www.marineland.ca/

I guess my prediction of a "mild downsizing" was a bit optimistic. Looking at the website, it appears that it is $14.95 CAD to see belugas and a splash play area. There is mention of the dolphins at King Waldorf's Stadium, but that may have been missed during the editing process. Same goes for Ride Availability (staffing constraints will require employees to rotate between rides, the Sky Hawk and Magic Experience are "not available"). The Hungry Bear restaurant will also not operate in 2024. But hey, the Marineland Express will take you around the park in comfort!

Going to be an interesting season at Marineland to say the least.