Meijer and movie lot are possible options for the former Geauga Lake

I think it means Big Dipper was less boring than shopping at Meijer. Which I would agree with. I don't really get the lack of love for the Dipper. When I rode it - granted, a long time ago - I thought it was a perfectly good mid-size woodie, superior to the CP Blue Streak or the KI Racer in terms of air. A much better ride than Raging Wolf Bobs. Maybe it got significantly worse near the end.

Agreed.
For clarification from my previous post. Dipper was boring, although less boring than a day of shopping at Meijer.

I always enjoyed Big Dipper.

Then again, I enjoy shopping at Meijer because I can (autism induced) study their private label packaging.

Big Dipper was an OK ride but nothing special. The best part of the ride were the bunny hops at the end. The first drop and actually the first half of the ride were not that great. Villian was a much better ride, and CP's Blue Streak is also better. Much better first drop and the ride keeps it's speed better throughout the ride.

Now it looks like a car lot could be a possibility:

http://www.auroraadvocate.com/news%20local/2016/12/28/liberty-ford-...air-parcel

Liberty's in Geauga Lake, Maple Heights, Parma Heights, Brunswick, Vermilion...ooooohhhm!

yeah, now the facebook page is full of crabbing over this with comments about boycotting any business that builds there and paving paradise to put up parking lots. The park is gone. It sucks, but it's gone and it's time to move on. And I'm pretty sure from the description in the article that the plot Liberty is interested in is the parking lot so they would be paving over a parking lot to put up a parking lot so whatever...it's not like they'll be selling cars on the water's edge.

I thought Big Dipper was a tight fit in the seats and I'm not a particularly large guy. Felt cramped, much like Adventure Express at KI. Villain was by far my favorite.

I am glad that something is being done with that property.

The tears of the butthurt really overestimate just how many people care as much as they do.

The way I see it once it became clear there was no saving any of it and the water park closed I don't care anymore so much as I have a bit of curiosity and that's it. It would be nice if the areas near the water were turned into something scenic but if not I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. The place is an hour drive away from me near nothing that I ever expect I'll drive to so if people want to make it harder to put something there out of a spiteful tantrum because they never got their park back and they want a nasty looking piece of unused, partially developed land to stay there forever as a monument to how peeved they are so be it. Not like I have to look at it. I swear these people have never experienced the loss of a place in their life before. I-480 westbound plows right through what used to be my grandparents' house and none of us were happy about it but I sure don't take the long way home from the mall out of spite and refuse to use the road.

Did people get this bent out of shape when they closed AstroWorld and turned it into a field?

No because that was a Six Flags park.

I expect there were plenty of people butthurt over Six Flags destroying an iconic piece of Houston history. :-)

I frequented a forum on an Astroworld fan site for several years prior to the park closing and, yes, there were plenty of people there that were upset about it with some teetering on the edge of being irrational. That being said, the vast majority understood a lot of the business behind it and there wasn't a huge contingent of people with the goofy "they bought it to shut it down" mentality like there was with GL. The park had no control over the parking that they shared with the NFL stadium complex and they were facing some pretty expensive decisions if they wanted to change that at all. There was an overwhelming perception that the park was neglected by SF in the years prior to the closure and rumors that they were shopping around to sell the park popped up frequently. There was also the perception among locals that the park was run down and overrun with gang activity. To the die hard fans, the whole outcome just seemed inevitable. A lot of them had either worked at the park or followed it closely for decades and they had ties to the people running it on the local level. There were plenty of differences from GL. The company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and the decision makers behind the park closing were gone within months. The park was demolished and all traces of it were largely gone within 6 months. The park doesn't seem to have the social media butthurt that I see with GL. The fact that large parts of GL are still standing today gives people hope (irrational though it may be) that people in Houston never had.

One other difference: Geauga Lake was open for 120 years before the land side was closed. Astro World was open for 37 years. Generations of people grew up attending GL, 2 generations grew up going to Astro World

The butthurt and drama from this is absolutely asinine. Those Geauga Lake pages are ridiculous. Each day I'm very close to unfollowing. I just stick around to see any new developments. One comment on that page someone said to quit acting the way they do and a reply to that comment said do you need to go to a "safe zone"? Ridiculous! How childish to make a comment like that! It's over. The park isn't coming back. Just remember the good times there.

I haven't unfollowed yet just because I like to see the old pictures but there's so little happy memories being posted anymore. Just a bunch of people who can't move on and drop the bitterness.

I hope the city makes it as difficult as possible for cedar fair to sell that property. I have no hard feelings for them being stuck with that property. Cant stand kinzel for his lies to the public. Zero respect for cedar fair executives, i hope they are totally screwed over financially.

In 2008, I admittedly had hoped for some sort of 11th hour situation to save what was left of the ride park - keeping the rides not earmarked for other Cedar Fair parks and turning it back into what Funtime had done with it. I know Cedar Fair had failed with that strategy, but I still had a few ounces of hope. When Villain and Double Loop came down and the entire infrastructure was then gutted - the place was gone and not coming back. The fact that Big Dipper and the lower shell of the main entrance were still there until this year was simply because Cedar Fair had no reason to go to the expense of removing them. With the closing of WWK and a desire to unload the land and an increase in trespassers, the time came to get rid of it.

The GL facebook page is downright scary at times. Good for a laugh, but like internet comments, I can't stay too long or my head hurts from the stupidity and ridiculousness.

JECmodels said:

I hope the city makes it as difficult as possible for cedar fair to sell that property. I have no hard feelings for them being stuck with that property. Cant stand kinzel for his lies to the public. Zero respect for cedar fair executives, i hope they are totally screwed over financially.

Yeah! That'll show 'em!

FYI, Dick retired years ago. Let it go. GL was a business failure, not a conspiracy designed to piss in your Cheerios.

Somewhat related aside form the obvious reasons the trespassers are stupid (getting caught, not respecting private property, doing dangerous crap, etc.) A lot of the ones filming themselves are making really crappy videos. Half the time the camera is aimed at their own face while they are walking and whining because - newsflash - prickers hurt. Just saw one and they entered what I think was the old red house and they were in a room just filled with blueprints. They make a few pans around the room, mention OMG look at all these blueprints, and then walk away and film more of their own faces while they wander aimlessly. Seriously, you just took the risk of getting caught and you're not going to open up a few blueprints and film them so people can look? Check and see if any of them are interesting? You're already there, the room is already a mess, they're right in front of you but go ahead walk out of the building and film your face as you walk away and moan about the prickers some more...that's sooooo interesting...