Old Ohio amusement park???

I remember this park back in the early to mid 80's. It was on the right side of I70 when heading east. I think it was somewhere between Zanesville and Cambridge. Can anyone remember the name of the park? Anyone have pictures? I remember seeing a red coaster built into the hillside as I drove by on I70.

Thanks to all

That might have been Moxahala Amusement Park. There was some discussion about it a while back.

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=36316

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=16726

*** Edited 2/18/2004 6:19:45 PM UTC by millrace***

I remember when they were constructing this park...you could see it up on the hill off of I70. I do remember in the Columbus Dispatch, someone saying that this park eventually make Kings Island look like a little kiddy park. I am not sure about a coaster when I saw it..I thought they had some small monorail that ran there........I don't know what happened to it.

http://www.rcdb.com/locationdetail236.htm

It's interesting that RCDB says that Moxahala is "operating." :)

The park in question was Paradise Lake.
It operated for only 2 seasons.
Not very useful links:
http://www.talkabouttravelling.com/group/rec.parks.theme/messages/27855.html
http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/OH/indexOH.htm

*** Edited 2/19/2004 3:10:53 AM UTC by PerrysburgGuy*** *** Edited 2/19/2004 4:29:55 PM UTC by PerrysburgGuy***

...and here I thought I was going to learn something new by following that link... :)

Paradise Lake is completely gone now. I never went there (but then, apparently neither did anybody else...) and really it would have been closer to Columbus than Kings Island, and closer to Wheeling than Kennywood, not to mention a fairly easy drive from Marietta, Akron and Cleveland. So it wasn't necessarily a bad idea or location. I think when we drove past on IR-70, that exit featured a campground, Dairy Queen, fireworks stand, and adult bookstore. Last time I was past there (on my way to Kennywood, I think), everything was gone.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, that's Paradise Lake Park in or around Quaker City. I live about 25-30 minutes from there. It's actually further east, between Cambridge and St. Clairsville.I think a few of the rides stood there until they were auctioned off in the mid to late 80's.

My grandma has told me a few different things about the place. The Lion's Den adult bookstore is still there. She tells me that the bookstore used to be the Dairy Queen a long time ago. I told her that they make a different type of ice cream now. She knew what I meant and didn't appreciate the statement. The story she told me about the park was that the guy who owned it, opened it before it was complete. Turns out that he was running out of money and needed more income. She says that it didn't even last a full season. There were dirt paths, not even graveled, and when it rained, you were ankle high in mud.

I think the footers for the monorail are still there, but are hard to see. Until the auction, the ferris wheel stood on the hillside close to the highway. I think that there is still famework from one of the big signs for the park.

That's all I can think of now. If I remember anything else, I'll post it later. *** Edited 2/19/2004 4:17:40 AM UTC by Mr. Ninja***

WOW! Thank you everyone....I knew I would find the answer here...you guys are awesome! At least now I can prove to my Dad that there was an amusement park there. I knew I wasn't crazy.

It wasn't a bad location if the park could be a destination in itself, but it opened too small and cheap. The handful of people who went there were unimpressed, and voiced their displeasure to many.

The billboards on I-70 were up for years after it closed. I remeber seeing what I thought was monorail track in the late '80's.