Will Geauga Lake's WWK Phase 2 ever happen?

But Jeff...it could have worked had it not been for CF's conspiracy to rid the area of competition :)

Dammit, who's gonna pick up all these worms?

There's never an early bird around when you need one....

Well, I'm not into the conspiracy theories but I do miss the park. Heck, I miss the old Sea World. But, I also tend to be emotional when it comes to memories. I've been in Florida for 12 years but I still miss Ohio.

If you guys closed down Pointbuzz or Coasterbuzz I'd miss them too. I don't have a lot of sensory memories tied to websites like I do to parks but it would still be a loss that would be felt.

I miss hearing the Sea Lions barking across the lake in the early morning or late evening hours when GL wasn't open. I miss the early years of the Wave...when you would hear, "It's the WAVE!!!!!!!!!" just before the pumps churned out the wave.

I miss the smells of the park, particularly during Oktoberfest. I miss the smell of the Big Dipper and the wood of the Raging Wolf Bobs.

I'm not angry or bitter or anything like that. I just miss those types of things.

If there's one thing I've learned in my life it's that nothing lasts forever. I've also had to learn to broaden my perspective in order to realize that when something ends, something else usually begins.

It doesn't bother me that folks miss this or any other park that closes. But the idea that the sadness would continue this long (and perhaps forever?) is a little disconcerting to me.

GL is gone. At some point, everyone needs to make peace with that and move on. There are other parks out there to discover.

I can honestly say that everytime I think of the Pavilion, since that's my example, I miss it, I'm saddened it's gone, and I remember the memories (the smell of the bumper cars!). But I don't dwell on it, and I'm not upset. It's kind of like a bittersweet memory, that I think I'll always have.

See, I'm ok with the disappointment or even 'missing' the park or whatever.

But when you try to claim it's changed your life and you can no longer do the things you enjoy - well, you're either being melodramatic for effect or a little batcrap loopy.

Or both. :)

Hence my mockery on that level.

Sometimes it just sucks that I don't have a place to hang out, grab some photos, and ride a ride or 2 all in the same place, within 30-40 minutes of me anymore.

Yeah, on the same pragmatic level that's my problem as well. I used to just be able to hop in the car with my daughter, or even by myself, and bop over to the park for a couple hours. No preparation or planning was necessary. Now, even a less-than-a-day trip to CP requires more footwork.

So really what people miss is their lives being more convenient.

I've never lived closer than 2 hours from CP or KI my whole life, so going to either park has always been a "trip"; especially now with a 2 year old in tow.

We recently moved to Louisville, OH (only about 40 minutes from Aurora), and my first thought was...."Damn it all...why did they close the park?"

How cool it would have been to have Dominator so close. :)

It's a bit ironic, to me atleast, that the folks who talk about their feelings towards Geauga Lake/Sea World tend to get slammed more often then not, but those who talk about Euclid Beach Park (which seems to be more common around Cleveland) are never treated the same. Why is that? Both are life changing events for the employees, the guests and the communities.

I personally don't say much about Geauga Lake and Sea World to anyone outside my family. Growing up in the 70's/80's around Aurora it was like having the priviledge of being in my own "mini Orlando" to some degree and it deeply saddens me that all is lost. Seeing Shamu trucked in each year and going to live telecasts of the Morning Exchange were reasons for kids to skip school. Starting your work career at those parks was a right of passage for most kids in the surrounding communities. Wahoo Skipper and I have been friends for 20+ years because we both started our careers in the amusement park biz at Geauga Lake. Being in the shadow of the goliath in Sandusky in many ways caused us to love our "little park that could" in ways I don't think anyone could possibly understand unless you were apart of the team there. I suppose that translates to guests, especially season pass guests, too. How could people not have deep feelings about this great loss? I don't fault them one bit.

OhioStater said:
So really what people miss is their lives being more convenient.

That's certainly not what I said. I said that on a pragmatic level, that's one thing I missed. It doesn't imply that it's the only thing I miss, or even the biggest thing.

People who talk about Euclid and others don't tend to bring up the conspiracy theories that the GL people do.

mlnem4s said:
It's a bit ironic, to me atleast, that the folks who talk about their feelings towards Geauga Lake/Sea World tend to get slammed more often then not, but those who talk about Euclid Beach Park (which seems to be more common around Cleveland) are never treated the same. Why is that?

If you want to make some ridiculous comment about life sucking and your love of amusemrent parks dying because any given park closed, I'll gladly poke fun at the ridiculousness of it too. :)

You also need to be my parents' age to remember Euclid Beach. :)

I would like to see the parallel universe where Busch (old school Busch pre Inbev) buys Geauga Lake and builds the Super Park... would have been interesting, I think.

Yeah, as much fun as it is for people to bash Cedar Fair and Six Flags and remember the "good old days," it really was Funtime that signed the death warrant for the park.

They refused to sell to Busch, and they retracted an deal made with "someone else."

Once Sea World left and the flagging began... well, you can't undo something that's been done.

Mamoosh said:
There's never an early bird around when you need one....

Sorry, I was busy at work yesterday and I'm just now catching up. :)

^^^^^^
I know, Ensign; if I recall, this was your home park and you had many memories of being there with your daughter.

Anyone heard any good rumours about what CF will do with all that land that they can't sell on the GL side?

Last I heard was a Buffalo farm.