Wyandot Lake rides auctioned

Only $500 Freakn' Dollars for that slide complex!? That's more than a steal. And even better for the beach, it's a pretty good slide complex at that (assuming it's in good condition...I didn't get to read the report on it...though I did slide on it last year.) WOW. That would have made a good Christmas present in the backyard...if only the neighbors were theme park enthusiasts :)

I don't understand how no amusment park would want to buy the waterslides. They are $500, and they couldn't be that bad. How much are amusement parks paying for waterslides today? I also don't understand why the park didn't want to keep the Spider, and how cheap that went for.

Those are popular. GL is dead, and the Spider has a line. It's not a shock to me. Look at the carnivals lines for that thing. It's low-capacity, but it always has a line. I wouldn't sell that, and some Six Flags park should have bought it. You have to remember today's prices. They are nothing like 6,500, and so on. The ferris wheel looked like a good addition also. Your ferris wheel doesn't always have to be the biggest ride in the world.

That park just didn't make it because it was too small. Maybe, it was doing good, but it's just too small, and Six Flags wasn't making a lot of money on it. It 'looks' really small.

I'm surprised this auction didn't bring any bigger crowd -- or prices -- than the Erieview sale did. I would have thought since it was a larger park it would have created more interest.

The park was doing well, and Six Flags was making a fortune off of it by collecting the money and spending almost nothing there. Their lease was up, and the "new" Six Flags doesn't really want to be in the business of operating parks they don't own...and if Six Flags hadn't wanted out of the lease, the Zoo might still have cancelled it. The road work that is going on now (relocation of Powell Rd.) is many many many years overdue, and would have been a severe disruption to the park's operation (aside: Lakemont Park may be in a similar situation...).

The Wyandot Lake auction wasn't the end of a struggling park. It was the beginning of a whole new park for the Zoo.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Who bouught the Grand carousel?

Brass Ring Entertainment bought it for a client in Conneticut

Good job Dave...

Grand Carousel was bought for $60,000.

It is now listed for sale by its new owner for $450,000.

Gee, I dunno. When W.L.'s original Ilions machine was (fortunately) saved, restored and moved to the zoo, it's replacement looked like a sorry piece of crap. I don't know where it came from, but it looked like bargain basement material with fiberglass figures, and poorly decorated scenery and round boards. Perhaps someone sees it as a jewel in the rough, but I'm surprised it brought any money at all.

Dave, do you happen to know if the King Frolic went, and for how much? Now there's a piece that deserves saving.

The Frolic went to a carnival operator in the Toledo area who paid $6,250 for it (02;33). I'm with you on the carousel; I was surprised it went for as much as it did, and I figured the telephone buyer didn't *really* know what he was buying.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

If Brass Ring was the "front" for the buy he knew exactly what he was buying. They were probably looking for a solid frame more so than the "flash". Even so it seemed to be a might steep to me.

...And that frame is good. The floor suspension rods, shotguns, and cranks all had to be modified or replaced in order to get the floor to come to within a reasonable distance to the ground, the hydraulic drive system was built new for the ride, and I think the floor might have been new (at least it was stripped and refinished) with the Wyandot Lake install. The timber center frame may have also been new apart from the 'tent pole' that the tension rods are attached to.

Hmmm...Maybe a mechanism is worth $60k. But if that's the case, why didn't they get more for the Spider and the Frolic?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Timing for this auction was bad. After IAAPA and right after a major holiday. Personally I'm surprised at the number of bidders that showed up.

Holy crap - I knew those animal huggers would trash the place. Thank God I had the foresight to schlep out there for two days over the summer to FINALLY see that park. Having lived for many years in Ohio with season passes to Cedar Point and Kings Island, I must confess that I never bothered to stop in at WL until I moved back to the east coast and heard this news about SixFlags selling out their interest in the place. Plus I already had a SF season pass so the price was right.

What an awesome old traditional park - it reminded me of Stricker's Grove. The waterslides were damn good, too. The people working there were overly friendly and generally great, not your ordinary SF employee types if you know what I mean, and I'm sure you do : )

Reading the attached article it says they are putting in a spinning coaster, and with the combination of the zoo, it will be unique. Oh really?- sounds like Animal Kingdom to me with that crappy Dino carnival area. Bring back the vintage Eli Wheel and the other cool retro rides and you will make a bolder statement.

I can't keep up with these SF folks selling off their assets. In October I rushed out to visit AstroWorld for the first time as well and was devasted by how freaking unbelievably great the TX Cyclone was, and would not be, by the end of the month, sadly. I loved that park. Admittedly it had some major flaws, but when you've got XLR8, TX CY, that pyscho fast flume ride, awesome kiddie mine train, Swartzkopf looping star and Greezed Lightning, first-ever rapids ride, SWAT, Mayan MB and other relocated steelies, etc. how can you go wrong? The worst part was that there was a huge lot of vacant land bordering the southeast end of the park which could have easily been bought and paved into a dedicated parking lot for them - they could easily have added a second gate at the back of the park like Knott's. pitty

Go sell off some professional sports property, Mr. (Eighty)-Six, and leave these places alone!

I want to see a pic of the slide complex

Keep your head and the coaster's higher.