Before the early 2000s, Geauga Lake was a popular amusement park located in Bainbridge Township and Aurora, Ohio. This park, once the largest amusement park in the world, operated for over one hundred years before its unfortunate closure in 2007, and was left abandoned for nearly a decade. This once beloved park has a rich history, and although it no longer exists, it remains alive in the memories of millions of people who once walked the bustling streets in their childhood. So how did this once popular and flourishing park reach such an unfortunate demise? Let’s start at the beginning.
Though the area was settled in the early 1800s, it did not become an operating amusement park until 1887 when it was turned into a recreational area with picnic spots and a dance hall. Geauga Lake gained its first ride two years later in 1889 when a carousel was opened. The next noteworthy expansion came in 1926 with the introduction of an Olympic sized swimming pool and the park’s first roller coaster–the Big Dipper–as well as a bowling alley, theater, and race track.
Geauga Lake gained in popularity over time and steadily added new attractions to its offerings. In 1969, it was acquired by Funtime Incorporated, who got to work making arrangements with SeaWorld executives. After some time, the two companies agreed to share the shoreline of Geauga Lake. SeaWorld Ohio was opened, offering a marine life themed experience neighboring the amusement park. The two parks would operate side by side for a successful thirty years.
In 1995, the park was purchased by Premier Parks who, within a few years, also acquired the Six Flags brand. After the acquisition, Geauga Lake was renamed to Six Flags Ohio starting in 2000. Within a year, Six Flags and SeaWorld Ohio came to an agreement and SeaWorld Ohio was bought by Six Flags for $110 million. Now united as a single park, the former SeaWorld Ohio and Six Flags Ohio merged to become Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.
In 2004, Six Flags sold the park to Cedar Fair, and the original Geauga Lake name was restored. The marine life portion of the park was closed and the animals were moved to other existing parks throughout the nation. Then, it was demolished to make room for a brand new seasonal waterpark called Wildwater Kingdom at the lake’s shore.
By 2004, park attendance was on the decline. Attendance that had reached well over 2.5 million was now struggling to reach 700,000.
The park continued to operate seasonally until 2007, when it was announced that the amusement park portion would be permanently closed while the waterpark would remain open. Cedar Fair cited the demand for a large park in Aurora and Bainbridge was simply not enough to justify its continued operation as the reason for pulling the plug on the beloved park.
This decision was met with great backlash, with many petitions and speculation quick to begin circulation. Though some began to speculate that it was a strategic move on Cedar Fair’s part to eliminate a competitor for their flagship park, Cedar Point in Sandusky, others viewed it as an attempt to acquire a new, successful asset that simply did not pan out in Cedar Fair’s favor.
Geauga Lake’s rides and attractions were dismantled and auctioned off, and anything that did not sell was left behind, completely abandoned. This included the main entrance, various service buildings, and most notably the park’s first coaster, the Big Dipper…
After the closure, Cedar Point began looking to sell the landscape once used by the amusement park, but few buyers were interested in such a massive piece of land.
Any plans for the development of the park fell through, leading to Cedar Fair retracting its offer. Later, the land would once again be put up for sale–and this time, Cedar Fair was more willing to sell the land in various parcels.
In 2010, the historic Big Dipper coaster was put up for auction (on eBay, of all places), but failed to return a single bid. The century-old coaster was left to rot and was overtaken by the elements until it was finally demolished on site in 2016. The same year, Cedar Fair announced that Wildwater Kingdom would not be reopening for the 2017 season. On September 5, 2016, Wildwater Kingdom joined Geauga Lake as another of Ohio’s lost amusement parks. Following the closure of Wildwater Kingdom, the lake now sat entirely abandoned. Similar to its neighbor, Wildwater Kingdom sat abandoned for some time before demolition began in late 2017.
Both sides of the former Geauga Lake theme parks had been stripped of valuable assets and most of the remaining buildings were demolished. All that remained were bare foundations and pavement reminding explorers and curious travelers of what once stood. For a handful of years, the lakeside remained untouched and unused, enticing urban explorers nationwide to sneak past the fence and see for themselves what remained of this once-great park.
Plans for development have been tossed around for years, with a potential Meijer superstore in the works. This plan eventually fell through, along with a large retail and residential project that was denied by the city of Aurora.
In 2017, a commemorative plaque was erected outside the fence, honoring the historic park that once called Aurora and Bainbridge Township home. The plaque briefly details the development and growth of the area and its expansion into a grand amusement park during its heyday.
As of 2023, a new development project from PulteGroup is in the works. This ambitious residential development will occupy the area that was once Wildwater Kingdom’s parking lot and will feature street names paying homage to the previous inhabitant. Some examples are “Dipper Way” and “Carousel Court”.
The legacy left behind by what was once the world’s largest amusement park has impacted thousands of nostalgic fans who look fondly back upon their trips to Geauga Lake. Even I, who grew up in a different state and have never set foot in the park, vividly remember watching commercials promoting Geauga Lake–particularly the “it’s gonna be fun!” commercial from 2004–and wishing I could take a trip there with my family. This memory was so specific to me that it encouraged me to look up whatever happened to that amusement park I remembered hearing about in my youth–and when I finally did, I was fascinated.
Needless to say, Geauga Lake played a role in my blossoming interest in amusement parks and indirectly inspired me to continue studying and writing about abandoned parks. In a way, I suppose this article is my way of paying homage to Geauga Lake.
When I mentioned my findings to my dad, he reacted with surprise and even a bit of sadness as he then reminisced about his childhood friends who had taken regular trips to Geauga Lake. He hadn’t even known it had gone out of business.
With its rich history and long lasting legacy, Geauga Lake impacted thousands of families nationwide during its many years of operation, either directly or simply through word of mouth. While researching for this article, I stumbled across dozens of comments on old YouTube videos or Facebook pictures recounting personal stories and memories about the park, or passionately debating who was responsible for the beloved park’s demise.
It really is inspiring to see such fondness for a historic park that drew the short end of the stick. Although the story of Geauga Lake is bittersweet, it continues to live on in the memories of a very dedicated community.
