Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom
Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom
Geauga Lake started in 1888 as a picnic area at the end of a trolley line. In 1995, Premier Parks purchased Funtime Parks which gave them control of Geauga as
well as Darien Lake and Wyandot Lake. The Six Flags brand name came to Aurora in 2000, but the title of
Six Flags Ohio only lasted one season. In January 2001, Six Flags purchased the adjacent SeaWorld Ohio park for $110 million in cash.
The 232-acre marine park was combined with the 520-acre Six Flags park, and Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was born. SeaWorld Ohio opened in 1970, but many of its animals were removed before it was acquired by Six Flags. On March 10, 2004, Six Flags
announced the sale of the park to Cedar Fair, Ltd. for $145 million. Besides changing the name back to Geauga Lake, Cedar Fair also renamed many rides since they did not
have rights to the DC Comics characters used by Six Flags. Beginning with the 2008 season, Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom became exclusively a water park with many of its rides and coasters relocated to other Cedar Fair parks. The water
park closed in 2016. In 2020, apartments were added to parts of the land previously occupied by the amusement park and water park. As of 2025, most of the land remains undeveloped.
Fourteen roller coasters operated at Geauga Lake during the century the park was open:
-
Beaver Land Mine Ride (2000-2007) was a family coaster. Since 2009, it has been Roller Coaster at Papéa Parc in Yvré-l'Evêque, France). (See pictures for details.)
- Big Dipper (1925-2007) was initially called Sky Rocket and later Clipper before getting its final name in the late 1960s. It was reported that it was sold for $5,000, and hopes were
it may have been saved, but after Standing But Not Operating from 2007 until October 2016, it was ultimately demolished. (See below for details.)
- Corkscrew (1978-1995) was an Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew model with two inversions. It was relocated and was Roller Coaster at
MGM Dizzee World in Muthukadu, India from 1996 until it was demolished in 2002.
- Cyclone (1976 to 1980) was a Zyklon model from Pinfari. From 1981 to 1997, it operated as Blitzen and Firecracker in
Holiday World. It was Firecracker at the Jolly Roger Amusement Park
in 1998. For the next 10 years or so, it traveled under the name Avalanche to a variety of places including the Ohio State Fair.
- Dominator (2000-2007) started as Batman Knight Flight and was the world's longest floorless coaster. Since 2008, it has been Dominator at
Kings Dominion. (See pictures below)
- Double Loop (1977-2007) had two loops. It was sold for $23,000 to a local scrap dealer. (See pictures below)
- Head Spin (1996-2007) started as Mind Eraser for its first seven years. It opened in Carowinds
as Carolina Cobra in 2009, but was renamed
Flying Cobras in 2017. (See pictures below)
- Little Dipper (1950s-1975) was a small wood coaster on steel supports built by the National Amusement Device Company.
- Raging Wolf Bobs (1988-2007) was a wood coaster. It was sold at auction for $2,500, but ended up being scrapped. (See pictures below)
- Steel Venom (2000-2006) was a steel shuttle coaster that started as Superman Ultimate Escape. It opened in 2008 at Dorney Park as
Possessed.
- Thunderhawk (1998-2007) was a Suspended Looping Coaster. It has been Thunderhawk at
Michigan's Adventure since 2008. (See pictures below)
- Villain (2000-2007) was a wood coaster with steel supports. It was sold for $30,000 to a scrap dealer. (See pictures below)
- Wild Mouse (1960s and 1970s) was a Wild Mouse model built by Schiff. It had steel track and wood supports. For a few years in the 1970s, it operated as
Wild Mouse at Chippewa Lake Park in Ohio. It was Standing But Not Operating for nearly 20 years after the park closed in 1978.
- X-Flight (2001-2006) was a flying coaster. It moved to Kings Island and was
Firehawk from 2007 to 2018. (See pictures below)
