Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) I finally got around to uploading my images from when this park was still in operation. I also worked at the park around this time (2005-2006) on X-Flight and Steel Venom. It is still very sad anytime we drive by to Wildlwater Kingdom... You can't help but feel a bit sad looking across the lake and just imagining all the sounds that you heard every summer. The LIM's on Superman, the roar of Batman and the CCI shuffle in the turnaround on Villain... I miss this place, it basically was my second home. Nothing beat Fall when Octoberfest and Fright Fest started... Especially in the Six Flags days (Cedar Fair really neutered it badly with the no-gore crap). So these are just some of the general photos I took back then... I will be adding more eventually to my Flickr page and such once we can locate old Fright Fest photos and whatnot. So I hope to find some other goodies. I have more images on Flickr - PA310018.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr PA310011.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr PA310014.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0396.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0388.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr PA310006.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010067.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010058.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010048 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010043 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010042 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010039 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010031.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010028.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010026.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010022.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010034 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010008 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010007.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010006 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010004.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010004 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010017.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010060.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010016.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr p1010014 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010005 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010064.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010046 (2).jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010015.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr PA310025.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010003.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010002.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P1010001.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr And finish it off with our X-Flight pumpkin, crafted by our maintenance 'X-Flight Tech' John that year! PA310008.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Edited August 28, 2012 by Invertalon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 You can't fool me--this is Kings Dominion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacoaster09 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Love your pictures.... Expecially your x-flight photos... Our Panel at Batwing looks exactly the same at SFA. Did the ride act up at all for you? Also the dominator photos are great... The loops looks larger there than it does at KD for some reason... probably due to the Eiffle Tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorkscrewFoley Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I only went once to Geauga Lake, but it was love at first sight...I love parks that are on the water, and this was no different... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Wanderer Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Great pictures, I barely remembered what the place looked like other than the Wildwater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 These are some neat photos! Having followed the Geauga Lake history since around the time it was still Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (though I never had the chance to visit), it is always cool to see photos looking back on the park when it was still in operation. Just a side note: please consider uploading these photos using our attachment system. We'd love to be able to possibly include some of these in our Park Index for Geauga Lake if we could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Love your pictures.... Expecially your x-flight photos... Our Panel at Batwing looks exactly the same at SFA. Did the ride act up at all for you? Of course it did! Our big downtown issue was the individual motors on the back of each train failing (GAU motors? I want to say they were called). So the train would not recline, or stop halfway down or in the complete down position. This required a new one to be put on which took hours. So if we were two train operation it would go down to one the rest of the day. Generally not much of an issue when crowds were so light at the end... If we only had one available train though cause the other was down, we would be down for 2-4 hours for the replacement. By far the most fun ride to work though... We had a BLAST operating it. Checking harnesses and the recline cycles and all that. Made the day go so fast! But overall, we were very reliable actually. Other than the issue above, I don't really remember too many issues. A wheel replacement here and there or something. Superman was much more unreliable. Mr. Hydes took the crown though for most downtime. I believe one day it went down some 50+ times? Always had fun talking about that with the crew after work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Farmer Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 It was a sad moment when I learned that Knight Flight was getting shipped an extra 400 miles from Chicago. I visited this place a few times as SFWoA. It had a different sort of feel to it- definitely as if it had grown faster than it should have. It was a fun place, too bad that it ended up as it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Here is a second batch... These are bit older, from the Six Flags days (2001-2003 or so). Sorry for the small size, it is all I got! Shows a few shots from the White Tiger media day on the Wildlife side, some pre-season prep, pre-modified superman, etc... Pictures 126.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 132.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 134.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 135.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 147.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 155.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Pictures 159.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 753.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 760.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 772.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 780.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 792.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 809.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 817.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 822.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 823.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 837.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 838.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 852.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 866.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 870.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 878.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 894.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 897.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 898.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P4030031.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P4100053.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Zoo Lights 905.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P4100069.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr P4100063.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CpBluestreakCp Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Great pictures! I visited once or twice when it was Six Flags but remember it more when it was Geauga Lake again. It really makes me miss the park. Ah well, great pics again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kunpc1 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Thank you SO MUCH for sharing these pictures. I never made a trip to this park while it was still operating. I did visit Wildwater Kingdom this past summer. It's a nice water park. You can definitely tell it was a Sea World park with the entrance, buildings and landscaping. After the visit in June, I've been checking out the history of this park. These pictures are fantastic! It's so sad the park ended the way it did. It looked as though it was beautiful. And I can't believe the picture from the roadway. It's somewhat depressing driving along that same stretch of road now seeing the parking lot all grown over along with the old park entrance and no rides to greet you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Yeah, Wildwater Kingdom is somewhat bitter-sweet in a way. We go once or twice every single week in the summer... We love the waterpark and we are very happy we at least have something, but you never quite get over what it used to be, what was across the lake, etc... So many amazing memories growing up at those parks. It is extremely weird to drive down Aurora Road and see the parking lot filled with overgrown weeds and all that. Crazy to think what used to be! My girlfriend is going to locate all her Fright Fest photos along with her general park pictures (at the time, she took 90% of the images at the parks before I was into photography!). So I look forward to seeing what else we have from the park. Glad you enjoyed the photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Great pictures man, I'm still kicking my self for never making it to this park. Decent looking place for whatever it's worth now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonetheonlyJT Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Just looked at google maps of the park and seeing how there's nothing left on one side of the lake where all the rides used to be. It just looks really weird and to know part of the park is still open and the rest is the park is closed with nothing left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 I didn't realized how much was destroyed over there... I just took a look myself on Google Maps and it is creepy to see. I knew all the rides were out and all that, but all the buildings demolished to the ground I was not aware of (to that extent). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apatos99 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Thanks for the pictures they bring back lots of memories. A beautiful little park killed by greed. Sigh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Oooooooh the memories. When the park was converted in 2000 I broke down and bought my very first season pass and continued to get a season pass every year till the end. Loved going out there on Friday nights after work to unwind and grab some great night rides on Villain and Batman Knight Flight. As much as people blame Six Flags for the demise of the park (and that's a topic already in another thread) the SFWoA days were the most fun. Oktoberfest was always jammed with the vendors and live entertainment in the park. Fright Fest was also awesome when they had the monsters roaming and chasing guests all over the park. I miss the park alot and it's hard for me to go by it if I'm in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) I agree, SFWoA was the PRIME for that park... Especially in the fall. Octoberfest and Fright Fest were simply amazing. I am currently looking at a bunch of old Fright Fest photos my girlfriend took along with other park photos (lift-walks on X-Flight, On-Ride RWB and Superman stuff (had permission). So awesome! I plan to have these up next week sometime after my trip. I will update this thread once they are up. The photos from fall though give me chills though, especially one of the Villain midway with all the corn-stalks and such. *sigh* Edited August 13, 2012 by Invertalon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apatos99 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Oooooooh the memories. When the park was converted in 2000 I broke down and bought my very first season pass and continued to get a season pass every year till the end. Loved going out there on Friday nights after work to unwind and grab some great night rides on Villain and Batman Knight Flight. As much as people blame Six Flags for the demise of the park (and that's a topic already in another thread) the SFWoA days were the most fun. Oktoberfest was always jammed with the vendors and live entertainment in the park. Fright Fest was also awesome when they had the monsters roaming and chasing guests all over the park. I miss the park alot and it's hard for me to go by it if I'm in the area. I really miss the double loop and the out of control ride on Big Dipper. And I really miss Seaworld. I didn't mind the Six Flags conversion, but it was such a gem of a little park before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonetheonlyJT Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I didn't realized how much was destroyed over there... I just took a look myself on Google Maps and it is creepy to see. I knew all the rides were out and all that, but all the buildings demolished to the ground I was not aware of (to that extent). Looks very creepy to see how the park looks now and know how it looked before. Always sad to see photo's of a closed park and hear good stories about the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfelice Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 One of the few regrets I have as an enthusiast is only visiting this park once when it was only a little over 2 hours away from home. This was a very nice park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUSHIE Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I didn't take many photos while I was there (I never do), but I'll share some of what I took. These are from 2004 Dominator Flying Limo Monorail Cockpit Monorail Most of the Park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toro#1 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 oh man, this was totally one of my favorite parks when it was around, definitely more when it was Six Flags, obviously when it became CF they started shipping away almost every coaster to other parks. The location of it, the beauty of it and not to mention the SICK coaster lineup! X-Flight, Knight Flight, Superman, Big Dipper (such an out of control woodie) Villain, etc, it was an amazing place to get some solid credits! When this was open it honestly made Ohio the most dominant state for coasters in my opinion with CP, Kings Island and this place, not all too far from each other, I took a vacation for those 3 parks and it still ranks as one of my favorite trips I ever took, deeply miss this park, these pics rule so thank you for putting them up and starting this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 Slushie, Love that cockpit photo of the monorail. That ride was always so much fun to 'drive'. Get in, push the button and relax. The only bad part was the section close to the road that it went so slowly by the wave pool. I always like taking a spin on it before I worked there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUSHIE Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Is that the section that had a really awkward kink? I remember a portion of it had a turn that had like... no curvature to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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