larrygator Posted July 18, 2015 Posted July 18, 2015 I also suggest while there, you try out the food they have to offer. I believe that every wends, they have a spaghetti dinner in one of the pavilions that you can purchase if interested. They have my favorite amusement park pizza at DelGrosso's, but it's all about spaghetti Wednesdays. 2015 Spaghetti Wednesday Menu
thrillrider Posted July 18, 2015 Author Posted July 18, 2015 The pizza at Delgrosso's is defiantly the best pizza of any theme park pizza I have tried.
thrillrider Posted July 19, 2015 Author Posted July 19, 2015 I'm a little behind, but I should have the Conneaut lake park pictures up tonight.
thrillrider Posted July 19, 2015 Author Posted July 19, 2015 So after doing Lakemont and Delgrosso's parks, we made the drive north to conneaut lake park. I have never been to this park, and have heard conflicting reports about the park closing soon so I decided that a visit was in hand. My impressions of this park are mixed. As a amusement park person, I am pulling for this park to survive. But as I walked into this park, it is not hard to see why they are failing. The park looks like it was a nice park at one time. However, there are a ton of basic things that this park fails to do like clean up junk that is just lying around, painting, and general maintainance. As the pictures will show, the park is in ruff shape, and in some cases just flat out dangerous. The blue streak was a fun classic coaster that needs some maintainance done to it. The tunnel roof was collapsed, and it looks like they started to fix it, but ran out of wood.The lift hill was crooked and the train moved side to side going up it. With the exception of the pot hole at the bottom of the first drop, the rest of the coaster was not bad. The train needed some love, as it was missing seats. The classic turtle ride was held together by rust, and had holes in the floor of the cars where you could see the wheels. The bumper cars had 4 cars out of maybe 10 actually working. While on them, there was a small flame coming up from the floor where two steel plates were bolted down.The paratrooper had grease all over the seats and I ended up wearing a lot of it. The concession stand was open, but had no employee working it. I stood there for 5 min wanting to buy a drink before giving up. There were some positives as well... The dark ride was great! I love the gags inside, and the gum wall. The carousel was maintained as far as I could tell, and the staff was friendly(although a few of them looked like they were just released from prison). I really hope this park can get it's act together, as I would hate to lose another classic amusement. Onto the pictures. Sorry some of the pictures are a little dark or blurry, it was almost dark by time we got there, and I was having issues getting good shots. Here we are. Main entrance. Nobody was there, nor were there any signs stating where to purchase a wristband. There were a few rides as you enter the park. Random sign The main rides midway This was my fist stop at the end of the midway The entrance to the parks classic kiddie land This had classic written all over it. The parks main attraction Here is a shot of the station The unload station with a stripper pole Old school Bumper cars This ride was closed Geek shot One last look fro the tumble bug It's things like this that could simply improve the park if they were just cleaned up. It would take someone 10 min to clean this up. We did not explore past this point of the park as it looked abandoned. Lookie what I found sitting out in the parking lot. Looks like the chance tobbogan Sorry about the dark pictures, but there was not much light A few more random pictures.... A few blurry shots of the blue streak Coming up next is geauga lake....or what's left of it.
djcoastermark Posted July 19, 2015 Posted July 19, 2015 OMGAWD Conneaut, The ultimate thrill seekers paradise ! (as in, will I make it off the/any ride alive? ) I really hope this park is still around in mid August for my Ohio/ Pa trip. Conny is the first stop we are making before Kennywood. I haven't been to Conneaut since I was a kid in the 1970's. I love the pictures you took of the park, but it is sad to see that was once a really pretty little park has fallen into such disrepair. It reminds me of a park in Ohio that I had the, ahem, pleasure of going to in its last season. Russel's Point Park at Indian Lake. The only difference was that the coaster had been condemmed that year and no longer ran. The midways and rides seemed to be in the same condition as Conneaut. Unfortunately, with the closure of their Coaster, the last operating day ever for that park was the Fourth of July, they just couldn't make it to the end of season. I have some old photos I took of that park that someday I would like to post here as a retro trip report.
Geauga Dog Posted July 20, 2015 Posted July 20, 2015 Conneaut. I have only visited during the day and it's already a little creepy but the creepiness factor jumps a whole lot more come dusk/night. It's no wonder Ghost Lake is so popular there at Halloween time. At the end of the midway you thought was abandoned used to be the Beach Club, that burned down a couple year's ago and the Hotel Conneaut/beach area would be at the end on the right otherwise it's just as well you didn't venture down there as there is nothing to see (the Chance Toboggan used to be down there and the remains of a Round-Up ride, which I don't know if that was removed). The carousel photos are very nice. It is a beautiful machine.
thrillrider Posted July 20, 2015 Author Posted July 20, 2015 Didn't they have a rollerskating rink that burnt down as well?
thrillrider Posted July 20, 2015 Author Posted July 20, 2015 I should have the Geauga lake pictures up tonight. There are a few really interesting pictures as well.
coasterbill Posted July 20, 2015 Posted July 20, 2015 Good for you for riding so many rides at Conneaut Lake. We rode the dark ride and the coaster and then figured we must owe it to some higher power that we were still alive. We bailed as riding anything else would have just been tempting fate.
ANSCRE Posted July 20, 2015 Posted July 20, 2015 Didn't they have a rollerskating rink that burnt down as well? No, I don't think one did. As long as I've been going to Conneaut Lake Park there has never been a rollerskating rink. If one did burnt down it would have been a very long time ago. The only recent major fires at the park was the Dreamland Ballroom fire in 2008 and the Beach Club fire in 2013.
thrillrider Posted July 20, 2015 Author Posted July 20, 2015 Good for you for riding so many rides at Conneaut Lake. We rode the dark ride and the coaster and then figured we must owe it to some higher power that we were still alive. We bailed as riding anything else would have just been tempting fate. I personally only went on the coaster, tumble bug, bumper cars, paratrooper and dark ride. With the exception of the dark ride, I did feel like god was looking down on me.
thrillrider Posted July 21, 2015 Author Posted July 21, 2015 The next stop on our mega road trip is a quick trip to geauga lakes wildwater kingdom. This is the first time I have been to the park since the ride side closed, and the first time I have parked and entered the park from the old seaworld gate. It was actually quite depressing driving into the old seaworld parking lot and seeing in the condition it is in now compared to what it used to look like. The parking lot and path to the entrance were very run down and in need of maintainance. The wooden posts that used to have rope threaded thru them were all dilapidated and missing rope in most of the posts. The pain in the parking lot and crosswalk into the park was almost completely faded. There was even a bench on the path to the park that had weeds and bushes growing up thru it. There was a closed gift shop just outside the main gate that had its awning all shredded up. Once we got to the main gate, things started to turn around. The main gate area looked nice and well taken care of, and the inside of the park seemed to be well maintained except for a few areas. The slides and attractions were fun, and seemed to be in good shape. The large slide complex was fun, but too many stairs to repeat it(yea...I'm an old man now). I was able to zoom into the geauga lake side of the park and get some pictures of the big dipper and other remains. There were several points in the park where you could see what remains of the seaworld park and geauga lake. It was quite depressing knowing what it used to look like just a few years ago. Onto the pictures... Driving next to geauga lake, you are able to see the big dipper still standing. I suppose this is where I need to turn in Parking lot on the 4th of July Gift shop next to the main gate Bench near main gate Main gate As soon as we got inside, we went to the right and walked right by what used to be the flamingo area when seaworld was still around. This slide complex was a lot of fun. I believe that six flags put this in, but it used to be on the other side of the park. Due to having 3 kids, we spent most of our time in this area. This was a great place for kids to splash around. The walkways were clean and spacious. This area is where the ski show stadium used to be. Upcoming events This seemed to be new. It was one of those deals where you buy a bag of sand and sift out the sand to find jewels. Notice the rock work in the back? They used to be where seaworld kept the sealions. The park has several food stands that still remain from seaworld/six flags You can tell by the cement what areas used to be seaworld. The old sw park is in ruff shape. Let's take a look at what's left. I believe there used to be a bird cage in this area This used to be the trail that led over to the ride side This is the area that used to have the large play structure and a few spinning rides. I think that it was either the yoyo or balloon ride used to be on the round pad here. This used to be the aquarium They had a few attractions for the kids that did not involve water. A beach area A little tykes play town A life sized chess board Now let's take a look across the lake. In this shot, you can still see some reminents of the ski show in the water. Big dipper looks like it could still run....from a distance Batmans footers still remain What's left of the bridge that used to connect both sides You can still see the rockwork from grizzly rapids A wide look at what is left of what used to be the worlds largest amusement park A few last shots Overgrown seaworld parking lot This used to be geauga lakes parking lot. The last shot of the park shows where the main entrance to geauga lakes parking lot used to be. Stay tuned for our next park.......
SFOGdude25 Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Man, I never went to Geauga Lake/Six Flags/SeaWorld, but seeing so much dilapidated and abandoned structures from what used to be two very successful parks is just plain depressing (curse you, former Six Flags management). It honestly would've been better in my eyes for Cedar Fair to close the whole property and relocate these water park attractions to other properties in the chain. I wouldn't be able to leave this water park without getting a little choked up.
Intimidator305 Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Judging by the looks of the place, no new attractions in years, lack of crowds on a 4th of July Saturday, and the recent rumors this place could very well be on its way out soon. I'm sure many of the water parks across the Cedar Fair chain would appreciate that slide tower and Carowinds sure could use a Tornado funnel slide. Thanks for all the photos! So sad to see the parks look like this now - at least Kings Dominion received Batman/Dominator and Americana.
thrillrider Posted July 21, 2015 Author Posted July 21, 2015 ^Yea, it's not looking good for this park. In all fairness, there was a decent crown there that day. Most people were at the wave pool that for some reason I failed to get a picture of.
VegasBaby Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Wow, that is just sad. Geauga Lake is really one of the great tragedies of the amusement park world. Hard to believe there was once two parks there, then the world's largest park, and now there's nothing but a small water park left. Thanks for all your photos, I'm really enjoying your trip report.
thrillrider Posted July 21, 2015 Author Posted July 21, 2015 Wow, that is just sad. Geauga Lake is really one of the great tragedies of the amusement park world. Hard to believe there was once two parks there, then the world's largest park, and now there's nothing but a small water park left. Thanks for all your photos, I'm really enjoying your trip report. Thank you. It was quite depressing knowing what it used to look like, and what it is now. I know that a full blown amusement park will never be built here again, but a small park like beach bend would do really well in this area. As far as the big dipper goes, the ride structure still seemed to be in solid shape, but that was about it. Does anyone know the status of what they are doing with the big dipper?
bluestreak Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 After looking at these pictures I'm not sure I still believe this but I'll say it anyway. During Coastermania at Cedar Point this year I got into talking to a lifeguard who works for Wildwater Kingdom at she told me that during the 2014 season they actually managed to have record attendance and that she has heard rumors from other lifeguards and workers at the park that they are planning a large new slide complex in the next couple of years similar to those that have been added to other Cedar Fair parks over the last couple of years. As a former visitor of the park I can only hope that this is true. Also, I'm really enjoying your trip report to this point and I'm really looking forward to CP as it is my home park.
grsupercity Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Very sad set of pictures in deed. So if Bluestreak is right and there going to get a new slide tower soon then that is great news!
thrillrider Posted July 21, 2015 Author Posted July 21, 2015 After looking at these pictures I'm not sure I still believe this but I'll say it anyway. During Coastermania at Cedar Point this year I got into talking to a lifeguard who works for Wildwater Kingdom at she told me that during the 2014 season they actually managed to have record attendance and that she has heard rumors from other lifeguards and workers at the park that they are planning a large new slide complex in the next couple of years similar to those that have been added to other Cedar Fair parks over the last couple of years. As a former visitor of the park I can only hope that this is true. Also, I'm really enjoying your trip report to this point and I'm really looking forward to CP as it is my home park. This has been a rumor for 5 years now.
Geauga Dog Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Thanks for the photos. I haven't been to WWK since Geauga closed in 2007 as I'm not much of a water park person. To think 2015 is the park's 10th anniversary and the only major attraction they've added since then was the Tidal Wave Bay wave pool in 2006. I've heard the rumors of a new slide but that's been going on for a few years. They certainly have more than enough land to build on, if anything, expand into the former Happy Harbor area since the view from the top of Thunder Falls is not very attractive. It makes me wonder how this place even survives as Northeast Ohio has never been a good market for a stand alone water park plus the fact that CF doesn't do a lot of advertising either (you may see a few TV commercials or hear a few radio commercials early in the season but that's about it). Heck I see more commercials and billboards for Kennywood around here than CP and WWK.
DoinItForTheFame Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 Stay tuned for our next park....... OMG! This is the park I have been waiting for!! However, I have enjoyed seeing all the other random parks along the way! It is a unique look at some parks I forgot were even out there!! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
brownies122 Posted July 21, 2015 Posted July 21, 2015 I have been to WWK numerous times each season since the Platinum Pass was invented by Cedar Fair. Every time I make the 45min trip, the place is packed. It didn't seem to matter if it was a weekday or weekend. In fact, the Monday following the 4th, an employee said that day was busier than the entire holiday weekend. I have noticed a small difference in how the park is maintained since Matt Ouimet took over CF. Not that this change had anything to do with it, but gadgets that were broken in the lazy river or childrens complex are now operational. Still hoping for that new slide complex...
thrillrider Posted July 21, 2015 Author Posted July 21, 2015 They really do have a nice lazy river. My daughter was having a blast dumping water on everyone from above.
thrillrider Posted July 22, 2015 Author Posted July 22, 2015 Cedar point pictures will be up tonight. Been really busy the past few days.
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