Big Dipper has stood over the now abandoned Geauga Lake amusement park since 1925. But that reign ended yesterday as crews began bulldozing the historic wooden roller coaster.
The coaster had remained largely untouched since 2007 when Geauga Lake ceased operations. Following the park’s closure, owner Cedar Fair relocated salvageable rides to other parks and razed many of the remaining rides and attractions. The coaster was sold at auction in 2008 but was never moved.
According to local news sources, the decision to raze the coaster was influenced by trespassers’ continued attempts to climb the coaster’s structure for photographs.
Efforts by coaster enthusiasts and preservationists to save and reopen the wooden coaster were unsuccessful.
The below aerial video shows only part of the 91-year-old coaster still standing as a bulldozer tears into its track and support structure:
Big Dipper was designed by the legendary John A. Miller. It featured a 65-foot-tall lift hill and reached a top speed of 35 mph during its 2,680-foot-long layout.
Its two trains featured four cars with each seating six riders.
Throughout its lifetime, the coaster was also known as Sky Rocket and Clipper. Its name was changed to Big Dipper in the late 1960s.
Cedar Fair has struggled to sell the Geauga Lake land. The nearby Wildwater Kingdom water park continued to operate after the amusement park closed until this year when Cedar Fair announced it would not reopen in 2017.
Did you ever ride Big Dipper at Geauga Lake? Share your memories of the wooden coaster in the comments section below.
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