Unless we’re talking about the opening of a brand new amusement park, it’s almost unheard of for one park to open four new roller coasters in one operating season, however, 20 years ago, that’s exactly what happened at the park formerly known as Geauga Lake, which was rebranded Six Flags Ohio ahead of the 2000 season.
Geauga Lake was an amusement park that retains an incredible level of history. If you’re unaware, be sure to check out the in-depth Geauga Lake: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of the World’s Largest Amusement Park article posted on the site last fall. But what you need to know is that the late 1990s proved to be the time for a purchasing frenzy for Premier Parks (formerly Tierco and later Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc.), which has no relation to the current Premier Parks, LLC, who currently operates parks like Magic Springs, Clementon Park, Pacific Park and Elitch Gardens.
Funtime, Inc. was the owner of Geauga Lake from 1965 until 1995, when Premier Parks purchased Funtime and all of its assets, including Geauga Lake and Darien Lake in New York for $60 million. Over the late 1990s, Premier continued to go on a spending spree, purchasing Elitch Gardens in Colorado, Riverside Park in Massachusetts, Great Escape in New York, Kentucky Kingdom, Marine World in California, and five Walibi parks in Europe.
The biggest of Premier’s Purchases would occur in 1998, when the company purchased Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc from Time Warner for $1.86 million. Rather than affix the Premier name to the robust park portfolio that they now owned, they instead co-opted the Six Flags brand, and many of their parks became known as “Six Flags [Name].” In Geauga Lake’s case, the park’s new name was Six Flags Ohio. The name change was announced in late 1999, and would come with a $40 million shot of adrenaline for the park, which would add 20 new rides, including four new roller coasters, ahead of the 2000 season.
The four roller coasters that were added to the park now known as Six Flags Ohio provided a great cross-section of new roller coasters to Geauga Lake’s coaster line-up that already featured the classic Big Dipper (1925), the Arrow Dynamics-desgined Double Loop (1977), the Raging Wolf Bobs (1988), modeled after the legendary Riverview Park Bobs in Chicago, and off-the-shelf staples like Head Spin (Vekoma Boomerang, 1996) and Serial Thriller (later Thunderhawk) – a Vekoma SLC that opened in 1998.
Among the four coasters added were:
- Roadrunner Express, a large Tivoli model from Zierer that filled the park’s void of a roller coaster that families could enjoy.
- Superman Ultimate Escape, the first Intamin Impulse coaster to feature a “Twist & Spike” layout.
- Batman Knight Flight, the world’s longest floorless coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard
- Villain, a wooden coaster from Custom Coasters International, one of seven CCI coasters to open in 2000.
In 2001, Six Flags purchased the adjacent SeaWorld Ohio, and the two parks became one property known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in 2001. Combined attendance at both parks reached an estimated 2.7 million visitors that year. They would continue to operate under this banner for three seasons, before the property was sold to Cedar Fair in 2004 for $145 million. Due to licensing issues, many of the park’s attractions had to be renamed and re-themed for the 2004 season, including three of the roller coasters that had opened in 2000.
Road Runner Express lost the Looney Tunes branding and became Beaver Land Mine Ride. Both Superman Ultimate Escape and Batman Knight Flight lost the licenses to their DC Comics-inspired super hero themes, and became the more generic Steel Venom and Dominator, respectively. With no licensing issues, Villain got to keep its name. However, the sale to Cedar Fair was the beginning of the end for Geauga Lake.
Dominator at Kings Dominion in 2019
Geauga Lake’s final operating day was September 21, 2007, but plans were in place already to move attractions to other parks, including some owned by Cedar Fair. Superman Ultimate Escape/Steel Venom was moved to Dorney Park prior to the 2007 season, where it opened as Voodoo in 2008 before assuming its current name of Possessed in 2009. Batman Knight Flight/Dominator was relocated to Kings Dominion between 2007 and 2008, keeping the Dominator name (and a nod to its Knight Flight days by keeping the loop a vibrant yellow.)
Other coasters at Geauga Lake, including Thunderhawk, Head Spin, and X-Flight (2001) were relocated to Michigan’s Adventure, Carowinds (as Carolina Cobra, and later the Flying Cobras), and Kings Island (as Firehawk), respectively. Multiple flat rides across the Cedar Fair family can claim roots at Geauga Lake, as well. Road Runner Express/Beaver Land Mine Ride was relocated to Papéa Parc in France, where it has operated as “Roller Coaster” since 2009. The other coasters at Geauga Lake; Big Dipper, Double Loop, Raging Wolf Bobs, and yes, even 2000’s Villain were not as fortunate to find homes to continue their legacies, and have all been demolished and/or sold as scrap over the years.
Wildwater Kingdom, the Cedar Fair-owned water park on the former SeaWorld Ohio site which operated following Geauga Lake’s closure in 2007, closed for good in 2016. While much of the land is still abandonded, it was announced last month that PulteGroup, the country’s third largest home builder, would be constructing a housing development on the land formerly occupied by the water park’s parking lot, opening in March of 2021.
While it is great that three of the four coasters that opened as part of Premier’s $40 Million expansion to Geauga Lake are still thrilling guests around the world to this day, because they got their start elsewhere, its unlikely that we’ll see 20th birthday celebrations for these coasters this year. We’re glad we could light a small candle in our corner of the internet for these coasters to blow out.
Did you ever visit Six Flags Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake and get a ride on any of these coasters in their original locations? Let us know in the comments below!
I went there when it was Six Flags Ohio and when it was Six Flags Great Adventure…just wish I could have went when it was Geauga Lake…candle lit
Grew up near geauga lake went there several times a year. It was a great family park. It is my opinion that cedar fair bought the place to shut it down, eliminating the competition.
I actually went here as a little kid in 2001 and was hoping the park was still there abandoned or otherwise. Just to go back for nostalgia sake. It’s sad that I had only ever gone once