Girl takes pet cikada on a ride on Kings Island
Margot, 5, loves Shikada and has been “adopted” since this season. This includes “Cade the Cader” found at Ohio Amusement Park.
- What became Geauga Lake Park began in 1887 as a train stop for Picnic Groves.
- The park was added to the Big Dipper, the first roller coaster in 1925, and later the first loop roller coaster in Ohio.
- Geauga Lake was once owned by Cedar Fair, the same company that operated Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
- The ride side of Geauga Lake closed in 2007, followed by the adjacent water park in 2016.
For over 100 years, Geauga Lake in Aurora, Ohio has been an amusement park destination.
From the early days of the late 19th century, the park grew when Lake Giaga was a train stop for renting picnic tables and boats. The first vehicle was a steam-powered carousel added in 1889. The first roller coaster did not come with the Big Dipper until 1925.
And in 2001, Lake Giaga absorbed the nearby ocean world. This made Lake Giaga the largest theme park in the world by region at the time, covering about 700 acres on either side of the lake.
Within ten years, the fun was over.
In 2007, after a change of ownership and an expansion of the park, the park was closed. Today, the rest of Giaga Lake Park may return to its 19th century roots. The city of Aurora purchased the former Lake Giaga and Sea World Land with the aim of making it a park.
Let’s take a look back at the history of Geauga Lake, as reported in a previous Beacon Journal article.
Look back at Geauga Lake Park in Ohio. Big Dipper, the first roller coaster to debut in 1925, debuted
Here’s a brief history of Geauga Lake:
- 1887: The northeastern side of Lake Giaga is initially called Picnic Lake or Giles Pond.
- 1889: The first ride in the park will be added, and a steam-powered carousel will be added.
- 1925: Geauga Lake’s first roller coaster is being built. The Big Dipper was the largest wooden roller coaster at the time, 2,800 feet and 65 feet tall.
- 1939: A dance hall and a ballroom are being built.
- 1969: Funtime Inc. buys the park.
- 1977: Double Loop – Ohio’s first loop steel coaster – opens.
- 1978: Corkscrew Steel Coaster makes its debut.
- 1984: The waves, the first pool of this kind that creates a 6-foot wave, opens.
- 1988: The park celebrates its 100th year and welcomes a wooden roller coaster with raging wolf bob.
- 1995: Geauga Lake is purchased by Premier Parks Inc.
- 1998: Premier Park buys Six Flags Theme Park.
- 2000: The park will be renamed to Six Flags, Ohio.
- 2001: Six Flags purchase SeaWorld Cleveland, renamed Six Flags World of Adventure.
- 2004: Six Flags sold the park to Cedar Fair at the time, which was the owner of Cedar Point. The name will be reverted to Geauga Lake.
- 2005: Cedar Fair will revamp the old ocean world into a water park known as the Wild Water Kingdom.
- 2007: The Geauga Lake ride closes.
- 2016: The Wildwater Kingdom will be closed.
Source: Aurora Historical Society and Akron Beacon Journal Archives.
