Teen breaks into Geauga Lake and gets pictures ON the big dipper

Yes, and it's a completely rational and appropriate behavior. There's nothing sad about it.

The owner, regardless of entity type, of a property is protecting the value of other property by limiting the potential of conflicting usage.

This very well may reduce the value of the property they have legally limited the use of, but it's a cost/benefit analysis to be decided.

Much more often the biggest hurdle to 'economic development' is city/town councils putting restrictions on approved usages for land which severely limits the future uses based on the demand of the councils to have a desried development.

The problems is whether that desired development of the councils is economically feasible or not. The councils are not responsible financially for projects and usually offer little to no investment acumen or benefit to projects other than some tax abatement.

The 'If you build it, they will come' as long as it's someone else building what we want, mentality of many local /county political boards is often ironically the direct responsibility for the lack of any development and for blight in downtown areas.

Thanks for the explanation. I am not trying to be a butthurt conspiracy theorist on Geauga Lake. It's just a fact that anyone who was at Auction Day was able to see for themselves - Cedar Fair had already ensured that things such as plumbing and electrical availability had been removed to a level where simply "turning the power and water back on" would not have been an option to reopen the park. That, plus the after auction demolition of so many in-park structures, and the non-entertainment clause that has been there since day one. If they didn't care, wouldn't they have just left things park structures standing for the future land owner to make a decision on?

I'm not at all saying it would have been a smart move for anyone else to try to make the park work, nor am I saying anyone was even remotely interested. At that stage of the game it would have been nothing short of a colossal disaster to try again. All I said, and am saying, is that if anyone had been interested - Cedar Fair was having none of it.

I think you've got your chicken and egg confused. Knowing it could not be sold as an amusement business, the next step is to sell every asset that you can. That's exactly what they did.

XS NightClub - You presented several valid points but based upon the depth of your response I think you extracted a lot more out of my comment than was intended. All I was saying is that sometimes real life mimics the type of drama and behavior that you think can only happen on TV. :)

Also, WHY would they sell it as an amusement business? It clearly is a failed endeavor in Bainbridge, and also why allow any competitor to keep a park within distance of their Flagship? That's stupid business right there.

That's a key reason to raze the place. Someone would need even more capital to attempt to recover any entertainment from the property.

I didn't mean for a mountain to be made of a mole hill on this one. All I had originally said was that as a lifelong fan of the park, I was sad that it closed, and even more sad at the way it closed. If CF had known then that 8+ years later they would still be sitting on all that land, it makes me wonder if they would have seen what another season or two could have done. I get that it's business and I get that what Cedar Fair did was the smartest business move to make. It was just sad that after seeing some growth and improvement in 2007 that they didn't give it more time to try to stabilize it into a Dorney or MiA. Even some of the posters on here who praise CF for how they handled it are the same folks who wrote about the place becoming a much more solid experience in 2006-2007.

Are you asking if Cedar Fair knew they wouldn't be able to sell it that they would have just kept it open and lost more money anyway?

Shutdown the park, layoff employees, and transfer others but just pay taxes on the land only and a few other fees versus try running a failing park. I'd shut it down in a heartbeat too.

Cartwright said:

...Cedar Fair had already ensured that things such as plumbing and electrical availability had been removed to a level where simply "turning the power and water back on" would not have been an option to reopen the park.

Presumably, they removed plumbing and electrical both for its high salvage value (mostly copper), and to deter people from breaking in to steal said items of value.

^Highly doubt it...and if so, who cares? It doesn't affect you does it.

Cartwright said:
...they didn't give it more time to try to stabilize it into a Dorney or MiA.

There's the rub; you can't stabilize a Kings Island into a MiA. Geagua Lake and Sea World were complimentary to each other and were sized appropriately for their market. SFWoA was a Kings Island trying to survive in a MiA market.

I'd really like to know where some of you get your "facts" from.

The Intertubes, of course!

I must say, sitting here in Nashville, I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread, because we still deal with these topics regarding the former Opryland USA themepark from time to time, and that park closed its gates in 1997! People still refute the fact that the mall that replaced it attracts more foot traffic than the park, they are in denial that the park was landlocked and couldn't expand...the pipe-dreamers think a pedestrian bridge or other form of transit across 2 roadways (one being an 8-lane highway) to unused and completely undeveloped land was a viable option. My point being....don't expect the conspiracy theorists, pipe dreamers, or butt hurt Geauga Lake lovers to go anywhere any time soon. 18 years later, they are still going strong in Nashville.

I will say I wonder what official channels you have to go through to tour the park or enter the grounds. I'd love to find out how to take photos & video that would be sanctioned. Or at least in a minimum just walk through and see the condition of the park. I haven't seen pictures of the area around Grizzly Run, Dominator, or Double loop in years. I'd be very interested to see the less "important" areas of the park.

I wish the current Geauga Lake was a playable scenario in RCT.

thedevariouseffect said:
I will say I wonder what official channels you have to go through to tour the park or enter the grounds. I'd love to find out how to take photos & video that would be sanctioned. Or at least in a minimum just walk through and see the condition of the park. I haven't seen pictures of the area around Grizzly Run, Dominator, or Double loop in years. I'd be very interested to see the less "important" areas of the park.

I understand not the same as a walk through, but check out YouTube for drone footage.

Red Garter Rob said:
I'd really like to know where some of you get your "facts" from.

A little research, a little common sense = opinion. :-)

New development here

If Meijer builds a store in Bainbridge, they will also erect a monument paying tribute to the former amusement park that the city loved and cared about so much...

Pardon me while I laugh at the city some more...just let them build the damn store.