Geauga Lake

Aurora, Ohio (near Cleveland)

The amusement park closed permanently in 2007. The water park, however, is still open.

From Detroit: Take I-75 S to I-280 S to Ohio Turnpike. Travel East on Turnpike to Exit 187, then take SR 43 N and follow signs.

From Toledo & points west: Take Ohio Turnpike East to Exit 187, then head East on SR 14 to SR 43 N and follow signs.

From Akron: Take SR 8 N to SR 82 E. Turn left onto SR 43 and follow signs.

From downtown and South Cleveland: Take I-480 E to 422 E toward Solon/Warren. Exit at SR 91 and turn right. Go to SR 43, turn left and follow signs.

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Geauga Lake

Premier Parks acquired Geauga Lake in 1995. In 1998, Premier Parks purchased Six Flags and adopted the Six Flags name for its company. It changed Geauga Lake's name to Six Flags Ohio in 1999. In a bid to take on Ohio behemoths King's Island and, especially, Cedar Point, Six Flags purchased the neighboring SeaWorld Ohio, built a water park, dropped the Six Flags Ohio moniker from the amusement park, and combined the three parks under the highfalutin name Six Flags World of Adventure. Whew! Are you still with me?

The mega-park never generated the numbers Six Flags had anticipated, and the troubled company reduced some of its mounting debt by selling the property to rival chain, Cedar Fair (owner of Cedar Point) in 2004. Cedar Fair closed the marine life exhibits, and relocated the water park to the former SeaWorld site in 2005. After four disappointing seasons, Cedar Fair (which purchased Kings Island and the rest of Paramount Parks in 2006 and faced its own debt issues) announced that it would permanently close the amusement park in 2007.

Geauga Lake will live on, in name anyway. The water park, now known as Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom, remains open.