There used to be a water park in my hometown that had a bunch of slides and a wave pool. I used to go there all the time as a kid, and even went there as a senior on a trip. I went to birthday parties there, sometimes.

It closed in 2020 and never reopened because they had apparently been avoiding paying bills for years. It wasn’t just the pandemic. It was visible from the freeway, so I watched it slowly being demolished over the next couple years any time I passed by.

I haven’t found a water park that really compared to it yet. Most are either too small or part of a larger theme park, which is fine. It just seemed like the fact that it exclusively was a water park allowed it to focus more on the atmosphere and types of slides it had.

  • JunkMilesDavis@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    We had an amusement park called Geauga Lake close to where I grew up in Ohio. Not quite as big as the famous Cedar Point park which was a couple of hours away by car, but it had quite a history, and was a really popular one for school trips, company picnics, etc. It went through some ownership changes, and was eventually closed and left to rot with many of the original structures still sitting there after the coaster parts were sold off. Haven’t looked into it for a number of years, but it was weird seeing that same entrance building we walked through so many times just decaying.

      • JunkMilesDavis@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Thanks, I do remember the first documentary, but didn’t realize there was a follow-up. Sad that nothing good has really happened with the property since then. It could have been reverted to a nice public space around the lake if nothing else, but all they get is a historic marker and apparently too much leftover trash to even develop it commercially.