Brighton Lake

Brighton Lake is an amusement park located in. It is the first, as well as the flagship park of the Vista Parks chain. The park first opened in 1974, and has been operating consistently ever since.

History
In 1971, real estate agent Thomas Brighton went on a trip with his brother Ken Brighton, an entrepreneur who had recently graduated from college, to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas. The brothers were impressed by the park’s architecture and attractions, and were inspired to bring a similar experience to their home town of Peoria, Illinois. After a few months of site-searching, the two settled on a derelict camping site located near a lake that had been abandoned when it’s owner died of a heart attack.

Construction of the park started in late 1971 and concluded in early 1974. The park would open to the public later that year on July 3, 1974, with the only two roller coasters being Midwest Maniac and The Lynx and the only areas being The Gateway, The Boardwalk, Seymour's Farm (which was named after the father of the Brighton brothers, Seymour Brighton), and Dusty Dunes. Only one year later, Kiddyland would open as the fifth area.

In 1991, Brighton Lake was added as part of the course of the Tour of America, an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race held in the Midwest, with the Peoria area as an important part of the course, and part of the UCI World Tour.

In 1995, the park announced their "2 coasters in 1 year" addition, featuring two new coasters being added to the park - Galaga, a B&M invert named after the 1981 arcade game of the same name, and Anubis' Revenge, a TOGO sitdown looping coaster.

In 1997, Demon, a CCI wooden coaster was added, using the two trains of Midwest Maniac that were unused after that ride removed most of it's block zones in 1991 in order to save money.

In 1999, Kid Koaster was added.

In 2001, Anubis' Revenge closed due to the high maintenance the coaster required, breaking down at least once a day.

In 2002, The Silo Drop closed to make way for the 2003 addition, which turned out to be a Bolliger & Mabillard hypercoaster named "Frostbite". Originally, the hyper was going to be installed on Anubis' Revenge's plot of land, but to save money on leveling land, they decided to replace The Silo Drop instead.

In 2003, The Lynx closed after several years of operation.

In 2004, the eastern half of Kiddyland was turned into a brand new area, Foxbox Land (later 4Kids City in 2005), with rides themed to several different Foxbox/4Kids shows, such as, , and. Also in that year, the park began using the slogan "Let's play in Peoria!", a play on the common phrase "Will it play in Peoria?", which would be used up until 2012.

In 2007, The Big Apple closed down and was moved out of the park.

In 2010, following the park's acquisition by, 4Kids City closed and was replaced with Nickelodeon Slime Town, with most of the rides being rethemed to Nicktoons, excluding the TMNT-related rides and anything related to Winx Club, which remained the same due to Viacom acquiring the TMNT license in 2009 and purchasing part of Winx Club's producers Rainbow SRL in 2011.

In 2019, it was announced that Brighton Lake Monster would permanently close at the end of the season after 41 years, causing massive outcry and outrage from the public, who considered the ride to be a park classic. Despite the parkgoers' protests, the park continued on with their plans and held a massive farewell ceremony for the coaster on it's last day of operation. The ride would later be replaced in 2021 with Star Trek: Borg Attack, a launched multi-looping coaster made by, ironically, the successor to the original ride's manufacturer, using the same track mold as the original one, but the design was made via computers rather than by hand.

Areas

 * The Gateway (entrance)
 * The Boardwalk
 * Dusty Dunes
 * The Console (formerly known as The Namco Zone from 1989 - 2006)
 * Seymour's Farm
 * South Park
 * Nickelodeon Slime Town (formerly known as Foxbox Land for 2004 only and 4Kids City from 2005 - 2009)
 * Kiddyland