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 Shorewood, 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, and Boardwalk Wheel would open as well.

In 1984, Brighton Bay, Brighton Lake's waterpark, opened, as did a Hilton hotel that opened right next to the park (this'd be 11 years before Hilton Worldwide bought Brighton Brothers Entertainment Company). That same year, the park celebrated it's 10th anniversary.

In 1989, a new area, The Namco Zone, opened.

In 1994, the park added Galaga, a B&M invert named after the 1981 arcade game of the same name. This addition would be followed one year later by 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 (currently known as The Loud House: Road Trip!) was added.

In 2001, Anubis' Revenge closed due to the high maintenance the coaster required, breaking down at least once a day. The plot of land that the coaster was on would remain vacant until 2013.

In 2002, The Silo Drop and Seymour's Ghost Barn both 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 both The Silo Drop and Seymour's Ghost Barn 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.

In 2005, TMNT Shell Spin opened.

In 2006, Brighton Bay received a multi-million dollar refurbishment, complete with a rename to Woohoo Wharf. Also that year, Viva Piñata: Bumper Bonanza opened.

In 2007, The Big Apple closed down and was moved out of the park. Also, The Namco Zone was renamed to The Console due to Namco's merger with Bandai.

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. Despite Vista still sharing the license to Sonic the Hedgehog with Carwardine Parks, Sonic X: The 4D Adventure was still scrapped, which was at least partially due to Sonic not having any media related to Nickelodeon at the time; another reason for its scrapping is that both Vista and Sega saw Sonic X as "dated".

In 2013, Saber opened, finally taking up the long empty space of land that Anubis' Revenge was previously on and also reusing it's station, which had remained abandoned for over 12 years.

In 2015, a new area, South Park, opened, themed to the show of the same name.

In 2018, Demon closed halfway through the season to receive an extensive refurbishment, which included a retracking and new Millennium Flyer trains, both from GCI. The coaster reopened in April of 2019.

In Summer of 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.

In 2022, Cuphead's Crazy Chase! opened, replacing PAC-Man's Park, which had been standing but not operating since it's closure in 2019. Later that year, on October 25, Vista announced that Kiddyland would receive a Pinkfong retheme for the 2023 season, which entailed the retheming of a couple of preexisting rides, as well as the removal of Go Gator in favor of a Zamperla Family Gravity coaster named "Baby Shark's Minnow Chase". The new version of the land, known as "Pinkfong Fun Park", fully opened on May 26, 2023.

In June of 2023, the park announced that The Last Stand would permanently close after 35 years of operation. The ride permanently closed on August 1, 2023, with the coaster being demolished and scrapped shortly afterwards. Later that year, on November 11, Vista announced and began their "50 Years of Fun" celebration by hosting a stream on the official Brighton Lake YouTube channel, in which they shared their plans for the park's 50th year of operation, including a walkthrough attraction in Seymour's Farm about the life of Thomas Brighton and history of the park, a life-sized replica of the Krusty Krab from SpongeBob SquarePants, replacing the long-derelict Sonic X show building, a complete overhaul of the park's branding, including a new slogan, logo, and the reinstallation of the famous Pac-Man and Ms. Pac Man statues near the park's entrance, which had been in storage since 2007, and brand-new Bolliger & Mabillard Surf Coaster, occupying the plot of land that The Last Stand once took up. It was also announced in that same stream that a contest would be held to determine the Surf Coaster's name. Submissions for the name were opened after the stream ended and closed on November 30. Eventually, on December 9, the winning name was announced to be "Red Tide".

Areas

 * The Gateway (entrance) (est. 1974)
 * The Boardwalk (est. 1974)
 * Dusty Dunes (est. 1974)
 * The Console (formerly known as The Namco Zone from 1989 - 2006) (est. 1989)
 * Seymour's Farm (est. 1974)
 * South Park (est. 2015)
 * Nickelodeon Slime Town (formerly known as Foxbox Land for 2004 only and 4Kids City from 2005 - 2009) (est. 2004)
 * Pinkfong Fun Park (formerly known as Kiddyland from 1975 - 2022) (est. 1975)
 * Woohoo Wharf (formerly known as Brighton Bay from 1984 - 2005)

Restaurants and food stands

 * 7-Eleven [The Gateway]
 * Andy's Diner (A restaurant named after Andrew Brighton, the eldest son of Thomas Brighton) [Seymour's Farm]
 * Captain D's [The Boardwalk]
 * Dippin' Dots [multiple stands scattered throughout the park]
 * Great American Cookies [The Gateway]
 * Little Caesars Express [Dusty Dunes]
 * Nicktoons Cafe (A restauraunt that features occasional appearances from Nicktoons characters; formerly known as "Cafe Mew Mew" from 2006 - 2010) [Nickelodeon Slime Town]
 * Panda Express [The Gateway]
 * Scoops!! (Stylized with two exclamation points; an ice cream stand) [The Boardwalk]
 * Slurpee [multiple stations scattered throughout the park]
 * Starbucks [The Gateway]

Gift shops and game stands

 * Flashback Arcade [The Console]
 * George's General Store [Seymour's Farm]
 * NickKnacks [Nickelodeon Slime Town]
 * Reel It In! [The Boardwalk/Woohoo Wharf]

Incidents

 * On July 21, 1991, 58-year-old Jerry Deon from was found unresponsive after riding Super Splashdown, and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. An autopsy revealed that the man had a brain aneurysm which ruptured during the ride, causing him to have a stroke and ultimately leading to his death.
 * On June 24, 2000, at approx. 11:15am, Anubis' Revenge unexpectedly broke down while a full train containing 28 riders was 3/4 of the way up the lift hill, approximately 75 feet off the ground. The train got stuck on the lift hill as a result, and the Troy Fire Protection District had to evacuate the riders from the ride personally. The entire procedure took up to 4 hours to complete, with the final rider being evacuated at 3:15pm. 17 of the riders were later treated at local hospitals for dehydration and sunburn. The coaster remained close for the rest of the day while repairs were made, and would reopen the following day as per use.
 * On August 18, 2008, 9-year-old Dionna Locke from drowned in the Great White Pool. A lifeguard noticed her body and attempted to resuscitate her, but to no avail. The girl's family would then go on to sue the park, claiming that the pool was "understaffed" and that there should have been more lifeguards on active duty at the time she drowned. Ultimately, the lawsuit would end up being settled out of court. Since then, the park has required at least 3 lifeguards to be on duty at the pool at all times in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
 * On June 7, 2014, at 8:17 PM, the park was evacuated after the park's management received a call from someone claiming to be "the second coming of Bin Laden", who threatened to plant pipe bombs throughout the park. The caller was later identified as 16-year-old Kaylan Chasen from, who was subsequently arrested and sentenced to four years in juvenile detention - however, he would only serve one of those years, due to him being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia during his time there.

Notable hotels near park

 * Hilton Shorewood-Brighton Lake (opened 1984; closest hotel to the park; features an IHOP restaurant (formerly a Denny's until 2019) next door)