User blog:RCTFan2002/What If? Episode 8: What if Six Flags Ohio and Seaworld Ohio remained separate parks?

Hey guys, welcome to episode 7 of my "What If?" series. This episode took a long time to plan and write out, and you'll find out why in just a second:

Last week, I discussed on my blog what would happen if Cedar Fair never closed Geauga Lake, as the first of four possible scenarios for the now defunct Geauga Lake theme park in Ohio. Well, this week we continue with scenario #2 of 4 - which wasn't even in my poll for GL scenarios to begin with, but rather a suggestion from Stacy4554 who reviewed my poll. Since I liked it (and none of the other scenarios got any votes), I decided to include that as well. This week's scenario, and this one will be quite a lot to breakdown, is "What if Six Flags Ohio and Seaworld Ohio remained separate parks?" Just read the introduction below for further elaboration...

Introduction
"Seaworld Ohio" opened in 1970, right across the lake from "Geauga Lake". For 30 years, the two parks proceeded to work together as partners/friendly rivals to attract guests towards Aurora, Ohio - while "Geauga Lake" focused on rollercoasters and thrilling rides, "Seaworld Ohio" was mainly a marine wildlife park, like it's sister parks, meant to educate guests about marine animals. Eventually, in the '90s, Seaworld Parks & Entertainment began to add rollercoasters and rides to their own parks around the country, like "Seaworld San Antonio" and "Seaworld Orlando"...but not "Seaworld Ohio". Supposedly, this was because they had a height restriction on their side of the lake of only 15 feet, meaning building coasters and thrill rides would basically be impossible for them.

Now this is where things get interesting - IRL, Seaworld Parks tried to rectify this problem by attempting to purchase "Geauga Lake", which had become "Six Flags Ohio", in 2000. However, Six Flags ended up counteroffering and buying the "Seaworld Ohio" park instead, becoming "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure" starting the following season. But what if Seaworld Parks had come up with a different solution to the problem? What if, instead of buying a pre-existing theme park, they tried fighting for approval for a higher height restriction on their side of the lake, and, as a result, were able to build their own coasters and rides just like their sister parks? This means that Seaworld Parks would never try to buy "Six Flags Ohio", meaning they'd never try to buy "Seaworld Ohio" in return, meaning that "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure" would never come to be and "Six Flags Ohio" and "Seaworld Ohio" would continue to operate as two separate parks. What if this happened? Would Six Flags still sell "Six Flags Ohio" to Cedar Fair in the future now that they didn't have to spend so much money to "over-expand" the park? What rides could the "Seaworld Ohio" side possibly see? Well, in this episode, you will see what I predict would've happened if this was the case.

Year-by-year predictions
Just like last episode, I'm going to do the predictions in a different format this time around, especially because it's two parks I'm working on in this scenario and this would make it a lot faster for me to give my predictions for both parks.

2000 would be exactly the same as it was IRL for both parks - "Geauga Lake" getting the complete Six Flags overhaul, becoming "Six Flags Ohio", the four new coasters, "Hurricane Harbor", etc., and "Seaworld Ohio" getting..."Mission: Bermuda Triangle", a motion simulator ride. Eh, it's kind of a start towards becoming a full blown theme park. Now this is where things drastically change - at this point, Seaworld Parks does NOT offer to buy "Six Flags Ohio", instead fighting to try to have an increase in their height restriction on their side of the lake and succeeding. This means that now, "Seaworld Ohio" can put as many coasters and rides in their own park as they please, without selling the property to Six Flags. This means "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure" never comes to fruition, and "Six Flags Ohio" remains as "Six Flags Ohio".

2001 would be where the changes quickly start to come in. Since to my current knowledge, "X-Flight" had nothing to do with the park's expansion w/Seaworld Ohio, I predict that we would still see "X-Flight" come to "Six Flags Ohio" this year, in the same spot where it was during the SFWoA period. "Seaworld Ohio", however, has had some changes to it - since Six Flags never bought the park, that means the "Happy Harbor" area by the wildlife side never comes to be, and I predict that "Seaworld Ohio" could use that empty spot of land to their advantage and expand the park over that area, up to where "Raging Wolf Bobs" is. They could possibly throw in some flat rides in that area, to make it live more up to the idea that it's supposed to be a real theme park now.

2002 would be a bit different - now that "Seaworld Ohio" is officially on it's way of becoming an official theme park, I predict that this would be the perfect ideal starting point for them to start adding a new coaster. Since they are pretty limited on land, it would have to be a rather small and/or compact one at that. One possibility is that we could see some sort of family coaster, like "Shamu Express" at the other Seaworld properties, open on this side of the lake, but then it'd probably just be seen as a rip-off compared to "Roadrunner Express" right across the lake. Another, more likely possibility is the "Journey to Atlantis" water coaster that most of Seaworld's other parks have already opened around this time. This coaster could definitely help make the park seem like an actual theme park and give it a genuinely exciting and thrilling one-of-a-kind ride that "Six Flags Ohio" doesn't already have. It could go in that empty spot of land I was mentioning earlier where "Happy Harbor" later was, right behind "Raging Wolf Bobs". As for "Six Flags Ohio", I predict they would focus on some sort of new flat ride investment this year, like the Pirate's Flight ride that was sent there that year, seeing as how they are competing with nearby "Cedar Point", and we wouldn't want Six Flags to still exhaust themselves financially by adding new coasters every year.

For 2003, I predict that "Six Flags Ohio" would still add their "Hurricane Mountain" and "Shark Attack" waterslide complexes to Hurricane Harbor, since this has nothing to do with "Seaworld Ohio". Speaking of "Seaworld Ohio", I predict they would just see general park improvements this year, and not much else. For 2004, I predict that we would also just see park improvements this year, this time at "Six Flags Ohio". As for "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that we could see an official kiddie area open at the park, most likely with a sea animal theme to it, to make the park look more enticing and attractive to families and kids. This area, which I predict could be located right behind the "Harbor Theater" and "Mission: Bermuda Triangle" buildings, would help increase revenue at the park as well.

2005 would be where some of the more drastic changes for "Six Flags Ohio" begin, because since in this AU they never bought the adjacent "Seaworld Ohio", that means they have less land and space to build anymore new rides or coasters in the park, meaning that we could see the park potentially being forced to remove some of their rides for future additions soon. That's why, for 2005, I predict that we would see an all-new thrill ride, like an Intamin gyro drop tower, open at the park this season, which would replace either the "Hay Baler" ride or the "Silver Bullet" ride. Both rides are old at this point, making them the prime candidate for a new ride replacing it, and each have the perfect small spot for a new tower ride like this (For the record this type of ride replacing one of these two rides is because Six Flags has less space in this scenario than it did when it was SFWoA, so this would be different in the Six Flags scenario of this park). As for "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that we would see EITHER more park improvements or an all-new wildlife attraction/live entertainment open at the park this year, seeing as how Seaworld Parks seems to focus mainly on their animal attractions than thrill rides.

For 2006, I predict that "Seaworld Ohio" would finally see a family coaster such as Shamu Express being added to the park, most likely in it's new kiddie area, as an attempt to continue catering to families and kids. Also, given what SF gave their other parks this year, I predict that this year, "Six Flags Ohio" would finally add their long-speculated about hypercoaster. This is something that most "Geauga Lake" fans have been talking about for years, and since this year Six Flags was adding B&M hypercoasters to some of their other parks as well, I'm killing 2 birds with 1 stone here by saying that "Six Flags Ohio" would finally add a hypercoaster to the park this year - a B&M hyper to fit the other SF parks and to avoid being seen as a rip-off of the nearby "Millennium Force". However, given the lack of space in this AU, we'd have to be creative - the station and queue line could probably be located over the former catering pavilion right behind "Roadrunner Express", the lift hill would be built right next to "Roadrunner Express" as well as Villain's first turnaround out of the station, and the rest of the layout would be built over what I'm assuming is a service road right next to "Villain" and the big grassy plot of land right next to the parking lot. It'd then come back parallel to the lift hill and after entering the brake run, do a 180-degree right turn back into the station. This would give "Six Flags Ohio" it's long-hyped and talked-about hypercoaster, and continue to push it's status as one of Ohio's best theme parks, rivaling "Cedar Point" and "Paramount's Kings Island".

For 2007, I predict that "Six Flags Ohio" would expand their kiddie area, adding some new rides - maybe even feature an all-new "Wiggles World" or "Thomas Town" mini-area being built. To do this though, "Time Warp" would, unfortunately, have to be removed as it's right next door to the Looney Tunes area and is taking up so much potential space for an area expansion. As for "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that it would get a small family ride investment of some sort, adding one or two new family rides to the park. In 2008, I predict that "Seaworld Ohio" would just see general park improvements again, while "Six Flags Ohio" would probably get a new waterpark investment of some sort, seeing as how it's been 5 years since the last new ride was added to the waterpark. As for what it'd be, I predict we could possibly see the park finally getting a ProSlide Tornado, just like what a mjaoirty of SF's other waterparks have, but to make room for this ride, Six Flags would most likely have to remove one of their older, less appealing rides, which is why I predict "Neptune Falls" would also be removed after the 2007 season for this new ride.

For 2009, I predict that "Six Flags Ohio" would see no major new thrill rides this year, just some park improvements and/or new night light show in order to make the park look more attractive and appealing to guests. However, for "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that this year, we would see one of the park's most innovative and exciting new additions yet, adding a B&M flying coaster, just like what "Seaworld Orlando" added this year. Since the latter added their own flyer this year, and "Seaworld Orlando" is trying to become a full blown theme park just like it's sister parks, I think that this year would be perfect for it to add it's next big coaster, and it could even have the same "Manta" name and theme as the one in Florida, since that seems to be a pretty common name/theme in Seaworld parks. In 2010, "Six Flags Ohio" would probably get another small flat ride investment, maybe a Zamperla Disk'O or so, and as for it's location, since we're really pressed for space here, I could see "Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall" finally getting removed, as it is an aging and outdated type of ride, and at this point is EXTREMELY redundant with the new nearby hypothetical drop tower. For "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that we would see the park's kiddie area becoming an all-new Sesame Street-themed kids area this year, with all of the rides as well as "Shamu Express" becoming Sesame Street-themed rides.

For 2011, I can totally see "Six Flags Ohio" adding a Funtime StarFlyer to their park this year, as this is the time that SF started adding this type of ride to their parks and are very exciting and thrilling rides yet are also appealing to families and kids. However, I believe that if this ride was added, it would replace the old "Skyscraper" tower ride located at the entrance to "Hurricane Harbor". The potential new "Wiggles World/Thomas Town" area would also get converted into "Kidzopolis" or "Whistlestop Park" this year, since SF lost the Wiggles and Thomas licenses this year as well. As for "Seaworld Ohio", after 2 years of back-to-back major additions, I think they would just focus on park improvements this year. For 2012, I predict that "Seaworld Ohio" would probably just focus on park entertainment for this year, while "Seaworld Ohio" would finally see it's newest coaster - a whopping 6 years after it's hypothetical hypercoaster opened back in 2006. However, again, due to a lack of space, the coaster would have a pretty small and/or compact layout, and one type of coaster that fits this that I can see "Six Flags Ohio" getting during this time is a Gerstlauer Eurofighter, just like the one SFOG got around this time. This compact-layout coaster would definitely provide some much needed new thrills to the park and attract a lot more coaster junkies and thrillseekers to the park, and away from "Cedar Point" and "King's Island". However, even with a compact layout, there is simply not enough space in the park for this coaster, so I predict that both "Merry Oldies", the antique cars ride, and "Deer Park Plunge", the log flume, would both be removed to make room for the new ride, as both rides are reaching the end of their service life around this time and with both of them being removed, it'd make plenty of room for this new coaster to be built.

2013 would see "Seaworld Ohio" getting a small family ride package, such as a Larson Flying Skooters near "Grizzly Run" and "Raging Wolf Bobs" and a Mack Aqua Twist ride near the hypothetical Disk'O, on some of the old land from "Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall" that the Disk'O didn't already use. As for "Seaworld Ohio", I could also see it probably adding a couple of family rides to the park, and possibly expanding the park as well in the process - specifically, the area where the "Penguin Encounter" and "Shamu Stadium" attractions are. It would also attract some more guests over to that side of the park. For 2014, I predict that "Six Flags Ohio" would probably add one of their greatest coasters yet - an RMC wood/steel hybrid coaster. The reason I say that instead of "RMC Villain" or "RMC Raging Wolf Bobs" is because while most people in their GL scenarios tend to convert "Villain" into a hybrid, I personally don't see that as "Raging Wolf Bobs" is MUCH older than "Villain" and therefore, IMO, much more susceptible to getting the RMC treatment than "Villain" - plus, I'd convert "Raging Wolf Bobs" just for the sake of recycling the "Iron Wolf" name XD. But that's just my opinion, you can imagine for yourself whichever one gets the RMC. "Seaworld Ohio" would just see park improvements this year.

Since it's been a while since "Hurricane Harbor" last got any new attractions, I predict 2015 would see "Six Flags Ohio" promptly adding "Bonzai Pipelines" to the waterpark. This would replace the old, aging "Stingray" body slide complex on the lakeside, and give waterpark guests a much more updated, and more-capacity, body slide experience. I also predict that "Seaworld Ohio" would also get one of it's more bigger investments this year, in the form of a Mack multi-launched coaster, just like what "Seaworld San Diego" got a few years ago. This would replace both the catering reserve and "Woods Arena" section in the back of the park and provide the park with another, exciting and much-needed amusement ride experience. For 2016, a Larson Super Loop would come to "Six Flags Ohio", probably replacing the old "El Dorado" ride, and "Seaworld Ohio" would probably get a new wildlife exhibit, near the "Shamu Stadium" and new Mack launched coaster this year. Also, ever since the Blackfish movie came out just a year before in 2015, highlighting the treatment of killer whales in Seaworld parks, it feels like "Seaworld Ohio" would probably either shut down their killer whale exhibits and shows entirely starting this year or have the current whales in the exhibit be the last generation of killer whales in the park.

2017 would most likely see The Joker, an S&S 4D Free Spin coaster, coming to "Six Flags Ohio", and as for space I predict that it could replace the SKycoaster ride located right in front of "Batman Knight Flight", due to the former's old age and increasing redundancy at this point in time. Plus it's location right next to Batman seems like an ironic and perfect fit for a Joker-themed coaster. "Seaworld Ohio" would once again just focus on park improvements this year. For 2018, "Six Flags Ohio" could probably get an all-new Zamperla Giga Discovery, located on some of the land left over from the removal of "Deer Park Plunge" and right next to the hypothetical Eurofighter. I can see it now - both rides side by side, providing a truly epic visual of an exciting coaster in action and an equally thrilling flat right next to it. "Seaworld Ohio" would probably get a new 4D theater this year to replace the old "Mission: Bermuda Triangle" attraction. 2019 would see a much smaller flat ride investment in "Six Flags Ohio" this year, probably a Chance Freestyle or, oddly enough, an ABC Rides Tourbillion. IDK why, but I could see a ride like that coming to this park if it was still being run by SF, especially if it's rival nearby was "Cedar Point". "Seaworld Ohio" would also pull a "Seaworld San Diego" this year by adding yet another new thrill coaster, a Premier Sky Rocket II, located right on the lakeside in the expanded new area on the very edge of the park.

2020 and 2021 would both be tricky years as that is when COVID hit and the parks all across the country had to go into lockdown. This means that almost all of Six Flags and other theme park chains' new additions for 2020 had to be pushed back to 2021 as a result. As a result, the new additions to "Six Flags Ohio" and "Seaworld Ohio" for the 2020 season would actually be both 2020 and 2021's new additions. For Six Flags Ohio", I predict an RMC Raptor coaster that, for space issues, is a clone of "Wonder Woman Golden Lasso" at "Six Flags FIesta Texas". Also, in order to add this ride, I predict that we would unfortunately see "Grizzly Run" be removed from the park - I know it is a river rapids ride and I know how popular they can sometimes get, but Six Flags also removed Darien Lake's own river rapids ride in 2021 for future expansion, so it shows that Six Flags is not above removing these types of ride, no matter how popular they may get. As for "Seaworld Ohio", I predict that they would get a Skyline Skywarp, like what "Seaworld San Diego" got, as it is a compact yet very intense flat ride with a small footprint. This ride would be located in the small expanded area of the park near "Penguin Encounter", where the Sky Rocket II is.

For 2022, I predict that as Six Flags and Seaworld Parks are both coming back from the pandemic, I don't think we would see anything major happening this year. "Six Flags Ohio" would probably just focus on park improvements for now, though "Seaworld Ohio" could possibly add an S&S Screamin' Swing to their park - there is some empty space in the ride area over by "Journey to Atlantis" and i's right by the lake, so it'd give the most perfect exhilarating views for this ride. But like I said, as Seaworld Parks is still likely recovering from the pandemic, I don't know if this would happen just yet - right now, it's pretty much a 50/50 chance.

Conclusion
Woo...that was a lot. But anyways, those are all my predictions on what I believe "Seaworld Ohio" and "Six Flags Ohio" would look like today in 2022 had they remained as separate competing theme parks. Do you agree with my predictions? Why or why not? What are some of your predictions for this possible scenario? Please leave your ideas and reviews in the comments below!