User blog:RCTFan2002/What If? Episode 7: What if Cedar Fair didn't shut down Geauga Lake?

Hey guys, welcome back to the "What If?" series. I am so sorry for not uploading this sooner like I anticipated doing, but episode 2 of my "Whatever Happened To...?" series got in the way a bit. But now I can hopefully get back on track and continue updating this series on time like I want to (which I probably won't LOL XD).

This week's episode will be 1 of FOUR possible scenarios created for the now defunct Ohio theme park Geauga Lake. A few months ago, I ran a poll on which scenario for this park I should do first, and this one won by a landslide (and by that I mean it was the only one to receive a vote). This scenario will go over the possibility "What if Cedar Fair didn't shut down Geauga Lake?" So yeah, basically today we will discuss what could've happened to Geauga Lake if Cedar Fair decided to actually run the park as it was after Six Flags sold it to them instead of downgrading it to...whatever the f@*k it was by 2007 and then just silently closing it during the off-season. So with that out of the way, let's get started!

Introduction
Geauga Lake opened as a local recreational area in 1887, gaining it's first ride, a carousel, in 1889. It did not add it's first coaster, "The Big Dipper", until 1925, over 35 years later. The park continued to operate independently for several decades, until 1969, when Funtime Parks bought the property. They continued to run the park for the next 25 years, alongside their other properties "Darien Lake" and "Wyandot Lake", until Premier Parks, later on Six Flags, bought the Funtime parks in 1995. In 2000, when Premier Parks became Six Flags, Geauga Lake saw a massive expansion with FOUR new coasters and got it's name changed to "Six Flags Ohio". However, just a year later, Six Flags also bought the "Seaworld Ohio" park that opened right across the lake from the park in 1970, integrating it into their own park and creating "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure", the world's largest theme park. Sadly, due to Six Flags' financial issues, they sold the park after the 2003 season to Cedar Fair, who did...questionable things with the park aftewards. Not only did they tear down the "Seaworld Ohio" side of the park and replace everything with a new waterpark, but also removed two popular coasters and eventually shut down the park as it was seen as redundant and less popular than Cedar Point and Kings Island. The waterpark was shut down after 2016 and to this day is just an empty lot.

But what if Cedar Fair had different plans for the park? What if instead of downsizing the park and eventually closing it, Cedar Fair actually decided to keep running Geauga Lake as it was? Would rides and coasters like "X-Flight" or "Steel Venom" still be relocated? Would it become as big and popular as CF's other Ohio parks? Find out now!