Theme Parks you visited that no longer exist

[ols386]

Is King's Island, in Cincinnati, still open? I grew up in Indiana, and loved going there.

What about Holiday World in southern Indiana? Not sure if it's still open.

 

[bushdianee]

Crystal Beach from my childhood in Western New York and Peony Park from my young adulthood where I live now. We have to travel about 3 hours to either Iowa or Missouri to go to an a amusement park.

 

[RedAngie]

Is King's Island, in Cincinnati, still open? I grew up in Indiana, and loved going there.

What about Holiday World in southern Indiana? Not sure if it's still open.

Both are still open.

 

[L&Lfan]

Why did so many of these close? What do families do nowadays for entertainment when they would have gone to amusement parks?

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Disneyland.

There's still a park there, but it really died back in the 90's.

 

[ToliBera]

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/crystal-palace-rides-find-new-home-at-moncton-s-magic-mountain-1.2390688

Crystal Palace, which was less an amusement park, and more of an indoor play area that featured a Barn-stormer-esque roller coaster, a circle swing, Mini-golf, and Arcade.

 

[ToliBera]

Why did so many of these close? What do families do nowadays for entertainment when they would have gone to amusement parks?

a lot of it has to do with money. there could be a lot of factors that lead to specific parks folding, but finances are a big issue.

maintenance and running costs outpace what visitors are spending,
advertising beyond the local area isn't cheap; competition from other parks, especially Disney/Universal can pull tourists away.
putting in new attractions, or updates is not always possible, (Money, Land, Staffing)
some unfortunate accidents,
bad PR moments
a park might have to be seasonal due to location / weather, one bad tourist season could sink it.

one or more of these can cause a park to fold quickly. it was a big concern when The Florida Project was put underway. same with Shanghai.

 

[bcla]

a lot of it has to do with money. there could be a lot of factors that lead to specific parks folding, but finances are a big issue.

maintenance and running costs outpace what visitors are spending,
advertising beyond the local area isn't cheap; competition from other parks, especially Disney/Universal can pull tourists away.
putting in new attractions, or updates is not always possible, (Money, Land, Staffing)
some unfortunate accidents,
bad PR moments
a park might have to be seasonal due to location / weather, one bad tourist season could sink it.

one or more of these can cause a park to fold quickly. it was a big concern when The Florida Project was put underway. same with Shanghai.

At least around here it's been about land value. We had the old Marine World Africa USA in Redwood Shores, California. I believe commercial property doesn't necessrily have the property tax restrictions as residential, so the cost of staying there was just too much. They got an offer for land to relocate, and eventually a large office complex (the current Oracle headquarters) was built on the site.

There was the possible closing of the old Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara. The land had gotten more and more expensive and Mariott was looking to get out of the theme park business even though it was profitable. It was kind of complicated as the city bought it when a developer was looking to buy. The city wanted to prevent it from being turned into more office buildings in an area that couldn't necessarily support it. I remember that was back when CA-237 was not a freeway. A court nullified the deal after the developer sued and they ended up going through a different deal where the developer was compensated and allowed to build in the area. Right now there are tons of office buildings there and traffic is pretty bad around commute times. There's still a Marriott hotel there that was originally built for the park.

Right now the 49ers built Levi's Stadium next door, and the traffic issues on game days are just horrendous.

I did mention Marineland of the Pacific. SeaWorld bought them, then unexpectedly closed the place and moved most of the animals to San Diego. If it was for the land, it took 20 years before they really did anything with it.

 

[L&Lfan]

It's just sad to me that these pieces of local Americana are gone. Many folks can't afford annual trips to Disney/Universal or just want a fun place for a day's or weekend's getaway.

 

[bgirldeb]

Why did so many of these close? What do families do nowadays for entertainment when they would have gone to amusement parks?

It was my understanding that Geauga Lake in Aurora, Ohio was bought by Cedar Faire, who basically shut it down to eliminate competition with Cedar Point. Still sad it's no more .

 

[Jdbsfw]

We had a "Sesame Place" for about 15 minutes in Irving, Tx when I was a kid

 

[sarcasticblonde]

Is Santa's Village still up north of Chicago?

I know you posted this in 2005 but in 2017, yes, it is still open and they just added a small roller coaster (for adults) this past Spring.

 

[bcla]

It's just sad to me that these pieces of local Americana are gone. Many folks can't afford annual trips to Disney/Universal or just want a fun place for a day's or weekend's getaway.

What reasonably populous areas are that far from a major amusement park?

OK - I did a little research of the west coast, and apparently there is no major amusement park in the Seattle area. Around Portland, Oregon I could only find some locals park with one looping roller coaster. And even then that ride (as with almost everything they've got) are really portable carnival-style rides that are used in permanent installations. The only major amusement park I could find in the Pacific Northwest was Silverwood in Northern Idaho.

Around Northern California we only have two major amusement parks (Discovery Kingdom and Great America) along with Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which had a variety of carnival style rides with some major permanent rides. Southern California has a lot more - Magic Mountain, Disneyland, SeaWorld, Knott's Berry Farm, along with seaside parks like in Santa Monica and San Diego.

 

[DisneyDetective]

Boardwalk and Baseball at Haines City.

 

[10MoreMinutes]

Went to the grand opening of Hard Rock Park near Myrtle Beach with a couple of friends. We all thought it was great, but apparently no one else agreed...it lasted maybe a year, I think.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

I'm not sure if this was previously mentioned or not. I have read a few pages, but didn't go back much into the 2005 posts. One place that I remember our family visiting back in the 70's, was The Enchanted Village in California somewhere. (Just looked it up. There isn't much about it online, but it was located in Buena Park. Apparently it was only open from '76 to '77, so I guess that nails down when we visited.) We have photographs of a live animal nativity that they did during Christmas. Other than that, I don't remember much about it. Was it mainly an animal park? I have no idea.

 

[Lynne G]

I remember Willow Grove Park, but was in decay when I saw it. Now yep, it's a large mall. My DM has fond memories of riding the trolley to go to the Park. She liked the swan boats and the big bands played.

When I was young, the extended family would all meet at West Point Park. I only remember the wild mouse, that I loved to ride with my dad. I always ended up slid under the front of the car. No seatbelts or restraints back then.

Sad to see some go.

 

[minniecarousel]

There used to be a Busch Gardens in Southern California.

In Northern California, there was a "Santa Claus Village" off Highway 17 north of Santa Cruz. I believe it was only open in December.

 

[dzorn]

Anyone from Michigan????

Boblo Island on the Detroit River...had to take a boat to get there.

Edgewood Park in Detroit...closed when I was a kid in the 60's.

Walled Lake Casino and Rides....I barely remember it!!

Went to the Wisconsin Dells as a kid and went to a park called Storybook Village or something....it was great. I cried when we had to leave!

Boblo Island was great!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Dogpatch USA which was in Arkansas. Not sure how I ended up there, but it was on some childhood family road trip.

Astroworld in Houston. It was a Six Flags park.

DH remembers Pontchatrain Beach in New Orleans.