AURORA, Ohio Geauga Lake is celebrating its first anniversary this year with the first-phase construction of a $24 million waterpark that s scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend.
The northeast Ohio amusement park, which dates to 1887, got its traditional name back a year ago, when Cedar Fair L.P. bought what had been known for the previous three years as Six Flags World of Adventure.
During that brief era, Six Flags combined Geagua Lake and the nearby Sea World animal park into one 690-acre facility.
Cedar Fair, which also owns the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, closed the 56 acres of animal attractions and decided to replace them with waterslides and pools.
Wildwater Kingdom, which the park hopes to open in mid-June, will include an aquatic play structure and children s pool, a 60-foot-tall tornado slide, and a 1,000-foot-long action river.
Those features will be part of the new waterpark s first phase, said Lexi Robinson, a Geauga Lake spokesman.
A second phase, to be ready next year, will include a 38,000-square-foot wave pool, more water slides, and an adult pool with a swim-up bar.
When it s completed in 2006 it will be the largest waterpark in Ohio, and one of the largest in the country, Ms. Robinson said.
Ms. Robinson described the action river, to be called Riptide Run, as a lazy river gone wild, with wave generators and waterfalls and sprays.
In addition, Geagua Lake has moved Thunder Falls, a seven-slide complex formerly known as Hurricane Mountain, from the current Hurricane Hannah s waterpark into Wildwater Kingdom.
Another part of the old waterpark, Hook s Lagoon, is being demolished to make room for new catering pavilions.
Ms. Robinson said Cedar Fair decided to build a new waterpark because the old facility, on the other side of the park, had no room for growth.
We knew we wanted to expand on that, since that s something people obviously wanted, and we have that property just sitting there not doing anything, she said.
Cedar Fair is making $2 million in improvements to the rest of the park, including two new multi-dimensional adventure films.
One of them, Dino Island II: Escape from Dino Island, is part of a newly renovated simulator ride that includes special-effect lighting, seat buzzers, water drops, wind effects, and leg ticklers.
The other, Robots of Mars 4D, combines 3-D glasses with strobe lighting, water squirts, smoke and air blasters, and other effects to make the audience feel like a part of the movie, Ms. Robinson said.
While adding attractions, the park has reduced its admission price for the second straight year.
Once Wildwater Kingdom opens, a Geauga Lake ticket will cost $24.95, down from $34.95 in 2004 and $39.95 in 2003.
Until the new waterpark is ready, Geauga Lake is charging an early-season admission of $19.95.
Ms. Robinson said the park wanted to simplify pricing by lowering the ticket cost and phasing out the use of discount coupons.
At the same time, Geauga Lake officials hope to expand the park s customer base, which comes mainly from northeast Ohio and nearby cities such as Pittsburgh and Columbus.
We expect to see a lot of new customers coming out, Ms. Robinson said.
First Published May 18, 2005, 12:56 p.m.
