So will it open this year? Will someone bail them out again? Will it turn into a ghost town like the place across from Hanks?
Your thoughts!
Have you been following that politically-oriented thread at HM? Or the Tribune? Both and/or neither?
Either way, IMO it's disheartening that CLP has become such a topic of disdain.
More importantly, I think it's much better to remember it as the "token" amusement park of our youth. :)
Before the days when we discovered bigger & bettter things...*ahem*...like Cedar Point. ;)
The "Ultimate Trip"..."Ride-o-Ramas"...the gum wall...and Skee-Ball...to name a few things.
Your turn.
I've been trying to keep up but without actually being there and getting all the news is hard. I was wondering when Crawford Central day stopped. That had to have brought in thousands of dollars that day alone. It is too bad that someone thought that "upgrading" it to a concert park was a good idea. I just remember how uneven the street was down the middle because all of the old trees roots were busting through the concrete. It was a nice stroll.
You are right about Cedar Point though. For that age group I guess. But I'm sure that now you would have liked to take the girls there and made memories. I was just thinking about the pony rides in the back of the kiddie area. I have never been anywhere else where they let you just ride a pony with no one near you!
See, and I'm back here, but have little time to really invest in issues such as this one. :-\
I'm not sure when "school days" stopped at the park. I would have to say that the concert park effort was a hard knock attempt to rejuvenate a failing venture in-the-making years ago.
I would say one of the biggest contributors to the parks ultimate demise was when they "enclosed" it & started charging admission to access the midway.
I forgot about the ponies! Good one! Another childhood memory of CLP for me was going out in the evenings after the sun had started to go down & getting a quick bite to eat (e.g. park fries), then playing games on the midway with Mom.
That is really special!
Remember the boat ride they had that was in the kids area but when under the Blue Streak? It was like a pontoon boat that went around a lagoon or something. I only remember riding on it once or twice.
Didn't it have a jungle theme?
We should try to list as many rides that we can remember from over the years...
Yes it did have a jungle theme.
Okay well my favorite rides were:
The Ultimate Trip - I hated when you had to wait in line in that little hallway!
The Devil's Den - the gum wall
The paratroopers
The swings
Tilt-a whirl
The Merry - go - round was the prettiest and biggest I've ever seen!
I loved playing skee ball and the water balloon one. I used to have a cast iron ashtray that I won from that game. I'm sure it is gone by now but that would have been a cool keepsake to have now!
That would be a cool piece of memorabilia to have...I wonder if they still had the "souvenir shop" at the park? I haven't been there in many, many years. I always loved buying something cheesey in there. :biggrin:
I can't say all of these were my "favorite" because many of them induced ___________ (you know what), but here goes a few:
the Spider (blech)
the Hell Hole (blech)
the Bug(?)
the Mouse (didn't someone get thrown off of that?)
the Blue Streak
the Train
Your turn. :smile:
Okay let's see there was the bug you are right that was the one that went in a circle and up and down the hill with that weird buzzing sound. What was the name of the one that was behind the Hell Hole? The Round up? It was Yellow and white and it was a little like the hell hole but it tilted and the seats - backs - went up. Wasn't that ride next to the swings called The Whip? Between the Devil's Den and the Spider was one of those rides that was exactly like the Ultimate Trip but outside. I can't remember its name. The Sea Dragon! Bleck! That thing scared the crap out of me! Did you ever ride on the water slide that they had at the beach? I never did but I do remember it.
Dodge'em cars AKA bumper cars
I just went to Ebay and looked up Conneaut Lake Park. You have to check it out. There are some really cheesy but neat things on there. Remember Fascination? Phyllis' mom and Bobbie's mom played that all the time when we had Glamorette picnics out there!
I vaguely remember the game...I think I was too caught up in the skee-ball tickets & wanting to get enough of them to buy a plastic water gun, or something. :biggrin:
No, I don't think I ever went down that big water slide...too chicken. But, did do the water bumper bumps once or twice. There was the mini-golf...did they put that in while the Paratrooper(?) ride was still there?
At the absolute opposite end of the park was the Ferris Wheel...a classic, but didn't like that one either. Did you?
Geez, what DID I ride at the park? Oh, maybe it was the eating & playing the games that kept us going back. :rotfl:
The Round Up sounds right...it was near The Wild Mouse (?). I think that's pretty much all of the rides....oh, remember Dracula's Cave?!? Muha ha ha ha! :hal2:
I didn't like many of them either. I spent a lot of time in kiddie land until I couldn't fit in the rides anymore. I road the Blue Streak once in my life. Hated it!
I don't remember how to play fascination but it was loud and there were always old ladies in there.
I don't remember Dracula's Cave.
Kiddie Land was da bomb. :biggrin: Remember the ducky game? Everyone was a winner of that one...
The jumping thing was cool...and you already mentioned the pony ride. Everything else is eluding me at the moment, but it was a happy place. :smile:
I want to say that Dracula's Cave was in the same block as the merry-go-round...maybe on the other side of the Jungle Cruise & right before the Blue Streak? It was scarier than the Devil's Den -- but I think it also had a Gum Wall.
Well, there's always Waldameer in Erie to take the kiddos to.
True. I don't know if I've ever been to Waldameer actually.
It's been a few years...but, it always reminded me of CLP in it's "prime years". Not *too* much to do, but enough to entertain younger children (up to maybe 12-14?). Then it's probably borrring. :biggrin:
http://www.dafe.org/attractions/darkrides/conneaut/devilsden.htm
http://www.conneautlakepark.com/html/adultrides.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conneaut_Lake_Park
OMG this almost made me cry!!!
Wow...that's some great reading. Really -- it brought some sadness for me, too.
Forgot all about Fairyland Forest. *sniff*
$2 million in debt. Holy moly.
That is just so sad. What is really sad was I looked at how much it would cost to have a family picnic there for our reunion - CHEAP! Back to the drawing board I guess.
I was reading about your park and it looks like it was very cool. The one site with the timeline is great! Kind of makes me feel like I've been there, when I obviously never have.
We were spoiled having it right there. Now that they can't keep it open, it is sad that I haven't been there in years.
I read some of the history, the fires and stuff. Its sad that it's been there all these years and its going out of business.