I posted the below to r/rollercoasters yesterday, figured I'd share here:
Screamscape just posted an
update about Conneaut Lake Park , and its not exactly good news. Highlights of the post include:
- Ride cars from the park's now defunct Tumble Bug ride may have been posted on ebay for an auction price of $5,000
- Older rides at the park (Music Express, Witch’s Stew and the park’s train ride ) may have been sold off, and 4 of the rides brought in to replace them, including an octopus ride, swings, a slide, and dizzy dragons may have been listed for sale online ( all four rides are still listed on the parks website though)
- Conneaut apparently cancelled many concerts and events that were scheduled in July, claiming it was due to staffing issues, with some speculating a potential cash flow problem as another possible cause.
- Unverified reports/rumors of park staff having issues meeting payroll on time, pairing with rumored reports of many employees quitting in large numbers.
- Several announced improvements, including waterpark expansion/updates, the old bumper car building's arcade conversion, and evaluations/repairs to the Blue Streak have still not taken place.
Screamscape also speculates that since the new owner is private real estate developer instead of the local public government/nonprofit trust board who previously operated it, that a longer term vision of the owner may be to eventually develop the lakefront property the park lies on into condos.
(Side note, an
article originally posted last month on a Cleveland newspaper's website also mentions that the new owner, Philadelphia real estate developer Todd Joseph, found the lakefront view of the park quite appealing when he purchased it. It doesn't seem like he's made a long term decision on the Blue Streak, mentioning it would cost upwards of six figures just to restore individual cars on the coaster's train too.)
With all of of that in mind, it might be worth it for someone to send copies of any remaining Blue Streak blueprints or information over to Knoebel's as a precaution.....