ALLIANCE, Ohio -- It may be true what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. A husband and wife from Alliance are preparing to reopen an old Geauga Lake ride in Northeast Ohio.
To many, the closure of the Geauga Lake amusement park was a shock.
“I never thought I would see the day when it closed, but for whatever reasons that it did, it did,” says Jason Dlugokecki.
He literally grew up at the old amusement park.
Dlugokecki says, “We went Monday through Friday. Mom sat by the wave pool with her sisters and we checked in every hour on the hour.”
He loved it so much, that he got a job there. Then, met a coworker that caught his eye that he’d eventually call, his wife.
“We met at Geauga Lake, all of our friends are from Geauga Lake, all of our wedding party was from Geauga Lake. Everybody that we know, everything, my friends, everything was from there.”
So he and his wife decided to buy the Caddy Shack in Alliance. It was a little worn down park with go karts, miniature golf and batting cages that needed some TLC. It also seemed natural to Jason, to add some old Geauga Lake flare.
He found out that an old ride was retiring from the Columbus Zoo from a Facebook post and decided to see if they’d be interested in selling it.
“I talked my wife into it before she even knew what it looked like,” says Dlugokecki.
Little did he know, the Tilt-A-Whirl he was about to bring home wasn’t just from the old Geauga Lake, but it was actually the first ride that he learned to operate all those years ago.
Jason says, “That was the first ride that I ever learned to work on. That was my job the whole summer, was that particular ride. It’s a giant collectible.”
Call is coincidence or a sign. Either way, Jason is one step closer to his dream of running Geauga Lake 2.0
“That is my goal, is to make it, I don’t think we’ll ever be as big as Geauga Lake or whatnot, but yeah that’s my goal. I just have to get my wife on board with that,” says Jason.
The opening of the Tilt-A-Whirl at FunTimes will be Saturday, May 12th, where they’re also bringing in different collections of old Geauga Lake memorabilia. For more information, visit www.funtimespark.com.