Urban Exploration - Abandoned Amusement Parks
Over the years, several of the subjects featured in my urban exploration work have been abandoned amusement parks, including this website’s very first post. This is a list of all locales documented, and the stories authored about them, since 2007.
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LeSourdsville Lake / Americana
The first abandoned amusement park I ever covered and also the first subject of my original website.
Start at the beginning or browse the individual stories:LeSourdsville Lake/Americana Revisited
The End of LeSourdsville Lake/Americana
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Surf Cincinnati
Once an iconic Cincinnati-area waterpark, the wave pool's was shut off and the lazy river dried up—all before the wrecking ball came. Still, some artifacts remain.
Start at the beginning or browse the individual stories:
How Things Came to Be - Part 1: Valentines Day 2006, Surf Cincinnati
Fortune Cookie Prophecy Part 2: The Surf Cincinnati Abandoned Miniature Golf Classic
The Remains of Surf Cincinnati: A Followup
Retro Surf Cincinnati Commercials circa 1988.
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Ghost Town in the Sky
"There comes a point when your past begins to be seen solely as experience. The emotional weight isn’t entirely gone, but the punch it packs becomes weaker—the memories starting to carry new significance whether they were painful or proud. For me, that point and process started in the remains of a North Carolina amusement park."
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(Six Flags) Kentucky Kingdom
After photographing many abandoned amusement parks over the years, I'd never seen one come back to life.
Until now.
Start at the beginning or browse the individual stories:
From the Ruins of the Kingdom, the Boardwalk Rises?
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The Beach Waterpark
Come. To. The. Beach.
COME TO THE BEACH.
It's easy to reach...
...right across from the island. -
Fun Spot
An abandoned amusement park in northern Indiana brings back childhood memories.
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Kings Island Resort
Originally envisioned as an alpine lodge to complement the nearby amusement park, the Kings Island Inn and Resort attracted the likes of the Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch. In its later years, it changed with the times and fell from its role as part of a "Midwestern Disney World."
Start at the beginning or browse the individual stories:
The End of Suburban Cincinnati's Alpine Chalets
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Lake Dolores Resort and Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark
"Late in Life Skateboarding and The Legend of Rock-A-Hoola"
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Jungle Jim’s / Kings Island Monorail
The story of a suburban legend and its journey from one "jungle" to the next.
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Six Gun City
You have to know where to look in the Kentucky woods, but it’s up there in the hills—an abandoned town looking like the set of a John Wayne film. Was the place the forgotten theme park that the internet had touted it to be, though?
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The Argonne Forest Amusement Park
In the woods of Dayton, Ohio—a man returned from the battlefields of France to honor his fallen friends.
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Walnut Lake
Ancient Rome built aqueducts to carry water to the cities, modern Americans build them for entertainment. In some cases, both varieties become ruins of the past.
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Chippewa Lake
Situated on the shores of a frozen lake and hidden behind houses lays an abandoned amusement park—one that operated for a century before closing its doors in 1978.
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Belle Isle Zoo / Safariland
Part 2 of our 2009 summer trip to Detroit including an excursion to an abandoned zoo.
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Geauga Lake & Sea World Ohio (Kind of)
"Stabbed With a Fork Near What Used to be Sea World"
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Prehistoric Forest / Irish Hills Fun Center
Featured in a blog post entitled "Scenes From The Midwestern Roadside."
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Thunder Island
Let's pretend it's the summer of 1993.