HUH?? Six Flags Purchases SeaWorld; Shamu & Friends Leaving Town

Hungry for more parking and other expansion space, Six Flags-Ohio announced that they have purchased Busch Entertainment Corporation's SeaWorld-Ohio, which sits next to the burgeoning Six Flags park in Geauga county. Fans of SeaWorld-Ohio hope change will come in small, slow doses, if it must come at all.
The second of the four SeaWorld Adventure Parks, SeaWorld-Ohio opened in Aurora in 1970. The purchase by Six Flags leaves one wondering whether animal care, rescue, research and training will be maintained at the same incredibly high standards set by the SeaWorld staff. Only time will tell.

Six Flags growing pains marked first "official" season

More than once during the 2000 season, the Six Flags-Ohio park was forced to close their parking lot gates and wait until guests left, freeing additional parking space. Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) employees admit relieving the congestion on State Route 43 is on the top of their priorities list for 2001.
Communities surrounding the park property - Bainbridge Township, Aurora, and Streetsboro - alternately negotiated with each other and the park, and threatened court actions regarding traffic and taxation issues. Plans to develop a shopping mall directly across from the Six Flags entrance gates are on hold while ODOT completes traffic studies in the area.
Several accidents - two of them serious - marred the "branding" season of the park, which operated as Geagua Lake Park for nearly 70 years before the Six Flags signs went up. Links to these stories and more can be found at http://www.newsnet5.com/ (search under Six Flags)

Lots of touching, and extra touches, hallmark of SeaWorld-Ohio
In a single season at SeaWorld, my daughter touched dolphins, stingrays, sharks, a tarantula, two snakes, a macaw, a cassowary, and a pelican. A bird landed on her head at the "Wild Wings" Bird show. Every time we attended. We watched an octopus, recently discovered Arctic species, wildly colored poisonous dart frogs, turtles, crabs, the magnificent Clydesdales and other creatures up close - really close. In addition to literally touching many of these animals, the park's guest services offered real service - rare, and warm. It came in the form of those "little" touches that add up to such a big, big impression. When she was straining to see the pelicans even closer, the handler who came by to feed them approached us. We're in trouble, leaning so far into the habitat, I thought. But the handler had come over to ask if my daughter would like to help feed the birds! She scattered seed and shared a few moments with the animal expert. Waiting to see the bird show, a delightful banjo sing-a-long entertained us. "Take me out to the Ballpark" was just one of the songs I never thought we'd sing to a banjo twang. If you waited at this show - or any other at SeaWorld-Ohio - you were in for a good time of a wait.

Now what?

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