Could Conneaut Lake's Blue Streak Be Relocated to Another Park?

Coaster Round Up

Copyright Conneaut Lake

It is, unfortunately, looking increasingly likely that Conneaut Lake is going to be closing for good, potentially taking with it many significant and historic rides, most significantly the Blue Streak wooden roller coaster.

There has been significant online speculation about this ride potentially being sold and moved to another park. But how realistic is this?

The park that is brought up most frequently to move this coaster to is Knoebels, mainly due to their history. Their most famous coaster, Phoenix, was saved from a closing park and rebuilt in the park in a similar manner to what would have to happen with the Blue Streak. Twister also was saved in a way from another closing park.

But Knoebels is really out of expansion space at the current moment. The entire park would have to be reworked to fit that coaster into the park

Blue Streak would also be more difficult to move to any park than Phoenix was. Phoenix was a relatively compact coaster as opposed to the sprawling layout of Blue Streak, which is narrow but incredibly long.

But I would not put it entirely out of the realm of possibility that some park might want to purchase and rebuild this coaster. Many parks are still struggling from financial problems brought on by the COVID19 pandemic. Purchasing and rebuilding a classic wooden coaster might be cheaper than purchasing an entirely new ride, and allow a park a new attraction that might not be able to afford one otherwise.

One somewhat realistic possibility is one of the recently reopened parks owned by IB Parks. These parks seem to be favoring classic wooden coasters, and could use a classic coaster like this to boost the profile of the non-Indiana Beach parks in the chain.

But there is a real possibility that if and when Conneaut Lake closes, it will be the end of Blue Streak. It is an old coaster, with a maintenance record that is far from stellar which could make it incredibly expensive to operate. Its sprawling layout also makes it potentially difficult to move. This historic roller coaster unfortunately may have already seen its last riders.