Idora Park

Youngstown, Ohio

October 2000

Page One

On the way to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania for the Phoenix Phall Phunfest coaster enthusiast event we stopped off in Youngstown Ohio to explore the remains of Idora Park. 

Idora Park was the amusement park in the Youngstown Ohio area.  It ran from 1899 through 1984.  It closed down after a tragic fire that destroyed it's main coaster and a dark ride.  All the rides that could were sold off and all that remains are foundations, the ballroom, coasters and memories.

Unfortunately about a third of the Wildcat burned to the ground in 1984 when some sparks from a welders torch set an adjacent dark ride on fire.  The park stayed open that year and opened for a few picnics the next year but without Idora Park's signature attraction, the Wildcat, the park was doomed.

Over the next fifteen years the trees have retaken a large portion of Idora Park.  You can only see a small portion of the Wildcat peeking from it's cover.  Here's the lift and the first drop.  From all accounts the Wildcat was one of the most intense coasters ever built! It has been reported that along with the Wildcat's fast and furious ride there were plenty of surprises along it's course.

Here's a view of the first drop and lift from the midway.   It's hard to see how exactly this ride was laid out through all the leaves, but of what I have seen of it in postcards and historical photos it looked like one intense ride.  

Click here for more Idora Park pictures.

-G Home

-G Forums

All pictures on this site have been taken by my wife Carrie or myself.  Please do not use without permission but ask and chances are I'll give it to you.

This many people have visited this page since October 2000: