I worked at Marineland in the 1989 until about 1993 or so. I started in the animal care department which maintained and fed the terrestrial animals. I was then transferred to the marine mammal department when the first orca calf was born in the summer of 1989. I was part of the “whale watch” team that would observe and note all the mother and calf’s behaviours. Eventually, when the calf got older, I worked in the fish house preparing the food for all the marine mammals. I just want to say that the people who’s job it was to care for these animals on a day-to-day basis really did their best under the circumstances. The marine mammal trainers and handlers loved the animals, as did I. There were some very good people that worked there at that time. Holer though, was a real piece of work. He would patrol around in his brown Ford Bronco and would literally strike fear into anyone that had to deal with him.
Holer was a clear piece of sh^t. I blamed workers for being included but I appreciate this insight & apologize for judging. Thank you for doing the best that you could. I shame whoever has now purchased this blame & continues to lie. You know he's keeping his identity as the owner secret for a reason, cause he's following the footsteps of a piece of shit to probably attempt to be the same way. Take care
@@meowblackk When I was doing the observations on the baby orca, I would work from 7pm to 7am. John Holer would patrol around the park at night in his Ford Bronco with a huge spotlight on it. It was rumored that he had a loaded 12 gauge in there with him, and I don’t doubt this for one minute. I would be sitting in King Waldorf’s (their walrus mascot) throne on the stage of the main pools at the time (the beluga habitat didn’t exist then). John Holer would just appear at like 3am just to check on me. He also wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. His success definitely wasn’t due to any sort of business savvy. Just luck at being in the right place at the right time.
@@jimgrimmroth9205 Wow. That's both creepy & extremely unnerving to behaviour. He definitely didn't seem like a sharp tool, you're right. I also would not want to mess about with someone having a shotgun close by. It's too bad money is usually the reason these douchebags get into this business. I feel for the animals & I appreciate that you did the best you could do. I hope you're doing well now. I bet you miss the animals, eh? I also bet you appreciate the animals that were removed. We're you working there when animals passed? I hope I'm not overstepping bounderings asking that. I wish we could just shut down these pieces of garbo everywhere.🤬😥
As a local. Hated john. Constantly toted his guns around, threatening people.. the horror's that occurred within the walls of that place. That is NOT to say I hadn't been there. As a kid.. as a young adult.. my heart ached seeing the ride that once brought happiness to many.. but to know the history, the neglect and the absolute horrors... its better that it's sold off.. animals ACTUALLY relocated.. and maybe a better park to enhance the environment around niagara. Ps - AMAZING work on this video. Amazing job. Loved it. Instant follow
Hey this is eve from ilovedeadmalls! This is an amazing video. Thanks for taking the time to make it. Growing up in the early 2000s near Toronto my family and I would make a day trip out of going to Marine Land. As a child I loved it! I remember feeding the deer, watching the packed marine life shows, and leaving the amusement park with one of their inflatables. I remember their commercials frequently being played on TV. It brought back a core memory of mine when you walked through that ladybug ride because I vividly remember going on it. I was too young/too scared to go on the drop tower even though I thought that it was the coolest ride there. It’s been years since I have visited the park and it is so sad to see what it has become now. Now that I am older I realize that they have had a long history of animal mistreatment and I feel guilty for once supporting them. My heart broke seeing that shot of the lonely bear in that enclosure on a hot summers day. Thank you for putting this video out to bring awareness to what has and still is going on behind closed doors at Marine Land.
Ace, seriously this is your best work! Thank You for giving us a glimpse. RIP Kiska and I pray all the animals will find loving homes. Wither it be back in the wild or an appropriate habitat.
Great Video! Where did you get the footage @ 28:16 ? SO cool. Kinda eerie to see the master plan from the early 80s. So much did not materialize from John's vision!
I just want to say I'm so glad you brought up the trailer park situation. I think everyone should know about this, it's horrible. Thank you for exposing these issues as I didn't even know about all of them and it's so important to share these things. Your videos are very interesting and it's really cool you decided to do marineland. I'm from Ontario and I appreciate the knowledge and work put into this.
Thankyou for documenting this.I see you,and your viewers love for these beatiful animals!I implore someone soon relocates these animals were they can live out the rest of their lives,being loved and cared for.Back in the wi I d if possible. I hope they are looked after to document.They csn live out life happy and healthy!!!
The animals don’t have anywhere else they can go in Canada. What many Marine parks in North America do too often is sell their animals to places like Arabian or Asian countries that have fewer regulations.
I remember seeing an ad for Marineland as a child, and bothering him to take me. Having grown up in the Toronto area in his teenage years before moving to the West Coast, my dad instantly shut me down. Said the place was a dreary snoozefest since forever. Rides got boring fast, and the abuse and neglect of the animals was evident, even to the guest. Being a naive child who adored (and still does) sea life, I did not believe him. However, now as an adult studying marine biology, I am thankful that he remained firm with me that there would be no trips to Marineland. Makes me so sad hearing about these poor creatures. I hope the best for the ones that are still at the park, and that they can be rehabilitated at a sancuary or similar.
Yet thousands of people would take little Susie and Johnny there knowing how the animals were treated while ignoring the 'informed' who displayed large signs near the gates exposing Marineland's abuse of the animals. That made the visitors partly responsible for the abuse .
I live next door to a family whose mother was 1 of the people who was kicked from that trailer park. Not only did it take the life of 1 of the residents… because they couldn’t cope with the idea of having nowhere to go; BUT also displaced my neighbours mother for nearly a DECADE before she found a permanent new area to call home; what people don’t know is DURING THE TIME of this trailer park closing, they were amping up police control over homeless areas of the area also. Essentially it became almost impossible for them to rest without being displaced … and for what? For that site to never even become a gosh darn thing. How absolutely disgustingly tragic. The WORST story outside of its mistreatment of their animals HAS TO BE THE TRAILER PARK CLOSURE …
I did take my kids there when they were young 20 years ago to ride the rides and to see Kiska. Also the beluga whales, deer and bears but I felt so bad for all the animals especially when I saw an injured deer in the deer park. I even commented to an employee that it wasn't right to keep Kiska captivated. I took a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls and Marineland. While doing so I took some aerial pictures of Marineland. One picture I captured looks like it could be a burial ground of all the animals that died there.
I just found my family’s photos from when we went in 2007 for my birthday. I would’ve been 6 at the time so I don’t remember everything but what I do has stuck with me. My first memory is of how exhausted we were. When me and my sister weren’t being carried on our parent’s back, we were complaining about how tired we were. My second and much more vivid memory is, of course, the animals. I’ve always been an animal lover so I was more than ecstatic to see Orca’s and Belugas for the first time. I was young so I couldn’t recognize the inhumane conditions the whales were being kept in, but I recognized it with the bears. Oh gosh, that shot at the end of the video is like an exact image from my memory. I’d been to a larger zoo before so I knew want a healthy bear is supposed to look like. The way they were all huddled up against the fence, skinny with matted fur, struck a serious wrong cord in me. My parents were horrified too. They later made my sister and I promise to never ask to go there again. Looking back on the old photos, the marine mammals were not fairing any better. My fond memories are just the clouded judgment of a child who didn’t know any better. If I ever get to see Orcas, dolphins, belugas or any of these other animals again, I hope it will be in the wild where they belong.
Thanks for sharing your memories. Captive animals can’t be returned to the wild as mature adults. We learned that with Keiko. They don’t have the survival skills or the needed support of their family. Even domestic horses that sometimes make it in the wild have different communication habits than fully domesticated horses.
They should have shut this place down ages ago. Been there 50 years ago, not a fan of animals held captive for human entertainment purposes, or the guy who owned this nightmare.
The owner never had the money to properly care for the animals because he kept spending on the rides, etc. His arrogance unnecessarily killed a lot of animals, and those left at the park should be the top priority of any buyer.. a thousand acres could build a heck of a theme park...
i went there in 1996 when i was 8 years old. even as an 8 year old i could tell the place had bad vibes. i can vividly remember telling my dad that marineland sucks and i want to go home.
I still can't beleive this place stayed open as long as it has, with all the issues its had. And to leave the animals in the absolute squalor they are being left in. For people to be able to get in and find where the animals are and to taunt, torment, and possibly hurt them while having no supervision is insane to me. If people are not paying attention and come upon those bears, i have no doubt it would turn into a missing persons turned body recovery situation. I dont think i ever went there personally but i know family who did. As a kid everyone wanted to go, it seemed like a really fun place where you could actually get up close with these animals. I cannot wait to hear the day this place is nothing but a distant memory and a clear learning opportunity to prevent this kind of shit from continuing.
I never heard of this place until Bright Sun Films covered it,I liked seeing your take on it. If I'm not mistaken Marineland is actually bigger than Disney World at 1,000 arces,the fact the total area of the park is only half utilized is insane.
The acreage is bigger, but the lark isn’t. That’s because land used to be less expensive when the founder originally bought it. It was farmland in the outskirts of Toronto and southeastern Ontario, so largely underdeveloped until the 90s and early 2000s.
Correction: Where you're walking at 09:16, that's a restricted area, the tail-end of the ride, and where the trains are stored - Not the area where patrons would line up. All of that is inside at the 12:15 mark.
I went to Marineland a few times when i was a kid. I remember telling my mom i liked wonderland better. Marineland gave me bad feelings, wonderland always gave me happy vibes.
N.E. Ohio had their Theme Park demise over a decade ago Geauga Lake, Seaworld and Wild Water Kingdom and at the pinnacle 700 acres total. Thanks and Keep em Rolling!
Coming back to MarineLand in 2024 is surreal. I grew up going there from 90 to 00. Of course back then I had no idea about the problems. Seeing the rides dismantled, seeing the animals suffering, seeing how empty and overgrown everything is... It's depressing. I had so many formative trips there. I still have a purple dolphin plushie I got from the gift shop in 98.
Kiska's story breaks my heart, but I felt relief when she died. Obviously moving her somewhere she can cohabitate with other marine mammals would have been better, but things were moving so slowly and I'm sure she didn't want to be here anymore. Fuck Marine Land. Glad it's going.
If its owned by Six Flags / Cedar Fair now, they are absolutely not going to want to be associated with the bad publicity and history here. Its likely that they are doing a lot of planning on getting these animals relocated. Probably talks with zoos and other other organizations. I see them dismantling the rides either to preserve them so the weather doesn't completely destroy them, or to ship them off elsewhere if they decide closing the place for good is preferable. If it reopens, I wouldn't see it in 2025, and would be more inclined to see it reopen in 2026 after some consolidation and renovation. May be too much of a money sink though for the current Six Flags to want to deal with.
You’re probably right. My impression is that Six Flags might try to get it rezoned after it relocates the remaining animals and use it for real estate development. With the current Ontario government, development is a big priority, so many projects can be expedited.
😭how sad I wanted to cry for the orca whale that lived over 40 years in that state and the other animals that died too soon from neglect. I could barely see the beluga whales. I feel awful for the other animals tucked away lonely out of sight. The worker you spoke to seemed very nice and honest about the park. I looked up the ticket prices. It’s $10 for children and $15 for adults. Plus they have season passes for 3 attractions?! 🤯. Great video Ace!
no body loved marineland to begin with thats they never had any money to ad new rides canadas wonderlands the park everyone loves always have been they have drwan costomers away from marineland since the begining
There is a place a know in ontario Where u walk the land and blow the $$ With crappy rides and expesive food Everyone hates marine land This is ahat i sung for years
Oh, my interest in dead malls has crossed over into my love of amusement parks. This place always seemed strange and poorly ran but I hope I somehow get a chance to ride the roller coaster. It's a unique one.
Think most the rides are taken apart not for sale but because there in winter storage... they put most of the moving parts and carts of rides away in a garage for winter where workers refurbish them
I grew up in NF. 3/4s of my HS worked summers there. I did the sound and lights at Marineland during and immediately after HS. I got frequent Beejes in the sound booth 😂. Oh....the crazy owner liked to get drunk and turn loose a tame deer to ' hunt ' after hours,or so some said. I once found 2 piecesof .44 Mag brass, so that supports that rumor
@@BeverlyBigglesworth This is a blatant lie. the bears are being fed. they were absolutely fined for cruelty but the animals are still in the park being cared for. (and I hate marineland just as much, if not more, than most of the people commenting here so don't come at me.)
@@RoundyTheRoundCat you’re technically right. One of the charges was not enough access to water - which you’re right -that isn’t the exact same as food. Thanks for the specification.
@@BeverlyBigglesworth and the 3 that this related to have been removed and sent to sanctuaries long ago. There is nothing to suggest that the present time, the bears are not being fed or watered. Are they living well? No. I doubt it. They're likely bored and miserable. But they're likely being fed and watered or else there would be charges relating to more than 3/ many bear. I believe there are currently around 15.
Hi Ace. Fantastic video. I've seen 2 or 3 others, including Sal's, and through them I've learned Marine Land's strange, tragic, and infuriating story, and watched the park's slow, very painful downward spiral. But this is the first time I've learned so much about John Holer's backstory,, and the first time I've seen inside the closed-off areas. Watching this park continue to limp along is so cringy. That splash pad area looked so gross, there's no way I'd walk in that water barefoot. And all those poor, lonely animals. Marine Land needs to be wiped off the map. If this park was a dog, it would be old, blind, sick, and missing a leg and patches of fur. And we'd put it out of its misery, to end its suffering. But, considering the way it made, and still makes, its own animals suffer, I think there's a lot of poetic justice in letting it languish in metaphorical agony itself, in watching it die a slow, agonizing death. Though, I like you, feel bad for the remaining employees. And the animals, of course. More so for them, because they don't have a choice to leave, like the people do. I can only hope those animals are rehomed in much better places-or, for the ones that can be, which probably isn't many, set free-very soon (the dolphin gets "good care", lmao what a joke), and that the park is replaced with something that better suits the area, and truly benefits the people there. Thank you so much for this documentation. One of the best videos on this place I've seen so far. Admire your respect and tact on the subject, especially your restraint, because I know you were feeling lots of ways about things, as we all do, lol. Stay safe, and I'll be looking forward to the next one!
Many marine parks animals get sold to Arabian or Asian countries that are starting up their own operations, like Dubai. The regulations are usually less stringent in those locations so they can use the animals for entertainment.
Rip kiska my soul family and to all the souls buried behind marin land thank you Phil /walrus whisperer for the work you have done for all the innocent !No more zoos no more marine parks all around the world this is still happening to innocent souls
John Holer saw me crying because I couldnt do a ride because I was too short so he asked my parents permission and brought me to get an Ice Cream in his golf cart... The employees where so use to this that right away they asked me what flavor I wanted. Those weird 80's...
I consider the current state of decay of the park and its appearance as a physical manifestation of how they treated those animals. It's like "the jig is up, this is what we really are" It's clear the only way Marineland was able to succeed was from the exploitation of animals. Now those animals are gone, we see what the park really is.
The castle was where they kept deer, hundreds of them roaming around in there and forced to interact with humans. Like a petting zoo. They looked so sad. Crazy watching this as I have so many memories there and remember the long walks. I don’t know how it’s still open, and I don’t know how they will relocate the animals. I live just down the road now but grew up about an hour or so away. Huge property, so much land.
I live near here. 11:58 - You have the entrance and exit to dragon mountain backwards you’d enter thru the head and it weaves you thru an absolute pitch dark walk way where you hear riders screaming, then you load up and exit thru the smaller opening with no marking head :) always wondered why the park didn’t add 20 rides between the 5 miles that breaks each ride up . Rides maintenance is far cheaper than animals and rides don’t have feels!
We went in 1997 when I was 9. The vastness of the big empty walkways - full of nothing but over grown trees and uneven pavement, and the sores on the deers in the petting zoo (my mum and aunt refused to let us touch the animals in the petting zoo and quickly turned back around toward the main park..for obvious reasons) stand out to me to this day.
So sad to see the park in such a state of abandonment. My friends, family and I spent many visits to the park. One thing about the marine animals, my exposure to them in captivity raised my awareness of their plight and as a result I like many other people have come to understand that these beautiful sentient beings do not belong in such places. I have evolved to the point where I wish to see all Zoos closed. The animals should all be free and we humans should finally learn to keep a respectful distance. It breaks my heart to think of the orcas trapped for years in those small tanks. Cruelty beyond my understanding.
I don't think the rides are being sold off (just yet), most of them look like they are just in off-season mode and some of them look like they were getting ready to put them back together for the season when the park decided to keep the rides closed this year and just abandoned them.
Awesome job documenting that. I use to enjoy the rides like the ejection seat when I was 30 and under. That is sad about the animals stuck there. I wouldn't blame you worrying about the damn tics. Thanks for another good video. Take it easy!
I posted an extremely long comment on Bright Sun Films' most recent video on Marineland. I worked there in 2009/2010 and posted all sorts of stories in that comment. My father was one of the welders who welded the both the rollercoaster tracks and the rebar frame of the dragon's head at Dragon Mountain in the 80's. My extremely long comment on BSF's video can be easily found via Top Comments, if anyone is interested in reading it.
I'd copy-paste the extremely long comment here, and I've tried twice now, but it just disappears whenever I post it. I'm assuming the uploader has comment moderation on which is stopping it from showing for some reason.
@@AcesAdventures1weird. Don't know why it won't stay up then lol. Oh well. It's not too hard to find on that video though if you're curious on what it was like to work there.
The rides are not getting removed yet. They are just still winterized from the 2023-2024 winter. Some rides have their gondolas taken off for winter, some other rides it’s some decorative elements, some rides are covered, some are boarded. They’re pretty decent and fun rides actually, I certainly hope they’re not all getting scrapped
31:07 Cedar Fair was actually one of the last companies that I'd imagine being the buyer since they haven't worked with non-petting zoo animals since the 1990s (the purchase was made before they officially merged with Six Flags) and Marineland is only hour and a half away from their own Canada's Wonderland. Though now that I see you mention it, they could've either bought it to prevent Canada's Wonderland from getting major competition and/or want to run Marineland (which I assume will be renamed Six Flags Niagara Falls thanks to the merger) as an alternative amusement option for tourists that want to pair their trip to Niagara Falls with an amusement park without having to take too much time out of their trip by driving and hour and a half to mega-park Canada's Wonderland.
Absolutely incredible footage. What a weird and sad place. The odd layout really makes it seem as if it's something build in Planet Coaster, really a weird choice. Seing the animals still being left in the abandoned area is absolutely disgusting. I hope that cedar fair uses this land to make a nice theme park, as it has so much potential.
they didn't say that the animals are gone, they said that the animals are not open to the pubic, these are wild animals and don't do well with people interaction, well put together and informative video
I hope somehow someone is able to take this insane amount of land combined with some decent existing rides, and have the vision to make something great.
I believe for Dragon Mountain they would store the trains inside the maintenance area / coaster station for the winter and board up the entrances/exits for both the tracks and where people would load/unload. This would be part of their standard Winter shut down to help protect the coaster from the weather and such. It looks like it was never opened up for the season and would explain the boarded up station.
I was on the tea cups ride when the blackout of 2003 ( I think) happened. I was 4 years old at the time, and I remember being very disappointed we had to leave the park.
I worked on the crew that put all that interlock brick down around the whale tank and through the tunnel. I cut ever little brick for the edges. Anyways.. I spent 6bweeks in there and the condition I saw of the animals was appalling.
I went to see the most ethical version a whale watching in the wild (if that's even a thing) and sheer magnificence of these animal hit me even harder... to keep marine mammal in pools is an atrocity. iI fkn hate it.
So glad that Canada passed laws about capturing animals for recreation. However, what about hunters? Seriously, how do they enforce these laws? I know some hunters hunt for food but some hunt and just leave. I went to MarineLand once in 1989 and amazed. I look back and saddened that I supported this place…even if only once. However, I was only 9 or 10 then.
Hunters don't hunt just hunt to leave their harvest. It's a major offense, and it's enforced. Not to mention that we pay a lot of money for a mandatory hunters education class and buy licenses and tags annually.
Cedar Fair ceased to exist on July 1 2024 when the merger with Six Flag was complete. How that will affect plans for this property, if they are the buyer, will be interesting.
I don't think everything is converted yet. The old Cedar Fair Entertainment Company corporation itself still exists. I looked this one up. My guess is that they are licensing the Six Flags Name to the former Cedar Fair Parks and operating the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Corporation, as a wholly owned internal subsidiary of Six Flags as a temporary holding company through the different phases of the Merger, allowing the existing former Cedar Fair parks to operate uninterrupted without having to change over property ownership and licensing right away. While two companies combine, there is often a lot of internal things that need to be converted over and that doesn't happen overnight and in some cases can take months or years to complete. These include things lime employee payroll merges, computer systems conversion, licenses, permits, asset ownership, standardization of contracts, internal branding, signage, and a whole host of other things. While after a merger they put a new name on things at the time the merger completes the first phase and make it seamless for the consumer end, internally on the management side things are more complex for integration of two companies.
The castle used to be an area that you could walk right up in to a bunch of deer and feed and pet them. It was really cool as a kid to be able to do this and have this memory
What a great video! This is so damn sad! Growing up, that damn jingle of theirs was everywhere on TV and it was difficult to avoid 😅 I always thought the concept was weird and never had any interest to go there. I can't believe that place is still open after all with so much little to do.
I remember going there a couple times when I was a kid, in the 1970s, before there were any rides. I didn't return until the late 1980s, and there really wasn't much to see because the place was already getting bad Press. I remember seeing the baby Orca though! It's disgusting to me that so many animals are just stuck there....waiting for someone else to buy them, because they can't be set free. Even the elk, deer and bears have to remain captive because they won't be able to adapt to the wild after being domesticated for so long. Good riddance to that arrogant owner. Wasting money on foolish, fancy rides when he could have actually spent the money on better care for the animals and perhaps breeding programs for endangered animals...like zoos do. Good riddance.
I was trampled by the "killer" miniature deer when i was four in 1984 at Marine Land. I still remember the Detol soaked gause wiping over the scrapes. The marine how was so impressive to a kd back then. Wonderland had a smaller marine show back then as well. Only marine land had killer whales.
19:03: RIP Magic Experience, if it is in fact being dismantled, it must be relocated to Canada's Wonderland. Also, 26:38: NEVER is it gonna be demolished, because the park opens its rides back up next year, everybody is gonna remember it! Just give it an update and it'll be good as new!
I went there a lot for school trips in the 90s. It’s kind of sad and surreal seeing it like this. I Remeber it as a busy, active, place to be. Of course I was like between 7-13 so the world looked a lot different. Even when I went in 2019, got free passes. You could see the decay.
I admit was there once when it was adveristed back when i was about 12 . But Im gald these animals will be hopefully gettting a better home soon and that the animals are rehabed in a better enviroment . With the new company I hope they will do right by the animals and the people .
When I was 12, in 1989, this was one of my dream destinations. Just keep that memory in the happy place section, and hope the reality of this place has a better future.
Thanks for the video. Super insightful and creepy at the same time. This is a park I protested about but as a young child went to see more than once. Looking at videos about the park haunt me... Dragon Mountain was actually a great coaster. Just an FYI "Marineland" is one word.
They can’t just put mature adult captive animals in the wild. They’re dependent on humans for food. They either won’t know how to survive or they’ll make themselves a nuisance by attempting ti get food from people.
Update Both owners of marineland have passed away. This was their last summer and they had to chop down ticket prices due to most of the attractions being shut down. Rumour is the owner of six flags will be buying the property but that's just one of the many rumours that will surely pop up. As someone who personally flipped this place off each and everytime I drove past it, I'm happy this hell for animals will be gone. This was our biggest embarrassment as residents of Niagara Falls.
I went to that place when I was a kid. It seemed like an awesome place to me when I was young. I don't get why they don't just make it into just an amusement park with out the the animals.
How many of these mammals would survive transportation back into the wild? They tried to send Kieko back into the wild, but the animal remained dependent on humans to feed him.
Be interesting to see what they do with that. If the buyer was Cedar Fair (now merged into Six Flags), it will be interesting to see if they redevelop, sell, or improve that park. Oddly another amusement park company buying it to me is a sign that they want to do something with it. It is interesting that they are selling off and dismantling the rides at the same time. My personal theories (these have not been confirmed as to WHY Cedar Fair (now merged into Six Flags), bought this park: 1) They plan to close it, remodel it, and rebrand it. Perhaps getting rid of all the marine stuff there is so much controversy over after documentaries like BlackFish, relocating the rides for a better layout, sell off the old or broken rides, bring in some new rides, construct some new attractions, arrange it so that the layout is better walkable, and using the remaining land for future hotels, resorts, water parks, perhaps a zoo, and other development could make this a true resort destination. My guess with this theory is that they will not list it as a Six Flags park until it is brought up to their standards. This why they don't list it as part of their chain yet and are keeping the buyer name quiet. To bring it up may require a construction crew to do significant overhaul and it is probably easier to do closed than open. Maybe they are also trying to locate homes for the animals that cannot go back in the wild (many animals in captivity are not in a condition to survive in the wild and maybe they are using the old enclosures and pools as a sanctuary in the closed area of the park until this happens). With 1000 acres, one could easily do this (for comparison Six Flags Magic Mountain is 262 acres, and King's Dominion is 282 acres). 2) They plan to sell the land to real estate developers when they sell off the remaining pieces and try to make some money from this. Perhaps the size of the park will be reduced and the remaining land sold off. 3) Perhaps some of those old rides will be moved to other Six Flags (or former Cedar Fair) parks. Buying and scraping a dying park for cheap may be an easy way to get some used rides and attractions and move them to other operating parks. 4) Another possibility is to lease this land to others for development or turn it into open space or something some day.
Those rides aren't worth anywhere near the cost it would be to move and reopen. They are all typical flats that are cheaper to buy new than refurb and move
i remember the commrcials when i was a kid and a teenager. i've always wanted to go, but it never happened. family had too many financial troubles, and now as an adult, its gone.
This video is better than Bright Sun Film's version of this park, but we better enjoy this video while we can because the folks at Marine Land will be triggered and will want this video deleted. Keep up the good work, Ace.
They're both really well done but I will say Ace uncovered more information, when I watched BTS's video I was surprised he left so much info out like the trailer park stuff.
![Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]](/img/n.gif)
I worked at Marineland in the 1989 until about 1993 or so. I started in the animal care department which maintained and fed the terrestrial animals. I was then transferred to the marine mammal department when the first orca calf was born in the summer of 1989. I was part of the “whale watch” team that would observe and note all the mother and calf’s behaviours. Eventually, when the calf got older, I worked in the fish house preparing the food for all the marine mammals. I just want to say that the people who’s job it was to care for these animals on a day-to-day basis really did their best under the circumstances. The marine mammal trainers and handlers loved the animals, as did I. There were some very good people that worked there at that time. Holer though, was a real piece of work. He would patrol around in his brown Ford Bronco and would literally strike fear into anyone that had to deal with him.
That’s really fascinating
Holer was a clear piece of sh^t. I blamed workers for being included but I appreciate this insight & apologize for judging. Thank you for doing the best that you could. I shame whoever has now purchased this blame & continues to lie. You know he's keeping his identity as the owner secret for a reason, cause he's following the footsteps of a piece of shit to probably attempt to be the same way. Take care
@@meowblackk When I was doing the observations on the baby orca, I would work from 7pm to 7am. John Holer would patrol around the park at night in his Ford Bronco with a huge spotlight on it. It was rumored that he had a loaded 12 gauge in there with him, and I don’t doubt this for one minute. I would be sitting in King Waldorf’s (their walrus mascot) throne on the stage of the main pools at the time (the beluga habitat didn’t exist then). John Holer would just appear at like 3am just to check on me. He also wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. His success definitely wasn’t due to any sort of business savvy. Just luck at being in the right place at the right time.
@@jimgrimmroth9205 Wow. That's both creepy & extremely unnerving to behaviour. He definitely didn't seem like a sharp tool, you're right. I also would not want to mess about with someone having a shotgun close by.
It's too bad money is usually the reason these douchebags get into this business. I feel for the animals & I appreciate that you did the best you could do. I hope you're doing well now. I bet you miss the animals, eh? I also bet you appreciate the animals that were removed.
We're you working there when animals passed? I hope I'm not overstepping bounderings asking that.
I wish we could just shut down these pieces of garbo everywhere.🤬😥
You still aided in the hostage of wild animals. I love them to...but not as a capture. How many animals were under your hostage care? DISGUSTING!!!
As a local. Hated john.
Constantly toted his guns around, threatening people.. the horror's that occurred within the walls of that place.
That is NOT to say I hadn't been there. As a kid.. as a young adult.. my heart ached seeing the ride that once brought happiness to many.. but to know the history, the neglect and the absolute horrors... its better that it's sold off.. animals ACTUALLY relocated.. and maybe a better park to enhance the environment around niagara.
Ps - AMAZING work on this video. Amazing job. Loved it. Instant follow
Thank you so much ❤
Hey this is eve from ilovedeadmalls! This is an amazing video. Thanks for taking the time to make it. Growing up in the early 2000s near Toronto my family and I would make a day trip out of going to Marine Land. As a child I loved it! I remember feeding the deer, watching the packed marine life shows, and leaving the amusement park with one of their inflatables. I remember their commercials frequently being played on TV. It brought back a core memory of mine when you walked through that ladybug ride because I vividly remember going on it. I was too young/too scared to go on the drop tower even though I thought that it was the coolest ride there. It’s been years since I have visited the park and it is so sad to see what it has become now. Now that I am older I realize that they have had a long history of animal mistreatment and I feel guilty for once supporting them. My heart broke seeing that shot of the lonely bear in that enclosure on a hot summers day. Thank you for putting this video out to bring awareness to what has and still is going on behind closed doors at Marine Land.
Ace, seriously this is your best work! Thank You for giving us a glimpse. RIP Kiska and I pray all the animals will find loving homes. Wither it be back in the wild or an appropriate habitat.
Great Video! Where did you get the footage @ 28:16 ? SO cool. Kinda eerie to see the master plan from the early 80s. So much did not materialize from John's vision!
I just want to say I'm so glad you brought up the trailer park situation. I think everyone should know about this, it's horrible. Thank you for exposing these issues as I didn't even know about all of them and it's so important to share these things. Your videos are very interesting and it's really cool you decided to do marineland. I'm from Ontario and I appreciate the knowledge and work put into this.
Agreed. Well said!
Thankyou for documenting this.I see you,and your viewers love for these beatiful animals!I implore someone soon relocates these animals were they can live out the rest of their lives,being loved and cared for.Back in the wi I d if possible. I hope they are looked after to document.They csn live out life happy and healthy!!!
The animals don’t have anywhere else they can go in Canada. What many Marine parks in North America do too often is sell their animals to places like Arabian or Asian countries that have fewer regulations.
I remember seeing an ad for Marineland as a child, and bothering him to take me. Having grown up in the Toronto area in his teenage years before moving to the West Coast, my dad instantly shut me down. Said the place was a dreary snoozefest since forever. Rides got boring fast, and the abuse and neglect of the animals was evident, even to the guest. Being a naive child who adored (and still does) sea life, I did not believe him. However, now as an adult studying marine biology, I am thankful that he remained firm with me that there would be no trips to Marineland. Makes me so sad hearing about these poor creatures. I hope the best for the ones that are still at the park, and that they can be rehabilitated at a sancuary or similar.
Yet thousands of people would take little Susie and Johnny there knowing how the animals were treated while ignoring the 'informed' who displayed large signs near the gates exposing Marineland's abuse of the animals. That made the visitors partly responsible for the abuse .
Is it just me or does Marine Land look like a really good COD map?
I live next door to a family whose mother was 1 of the people who was kicked from that trailer park. Not only did it take the life of 1 of the residents… because they couldn’t cope with the idea of having nowhere to go; BUT also displaced my neighbours mother for nearly a DECADE before she found a permanent new area to call home; what people don’t know is DURING THE TIME of this trailer park closing, they were amping up police control over homeless areas of the area also. Essentially it became almost impossible for them to rest without being displaced … and for what? For that site to never even become a gosh darn thing. How absolutely disgustingly tragic. The WORST story outside of its mistreatment of their animals HAS TO BE THE TRAILER PARK CLOSURE …
I did take my kids there when they were young 20 years ago to ride the rides and to see Kiska. Also the beluga whales, deer and bears but I felt so bad for all the animals especially when I saw an injured deer in the deer park. I even commented to an employee that it wasn't right to keep Kiska captivated. I took a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls and Marineland. While doing so I took some aerial pictures of Marineland. One picture I captured looks like it could be a burial ground of all the animals that died there.
I just found my family’s photos from when we went in 2007 for my birthday. I would’ve been 6 at the time so I don’t remember everything but what I do has stuck with me. My first memory is of how exhausted we were. When me and my sister weren’t being carried on our parent’s back, we were complaining about how tired we were. My second and much more vivid memory is, of course, the animals. I’ve always been an animal lover so I was more than ecstatic to see Orca’s and Belugas for the first time. I was young so I couldn’t recognize the inhumane conditions the whales were being kept in, but I recognized it with the bears. Oh gosh, that shot at the end of the video is like an exact image from my memory. I’d been to a larger zoo before so I knew want a healthy bear is supposed to look like. The way they were all huddled up against the fence, skinny with matted fur, struck a serious wrong cord in me. My parents were horrified too. They later made my sister and I promise to never ask to go there again. Looking back on the old photos, the marine mammals were not fairing any better. My fond memories are just the clouded judgment of a child who didn’t know any better. If I ever get to see Orcas, dolphins, belugas or any of these other animals again, I hope it will be in the wild where they belong.
Thanks for sharing your memories. Captive animals can’t be returned to the wild as mature adults. We learned that with Keiko. They don’t have the survival skills or the needed support of their family. Even domestic horses that sometimes make it in the wild have different communication habits than fully domesticated horses.
@@Ketowski yeah I know there’s no chance for the animals from marineland to be wild again. I just ment I hope to one day see other whales in the wild
They should have shut this place down ages ago. Been there 50 years ago, not a fan of animals held captive for human entertainment purposes, or the guy who owned this nightmare.
He was quite the character
I disagree
They have a new owner that just took over that park in May. Give them time to put a plan in place.
@@jasonbyl8695 we know who the owner is
IMO if it is Cedar Fair I think they can turn this park around.
The owner never had the money to properly care for the animals because he kept spending on the rides, etc. His arrogance unnecessarily killed a lot of animals, and those left at the park should be the top priority of any buyer.. a thousand acres could build a heck of a theme park...
Exactly
Lies
@@AussieBodybuilder dum da dum dum
i went there in 1996 when i was 8 years old. even as an 8 year old i could tell the place had bad vibes. i can vividly remember telling my dad that marineland sucks and i want to go home.
Bright Sun films just did his return visit after a year.place is a sad and tiny fraction of what it was,and what it was ,was not good .
I watched the same video.
I still can't beleive this place stayed open as long as it has, with all the issues its had. And to leave the animals in the absolute squalor they are being left in.
For people to be able to get in and find where the animals are and to taunt, torment, and possibly hurt them while having no supervision is insane to me. If people are not paying attention and come upon those bears, i have no doubt it would turn into a missing persons turned body recovery situation.
I dont think i ever went there personally but i know family who did. As a kid everyone wanted to go, it seemed like a really fun place where you could actually get up close with these animals. I cannot wait to hear the day this place is nothing but a distant memory and a clear learning opportunity to prevent this kind of shit from continuing.
Pretty crazy
Dude....this is your best work. Incredibly touching. Loved it.
Ty!!
Wonderful film, brother. So sad, but incredibly tasteful and well done.
Thank you my brother
Agreed.
I never heard of this place until Bright Sun Films covered it,I liked seeing your take on it. If I'm not mistaken Marineland is actually bigger than Disney World at 1,000 arces,the fact the total area of the park is only half utilized is insane.
Larger than Disney Land in CA, nowhere near the size of Disney World. Still huge. As kids, it felt like it took forever to get from ride to ride.
The acreage is bigger, but the lark isn’t. That’s because land used to be less expensive when the founder originally bought it. It was farmland in the outskirts of Toronto and southeastern Ontario, so largely underdeveloped until the 90s and early 2000s.
I’m happy they closed down MarineLand. It was a criminally insane place to go to. Capturing and smuggling wild animals just for fun.
Pretty awful
It is open
@@ChristophWhite Nobody wants it open.
Correction: Where you're walking at 09:16, that's a restricted area, the tail-end of the ride, and where the trains are stored - Not the area where patrons would line up. All of that is inside at the 12:15 mark.
I went to Marineland a few times when i was a kid. I remember telling my mom i liked wonderland better. Marineland gave me bad feelings, wonderland always gave me happy vibes.
@@shawnjdm7064 i agree wonderland is better
N.E. Ohio had their Theme Park demise over a decade ago Geauga Lake, Seaworld and Wild Water Kingdom and at the pinnacle 700 acres total. Thanks and Keep em Rolling!
Wow thank you for the super like! I appreciate you very much
Coming back to MarineLand in 2024 is surreal. I grew up going there from 90 to 00. Of course back then I had no idea about the problems. Seeing the rides dismantled, seeing the animals suffering, seeing how empty and overgrown everything is...
It's depressing. I had so many formative trips there. I still have a purple dolphin plushie I got from the gift shop in 98.
Thank you for sharing this, it’s very sad. I’m a fellow Canadian
Thanks for doing this. It’s important documentation for these animals and the park’s questionable history.
Kiska's story breaks my heart, but I felt relief when she died. Obviously moving her somewhere she can cohabitate with other marine mammals would have been better, but things were moving so slowly and I'm sure she didn't want to be here anymore. Fuck Marine Land. Glad it's going.
If its owned by Six Flags / Cedar Fair now, they are absolutely not going to want to be associated with the bad publicity and history here. Its likely that they are doing a lot of planning on getting these animals relocated. Probably talks with zoos and other other organizations. I see them dismantling the rides either to preserve them so the weather doesn't completely destroy them, or to ship them off elsewhere if they decide closing the place for good is preferable. If it reopens, I wouldn't see it in 2025, and would be more inclined to see it reopen in 2026 after some consolidation and renovation. May be too much of a money sink though for the current Six Flags to want to deal with.
Probably accurate
You’re probably right. My impression is that Six Flags might try to get it rezoned after it relocates the remaining animals and use it for real estate development. With the current Ontario government, development is a big priority, so many projects can be expedited.
😭how sad I wanted to cry for the orca whale that lived over 40 years in that state and the other animals that died too soon from neglect. I could barely see the beluga whales. I feel awful for the other animals tucked away lonely out of sight. The worker you spoke to seemed very nice and honest about the park. I looked up the ticket prices. It’s $10 for children and $15 for adults. Plus they have season passes for 3 attractions?! 🤯. Great video Ace!
no body loved marineland to begin with thats they never had any money to ad new rides canadas wonderlands the park everyone loves always have been they have drwan costomers away from marineland since the begining
Everyone hates marineland
Yes theres nothing left of it now
There is a place a know in ontario
Where u walk the land and blow the $$
With crappy rides and expesive food
Everyone hates marine land
This is ahat i sung for years
I loved it. People complain about marine land and the Toronto zoo fools every one to think they're so humane. No double standards.
Had alot of fun there as a child
I had a beluga nose me real hard in the late 90s and never wanted to go back.
I am at Niagara Falls for the first time this week and saw the Marineland advertising sign outside my hotel
30 years ago my uncle took me here numerous times. Even as a small child, I could see how poorly the animals were kept.
Oh, my interest in dead malls has crossed over into my love of amusement parks. This place always seemed strange and poorly ran but I hope I somehow get a chance to ride the roller coaster. It's a unique one.
It’s a crazy place
Maybe you will if Six Flags develops it.
Think most the rides are taken apart not for sale but because there in winter storage... they put most of the moving parts and carts of rides away in a garage for winter where workers refurbish them
I grew up in NF. 3/4s of my HS worked summers there.
I did the sound and lights at Marineland during and immediately after HS. I got frequent Beejes in the sound booth 😂.
Oh....the crazy owner liked to get drunk and turn loose a tame deer to ' hunt ' after hours,or so some said.
I once found 2 piecesof .44 Mag brass, so that supports that rumor
Very sad. Never been to the park myself, but remember the commercials they used to play all the time back in the 90s when I was a kid.
The poor bears! Are they being fed? This is so cruel!
No. Nobody is feeding them. They were convicted of animal cruelty this week regarding the bears.
@@BeverlyBigglesworth This is a blatant lie. the bears are being fed. they were absolutely fined for cruelty but the animals are still in the park being cared for. (and I hate marineland just as much, if not more, than most of the people commenting here so don't come at me.)
@@RoundyTheRoundCat you’re technically right. One of the charges was not enough access to water - which you’re right -that isn’t the exact same as food. Thanks for the specification.
@@BeverlyBigglesworth and the 3 that this related to have been removed and sent to sanctuaries long ago. There is nothing to suggest that the present time, the bears are not being fed or watered. Are they living well? No. I doubt it. They're likely bored and miserable. But they're likely being fed and watered or else there would be charges relating to more than 3/ many bear. I believe there are currently around 15.
Hi Ace. Fantastic video. I've seen 2 or 3 others, including Sal's, and through them I've learned Marine Land's strange, tragic, and infuriating story, and watched the park's slow, very painful downward spiral. But this is the first time I've learned so much about John Holer's backstory,, and the first time I've seen inside the closed-off areas. Watching this park continue to limp along is so cringy. That splash pad area looked so gross, there's no way I'd walk in that water barefoot. And all those poor, lonely animals. Marine Land needs to be wiped off the map. If this park was a dog, it would be old, blind, sick, and missing a leg and patches of fur. And we'd put it out of its misery, to end its suffering. But, considering the way it made, and still makes, its own animals suffer, I think there's a lot of poetic justice in letting it languish in metaphorical agony itself, in watching it die a slow, agonizing death. Though, I like you, feel bad for the remaining employees. And the animals, of course. More so for them, because they don't have a choice to leave, like the people do. I can only hope those animals are rehomed in much better places-or, for the ones that can be, which probably isn't many, set free-very soon (the dolphin gets "good care", lmao what a joke), and that the park is replaced with something that better suits the area, and truly benefits the people there. Thank you so much for this documentation. One of the best videos on this place I've seen so far. Admire your respect and tact on the subject, especially your restraint, because I know you were feeling lots of ways about things, as we all do, lol. Stay safe, and I'll be looking forward to the next one!
Many marine parks animals get sold to Arabian or Asian countries that are starting up their own operations, like Dubai. The regulations are usually less stringent in those locations so they can use the animals for entertainment.
Rip kiska my soul family and to all the souls buried behind marin land thank you Phil /walrus whisperer for the work you have done for all the innocent !No more zoos no more marine parks all around the world this is still happening to innocent souls
John Holer saw me crying because I couldnt do a ride because I was too short so he asked my parents permission and brought me to get an Ice Cream in his golf cart... The employees where so use to this that right away they asked me what flavor I wanted. Those weird 80's...
Thanks for posting. Sad to see it go bad like this.
That bear looks so sad, place needs shut and animals transferred.
I consider the current state of decay of the park and its appearance as a physical manifestation of how they treated those animals.
It's like "the jig is up, this is what we really are"
It's clear the only way Marineland was able to succeed was from the exploitation of animals.
Now those animals are gone, we see what the park really is.
crazy to think that the ride at 13:37 was just bought new and installed like 2 years ago
The castle was where they kept deer, hundreds of them roaming around in there and forced to interact with humans. Like a petting zoo. They looked so sad. Crazy watching this as I have so many memories there and remember the long walks. I don’t know how it’s still open, and I don’t know how they will relocate the animals. I live just down the road now but grew up about an hour or so away. Huge property, so much land.
I live near here. 11:58 - You have the entrance and exit to dragon mountain backwards you’d enter thru the head and it weaves you thru an absolute pitch dark walk way where you hear riders screaming, then you load up and exit thru the smaller opening with no marking head :) always wondered why the park didn’t add 20 rides between the 5 miles that breaks each ride up . Rides maintenance is far cheaper than animals and rides don’t have feels!
We went in 1997 when I was 9. The vastness of the big empty walkways - full of nothing but over grown trees and uneven pavement, and the sores on the deers in the petting zoo (my mum and aunt refused to let us touch the animals in the petting zoo and quickly turned back around toward the main park..for obvious reasons) stand out to me to this day.
So sad to see the park in such a state of abandonment. My friends, family and I spent many visits to the park. One thing about the marine animals, my exposure to them in captivity raised my awareness of their plight and as a result I like many other people have come to understand that these beautiful sentient beings do not belong in such places. I have evolved to the point where I wish to see all Zoos closed. The animals should all be free and we humans should finally learn to keep a respectful distance. It breaks my heart to think of the orcas trapped for years in those small tanks. Cruelty beyond my understanding.
That poor bear makes me sad
Echo was there when I was in seventh grade - we did a trip there for school and I was ignorant to the bad things happening. :(
I don't think the rides are being sold off (just yet), most of them look like they are just in off-season mode and some of them look like they were getting ready to put them back together for the season when the park decided to keep the rides closed this year and just abandoned them.
Awesome job documenting that. I use to enjoy the rides like the ejection seat when I was 30 and under. That is sad about the animals stuck there. I wouldn't blame you worrying about the damn tics. Thanks for another good video. Take it easy!
Ty :)
Man i went with my family in 1994 and felt bad then and still do know. This should have been closed a long time ago. 😢 Free the animals.
I felt that way, too. I went on a school trip and never wanted to go back.
What is your cam, man? Great video!
Iphone 16 pro max 4k
Went there with my kids 10 years ago, I remember how large the park was and no shade.
Basically went because of the TV ads my kids was seeing
I posted an extremely long comment on Bright Sun Films' most recent video on Marineland. I worked there in 2009/2010 and posted all sorts of stories in that comment. My father was one of the welders who welded the both the rollercoaster tracks and the rebar frame of the dragon's head at Dragon Mountain in the 80's. My extremely long comment on BSF's video can be easily found via Top Comments, if anyone is interested in reading it.
I'd copy-paste the extremely long comment here, and I've tried twice now, but it just disappears whenever I post it. I'm assuming the uploader has comment moderation on which is stopping it from showing for some reason.
@@randomuploaderguyi don’t
@@AcesAdventures1weird. Don't know why it won't stay up then lol. Oh well. It's not too hard to find on that video though if you're curious on what it was like to work there.
Because your handle looks like a spammer.
The rides are not getting removed yet. They are just still winterized from the 2023-2024 winter. Some rides have their gondolas taken off for winter, some other rides it’s some decorative elements, some rides are covered, some are boarded. They’re pretty decent and fun rides actually, I certainly hope they’re not all getting scrapped
Incredible video!!!
31:07 Cedar Fair was actually one of the last companies that I'd imagine being the buyer since they haven't worked with non-petting zoo animals since the 1990s (the purchase was made before they officially merged with Six Flags) and Marineland is only hour and a half away from their own Canada's Wonderland. Though now that I see you mention it, they could've either bought it to prevent Canada's Wonderland from getting major competition and/or want to run Marineland (which I assume will be renamed Six Flags Niagara Falls thanks to the merger) as an alternative amusement option for tourists that want to pair their trip to Niagara Falls with an amusement park without having to take too much time out of their trip by driving and hour and a half to mega-park Canada's Wonderland.
I have heard from an insider that the park is still in the Holer family despite the sale..
Absolutely incredible footage. What a weird and sad place. The odd layout really makes it seem as if it's something build in Planet Coaster, really a weird choice. Seing the animals still being left in the abandoned area is absolutely disgusting. I hope that cedar fair uses this land to make a nice theme park, as it has so much potential.
they didn't say that the animals are gone, they said that the animals are not open to the pubic, these are wild animals and don't do well with people interaction, well put together and informative video
Man I use too want too go to Marineland when I was a kid. Glad it never happened to be honest.
I hope somehow someone is able to take this insane amount of land combined with some decent existing rides, and have the vision to make something great.
Great video, Ace!
I believe for Dragon Mountain they would store the trains inside the maintenance area / coaster station for the winter and board up the entrances/exits for both the tracks and where people would load/unload. This would be part of their standard Winter shut down to help protect the coaster from the weather and such. It looks like it was never opened up for the season and would explain the boarded up station.
Great video! Something new for the explores! 🎉🎉🎉
Hope you enjoyed it!
I was on the tea cups ride when the blackout of 2003 ( I think) happened. I was 4 years old at the time, and I remember being very disappointed we had to leave the park.
I just drove past marine land last winter.. crazy to see it abandoned
I worked on the crew that put all that interlock brick down around the whale tank and through the tunnel. I cut ever little brick for the edges. Anyways.. I spent 6bweeks in there and the condition I saw of the animals was appalling.
This honestly brakes my heart 💔🙁, I remember going back when I was a kid in like 2005 with my grandparents .
I went to see the most ethical version a whale watching in the wild (if that's even a thing) and sheer magnificence of these animal hit me even harder... to keep marine mammal in pools is an atrocity. iI fkn hate it.
Once they’re captive, they can’t survive in the wild on their own. Many are sold to countries that have fewer regulations.
So glad that Canada passed laws about capturing animals for recreation. However, what about hunters? Seriously, how do they enforce these laws? I know some hunters hunt for food but some hunt and just leave. I went to MarineLand once in 1989 and amazed. I look back and saddened that I supported this place…even if only once. However, I was only 9 or 10 then.
Not sure about Canadian laws
Which hunters just hunt and leave?
Hunters don't hunt just hunt to leave their harvest. It's a major offense, and it's enforced. Not to mention that we pay a lot of money for a mandatory hunters education class and buy licenses and tags annually.
Cedar Fair ceased to exist on July 1 2024 when the merger with Six Flag was complete. How that will affect plans for this property, if they are the buyer, will be interesting.
I don't think everything is converted yet. The old Cedar Fair Entertainment Company corporation itself still exists. I looked this one up. My guess is that they are licensing the Six Flags Name to the former Cedar Fair Parks and operating the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Corporation, as a wholly owned internal subsidiary of Six Flags as a temporary holding company through the different phases of the Merger, allowing the existing former Cedar Fair parks to operate uninterrupted without having to change over property ownership and licensing right away. While two companies combine, there is often a lot of internal things that need to be converted over and that doesn't happen overnight and in some cases can take months or years to complete. These include things lime employee payroll merges, computer systems conversion, licenses, permits, asset ownership, standardization of contracts, internal branding, signage, and a whole host of other things. While after a merger they put a new name on things at the time the merger completes the first phase and make it seamless for the consumer end, internally on the management side things are more complex for integration of two companies.
The castle used to be an area that you could walk right up in to a bunch of deer and feed and pet them. It was really cool as a kid to be able to do this and have this memory
Great video thx
What a great video! This is so damn sad! Growing up, that damn jingle of theirs was everywhere on TV and it was difficult to avoid 😅 I always thought the concept was weird and never had any interest to go there. I can't believe that place is still open after all with so much little to do.
I remember going there a couple times when I was a kid, in the 1970s, before there were any rides. I didn't return until the late 1980s, and there really wasn't much to see because the place was already getting bad Press. I remember seeing the baby Orca though! It's disgusting to me that so many animals are just stuck there....waiting for someone else to buy them, because they can't be set free. Even the elk, deer and bears have to remain captive because they won't be able to adapt to the wild after being domesticated for so long. Good riddance to that arrogant owner. Wasting money on foolish, fancy rides when he could have actually spent the money on better care for the animals and perhaps breeding programs for endangered animals...like zoos do. Good riddance.
I was trampled by the "killer" miniature deer when i was four in 1984 at Marine Land. I still remember the Detol soaked gause wiping over the scrapes. The marine how was so impressive to a kd back then. Wonderland had a smaller marine show back then as well. Only marine land had killer whales.
Wow
It's nice to see a place not covered in graffiti/spray paint
Not yet
The lonley whale made me sad
19:03: RIP Magic Experience, if it is in fact being dismantled, it must be relocated to Canada's Wonderland. Also, 26:38: NEVER is it gonna be demolished, because the park opens its rides back up next year, everybody is gonna remember it! Just give it an update and it'll be good as new!
This video reminds me of your great narrations of the Love Canal NY and Centralia Pa disasters videos.
I wonder what the new owners have planned for the park
I went there a lot for school trips in the 90s. It’s kind of sad and surreal seeing it like this. I Remeber it as a busy, active, place to be. Of course I was like between 7-13 so the world looked a lot different. Even when I went in 2019, got free passes. You could see the decay.
I admit was there once when it was adveristed back when i was about 12 . But Im gald these animals will be hopefully gettting a better home soon and that the animals are rehabed in a better enviroment . With the new company I hope they will do right by the animals and the people .
When I was 12, in 1989, this was one of my dream destinations. Just keep that memory in the happy place section, and hope the reality of this place has a better future.
Thanks for the video. Super insightful and creepy at the same time. This is a park I protested about but as a young child went to see more than once. Looking at videos about the park haunt me... Dragon Mountain was actually a great coaster. Just an FYI "Marineland" is one word.
Glad you enjoyed it
Growing up in Welland,I went once as a kid as it was a field trip. It makes me sick now. I still have so much guilt I ever set foot there.
Those places should have been shut down years ago.No Orca or Dolphin or seal should be in a tank
They can’t just put mature adult captive animals in the wild. They’re dependent on humans for food. They either won’t know how to survive or they’ll make themselves a nuisance by attempting ti get food from people.
I don't like places like this I strongly believe that these beautiful animals need to be free to roam not in oversized pools
Agreed
Remember even seeing commercials on this place growing up in Calgary during the 1980s and 1990s with the everyone loves Marineland jingle.
I like it something different
I can't believe anyone would even go near the place anymore...seems like some haven't gotten the news yet that this place is the worst!
Update
Both owners of marineland have passed away.
This was their last summer and they had to chop down ticket prices due to most of the attractions being shut down.
Rumour is the owner of six flags will be buying the property but that's just one of the many rumours that will surely pop up.
As someone who personally flipped this place off each and everytime I drove past it, I'm happy this hell for animals will be gone.
This was our biggest embarrassment as residents of Niagara Falls.
I have a question: if those bears are still penned up, who's feeding them? I'm pretty sure you were wise tp not get any closer than you were.
Didn’t want to bother them
I went to that place when I was a kid. It seemed like an awesome place to me when I was young. I don't get why they don't just make it into just an amusement park with out the the animals.
Wouldn't be the same. Never will.
How many of these mammals would survive transportation back into the wild? They tried to send Kieko back into the wild, but the animal remained dependent on humans to feed him.
Yeah unfortunately they wouldn’t last
Be interesting to see what they do with that. If the buyer was Cedar Fair (now merged into Six Flags), it will be interesting to see if they redevelop, sell, or improve that park. Oddly another amusement park company buying it to me is a sign that they want to do something with it. It is interesting that they are selling off and dismantling the rides at the same time.
My personal theories (these have not been confirmed as to WHY Cedar Fair (now merged into Six Flags), bought this park:
1) They plan to close it, remodel it, and rebrand it. Perhaps getting rid of all the marine stuff there is so much controversy over after documentaries like BlackFish, relocating the rides for a better layout, sell off the old or broken rides, bring in some new rides, construct some new attractions, arrange it so that the layout is better walkable, and using the remaining land for future hotels, resorts, water parks, perhaps a zoo, and other development could make this a true resort destination. My guess with this theory is that they will not list it as a Six Flags park until it is brought up to their standards. This why they don't list it as part of their chain yet and are keeping the buyer name quiet. To bring it up may require a construction crew to do significant overhaul and it is probably easier to do closed than open. Maybe they are also trying to locate homes for the animals that cannot go back in the wild (many animals in captivity are not in a condition to survive in the wild and maybe they are using the old enclosures and pools as a sanctuary in the closed area of the park until this happens). With 1000 acres, one could easily do this (for comparison Six Flags Magic Mountain is 262 acres, and King's Dominion is 282 acres).
2) They plan to sell the land to real estate developers when they sell off the remaining pieces and try to make some money from this. Perhaps the size of the park will be reduced and the remaining land sold off.
3) Perhaps some of those old rides will be moved to other Six Flags (or former Cedar Fair) parks. Buying and scraping a dying park for cheap may be an easy way to get some used rides and attractions and move them to other operating parks.
4) Another possibility is to lease this land to others for development or turn it into open space or something some day.
My guess is rebranding
Those rides aren't worth anywhere near the cost it would be to move and reopen. They are all typical flats that are cheaper to buy new than refurb and move
i remember the commrcials when i was a kid and a teenager. i've always wanted to go, but it never happened. family had too many financial troubles, and now as an adult, its gone.
This video is better than Bright Sun Film's version of this park, but we better enjoy this video while we can because the folks at Marine Land will be triggered and will want this video deleted. Keep up the good work, Ace.
They can’t do anything about it. The truth hurts
I also loved BTS's take on that. Always interesting to see different perspectives.
They're both really well done but I will say Ace uncovered more information, when I watched BTS's video I was surprised he left so much info out like the trailer park stuff.
@@rachenna7763 he talked about the trailer park in his first video on the park
@@Retrogamershaun I believe you, I probably watched that 1 and forgot all about it!