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The following will document some proposed sites for new amusement parks in Michigan that never came to fruition. A few of them involve Cedar Point or what is now Cedar Fair Co which has merged with Six Flags. Six Flags did operate AutoWorld for about 15 minutes also LOL so they also have a Michigan connection. I will research whether Six Flags also looked at opening parks in Michigan prior to the Cedar Fair merger which I believe they did.
I will come back later and fill in more info on these summaries but for now you can just read the news articles below. As the biggest Michigan booster in the world, I wish some of these would have happened. However, it would have been a tough beat from a business standpoint. The cost of building and maintaining parks of this magnitude would have been enormous. It's hard to say if they would have been able to stay viable. Especially given the relatively short season in Michigan which is generally May-Sept.
Main Street America - Grayling 2007 - full page HERE
Former Frontier City site in Onsted (Irish Hills) - "Cedar Point II" 1974-1975
One attempt to build a park in Michigan came when Cedar Point purchased 440 acres in Irish Hills on the site of Frontier City. The sale went through, but some of the local folks weren't keen on the idea due to congestion and other concerns. The price tag on the park would have been about $35 million. In 1975 Cedar Point indicated they were abandoning the project.
Battle Creek site near Fort Custer 1976 - "Kingdom of Adventure"
After the deal in Irish Hills fell through, Cedar Point next began negotiating with Battle Creek on a 390 acre parcel. It was said the deal was done but it required Battle Creek to do certain things that Cedar Point said did not happen. That deal also fell apart.
Shiawassee Twp 1975
Shiawassee Twp briefly flirted with the idea of building a park on a 720 acre site near I-69 that was owned by the school district. I don't think the plan went beyond the talking stages.
Gaines Twp 1973-1975 "Little Michigan"
Gaines Twp in Bay County also considered building a 320 acre park. It was the brainchild of James L. Graham. The site would have been based on a scale map of Michigan and the attractions would have been educational in nature in addition to some standard rides and such. There was pretty extensive coverage of it for a few years but alas, it never came to fruition. Financing issues were seen as part of the problem.
Hillsdale County 1975
Hillsdale indicated they were "making a pitch" for a park involving Cedar Point in the summer of 1975. The plan was shelved after only a few months as it was thought the Battle Creek Cedar Point idea was going to go forward. We now know that never happened.
South Lyon/Green Oak Twp Theme Park 1974
Right around the time the Irish Hills project was brewing with Cedar Point, South Lyon and later Green Oak Twp was considering a 225 acre "theme park" at a cost of $30 million dollars. It never came to pass.
Children's Farm and Village Park Amusement Park 1978 - Kensington MetroPark in Miford
A company called Kensington Children's Farm and Village had a plan to build a 120 acre amusement park in Kensington Park in Milford. Attorney General Frank J. Kelley filed suit to stop it. Some of the local residents were also opposed. Kelley didn't feel mechanical rides were appropriate for the park which even today is a quiet place with no power boats allowed.