geaugalakeinexile

Geauga Lake Today and Forever website forum is saying that Big Dipper has been sold for $5,000. Hopefully North America's 12th oldest coaster will get a new home.

Cedar Fair took a 119 year old park that drew 2.1 million visitors in 2004 and took it down to ( supposedly ) 700,000 visitors. They removed the entire animal side, removed coasters and did not fix any that broke. But as bad as that is, it is not as bad as the fact that management was asked at the park, " Will the ride side be open in 2008" and they lied. If you look at how this was handled, Cedar Fair bought Geauga Lake to close it. It was too close to Cedar Point. That is why Cedar Fair is not going to let anyone put a park on that land. This issue is a thorn in Cedar Fairs side and it is not going away. Kennywood has seen this and is advertising in the Cleveland area heavily. Many of us are staying away from Cedar Fair parks. As for the Big Dipper. ACE may have been offered a free coaster. But with no place to put it, that is useless. Cedar Fair will not sell the land to ACE. If the Big Dipper were to stay on site people would be reminded of what Cedar Fair did.

Darien Lake last weekend - May 30th and 31st. All of the staff were friendly. As the park was closing and we were heading to Laserblast we wanted a hot dog. We went to Beaver Bros. restaurant which had just closed the kitchen, but offered to get us a hot dog. Great service when they really did not have to. Also the Saturday night ride ops at Ride of Steel, they were very fast. And had a great time. They even had the crowd singing. I've never seen that before. We had a great time.

Darien Lake is marketing this coaster for what it is, a family coaster. The ride is much better than it looks in videos. I got to ride it on opening day and was impressed. The seating position makes the ride seem faster, and adds to the track banking. The 48" min. height limit lets more in the family ride. If you want to find out more about Darien Lake and see video of Motocoaster check out darienlakecentral.com

OMG you time travel?!?! WOAH!!! Haha jk, man! Do you mean 2007? Yep, 2007. I got a case of fat fingers. Although I just got back from opening day and they seem to have re-tracked more. So maybe it wasn't time travel but seeing the future.

Well the last time I rode it, we rode it once during the day. It was running really slow, and didn't really hurt too bad. Then we rode it later in the evening and it re-aranged my spine. I have to ask.... Did you ride it after the re-tracking in May of 08? When I rode it in Oct. 08 it was better than I feared, but still a little rough. Nowhere near as rough as SoB, or Mean Streak.

If you want to get some basic info about Darien Lake, see some photos and videos. Then check out darienlakecentral.com. The site is fairly new so I'm still filling it out. There is a link to an aerial view of Darien Lake from early 2007 ( I think ). You can see the pools where Motocoaster is going. I'm old, with a bad back, but there is no coaster at DL that I don't ride, and enjoy. I will say that Predator is much better after the re-tracking done last year. I can't wait for the season to start.

To me Cedar Point has gone down the most over the past few years. It has gotten to the point that I do not even plan on going anymore. The staff doesn't seem to care. The food is awful. Prices are high. The coaster mix is not as much fun for me as SFMM. Magnum needs work, beats up your thighs if you are tall. Mean Streak can be very rough, even the ride op's skipped the green train when testing. MF has lost it's appeal to me. Sure it's smooth and fast. But it has no life to it. It's just a windy Lazy Boy to me. Gemini ran mostly 1 side in the mornings when I went, so no racing. Maverick was OK but nothing special. And believe it or not the park that I think has the biggest improvement is little Seabreeze in Rochester NY. The Jack Rabbit is still a great woodie even after 80 years. If you saw that park in the 1970's you would not have given it a chance to survive. They really try to make an effort. And it shows. Also Darien Lake is heading in the right direction, especially with the addition of Motocoaster and adding local food.

So far in 08... Disneyland California's Adventure Six Flags Magic Mountain

There are no backwards coasters at Cedar Fair parks...... Just backwards management.

Having more does not mean better. CP has none of my favorites in any class. Others will disagree, but I find CP has only 3 coasters that I want to ride. SFMM has 5, so , for me, SFMM wins. Titles don't mean a thing. I have yet to go to a park that I did not enjoy. ( I do my homework and go to parks that I have an interest in ) So it's all good. If SFMM wants to claim the "Title" , fine. If CP claims the "Title" , fine.

We will be going to opening day, May 3rd. 2008, at Darien Lake. It's been a long winter and I'm ready to ride.

I think that some parks like CP will suffer. CP is located about 1 hour from any major population center. And the cities near them have high unemployment rates. Paying for the park, parking and gas is going to hit some people. The smaller local parks should do OK, they are priced much better, and are near enough people to survive. As for Darien Lake, I'll drive to there for opening day from Cleveland. To me, DL is a fun, relaxing park. And priced really good.

My last coaster was California Screamin in February. I'm in Ohio now, up to my tail in snow. That trip has to last me until May when Darien Lake opens.

I got my 2008 season started early. ( for being in Ohio ) SFMM - got to already Disneyland and DCA - got to already Darien Lake 5+ starting opening day May 08 Kennywood 5+ SFGA 1 - July 08 Dollywood 1 Sometime in June Hersheypark 1 Also June. Waldameer at least once. If Ravine Flyer is good then we will stop on every trip to Darien Lake. It's at the 1/2 way point.

I'll use any fast pass system when I travel to a park. But not at my home park. If I have traveled across the country and have only 2 or 3 days then I want to ride. I really like Disney's system. Everyone can put their ticket in the machine and get a ticket out with the return time to come back and ride. It's free and available to everyone. If you like waiting in lines go to Cedar Point. Just like the DMV, Long lines, spend too much money, and all you want to do is go for a ride.

I had to go to Irvine CA. for work the 1st week of Feb. 08. Stayed near Disney in Anaheim. Got to SFMM on Sunday 2-4-08. We had a great time. I am very impressed with SFMM. I finally got the photos put on flickr you can see them at http://www.flickr.com/gp/12083818@N04/e49N5k The trip was great even if it was mostly business. Thanks to all of you on this site. With this sites information and help with our questions we got to do everything that we wanted. The trip reports posted here really make planning a day at a park easy. Nemo ride at Disney. LONG lines. California Screamin. SFMM Tatsu. The best flight I have ever had. ( without an airplane ) Disney Haunted Mansion. Television does not do it justice. Tower of Terror. Way better than it looks. Disney CA's version of the Wonder Wheel.

Thanks for the fast response. I am going to try to get to SFMM around 4pm Saturday. That way if Sunday is OK for weather then Sunday will just be a bonus. Hopefully I can get in a few rides.

We are coming in from Ohio on Saturday. I have to get my seasons passes processed. The weather report is getting worse for Sunday. My question is should I drive up to SFMM on Saturday? Or hope that they will open on Sunday? How often do they close when they are scheduled to open? Even though this will be listed as my home park I do not know when or if I will be back to California this year,so I need to do this on this trip. Thanks.

Check out Comfort Suites on Turkey Lake road. Turkey Lake road runs parallel to Route 4 and is the road that runs behind Universal, so you can use the back entrance. A very quiet residential neighborhood. Very quick to get to Universal and almost no traffic. You can go south on Turkey Lake road and cut under Route 4 to get to the entrance to Sea World. They have shuttle service. Also great in hotel pizza.

We're going to SFMM on Feb 3rd. and need to get our seasons passes processed. We are coming in from Cleveland and have not been to SFMM before. Does SFMM process passes early or only during park hours? Also any suggestions about doing the park in one day would be appreciated. I'm coming in for business and can only do one day this trip. Thanks.

SOB at Kings Island in 2005. It still had the loop then. After riding everything else I rode SOB. So rough that I left the park. It felt like I had been in a fight. Sore just about everywhere. It was closed when I went this year so I do not know if the loop removal helped.

WRONG! - Cedar Fair will make more money from the sale of that land (even in a poor real estate market) that GL could pull in. That sounds just like what Six Flags thought when they closed Astroworld. That little mistake cost Six Flags millions and cost some people their jobs. Selling land now is not a guarantee of profits. Remember the housing slump? Check out the Motley Fools view of FUN. Not pretty.

Cedar Fair did not even try to sell Geauga Lake when they realized that their "plan" had failed. I have read that there would have been buyers if they tried to sell. I still believe that they closed the ride side because they did not want any competition with Cedar Point. Cedar Point has gone from 3.7 million visitors in 2005 to around 3 million this year. I live within 45 minutes of Cedar Point, but no longer go. They are too much like the DMV. Too much money, wait in line too long, when all you want to do is go for a ride.

The biggest thing about the Geauga Lake closing was that CF denied it and did not announce the closing until after the final weekend. Nobody got a chance to say goodbye. CF did not keep the animal side and removed coasters. A sure fire way to kill the park. 119 years in business and Cedar Fair kills it.