Hambone

Is that an Immelman? That is a weird looking inversion the banking is extreme, but it almost seems to never invert. This ride looks amazing.

Geauga Lake was a mess its first year the park was rushed into operation with little don to improve the park or fix any of the problems much of this came from the fact that the transaction was completed with 40 some odd days till the park was to open. The animal park sat dormant while the price stayed a ludicrously high 35 dollars for a park that was only half there. Then came the worst advertising campaign for a park I have ever witnessed in Ohio the Mr. fun commercials they showcased a goofy guy and his family driving to Geauga lake while not showing anything the park had. The situation was grim the food was horrible the park was understaffed again and frankly the place was a ghost town. This is were one of my issues arise with the park they claimed to have drawn 700k people in 2004 having gone 24 times in 2004 I can claim to the fact that that number is ludicrous there were no where near that many people there in 2004. The park as a whole felt rushed with signage coming in late and maps not even being ready as the park opened. The wild life side was dead all year with a maze of fences leading to the two attractions in the back. The ferry’s were forced to move to a spot where they couldn’t operate during the water ski show and people were forced to use the floating bridge to access the south side of the park. The bridge was amusing for the mutant carp alone, but on sunny days feeling the sun bounce off that lake was brutal. The only other option the park had during the was the beautiful but barren wooded path around the lake, this wasn’t really even an option for the park though due to the fact that it was long and barren and would require added sweeps and security that at the time was a problem for the park because they couldn’t have their own police force. Also until late may u could see the zebras still on the path and having wildlife in the park could lead to issues. The park itself made some major PR mistakes mainly rejecting passes handed out by six flags for s reading program. The fiasco was worked out and the passes were excepted but the damage was done in the media. The park itself ran the horrible Mr. Fun commercials all summer and no park footage was featured until mid august in the commercials. Many people didn’t even know that the park was open and many that did show up were shocked by the absence of the animal park. The park has greatly suffered by these mistakes many of the hits were unavoidable the animal park had to go to viable amusement companies that saw that it was impossible to operate in this climate and be successful. Cedar Fair had very little animal experience mainly the old dolphin show at cedar point, it would have been a disaster trying to secure critters and manage them. The ticket situation could have been handled much better they only knocked down the price $5 and lost half of the park. When cedar fair got the park much of it was in disarray for example the hook’s lagoon water play structure had to be closed for the season because it was unfit to operate. The work that they got done in the short amount of time before the park opened was amazing they had to completely detheme a park and retheme the kiddy land in a little more than 5 months. The park was struggling to shed its six flags image and the lack of flashy signs for rides didn’t help. The future of the park was in doubt from the beginning there was a lot of land that needed attention as well as a cramp water park that was the main draw for the park. The decision was made to rebuild a state of the art water park on the south side of the park solving two problems at once while satisfying the locals who didn’t want any loud rides or large eyesores near them. The plan was good built a park in two themes while keeping the old park open to hold all the potential guests. The execution didn’t go so smoothly they greatly underestimated winter in the snow belt and they underestimated the strength of the buildings that Seaworld had built. This led to the project going greatly over budget and is why we don’t see the full phase II this season. The water park opened almost a month late and to another PR nightmare with the union boycott of the park. But the park had greatly improved from the previous year Mr Hydes nasty fall opened with the park even though it was on life support all season. It was a highly visual ride that sat dormant all of 2004 due to the lack of care put in by six flags. The park was neat and looked fresh with Thunderhawk receiving a new paint job and all major rides having signs. The new picnic pavilions were great additons to the park that should help to attract new corporate parties. They had almost finished Wolf bobs retrack and acquired another train for the ride two boost its capacity. Padding was added to the villains trains making the ride somewhat less brutal. And two flat rides were added to the park. It looked like the park was heading in the same direction the park pulled 700k again (which actually looked like 700k this season). The park isn’t going to add a large coaster or sometime maybe a spinning mouse in a few years. The park currently has 10 coasters which is ludicrous for the population they have to draw from they need to expand the show schedules and built some venues for better shows currently they have a converted cafeteria and an outside stage and that’s it. Their looking to go with the family park campaign but they have very little a family can do as a unit. Add a stunt show add another theater with actually seating, add an indoor laser show they had one in the early 90’s and it was a success. The park could add more roving entertainment it was something they had at Hershey this summer, it adds music to the environment and encourages guest interaction. They are clearly tring to attract the whole family with thte 9.99 child and senior tickets and yet they have no entertainment for the older generation. A dark ride could do wonders for the park and a transport ride to the otherside of the lake is needed (that isn’t the boats the diesel fumes on those things could choke a donkey). The water park needs to continue to grow also nothing crazy but another lazy river(preferably a mountain slide to take advantage of the huge hills on the west side of the park) and a family raft slide would help. The park also needs more sit down restaurants preferably air conditioned. If the water park on the northside is closed this year they lose the only sitdown restaurant on the north side (beachcombers). The park will be in transition for some time, probably another 3 years atleast while they fix the mess six flags left figuratively and physically. The park isn’t going anywhere anytime soon for the bargain that cedar fair purchased the park they will be willing to patient. This is the cedar fair way fix operation strengthen the parks infrastructure and make a personality for the park (no matter how sterile) that is one of a clean safe environment. And to those who complain about all the rides leaving the only ride lost in the 2 years will be Hydes which was an operational night mare due to years of neglect at it former location and under six flags. It was a wonder it even operated this year, the ride ran but not properly the braking system was jury rigged and stopped to hard causing near whiplash to its riders. Consequently the ride wasn’t removed due to this the ride was struck by lightning during Octoberfest frying the computer system and dooming the ride. ( this info was from an operator of hydes who posts on a different board the new comp system would cost more than what the ride was up for sale for). And that has been the only ride taking out by cedar fair the enterprise was gone the last summer of six flags management. The park is in good hands with Spehn he is a presence in the park I would see him every visit and he would often stop me and my friends and ask us how our day was. He is trying to right the ship and has greatly improved operations and upkeep in the park. Frankly, I may just be some fan boy who doesn’t want to lose his home park but most of the negative comments I’m seen in this thread relate to lack of rides added and the loss of rerides. The park has way more capacity than it needs now so rides will be sparce for awhile as the park is fixed, and rerides come on really are you that lazy walk around. The park will go on but it will never be a major player again its going to be a companion to make cedar point a week long vacation. The water park will continue to grow and the rides will remain as a pleasant add on. The haunt will be missed but there’s no point in competing with yourself for a specialty event. The only way I could see it returning is a separate event like the original haunt. The park is starting to find its niche don’t expect another cedar point expect a Michigan’s adventure the only competition is Kennywood and they are happy in their niche.

I have been going to Geauga Lake my entire life. I remember the days before premier and the years before the transformation to six flags. The park was drastically changed by six flags mostly for the worse. They added many amazing rides but at the same time they did little to improve the infrastructure of the park. Before the transformation Geauga lake was a small picnic park with most of the attendance coming from company and union picnics. The park had modest expansions and mainly fed off of the free waterpark. When the transformation happened in 2000 everything changed, they made a big splash with four new coasters a new kids land a moved and improved new waterpark and a splash boat ride. There was an enormous media blitz reaching far from what would be considered the regional area of the park. They claimed the expansion was only 40 million but that number seems awfully low for a 4000+ ft beemer, an impulse, a good sized woodie, a kiddie coaster, a new themed kids play land with two large play structures and 8 new kiddie rides plus the splash down boat and the new wave pool and lazy river. Not to mention the cost of the advertising campaign. The campaign was a huge success drawing 2 million + people the initial year. The issues that arose from this huge increase greatly damaged the park and the affects are still felt today. They added new rides and advertised heavily without increasing the infrastructure of the park which led to over crowded midways, huge traffic back ups and parking nightmares due to an undersized lot. The concession stands in the park where not ready for the increase and the lack of bathrooms led to many angry guests that were dissatisfied with their experience after a long drive to an over hyped park. The parks opening was rushed some rides were not finished till late May and the park was understaffed and the cleanliness of the park suffered. The entire way the park was built led to questions about how much time was actually taken in the development, for instance villain was built to contain 4 blocks and run three trains and three trains were ordered. Once the ride was tested it was realized that it was infeasible to run the three trains and the third train entered a rotation accounting for wasted capital. The park it self was a major success for Six Flags and became actual competition for Cedar Point. The next year they added another coaster X-Flight which was more or less a prototype with new technology that was intended to increase the capacity of the slow loading Vekoma Flying Dutchman. And in late 2000 six flags was presented with a offer that was hard to refuse the acquisition of Sea World. This greatly increased the land the park owned and allowed for a one of a kind attraction with the three parks in one marketing catch. The price they paid for Sea World was 110 million this didn’t include the dolphins, the whales, or the penguins which were the main attractions for the park. They made the announcement of the acquisition and made lavish claims of plans for the park promising elaborated themed animal attractions and ride possibilities. The attendance increased once again to over 3 million. Once again the infrastructure of the park remained the same. The service was still deplorable mainly due to the lack of any large college aged population needed to draw quality employees from. The park was starting to realize that if they wanted to beat cedar point on its home turf they would need to keep spending. And in six flag’s situation in that was going to be impossible. The next year little was added to the park two new flats and two new animal attractions. Finally they were able to secure a whale in June for the park which would help to shore up the animal park. This is when attendance started to drop off the advertising campaigns were dieing down due to budget concerns and the park was beginning to have a reputation for bad service and dirty conditions. The park had reached an agreement to raise the height limit at the park and had hinted at a hyper coaster for the park but the ride never came to fruition. 2003 came and some much needed additions to the water park came possibly the best addition to six flags in its 4 years. The ten new slides boosted the capacity of a water park that was well undersized for its location. The park continued to fall off with major rides not opening with the park due to maintenance issues (Wolf bobs rehab and superman missing the train). The advertising campaigns took a turn for the worse with the infamous I drove pass cedar point to come here which was a low blow and frankly a final deaththrow for the park. In the winter of 2003 Six flags decided to cut there losses and sell off the park with the burden of an animal park to maintain year round and an underachieving park. The park was sold for a measly 145 million and it included all the land a campground and a hotel along with the 630 acre park. Which if you think about it six flags took a large hit on the sale (110 mill for sea world 55 mil+ in rides plus the hotel and campground, not even taking in to account the worth of Geauga lake by itself.). The park is struggling to return to being a small regional park again. The animal park was gone in the 1990’s when sea world started looking for a way out when they couldn’t build rides. It just isn’t feasible to run an animal park in a climate that only allows 6 month operation. Two major chains tried to handle it and couldn’t everyone seems to blame Cedar fair for getting rid of the animals but it was a foregone conclusion that the park cannot survive in this climate. Well this is much longer then I intended for a first post but I guess I have more to say then I realized. I have to go to work but I will return with the issues of Geauga lake currently and what can be done. But I am fairly confident that this park will stay open because a plan to make the park self sustaining has been set in action and the main problem with the first two years of the new Geauga lake have been the horrible advertising campaigns.