Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[_koppen]

Really nice to se some colors!

I didn't even know you could paint waterslides

[DougMJr]

^They painted the old watersides at Darien Lake during the Splashtown expansion a couple years ago. From what I could tell it's just like painting almost anything else. Sand(blast), prime, paint. It made the slides look just like new and hopefully it will do the same for soak city.

[coasternut]

I see Sandusky gave "Big Dick" Kinzel the keys to the city earlier this week. Not sure what he will do with it. Please someone open that exit gate for him soon...

[coastermaniac]

^ It'll come soon enough; less than 2 months now...

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

I don't see why everybody doesn't like Dick Kinzel. He bought many dirty, nasty Paramount parks, and shaped them up just fine. I love what he has done with Cedar Fair.

[coastermaniac]

I don't see why everybody doesn't like Dick Kinzel. He bought many dirty, nasty Paramount parks, and shaped them up just fine. I love what he has done with Cedar Fair.

 

I do like some of the stuff that he has done; like with the Paramount parks, many great roller coasters, etc. However, the fact that he ruined and shut down my home park put a real bruise on things.

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Would that be Geagua Lake you are taking about? Well, I don't know what really happened there so I can't say anything about that. What I do know is that you atill have 2 other CF parks in ohio!

[coastermaniac]

I know that we still have CP and KI; Cedar Point is 80 miles from where I live but GL was 15 miles.

 

We are all theme park fanatics here and many of us really care about our 'home park'. To have your home park shut down, it really hurts. To everyone who has had that experience knows what I'm talking about. To everyone who doesn't know the feeling, they are fortunate. Dick said that they bought the park because it was 'under hard times' or something along those lines and then ended up closing it 4 years later due to 'low attendance'. That could easily be true, however we all know that's not 100% of the reason why they bought it and shut it down. It being so close to Cedar Point made it a competitor and therefore Kinzel didn't want competition that close.

 

So like I said, Kinzel did do a lot of good for the COMPANY of Cedar Fair but as far as Geauga Lake goes, he didn't care about the park; he just wanted to get rid of it. The day he announced its closing was the day I became an 'anti-fan' of him. So his departure from Cedar Fair is a good thing IMO and I hope Ouimet does some good for the company.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

I know that we still have CP and KI; Cedar Point is 80 miles from where I live but GL was 15 miles.

 

We are all theme park fanatics here and many of us really care about our 'home park'. To have your home park shut down, it really hurts. To everyone who has had that experience knows what I'm talking about. To everyone who doesn't know the feeling, they are fortunate. Dick said that they bought the park because it was 'under hard times' or something along those lines and then ended up closing it 4 years later due to 'low attendance'. That could easily be true, however we all know that's not 100% of the reason why they bought it and shut it down. It being so close to Cedar Point made it a competitor and therefore Kinzel didn't want competition that close.

 

So like I said, Kinzel did do a lot of good for the COMPANY of Cedar Fair but as far as Geauga Lake goes, he didn't care about the park; he just wanted to get rid of it. The day he announced its closing was the day I became an 'anti-fan' of him. So his departure from Cedar Fair is a good thing IMO and I hope Ouimet does some good for the company.

 

 

Which would you rather have had?CF buying the park & getting a few more years out of it or SFI failing to find a buyer & closing it outright in 04 ala SFAW?That place was ruined the minute SFI put their brand on the place & made terrible marketing & expenditure decisions regarding it,not CF.

[ABW]

Can we please stop with this whole "CEDAR FAIR CLOSED DOWN MY HOME PARK AND NOW I HAVE TO DRIVE JUST A COUPLE MORE HOURS TO CEDAR POINT! I HATE CEDAR FAIR SO MUCH!" bitching? Seriously, GL had NO potential whatsoever. I know they're hardcore fans won't acknowledge it but it's true. There's no way that ANY park (let alone GL) could survive being in Eastern Ohio. There's simply no demand for it with two other much better theme park resorts in the area. Yeah, I get that it was so much closer the Cedar Point and so on and so fourth, but be realistic, how many times did you actually see the park thriving since 2005? Also, I don't know what makes you people think that Cedar Fair was the company that threw the park into a ditch because the company that really did that was Six Flags. Six Flags bribed everyone in that area with thinking that it was actually possible by investing TONS in the park when they bought it 2000 (without a whole lot of thought) and ended up a few years later (with sinking attendance) saying "Whoops! We never thought that'd happen. Guess we'll have to sell the park since it isn't performing to what we thought!" So they sold the park to Cedar Fair which tried HARD to bring attendance back up, but they eventually realized the reality that the park simply didn't have demand and the only people that came lived very close to the park. So, they closed it. If it had potential, people would be trying to bring it back together (See Kentucky Kingdom) but that simply isn't the case for this park.

 

Also, I want to make clear that I'm not one of those people who's all for the execs and corporate companies who says "THE EXCUTIVES NEED MORE PAY!!11" I'm much for less cooperate companies. However, the reality is that Cedar Fair made a decision that made sense and GL simply wouldn't have managed with ANY company. That should be made clear.

[DiSab]

^+1

[Skycoastin Steve]

^^You may be my new favorite poster. Sorry everyone else.

[coasternut]

I don't see why everybody doesn't like Dick Kinzel. He bought many dirty, nasty Paramount parks, and shaped them up just fine. I love what he has done with Cedar Fair.

 

My point about "Big Dick" is he was great in his day. His day has passed about 3 or 4 years ago. I hoping to see a lot of good things out of Matt.

[Philrad71]

Just remember that being young and living fast never beats older and wiser. I really don't see anything bad with what Kinzel has done in recent years...except p%ss off a bunch of whiny enthusiasts that didn't get what they wanted out of their home parks.

[Wes]

^ The botched sale of Cedar Fair to Apollo and subsequent shareholder revolt?

[eddie200330]

Just remember that being young and living fast never beats older and wiser. I really don't see anything bad with what Kinzel has done in recent years...except p%ss off a bunch of whiny enthusiasts that didn't get what they wanted out of their home parks.

 

LMAO!!! That sounds like my kids when they don't get a toy every we time we go to Wal Mart!!!

 

He must've done something right as these parks really draw in the customers year after year.

[dragonskeep]

Magnum came from Dick Kinzel's belly, I love him.

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

^Oh that reminds me, is Magnum-XL 200 rough?

[dragonskeep]

^It's a runaway train just as it was supposed to be. It's great but some do think it's rough, I don't.

[coasterlover420]

^^It doesn't have an Intamin/B&M rattle. Does that answer your question?

[coasterfreak101]

It's not rough, but it'll leave you with bruises on your thighs if you sit in the right seats. I don't like it, but somehow riding it is enjoyable just because of the crazy airtime laced with pain on the return run.

[Defcon62]

Good riddance to kinzel, I hope his retirement is short and he gets eaten by a wild pig.

 

I will make the following points in regards to Geauga Lake as an employee from 1998 to 2007. During the six flags WOA era the place was freaking packed on a regular basis to the point of it being hard to get to work on time due to having to walk through crowds. The halloween haunt was on par with CP's with 2 hr waits for houses, Yet all the the GL haunt themeing was shipped to CP after 05 and is still in use. If 6 flags wasn't idiots they've have kept this place or sold to busch who reportedly made an offer.

 

CF upon taking over from day one they started removing very popular attractions in a destructive manner starting with the animals, live shows, then X-flight, bell aire, Mr. Hydes, Steel Venom replacing all of this with empty fields and fenced off park areas, full of rubble and letting the 4 year old water park rot in plain view all this along with pissing off the local labor unions who then declined to have their annual huge picnics at the park. No effort was made at all to keep the place viable by management.

[eddie200330]

It's not rough, but it'll leave you with bruises on your thighs if you sit in the right seats. I don't like it, but somehow riding it is enjoyable just because of the crazy airtime laced with pain on the return run.

 

Does this make us sadists or masochists???

[Skycoastin Steve]

Magnum has beautiful, magnificent, glorious airtime. And it murders your thighs. But it's the best murdering around if you ask me.

[coasternut]

Magnum came from Dick Kinzel's belly, I love him.

 

That's when he was "Good Dick" not "Evil Dick."