Geauga Lake Discussion Thread

[kraxleRIDAH]

I can say without remorse that I could care less than The Villain, Raging Wolf Bobs, and Giant Dipper are not being relocated and are being scrapped for their timber. Those three are by far the worst wooden roller coasters I have EVER ridden, coincedentally all in the same park. Only The Villain is somewhat just below average, but that's even giving it too much credit. All three were terrible rides, in my opinion. Got off each and never looked back once.

 

So I guess we now know where that rumored used flat for P/GA next year is coming from. They can move Big Dipper over here too, GA could use some decent wood.

 

Moving an 80+ year wooden roller coaster that's by far the most obsolete construction and design ever (excluding the "only enthusiasts care" historic value of the ride) is not a smart business move. If they're to take down the Big Dipper just to move it, they might as well just build Great America a brand new wooden roller coaster. Not only would it be more cost effective, it would be thrilling more thrilling and up-to-date.

 

I've ridden the Big Dipper before and believe me, you DO NOT want that ride at your park, no matter how historical it is. No matter how well you market a ride as historically important to the industry, if the ride is sh*t, the general riding public could really give a rats ass about its history.

[sixflagsguy5]

There were a lot of posts about about some of the "rough" Cedar Fair rides. Personally I like Timber Wolf and Big Dipper. Both were decent in front row. Villain was rough as hell, so I'm hoping that they either scrap it or move it to a new park with new trains. I think it would be wise to test out new trains on Villian in Spring 2008 just to make sure that it will work and that it doesn't need serious retracking. If that idea turns out to work, then Worlds of Fun would be a good idea, although they could use a floorless coaster too (Dominator).

 

I think that Dominator would fit in well at King's Dominion. If KD is looking to have a full variety of coasters, then they definately need a hyper and a floorless.

 

I'm very disappointed about this removal mainly because of Raging Wolf Bobs. When I plan my trips, I plan them around whats the most important to me. In order these things are 1- wooden credits, 2- awesome looking coasters, 3- parks with the most # of coasters/ credits, 4- credits. I went to Geauga Lake this August on the way home from my East coast trip because of the slight possibility that the park might close. Thunderhawk and Raging Wolf Bobs were closed, so I'm missing my credit on both.

 

I hope that they keep Big Dipper and Raging Wolf Bobs, because they're classic rides. We'll have to see what Cedar Fair thinks.

 

I can see why they would want the park out of the way though. They can bring in the same amount of money as before with just Cedar Point, because people that would have regularly gone to GL will just go to CP now. I don't think that King's Island is a threat to CP b/c it's a good 4 hours away and competes with SFKK, Holiday World, Indiana Beach, and all of the small parks around there.

[EastCoastn07]

I feel like cedar fair just wanted to buy the park to eliminate competition.

 

Could we stop with this already. Six Flags World of Adventure failed! They failed to be a viable competitor to Cedar Point. Why do you think they were so eager to sell after all the capital they invested in the park?

 

Umm, it wasn't failing in 2001 when they installed X-Flight and reached 2.5 million visitors, slightly behind Cedar Point's 3+ million. I actually think if SFI held onto the park a little longer, Shapiro would have been able to turn the park around.

[CoasterFanatic]

^ Would you like to buy a bridge?

[coaster05]

For me personally this is just another reason I dislike CF. They bought, lied to everyone about what they were going to do, removed rides and lied somemore and now there is a Waterpark there. Weeee! I find it funny that for years it ran a nice business til 2 chains tried to make it more then what it was meant to be, now GL is gone. I mean when you are an hour from CP how could either chain justify what they paid for the place.

[sixflagsguy5]

At No Coaster Con whoever represents Geauga Lake/ Cedar Point is going to get bombarded with questions. At the same time, they'll probably have all kinds of cool stuff for sale/ auction and hopefully they'll give some cool stuff away. It's too bad though.

[speedracer]

So I guess we now know where that rumored used flat for P/GA next year is coming from. They can move Big Dipper over here too, GA could use some decent wood.

 

Moving an 80+ year wooden roller coaster that's by far the most obsolete construction and design ever (excluding the "only enthusiasts care" historic value of the ride) is not a smart business move. If they're to take down the Big Dipper just to move it, they might as well just build Great America a brand new wooden roller coaster. Not only would it be more cost effective, it would be thrilling more thrilling and up-to-date.

 

I've ridden the Big Dipper before and believe me, you DO NOT want that ride at your park, no matter how historical it is. No matter how well you market a ride as historically important to the industry, if the ride is sh*t, the general riding public could really give a rats a$$ about its history.

 

Never rode it myself, but had always heard about the amazing airtime, guess I heard wrong. Could care less about the historical aspect, we're just dying for some decent airtime here in NorCal, thought this might be an easy cheap way. Just personally prefer old airtime machines built when designers weren't afraid of -G's, over another airless GCI/Roar, great fun ride but give me some airtime!!!

[CoasterFanatic]

^ I doubt they show up.

[kraxleRIDAH]

For me personally this is just another reason I dislike CF. They bought, lied to everyone about what they were going to do, removed rides and lied somemore and now there is a Waterpark there.

 

When did Cedar Fair officials ever lie about what they were going to do with Geauga Lake? Never did they once ever promise Geauga Lake would continually remain an amusement park. You just assumed this on your own. Nobody lied.

 

It's all in your head.

 

When people get angry and upset, they start pointing fingers and blantantly accusing things by making things up in their head so they have somebody to blame.

[coasterace]

This is sad. I wish they would have announced it earlier so people could go one last time.

 

They already moved X Flight and will be moving Superman's Steel Venom, so I don't doubt they will move most of the rides. They had a historical carousel which I hope they move too.

 

(I also hope they sell some stuff on ebay or have a yard sale of sorts.)

[winningfreak]

Well.. One of the attractions could be heading the way of Knott's If you have been to the park recently and road the railroad train where Big Foot Broiler is now next to it there is a hudge hole and a security guard said there where some guys doing messurings around it and said a new attraction is comming soon!

[CoasterFanatic]

^ Cedar Fair stated many times that they would return Geauga Lake into a traditional amusement park.

 

I guess they meant subdivision.

[kewlcoasterdude]

I guess this all shows us just how greedy Dick Kinzel is and that he'd stop at nothing to get attendance at Cedar Point to increase. I know for a fact attendance was up this year, so I can only take it that Kinzel saw this as a threat to his future plans for Cedar Point.

 

I'll be the first to admit, Geauga Lake was once one of my favorite parks and I guess it's kinda disappointing they're removing all the rides. But the fact is, Cedar Fair did nothing at all to try to improve the rides side during the 4 years they've owned the park now. The rides side has turned to total crap over the past few years and it's obvious that Kinzel never had any intention of getting the park up to Cedar Fair standards. It's quite obvious the whole objective of taking over this park is so Cedar Point can control the Cleveland market.

 

All I know is I probably won't be visiting any Cedar Fair parks in the near future. This announcement has really made me lose respect for the chain considering they just flushed over 100 years of people's memories down the drain. I have a feeling this news won't sit well in the stomach's of Aurora's citizens.

 

Are you serious?

Nobody went to that park! Everything has been tried to get the attendence up there. Nothing has worked and it was just losing money. You make no sense in your bash of cedar fair.

[coasterbilly]

alright my turn haha

 

I've had a brilliant history with this park, I went in 2000 to Sea World Ohio (does anyone remember this!!) and was watching the show on the lake that overlooked the new Six Flags Ohio (right after SF bought it). It was crowded and the park looked fantastic!

 

Came back in 2002 when it was Six Flags Worlds of Adventure and I must say, it was an impressive place, seriously the 10 coasters they featured were top notch, well operated, and re-rideable. It was a highlight for me and made me proud of SF for purchasing, upkeeping, and pumping that many new thrills into that park.

 

Then CF bought it then things went sour. I went this season, 2007 and what a change. Obviously 2 coasters took their leave, and the park was a mess, terrible operations, no excitement from employees, and half the rides were closed. I was really upset because this once bright shining place that made me have a great experience back in '02 was rapidly decaying, and now this announcement.

 

Well, can't say we didn't see this happening. But why? Six Flags destroyed Cedar Fair on this one no doubt, they took Geauga Lake, put a family coaster in, an incredible B&M floorless, an Intamin Impulse, and a Vekoma Flyer in all in the span of 2 years, what an accomplisment. When I heard that CF took over I was bittersweet because some names had to change and theming was lost, but I knew CF's high reputation so I thought it would continue to get better. But nope, it just went down slowly. I don't care if Cedar Point is an hour away, they are 2 completely different places with different memories and experiences. Cedar Point, to some, is too big, too crowded, and too commerical, GL is close, and it's more laid back, family friendly, and just a nice beautiful park to visit, which many people might prefer. I know lots of thought went into their decision with this park, but the amusement industry lost another park that seriously had room to expand and become another signature park for Cedar Fair, all I can say is I had fantastic memories there and RIP Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake, will definitely be missed.

[coasterdude5]

I know alot of people won't agree with me, but I wish Six Flags still had the park, especially right now. It seems Six Flags is really trying to turn the chain around and I think that Geauga Lake would've benefited from that movement.

 

I think it would've been better off with SF. It might've had some low years but I believe it would've eventually come back up.

[ginzo]

This is not a big surprise at all. The rides side of Geauga Lake was pretty dead when we went in May. We did all the coasters in a few hours.

 

Now that Cedar Fair has gotten rid of their big money pit maybe they'll build up the water park some.

[ParkTrips]

hahaha that's awesome

 

I'm shocked that it took this long, and this totally makes my decision to skip riding Maverick in favor of whoring GL soooo much better!!!

 

One of the saddest parks in America is biting the dust and honestly I don't even care where any of their rides end up.

 

Perhaps GL will surpass Disaster Transport on the Kinzel list of failures

[EastCoastn07]

For me personally this is just another reason I dislike CF. They bought, lied to everyone about what they were going to do, removed rides and lied somemore and now there is a Waterpark there.

 

When did Cedar Fair officials ever lie about what they were going to do with Geauga Lake? Never did they once ever promise Geauga Lake would continually remain an amusement park. You just assumed this on your own. Nobody lied.

 

It's all in your head.

 

When people get angry and upset, they start pointing fingers and blantantly accusing things by making things up in their head so they have somebody to blame.

 

Actually, I remember seeing an article back (I'll try to find it), where Falfas clearly said that the park had no intention of giving up on the park and they had a 3-5 year goal to turn Geauga Lake back into a traditional amusement park. Now we know that this was never the park's intentions. That in my opinion is lieing to your customers, and something Cedar Fair is really good at.

 

And to add on to what I said about me thinking that Wildwater Kingdom won't survive as a stand alone waterpark, I found a few interesting stats that might surprise some people. As it stands right now, there are only three waterparks in the entire United States that average over 1 million guests a year. Also, in the top 5 highest attended waterparks in America, 4 out of the 5 parks are located in an area with relatively hot climate.

 

1. Typhoon Lagoon (1,914,000), Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

2. Blizzard Beach (1,778,000), Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

3. Wet ‘n Wild (1,340,000), Orlando, Fla.

4. Schlitterbahn (917,000), New Braunfels, Texas

5. Water Country USA (697,000), Williamsburg, Va.

 

http://www.waterparks.org/otherArticles/Generalfacts.pdf

 

Also if you notice, only 4 out of those 15 most visited parks aren't affiliated with any amusement park nearby. Obviously that's going to help their attendance out tremendously, and that's something this waterpark will no longer have. So quite frankly, I just don't see how this park is going to survive, but we'll have to wait and see.

[dpxtreme]

*In Valleyfair's Words*

I call Beaver Creek Mine Ride!

 

In Great America's Words:

 

"Give us whatever you got!! Maybe a roller coaster please!"

[KGA29]

While I hope GA gets something out of it, there's not much that I could want from that park (realistically). All rides that possibly could go to other parks are already rumored to go other places, but SFDK has a lot of the same/similar rides just an hour away so it would make no sense in putting them in at GA. This includes Dominator (though KD looks very likely), Thunderhawk (MiA?), Beaverland Mine Ride, and Steel Venom (though V2 at SFDK is slightly different and it is rumored to go to DP). Most other flats either GA or SFDK has already or in some form. I'm sure that Starfish doesn't want to be back in the bay area.

[pianojohn]

As someone who grew up going to both Geauga Lake and Cedar Point, this is still sad news.

 

The two parks were never and would never be on the same level. Once Six Flags bought GL, it still could not compete with Cedar Point. They just grew too fast and too quickly. Whoever heard of putting 4 coasters into a park in one year?? Even Cedar Point would not do that, although they did open two coasters in 1979 (Jr. Gemini and a newer version of the Wildcat)

 

Still, I hope that some of the history and tradition from the park can be preserved, especially the Big Dipper and Carousel.

 

And the water park is a good financial decision, even if it does not sit well with coaster enthusiasts. Water Parks are cheaper to run and maintain, and if the weather cooperates, they make money hand over fist.

 

We used to go to Holiday Sands in Ohio, a really crappy pre-water park with no water slides, just some water obstacles and such. And the place was always packed!

 

Good luck Geauga Lake. I will be rooting for you!

[speedracer]

^ Cedar Fair stated many times that they would return Geauga Lake into a traditional amusement park.

 

I guess they meant subdivision.

 

Exactly, this huge parcel of prime real estate should fetch a nice chunk of change for CF:

 

http://bp2.blogger.com/_cVF2LlOx6Zc/RtVltkPVsgI/AAAAAAAABow/lYWhkIIUEFo/s1600-h/Geauga.JPG

[Homer]

I know alot of people won't agree with me, but I wish Six Flags still had the park, especially right now. It seems Six Flags is really trying to turn the chain around and I think that Geauga Lake would've benefited from that movement.

 

I think it would've been better off with SF. It might've had some low years but I believe it would've eventually come back up.

I would have to agree with you there. Six Flags did its best against Cedar Point and SFWoA looked like a great Six Flags park, despite Premier's poor management skills. I bet if it was still part of the chain, Shapiro would have easily sunk some dough into it and given it almost the same treatment as SFDK did.

 

The animals were a major draw and I think Dick Kinzel admitted that taking out the animals was one of his big screwups with Geauga Lake.

 

Oh well, RIP Geauga Lake. You looked like such a nice park, but all good things must come to an end.

[coasterdude5]

Hey, does anyone think they might add in the Roller Soaker that was originally supposed to be installed? Maybe that's where the one from Carowinds is heading... It'd still allow Geauga Lake to be semi-classified as a "themepark."

[EastCoastn07]

The animals were a major draw and I think Dick Kinzel admitted that taking out the animals was one of his big screwups with Geauga Lake.

 

From my understanding, Cedar Fair never owned the animals so technically it wasn't their decision to take the animals out. When Six Flags sold the park to Cedar Fair, the animals weren't included in the deal thus they were sent to other Six Flags parks. I just don't see how Kinzel can continue using this as a excuse for the park's failure since 1) it wasn't their decision to take them out and 2) attendance was already declining in 2002 and 2003 even with the animals. If Kinzel and Co. really wanted the park to improve, they would have spruced up the rides side along with the waterpark, it just seems like they never once had the intention of doing anything with the rides side.