Big Dipper to CP?

I'll bet a former GM of GL was behind at least some of this and will come clean when he write his memoirs.

I thought I just posted this a few minutes ago, but apparently it didn't take. Here's a link to a story by WKYC news on the situation:

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=88338

Chief Wahoo said:
I'll bet a former GM of GL was behind at least some of this and will come clean when he write his memoirs.

The Former GM of GL, was Bill Spehn, who is now Vice President of Operations at CP. And I'm willing to bet he had very little say to what went on with this.

Well Mike, it looks as if they've made the decision now to sell it at the auction.

I'd say Kim Wendel was uninformed at the time she wrote the article or the Norton Auctioneer site was updated after she wrote it.

;) Glad to be of service lol

^^^Yep, and more's the pity. Guess we're back to sell it (probably not) or trash it. Will somebody please keep John away from the pyre with his stupid marshmallows until a few of us are finished grieving? ;)

I didn't say that the former GM had "a lot of say" in this...but I'll bet he was part of whatever crazy process this was. I don't think it is a secret that he like the Dipper.

I just got off the phone with John Hildebrandt, and he said Big Dipper will be built in an underwater bubble in the lake, right next to the 500-foot flying dive machine and the dueling floorless stand ups.

There'll also be a flying coaster, with 16 inversions.

And if anyone wasn't aware, you don't want to burn treated lumber. EVER.

Thank you for taking the time to read this public service announcement, back to your regularly scheduled ridiculous speculation already in progress.....

Not entirely true.

You just don't really want to breathe in the fumes/smoke coming from treated lumber. Other than that, it is perfectly safe to burn.

Just a quick thought, has anyone been to Idlewild Park in PA? (est 1878) Bunch of flat rides, old rollercoaster (1938) built from lumber from the trees they cleared to build parts of the park, great kiddie areas, great picnic areas, and a large, fairly modern water park. Oh, and they got a Wild Mouse about 15 years ago. The parking lot isn't paved, you park under trees on pine needles, and there are log pavilions everywhere you can reserve for picnics. Until a few years ago the paths were all gravel. Not a monster thrill park loaded down with coasters, but they still draw a nice crowd who enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. Seems to me they could turn Geauga Lake into that kind of experience without too much effort. I'm sure it'd be a tough sell at first, what with people used to all the extra coasters SF dumped on the park after the buy-out, but it's a great location for it.

Another note, GL could've said no to a boatload of money. If I have my facts straight, they made a similar offer to Kennywood first and KW told them to pound sand.

Chief Wahoo said:
So, could the "back on the auction block" be as a result of the early leak that it was being moved? Could it simply be spite at this point?

Strange, strange stuff.

It's not strange at all. There are these big talking schmucks behind the scenes who don't have the money to back it up.

I hate that people are playing right into the B.S. that Munch "leaked" and eating it up.

I'm not saying that Munch had any particular influence in all of this. I'm just saying that there is enough here to have a good reason to think SOMETHING was up and, perhaps the timing was just coincidental, but that SOMETHING has been changed.

Again, I agree with your general premise that People who Know don't talk...but the reality is that People who Know sometimes DO talk. Of that I am absolutely positive. Did that happen here? I don't know. But, there is a lot here that is not adding up and someone earlier was right on in that we may not ever know exactly what transpired.

But what difference does it make? I can say with 100% certainty that something or nothing happened. That in itself isn't news, you know?

Well, news is interesting in and of itself but isn't the "exictement" here generally generated by rumor, opinion and speculation?

I think that the way this "non-issue" has been handled, when combined with other situations we have seen from Cedar Fair over the past couple of years, is interesting to explore. Sure, I'd like to see the Dipper survive in some form.

But, of even more interest to me is the thought process going into any decisions they are making about the park right now. How much is being driven by economics, emotions or some other variables? You can say that it is only economics...but then that excuse doesn't work when you talk about the GMs that are being moved around. There is emotion going into those decisions, is there not?

There are no facts out there about Roger Clemens and Mindy Mcready. But, that is being covered by just about every major news outlet right?

While I agree that it’s either 100% true or 100% false I think it does make a difference too many people. Especially the ones that enjoyed Geauga Lake and were lied to about its closing, and yes there were people lied to, this is a fact not speculation.

Although Cedar Fair owes no one any response in light of all the rumors swirling around it would be nice to hear some sort of answer. When it was rumored that Chaos was for sale or that Cedar Fair was in negotiations to be sold they issued statements. Why can’t they make one statement regarding what is currently going on?

Cedar Fairs mission statement states that the:

“Cedar Fair Entertainment Company is firmly committed to the principles of honesty, integrity and fairness in all aspects of its business relationships with vendors, customers, employees, investors and others. Management of the company is thus committed to the highest standards of accuracy and accountability with regard to its financial reporting and internal controls, and expects the same of each of its employees."

I think they just broke all their rules and if I had shares with this company I would be deeply concerned.

That's quite an interesting investment strategy you have there. And, of course, by "interesting", I mean ridiculous.

Who invests based on happy smiles, puppies and rainbows? Isn't the point of investing to make money?

My guess is that at some point we may get some version of the story surrounding the events of the past couple of weeks. Will that version be totally forthcoming? Probably not. But, if they really are trying to get the Dipper auctioned off then I'm not sure talking about it one way or the other is going to help make that happen.

Should any company be honest, have integrity and be fair? Sure. But, there are some honest and fair reasons why they cannot necessarily be forthcoming on OUR time schedule.

I have shares in the company and I AM deeply concerned but there are plenty of other reasons to be skeptical about the current leadership.

Uhm, they haven't said anything. That's not terribly uncommon when there are no facts to back up the rumors. The rumored Chaos sale stemmed from their picture being used for the ad, they had a reason to say something.

Right now, they've got a disgruntled enthusiast who has a MONETARY stake in what happens to Big Dipper and either did or did not hear something he didn't like. So he issued a "press release" that was nothing more than him being upset that his plan would fall through.

Not sure when they lied about closing the park though, but that horse died a long time ago.