Cedar Fair buys SFWoA

I am still in complete shock.. This is the most exciteing news I have heard all winter ! The implacations boggle the mind..WOW no more square wheels on BKF . X flight working 100 % . Dick Kinzel is full of surprises, I know he wanted to buy it years ago. Never in my wildest dreams thought it would be true

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WOOF !
*** This post was edited by Dennick 3/10/2004 11:15:01 AM ***

My thoughts continue to be with the staff that will be affected by this. As much grief as been heard over the years about SFWoA there are some good people working there, many of whom might have already been told they would be losing their jobs.

All of the speculation about Season Passes, etc is nice but there are much larger, life-altering implications. Let's keep that in mind.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

Its kinda cool that WOA is gonna be called Geauga Lake for this season.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/news/310_cedarfair.html

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'04 TL Speed Zone
'03 Speed Freaks (Hats n Such)
TTD 72 rides (2 nonpaid rollbacks, 5 paid rollbacks)
TaeKwon-Do First Degree Black Belt. (1st dan)

I have heard who will be running the ship at WoA and although I am not prepared to say I think it will be a good move for the park.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

I wonder how many of the uniforms they have to replace/change. Unless they still have the old ones from when the park was Geauga Lake and use them for the season.

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Park Services 98'
Snake River 99'00'
Peanuts ATL 01'
GW/SS/Schwab TL 02'
Kiddy Kingdom TL 03'
Snake River Falls TL 04'

Since I'm assuming name changes will be in order: Geauga Lake has Twister...Cedar Point has Wicked Twister???

And we can only hope some rides will be razed; namely Serial Thriller and Mind Eraser.

But just think also...actual maintenence on rides! Villain can be restored to its original glory...3 train ops on Batman? X-Flight? NO Q-Bots. Too many positives to name!

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Michael McCormack
Magnum Count: 933
"Is it raining nickels?"

Chief Wahoo said:
My thoughts continue to be with the staff that will be affected by this. As much grief as been heard over the years about SFWoA there are some good people working there, many of whom might have already been told they would be losing their jobs.

My thoughts are with those people also. I liked the Wildlife side, getting rid of the animals will be a loss, and the only thing I don't like about the sale. More importantly, I feel bad for all the animal trainers that will be gone. A loss of employment is always difficult, but I can imagine it hits an animal trainer even harder. They must develop an attachment and friendship with the animals over the years, so they are not only losing a job, they are also losing a friend.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.
*** This post was edited by Pete 3/10/2004 12:10:25 PM ***

Bring BATMAN to Sandusky. It's the only ride I like in Aurora, and would love to see it moved.

-Mikey
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Bucket of beer at GameWorks: $13
Mushrooms for an omlette: $3.50
Hanging out with friends, and getting EXCELLENT partying gifts: PRICELESS

Holy Sheeeeeeeeet.......!
I'll probably make a trip back if CF passses work.
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"Coming soon to a park near you"

Wow, this is some really great news. I'm already planing a visit this summer now that it's going to be CF controlled. Probably more than one visit if they open it up to CP season pass holders. It is interesting to think about the names of some of the rides. Rides like Batman and Superman are kind of iconic to SF, so I'll bet those names get changed.

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-Chris Woodard
Friday, September 18th, 2003 at 10:10 PM. It finally happened. Rollback on Dragster in the front seat of the gold train!

Here is a post that I made a coasterbuzz as well

My first thoughts, as it seems with everyone else was just total shock.

Brian Noble, I think you make a comment earlier about how you think the season pass prices will go up (at coasterbuzz). While I don't doubt they will go up some, Cedar Fair has to keep in mind that they have other parks like Knotts that doesn't have two other parks right by each other. They would need to keep the season pass price increase fair to the people who are only close enough to one park.

Also, I think Cedar Fair might want to keep the wild life side there. They already have what they need there. Building resorts could be good too, but I know when I went there, my mom really enjoyed the animal side of the park. (She even said that she liked WoA better than Cedar Point just because of the animal side of the park. Although I think this was before the clenleness of the park went down.)

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Q: What does Top Thrill Dragster have in common with Walmart?

A: Rollbacks

Ok how is this going to work, the season starts in 2 monthes.......you have ALOT of themed Six Flags rides, and Loony Toones themd rides that need to be redone by then. How are they going to do that.???? Thats alot of warok in such a short time.

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For the latest updated CP Assignments check out http://hometown.aol.com/rideoplifer/staffmain.html

New Employees, you've got Questions, we've got answers! http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/cpgossip/index.cgi?board=Employee_Questions

I think this season will be "transitional" at best. I wouldn't expect overnight change.

I'd say 2005 will be the first "real" season for GL.

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Coasterimage.com

Actually, a few signs and stickers need to be changed in regards to shops and rides. That can be done in a week. There is no need to repaint tracks or stations, etc...

The real headache should be in retraining the staff...

I know alot of Six Flags employees will not have jobs because of the Wildlife midway closing. I was the assn't team lead for the Bermuda Triangle. If I had gone back, I would have asked for a TL spot at the motion simulator... good thing I decided to give CP a try this year... just lucky I suppose.

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Jes
JesLive.Com
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Ride-Ops Crew 2002-2003!
Cedar Point Raptor Crew 2004! (Find me, and win a prize!)

This obviously was not a last minute decision by CF so I'm sure they already have plans as far as employees go.

What I foresee for the wild life side is a hotel and housing for seasonal employees. The current SF hotel and campground is not within walking distance of the park so a hotel on property would be ideal. CP has housing for their seasonals so it would make sense for them to have some at GL so that they could bring more foreign students over and have a place for them to stay.

I assume there will be some allowance for the use of names and logo's for 2004. I beleive Sea World gave a similar allowance to Six Flags when they bought Sea World in 2001. That happened in February that year. This is March, so I'm counting on a cross-branding allowance for 1 season.

Another thought was, does Six Flags own WB or does WB own Six Flags or is it that whole Time Warner thing. The thing is, if there is only a contract with Six Flags for the WB characters then CF can apply to keep those characters at Geauga lake to be able to keep somethings the same. Maybe someone might be able to clarify that contract for me on here.

A good example I can think of is Universal Studios Japan. They have Peanuts characters there as well.

This whole thing at Gl should be interesting. Interesting to see how it pans out.
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- Chris -

I bet PKI is not too happy about this. This year or next you will be able to buy a season pass good for 2 Ohio parks.

I wonder if Superman will be renamed Wicked Twister's Sister?

Ok news from the conference call...per COASTERBUZZ.com

Bill Spehn named GM...WAY to go Bill!!!

SFWOA Pass holders can get a refund...same for any group picnics schedule...

Now WHO will be the Director(VP) of Operations at CP? (Bill was the VP of Operations)

See you on the Midway.

OTT

Conference call announce Cedar Fair Season Passes will not be valid in 2004.....

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DanB