Geauga Lake - Breakout Year

My first trip to GL was in 1991 when I took my then 5 year old son to Sea World. He enjoyed Sea World, but he kept pointing across the lake and saying "Can we go there??" It certainly was no Cedar Point, but we had a lot of fun and I enjoyed the old time feel of the park, the shorter lines, and the laid back family atmosphere.

My second trip was in 2004, and although there were a few more coasters added, I don't think those coasters necessarily added that much to the park itself. In fact, they seemed to take a bit more away from the old time charm.

In fact, it is the old time charm that had me singing Kennywood's praises last summer when I went for the first time. If there was something "wrong" with the park, I didn't see it. I didn't encounter any rude, harassing or trouble-making guests...in fact, most of the people we met while in line were very friendly.

Then again, it's not all about the coasters for me. It's the entire park experience. I think that's exactly where Cedar Fair is trying to take GL, back to where it was pre-Six Flags. For those of us who grew up with small, family parks nearby, it's a bit of nostalgia and "family" rather than all the noise, crowds and teens of the larger coaster parks.

I do agree they need to draw more people in. The water park will do that, and any additions to the water park will be welcomed, I'm sure. But I don't think they need to add any major thrill rides to get families back into the park. They could get a better ROI by adding more family rides.

^ 100% agree

1. Well if CF didn't practically hype the design up on the Mistake on the la... I mean Wicked Twister, we wouldn't have that problem.. CF just can't get over the fact that SF built the first twisted impulse shuttle coaster... So they were so quick to dismantle that...

2. I love how we all bitch and moan about the park and I think I'll probably see 25% of those that are doing the bitching and moaning actually at the park this year. Unless you've actually attended the park you honestly have NO say on that. Thanks for playing ;) *** Edited 5/26/2007 12:54:08 AM UTC by Villainboi***

Actually, I think it's a better idea to ask the people that only visit a park every so often what their impressions of the park are. There is obviously a reason they don't go "regularly", so if you can figure that out, you can fix it (hopefully).

Also, Geauga Lake couldn't AFFORD Steel Venom. That's why it's gone. Not because of Wicked Twister.

Without GL's waterpark it would be a bad park..not that it already is with the two coasters in my opinion that were the best leaving.

^^^ Well, since I attend GL 6 -8 times a season, minimum, and usually more like ten visits, I guess I have more say than a lot of people put together in this thread. ;)

^^ Of course, Tim, you have the best excuse for not going, seeing as you are a Caribbean amphibian.

You know what GL could do to restore some cred as a classic park? They could buy five or six of the more historic rides from Conneaut Lake, including the Tumble Bug and the dark rides and install them in the area vacated by SV and XF. It would be impractical and unreasonable to expect them to move and rebuild Blue Streak, but the point is that they do have opportunities, if they are truly committed to Geauga Lake as more than a glorified water park.

Ensign, great point about acquiring the Conneaut rides. Old GLP used to find some pretty good finds from other older parks (Mr. Hydes not withstanding).

OldCPer, i think you've just about hit it with the old GLP. To be contrary though i would say that it wasn't the addition of the coasters by SFI that took away the old time charm of the park, it was what was taken away from the park to make the changes in 2000. The corny old kiddie land, the old water park attractions, the half assed attempts at theming and really that was the begining of the flushing of the old GLP staff that had run the park for over two decades. The real begining to the end of old GLP happened in that season with the introduction of "better qualified" managers from other Six Flags parks (those who just turned the name into a product so bad Warner went and sold the rights).

Finally am i the only one somewhat appalled at the poorly veiled racist comments about 'those areas'? First GLP was a babysitting service for the brats in Aurora, Solon and Reminderville long before the stinkin' RTA brought out the kids from the city. And they were every bit as disruptive and the "Warrensville Heights" kids (not to mention that most of those kids were from Cleveland).

Second, don't you think that the problems Kennywood have, has more to do with the troubles that the Pittsburgh PMSA is having than with how the surround neighborhood are changing? Cleveland gets all the press about being the most poor big city in the country, but that has more to do with the economic segregation found here. People with money just don't live in the city of Cleveland anymore (white or black). Put that aside and look at the numbers and Pitts, St Louis and Buffalo aren't looking too much better, and Detroit is about ready to join the misery. Anyway poverty breeds crime.

I guess the final point is don't fool yourself in thinking that nothing happens in the GLP or CP parking lots (although i would imagine that the isolation of the peninsula helps a lot with the point). I don't have any first hand knowledge of the crime stats at amusement parks, but i do know that the amount of crime perpitrated in suburban malls would make your hair curl.

I actually never hear of stuff happening in GL's parking lot because of it's location in the hills/country of NE Ohio. Kennywood, on the other hand, is in a nasty burb in Pittsburgh.

How can you possibly compare Kennywood and GL?

1. GL has a water park. KW does not.
2. GL is generally clean. KW... not so much.
3. GL is somewhat safer (granted, not Kennywood's fault, but it's still a fact).

KW is my hometown park and I would gladly drive past it to go to GL any day. I really don't know why people praise KW so much. Sure, they have some interesting rides, old and new, but unfortunately the place is so poorly staffed that it overshadows what they have. The employees are unpleasant, and there aren't enough of them to go around. Overall, GL employees are more helpful and efficient.

^^^ I definitely agree with that. I think it would help with the "family park" image that they're going for. Plus, it would spare those rides from a less glorified fate.

I hope Geauga Lake can stay open. It'd be sad to see it go.

Ensign Smith said:
You know what GL could do to restore some cred as a classic park? They could buy five or six of the more historic rides from Conneaut Lake, including the Tumble Bug and the dark rides and install them in the area vacated by SV and XF. It would be impractical and unreasonable to expect them to move and rebuild Blue Streak.

Moving the old-time rides from Conneaut Lake could help Geauga Lake get back to the old-time atmosphere they are looking for. As far as Blue Streak, I guess a smaller park with even less money than Cedar Fair would have to take it. Perhaps Knoebels?

Unfortunately I don't think BS is in any shape to be moved.

They could possibly make a replica of it or something.

Well, I think a good bit of the structural support could be re-used, though it would need a complete re-track. Problem is, you'd have to go through it and inspect each piece for suitability, bent by bent, slat by slat. It would be an incredibly time consuming and probably expensive undertaking, hence my description as 'impractical'.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would try. And as far as Knoebels goes, they've already demonstrated their expertise in this type of thing. But then again, they already have three great woodies (including FT), so moving and rebuilding BS would be the last thing they need.

I just came back from Geauga Lake this evening and I am disappointed. All of the extras on the Rocket Sled ride, in the kidiworks area, still does not work. This has been like this for 4 years now. Bill Spahn should be ashamed of himself.

All of the fun little extras still do not work, every single one is broken. This is what kids really enjoy and it does not work. I know it couldn't cost that much to fix the stuff!

C'mon

I was at Geauga Lake for the first time ever on Friday, I must say, it stinks.

What the heck is up with the Head Spin Side of the park? There's a half dismantled rollercoaster, an empty plot where the best ride in the park used to be, a totally desolate waterpark, many closed-off areas, No open shops, a closed El Dorado, and ugly ugly scenery. It's the most pathetic area of any open theme park outside of Japan.

Dominator is the only coaster in the park that isn't rough as biker chicks, and half the areas in the park are closed. Everything needs a new coat of paint, and the area around Power City (which is a poor excuse for theming IMO) literally smells pretty bad.

The waterpark is really really good for having such a small number of slides, and they should honestly spend all of their capital on it unless they plan to close the park and use its rides for other parks. The rides side doesn't hold a candle. It's really ghetto (like most of the people in the park too)

If I was in charge of the park, I would:

1. Add at least 2 more slide complexes to the Waterpark.
2. Add a skylift to cross the lake.
3. Move HeadSpin or close it, and turn that whole area around into something much less god-awful.
4. Take all the useless waterslides and fix them, then either re-open or move them to Wildwater Kingdom.
5. New trains on Villian please?
6. More three point shootouts, less guess your weight.
7. Paint things, move things, anything to give the park a facelift and make it look less depressing.
8. Give the place some character, and hire more employees to run more closed-down things.

Keep in mind this whole post was written in one go, so I'd probably even change what it says myself if I read it again.

Great to see you finally made it to the park, however... (Please don't misinterpret the following, !buzz does that too often)

2. The reason Sky Rides aren't meant to go over bodies of water is simply how are you going to evacuate the guests that are stuck over the water?

5. Villains trains are light enough that they don't valley. I personally hate them, however PTCs wouldn't do the job sorry. But thanks for playing!

7. Give us a little more budget and see what we can do with it ;)

8. The reason why we have "closed down things" is because 75% of our rides staff is still in school. Be lucky we opened the rides that we had open that day, as we had to litterily double up the rides in Kidworks (employee wise) and others.

As far as the Rocket Sled Ride squirters, those weren't used last year at all by ANYONE! (IIRC). *** Edited 6/4/2007 4:19:29 AM UTC by Villainboi***

You evacuate guests that are stuck on a sky ride over water into a boat.

1. Speaking with folks who were there for the original wave construction tell me that the bottom of the lake is generally soft silt since the lake is from a natural spring. In the end it costs too much and is very difficult to build anything in the lake. On the other hand i'm not sure why this didn't effect the batman construction. Whether or not this story i was told is correct, i doubt that there will ever be a major construstion project going over the lake.

2. For me there are three things that the park can do to improve the parks desirability and bring back a little of the old time park feel.

*Move the shoot the chute and rebuild the arcade with some flats. A new food stand can be built to the proper needs and reconnect the only full service potential restaurant to the rest of the park are just two of the benefits in doing this. Also it would recreate some of the original fabric of the park. Where to move the water ride? Over by the grizzly run of course.

*Expand the kiddie land across the entire lake front. Move the pavilions into the vacant land on the other side of the Big Dipper.

*Re-examine the price scale and margins the park is looking to acheive. $9.00 for a veggie sub and bottle of water is unbelieveable.

3. I'm not sure what park Jamie the Crazy is thinking of but it wasn't too long ago that GLP (and it's former lives as Six Flags parks) was generally considered to be one of the dirtiest parks around. And some of that stuff is still around; like the area around 'power city' where there is a sewerage pump right under the rock bear on the side of the rapid ride (hence the smelliness all the time).

Finally knowing what i know i cannot ever think that GLP is any safer than KW. Anytime you get thousands of people together in one place it naturally becomes a target for dishonest folks and a haven for inappropriate activities. This was true even when the park was in the sleepy exurbs. Now with the booming of the towns around the park there are just more people around causing problems.