Geauga Lake Going to Close?

GLP timeline correction. Every now and then i think i have to refresh the memories.

Yes GLP was the first park (according to them) to offer the waterpark with gate for the amusement park, but it's always been a company picnic park first, just like Kennywood but less charming. Not to say that the waterpark wasn't important. It sure helped season pass sales as acting as the public pool for Aurora, Twinsburgh and the lot out there. But waterparks don't cause a whole lot of spending when you compare it to other attractions.

Onto the timeline refresher.

During the end of the Funtime regime there was a lot of money put into the development of the waterpark, but remember that during the last sixteen years of Funtime (80 to 95) a kiddieland expansion, the go-carts(87), wolf bobs(88), mirage(about 91), casino and texas twister (93) were all added in with the water slides(82 and 91), wave pool(84) and two years of turtle beach(89 and 90). For a small park with little to no expenditures some years i think that's a pretty balanced spending pattern over that time.

As for the real time line. GLP was bought by Premier Parks in 95 season and that's when you see headspin followed by thunderhawk, grizzley run, hydes and a much needed update bith of the main gate area with the ferris wheel (bought at the same time from the same park as hydes) and water park (with the ill fated hooks lagoon).

By the summer of 98 Premier Parks acquired and then changed their name to Six Flags Inc from Time Warner for a billion in cash and a billion in debt. That's when parks like Kentucky Kingdom, Elitch Park, Dorney and other no name little places that were acquired by Premier Parks during the 96 and 97 seasons were given the honorific of Six Flags.

2000 was to be GLP's turn to bat and they got blessed with many capital spendings and a flagging all their own. The list included the four coasters, new water park, new kiddie land, a chute the chute and much improved gifts department, the foods department received a bunch of new equiptment and much needed capital improvemtents. This was the year they ran a bunch of fiber optics around the park (made sense since so much was torn up, especially on the east side of the park) and then forgot to reconnect the natural gas lines to the food stands under the monorail, the old burger joint where taco bell ended up and the old fried dough stand over in the 50's area. Anyway there was a large expense shelled out for new hr stuff and a point of sale register system that was actually almost cutting edge. (too bad CF and the last regime of WOA didn't take advantage of that).

I forget the number they told everyone for the total expenditures for that season, but it was really almost double that mark when it was all tallied up.

Of course 2001 was the begining of the end. After setting park records for attendance and revenue and running some numbers that compared favorably to the likes of Chicago and LA (in percentage and per cap terms of course) The park saw its highest pre-season pass sales before the SWO purchase was announced in March. Of course there was also the x-flight being built.

I think we all know the rest of the story as SFI and the new local management botched things up from there. 2002 and 03 saw little change i think and the last ditch effort with some more water slides and some flats in the no man's land as they tried without success in getting two killer whales. Attendance bottomed out in 01 and never came back up for them. Of cource CF bought the park for less money than SFI spent on the park in capital costs for the previous 4 years with the last operating profit seen in 2000. But clearly they took a bath in letting go of that park when they did.

The main point is that this was never just a waterpark with some rides. It was quite the opposite.

Jeff said:

These "discussions" grow tiresome.

*sigh* Here we go again from the all-knowing, all-seeing Putz.

We're sorry that we bore you with these "discussions". As mere mortals, we cannot possibly comprehend what someone with your insight and understanding about such things must think about our inane ramblings.

You created this discussion board to discuss things, and that is what people do, however seemingly absurd or irrelevant you may think their topics may be.

Here's a thought. If you are so irritated by reading these discussions, then don't.

Honestly, I'm not sure if Geuaga lake is going to make it. I know six flags didnt operate the best, but they knew what people wanted (at least when it comes to bringing new things into the park) When cedar fair bought Geauga Lake we all thought that something good was coming, but after the first year of doing really nothing most people can tell that cedar fair just bought geauga lake so that it dosnt compete with cedar point. For anyone who ever worked or really follows geauga lake you can tell that almost everything done to the park is to better cedar point. First the haunt, they claimed we didnt get good attendance, which is false at times we had more people in the park than on a bright summer day. Then all these ride removals..as if removing rides isnt bad enough, sending them to other cedar fair parks where they do better is just embarrising for geauga lake. And now the water park, yes they spent money on it, and yes its new, but for anyone who has been to the water park there is really only 4 rides, thunder falls, liquid lightening, wave pool, and lazy river. Next time your by the wave pool look in the distance to the right, you'll notice at least 30 acres of undeveloped sea world land...if the rumors about being just a waterpark geauga lake is really going to have to start developing more attractions. I belive if we combine the six flags mentalltly towards building rides and attractions and the cedar fair employees and work ethnic it think geuga lake will turn around, but as far now geauga lake is just a park that will continue to loose attrations so cedar points attendance will grow.

I live in Northeast Ohio and I think Geauga Lake is on the right track. It's the only outdoor water park in the immediate Cleveland/Akron area. I don't want to drive to Sandusky to go to a water park. I'd rather drive half an hour and Wild Water Kingdom is very nice and hopefully they will continue to add water attractions in the upcoming years and it will do fine. If I could make a suggestion, an outdoor water zipcoaster would be an excellent addition to the water park. They need an attraction not offered at other parks and none of the outdoor parks in Northern Ohio offer this type of ride. On the ride side add more classic flats and I envision a family spending half of the day on the water side and then heading over to the ride side for the remainder of the day/evening. Despite the negative comments I've read about Geauga Lake, I have had positive experiences there. I like having a local park to go to that doesn't consume my entire day. Last year my girlfriend and I decided to go at the last minute on a Saturday afternoon and we had a great time. Later last summer, I took my nieces to the park and we also had a good time. Park was busy but not overcrowded and the rides were fine. Villain was rough but that is my only gripe. It's not Cedar Point, Kings Island or Disney World. It's Geauga Lake. A local classic amusement park and I hope it thrives in the future because it'd be a shame if it were to ever close.

The Engineer said:
*sigh* Here we go again from the all-knowing, all-seeing Putz.

Let me help you to the door...

When you pay the bills for your own site, you can do foster whatever discussion you want.

^ Nice job Jeff.

that guy didn't grasp the concept of "don't bite the hand that feeds you". :)

The biggest problem that I see is that the revenue doens't justify the operational costs of the attractions. The ride and Sea World investments are causing the problem. Not only did they have high initial costs, but they also have high operational and maintenance costs. These attractions didn't attract customers for long for a number of reasons. They continue to pull the balance sheets into the red.

The first step was to remove the Sea World portion. This was a good move in that it didn't attract enough people to cover the costs. Sea World wouldn't have sold it if they were making decent money there. Now they have removed a couple other problematic rides. The park is likely going to lose revenue. Hopefully they shed enough costs to offset the loss in revenue and get the park out of the red.

It's going to be a long hard road to get Geauga Lake onto profit boulevard with the other parks in the chain. I think they can do it if they correctly read and respond to the guests at the same time of balancing out the budget.

^^

SLUUUURRRRRRRP!

Ease up Loopy, I was meant to be funny, not A** kissing.;)

I think that there are a lot of impatient people who expected CF to give GL the midas touch and turn the park around in 1-2 seasons. I just don't see it happening that way. As has been stated before, it will take some time to bring back the teed off guests. More than a couple of seasons. Unfortunately for GL, they just don't have the money to do all that is needed to make these changes immediately that we are discussing; i.e new flat rides, new additions to water park, cleaning up of old water park, and maintaining and re-tracking of rides.

^ I couldn't agree more. The most important thing we can do as loyal patrons of CP and GL is to keep going every year and get the word out to our friends and family that the park is still a great place to spend the day.

I for one was not happy with the SV removal. I know I can ride one at CP, but it's not the same without the holding break. But I understand the reason and I'm over it. I spent 40 years going to GL and 9 of those working there during the 80's. That is why I am going to continue to support this park. Lot's of great memories to just give up on it. What they really need is a nice collection of flats for the families to enjoy i.e. enterprise, music express, bayern kurve.

Just a Penny Panda for my thoughts on Geauga Dog, get rid of the Gunkey Monkey looking old water park and GL will look Dandy Lion. Sorry, could not help it. Getting rid of the eye-sore will help a lot. So a couple of rides don't get a new paint job, big deal. It will still look better than seeing stagnant water and weeds growing out of the cement.

I guess I just like both CP and GL for different reasons and want them both to succeed. Heck, we're rollin pretzel co. is reason enough to go.

They also should push Oktoberfest. When I worked there it was packed during the event. The reason I believe was tickets were about half the price of normal admission.

I have been going to GL ever since 1989 and it was our sister park from Darien Lake in Buffalo, N.Y. when Premier owned them, but I think if they ever took out the Dominator I would probably stop going every year like we do know

There was a holding break? Did it get fixed?

The last time I rode it was in 2005 and they didn't hold us with the brake.

Break != Brake

Speaking of break, i wasnt sure where to post this but this sounds like a good thread...today (june 16) i got word that the waging wolf bobs had derailed its self from the track. Sure enough i walked over to the coaster and the train was covered with a gaint tarp on one of the turns. From what i hear the train derailed and then came to a complete stop, which caused most of the train riders to go to the hospital..everything is very tight about any info on what happened. Most of the rides employees dont even know whats going on. But considering that today was Roller Coaster Enthusits day im sure that many more details will be on the web soon. Just thought i'd let you guys know.

I've heard that too.

I was at the event today. From what little 'hearsay' I heard about the incident, there was some bad wood that failed. This caused/allowed the rear of the train to jump the track. I heard nothing about any injuries. It happened before I got there, which was at about 1pm. A friend who is familiar with the trains says that even though it's covered, he is certain it's the legend train. You can see the front of the train is square. Versus the other train which is rounded. I just had to take his word on that one because I didn't even know there were 2 different trains.

Because RWB was supposed to be part of ERT, they gave us ERT on Big Dipper instead. It was running great.

Jeff said:
Break != Brake

I'm not sure what your getting at. But unless dictionary.com is wrong.

Brake

Break

If a ride were to break me while braking me, I don't know if i'd want to ride it again.