Geauga Lake Going to Close?

^ They could have held his stuff while going on the rides or built new lockers out of used cardboard boxes. ;)

you guys must remeber, the employees at geuaga lake are not use to people being in thier park..they are use to nice peaceful day with the ocasional guest everyonce and then....the employees get confused when people actually come to thier park

By the way today i over heard that geuga lake was selling some parts in the aquirium to the cleveland zoo, and sure enough when walking across the boardwalk you can see that all the doors where open in the building and that construction/demolition of some sort was going on...also i noticed that there was surveyors over by where the old old bordwalk use to (the one that connected to sea world from the right of the lake) this either means that geauga lake might actually open somthing up in the many acres of unused sea world land, or they are finally just going to demolish the entire eye sore..either way is probally a benefit.

Captain W -

I was at the park today and can confirm what you saw regarding the aquarium. Although I did not see the surveyors. What side did you see them on? The old Sea World side or Geauga Lake side? Also where about exactly?

My 2 cents on Geauga Lake:

I fell in love with this park back in summer of 2005 when I realized my CP pass would gain me admission to GL, too. When Halloween Haunt time came, I was definately even more hooked! "Phobia", by far, was THE best haunted house I had even been in. My whole family and I were deeply saddened when GL stopped HH.

I feel some of you have to realize that the more you patronize one park over the rest (you know which one I am talking about), the more rides and attractions Cedar Fair will put at that particular park. I don't dislike Cedar Point by any means, but honestly I don't like waiting more than 30 minutes for a ride. And I really think their Halloweekends need some major improvements, or even if they'd change the layout of their haunted houses, that would be an improvement in itself. (Same layout since 1996...I can walk thru them blindfolded, and I know where all the spooks are).

I don't necessarily need any record-breaking rides to have the most fun at an amusement park. To be honest, my favorite CP coaster is Magnum. I don't really care for Millenium Force (only 1 great hill, and the rest is just speed....blah), and TTD is OK, but too short of a ride for as long as you wait. Many of you all have stated that Maverick is now your favorite ride and that doesn't break any records. So, you see, you can have just as much fun on Dominator, Thunderhawk, Big Dipper, and my own all-time favorite, Villian. Oh, and another thing, you won't find any better Dodgems than those at GL! WWK is awesome, too....Liquid Lightning is the bomb!!!

My kids and I went to GL on Friday (Cleveland Clinic was there), but it wasn't anything horrible. Crowd wasn't bad...there were people on the midway, but lines weren't long. I don't really understand the need that one of you needed a locker...rides at GL ALL have bins or cubbies to put your belongings in.

Anyway, the reason for my post is to urge you all to patronize the "little guy". This great park needs more of you to appreciate it for what it is rather than what it's not.

Oh, and did I mention that I am from Toledo and I have NO problem driving by CP to get to my favorite park?

I think there is a lot of truth in what VillianLover points out.

I agree that there are numerous people out there, that simply do not like the crowded and "large scale" atmosphere of CP. They prefer the smaller GL type.

"I agree that there are numerous people out there, that simply do not like the crowded and "large scale" atmosphere of CP. They prefer the smaller GL type"

Top Thrill, it's not even that...

I don't have a problem with "large scale" parks such as CP. (I've been a season passholder since 1992...I know when to go to avoid the crowds).

I just wish people would realize what a great park GL really is, instead of looking at it's attendance in past years and saying: "uh oh...I'm not going there"

I agree that the rides side was running well on Cleveland Clinic Day. The waterpark was the main problem. It just doesn't seem to have the infrastructure to handle large crowds. It has been proven that on some days (Cleveland Clinic Day) Geaugua Lake can draw large crowds. So why not provide the services for peak crowd times, so that those peak crowds will want to come back. So what if it takes 14,000 extra lockers (which it probably wouldn't). I would imagine lockers are not that expensive (Cedar Point has a bank next to most major rides, and I have never seen or heard of Soak City running out of lockers). When they run out of lockers and a guest does not want to leave their stuff out on the midway, it is like saying to that guest, "Sorry, but the water park is unavailable to you." This is what I experienced, and judging by the number of people that were leaving early, pounding on lockers, giving the lockers the bird, many other people were frustrated as well.

I kind of think people are reading me wrong here. These are some clarifications.

1. I do not want Geauga Lake to close.
2. I live in Toledo and go to Geauga Lake about five times a year.
3. I believe that silly cost cutting measures and lack of foresight limit the parks potential. (I am talking water park plan scale backs here, not X-flight and Steel Venom).
4. Guest experience and word of mouth are the best advertising that money cannot buy.
5. My experiences at the waterpark this Sunday was an illustration of the above.

I can't help but to think if some money were spent on better path layout, a variety of food options, extra lockers, large capacity low maintenence water park features for extra crowded days, and cleaning up unsightly areas the park would appeal to more people. Right now it feels as if the park really is not getting the funds to give it the TLC that it needs.

I agree with you, Delbert, about some of what you have posted.

However, I don't feel "the waterpark was unavailable to you" is accurate. As much of a hassle as it would be, you always have the option of leaving your wallet in your car, etc. As far as car keys go, etc, you could leave those with a non-riding friend that's just soaking up the sun or whatever. I don't know the extent of the situation, but there ARE always options.

My kids and I got over to the waterpark on Friday around 5pm...a little late, but we didn't experience any outrageous crowd that was out of hand.

I would also like to mention that I have been to Wildwater Kingdom on hot, busy days....and they can really pack them in. I've seen instances where I couldn't even find a lounge chair anywhere to leave my things on. Did I feel that the waterpark was unavailable to me because of this? No. It's not their fault they ran out of lounge chairs. They have plenty of them there. I consider it my fault because I didn't get there early enough! Instead, I found a safe area to sit my beach bag until chairs became available.

Places like this are generally safe to leave your things sit. I certainly wouldn't leave large sums of money laying around, but it's been my experience that people just don't mess with your things. There has been only one instance at Soak City where someone years ago took my young daughters panties and T shirt, and I think that only happened because they were laying on the grass by our towels at choo-choo lagoon and probably another mom just grabbed them thinking they belonged to her kid.

coaster dad, im happy you saw this too, to be more specific i saw the surveyors over by those docks that the city owns (im not sure of the name) they are over on the far right of the pond by 43. But they were def. shooting towards the old sea world and they def. had some high up geuga lake personel with them.

I went to Cleveland Clinic day at GL, as a guest of a Clinic employee, when GL was still run by Funtime.

It was not a good experience. I've always liked the park, but the Cleveland Clinic day I went to was not very pleasent due to the overcrowding.

So, what you guys are saying isn't anything new. Cleveland Clinic day is just the wrong day to go.

I didn't like working on Cleveland Clinic Day. I can't imagine being a guest on one of those days.

well at this point the reason im not going this year is beacause my two favorite rides were taken out

Mforce3,

That's the only reason you're not going to GL?

So you're saying there aren't any other rides there that you like?

Tell me, what did you do a couple years back when CP's Millenium Force was down because it was waiting for a replacement cable?

Hate to break it to ya, but rides at CP go down all the time. I'm sure you find other things to ride when that happens.

And I think GL's WWK is top notch...way better than SC.

Just think of X-Flight and Steel Venom as being "permanently down". (Or, wait...maybe you were referring to Bellaire Express? j/j)

By not attending, you could be doing exactly what Cedar Fair wants you to do. Are you that easily influenced?

Well, I'm not going to CP because they took out White Water Landing , it was my favorite ride. NOT Millennium Force, not Top Thrill Dumpster, but White Water Landing.

Villianboi, great post.
(and a big LOL....Top Thrill "Dumpster")

I too had the unfortunate luck of deciding to take my family to GL a week ago Sunday (Cleveland Clinic Day)

I have to agree with part of what is being said. The park was the most crowded I have seen it since we went in 2003 as WOA. (At which point we vowed never to return)

I can remember feeling clostrophobic and disgusted by the dirtiness of the park back in 2003. This time, while almost as busy, was different.

I remember saying to my wife - Great for the park, sucks for us.

We were used to being able to have a good time on Sundays during the summer. Last year we came on 4 Sunday's during the summer. We are Season pass holders from Columbus, with 2 kids, 7 and 4. We spend 10-15 days a year at CP and GL collectively, so I have a pretty good feel for the corwds.

This Sunday, the kids area was too busy for the kids to get a ride in, and the water park was literally shoulder-to-shoulder. I have never seen Lightning's line as long as it was this day. The lazy river looked like LA traffic, and we didnt even venture over to the slides because of the crowd. The wave pool? I could barely see water in between the droves of people.

The employees seemed overwhelmed and maybe frustrated, but our interaction with them was largely inconsequential, we packed our own lunch.

The difference this time around was the park stayed pretty clean, there were no "Roving bands of teenagers" and everyone appeared to be having a good time. We left the park at about 5:30, and it appeared just as busy as when we got there at noon.

I don't particularly like crowds, I go to CP in May and on Weekdays in late August ONLY.

Will this experience make me go to GL less? Yes, but only on one day - Cleveland Clinic Day. Next year I will find out when it is and avoid the park at all costs.

Yikes, RTurb0. That's pretty bad luck, sorry to hear that.

I just posted a trip report for yesterday (Sun, 7/1); it was a great day with minimal crowds.

If it does close, and I'm not wishing it ill, i think that Michigan's Adventure should get Dominator.