Geauga Lake Launches new website.

http://www.wildwaterfun.com/

Cool.

I think it's laughable how they needed a map greater than the state of Ohio to show guests how to get there. As if they're going to draw one customer from Lansing or Cincinnati. *rolls eyes*

Why not? What if someone really did want to go from somewhere out of Ohio? You never know.

Well, with 4 dollar gas prices, why would someone from Lansing go to Geauga when Michigan's Adventure will take 1/3 the drive time? Heck, why would someone from Detroit go there over Red Oaks or 4 Bears (are they even still open, been a while since I lived over there).

Red Oaks is (as far as I know), but Four Bears is long gone.

Okay, I guess it's conceivable there is a small population of waterpark enthusiasts out there (haven't tried www.waterbuzz.com yet, who knows) who travel across the country from waterpark to waterpark, adding lazy river credits and attending AWE buffets. If so, that map sho' is for them.

Ive traveled across country to visit a waterpark, of course that park was Schlitterbahn, but there you are. Im also sure that if I didn't live so close to it most of my life, the WI Dells would have merited a trip to go see too.

Also Ive been to quite a few waterparks, across the country, mainly because they were attached to amusement parks. I love waterparks, and on some summer days I would prefer to be in one of them as opposed to a theme park. If CF wants to continue to put money into WWK they could eventually start attracting a larger audience. Those former Hurricane Mountain slides are fantastic rides, as is the Proslide Tornado. I haven't been, but Ive heard their river is nice too. If thats true they just need to get a "signature ride" like a humongous Water Coaster, speed slide, or dark ride/waterslide and they could start drawing people like me there.

Looking at that park map is pretty sad... I think they will have a hard enough time attracting people 20 minutes away let alone those in Cincinnati.

This will most likely be the deciding summer as to whether or not keep any operations going on that property. The water park is not anything in comparison to Schlitterbaan (sp?) which is a destination park. With soak city and Cedar Point just 60 minutes away it seems more logical to spend the money at Cedar Point.

Im pretty sure I didnt say it was Schlitterbahn. Its also not Soak City, which for the record, besides its Raging River is a pretty crappy water park. WWK has more slides and attractions I would like to ride. If I lived closer I would defiantly at least make one trip out there. I said with a little bit of effort they could get to the point where WWK could make a name for itself nationally, they have a good supporting cast of water slides but need a star attraction, take your pick of:

-Water Coaster
-Record Height Speed Slide
-Long, Family Raft Ride (preferably a dark tube)
-Dark Ride/Water slide combo

And I agree, this is the deciding year, if they can keep attendance up, I expect them to start developing that park some more and maybe put one of my suggestions, because this water park doesnt have a theme park to rely on to bring the people in.

4 bears is gone?! :( My dad used to talk about the time him and my older sis went there. I always wanted to go but never got around to it. That sucks!

I think CF has already decided to shut this place down next year, year after that at the latest. Why?

1. If you look at the real estate listing for the property, this is a big tip off they aren't planning on keeping the water park much longer. Literally all the land around the park is being sold, even the old Happy Harbor area (which I might add is about 10 feet from the Thunder Falls slide complex). This sale leaves the park no room for expansion, and given how small the place currently is, I'd say they aren't holding a lot of faith the park will do well. Plus if all that land is developed so close to the water park, it will turn off people anyways.

2. The park, as said above, is incredibly small. If you've been there you know what I mean. Now, as most people know, the original plans for the park were to make it huge with numerous slide complexes, etc. If CF was really serious about making this park work, wouldn't you think they would have offset the bad news about the closing of GL by announcing a new slide complex for the water park (or even a Flow Rider or something)? It's not like the park has a lot of stuff to do at the moment... And a slide complex / water attraction isn't that expensive and can be added quickly.

^ Then why wouldn't they just close it with GL?

Because a good business plan always involves intentionally losing money so you have an "excuse" to close something down.

Jesz said:
4 bears is gone?! :( My dad used to talk about the time him and my older sis went there. I always wanted to go but never got around to it. That sucks!

Four Bears is long gone for a few years now. I used to live about 2 miles away from there. I went there as a little kid too.. was very sad to see it go, it's now up for sale and talk is that they are planning on putting condos on the land that is for sale :(

Yep. Because in the state with the highest foreclosure rate, building NEW houses is CERTAINLY a good business plan.

Haha.. well, you always seem to find new housing developments in the Metro Detroit area no matter where you go these days, even though gas prices are skyrocketed out of perportion, jobs are scarce, food is high, but developers and land owners seem to find ways to make money.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is no "middle ground" anymore.

I think that in many cases, these developments are being funded by large entities that don't really feel the pinch. In fact, they're probably benefiting from lower land values and perhaps even lower wages than in recent years. They can develop these projects and wait it out over the course of a half-decade or whatever, and still make their money back relatively quickly.

^ - I dunno about that. My parents bought a new house in 03 or 04 (I don't remember which, I was moved out). There was a new development that went in just west (about 500 feet) of Moravian and Hayes. They were one of the first in there, and there is still a vacant lot next to them, behind them and 2 on the other side of the cul-de-sac.

I could be wrong, but I think this is more the norm, and the situation you described is the exception.