Geauga Lake letter on Website

I am so disgusted with Dickhead Kinzel. There needs to be someone who does not have a foot in the grave shake things up at Cedar Fair. Someone who would actually give a fighting chance to the underdog. I hate to see the Cedar Fair parks turn into the Wal-Mart of amusement parks. Honestly Shapiro does not look bad at all in hindsight. I wish that he came along with some of his great ideas well before the 2004 purchase. At least then we would still have 2 great parks. I usually visit CP 2-3 time a year with a pass but visited GL 10-15 times this year. I might make it up to CP once or twice but it is no longer worth it to purchase a pass any longer.

wah wah wah. Sometimes good business decisions take priority over emotions.

I am extremely sad about this but it makes me more upset that they DID NOT announce this during the season, or at least, with the warm weather, open the park for one final week so everyone can "pay their final respects" to the rides that we all grew up on. I have many fond memories as do all of you, but I never imagined that the place would one day no longer exist. I looked forward to taking my kids there next year just as my parents took me year after year after year. And now, I guess that is one memory that I will never be able to have.

It is completely unacceptable that GL didn't inform people of this earlier... As Carrie said, I would have bought more stuff, gone on more rides, taken more pictures, if I knew it was the last weekend. CF has acted that way all along with GL. When they knew that they were removing XF and SV, when they knew they were closing the park, they just lie and play ignorant. I would have had a lot more respect for the park and the chain if they had of been a bit more honest with guests.

I never thought the park would actually close. You can't tell me this park is less profitable than Michigan's Adventure...
I think CF didn't want the hassle of this park. They want to steer the attendance to CP and KI, and thus, have no need for GL.

And why would they get rid of the rides side completely? There are numerous water parks out there that have a few rides as well and they seem to work well. I would have thought they could have at least left Big Dipper, Shipwreck Falls, Head Spin, and the car ride for families or something...

I just don't know how much incentive there is to go just to WWK. I mean, they cancelled most of that project too...

But CF truly lost a lot of respect from me with how they handled GL. They needed to be more upfront, especially at the end of this year. All the signs were there though; lights burnt our all over the park and not being replaced, things being dilapidated. and no money spent on the rides side other than paint.

One more thing. If you are in it for the money, realize that there are a lot of us who would have spent the money to come one FINAL time. That is just that much more money CF would have made. That in itself was a poor business decision in my opinion.

I agree as money hungry as they seem to be. I would have loved to have some last of a lifetime rides as opposed to a last of the season ride and see you again next year! I wonder if the park will even break 300,000 next year.

If they don't break 300k next year they'll probably still be profitable. It's a lot easier to staff just a waterpark then a waterpark and then all those rides.

Michigan's Adventure is profitable because they don't have more rides than they can operate. While it might suck that they don't get a new ride yearly, at least they are in the black when it comes to the money sheet.

I think the way this was all handled was very poor on Cedar Fair's part. Knowing a number of people who care greatly for the park, and seeing others on Closing Day, combined with those who hold life-long memories at the park, they really owed it to everyone to at least give a warning to give everyone one last chance to visit. I, personally, think that without doing so, they only added fuel to their own fire.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, I recommend checking out the interview on NewsNet5.com with Stacey Frole by Leon Bibb, who himself seems very upset with the decision.

As for 2008, I think they will need to add something to make it worth marketing. You can't just cover up what was a whole other experience within the park, now that it's gone. In my opinion, the longer they wait, the harder and harder it's going to be to retain, and gain, a strong guest-base.

Good Grief... said:
Wow, just saw it on the news. Sorry Ensign, I know you enjoyed that park.

Thanks, Randi. I just read the news an hour ago and have been struggling with my emotions.

I'm not going to write what I really feel about this act, and the motives behind it. I'm pretty sure were I to do so, I would get permanently banned from Pointbuzz.

My main concern is how to break this to my daughter. She LOVES Geauga Lake, I think more than I did any amusement park when I was her age. She's going to cry her heart out when I tell her. I am, myself.

But hey! Looks like we'll be getting quite a few rides on Ravine Flyer next year!

1st off no one in Cedar Fairs higher ups are to blame. 2nd. They can take a few coasters and move them to the water park side. Its better this way and they have alot of room over there. 3rd. When i was at the park when it use to be SFWOF it didnt draw anyone. Six Flags when they ran the park didnt care at all about how bad they left the park. It dont make sence that you have a big area like Geauga Lake is in and it doesnt draw people. They had a lack of ads, signs, 200ft tall coasters and the way they need to use the land. They could be closing the ride side to either see how many complane or to see what they can do with the rides or build bigger. The coasters are to wide spread from each other and need to be closer. I would keep getting a season pass cause the passes include all water parks. I wont be like most and say i wont buy a pass anymore cause one park is gonna close its ride side. Just remember the site said 2008 and not forever.

Quick note on the FUN stock... I believe he purchased when FUN was on its 52wk low, or when it was darn close to it. There is no insider trading needed when a public stock is at its 52wk low. Purchasing any stock at this time could simply be good business (company depending). Many people will purchase stock in their own companies at this time because they have a vested interest in the company and because they are confident that the stock will grow to at least the average of the range between their 52wk high and low. Insider buying is truly not the same as trading insider information.

What i see from many posts here is disappointment in CF and closing of the ride side of the park while keeping the water park side open. From my understanding the waterpark side is large in size with lots of room to grow. This may be a step back, but maybe years down the road they may consider adding a coaster or 2. They just need to get the place profitable. Six Flags killed this park in the 2 years they had it. If they left it alone it may have been better in the long run, sure add a new coaster now and then but as so many have seen the built to much to quick. I think the move CF is doing is a good move, but part of me still thinks they need a few flats and a coaster or 2 to keep it a destination place.

While I understand people upset with the late announcement of this (I'd be pissed if SF great america or Cedar Point did this), I actually understand it. If this was said in July, the media, consumers, and anybody else would be a nightmare for the park the rest of the season. Then the last weekend you have people taking (stealing) stuff to remember with. To prevent this stuff you'd have to add plenty of staff, something that would hurt the bottom line. You may be a good guest, but believe me, others aren't. Anybody who has gone to final events knows people will take whatever they can.

When CF first took over I remember articles about parents using the park as a babysitting service. A water park would do the same thing. I'm sure the numbers would say that the waterpark had a good cost per capa. Plus it's really not much farther to go to CP if you want rides.

Other reasons people give

Sea world- animals cost money, lots of it. That's 24 hr care.

They will make a copy of the best waterpark in the world. Nope to this one. If Cleveland had warm/hot weather 9 months a year this would make sense. While it's still warm now, 75 is not water park weather. They get 2 good months a year, not actually an investment worth making.

The pricing of food. $1.85 hot dog, I can't get a hot dog at a regular grease joint for that anymore. Only maybe from the guy on a street corner with the cart. The prices of food is the way all entertainment places make money. The admission goes to overhead. Why do think a season ticket is only a little bit more than two days price. because each day you show up, you will get hungry. Sometimes I guess people think entertainment is cheap. In sue happy america, this is not true.

"I underestimated the power of the animals that Sea World and (Six Flags) had".
Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel - August 2, 2005

"I underestimated the power of the rides and shows that Geauga Lake had".
Former Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel - August 3, 2008

Maybe they are doing this for now and maybe they'll bring back the rides a couple years later, but for now they aren't making money. Their attendance has been horrible since the Six Flags Days. I think it would be wrong to point all the fingers at Cedar Fair. I feel they tried to do what they could to bring people to the park. For example they even lowered the admission to try and bring people back to the park. The removals of Steel Venom and the monorail to me were good ideas just because they were Maintnence nightmares. Removing X-Flight might of had something to do with the attendance fall, but I don't think it was big fall. People just prefered to go to the water park side more. IMO this is a good move for them for now!

Why would they bring them back? They are truely gone.

I fail to see your connection Rihard. The waterpark has been the main draw for GL for a while. Just like MiAdv. The waterpark IS the draw in Muskegon. As much as I would like to see more amusement rides going in, it can't be over developed. That would just result in Geauga Lake West.

The waterpark will survive, and it will, I don't doubt, become one of the top waterparks in the country, on par with Schlitterbahn.

I'm a bit confused about what exactly they're doing. They mention a picnic grove on the website. Where is that going to be? Are they selling the land the ride side is on? And are they going to keep any dry rides at all, like the little flats on the WWK side?

Sorry if these are stupid questions.

Cedar Fair should place Flying Supersaturator in the water park side now. And maybe in a few years, when attendence matches their expectations for a water park, they could put in an Intamin Aquatrax... :) One can dream...right

All I have to say is they better expand the hell out of Wildwater Kingdom if they want me to come back.