Geauga Lake Opening Day 5/26/07 (Pictures)

So we skipped Maverick's opening to show support for GL, and they needed it.

We arrived into town around 11:30 or so and met up with Josh (exit english) and his fiancee Jen. We decided to grab a small bite before going over to the park so we ate at Ruby Tuesday's in front of Wal-Mart.

After eating we swung over to the parking lot for the park where we received a nice greeting from the attendant. I handed him my season pass with the all Ohio parking on it and he took it into his little booth to, I'm assuming, write the number down. He came back with my pass, a park brochure and a parking ticket for the day. It's amazing that even with all this technology that they're still handing out paper parking tickets to people with parking on their passes. To my surprise they had employees in the lot, parking people, well at least telling people what space to park in. It seemed as though there's patrons that have a hard time putting their vehicle between two lines. We parked and entered the park.

My CP Maxx Pass scanned but Josh and Jen's didn't. Jess had to go to guest relations with her KD Maxx Pass. We finally all got in and decided to give Big Dipper another shot this year, hoping that the grease on Mean Streak for opening weekend was a tell tale of maintenance being done to the woodies. Upon entering the queue we were greeted by this. Maybe they didn't have time to trim the overgrown trees because they were doing so much work on the coasters. We got into the station and lined up for seats 1-2 and 1-3 with only a one train wait. Unfortunately they were having some audio difficulties and had to shut the ride down for a few minutes to fix the microphone. Shortly after they were up and running again. While we were waiting I noticed some new wood near the station. We climbed in to our seats and I barely fit, they had put new padding for your knees and it was pretty thick. They also replaced the lap bars too. Unfortunately that new piece of wood and the train maintenance seemed as though it was the only thing that was done to the ride in the off-season. I see now why it needed new padding. OUCH! Well that was my one ride on Big Dipper for the year.

And here we have Thunderchicke...errr...hawk. Josh talked me into a back seat ride and to both of our surprise it was smooth and fast, unlike either of us remember. Woot! A decent ride at GL! We were happy. The new video system wasn't operating though. I can only credit this to the problem they had with Raptor's and not showing very much of the actual ride. I guess they'd rather not sell anything than sell crap, good decision Cedar Fair!

Next, we were off to check out Villain's new wood but we took a detour through Double Loop. It was a walk-on for the front and second row. It wasn't very much of a surprise when we found seatbelts on the ride. At least they were the newer design with the female end on the OTSRs and the retractable male end on the front of the seat. That's a pretty intense old Arrow coaster. That's TWO decent rides IN A ROW! Off to Villain!

The station hasn't changed, nor has the queue. I think we sat in seats 3-2 and 4-2. I had high hopes for the re-tracking. They were crushed as we traveled down the ungreased track, screeching around the turn around, shaking just as much as it did last year with just a slight better section where the trick track used to be. Disappointment was the word for the ride.

Taking a stroll through the newly widened area leading away from Villain was a pleasant surprise, it felt very open and airy rather than how it used to bottleneck. At the top of the short hill is where we found the new Cornhole Toss game with the 3 Point Challenge directly across from it. We made a left and took some back seat rides on Beaver Land Mine Ride since we were in the area.

The new paint job on Texas Twister was pretty nice, until you get up close and see that they got overspray on EVERYTHING! The ride was running well and had me more disoriented than I remember from last year (6 flips in a row will do that).

Dominator was next. The four of us took the second row and regretted sitting behind some Amish folks who smelled like they hadn't showered in a good while. There wasn't a line for anything but the front seat. Still a good ride in my opinion.

Josh wanted to take a ride on Sky Ride since the prices have been adjusted and made so that it's only $10 even if you're by yourself, we kept walking. Josh never rode. :)

As we were walking up to Raging Wolf Bobs we could hear the train leaving the station going around the turn...screeeeeeeeech. There must be a shortage of grease in the Aurora area this year. Again, no lines, even for the front seats. That had to have been the SLOWEST ride I've ever had on that coaster. I honestly didn't think we were going to make it to the brakes. We compared the speed to driving the Cadillac Cars at CP.

We contemplated walking over to the other side but we're lazy and the trams weren't running so we scrapped that idea. We went shopping for a bit and found some very interesting things in some of the gift shops.

I'll just post some pics of our finds.

Josh trying to fit in with the others at the park ;)

Josh being obscene

The true Josh

I understand they have to sell off the back stock of SV and XF merchandise but don't inundate EVERY store with it. If anyone's interested they still have plenty for you collectors.

Steel Venom Hat
Steel Venom Shirt
The fearsome four t-shirt

Those were just a few of the insane amounts of stuff they had.

Also in our finds we see that CF is starting to bring in some Nick stuff to it's other parks. Uh oh Snoopy, looks like Blue may be the new dog in town. ;) Dora and Diego found their home on the top shelf too.

These next few items are rather disturbing. What were they thinking when they placed the order for the Obsessive Compulsive Action Figure? How about the Donkey cigarette dispenser? The worst of all had to have been teh bobblehead Jesus, I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture. He was right next to the punching Nun doll.

I only have 3 letters for them...W T F?

Somewhere in our travels at 2:34 PM I grabbed a pic of the Midway heading toward the entrance. Where's everyone at? The Monorail station was looking pretty deserted too. ;)

Oh geeez, we're off to Headspin. Isn't that like on the other side of the road or something? Oh no, I guess it's just up here by itself in the middle of nowhere. Much to my surprise, there were no belts added to it.

Josh and I paused for the obligatory picture in front of the Dippin Dots stand.

Strolling around the park we decided to take a look at the long forgotten Beach Combers restaurant. Crossing the bridge to go eat you get a lovely view of the old Lazy River. If that doesn't make you hungry, I don't know what will. ;) Clean the stuff out already Cedar Fair, seriously. We were met at the front door with smiles and "how many"? Here's a look at the front of the menu and one of the back. You can be the judge of the prices. We just had some of the fried cheesecake and it wasn't too awfully bad. The amount of time it took to make the stuff was ridiculous but the waitress was very prompt and kept us updated every 15 minutes or so.

That about wraps up our 4 hour trip through Geauga Lake's opening day. Make the trip and support the park this year, they definitely are going to need it.

*** Edited 5/27/2007 1:05:03 AM UTC by Loopy***

Our family also skipped Maverick's Opening and chose an long day trip to GL.

Left 6:30am, headed to McD's, Got onto the Turnpike at 7:30am, and off the Turnpike at 9:30am. Arrived at GL around 9:45am, and headed to Guest Relations to get paper tickets from our Cedar Point Max Plus Passes, and they asked us if we tried to scan them at the gate. We said "No", the manager said to follow her to the gate, because they should work, They all (4) worked fine, and she said "have a nice day"

It was a little rainy, sprinkles in the morning, before 11:00, Big Dipper was down cus of weather. My son and I had our first ride on Time Warp, Mom and Daughter wouldn't ride, (I sleep on it, but its a ride)

Off to Double Loop, Fast, Better than Corkscrew, Quick stop at the end.

Then Villian, (I want to call it the "nutcracker"), Never will I ride that ride again, the Kids had a second ride later, they said it was worse the second time.

Walk-on on Dominator, Love it. My son forced me on Texas Twister, Unbelievably "FUN", its what I always wanted Chaos to do at CP. But the 5th flip makes you dissy, but fun.

Raging Wolf Bobs ran in a slight rain when we rode it, I felt it was smoother than last year, and I didn't get banged around as much, the rain must of been enough that grease wasn't required, for a better ride.

Walked back to the waterpark, just to show the wife, not to go on any rides, man did we wish we had our swim gear on, walk-ons on the funnel, and the slides, pretty empty at 11:30 to 12:00 back there. Oh well, we'll go back later.

Hit Boardwalk Typhoon, Bounty, and Yo-Yo, I felt the rides were running a lot longer than at Cedar Point, That was good.

Off to Lunch at the Jukebox Cafe, 5.99 for a dog and fries, - we were pleased, because the fries in each basket would be enough for two servings. We were stuffed and had fries left over. $34.18 for lunch

Then to Head Spin, rode that twice today.

Then Big Dipper - - - - Last year I had one of the best rides ever, I thought better than Blue Streak, NOT THIS YEAR, - Ouch doesn't say enough, How about 5 serious-solid punches to your abdomin. I was sore, and hurt after getting off Big Dipper!!!!!!!!!!:(

We saw the Magic Show and Lego Racers -- Both very entertaining shows, And after riding rides so fast with no wait, we needed that hour and a half break from the rides.

Thunderhawk was FAST and Smooth this year, Rode Beaver Land Mine Ride and some other smaller rides.

To End the day before playing Games, my son and I decided on a last ride on dominator, all walk-on so it would seem. We patiently waited, as the mechanics tried to free a guest from the last row of one of the trains. After the got the harness lifted only slightly, the kids squeezed out of the harness. They tested for 5-10 minutes, and our last ride was the 1st ride after dominator re-opened. Back seat, fast and smooth.

Overall a nice day, it was humid, and the rain held off until the drive home. We left at 6:30pm, got home by 9:00pm

Thanks for reading my Long Report too. Get to GL

Great reports! I would post my "pictures make this thread amazing" picture, but I can't seem to find it.

Well that report covered everything that happen today. I talked to a cdr!de rep he said "Thunderhawk's onride video should be up next week".

Also on RWB I thought that we were not going to make it back either!

Yeah, I saw them in the booth talking later in the day.

'Twas a pretty fun day all around. :)

Just one thing to say, though..

CHEYEAAAAH!

I am going to kill those girls if I ever run into them again.

The lack if grease was terrible.

If only they had a rollback on RWB thanks to the lack of grease...

...Maybe then they would take the complaints seriously!

-Sam

P.S. Did anyone else notice that Double Loop's seat belts were so long that they could buckle with the restraint completely UP?

They need to get over to Kennywood to see how to keep a woodie running in top form.

After spending 30+ million in the previous two years, Cedar Fair now seems intent on lowballing GL. Some of those pics Bryan posted made me sick to my stomach. Sorry, Cedar Fair, but you have to do better than this if you want to bring back the customers.

We joked about it while we were there but I think it was only to keep from crying.

My TR will be up on the wonderful world of Kennywood over on CB after Monday!

I know you all love GL for some reason. But, with it looking like it does in your pics, I'm glad I have no reason to return there again. There's no excuse for that lazy river to look as nasty as it did on OPENING DAY. Geesh.

Its surprising the lazy river looks like that. All last year it was in surprisingly good condition. While the old water-park is pretty bad at the moment, and a bit too sloppy for CF, I'd have to say that 90% really don't notice it. There is no reason to go back there except for the restaurant with limited hours. This isn't a good excuse, but I'm sure this is why they haven't spent the money to clean that area up yet.

I CAN'T believe that picture of the lazy river. What in the world were they thinking? Dick needs to forget about Maverick and get over to Aurora. That is just sad.

I have never been to GL so I cant say to much but, to me it looks like they havent go to it yet. I am sure with cut backs at the park the staff is still adjusting itself.

I stopped by yesterday... and needless to say, I don't think i'll be back anytime soon.

Wow.. just wow. I shouldn't spoil myself with CP so much.. because that was just saddening.

Can one of the Geauga Lake fans explain to me why you like it so much and think it should remain open?

From the trip report, it looked like you liked a couple coasters and showed an apparent lack of upkeep around the park. Not to mention, the food was way over priced for a "local park".

I just don't understand the "OMG we have to save Geauga Lake" feeling exuded by many people here.

^For me, although I am 1 hr from CP and 2 hrs from GL, its the variety thing, plus "Families" like different things.

If my son and I are the only ones go to a park, it will alway be CP, why, we like 'em big and fast, and we can't wait 1hr 1/2 for rides with the "Family" there, its not fair to them.

My wife doesn't like water parks, and the kids do.. This year I did opt for the Maxx Plus pass to goto Soak City, but why not goto a park where a waterpark is included in the entrance price. If CP changed their policy where Soak City was included in the price, there would be no reason for me to go elsewhere.

My daughter loves wooden coasters, I like steel coasters. There are only 2 wooden coasters at CP. There are 3 at GL. She rides all coasters, except Millenium Force, TTD, and Mantis at this moment.

My wife made the comment while strolling GL, that the ruckus from teenagers were not present there, and it was a much more peaceful park than CP, and she said it has a "Frontiertown" feeling to it, which is the only area she likes at CP.

When the park was Six Flags, my comment was,

"Six Flags is onto Something for that side of Ohio, No, People west of cedar point will never drive that far to visit, but people east of cedar point have 2 parks to choose from"

Six Flags messed up, and Cedar Fair in two years really cleaned the park up, I saw it immediately, sweepers walking around, nicer, friendlier workers.

Now I do drive past CP to visit that park, I have at least one more visit this year planned, maybe two.

(Although, I have about 15 planned visits to CP)

Now if only the guest would stop complaining about the place, and just enjoy themselves. The guest are who are souring my visit, not GL or the workers.

Wait. What happened to the "Coi?"

If they're in there, they're mutants.

Otherwise, they may have been on the menu.

no bush.
*** Edited 5/29/2007 4:20:56 AM UTC by Mutedarkness***

Geauga Lake has better potential than many parks I am familiar with. The "family" appeal to the park makes it so. One price for a better than average ride park and an excellent water park? That is pretty cool.

Now, I'm curious how many long time employees are at the park. I know Six Flags got rid of a lot of the GL employees and then Cedar Point offed even more of them. When that happens you take away the heart of soul of the place. Those long time employees were a part of the park. They were part of the history of the place and they cared for it...even if it wasn't Disney or Cedar Fair.

But, CF is up against it with that place. The combination of the disaster Six Flags made of the place combined with the bad economy in northern Ohio may be too much to overcome no matter their intentions.

But, I'm still baffled that any General Manager would open the park with that lazy river looking the way it did. What in the WORLD were they thinking there? I'm embarassed for them.