News: Cedar Fair fires some Geauga Lake workers

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=1009

At year-end, Geauga Lake had 85 full-time employees and 2,000 seasonal employees. The recent layoffs affected less than 10 percent of the full-time staff, Frole said.

So... 8? ;)

I'm sad to hear the attendance figures are still not meeting expectations.... I am telling everyone I know to go there! (like that amounts to 700,000 :) )

I expect there is a mental shift that needs to take place among those of us who were completely turned off by the Six Flags WoA experience. Only marketing will get it there.... the park is already ready.

I don't know how wise a move it is to lay off marketing folks when that seems to be one of the biggest contributors to the fact that folks aren't coming to the park. They have a great, fresh product that noone knows about. Was that because of the personnel in marketing...or the budget they were given?

Aww Lexi is gone. That's sad.

I personally think the attendance would be up there if they made a few changes. Maybe advertise more, add more lockers and reduce the price of lockers. The waterpark was full when I went there during the summer, as far as the ride side, I don't know what else I should suggest. I just hope that the aquistion of Geauga Lake doesn't put Cedar Fair in debt.

The biggest mistake was firing Lexi. She was great in the Public Relations dept. *** Edited 9/7/2006 5:50:18 PM UTC by Villainboi***

Rturb0, I was surprised by the attendance expectations too. I have really been plugging that park to everyone I know who goes to amusement parks. GL is a great product, they just need to get the word out.

<rant>I don't understand why people are so set on beleiving that the problem lies solely in marketting. I am sick of people blaming the park's woes on poor marketting.

The park had serious issues under Six Flags Inc and it continues to have major problems under Cedar Fair. Heck, a whole section of the park is so bad it got the nickname "Crap Corner."

The only thing the park really has going for it is the waterpark. I'm starting to think that to survive the park needs to focus even more on the water park, and shrink the amusement park, if not get rid of it entirely. You have two great ride parks within a 3 hour drive of Geauga Lake, which have much better rides (except for Dominator and Big Dipper) and a much better atmosphere.

I need to get back to work, more ranting later, so in short, please quit blaming the parks problems solely on marketting!

-Sam

EDIT: I don't have spell check here, so please excuse my poor spelling.

</rant>

*** Edited 9/7/2006 7:25:10 PM UTC by Avalanche Sam***

I was at GL for the first time ever last month. Marketing is not the problem nor is PR. If those folks were let go in an attempt to turn things around CF is sadly mistaken.

Face it, the place still screams Six Flags! I had been at CP the day before and you would never know that the parks are ownd by the same folks.

My theory was that CF bought the park to keep someone else from coming into the market. They sure didn't give GL the look that CP has. If they are saving money by consolidating jobs and will use that money to spruce up the park, then maybe. Otherwise it was just scape goating cause those folks never had a decent product to market or hype.

Sad to see happen? Incredibly so. Is it that much of a surprise? With the way the company has been going lately, I don't think so. And going off of what Villainboi said, letting Lexi go was definitely a mistake, in my opinion.

letting Lexi go was definitely a mistake, in my opinion.

Strongly agreed. I for one will miss her.

Were all of the layoffs in the marketing/PR departments? If so then perhaps CF was not to happy with the efforts from that area. Hence the layoffs. Unless one thinks that the GL product is poor, then marketing is a part of the attendance issues. Not all... but still a part.

ARE YOU KIDDING, PEOPLE?

Did you READ the article?

They specifically said "THIS IS NOT A REFLECTION ON THEIR PERFORMANCE."

There were two groups of people doing the same job in the same market.

Streamlining makes sense. Why continuously overlap and have to double-check media-related things for two parks that are so close to each other?

Please!

For the record, I said nothing in regards to the performance of the employees...

IMO, Six Flags sunk Geauga Lake so deep, it will take a long, long time to recover, if it ever does.

AvalancheSam, I can agree with some of what you are saying. However, CF just isn't going to start over-spending to completely clean up GL all at once. They have to have budgets and stick to them as much as they can. Last two years have brought the water park and I have a feeling in the off-season, crap corner will be cleaned up. After that, what is really so wrong with GL? It's clean, has a good collection of coasters, and a kick ass water park. If they clean up crap corner, then the next step should be to bring better food into the park. Then, when you have all of that, it will be time to possibly introduce a new ride whether it is a coaster or flat of some kind. And, before that, they should expand on the water park. There's no need to just get rid of the rides all together.

I live an hour and a half from Michigans Adventure. I live 3 hours from CP. We have preferred to drive twice as far to visit the #1 roller coaster park than to hit Michigans Adventure. I am not saying MI ADV is not a great park, it is the perfect place if you want to do the waterpark, which like GL, the water park is packed and the coasters are all walk-on.

Makes me wonder what they are going to do with MI ADV staffing.....

"ARE YOU KIDDING, PEOPLE?

Did you READ the article?

They specifically said "THIS IS NOT A REFLECTION ON THEIR PERFORMANCE."

There were two groups of people doing the same job in the same market.

Streamlining makes sense. Why continuously overlap and have to double-check media-related things for two parks that are so close to each other?"

Yea and you believe every press release. CF is cleaning house at GL. If this wasn't the case some of the folks at GL would have stayed and some folks at CP would have been let go. Letting go almost 10% of the full timers in one shot is a big hit. Later durng the off season there may be more cutting. It is the way of corporate America.

I thought I had a pretty good idea about what Cedar Fair wanted to do with GL but now I'm not so sure. And, I suspect, the bad news isn't over.