Now what happens to Geauga Lake?

Yeah me too although I think it is a shame that they got rid of The Haunt though I did really enjoy that last year.

In the 80s and early 90s Oktoberfest was HUGE. Some of the biggest crowds of the year were during Oktoberfest. It is certainly an event that lends itself to a blue collar area. As a 30-somthing guy I'd much prefer Oktoberfest to a Halloween event.

Although in the 80's and 90's Oktoberfest was actually in October, if I recall correctly!!

Damn kids and their schooling....like they can't work them on the weekends, sheeesh.

;)

And the way things are going right now, add a master blaster and BAM! you get a Golden Ticket ;).

Well, this is my perspective as a first-time visitor last year. I spent 3 days at Geauga Lake last year, because it was a Cedar Fair park and I had a CP combo pass.

So this year, they closed a wave pool and a couple slides, and opened.... a wave pool. I think they made a huge mistake by announcing phase II 2 years ago, and then last fall saying 'well, not really.' I still have my brochure showing the picture of phase II, just a fantasy now. I can't think of a reason that things would 'pick up' this year.

The Wildwater Kingdom vs. Soak City debate can rage on, while Soak City continues wild success charging $3 more than the entire admission to Geauga Lake.

There seems to be a mixed message as CF cuts back on planned Geauga Lake expansion, then buys several Paramount Parks.

The bottom line, we're spending 1 day there this year, during a multi-day trip to CP, mainly because they have a magic show this year, and my son is into magic. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't return.

You're trying to make things black and white and consider completely irrelevant factors (kind of the like the old "Six Flags [where ever] never gets anything because they like Magic Mountain better!" thing).

They scaled back the water park expansion because they don't need it. What they have is providing plenty of return on investment. If you can't think of a reason why things would pick up this year, then you're not thinking very hard. The water park kicks more ass than ever.

And there is no debate about Soak City. No one pays gate there, or at least very few people do, because it's all about the hotel and/or ride-and-slide packages. Soak City gets away with what it does because there are thousands of people staying on the property for several days. Comparing it to Geauga Lake is an apples to VCR comparison.

Cutting back on the Geauga Lake expansion has nothing to do with Paramount Parks, unless it was to free up some cash flow and credit resources to buy PP. Paramount Parks isn't going to be up for sale ever again. Furthermore, the scale of expansion at Geauga Lake should always suit the ROI it will provide.

Just because you might not go doesn't mean tens of thousands of other people won't.

So.. Does this mean Wonderlands Water Park might get an expansion Or a new slide?

They just took out four of the best slides in the whole Water Park... And they were the only reason I ever went in there, they were the Speed Slides, I liked them because they had Airtime, and the Vertical Drop one was really fun...

I think they should focus on sprucing up the Amusment Park first.

I'd like to see Wildwater Kingdom as the main focus for the next five years. Turning the former seaworld side into a massive water park like Schilitterbahn.

Screamomatic, I seriously doubt you'll see those slides back.

When CF put in WWK they didn't have those slides re-installed or have new ones put up. If the trend continues there are much better slides and water rides you'll see come your way.

Newsflash. Nickelodeon theming is not coming to the original 7 CF parks. Repeat, no Nickelodeon theming. How do I know? While visiting GL today, I happened upon Snoopy. I shrewdly and very forwardly approached him and asked him point blank, "Are you getting replaced by the Rug Rats?" He vigorously shook his head. So there you have it...straight from the snoop dog's mouth.

While there, I noticed that Grizzly Run is still not only not running, it's not even watered. Hmm. A harbinger of more park shrinkage, or something new on the horizon?

The ride side was actually pretty busy by GL standards. I didn't get on many coasters, since I was accompanying my four-year-old daughter (22 coaster credits, including Disneyland Space Mountain). The waterpark side was deader than Jimmy Hoffa...no surprise considering it was 64 degrees today.

Like a person in a dog outfit knows what's going to happen.

MrSsott

He can't be any more uninformed than anybody else in this forum. Anyway, it was supposed to be funny.

I live in Cleveland and am yet to see a commercial (granted I don't watch very much TV), advertisement, or anything for GL. On the other hand for KW I have seen multiple billboards by like ridge park square (plaza in Brooklyn) and other ones as well.

I saw a commercial for Kennywood this morning on TV, and there were people holding big Kennywood signs in front of Cleveland Browns Stadium, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, etc. I've seen a couple Geauga Lake commercials, but not many.

I will post a bigger reply later but for now I have a question..

Correct me if I am wrong but I remember Cedar Point having a Dolphin show in that aquatic stadium by WTwister. They took it out shortly after my first visit to the point...

Am I right or wrong on this ??

Yes, there was a dolphin show there, along with a pretty nice aquarium.

Two of the dolphins died within a fairly short time span, the other two were sent to other parks. The dolphin stadium was woefully small and even though I loved the dolphins and though highly of their caretakers I wasn't sorry to see them go.

My feelings on animal shows: If you can't do it right, don't do it at all.

I totally agree, and would argue that the old Sea World was entirely inadequate. Six Flags made it even worse in some cases. Did you see how many sea lions they put in that one tiny habitat?

Yes, good point about the Sea Lions. I wasn't fond of the Shamu habitat either even though they made it so they could keep the whales year 'round.

Sea World Ohio was a beautiful park. But, the investment they needed to make, to make it an environmentally friendly park from the animals' point of view, would have been far too much investment for a five month operation.

Let me go back to Cedar Point. Those dolphins were well cared for...and well loved...by the people who took care of them, but the facility was poor at best.

I know i'm a bit late on this one but i cannot withhold a response.

There is no way Tilt a Whirl can be any further off base.

Jeff covered most of the points, but i have to reiterate that

1) SWO's attendance steadly decreased through their final season 2000.

2)GLP/SFO's gate steadily increased through the 90's.

3) The Worlds of Adventure park was nearly always heavy on the ride side. Sure it flattened out a bit when they finally had a whale. But the running joke in 2001 was that everyday was like an old 30,000 attendace day at the park because the volume of business on when compared was at least 3 to 1 on the ride side. The only reason the animal shows were full was because they reduced the number of shows so drastically. Which in turn further complicated the issue with the in park guest inbalance.

4) While the drop in attendance was rather steep between the final SF year and Cf year one, it really is nothing when one considers that WOA was unable to beat the SFO 2000 attendance in 2002!!!

To claim that GLP was on the decilne before the PURCHASE of SWO is ludicrous. And that's the other thing. It wasn't just SFI that was the issue here. It was the decision and handling of purchase and merger of the two parks that killed GLP. SWO was already dieing, and we now know that that was inevidable. If you think that there is a market for a Sea World type park here, why don't you ask BEC why they sold?

As for now? I can't see any major roller coaster added until attendance numbers increase. And i think 2,000,000 isn't out of reasonable expectations. I can't however agree that the ride side will be left alone for a while. In fact I have been saying for a while that the old waterpark land near the lake would be a GREAT place to expand the kiddie land. And with the acquisition of the NICK rights it would make perfect sense to change over the theme and expand. It plays into the parks historically strong market of family season pass holders, and it gives the park differentiation from CP. Which are the only parks that need to strive for differing identities (IMO).

With CF running the show and staying true to their long time ways of letting parks run independantly with the ROI in mind, there is no reason to think that GLP can't be back and better than before in the next ten years.