Now what happens to Geauga Lake?

gener...the monorail had problems since the mid 80s. The manufacturere went out of business long ago and any replacement parts had to be custom furnished.

Frankly, I think they should bite the bullet and build a brand new system. There are plenty on the market. I don't think they have the available land for a grade level train so a new monorail makes more sense. If they plan on keeping the two parks as one then I think they must put a priority on a legitimate transportation system.

Or, build a master blaster from the dry side to the wet side and back.

What Jeff is saying is right. Even as an enthusiast, the lack of a complete phase 2 did not stop me and my family from going to GL twice (and more to come) this year.

We hadnt been there since the inaugural year of SFWoA, which made me swear I would never return.

Things in the park are 100X better than under Six Flags, and it is going to take some time before people are willing to give it a shot. Once they do, they will come back and often.

But I also agree they need some way to tie the whole place together. How about some sky buckets over the water!

Without a doubt the monorail has seen the end of its life expectancy. I only referance 2000 since that was when it went from intermitant reliability issues to constant reliability issues.

I hope that CF decides that an investment of that magnitude would be worth it for the park. But somehow i doubt it. Building a loop around the lake is just too cost prohibitive.

Cedarfair does have a skyride just sitting in the bone yard at cp, maybe they should consider putting it up at geauga lake. Just a suggestion.

It would look great going over the lake.

You have to realize that what happenhs when this "sky ride" breaks down? How will you get the people down from the middle of the lake? Not to mention that the park, I believe, has to pay a fine, for lack of a better term, for building on the lake. It's been suggested before.

^ The same way you'd get them down from the middle of the park if it were to break down.

An open seated sky ride over the lake is not viable. And, building into that lake at all is not viable. The depth of the lake is pretty extreme.

A round trip on the southeast side of the park (along the current walking path) makes the most sense if they are going to continue to operate both sides of the park.

I guess I should have used the ;) symbol. My comment was meant to be tougue in cheek.

Even so, the current golf cart solution is a JOKE. They need to do something, and a floating deck down the middle of the lake is lame as well.

What's left? A newer monorail and a CPR type train? I gotta think they could be more creative, but then creativity has to be fiscally sensible too.

I suspect they won't make any decision to do something about transportation until they are sure both sides of the park are feasible to continue to operate. And, I'm not sure they are going to operate effectively as two sides unless transportation is addressed. Sort of a chicken or egg scenario.

I wouldn't mind seeing a train like CP&LE railroad go over the lake. That would be neat, plus you wouldn't have to worry about it breaking down, and even if you did break down over the lake, you could easily get them off with the old ferry they used to use.

I'm pretty sure those ferrys are up for sale.

It would cost a crazy amount to build railroad tracks over the lake for one, and two, I can't begin to imagine the amount of hassle it is to traverse a lake with a train. Imagine the EPA up your ass all the time about pollution. It'll never happen.

If GL really wants to expand WWK, the idea of moving the "south side flats" (Black Squid, Boardwalk Typhoon, Dino Island, etc) in the area of the old Grizzly Run (can it 'cuz it doesn't work well). That gives some more room for a blaster and newer water slides/coasters. Take out the old monorail, put in a new, shuttle monorail. One that goes across the pond and back (build it near RWB so as to not just plop it in the middle [like the dock]). After HH gets a good clean-up, throw in a couple new kiddie flats, and a small launch similar to IT:ST (PKI-CFKI-whatever). GL already has their own distincion among the big 3 : COASTER DIVERSITY. Keep it up. CP has too much intamin. And now they're all looking like repeats with some tweaks. Make the park look nicer with some more landscaping near PP (elimate canons) and cater once again to Oktoberfest like it's the only thing they have. I've been going to CP for years and years, and went to GL for 1st time in 2005. Loved it. I was surprised I like a small big park (or big small park). Sure the sights ran out, but there was always an entrance to yet another ride.

Finding space is a non-issue. GL has surplus land everybody this side of Disney would drool over.

I must say, as the season progresses I'm getting increasingly uneasy about CF's plans - at least for the ride side:

Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall: gone.
Skyscraper: apparently non-operational.
Monorail: non-operational.
Ferry Boats: out of service.
Grizzly Run: only recently running.
Steel Venom: non-operational in the near-term.

This doesn't sound like a park that is being brought up to a chain's high standards. To me it sounds like a park that is being left out to rot, or at least teetering on the brink. I don't level these charges lightly, because I love GL and I love and respect CF. If this was SF running the show, you would say situation normal. But with all this happening on CF's watch, it's a bit ominous.

Well you cannot give up on Geauga Lake. For one thing Geauga Lake is compact compared to Cedar Point. Now I understood why Geauga Lake was getting rid of Mr. Hydes, that was a smart move in my opion. Now the Monorail never runs anymore and needs replaced with something more up-to-date. Now someone mentioned the Skyride like Cedar Point, that would make sence but it would take a lot of Footer to be poured to put it in the lake.

Grizzly Run, can be fixed up a little, one change that they should do is make it where you get wetter. Add some waterfalls, that would make it more fun. Steel Venom, I was there when it went down. It was running all day until like 5 oclock. Now one thing I said on the last page is they need more lockers and they need to lower the prices of the lockers. They should make it like Cedar Point's prices that it costs for a locker all day by Wicked Twister, Skyhawk, Millennium Force, Magnum XL 200, and Top Thrill Dragster.

Each of Cedar Fair's parks must stand on it's own. GL will do this, just like MiAdv has.

MrScott

I'm not giving up on GL. But I'd sure like to see more evidence that CF isn't, either. And when GL does, eventually does stand on its own, I hope it's not in the form of a glorified waterpark. That's not the Geauga Lake I remember or love.

I don't think CF is giving up on GL. They have invested a substaintial amount of money into developing the waterpark which seems to be drawing a pretty large number of people. As for the ride side, I believe you will see improvements starting next year. I don't think you will see any new rides for at least a couple of years, but they will make capital improvements to make the ride side more appealing.

As for the monorail, I think it is important for them to come up with some kind of transportation from one side of the park to the other. It is one long walk and most people don't like that and will choose one side of the park or the other. With the land that they have they could easily put in a monorail or train that encompasses the park and that would make for an enjoyable and relaxing ride.

With the price of gas going up and up, I think it is important to have more local/regional parks for people to attend since they won't be able to afford those long trips to make it to the BIG parks as often. You will see that some other local parks will start to see increases in attendance due to gas prices.

This is just my 2 cents.

I think today's announcement is Cedar Fair saying pretty clearly that they want to keep this park going.

Season pass holders from Cedar Fair will be impressed with the park, even if they weren't there during the bad years.

It could also be there way of saying we are going to throw a lifeline out there in a last ditch attempt to make this work.

I don't think CF is making any last ditch efforts to save GL, as well as I don't think they are ready to give up on the park as well. You can't expect to see drastic changes in attendance in the short time that they have owned the park. Getting GL back to what it once was is something that is going to take a few years and i believe that CF knew that going in. There is already improvement in how the park is run and in its appearance. GL has always been my home park, and I have no intention of not going at least 5 or 6 times every year.