Opening Day (Very, Very Long)

So this is a trip report, but I figured it fit in better in this section since this is entirely devoted to Geauga Lake. I apologize for the length of this TR, but I like to be detailed.

Before my girlfriend and I even got to the gate, I knew that this trip would be much different than going to Cedar Point. When we got up to the parking toll booth, I showed the employee my Season Pass with duel parking pass ("PP") and instead of just waving me on through like they do at Cedar Point, the employee took my pass and went into the booth and wrote something down and then handed me my pass with an orange ticket that said "2 park pass." We parked in the front row of the parking lot and headed up to the gate. After swiping our season passes, we were off into the park to discover.....chains holding us back from getting anywhere until 10 AM sharp. As we were waiting for the gates open, I see a car drive by on the midway, driven by Mr. Spehn. He seemed to be showing people in the car all the improvements that had been made for the season.

At 10 AM, the National Anthem played, and the people around us were rude and talking during the playing of the Anthem. As the last note of the Anthem finished, the chain was taken back and we were off to Steel Venom. This was my fourth visit to the park since the ride had been built (including SF days), and I had yet to be on this ride. It was never open when I was there. We decided to ride it first in case it broke down later in the day. We got in line (which is a stupid line, by the way-it goes UNDER the ride?) and got to the front car (first train of the year) People did not know how to get in line for the ride and were coming up the exit, and there was no employee there to stop it as they were all checking the restraints. Someone finally caught them and showed them how to actually enter the ride. After about a 2 minute wait, the ride finally started. It's a good thing there are not too many people at the park because the ride ops are very slow in checking restraints. I was very pleased with the ride. I've never been on another Impulse other than Wicked Twister, and I think I like the straight spike better. It definitely creates a different experience than the twisted back spike. The holding brake on the back spike was turned off unfortunately. Oh well, it was still a good ride.

After Steel Venom, we went over to the Big Dipper, which was not yet open. The ride op told us that she hoped that the ride would open later in the day. We then headed to Thunderhawk and got on with no wait. I really don't like this ride. There are a lot of good elements to this ride, but it seems like they happen too close together to be a good ride. I wish the ride was just a little more spread out, and also I wish that it had a little more variety. The inversions are very nice on the ride, but aren't there any other elements that could be used besides inversions? The ride is running fairly smooth, however, and seems to be better than I remember it.

Naturally, after hitting Thunderhawk, the next place to go is to Dominator. This ride is hands down the best ride in the entire park. The elements are wonderfully placed and the ride is fast. This was also the first ride that I had seen throughout the day so far that was running two trains. However, the complaint about this ride is its paint job. Since it stands next to Thunderhawk which looks wonderful with its paint job that was new last season, Dominator simply looks old and faded. I wish that Geauga Lake would paint this one too!

After Dominator, we continued our trek towards the back of the park and we rode Raging Wolf Bobs. The ride op on the ride asked us how we were doing as he was checking our restraints, and he asked everyone else that too. This was a nice touch, and it was nice to see someone enjoying their job. This is a wonderful wood coaster, but also in desperate need of a paint job. The Geauga Lake maintenance people have done wonders in reconstructing the track on this ride, and the ride runs better than it ever has (especially with that Villain train), but it needs to be painted so it all actually matches. Right now, there is the white color and then there is just unpainted wood.

From there, we decided to venture across to the WildWater Kingdom side of the park by way of the trolley that takes you over there at the back of the park. There are essentially two oversized golf carts that haul people to and from that area of the park. These may not be enough once the water park actually opens. While over there, we looked around all the water park areas that we could. I was surprised to see many gates that led up into the rides (including Liquid Lightning) unlatched. It was as if they were inviting people to go up into the unopen rides.

We went back to the main part of the park by way of the newly reloacted floating bridge, and spent $1.00 in quarters feeding the fish in the lake (by the way, those are some BIG fish-I was surprised). Once we got back over the the amusement park side, we decided to have some pretzel sticks from the "We're Rolling" Pretzel place. 10 freshly baked pretzel sticks and a small cup of pizza sauce for dipping cost $5.99. I'm sorry to see that Cedar Point's pricing discounts haven't affected Geauga Lake, aside from the cotton candy for a quarter.

We then went over and saw that the Big Dipper was in fact running now, so we got in line for it. It was on this ride that we experienced our first line of the day. It was about a 10 minute wait to get on the ride, and that was mainly because they were running one train only. This is such a great ride. It's such a classic and I couldn't believe how much airtime we got on it.

We decided after Big Dipper that it was time to try out some of this 25 cent cotton candy. We had yet to see any carts like we had at Cedar Point, so we went to the front of the park and got a park map (left ours in the car figuring we wouldn't need it) and much to my surprise, there are only TWO places in the entire park serving cotton candy for a quarter. There is one place on the amusement park side, and one place on the water park side. There was no line at the cotton candy place, which was, again, a much different experience than at Cedar Point. There was one tiny sign advertising the 25 cent cotton candy, and people did not know that it was there. However, it was a good thing that there was no line. The employee who was serving the cotton candy had no idea what he was doing or how to actually use the machine. We received two of the most disfigured cotton candy sticks I've ever seen in my life. The person after us in line said to us "It's a good thing you're only spending a quarter on that." This is not the reputation that park needs to get on opening day. There need to be more cotton candy stalls, and there need to be employees who know how to make it correctly! Customers want to receive high quality product, even if it only costs a quarter!

After the cotton candy, we decided to go ride X-Flight. On our way there, we passed the area that used to contain Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall. There is grass being planted there, but it hasn't grown yet, and it's all covered with straw right now. X-Flight was one of the other surprises of the day. First off, the park had (gasp!) TWO trains running on the ride. I've never seen two trains running on that ride, not even when I went in the middle of June last year! Second, the park also had both sides of the station open, which maybe is the way it needs to be for two trains to run on that ride, but I had never seen that done either. The way the track flips to switch stations is actually pretty cool. The ride itself was Meh, but it's by all means not a bad ride.

It was now approaching 12:30 and we'd been in the park for about 2 and half hours, and had hit nearly every coaster in the park. For those of you wondering, I simply can't stand Head Spin and refuse to ride it. We knew that there was really only one more ride that we wanted to ride, and that was the Villain. There was a slight line for this ride, but it wasn't bad at all (10 minutes maybe?). This ride is a great ride, and I love the trick track, but man, is it rough. The hills are incredibly smooth on the way down, but as they hit the bottom, the roughness kicks in. The ride continued to be rough throughout, and I was doing okay until the final brake before the station. We slammed to a halt and my back hit the seat pretty hard. I simply put my head in my hands and sat there. My girlfriend thought I was injured, but I just had a headache. We had both had enough, and we were ready to leave. It was only about 1:00 at this point, but with our season passes and parking pass, we'd only spent $7 in the park on food (with $6 of it being for pretzels).

Overall, it was a good trip, but Geauga Lake has a long way to go. I know that the first day is not a good one to gauge how the ride ops are doing, but there definitely is a huge difference between the ride ops at Geauga Lake and and at Cedar Point. In addition, park employees all over seem to be just a step below Cedar Point. I'm not sure what the "Cedar Fair" standard is, but if it is Cedar Point, then there is still much room for improvement. Don't get me wrong. The park has come a long way from its Six Flags roots and is running more smoothly than it ever has. I am in no way knocking what Cedar Fair has done in that park in three years. There is only one direction for this park to go, and that is up. The employees just need to be more prepared and more professional, I think.

See, the thing about GL is that its just employees from in the area. They aren't living there, and I'm sure it's really hard to staff the park during this time. I really thought the staff was doing great today, as I saw one walk up to a higher up, and ask where her ride was.

We had a great day also. The threat of rain kept the individuals away but there were plenty of bus tours there.

I TOTALLY agree that Villain was VERY rough but I found Big Dipper even rougher. Both coasters made me feel like my teeth were coming out of my head and Dipper compressed my spine at the bottom of the first hill. I think the retracking of Wolfbobs made it an almost boring ride.

We got on Double Loop early and tried later for a second ride but it was closed for repair. Too bad because it's one of the smoothest coasters there for its age.

Other than Dipper being closed in the morning and Double Loop being closed in the afternoon the other rides were running rather smoothly. We were expecting it to be worse than CP on opening day, but it didn't seem so bad (as far as ride ops go).

All in all it was an enjoyable day. Fortunately we left just before the rain started in the evening!

As far as food Pricing is concerned Cedar Point and one other CF park (forget I think it's ValleyFair) are the guinnea pigs for the cheaper prices.

The cotton candy stand on south side was packed (huge line) once the band kids made it over there. South side was crazy. (Old Sea World side that is.)

Why would the south side be packed? Whats there to do over there besides a few spinners and the two shows?

I don't know why they need guinnea pigs. GLP was always the least expensive entertainment venue before the park became Six Flags. While the pricing scale was higher than the real world it was also lower than CP, The Jake, The Gund, Blossom, etc.

If they want the park to succeed they need to go back to their roots.

Which is the problem with the subpar employees. CF has its work cut out for it. The park's culture was lobotomized between 2001 and 2003. It will take time for CF to repair all damage. I imagine that they are still dealing with people who think that Doug knew how to run a foods department.