What will it mean for employees

The stunning announcement that Cedar Fair will buy SFWOA and rename the ride portion to Geauga Lake has still not settled in. One good thing is that employees should be able to use their IDs to get into the park for free and try some different coasters.

But I wonder about other things that will happen. I am sure some CP staff will be moved here and many some local employees from the Cleveland area might want to work here instead of Sandusky. Also will they build a dorm to attract more people to work here. The park is in a metropolitan area and might be more attractive to people who like being in cities and to people who see Sandusky as in the middle of nowhere.

More ESD trips to there now hehe..(maybe)

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Park Services 98'
Snake River 99'00'
Peanuts ATL 01'
GW/SS/Schwab TL 02'
Kiddy Kingdom TL 03'
Snake River Falls TL 04'

It'll mean probably nothing for employees at Cedar Point. I used to work at a Six Flags park, actually... too bad they've let that park go down the drain...

Anyhow, they'll probably move a few people over there but my guess it will be more like Cedar Fair Corporate babysitting for a bit rather than actually getting rid of people. Then again, theft and naughty things of that nature are probably pretty rampant, so I'm sure that CF will be talking a lot to Loss Prevention (the secret police at Six Flags parks, they dress up as guests and walk around the parks looking for bad stuff and investigate anything that looks peculiar). From that you'll probably see a lot of firings.

Doubtful they're going to get a dorm, Cedar Point is a lot bigger than WOA so it's justified there, but dorms are a pretty heavy cost. They might pull in a hundred or so internationals, but chances are they'll stick 'em in a hotel somewhere.

They're also going to have to rename most, if not all of the rides and switch a lot of policies around. Lotsa re-decoration, lotsa training, etc.

I worked at Six Flags WoA as a blue tag in the rides department. This is a good chance cuz Cedar Fairs takes care of their parks and hopefully it will still remain just 2 parks where we have our own group and they have their own group.
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Top Thrill Dragster Crew Mem. 2003
Top Thrill Dragster Crew Mem. 2004

It would be kind of fun to start some sort of "friendly rivalry" between the two parks, something that was more like a competition to push employees in both parks to go above and beyond in the daily aspects of their jobs and in guest service. I haven't really thought up any exact details, the prospect being so new and all, but I'm sure any type of program of this sort that was set up would be extremely fun and very beneficial.

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~Lee~

Group Sales ATL '01
Group Sales TL '02
Park Admissions Zone 5 Supervisor '03
Park Admissions Supervisor '04
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"The greatest leaders don't take credit for their actions; they don't have to."

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Then again, theft and naughty things of that nature are probably pretty rampant, so I'm sure that CF will be talking a lot to Loss Prevention (the secret police at Six Flags parks, they dress up as guests and walk around the parks looking for bad stuff and investigate anything that looks peculiar). From that you'll probably see a lot of firings.

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i knew it!!!

was walking around with my dad 1 day... there's a guy sitting at a table outside of coasters. Ironically, he was on the only chair at that table without a back. Well... hanging out of his back pocket, was his wallet. And hanging out of the wallet was money.

i told my dad to look... so he turned around and went up to the guy and told him his money was hanging out. The guy looked up and grumbled thanks, and never touched the wallet.

knew he had to have been an undercover.

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:james
magnum crew 2002
johnny rockets 2003, 2004

I don't know how many of you listened in on the conferance call today at 2 but I think you can still go on the Cedar Fair site and get a replay of it. Anyway they will be moving Bill Spehn over to Geauga Lake and give him the position of GM of the park. Also they're shutting down the animal side of the park and will not be reopening it. Hurricane Harbor will be renamed Soak City. Oh... and CF Season Pass holders from all other parks will not be able to get into Geauga Lake with their season passes. Rides will be hiring in employees under the age of 18 and they aren't going to have any employee housing either. Those are just the major points from the call... if you want to hear the whole thing go to www.cedarfair.com you should be able to find a link to it that way.

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2003 Power Tower Crew
2004 Mean Streak Crew

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Tim McKinley said:
One good thing is that employees should be able to use their IDs to get into the park for free and try some different coasters.

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I don't see this actually happening if the park isn't going to honor regular season passes from other Cedar Fair parks. It sure would be a nice perk for employees of CP though!

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-James
2003 Ride Maintenance
2004 Millennium Force Crew

I left Cp to go work at SF. So now what? I am the equivalent of a blue tag this year at Happy Harbor (ATL). So far there isn't a TL for that area. Is this one of the areas they are going to keep? I'm just a little nervous about all of this..........

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Hurricane Harbor will be renamed Soak City

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They said they'd rename it, but not what the new name would be. Since Soak Cities are all separately gated, and (as stated on the call) the GL waterpark will not be, I'd be surprised if they used the Soak City name.

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CPAndrew said:
I don't know how many of you listened in on the conferance call today at 2 but I think you can still go on the Cedar Fair site and get a ...they're shutting down the animal side of the park and will not be reopening it. Hurricane Harbor will be renamed Soak City. Oh... and CF Season Pass holders from all other parks will not be able to get into Geauga Lake with their season passes. Rides will be hiring in employees under the age of 18 and they aren't going to have any employee housing either. ..

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2003 Power Tower Crew
2004 Mean Streak Crew

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I listend too.. They said they were not opening the animal side this year, but that it would probably be used for further development later. They also said they WOULD be operating the rides, on that side, that were close to the park side. They DID NOT say Hurricane Harbor would be renamed Soak City.. one of the callers asked if it would be called Soak City and all they said was that the name Hurricane Harbor belonged to the Six Flags Corp. and that area would be renamed. They didn't give the name.. Season's passes will not be good at that park THIS YEAR... and they never said they would "never" have employee housing.. they said they don't have it right now.

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Without Environmental Services Cedar Point would be a dirty park!

Amazing how people hear what they want to hear isn't it Env. Services??

btw.. get-together at Louie's tonight at 10pm.. Should be interesting.. ;)

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82

I find it interesting that Bill Spehn will be moved. I'm wondering who will be taking his place, assuming Bob or Peggy since they are the two highest in the ride op department. But I guess Park Op includes the Env. Services so one of their managers could be bumped up as well.

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Brent Haley
Gemini Crew '02
Dragster Crew '03, ATL '04

I must've misinterpreted the Soak City part... thats my mistake... or maybe I just wasn't listening closely enough at the time. Anyway when I said they weren't going to be opening the animals side anymore I meant that they weren't going to be doing the whole animals thingy anymore. I know they're still going to be using that and I know there are still some shows on that side *like that Batman show thing* that are under contract. If I would've gone in depth on everything they said it would've taken me forever to write it. Plus I gave the link for where people could go if they wanted to listen to it. Meh... we all make mistakes I guess... no reason to be a smartass about it Rob.

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2003 Power Tower Crew
2004 Mean Streak Crew

Ok here is a word from a former Six Flags Employee/ about to become a CP employee. I worked in admissions the past two seasons... CP employees were always allowed in for free with proper ID and could even bring a friend for free...trust me iknow b/c i worked GR and and was as you guys call it a blue tag last year. I'm excited to come to CP this year and am excited about the aqusition. I hope that as I come to CP to see how great it is to work there, all of you can check out the Geauga Lake property and feel pride for a decent park that will in no way ever match or compete with the magnitude of the Sandusky property, but it non the less a great "family park". I feel that Cedar Fair made an excellent purchase and from the way things sound from the press conference nothing but good will eventually come of this... Obviously there are going to be a few bumps (maybe more like the potholes on 480!!) but this will turn to be something great! hope i didn't offend anyone, sorry if I did

Well, Environmental Services isn't the only other option from Park Op.. there's also the managers from Challenge Park/Soak City, Admissions,Traffic, Night Operations and Special Events. The new V.P. will surely be a director though.. so that would mean, if they are from Park Op, that it would be Bob, Candy, or Peggy. I noticed MantisBrian only mentioned Rides managers... there are 14 other Park Op Managers..

and Bill had never worked in Rides before taking on Director or Park Op and then V.P. I think he worked Trash Removal, Office Cleaners and Challenge Park/Soak City

Did I read Krz's post wrong? Did it say CP employees got into SF for free with I.D.? I went several times and was never let in free. Wow, wish I'd known about that when I went. I might have asked about it.

Red Garter Rob.. I don't think I will be at the Louie's party tonight. Too far of a drive.. but I hope everyone has fun.
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Without Environmental Services Cedar Point would be a dirty park!

Yeah, after I wrote that, I realized that Park Operations was much broader than I was including. Sorry bout that.

...Also, who said they have to come from Cedar Point? Someone could get promoted from Knotts, Valleyfair!, Dorney, or any other park CF owns.

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2004 - ATL Mantis
2003 - Mantis
2002 - Mantis
2001 - S.C. Foods Supervisor

As I mentioned else where I have heard that the Director of Merchandise and Games did get promoted so I believe the new VP is him.

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'04 TL Speed Zone
'03 Speed Freaks (Hats n Such)
TTD 72 rides (2 nonpaid rollbacks, 5 paid rollbacks)
TaeKwon-Do First Degree Black Belt. (1st dan)

I remember asking Bob last year if he ever wanted to be VP, and he said some thing like. Likes being directly involved with the rides so much he doesn't want to be VP. But who knows maybe someday that will change. Even now if that Merchandise director isn't the new VP of operations but somewhere else...

I think Peggy would be the best candidate for VP if she wanted it. After all she knows everything about Park Operations. A Director of Training has to.

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- Chris -
*** This post was edited by Flisk 3/11/2004 9:29:43 AM ***

Where was Bill's office at?

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'04 TL Speed Zone
'03 Speed Freaks (Hats n Such)
TTD 72 rides (2 nonpaid rollbacks, 5 paid rollbacks)
TaeKwon-Do First Degree Black Belt. (1st dan)