Wildwater Kingdom and Advertising

Maybe I've been living in a closet, but I have not seen one Wildwater Kingdom commercial on tv this summer. I'm starting to wonder if Liquid Lightning and Thunder Falls might be making a new home at Soak City next year. From what I hear, attendance has been bad...plus I think there is a lot of animosity over losing GL, which is now a tremendous eyesore across the lake.

I'm all for bringing those two rides to Soak City.:)

From what I heard attendace is pretty bad at Cedar Point this year too.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=91914&catid=3

^Do you always buy the words of a sensationalist t.v. station?

Or perhaps you forgot that it's only June...and summer typically runs through August..so in that case it's too early to tell anything by the numbers.

But I'm sure you've already thought that out.

I know it's only June, and it's not Cedar Fair's fault that GL couldn't be rescued after Six Flags trashed it but Wildwater Kingdom will have a dismal year. Why? The same reason GL failed. It's just not the same as it was back in the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s. People are not going to spend money to go to a water park and at the same time look across the lake to see the death of their 119 year old friend. With gas prices they way they are and the feelings running high people are going to go to their local pool instead.

"The wait for the premier ride used to be three to four hours."

I have been riding Millennium since 2000 and have never waited more than 1.5 hours. I'm sure it's been this long at times, but that's a misleading statement.

mk522 said:
^Do you always buy the words of a sensationalist t.v. station?

Or perhaps you forgot that it's only June...and summer typically runs through August..so in that case it's too early to tell anything by the numbers.

But I'm sure you've already thought that out.

No, but I think it is funny that they are catching on. I also judge it on my experinces at the park this year.

Saturday June 7th I was at the park and rode Maverick, Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster within an hour. Granted one day can't judge the three months the park has been open.

I know I'm limiting my summer travel this year and I live in an area of the country that isn't experiencing the kind of economic downturn that Ohio and Michigan are. It shouldn't be a surpise at all that attendance is down and unless CP does some major marketing initiatives I think this can be expected for the rest of the summer.

If the dollar weren't so weak to the Euro right now I think the Orlando parks would be hurting too. They are full of Eurpoeans right now.

High gas prices, bad economy, no impact ride, possible minor impact to CP from the GL closing, etc is a recipe for a challenging summer.

I'm an SUV-owning father of two who is asking my wife to limit her trips out of the house right now. We are checking out movies from the library instead of renting from Blockbuster or <gasp> going out to the movies. We are watching what we buy at the grocery right now because prices have gone up.

The only people surprised by this news are likely kids who's parents bought their season pass and give them gas money.

I was at WWK yesterday, and it was pretty dead.  It did rain in the later part of the afternoon,

but I got there around 11:45am, and it the sun was shining for about 3 hours.  It was like I had the wave

pool all to myself!

Great post GeminiFan. Ironically, I did see a billboard today, but I honestly think a lot of people do not even know about WWK. If a company is going to dissolve Geauga Lake, they are going to have to promote the new brand strong...which has to be television for the target audience... people are home this summer, so there's no better source. The more I think of it, maybe it's just too difficult to promote a water park on the former site of a mega-popular and beloved sea life park, along with a historic amusement park. Makes me sad to see what this area once had and the future memories that will never form.

I think the problems with Wild Water Kingdom run beyond advertising. Although a little bit of advertising would not hurt. For the last three years my wife and I have made the trip from Toledo to Geauga Lake at least three times a year. The water park was the man draw, but the coasters in the evening were an added perk. We will probably not go to Wildwater Kingdom this year because it is not worth the drive for just the water park. Cedar Fair shut down the rides side because most people came for the water park, but that is kind of like shutting down the main midway at Cedar Point because most people come for Maverick and the other newer coasters. Cedar Fair initially underestimated the appeal of having animals at the park I feel the are doing the same with the rides side.

In addition to losing the rides nothing new was added this year! The Columbus Zoo almost has as many attractions in one tower as Wild Water Kingdom has in the entire park. I am willing to bet that the lazy river still does not have waves in it despite the fact that the brochure(from last year) advertises that it has waves, and the waves were working before the wave pool was added. Although Wild Water Kingdom is newer than the older water park that existed on the rides side it still does not offer the variety or the capacity of slides that the existing (at the time of sale) water park had.

At one point I thought that Cedar Fair was one of the better corporations, but I find myself starting to believe in the conspiracy theories, because buying a park to eliminate competition sounds much more competent than expecting to turn a profit after three years of cuts without anything new, and no advertising. I really do not know what to think of the whole situation, it seems that Cedar Fairs handling of the Geauga Lake property has been one large mistake after another. At least on the bright side maybe Soak City might be getting a new (if slightly used) funnel slide in the future.

If buying a park to eliminate non-existent competition sounds competent to you, I'd hate to hear what would constitute incompetence.

That's right. Because Geauga Lake never competed with Cedar Point. Never, ever, ever. Not one customer. Just like Kennywood (though being much farther away) isn't competing with CP for the Cleveland market. Just like Idlewild (farther still) isn't running commercials in the Cleveland market.

Hope that koolaid tastes good.

How can two properties owned by the same entity compete against one another? As has been said over and over and over and over and over, the money all goes into the same pocket. That's like suggesting you can't have two McDonalds in the same metro area of any city because someone might choose one over the other. It doesn't make any sense.

Not that making sense is a prerequisite for some when emotion is involved, apparently.

Actually, in the Akron area, I've seen many billboards for WildWater Kingdom, but the strange thing is that I've seen them in places that are a little off the beaten path. You'd think that they'd want billboards around the highways, and not on small little roads in the middle of the suburbs.

Um, Cedar Fair didn't own Geauga Lake before they bought it.

You don't know anything about my emotions.

Um, Cedar Fair closed it, and they are who you're suggesting did so to eliminate competition.

Yes, I know Cedar Fair bought Geauga Lake. I'm also aware they closed it. You seem to not understand that it is a regular business practice to buy out one's competitor(s) in order to close them.

Do I really believe this is what CF did? Not firmly. Some days I go back and forth. The evidence is not a lock, but there is enough circumstantial stuff there to keep me eternally suspicious.

But just to make it clear, Geauga Lake did in fact compete with Cedar Point. Not after it became a CF property, obviously, but in all the decades preceding.

Its regular business practice to buy a competitor, then run it for a couple years (which, last I checked, costs money) before ultimately closing it because that was the plan all along?

If I have to explain how ridiculously moronic that theory is (especially after its already been done so thoroughly), then I weep for you.

Don't weep for me, Daemontina!

See, that's sort of a musical joke...don't cry for me, Argentina? Get it? Don't weep for me, Daemon...

Aww, never mind. ;)