Geauga Lake rides side to close.

[ClevelandRocks10]

^i agree six flags helped the park but they added stuff to fast and forgot about the little things in owning a park and that led to there downfall, not just in six flags worlds of adventure but most of there other parks as well but it seems six flags is getting there act together.

[Gordon Bombay]

While that is true, just remember, it was not SF's intention to close Geauga Lake, where as Cedar Fair...

[The Interpreter]

Yeah, under Six Flags at Geauga Lake, coasters were installed pell mell, food stands and shops were often closed, prices on food and merchandise were way out of line, entertainment suffered compared to the Busch years. Most of all, park infrastructure was not improved to handle the huge crowds the new coasters brought...many of the groups and people ended up coming only once.

Interestingly, there are some parallels to what old Six Flags management did back then (including eventually closing Astroworld) and what a certain other company seems to be doing nowadays. Hopefully, the stories won't end the same (with a hostile takeover finally bringing in new, more sensible management and ending the Story days...)

[The Interpreter]

And here is the editorial I have been waiting for.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has not been happy with Cedar Fair since the acquisition of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. Here, they weigh in:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/09/co...packs_up_i.html

[The Interpreter]

And a VERY interesting article from The Toledo Blade:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...ESS06/709220414

[upstop]

I expected this was going to happen when Firehawk was first moved. Who wouldn't have suspected this to happen, afterall, we are talking about Cedar Fair. The strange thing that I see is that as soon as Cedar Fair took over GL, they took the perks away from the customers and dropped their halloween event. Hmmmm, what happened at KI.....no more Winterfest, and no more take a friend free days, and guess what, down went sales. Sounds like a pattern to me.

[Gordon Bombay]

Your forgetting though that CF never added any major rides to the rides side at GL where as their first full year of owning KI they brought in Firehawk and while Winterfest may be gone, they've increased the budget and quality of Halloween Haunt. I dont see a pattern.

And a VERY interesting article from The Toledo Blade:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...ESS06/709220414

Leave it to the Toledo Blade to not do their research as usual. Cedar Fair L.P. was re-named Cedar Fair Entertainment Company over a year ago, there has never been any official statement on behalf of CF of what will become of the rides on the rides side. If you read the blade you lead to believe all rides and attractions will be relocated, they just say that, dont even have a quote or an official source for that statement. Lazy reporting by the Blade as usual.

[fan of beast]

i lived in the cleveland area for 5 years. never once went to gl or cp.

finally made my 1st trip to cp this year, 4 yrs after moving to cincy.

kinda wish i would have made it to gl at least once.

it was common knowledge that they were downsizing gl but,

i didn't expect cf to give up this soon.

it's funny how a lot of people ignore treasure in their backyard but,

plan trips all over to visit someone elses back yard.

[ClevelandRocks10]

one of the reasons people visit Cleveland is for the rock and roll hall of fame and I lived here for 16 years and have yet to visit it

[The Interpreter]

And a VERY interesting article from The Toledo Blade:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...ESS06/709220414

Leave it to the Toledo Blade to not do their research as usual. Cedar Fair L.P. was re-named Cedar Fair Entertainment Company over a year ago, there has never been any official statement on behalf of CF of what will become of the rides on the rides side. If you read the blade you lead to believe all rides and attractions will be relocated, they just say that, dont even have a quote or an official source for that statement. Lazy reporting by the Blade as usual.

Actually, the company is STILL legally a master limited partnership and is Cedar Fair LP. They do business as Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. The Toledo Blade is NOT incorrect as to the company name.

Look at Cedar Point's webpage. What appears ABOVE Cedar Fair Entertainment Company? Why, A Cedar Fair LP Park, of course!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/news/company/cedar_fair.cfm

[Gordon Bombay]

My apoligies, I was incorrect on the name. However the article is still misleading as to the fate of the rides, nothing has been officialy announced.

[The Interpreter]

And yet you do not know what the reporter was told during an interview with the company spokesman, now do you?

[raptor]

what ashame. I was planning a trip there next year, almost made it there on their last day this year, but didn't. I was looking forward to riding the big dipper.

Another 100 year old park that may be biting the dust is conneaut lake i Pennsylvania:

http://www.conneautlakepark.com/

one of only 2 parks left in the country that still operate a tumble bug.

[Gordon Bombay]

And yet you do not know what the reporter was told during an interview with the company spokesman, now do you?

If that was direct quote from a park spokesperson, than it should have been noted in the article.

[Mikewhy]

You would think that the Toledo Blade web site could get a photo of the actual wave pool at Wildwater Kingdom, and not the old Wave Pool that was on the rides side...

[The Interpreter]

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/2636052

[Beast1979]

Sigh, Geauga Lake was one of my Favs. I only went there once. And that was this summer. It was a really nice park! I have relatives in Cleveland so I looked forward to going there when we visit. Not anymore.

[KIBeast]

It's funny how many people are up in arms over the closing of GL. I am saddened by the closing too. However, where were all of these people when GL needed attendance and how come no one apparently was using the word of mouth method to spread the news about how they liked GL? If you really wanted it to stay open, you really had to go to said park or at least talk it up to friends. It seems that this was not happening.

[jzarley]

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/2636052

I think this analysis really hits it on the head...GL's days have been numbered ever since Sea World closed. Granted, SF tried to keep it going with the "Wildlife Side" of SFWOA, but it still wasn't really Sea World, and consumers realized that. Sea World was the unique draw, and GL was able to capitalize on that for many years. We can blame SF or CF for GL closing (and both do share a fair amount of the blame), but the bottom line is that GL's fate was sealed the day Shamu was no longer their next door neighbor.

Of course, to be fair to Busch, SW Ohio obviously wasn't amazingly profitable for them or they never would have elected to sell it in the first place. (I've read that Discovery Cove in Orlando opened nearly debt free, since Busch applied the proceeds of the sale to building that park...)

There are just so many major, regional 3M+ guest parks a single state can support, and GL was trying to compete in shared markets with two other very strong parks (three if you count Kennywood). Could it have survived as a purely local "picnic" park? Maybe...but by that time, SF had already grown the infrastructure too large, and CF's paying $145M for it made the "little park" cost structure unsubstainable.

The whole history and demise of GL will make some MBA student a great thesis topic someday...

[Cory Butcher]

Im going to go out on a limb. I would like to state that Six Flags did not invest enough money into Geauga Lake to have it overtake Cedar Point or Kings Island, or Kennywood. Yes I said that right, 40 million dollars invested for four new roller coasters was not enough. regardless of the market, we all know had Geauga Lake put in 120 Million dollars and 12 coasters they would have had a better time competing....Of course, that wouldnt even be a reliable option as it would take many years to pay off that debt load. Either way, the downfall of GL comes back to Six Flags, I think.

[jzarley]

^ hmmm...have you done the math on what kind of attendance/revenue SF would have had to have done to support $240M ($125 for coasters as you propsed, plus $115 to buy SW) of CapEx for one four month operating season?

[Cory Butcher]

^ hmmm...have you done the math on what kind of attendance/revenue SF would have had to have done to support $240M ($125 for coasters as you propsed, plus $115 to buy SW) of CapEx for one four month operating season?

haha, I said it was a limb, I didnt say it was a branch to build a treehouse on! And much of the post was just babble! As I said in my post, It would not be a feasible option to dump that kind of Capitol into a park in its market.

On the other hand I did mean some of what I said although not directly. It kind of follows the "If you build it, they will come" ideology, perhaps they didnt build it enough? Noone is to say, because the idea of dumping that much cash into a regional short operating season park seems outlandish to most. However there is the slim chance that had more money been added (IF THERE WAS MONEY TO ADD)(there was not) that it could have brought the park up in attendance and competed as a tourist draw not just a regional theme park.

Now, of course, the flipside of what I just stated is that if GL were to have had the 120,000 dollars in improvements it would have violated the "See a need, fill a need" principle which is to say there wasnt a need for the park to be a tourist destination so why treat it as such?

Oh such is the beauty of understanding, and the mystery of uncertainty!

[CoastersRZ]

I believe that your latter statement is more accurate. Six Flags simply thought that the Cleveland area could support turning Geauga Lake into a major tourist destination like Cedar Point. But simply installing lots of bright new shiny rides simply won`t translate into more attendance and money. Especially not when guests can take a couple hour drive west and get to Cedar Point. The market simply wasn`t there for a major amusement park destination in Cleveland.

[The Interpreter]

I submit that to the extent Six Flags erred, and they did, it was not in not putting in enough coasters. Rather, they did very, very little to improve the infrastructure of the park to match the crowds they so had hoped to attract. Not enough staff, not enough food stands, midways way too small, not enough rest rooms, and on and on and on. The place was miserable when it was crowded. The coasters brought the crowds, the crowds needed to eat and go potty and just get around the park. All of this was VERY difficult. People came once, but most did NOT come back. People remember.

No, I don't at all agree they didn't build enough coasters. They billed Geauga Lake as Six Flags Ohio then Six Flags Worlds of Adventure and claimed it was competitive with (or even superior to) Cedar Point AND Kings Island...they built rides, then didn't have the structure in place to handle those crowds.

Then Cedar Fair showed up, claiming "The Fun Is Back." Did they improve the infrastructure? No, not in the dry park at least, they didn't have the animals any more, they started taking out coasters, shortened the season and then were STUNNED, STUNNED I say that people didn't come back in droves.

Imagine.

The market WAS there. It just expected a fun, pleasant experience. And neither Six Flags nor Cedar Fair delivered appropriately. Had they, the park would continue on, profitably so.

.