Conneaut Is At It Again

Lord Gonchar said:
Maybe if they had done that - you know, run a successful business model - then they wouldn't have to beg for money to try to stay open.

Yes, I did LOL. Where's the "Me Likey" button?

I really don't think that pay-to-cut would help in Conneaut Park's success.

LostKause said:
I really don't think that pay-to-cut would help in Conneaut Park's success.

Yeah, people actually have to show up and create lines. Hard to sell FOL access when there's no "L" to go to the "FO"

While the realities of Conneaut cannot be ignored, Connie Otter remains one of my all-time favorite mascots ever!

Lord Gonchar said:

CoasterDemon said:
It's much better than... say... a park asking people for money to cut in line ;)

Maybe if they had done that - you know, run a successful business model - then they wouldn't have to beg for money to try to stay open.

Like... Holidayworld? Treat them right, and they will come ;)

Holiday World also doesn't have gaping, fire damaged buildings, melted street lamps, and rusted Chance Toboggans laying around.

Just sayin'.

That stuff's called "charm."

CoasterDemon said:
Like... Holidayworld? Treat them right, and they will come ;)

Oh right. Perhaps Conneaut is just dyslexic. They're supposed to be treating their guests charitably, but instead they keep asking them for charity. Oops.

Does anyone know if Sylvan Learning has a business school?

Would Holiday World even benefit from something like Pay to Cut, though? Obviously CLP wouldn't, but some of the smaller parks, I think it wouldn't be worth the investment.

I don't care what anybody else thinks, I love pay to cut. Give HW a few more years and they will offer it too, in one form or another.

Tekwardo said:
Would Holiday World even benefit from something like Pay to Cut, though? Obviously CLP wouldn't, but some of the smaller parks, I think it wouldn't be worth the investment.

Hmm... I'm sure some people would take advantage of the 'service' if it were offered. A few years ago, at a HW event, when asked if they would ever offer anything such as flash pass, etc. Will Koch proudly announced 'no, we are NOT going to let people pay to cut in line.'

I do remember waiting 45 minutes for Voyage when it first opened, they get crowded too :)

I don't like pay-to-cut but it seems that all of the corporate parks are headed in this direction especially now that Herschend and Palace (Kennywood) are doing it and Cedar Fair is experimenting with it. Disney is probably next. Two parks with high attendance that will never do it, barring corporate takeovers, are Holiday World and Knoebels. HW has had that policy of charging a bit more up front at the gate compared to other similarly sized parks but including many extras with admission. If they decide to ever go to a system of this type, they will do it as a service to guests to reduce time spent in lines and it will be free like the current Disney system. Knoebels takes another approach by having pay as you go riding only on the busiest days.

Small parks like Conneaut don't get the lines that make such a system workable,

Sadly, I believe that CLP might have to go eventually. It's not that the area would lack a amusement park as would have been the case if Arnold's Park (the example most like CLP) had folded. Waldameer is a much bigger and better park than it was during Conneaut's heyday. Also, the numerous county fairs in the area provide additional amusememt options. Sure, the Blue Streak would be missed, I would like to see it reconstructed with new wood and a heavier track at Idlewild which could use a mid sized wooden coaster. Other rides worth preserving are the Carousel, the Tumble Bug, the Roll-O-Plane and the Devils Den. There is also that Fright Zone darkride in mothballs. Lakemont would be a good place for some of these rides (including several of the other flats) especially if they could get them cheaply. It would be nice to see those open spaces filled up and some of those flats that are too similar to others replaced. This would also be a good place for the carousel but because of cost, something creative would probably have to be done to finance this acquition (possibly from preservation groups that can't stand to see another carousel chopped up and sold piecemeal to collectors). The best place for the Tumble Bug would be Knoebels, giving them another rare vintage ride.

84th to 14th in two days

I absolutely LOVE Arthur Bahl's idea of selling all of these classic rides to more successful parks across the State of PA. With the way things are going now for Conneaut Park, the gems at the park could be lost forever.

Is Conneaut Park taking care of and maintaining the rides Arthur described, or are they letting them rot away?

Charles Nungester said:
84th to 14th in two days

Again, Chuck, no one here said it was wrong to vote for it. We seem to have a different opinion (What a concept), and disagree with it. I didn't vote for it to win the first time, but it won. And if it wins this time, I'll still be rather 'meh' about it.

Travis, as far as I heard the Tumble Bug at least was running this past summer. (And even running to manufacturer's specs unlike the one south of it!)

Last time I heard, the ROP was running, but not tilting. I assume it was a problem with the tilt motor, eccentric, or chain. All easy fixes.

Al easy fixes, for a business that has a little bit of a maintenance budget. lol

I'm lost here. What's ROP?

Raven-Phile said:
I'm lost here. What's ROP?

Roll-O-Plane, from Arthur's post above.

Sheesh, Raven. Do we have to s p e l l everything out for you? ;)