Continued: Cedar Fair announces Geauga Lake will be water park only

No, it was worth a lot more. If a PE can absorb and entire automaker, one can certainly absorb a chain of amusement parks. To think that one can't afford Cedar Fair is foolish.

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A PE shelled out billions for Chrysler a few months ago. There are quite a few that have it. . .If a PE can absorb and entire automaker, one can certainly absorb a chain of amusement parks.

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Except Chrysler is a turnaround candidate. If the PE can improve things there is lots of upside. By contrast CF is already well run and the space to improve things is much more limited.

I can believe that CF wants to be taken over and I believe that PE can take them over. What I don't see is how the PE improves the margins enough to justify the aquisition at a price that CF would agree to sell for.

I'm not saying a PE would ultimately take over CF. I'm saying one could.

And I'm saying that whether or not they could actually entice a PE, Cedar Fair might be quietly seeking such a deal. Their protests to the contrary not withstanding.

Jeff claims CF "half-closed" a park. Ha. If GL is only half-closed, then they should get at least half their existing business next year. Let's see if they can pull in 350,000.

I'm betting not.

*** Edited 9/28/2007 7:48:22 PM UTC by Ensign Smith***

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Jeff said:
Chrysler isn't Cedar Fair, is it?

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If it were, they'd have to change the name from Top Thrill Dragster to PT Cruiser. ;)

Well Dominator is starting to come down,at least according to the latest posts over at GLT.I'm suprised to hear that they started taking it down already while they're still working on Thunderhawk's removal.

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RatherGoodBear said:
If it were, they'd have to change the name from Top Thrill Dragster to PT Cruiser. ;)

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Yeah, and then tires might fall off of it or someth... oh wait. :)

^^ Dismantling of those two rides began yesterday- a mere six days after the announcement was made- meaning there is no way in hell this decision was made final only last Friday. There is no way to obtain demolition permits and line up heavy machinery for the dismantling of coasters within a period of six days, regardless of what b.s. Cedar Fair has to say about it. Sorry folks, something continues to stink.

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Rob Ascough said:
^^ Sorry folks, something continues to stink.

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Its this thread...

^^Well Rob it had been rumored that both Dominator & Thunderhawk would be removed before the closure of the ride side was officially announced so they very well could've applied for,and recieved the demolition permits weeks in advance.

Pardon my ignorance of zoning laws, but do you need permission to take down something that you already own, and is on your private property? I could see needing a permit if it was a building in a city and there were people who would be in proximity of the building, but these rides are fairly far removed from the main road.

What Rob is trying to say is that there really are no 150ft cranes 'on call'. We have to schedule 2-3 weeks out for large cranes, and we are a hell of a lot bigger than Geauga Lake.

Actually, no demolition permits are needed, but if the Dominator is deemed 'taxable permanent structure', I am sure the township would be exstatic to see it go.

This would be where Mayor Quimby shows up and mentions the "leaving town permit." :)

I don't know what the laws are like in OH, but in a lot of places in PA you at least have to notify the locality so many days beforehand when you plan on having heavy or large equipment using public roadways.

^^ That's exactly what I'm saying. You have a bunch of big steel coasters to dismantle... it's not like you call your local construction company and they suddenly appear with hundreds of thousands of dollars of heavy duty equipment in a couple of days. Anyone that still thinks this decision was made only last Friday is just blind to the facts that are staring them in the face.

THIS WAS PLANNED. Why is that so freakin' hard to believe? It's not like anyone from Cedar Fair is going to pay you for sticking up for them and blindly assuming they can do no wrong. But I guess I should expect that of you Batwing Fan, as you recently jumped to the other side since your local Six Flags park refuses to give you another coaster. Maybe Cedar Fair will buy SFA and turn it into a wonderful place. Or maybe they'll buy it, shut it down and leave you with something real to complain about?

They could very well have planned on taking out a few more rides with the intention of still opening the park next year. Then after seeing the final numbers on the year, pulled the plug. I don't know. But at this point does it really matter? Why or when the decision was made isn't going to change anything now.

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Intamin Fan said:
Pardon my ignorance of zoning laws, but do you need permission to take down something that you already own, and is on your private property? I could see needing a permit if it was a building in a city and there were people who would be in proximity of the building, but these rides are fairly far removed from the main road.

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I'm not sure how business permits work, but when I had to take down my garage, I had to have a permit. It had to be posted in a visible area on my properties edge. (of course, I don't have a 430 acre property which may factor into such things.)

Rob, would you concede this:

Is it not possible that Geauga Lake had a couple of options they were dealing with pending the Board vote on September 20th? Yes, I am sure they could have lined up heavy equipment in the event the Board voted to shut down the park. Then, boom, everything is in place.

They could have easily called off the equipment in the event the Board voted to keep the park open.

Neither scenario, in my opinion, leads me to think they should have notified the general public. In fact, if companies were "on call" pending a vote I'm more than surprised that the information wasn't leaking prior to the announcement.

GLT has some pics up in their official deconstruction thread,and while none of the eleveated sections of Dominator have been removed yet there's at least one section of track so far that has been removed & is sitting in front of the coaster as seen from just outside the main entrance.

Did I ever say that CF could "do no wrong"? Obviously in the eyes of some they can....but it's not like SFI is any better because they'e closed parks & removed rides as well.Some of the rides will have new life at other locations & this is a bad thing? at least it gives those who have the means to travel across the country from park to park a chance to ride them in the future while some of us have more limited options.

^^ I will concede that anything is possible. But... heavy construction equipment on site within days, demolition already underway, a buyer lined up to purchase the site, rides beyond Thunderhawk and Dominator already having new destinations... it seems more likely than not this decision was made a long time ago and the company merely waited until last week to make it official for the same of PR.

If rides other than Dominator and Thunderhawk arrive at parks for the 2008 season, I'll agree they knew it was closing. But, just because two coasters were already on their way out doesn't mean the park was surely closing.