fun in the midwest -- Geauga Lake -- 7/14

I've been going to Geauga Lake for the past couple years, but it had been around 4 years since I had been to Kennywood. Me and my dad took this weekend to visit these 2 parks as our yearly father/son coaster trip, and it was his Father's Day gift. We had a great time, and he said that it was the best Father's Day present that he's ever had. It had been even longer for him being at these parks--almost 10 years!

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Geauga Lake actually had a crowd, and Kennywood wasn't as crowded as I may have though it might be. The weather was beautiful, and we got a fair amount of riding done, along with fairly cheap park admission--without any coupons; imagine that! :) The Kennywood TR will come later, but here's the one for GL.

Geauga Lake -- 7/14

--We entered through the WWK gate this time. It's nice over there, but it's kinda weird how that road goes between the parking lot and the entrance plaza.

--The park was pretty well staffed, though it was a Saturday. All coasters that could run 2 trains were running them. RWB is still down.

--Dominator was running good; this is definitely my favorite coaster there, and one of the best attractions the park has going for it at this point. Plenty of employees in the station.

--Thunderhawk is still the smoothest SLC that I've ever ridden, and they have the on-ride video system on this one now.

--Villian was awful! It was the worst ride I've ever had on the thing, and I sat in the second row! They really should get rid of those torture devices they call G-trains and get some PTCs! Whoever invented wood coaster trains with so little padding should have their sanity questioned (except for the ones on the Intamin P&Ps).

--Big Dipper was awful, as well, unless you sat in one of the non-axle rows. Riding in 1-3 felt like I needed a jock strap to enjoy the ride. Plus, the girl pulled that seat belt too tight, which didn't help with my comfort part of the time. Please, CF, give this classic the retracking and treatment it needs!

--Head Spin was a boomerang. Not very good, but whatever.

--Double Loop was painful some, but not as bad as the woodies. Also, I was getting some blackout when doing the loops--crazy stuff.

--We actually took part in some of the waterpark attractions, which was fun. The crowds were definitely liking this stuff. Their waterslide complex--the one with 7 slides--is really cool. We did a couple of the tall body slides, which were the craziest body slides I've ever done. We also each did a tube slide, which was ok, but not as crazy as the body slides. They should have a better system with the tubes, though, since the people coming off the ride didn't always pass their tube to the next in line.

--The lazy river is nice, but they should have a LOT more tubes here for people to use.

--The waterpark in general is nice and laid out fairly well. It is nice that everything isn't just out in the open with no trees. I do think, though, that they should get more tubes for the above, plus get more restrooms/changing rooms and lockers, plus they could use some more attractions, as they still don't have that many.

--The employees seemed to generally be friendly and decent--some better than others--but none really stood out as being bad or horrible.

--The front of the park, where XF, SV, etc. were, is too empty. On top of that, the tower is still down, and they still haven't gotten rid of the remains of the old water park. They really should do something about this--remove all traces of the old area and put in some more rides, like flats or something! It's a shame that some of that waterpark went to waste, like the wave pool and lazy river.

--We ate at Beachcombers, which was ok. The place didn't have a lot of atmosphere, and the food was just ok, but the waitress was nice and friendly, and the prices weren't too bad for a park, though they weren't cheap.

--I got to get some more pictures for the website, so check back in a bit for another update. The day was much nicer than the last time I took pictures there, so that was very nice.

--How can you beat the $26.95 admission? I got in free with my KD Maxx Pass, but my dad only had to pay that small amount, which was great.

--The new Lego movie is fun for the whole family, and their version of Dino Island 2 is the best-themed one I've ever done, even if you don't watch the 3D version.

Overall, a great time. I hope this park gets the crowds it needs to survive and move forward. There was certainly a decent crowd there on Saturday, but not unbearable.

*** Edited 7/19/2007 8:45:16 PM UTC by rablat5***

Ben, you just about ditto'ed every comment I made a few weeks ago. You were lucky in that you got to try out their awesome waterslide complex. It had been our plan to do their waterpark, but with the thunderstorms, and torrential downpours, that wasn't happening:( Hopefully, next time. I totally agree that the old waterpark has either got to go, or "donate" the waterslides to other Cedar Fair parks.

I wholeheartedly agree that the front/50s area is missing alot of life without the two coasters, but it was missing the people there for the last few years as well.

The noisy racket and lights of x-flight and steel venom gave the front alot of the people it had in the first place.

As for Villain i have had two rides on it this year with the first being horrendous but last week was fairly enjoyable, it still has its moments, but i agree those g-trains just plain suck. Wonder why they even went with g-trains on rwb in the first place, when they had ptc's for years. It seems that those are just horribly manufactured trains to be honest.

The best way in my opinion with the big dipper is to really used the padding of that ride, especially put your knees into it in the front, but with seatbelts if they are too tight forget about it, cause you boys will feel it or your lower abdomen.

The body slides, as i did the waterpark for the first time this year were my favorite part of the water park as well. Those things are insane, almost to a point where the first time i rode them, i swallowed water not expecting the water to hit my face with the intensity it did. All in all good TR. Also i think the crowds were from the Cleveland Clinic Outing, but i could be wrong its two weekends maybe it was this week and the next, but they always have decent crowds there for that.

Nice to have you agree, Rob :) GL is a nice park with some potential, but I have yet to see the place executed totally the way it should be.

Yea, the front area needs some stuff--it's just too dead and is a waste of good space at this point.

Those body slides were great--disorienting and to a certain extent, intense. That slide complex is one of the best things SF purchased for that park. I'd like to see more of these at other parks.

Something should be done with Villian and Big Dipper, period. Too many people could end up hurt riding those two. Retrack Big Dipper, and get PTCs for Villain.

Actually, the back slide complex in Wildwater Kingdom was added by Cedar Fair (unless the SF comment was a typo). I don't know if anyone else remembers it, but there was a huge controversy over WWK due to using non-union labor.

The front slides in the former Hurricane Harbor are the abandoned ones.

Rob, the large Proslide complex (the one with 7 slides) was added by Six Flags. If you visit my website, there is a picture of Head Spin (Mind Eraser) with the slide complex in the background--this pic was taken in 2003 when the park was SFWoA. Cedar Fair moved the slide complex to the current WWK side of the park.