Geauga Lake announces water park and other attraction plans

Back in the day, the park made a killing on company picnics (I did one with National City Bank the year Wolf Kabobs opened). The park thrived in those days and did major groups every week. More banquet space and a more spread out water park I suspect will solidify their position in getting those companies back.

My guess is that you'll see a lower margin on that park, but it will be profitable. I don't think you'll see a lot of huge capital expenditures over the years either.

dont forget now that once everything has been moved from the current waterpark, there will be some good acreage on the "no height limit restriction zoneing" side of the park.

Picnic pavilions are a huge money maker, its repeat business every year for company picnics. Waldameer and Kennywood both do really well with their pavilions. I see GL doing equally well.

And to those above worried about Kennywood, I doubt any corporation/company in Pittsburgh would bother sending their employees two hours to an amusement park when Kennywood is in their own backyard.

For all intents and purposes, they're building a NEW waterpark. Yes, they are moving some slides over there, but everything else will be brand new with them scrapping most of the older waterpark attractions in favor of the new ones. Can't really MOVE a wave pool or lazy river....

And I know that Cedar Fair did not 'close' the wildlife (Sea World) section. Anheuser Busch & Six Flags did that by removing the animals. I do understand that Cedar Fair does not want to own or operate an animal venue, and I respect that. I'm only stating that the loss of Sea World is permanant now, and I feel that it is an unique attraction that is lost to the region.

As I said, I think it will succeed for them, and I wish them luck doing so. I'm personally just not excited about ANOTHER water park announcement.

Last year, locals abandonded GL and spent their time and money in the tried-and-true Cedar Point. Now, thanks to a better waterpark and lower gate prices, they have incentive to visit GL. (The 2005 gate price at GL, including Wildwater Kingdom, is less than the 2004 gate price for only Soak City at CP!) The traffic patterns between the two parks will definitely change next summer.

As Jeff mentioned, parks that cater to corporate events are definitely appealing. Seabreeze in Rochester is a very small park with one decent coaster, but the group events brought in tons traffic and they seemed to be doing very well. Seabreeze's gate price was also relatively low, $18.95 including the waterpark.

All around a good move by Cedar Fair. (Yeah, shock of shocks I continue to cheer on Kinzel and the guys...)

From a business standpoint, the return of the picnic facilities is probably the best part of this announcement. Jeff's right...years ago that was GL's bread & butter, and it's nice to see them returning to this revenue source. There's a nice margin in the company picnic/outing business, and hopefully with the improving economy that segment will get stronger. A company I worked for had their company picnic at PKI for a few summers in the mid-90s. I remember HR saying at the time it cost around $10K for our corporate office of around 200 people (plus their families). Not a bad deal for the park to let in a few hundred extra people and serve them fried chicken, baked beans, and potato salad!

As far as giving away the gate...well, sometimes you HAVE to buy attendance. (And I'd say after a season where you only achieved 46.6% of your budgeted attendance is as good a time as any.) It wouldn't suprise me to see the waterpark transition into a second gate over the coming years without completely blowing off the new pricing structure. (Maybe pricing the main park at around $24, the water park around $18, and doing a combo ticket in the neighborhood of $30-32.)

Is the $24M the total cost for both seasons or just 2005? I was just trying to calculate how much 2005 cap ex is left for CP and WoF...

Joel

I would almost expect a seperate gate for Wildwater Kingdom upon installation or soon after Phase 2. Infact, they would be ignorant in my eyes not to. Way to go CF! I loved GLP, and hope to get to go back next year. But next year I will be focusing on waterparks in Ohio as well as the Amusment/Theme Parks. And I just hope that RWBs is the coaster it should be after re-tracking.

I agree, though, that Some coasters need new paint jobs to differentiate, hope that is involved in either 05 or 06.

I wonder if the new water park complex will use saltwater. Spehn mentioned they had a few million gallons of it and didn't know what to do with the stuff. :)

I for one would be extremly suprised if GL made a seperate admission for the Water Park instead of simply raising the admission price. I wouldnt expect the price to jump right back up $10 next year, but I think it will gradually return. Families like the idea of getting two parks for one price. In the long run people arnt going to remember GL raising the ticket prices, cause its expected for them to gradualy go back up. However people will remember that if they go to GL they only have to pay one price for two parks, and to them thats a bargain. In 2007 paying $35-40 for both parks would be a bargain. People don't like having to pay add ons. CP offers seperate admission to Soak City because CP is a resort, that people come from all over the country to for several days, and people dont expect soak city to be included with admission cause its a seperate park, and its never been offered before. GL has always included the waterpark in admission, and even with WWK the water park wont be THAT seperate from the rest of the park. Happy Harbor is still on that side of the park, as well as the new Dino simulator, and that Robot 4d thing. The water park may be more separated from the rest of the park than it use to be, but its still not a sperate park because its still tied into the rest of the park.
It will be really good for GL to market two parks for the price of one. Its much easier to do that even if the ticket price is raide to $35-40 cause getting two parks for one price kind of impliea a bargain and in actuality it is a bargain. In orger for GL to saiter to the families as much as they said they do, they must include admission to both parks.

I don't think you'll see a separate gate. That's a bait and switch, and I don't think people will stand for it. Besides, the single gate is clearly a strategy working for Dorney.

Waterparks, Teen activity, picnics....coming to GL...

AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE

Not meaning to create some kind of wild or senseless speculation but if you look at the rendering that illustrates all of the improvements for 2005, you'll see that Dominator features blue track and Raging Wolf Bobs is natural wood. Perhaps the artist took some creative liberties but I found this strange because everything else on the map seems to be accurate color-wise. Is it possible that Dominator will be given a new color scheme and RWB will be returned to its "natural" state as part of its rehab? It's possible, since Big Dipper returned to a natural look after being painted for many years and at one point, Dorney entertained the possibility of returning Thunderhawk to natural wood.

Rob, the map appears to be the same one that GL has been using all season long. On all the park brochures, maps, etc., Batinator has been blue and RWB is brown -- nothing new now.

-Skydiving Jeff

Rob... the park map was like that during the 2004 season.

This is great move on the part of Cedar Fair, and confirms what I've always thought in that Geauga Lake is as much about the water park as it is about the rides. Locals will come again and again, all summer long, to what looks like will be one of the best water parks in the country.

CF has totally overcome the loss of the animals with this, and has given the entire park new life. The Sea World side was always beautiful, I'm glad it is being put to good use and will have lots of activity again. The old water park was almost like an afterthought, wedged in between the rides. Especially the wave pool, it's location right next to the street really ruined the atmosphere. Past phase two, wouldn't a Master Blaster zooming around the hills by old stadiums be great?

I doubt they will ever make the water park a separate gate, this combined concept looks like a home run, and in the future the water park side will probably become the heart and soul of Geauga Lake. The rides will still be a draw, but not as much as the water park.

Between Castaway Bay and Wildwater Kingdom, will Dick Kinzel one day say that in 2005 he fired the first shot in the water park wars? :)

Im suprised a family tube slide is not part of the park. Perhaps this will be part of phase 2. I would expect GL to add one of these in the near future. In order for WWK to be the best it will need a couple more rides where families can all ride together.

Overall, I really like the new ideas and plans for Geauga Lake. These Wildwater Kingdom and picinic ground projects are going to even out the whole site of the park and keep it level. I really do see and hope that this is very successful.

Ahhh ok... I didn't know if that was a new map of not. I guess I was reading more into it than I should have.

awesome...... as long as the don't bring back those "mr fun" commercials, I think the park will be in much better shape next season...

I noticed the "it's gonna be fun" tagline isn't in use everywhere on the site anymore... do you think they might phase it out a bit?

EDIT: oh, i also just noticed they have an even smaller admission for the spring time before the water park is open -- a very good move IMO. It stunk last year we had to pay the same admission w/o the giant waterpark as we would later in the year, as it is a big part of the park.

-- alan j
*** This post was edited by SFDL_Dude 11/10/2004 12:06:43 PM ***

Sounds like the plan is to turn the park into Dorney II

If pattern follows, the waterpark should be packed during the afternoon leaving the rides area dead - then after waterpark hours. the rides will get packed.

I'm seeing a lot of similarities in this approach to what Dorney has well beyond the recycling of names.