Geauga Lake, future of the wild life side.

I was just wondering what people think will expecially happen to the wildlife side of the park now that all the animals are to be removed. Will CF even keep this side open for the 2004 season, because its not like theres much to do over there anyways.

One Idea/question I had about that side would be the possibility of moving the waterpark over there. Unless I am mistaken, Hurrican Harbor is considered to be on the rides side so it isnt under to strict of height requirement s as the other wildlife side. So why not move it to the wildlife side because Waterslides are pretty smalll compared to a coaster and i dont think the sorrounding area would get all fed up with a couple of hundred foot towers as opposed to a 215 foot huge loud steel coaster. Then on the rest of the Wildlife side they build a beautifule camp ground, a fancy hotel, a bargain hotel, and maybe something like light house point.
Even though the waterpark would probably cost way to much to move, I think that over time it would prove to be a good choice. Not only would it open up more room on the rides side to build something thats taller than they are aloud to build on the wildlife side, and/or more room to build stuff thats closer to the main atractions instead of making guests walk way over to the other side of the lake. The rides side would be totally seperate from the waterpark and resort/camping area. This would make it so guests wouldn't have no need to walk to the other side, because the waterpark would be a seperate park likesoak city is at cedar point.

Yeah this idea may be nuts but its really fun to think about all the possibilities. Let me know what you think should happen in regards to the wildlife side.

Condos, condos, condos!!

They already said it wouldn't likely be open.

Methinks the number of Geauga Lake threads in '04 are going to rival the TTD threads of '03.

I bet that Cedar Fair isn't even sure what they are going to do with it. But one thing to consider is - depending on the area - it might be possible for them to recoup almost their entire purchase price by developing this land for condos, townhouses, and single family homes.

disclaimer: I am not saying that this is what they will do- I just wouldn't be surprised if they did.

It would be a tremendous waste if the Wildlife side was to be shut down good and developed. In reality, the park is almost perfectly maintained, is well laid out, contains many offices for the former WoA (i think marketing, HR, security, and a few others and most of the food service facilities) and has the most spectacular landscaping.

It is easy to say it could be developed, but to actually walk around the park and try to imagine that...........

Who cares what they do with it. If you've looked at property costs around that area, $143 million for the rides and buildings alone was a bargain, let alone the land.

I can see it now. The ultimate coaster enthusiast's dream.

Buying a waterfront(Geauga Lake) condo overlooking the lake and having a ton of wood and steel coasters to view on the other side. :)

Now THAT would be irony. Sea World spent years trying to buy up homes on its perimeter and then somewhere down the road a park company comes in, gets the property rezoned, bulldozes the park and sells it to a building company. Talk about full circle!

Shiyet, for that I would sell my sf condo and move there post haste...

But if there were condos there & other housing developments...

...wouldn't one just swim to the other side & get free access to the park?

That would be one heck of a swim. I wonder if anyone ever attempted it when it was two parks with separate admissions.

It seems like a lot of people want them to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. I think that sounds magical and thrilling. They're going to need more parking spots anyways if they're going to be bigger than SFWOA was. They could finally add a first for a CF park too and make a parking lot coaster. That would be different than something at CP that locals would probably crawl on their knees for.

-Danny

Danny-

When it opened, Magnum was partially a parking lot coaster. The parking lot that turned into the first phase of Soak City was on both sides of the lift hill, not just one.

Interesting John. Dr. *Sarchasm* doesn't always have all the facts down. ;)

-Danny

CF has already said that they don't do wildlife. They learned their lesson with Oceana. The bulk of the former Seaworld facilities are or were about be declared substandard and not acceptable to the regulating bodies. It is a prudent move, IMO, not to try to continue the operation of this part of the park.

This is my theory, but many of you aren't going to like what you hear:

1) The wildlife side will never come back, especially for animals. Some part of it might be used (Happy Harbor), but I see them selling it off as housing eventually.

2) Ride side will possibly be downsized as speculated by many. BKF, S:UE, & X-Flight might be moved to other properties. No new new coasters will be built here in the foreseeable future, if ever. (Why compete with yourself, especially if you want the park to remain a 'traditional family park'?)

3)I bet that CF has a "X-year plan" (insert your own number here) to 'turn around' Geauga Lake as a non threatening profit making facility. If the management cannot make the park successful without competing with themselves, they may just decide to close up shop, move out all viable rides to other CF properties, auction off whats left, and sell the entire land complex to developers. What better way to insure that NO other company can ever compete with you head on again than by buying out the competition.

Remember, this is only my theory. I don't like it either, but, it makes a lot of business sense. The surrounding residential areas are very wealthy neighborhoods. Imagine if, suddenly, lakefront property became available to some wealthy individuals who would like to someday build in this increasingly elite area. The propery value increases. CF makes a profit on the land, gains a lot of decent rides for the other parks in the process at a fraction of the cost, and eliminates any major competitor from the region. We could be looking at the end of Geauga Lake, not a rebirth. I for one am not happy with this possible outlook.

One final note. Now that THE major competition has been eliminated from the market place, it may be a longer than usual timeframe until the next HUGE coaster addition like Millenium Force and TTD are added to CP. The northern Ohio coaster wars are over, and the incentive to build the next major 'weapon' is not as necessary. Sure, we will see more coasters eventually be built at CP, but certainly not as quickly as before. Their major threat has been eradicated.

Again, these are only my theories. I hope I am wrong.

I personally wouldn't be surprised to see Cedar Fair use some of the former seaworld property for resort expansion and some non-amusement park entertainment (the sort of thing that locals could possibly visit all year round and tourists could use to round out their vacation.)

As far as the competition of the two parks, I think that it is important to remember that Cedar Point is approaching a point where their increases in profit come from increased guest spending as opposed to increased numbers of guests. By having a second park near by, maybe they can begin to increase the number of guests more.

I honestly enjoyed the park overall the last couple of years and only wished that they would have got around to adding the Lost World, the dark ride, the hyper coaster, etc. Six Flags basically gave up, because that park really would have had promise if they did all these things, and like I said, I still liked it anyway and will be sad to see the penguins, reptiles, acquarium, etc. go. Barring of course Cedar Fair is smart and instead of getting rid of that side, uses it for further development to create a truly remarkable megapark by adding say some dark rides.

After posting last night, I started thinking and got some ideas of what they could do. None of this has any fact basis, so if any of it comes true it might just mean that I am somehow related to Miss Cleo.

Wild Rides side - keep the same with gradual ride swaps, additions, and improvements. Definately keep the water park over on this side which helps give the park a more economical family park feel.

One example of a ride that might eventually be replaced is the current Superman. With Wicked Twister so close and now owned by the same company, maybe they could send Superman to another park and replace it with something unique to the area.

Wildlife side - Develop this area as a resort with hotel and possible Lighthouse Point type cabins. Maybe even add another Castaway Bay since indoor water parks tend to be more regional areas anyway. Further develop the area with a Downtown Disney type of shopping district, a live theater with a family friendly show, boat rentals for the lake etc...

By doing this the park would be setting itself up as a quality destination without copying Cedar Point *** Edited 3/12/2004 1:20:28 PM UTC by Natas***