Geauga Lake Monorail Closed Indefinately!

Back to the Geauga monorail, when my partner & I both were visiting the States we visited nearly 10 parks and went on as many rides as possible at least once.When at Geauga were were suprised just how really quiet it was compared to the other parks (before lunch maybe 200 people).But we did not ride the monorail , it was soooo slow.We like the LOOK of it, it reminded us of RCT2,I even videoed it, but it seemed very impractical and slow ,did i say slow. *** Edited 6/24/2006 12:28:29 AM UTC by therooboy***

Cedar Fair has a good reason behind why they do everything. Even if it looks bleak and appears really stupid at the time, it's all for a good reason. I'm tired of people bashing my company just because they make a move that someone didn't like. You're not the ones running the company, you just visit the parks.

Cedar Fair has done everything in their power to make Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom what it is today, and IMO they've done a DAMN good Job! If the monorail is gone...So WHAT? Didn't Bill Sphen once say that Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom is going to be "Bigger, Better, Wilder, and Wetter than ever"? So far we have the bigger, better, and wetter part....now to accomplish the wilder part. Do you think Cedar Fair is just going to sit around and do nothing with the park, let the old waterpark sit and rot like Six Flags did with so many of their rides?
I think not, something big is planned for Geauga Lake my friends, and you just have to wait and see.

-ELLEN-

Im all for Cedar Fair decisions. Frankly, I like how they run their parks (Except Knotts) but I'd hate to see the Monorail removal as one of the steps to a better park.

Six Flags had new track made for the ride back in December of 1999. Im not sure who fabricated it, but if they are still able to, it would be nice if they could redirect parts of the Monorail slightly so it has a future at Geauga Lake around future installations.

And yes, in the 3 seasons they have run the park, I agree they have done a DAMN fine job.

CF has made a lot of mistakes with GL. The drop in attendance really was horrendous and I'm sure not what CF expected. However, even though they are still not meeting expectations, they are keeping their heads up and making some good investments in the park. The waterpark is a solid addition, the moving of the bridge is a huge improvement, and RWB has gone from Mean Streak rough to incredibly enjoyable. Sooner or later, GL will be a really nice park, but it's going to take time.

Seems like a common theme, I'm hearing about Six Flags under Burke. We really didn't realize how damaged or broken the xx park or the company is or was.

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So far we have the bigger, better, and wetter part....now to accomplish the wilder part

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Where's the bigger & better part?

The Wildwater Kingdom is actually offers LESS slides/attractions than the previous waterpark did on the ride-side.

Villian is running worse than ever, they've taken out a couple flats. The whole former waterpark area is not only closed, but just a complete eye-sore vs. flattening it & temporarily putting some soil & grass to at least give it some asthetics from an ariel view via the monorail, sky-tower, Big Dipper, or whatever.

The Wildwater Kingdom plans were scaled way back this year due to attendance figures & RoI from the previous year.

They haven't offered a new thrill ride since the take-over (altogether since 2001). All the animals have been removed. They put the floating dock in the middle of the lake, they've taken out the ferry-boats which, although somewhat useless... were fun.

So far, although I liked what I got to ride when I went to Geauga Lake this year due to the lack of lines... I was severely disappointed that they've just taken out so much. A lot seemed missing since my prior visit which was in 2003, the last year of "Worlds of Adventure"... and I don't just mean the Six Flags theming of things.

The lumberjack show is a joke when it's on the lake. They could benefit from a high-thrill action/stunt spectical. Yea, they have to invest in the park... but hey, you gotta spend money to make money... even if it's a risk taker. Otherwise, it just becomes a bigger & bigger money-pit.

*** Edited 8/21/2006 12:43:42 PM UTC by DawgByte II***

Here's a thought to throw out there. Maybe they'll ditch the monorail for a train that runs to the water-side of the park. It would cost a ton, but it would be a nice family touch.
If Conneaut and the Cleveland Zoo can run a train, so can GL.

Wildwater Kingdom's play area and wave pool alone have greater capacity than the sum of the old water park. Which flat rides have they removed? How would a new thrill ride improve attendance?

A new thrill ride would be something to market for those who don't care for the wet rides. Although they try to heavily push the waterpark... it honestly doesn't offer all that much. The lazy/adventure river doesn't have that many soak-spots like Cedar Point's. They only have one large slide complex, a Proslide Tornado, your typical splash playhouse, and a wavepool. It may SEEM like enough, but compared to what they had, it's actually a lot less, and it certainly wouldn't hold my interest for a full day.

A new "dry" thrill ride would provide a good RoI because it could (in theory) be a great marketing tool. It's something you could splash on the front cover of the yearly brochure, as well as use in commercials for the market they're advertising. It would give people a reason to come BACK to the park (from the previous year) to see what the fuss is about, on top of the general improvements still needed to get the park into how Cedar Fair sees it should be.

It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be a coaster... just a decent flat ride that's original for the area, of which would capture one's attention (Zamperla & Mondial make great original rides. I haven't seen any Giant Huss Jump2 rides outside of Canada's Wonderland in North America either).

As for what they've taken out. I can't name specifics right now, but it sure felt like they were lacking compared to when they were SFWoA.

DawgByte: I felt the same thing when i was there. I came to the conclusion it was the lack of animals/shows. We'd spend 1/4 to 1/2of our time on the Wild-side.

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"E"Coster Gurl said:
.....I'm tired of people bashing my company just because they make a move that someone didn't like. You're not the ones running the company, you just visit the parks.

...If the monorail is gone...So WHAT? Didn't Bill Sphen once say that Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom is going to be "Bigger, Better, Wilder, and Wetter than ever"? ...Do you think Cedar Fair is just going to sit around and do nothing with the park, let the old waterpark sit and rot like Six Flags did with so many of their rides?
I think not, something big is planned for Geauga Lake my friends, and you just have to wait and see.

-ELLEN-

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You go, girl.

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DawgByte II said:
A new thrill ride would be something to market for those who don't care for the wet rides.

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Were you not paying attention to the Six Flags days? They added four coasters in one year, and where did that get them?

The only ride I can think of that they took out was Mr. Hyde's.

I have to agree with the fact that they need more slides in the waterpark. The day we were there, the wave pool, lazy river and the cove pools were packed, the kids play area was packed and the the lines for the slides were packed. 45 minute wait for the tornado and half hour wait for the tube slides. I waited a half hour for the body slides and the line wasn't even half way down the steps. It was to the bottom of the steps earlier in the day which had to have been an hour wait.

They need more slides to spread the crowds, then maybe not so many people will pack into the wave pool because they don't want to wait an hour for one slide. A good family raft ride and some more tube slides for starters. Then maybe a master blaster, just for pure selfish reasons ;)

Side note: those body slides are the lick.

Well, Six Flags STUPIDLY added too much in too little time. If they would have spaced out the coasters within a more reasonable period of time during a 5yr stretch, saving X-Flight for a seperate year than the Sea World Ohio purchase... it would have gone over much better.

Sure, the initial year had a huge spike with four coasters (Superman, Villan, Batman, & Road Runner) in one year PLUS some flats (Shipwreck & others, I think)... but then the next year, they upped the ante again, by doubling the size of the park AND adding X-Flight. Didn't the crowds max out around 2.1 or 2.3 million in 2001 before falling year after year since?

I can see during a "flagging", the addition of two coasters, then one every year or so to keep the crowds consistant would have done good. The public expected too much & grew disappointed when the following year, Tiger Island was the only main attraction.

HOWEVER... with the damage already done, that still doesn't mean that they couldn't use a new thrill to bring in the crowds. It's been 5 years since the addition of a dry ride, and aside from the take-over, it really gives me no incentive to go back to the park other than the pricing point. The lumberjack show is lame (especially compared to the prior Batman show).

I'm hoping for the best for this park... but it honestly feels like it's falling apart, and needs a lot more TLC than good customer service to fix its problems. To get to one restaurant, you have to cross through the boneyards of the former waterpark. Not too attractive.

I hope Cedar Fair will consider spending some in order to hope to make some from this park.

Right now thrill rides are not the answer, If anything, they should get their current thrill rides like the Villain running like they should run.

I guess I don't get Cedar Fair's whole approach to Geauga Lake. The company has the resources to add Intamin coasters to their flagship park in Sandusky every few years and purchase an entire competing chain but they seem to cry poverty when it comes to investing in Geauga Lake. I realize the park doesn't make a lot of money (if it makes any money at all) but what about spending money to make money? What about taking a break from adding something big to Cedar Point for a year and invest the money in Geauga Lake by installing a darkride a few new flats that non-thrillseekers can enjoy? Instead of telling people that it's a different park, why not show them?

And "E"Coster Gurl, since when did Cedar Fair become your company? You do realize that being a company employee (if that's what you are) doesn't mean you own the company, right? To counter your comment about people complaining about everything CF does, what about the people that insist everything CF does it right? Just because the company turns a profit year after year doesn't mean that ALL of the decisions they make are the right ones. Besides, from the enthusiast perspective- and keep in mind if you are posting in these forums, YOU ARE AN ENTHUSIAST- there are things other than money that define a decision as "good" or "bad".

*** Edited 8/21/2006 3:44:10 PM UTC by Rob Ascough***

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Rob Ascough said:
and keep in mind if you are posting in these forums, YOU ARE A GEEK

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There you go, Rob. That's better. ;)

What GL needs to do is to put some flat rides in the place where that old waterpark was. I look at SFOT as an example of a park that decided to add a bunch of flats (some new, some relocated from other parks) and now it is a more balanced park and on Six Flags' "no touch" list.

The insufficient number of non-coaster rides is where GL is losing out to parks like KW (not to mention the park atmosphere). KW doesn't have as many coasters as GL nor does it have a waterpark within the gates but it has such a great variety of other rides in a beautiful setting. Once the flats are in, GL could consider adding things like darkrides, new transport rides, more water rides (as opposed to slides) and even a family-friendly coaster.

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Rob Ascough said:
The company has the resources to add Intamin coasters to their flagship park in Sandusky every few years and purchase an entire competing chain but they seem to cry poverty when it comes to investing in Geauga Lake.

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When did they "cry poverty" exactly? The company has always looked at parks on an individual basis when it comes to capital expenditures. They don't put a Dragster at Michigan's Adventure because it will never pay for itself. Just because GL is a bigger park in a bigger market doesn't mean that significant cap ex will offer a quick return on investment. Comparing that arrangement to Cedar Point, where they can book hundreds of hotel rooms for almost the entire season, is not an apples to apples comparison. Would a new Intamin sell more $25 admissions? Certainly not enough to pay for the ride.

A lot of the improvement in the park is subtle and incremental. Wolf Bobs is a great example of undoing years of neglect. Building the new picnic area was another. Putting to bed those grossly inefficient and expensive boats was yet another. If they can demonstrate attendance improvement this quarter, where do you suppose they'll install new stuff next year? I'm thinking the water park. That's where the bodies spend most of their time.

And, as for the new Intamins every other year in the flagship, well...maybe I'm the only one, but I'm wondering if that's such a good idea, unless it's augmented by something else with a broader appeal.

I took my brother's family to CP yesterday. His tallest is not yet 46". With the demise of the flume, there are now precisely FIVE attractions north of the railroad tracks that his son is physically capable of experiencing: two of them are shows, and one is the railroad itself. The other two? The Antique Cars (a passable replica of which exists on the Main midway) and a petting farm.

In '05, with the flume, we could justify going back there. This year? We ended up ignoring the back 1/3 of the park completely. It will be interesting to see if they do anything else back there to help draw the younger audience.

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Brian Noble said:And, as for the new Intamins every other year in the flagship, well...maybe I'm the only one, but I'm wondering if that's such a good idea, unless it's augmented by something else with a broader appeal.

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I think part of the answer to that can be found in the *reduced* ticket prices... ;)