Geauga Lake Monorail Closed Indefinately!

I would probably have known the park exists because I would have visited Erie at some time to go to Presque Isle. I actually live in Pittsburgh but have been aware that the park is there since I was 10 years old. Waldameer is right at the entrance to Presque Isle it's easy to notice that it is there.

Since Waldameer has a free gate, I would have the opportunity to check the park out to see how family friendly it is. Of course Kennywood advertises in the Cleveland area so that park might be the one they would end up going to if I could find my way there without getting lost.

Once Ravine Flyer II opens in 2008, you won't be able to ignore the presence of Waldemeer as you head for Presque Isle. The ride will go right over the road. This is when Waldameer will start advertising outside of their local area. They are going to want everyone in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh to know that they have a big new coaster.

As for GL, I hope they keep the Big Dipper. How many of the big chain parks have an ACE classic?

If Cedar Fair continues the licensing of the Nicktoon characters (which I feel that they will due to their popularity), they should branch them out to some of their other parks, ESPECIALLY Geauga Lake. They could easily transform the former Looney Tunes Boomtown into a new Nick Central (a kid's area just screaming for some new cartoon residents!), and the former Sea World Happy Harbor could easily get a Spongebob makeover. Put in a few more family friendly rides that the whole family can ride together, possibly even the proposed 'Spongebob Boating School' indoor mouse coaster (possibly in the old Shark Encounter buliding), advertise the HECK out of these changes, and I think that people, especially families, once again will start to look forward to going to Geauga Lake.

If they also keep expanding the waterpark every year (or other year) as they seem to be doing along with the possibility of more family attractions like I mentioned, I truly feel that this place will win families back rather quickly! Then, in a few years, if the crowds start to return as they hope, then they can possibly think about the addition of other major rides.

One last IMPORTANT thing, I feel, is that they need to remove all of the last remnants of the old water park asap. Even a grassy field would look much better than what's there now.

How has attendance been so far through July and August?

It looked pretty healthy when I was there last week.

If there's ONE ride at GL that should be completely "off limits" (CF's version of *no-touch, LOL), it's Big Dipper. It's the tie that binds GL to its history, to LONG before the days when they hit the 1M visitor mark...

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rollergator said:If there's ONE ride at GL that should be completely "off limits" (CF's version of *no-touch, LOL), it's Big Dipper. It's the tie that binds GL to its history, to LONG before the days when they hit the 1M visitor mark...

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That and the Marcus Illion's carousel in the western area, which needs a little TLC and relocated to the front of the park.

I'm sure Geauga Lake does have a marketing problem, and I'm sure a lot of that stems from inconsistency over the years. If the park is constantly being marketed as something different each year, people are very likely to get confused.

Waldameer also has a marketing problem because they should be marketing themselves in the Cleveland area. Maybe that will change when the Ravine Flyer II eventually opens.

Yes, build a real pavilion for the carousel and place it somewhere prominent instead of stuck in the back under that shed. And they better keep the band organ.

Many folks on the board here have been complaining about the old waterpark condition. The reason it's still there is probally because they only allowed so much money for construction and demolition which allowed them to have to keep the old waterpark in the state it's in.

I wonder what will happen with the bathhouse. Thats another piece of Geauga Lake History.

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Rob Ascough said:
Waldameer also has a marketing problem because they should be marketing themselves in the Cleveland area. Maybe that will change when the Ravine Flyer II eventually opens.

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With CP, GL and even KW closer (I think) to Clevland then Waldameer, I dont think that marketing plan would bear much fruit.

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Rob Ascough said:
I'm sure Geauga Lake does have a marketing problem, and I'm sure a lot of that stems from inconsistency over the years. If the park is constantly being marketed as something different each year, people are very likely to get confused.

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I agree, it Seemed for a while like the park was in an idenity crisis. Nobody really knew what they had to offer once SF left (Is it a ride park, is there even a waterpark? Where are the animals?) but now there going in the right direction.

When I was growing up and Funtime was still running it, you had the wave and what really was a good waterpark (for the time) which were the premier attractions. The ride part was something you'd do in a few hours after lunch and go home. Since they already had built up a good customer base with company picnics (I remember the only reason going was for different family members company picnics ;)), it seemed that everyone knew what GL had to offer. Then every few years they would alternate wet/dry attractions and market the heck out of it to keep interest there and even get a little growth.

Then he SF debacle occurred and drove everyone away. In 5 years they invested so much so fast, that it probably would have kept the park good for 30 if spaced out. Hopefully they can get back to their core which is a waterpark that gets its big draw off company picnics. That’s what they seem to be marketing now and I think we’re seeing a turnaround. Once this is established we’ll probably see small investments on the ride front mixed with more waterpark expansion and a coaster every decade or so, just like funtime would have done.

Actually if you take out the carriage house or what ever, and put the carousel there, then you'll have a good plot of land where Carousel was. Take out the old Rockin' Country Stage (across from the fudge shoppe in western village), and you'll have a pretty good plot of land :).

::edit prett -> pretty:: *** Edited 8/24/2006 12:27:44 AM UTC by crombiedude11***

Waldameer is closer to Cleveland than KW but its lack of a really big coaster hurts its ability to draw from other areas. Ravine Flyer II should change this.

KW is a much larger park than Waldameer (excluding the waterpark) and has more coasters and more thrill rides while having many family attractions. They would be drawing a significant amount of business from eastern Ohio if is wasn't for that road mess in the Pittsburgh area. KWs strength is its ability to attract families with children of various ages along with thrill seeking teens and young adults and some older visitors looking for nostalgic attractions.

GL mainly draws two groups, waterpark enthusiasts and coaster riders (but not enough of the latter because of CP being so close to it). As several of us mentioned, GL needs to focus more on families. That's the way this park was back when Sea World was around and before the Six Flags days.

Dude, for the love of God, the other parks don't matter!

Geauga Lake does cater to families, today, right now. It's not that the park doesn't get what they product needs to be, it's that they aren't getting the message out.

^ I couldn't agree more. I have had to convince my Ohio friends to give GL another try. I explain they have a brand new waterpark, included in the price, Cedar Point quality operations, cleaner park, etc.

In almost all cases my friends have returned from the park with very positive comments. The whole, "Six Flags Ohio is better than Cedar Point" markeing fiasco from a few years back is still haunting that park.

You guys in Ohio really have a hardon when it comes to SF at the time trying to lure people away from CP with whatever marketing and advertising they were doing.

Who cares if they said "I drove past CP to go to Six Flags".

Heck, I did it once, although I hit CP on the way back. :)

If SFWoA was run by CF, then all would be great in Ohio land. Animals would still be there, etc.

No, that isn't it at all. Six Flags slapped up some coasters, literally, and said, "there...now we are a better Cedar Point." What they didn't do could fill volumes but the bottom line is that they tried to pass off a new and improved product and the guests found out VERY quickly that it was actually worse than anything prior.

It is hard to undo that damage. Those of us who are familiar with the business understand that the park is under new management but your average guest could care less who runs it. And, if they were left with a bad tast in their mouths a few years ago it is going to be hard to convince them to come back.

I'm not sure there is a marketing program out there that will do it. It just might come down to the slow word-of-mouth testimonials.

O.K. I don't mean all of you. Just some of you.

I get a kick out of the mentality of some that get all bent out of shape if CP is supposedly put down by other companies.

Perfect example is this topic over at Pointbuzz.

http://www.pointbuzz.com/cpplace.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=19404

I mean, seriously, just by the way this topic starter worded her response to the SF Chicago park making a claim of Coaster Capital is crazy. Please everyone, don't stampede SFGAm thumping your chests that they are wrong to say they are the coaster capital. :)

And I wont stampede Sandusky demanding answers as to why CP is the best of everything ON THE PLANET according to their recent marketing. :)

I agree with you on the above. But I would say there are as many Six Flags apologists, fanboys, geeks or what have you as there are Cedar Fair followers.

But, all of the above are put to shame by the Disney apologists.

I won't make any excuses. Six Flags screwed up big time with SFWoA.

It's actually a shame because they had a very unique setup in the midwest.

However, alot of people aren't going to GL now because of the animals being gone. Say what you will but even Kinzel admitted to that. They were a draw to some extent.

SF did lose alot of Sea World people but GL is hurting to a point due to the loss of the marine life.

Makes you wish Busch would have kept Sea World and bought the ride side from SF. We would be looking at a different situation. A co-exist type thing with CP.

That would be a pretty interesting world. But, at the end of the day, it's just not clear that as the economics of the industry evolved, that *anyone* could make a continuing success of a marine park in northern Ohio.

After all, there's a reason Busch sold the park in the first place.