Geauga Lake review, 7/7/2005

The park is in great shape. WWK is truely going to be one of the BEST waterparks in the country. Phase 1 already blows most out of the water. It's a great park, and so beautiful to look at and admire as well. It also has a very relaxed, upbeat atmosphere to top it all off. The music is perfect. The whole place is perfect. Love WWK!

I'm hoping that with the upcoming Survivor auditions and Q104 live at the park that Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom will get some nice publicity that will lead to more peeps going to the park. Wildwater Kingdom is impressive already and all the people who have already seen what the water park has to offer will definately be repeat visitors next year when phase 2 is complete.

I must let all who care, know that Geauga Lake park has taken a turn for the better Since Cedar-Fair has taken over last year. Last year the park still had lingering problems from the prior (Mis) management. If you visit this year you will notice that the Rides have signs of Repair. New Shinny Bolts on X-Flight (Riddler's Revenge), Head Spin (Mind Eraser), Dominator (Batman ...), Steel Venom (Superman the ...). Replacement of Track on Ragging Wolfbobs, New paint on some rides(Thunderhawk), mechanical upgrades, moved Happy Harbor to North side (Sea world), and rebuilt it. Built New Wild Water Kingdom Area, Retrained staff and managers. Still Need to Repair or replace ferry boat Aurora Bell. My daughter works at Geauga lake and sees first hand how Six Flags ran the park and What Cedar-Fair is doing to correct problems from Six Flags Abuse. And she is not alone season ticket holders have stated that they have seen a turn around in the operations of the park. Although it is not a complete 180 degree turn (more work to be done), it is close. Next year expect water slides in the front of the park near Steel Venom to move into Wildwater Kingdom. Also expect a rebuild of Mr. Hydes Nasty Fall, continued track replacement (wood) on Wolfbobs, repair and/or replacement of wood and track on Villain(wheels & springs), and Big Dipper. CF did not paint Nuts and Bolts replaced on purpose. So the public can see firsthand that they were replaced. Why were Nuts and Bolts replaced? Six flags had a reputation of replacing #8 hardness Nuts and Bolts with weaker inferior hardware. This created a safety issue that needed to be corrected. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to address some of the issues raised by you post.

P.S. Dominator will get some New Wheels and Springs Also.

Ill say this about GL. I went there last week on a friday. The Waterpark is what is attracting guests right at this time. The rides themselves that need some work are definately the Villian, Jeff hit it on the head with the tracking and transition between the first couple hills, those were horrible. Dominator does definately bump and shuffle a bit, listen to it when it goes through the interlocked corkscrews, youll here it a bit there. The Bobs still needs the tracking at the second curve off near the lake. Plus it does seem that things are going well other than the less than stellar crowds on the rides at this point, so well give em a few years to make the majot improvements.

Also Joe360, i find it hard to believe a rebuild of Hydes, no way at all, i can see them scrapping it in favor of possibly another drop tower but i would wait until maybe 07 for that. X-Flight has always been called the X flight, so check that one too. But think about this Riddlers revenge is a coaster but it was never in Ohio, Dont bring magic mountain into this.

Well you know he's talking out of his ass when he says a ride will get new wheels, since that's more or less a perpetual process at most Cedar Fair parks.

Wasn't X-flight always named X-flight? I noticed Joe360 referenced Riddler's Revenge as the previous name.

I am just curious...

Maybe (talking out my ass)about the Riddler thing, but not about wheels. I was trying to make a point that CF will go through all the coasters with a fine tooth comb and make sure the trains and tracks are up to standards. Also after talking to an upper management about a complaint I had about Mr. Hydes being down when I visited. I asked about the rumor anout Mr. Hydes being shut down next year. He told me that: "Cedar Fair was not going to tear down Mr. Hydes, but they will do extensive repairs before next season on it."

Well seeing that I work at the park I should let you all know. CF plans on doing a complete rehab on Mr. Hydes, Wolf Bobs is getting some retracking and most of the coasters are getting rehabed, new wheels/new track ect. There have been a lot of CF guys at the park recently. And what's scary is they walk around the park like normal people. The only way you can tell they are CF people or some special person is because you have the GL people wearing suits or dressed up walking rhese people around GL and WWK. The other day we had a guy from CF inspect Thunder Falls.

I couldn't agree with you more about the food, Jeff. They do need a variety. I'd find it hard to believe they're gun-shy due to the amount of restaurants in the area, but who knows? When I was a kid, we always ate outside the park because my folks wanted a break.
From the reviews I've read, I'm actually looking forward to going back there. I have no doubt that when they complete the whole water park expansion on the old SW side, it'll look stunning.

-Mark (a Lego minus the 's' maniac)