How busy will Waldameer be next year?

I don't know for sure where the tunnels will be, but I assume they'll be above ground kind of like Legend's.
I guess we still don't have any conclusive evidence if they are going to be putting the new style trains on this or not. The photo at the top I believe is a photoshopped version of Voyage with its logo replaced.
The ride looks great. Glad to see they added a 90 degree banked turn. Can't wait to see when Gravity Group gets their website up and running again as rumored.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the tunnels will be along the cliff seperating the coaster from the camp ground. Which is funny, cause tunnels on wood coasters are loud!

On a side not, RFII has convinced me to finally make a day trip up north to Waldameer from Pittsburgh for the first time this year. If nothing else, the trend seems to be that more of us coaster nerds (hey, I say nerd proudly) than usual will be making a stop there, but it'll definitely be interesting to see how the place does in terms of general public attendance.

You'll be happy you went. Waldameer is a great park without Ravine Flyer II and that coaster is only going to make it that much better. I'm also curious to see what happens with attendance.

Waldameer is a sweet little park. In some ways it's even more of a traditional park than Kennywood. With RF II, it will definitely get on the map next year.

I LOVE Waldameer, and will even more so with the addtion of a full size coaster (and what is predicted to be a sheerly awesome one at that!)

What Waldameer needs to do, particularly with the loss of GL, is ADVERTISE! Waldameer is practically unknown here in Pittsburgh, only 2 hours away! Unless you are an enthusiast or just happened upon it as a fluke, like I did years ago driving a polka dance group to the ballroom on a charter bus, you would never know it was up there.

They particularly need to hit the Cleveland market hard now that the former GL clientele is to be had. And/or Pittsburgh. Just about every Pittsburgher knew about Conneaut, even, hardly anyone here knows about Waldameer.

Waldameer can't handle much more. It will get a 10-15% increase, but even that will tax their services of parking, potties, f/b, etc.

Waldameer never was know for 'cuddles and happiness' like Idlewild or Sesame Place. What needs to happen is Conneaut Lake to re-open, and they blitz the Eastern Ohio market with 'rides-open', and pick up some groups.

Waldameer and CLP combined can make a dent in the market.

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Chooch249 said:

What Waldameer needs to do, particularly with the loss of GL, is ADVERTISE! Waldameer is practically unknown here in Pittsburgh, only 2 hours away! Unless you are an enthusiast or just happened upon it as a fluke, like I did years ago driving a polka dance group to the ballroom on a charter bus, you would never know it was up there.

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Same thing here. I stumbled across it when I hit the PAPA website for PA parks 5 years ago. Not only had I lived in Cleveland all my life and never heard of it, but I went to a summer camp literally 5 miles from Waldameer park from the time I was 7 until I was 14 and NONE of the locals mentioned an amusement park in Erie. I know that people that are members of the YMCA day camp at the West End Y in Willoughby know of it now because the kids made a few trips up there the past two years, but other than that not many know about it down here.

Tom

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Chooch249 said:
What Waldameer needs to do, particularly with the loss of GL, is ADVERTISE! Waldameer is practically unknown here in Pittsburgh, only 2 hours away!

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They could advertise, but could the park even handle it? On weekends the park is already bursting at the seams. They have to add some more capacity before they can really start advertising to new markets.

I think what the new coaster will do is really tell those visiting the beach that Waldameer is there and worth a visit. You are going to have to go underneath a huge coaster to get there and you won't be able to tell your kids they can't go. :)

^^

It's almost Ironic you mentioned this, in the late 1960s Geauga Lake almost went the same way as Euclid Beach. Then Sea World opened up right across the lake from them. Naturally kids would see their BIG DIPPER (As well as the other rides) and insist they be allowed to do that park as well. For the next 30 years the two parks had a symbiotic relationship with one another. Then in 1999 Anheiser-Bush decided to deep-six the Cleveland Sea World! Now Geauga Lake will soon be only a Shadow of its former self. :(

*** Edited 9/26/2007 2:02:13 PM UTC by Borntocoast***

If Erie could encourage some sort of hotel development closer to the peninsula the beach and Waldameer could have that same kind of relationship.

Walameer is open Mondays in June due to heavy school bookings and they won't turn the G.P. away.

Hours are usaully 10 to 7. Paul Nelson stated that they market a 75 mile radius targeting groups. Waldameer puts up billboards in quite a few small

communities while C.P. with it 200 mile radius put up

only 3 billboards in Erie in early spring and they are gone by july. I have only seen ONE Kennywood sign in erie and that was for Phantom's revenge opening.

I wonder what Waldameer could possibly do to increase capacity. Aren't they pretty well hemmed in?

Waldameer is not opened on mondays in june!

^^ Building a wood coaster is a good start. But as others have said, the park is pretty small and despite them being able to pack in rides Indiana Beach-style, I don't think the infrastructure can handle it, nor can the area around the park. The park is off a main drag that's littered with strip malls and traffic lights and the small parking lot doesn't help. Waldameer is best growing a little but not too much, which is what I believe Paul Nelson wants.

Forced to wonder how much *extra* business WP will get from the GL closure?

Matter of fact, I think I'll start a thread... ;)

The wooden coaster project was put forth by Paul for group business promotions. Just 33 miles south, Conneaut Lake is humming along and such, but without capital dollars to build, Paul sought to differentiate Waldameer and CLP. Now he also has a woodie, which will do his groups wonders.

Its a good run park, but under the radar and thats fine with him. He pays his bills, and is good to the community. Erie isn't the nicest city, but if you drive up there and Presque Isle State Park has 'iffy' weather, closed beaches, etc, WP makes a good stop off for a few hours.

LIke I said earlier, if CLP gets re-opened, the combination of WP and CLP taking the group business to Pennsylvania from Ohio is a strong message to Cedar Fair. GL at peak did about 500,000 folks in group action. They need to go somewhere.

Excellent point, and one worth noting. That's a lot of business.

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Rob Ascough said:
^^ Building a wood coaster is a good start. But as others have said, the park is pretty small and despite them being able to pack in rides Indiana Beach-style, I don't think the infrastructure can handle it, nor can the area around the park. The park is off a main drag that's littered with strip malls and traffic lights and the small parking lot doesn't help. Waldameer is best growing a little but not too much, which is what I believe Paul Nelson wants.

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I agree with the difficult location of the park. You can take I-79 up but I've always come up SR 832 to get there and that is roughly 8 miles of twisty turny two lane road with some strange traffic turns that have almost killed some people who are unfamiliar with the area. As for the parking I have never even seen the main dirt lot HALF full much less all the way. They also have a completely paved secondary lot with space markers that very few of the GP use. For those who have no idea what I am talking about you can see the lots from this pic:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.108252~-80.156282&style=h&lvl=17&sp=aN.42.108252_-80.156282_Waldameer

It's a little old, the Peninsula Drive-In is still there, the Tom Ridge Center is on that site now, the secondary lot is the one that is further to the left. I can't imagine what the park would look like if all those spots were filled. They only have 4 bathrooms and most people don't know about the one in the Ballroom, and the kiddieland area is so compact it would be impossible to move through it!

Tom

Memorial Day a coupla years back ('05 I think?) , WP/WW was doing exceptionally brisk business - the dirt lot was almost completely full, and we parked a considerable distance from the gate. Lines were full, and local police were helping out with crowd control, etc.

Last year's trip was probably more in keeping with WP's "regular" business....