Lesourdsville Lake closes early, management is out

You know, the biggest problem with this is not internal to the park, but with the public. It irritates the customers and makes it appear to be a Mickey Mouse operation (and not in a good way).

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

Nice pun, Jeff...I completely agree. This in no way signals the death of the park, even tho many here will jump to that conclusion.

Moosh - aka Trouble Boy

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Mamoosh - aka Trouble Boy!

Really stupid question here, but if Pugh and his associates are being ousted as park management, does this mean the rides they brought in (Zipper, Pirate, Musik Express, Wave Jammer, etc.) will be removed as well?

I sincerely hope they find a group that can run this park successfully. I'd hate to see SCreechin' Eagle sitting idle again after finally riding it this year.

ray p.

You know, IMHO it is a stupid, stupid move to get rid of a operation that.

1. Repainted about everything in the park.

2. Added 6 adult rides to a park that only lost rides for the past 20 years.

3. Took the park from a broken down, Rides left sitting in the weather for 3 years, Weeds everywhere ect. To a park that by seasons end looked imaculate and was running pretty darn good. Average attendance on every day I went was probably 100 times that of my final visit in '98 and Jeff Pugh himself told me that they were doing OK but fridays were a bit disapointing..

The thing that gets me is Couch says he expects to have a new managment team for next year, Where have I heard this before? Couch was full of statements and promisis before Pugh's finally took a chance.

Im not jumping on the Pugh Bandwagon. I really have no idea what went on behind the sceenes, who's money was used to paint and beautify the park ect. But it is clear to me that Pughs at least put forth a effort to get the park running and nice again.

I've seen these things from Couch since he purchaced it.

Redoing the Stardust Ballroom. Still not half done 3 years later.

Opening COuch campers, Still not open 3 years later.

Hired a managment team. At least 3 times since January 2000.

Again, I don't know what was going on. Acording to Coasterville Dave, His visit on a post season day apeared that nobody really cared what went on or didn't so maybe Couch did what he had to do?

Chuck, who when he really thinks about it knows that Screechin Eagle is somewhere in his top 10 coasters. It's that fun and wicked.

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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both!

Good question. Since Pugh had to have his assets (Pugh Shows)auctioned off last winter to satisfy the bankruptcy court, I doubt that any of that equipment is his.I would speculate that it is leased, with Mr. Couch holding the paper. Lenders tend to shy away from you when file bankruptcy. Wether it will stay or not remains to be seen.

Oh, It is true that Pughs had zero lines of credit. On one visit one of the full time ops/carnys that was the guy who put together and ran the Musik Express told me that everytime they melted a wheel on it. They had to drive to Tenn and pay cash for one. $600 each for a wheel for that thing!

Chuck, who seen that ride down several times.

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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both!

Jeez, *someone* really doesn't want me to go to this park this year.

First the SRM plan got bombed, then my July 4th trip got canned. I thought I'd make the Halloween event, but that got cancelled. I was gonna make a last minute run this weekend, and now this. :(

Hopefully it's all for the best, and the park comes back stronger next year. :)

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'Let's fly close to the sun. Let's do it just 'cause it's fun.' - The Wedding Present '2,3, Go' *** This post was edited by chris on 9/24/2002. ***

I suppose I should have worded my "successful operator" statement a bit differently, as from what I saw on my visit, the park looked fantastic, the midways were clean, and the lady that ran the gift shop somehow got the "closed for a few hours" Screechin' Eagle open in just 20 minutes when she heard I drove from Cleveland to ride their coaster. That alone gave me a VERY favorable impression of the park.

I guess when I hear things like the Halloween event being canceled and the "It's time for a change" quote from Mr. Couch, I take them a little out of context. Pugh did an excellent job re-opening an idle park and they are to be commended for that. Obviously something went awry between the two parties and that's why I hope they find someone who can successfully run this park. Does that make more sense? Probably not..... ;)

ray p. (who can see why the Musik Express had melted wheels... that thing flew!)

Many of you need to remember that the park was "supposed" to be managed by Pugh for 3 years with the option to buy.

Sometimes, people realize they hired the wrong people for the job.

Couch will take care of this, he was in a worse situation last year, but now if he finds someone fast, he can have it open quicky in the spring. Trust old John on this.

I guess now the Rock O Plane will stay ;)

I guessing that there was more going on between Pugh and Couch than we know, based on Dave Bower's latest reports. Pugh was running park, but Couch probably heard the complaints.

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Scott W. Short
scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

It just seems strange that they would pull the plug early.

Yah...I would have been one of the 2 employees who showed up expecting the park to be open. "Say Chuck, uh...where IS everybody?"

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"If the beats were made of meat then they would have to be me ..." - L.L. Cool J

What a shame! Each time I have been to the park this year, I was treated very, very well and had zero complaints in regards to how employees were treating me.

I had a meeting with Mr. Pugh in May to help plan the Screechfest event. From the sounds of it, they had some very nice plans for the park in the future.

Let's hope things get ironed out soon for this park.

-Sean

I wonder if Cedar Fair would go into a park this small and do a management contract ala Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America.

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Top 5 Steel: #1 Millenium Force #2 Phantom's Revenge #3 Ice Dragon #4 Incredible Hulk #5 Wild Thing
Top 5 Wood #1 Viper #2 Thunderbolt #3 Timberwolf #4 Outlaw #5 Screaming Eagle

I doubt it would be a good Return On Investment opportunity for Cedar Fair to manage the park....especially with Paramount's Kings Island nearby. Could that undermine the friendly competition there? Personally I think a better choice would be to have a company that specializes in smaller parks such as Kennywood Entertainment, SDC, or Hershey. Either that or bring in some fresh blood!

Here is to hoping that the park opens next year so I can actually get there and check it out.

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My website - Zero G Thrills www.crosswinds.net/~zerogthrills/ *** This post was edited by beast7369 on 9/24/2002. ***

I am glad I got my 20 somthing rides on Screeching eagle this year! YAY? (patrick who was planning on going saturday!)

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Be nice to ride op's. No matter how slow unfriendly and uncaring they may seem Most work hard to make your day great.

Someplace that didn't feel so much like a Carnival would be great for me. Some of the employees were downright scary.

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All I need is 4.5 million bucks and a half a mile long sliver of land and maybe someone could build me my very own Shivering Timbers. ;)

I don't care for barkers and I appreciate that most amusement parks don't have them. I think it would be a mistake for parks to do that; I always have. I was suprised when I was shouted at by some of the games people at LeSourdsville. I do hope the park comes back stronger next year and succeeds into the distant future.

Guide to Indiana Beach

That sucks.. I wanna ride the Eagle. :(

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Getting a B&M will always beat out having to take a BM.

Brian, trust me, you DO wanna ride Eagle....the aritime on the "out" leg was surprising, even after getting up high on the slide to take some pictures.....then, the RETURN leg....plain scary. There was AWESOME ejector airtime....Cincy is one of those places I *could* live....;)