Locals complain about state of former Geauga Lake

wahoo skipper said:

Nobody who loved Geauga Lake wants to admit it but Sea World leaving spelled the end of GL more than anything else.

That's exactly it. You hit the nail right on the head. Sea World pulling out was the beginning of the final chapter. Cedar Fair boarded an already sinking ship.

It's also interesting to listen to this old podcast from 2005, and hear the segment of Kinzel's remarks on Geauga Lake:

http://podcast.coasterbuzz.com/News/11.aspx

The honest truth is clearly made about removing the wildlife attractions, which contributed to the park's demise.

Many argue that an earlier nail was Six Flags building 4 coasters in 1 year, followed by another a year later. Sure coaster-fan-boys were thrilled. But, no one can handle that kind of debt. Especially when it only caused a temporary spike in attendance.

Oh I agree, just analyzing the wildlife attractions.

The first nail was Funtime's refusal to sell Geauga to Busch. That was ground zero for the rest of the demise.

Was that the problem? Or was it their inability to refuse to sell to Premier?

I get the impression that the Lococos didn't exactly want out, and the company wasn't doing too badly when Premier bought it. But when Kieran Burke shows up with a boatload of cash, I imagine if the number is big enough, it is kind of hard to say "no". Especially if he's going to let you stick around and consult for a while.

But then the Six Flags debacle happened. The Funtime people went out, the Six Flags people moved in, and with no understanding of the market OR the competition, they tried to out-do Cedar Point all at once. Building four coasters at once wasn't the problem. Building four coasters at once and ignoring all of the infrastructure that needs to go into a rapidly growing park was the problem. They over-promised and under-delivered, thinking that they could rely on the Six Flags reputation. Trouble is, in Northeast Ohio, Six Flags had no reputation, and Geauga Lake pretty much destroyed it. They tried to go head to head with Cedar Point, and it didn't end well for them. Which is particularly sad given that the two parks coexisted very nicely for a hundred years.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Not exactly, but I hesitate to delve further in to it in public. Check your PM.

Good news that Big Dipper is still standing. It is still for sale.

Cedar Fair sold it at auction. They just haven't forced the owner to do anything with it yet. When push comes to shove and the land is sold, the guy may end up tearing it down because no one want to pay him to relocate it. At one point the guys threatened to tear it down if no one approached him. Nothing happened.

Most likely it will have the same fate as the Idora Park coasters in Youngstown.

Depressing.

sfwoaloopytech said:

The other year we had 23 on the crew, lead by a maintenance director told us that if shoddy maintenance killed a guest: "That's what lawyers are for."

Having a guy like that as maintenance director is a scary thought, what he said was borderline criminal if that is actually his work ethic. Is this guy still in the industry?