Rumors of the removal of GL's X-Flight

i'm surprised we haven't heard yet that people want there season pass money refunded.

"When i got those passes for my kids, all they kept saying was: yay dad, next year i'll be tall enough for X-flight...."

:)

---

wahoo skipper said:It takes a LONG time to win back disgruntled customers but only a split second to lose happy ones. And, frankly, the general public doesn't really care who runs the place. They just know they enjoyed it, then hated it, and now aren't certain they want to return.

---

No fair using my own words against me! ;)

But I guess where I'm coming from (and I'm kinda "feeling my way around" here) is that Red Zone took over SFI and the clamor (or buzz) was that the "Under New Management" sign meant we needed to see BIG changes, fast, and in the right direction.

In came the costumed characters - we applauded.
In came the cleaner restrooms - ditto.
In came the "max capacity operations" - ditto.

Then, the SAME year they took over, we saw some "backsliding" and the cheers turned to jeers...at least to some considerable extent.

I'm not saying that CF took over a park on the rise, that's just not in line with the facts. But the decline has been continuing since CF took over...steadily....and the *initiatives* for improvement, whatever they may be or may have been, haven't resulted in ANYTHING resembling a turnaround. MIGHT it be that CF is going to re-make GL in the image of MiA (i.e., a waterpark with wooden coasters)? Quite possibly...and it very well might be THE way to go (being a proponent of the watery road to profitability myself, LOL). But I am kinda surprised at the *patience* being shown in regards to this park...is that due to loyalty to GL, or loyalty to CF? Just curious....

*** Edited 11/27/2006 5:18:53 PM UTC by rollergator***

I said this in the podcast I'll post tonight, but I'll say it here too: Who says that GL isn't turning a profit? It's not a runaway success in terms of attendance, and we all know that, but is it losing money? I don't believe they've said one way or the other.

The park still has no identity. The "Fun!" and "What a surprise!" campaigns didn't help with that either. I still think it's the park's identity crisis, not its attraction list, that is hurting it the most.

I said that a page or so ago as well, Jeff. The park may have more potential, but I don't think it's in the red.

It seems to me that even enthusiasts know the troubles of the park. I can't imagine what locals and non-locals (i.e. the people who contribute the most to a success or failure) think.

We all want the park to turn around, be the family-friendly alternative to Cedar Point. That's solid. Just about everyone in here is saying that, and it's a refreshing turn from the "they need a new coaster" mentality that ruled the late 90's.

That said, I don't know if the public can take another stab at the park. It went from a nice, family park, to a thrill-focused park, to a sort of half-thrill, half-family park, to what it is now. Wild Water Kingdom is a step in the right direction, but it replaced what they already had.

All I'm saying is, Cedar Fair needs to get in-gear and improve this park. I understand the current season-to-season improvements, but if they want to make a healthy profit on the park this decade, they need to do something drastic. An identity is a good start, but right now the park seems to be living on borrowed time.

---

Swoosh said:
You know there is a real easy way to keep people from hotlinking your photos. It is amazing, all you have to do is turn on the hotlink protector. I know, what a novel idea.

---

I prefer to use my own htaccess files.

I appreciate Dannerman's defense, but I have everything protected that needs protected. I don't actually mind people linking to pics (I prefer links to pages, but that doesn't always make the best sense), but I usually have the bandwidth to spare.

So far there hasn't been too many people who abuse things...and those get taken care of pretty easily. :)

*** Edited 11/27/2006 8:57:42 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

For what it's worth, when I visited GL this past summer, the crowds were low to moderate.

What surprised me was that when it was nearing closing time, I went to Guest Relations to inquire about staying at the GL hotel down the street. The lady called the hotel for me and came back saying all the rooms were sold out.

It seems the hotel is doing pretty well and I would assume the campground is doing well also.

CF in my opinion really has nothing to worry about in the near future with GL. If after a few more years they can't get the attendance numbers up, they can easily sell all that property for a healthy profit and relocate rides (dry and water) to their other parks. Now that they have aquired Paramount, they have more options.

---

Arson said:
All I'm saying is, Cedar Fair needs to get in-gear and improve this park... An identity is a good start, but right now the park seems to be living on borrowed time.

---

And I maintain the park is exactly what it needs to be today. The problem is not the product, it's the message. Sure, there are some things I'd like to see changed (like some clear and obvious midway redesign to get you from the main gate to the water park quickly), but the park has plenty to do. Today. For $27, it's a steal.

What exactly should that message be?

How hard is it to market the park being cheap admission along with a brand spanking new waterpark included with it?

I still maintain that losing the animals took a big hit on the park. That is something CF can't control or do anything about unfortunately.

---

Jeff said:
And I maintain the park is exactly what it needs to be today. The problem is not the product, it's the message. Sure, there are some things I'd like to see changed (like some clear and obvious midway redesign to get you from the main gate to the water park quickly), but the park has plenty to do. Today. For $27, it's a steal.

---

I'd rather see them expand offerings to fill the dead spots in the park, than just come up with a new marketing message. What better way to market what you've been trying to sell for three years now, than to add something truly new and exciting?

How about a TRADE.....been awhile since we had some o' that! ;)

Steel Venom to PCar in exchange for the FSS.....now THERE is something new GL could use *and* market... :)

^ I like it.

---

Chitown said:
What exactly should that message be?

---

Well if I knew I'd be running their ad agency instead of running this site. :)

Why do they need to "fill in" anything? The whole point of ditching X-Flight in the first place is to start to better align what the park offers for what it's supposed to be. I think what it's supposed to be is Geauga Lake circa 1997.

I haven't seen this mentioned before, but perhaps if they clear out that whole area (with the moving of Head Spin and SV) perhaps they're going to put in a whole new Nickelodeon area? Or perhaps just a new, expanded kids area? Certainly would help with the image they're going for, plus it would clean up that area.

GL needs a campaign like 2 parks for the price of one some thing to draw a crowd. I dont think what a suprise will cut it. So make a new slogen to bring people in. Some thing that kids will sing over and over till their parents take them their.

Is the park still feeling the backlash from that non-union labor issue from last year? Or was there never really much of a boycott to begin with?

RGB: I don't think that did much damage. Had it happened in the 70's or early 80's it would've made a huge differance. My sister is a Steelworker (union) and everyone she works with still went to the park.
Unions don't have the clout they used to. My sisters friends have said many times: If we only patronize Union businesses, we'd own no tv's, computers or clothing. We'd never eat at restaurants or fast food. Why should parks be any differant.

True, FS. Seems the only people that belong to unions anymore are teachers, government workers, and professional athletes. Or maybe I should say the only unions that really have any power.

And that's spoken as the son of two parents who belonged to unions. When it came down to it, their unions didn't do squat for their members. The days of Johnny Mitchell are long gone.

I too think the marketing is horrible. Here in PA, I live in Beaver County, just northwest of Pittsburgh and several people I know always loved to go to both KW and GL over the summers. The farthest back I can remember is 1981 and both parks being the thing to do in the summer. Through the years everything was solid.

In 1996 when Premier bought the park, the park was still where it should have been. Then 2000 came and everything went downhill from there. In the winter to spring of 2004, people would look for the park on SF website, but it was no longer listed.

Through normal picking, some weren't even able to find that CF had bought the park and is operating it. Alot of them still think it's closed or isn't there anymore. You would be suprised how many people will just see that it's not there anymore and not even bother to find out why.

So in 2004, a sad commercial with the "Fun" guy, was aired. But as sad as the commercial was, I only ever seen it on TV like once or twice the whole summer.

In 2005, they had a some what better commercial, however I only ever seen that one ONE time and that was it. Someone shouldn't have to sit and watch TV for hours and hours just to see the freakin' commercial. That commercial should be played at least enough so that during a normal hour to two hour period of TV you at least see it once. The 2005 commercial was "ok", but it needed flavor. If more people actually saw it though.....

Then 2006, the Supr!se crap. I actually saw this commercial almost every other day, which was a big improvement, however the content left alot to be desired.

I remember being paid a dollar for signing the release for being in the big Tidal Wave Bay commercial shoot. They had all the big cameras and rigs, cameras in the pool and everything.

Then when I saw the actual commercial, they only show the pool for literally half a second, with no mention that it's new for 2006. What's up with that? All that footage of the Wave pool gone to waste. Man, if they would have just used that stuff and advertised it as new in 2006.

They did well on promoting WWK as new in the 2005 commercial, but it was never on. Had it aired as much as the 2006 one, they might have seen improvement.

This park's problem is most definately marketing. I just can't see why they don't get it? *** Edited 11/28/2006 7:09:38 PM UTC by lakecrystal***

You've made me think, lakecrystal, and you're right - the GL commercials don't seem to run too frequently in the Pittsburgh market.

In 2004 and 2005, I saw commercials for CP way more than I saw commercials for GL. Left the area in 2006 before the summer advertising really heated up but it sounds like an effort was made to make GL more visible.