Six Flags Ohio becomes Six Flags Worlds of Adventure

"They have employee housing for nearly 3000 employees"

I think that is a factor. SFOWOASWO can't go on multi-state recruiting tours to get good employees (such as lifeguards who can stay awake :) ) because there's no place for them to stay.

As for me and my dollar, it will not be heading to Six Flags. As the saying goes, "you only get one chance to make a first impression" ... and my first impression of Six Flags is that it stinks. It's going to take an awful lot to change that.

*** This post was edited by Gemini on 2/2/2001. ***

They have to added some special coaster if they really want to be world of adventure.

Thuur Crompvoets
http:/www.vekoma.8m.com
vekoma@europe.com

Just how much land does SF own around Geauga Lake? Do they really THAT much room for expansion? Or is SF trying to buy out land surrounding the parks? I was there last summer and it seemed like a tiny footprint. And yes, the traffic is a major problem. . .I was there on a weekday off-season and could not imagine how packed it must be during peak. And infrastructure is weak. The whole park just looks very fragile. But what a great bunch of coastsers they're getting or have recently gotten!

I thought that they would keep them separate, but I am not too surprised that they combined them.

"I wonder if they are going to put in a path leading from one park to the other?also i guess it doesent matter what side you park on,there will be two gates."
Read the press release. It says that the path will be well themed. My guess would be Gotham City. That would tie BKF to the Batman waterski show. That could mean a name or theme change for RWB. This could be part of the reason for the partial demolision of GR. Last year there was a big grizzly bear overlooking Gotham City.

As for the merchandise I don't know if they would be in a hurry to unload all of it. You may find that there is a Sea World shop similar to the GL shop last year. I don't remember a whole lot of stuff actually saying Six Flags Ohio. Most of it just said SF. In '95 when the Funtime sun logo was dropped for the Jester, and then again in '96 when the jester was dropped for the main gate logo, there was no hurry to dispose of the older merchandise. This may, however, change.

"Problem - no place to stay. Sure, when I'm up in the area, I camp at the state park 15 miles north of SFO (or SFWOA or WHATEVER)."
They have a hotel and a campground already. I think that the monorail system that they want to build maybe to connect these to the park. Also, if you head ten miles south you will discover that Streetsboro has a number of hotels that I can guess are only there the park. S'boro has nothing else to offer but one of the largest selections of fast food places in the country:) (I know I live there.)

I would also like to add that most of the rides that they talk about are themed to fit the Marine World side. So yes rides will be coming to that side of the park. Remember that rollercoasters are not the only rides a park has to offer.

"I don't remember a whole lot of stuff actually saying Six Flags Ohio. Most of it just said SF."

SFO-specific merchandise was a little hard to come by, indeed. In fact, other than the S:UE shirts and whatnot, I only found one thing that had SFO on it: a keychain.

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com

You wanted to hear from one of the locals, well that it me. I live in Aurora and have my business in Aurora. When the park became SFO from GL and they expected a 40% increase in attendence we were concerned, mostly with traffic issues. Living in a community with two major seasonal parks, you get used to the traffic at certain times of the day, week, season. When planning your route in or out of the area you learn to look at your watch and plan accordingly. Based on the fact the amusement park had a 42% increase in visitation I would have to say they had did an excellent job with traffic management. I have clients with business on route 43 directly across from the park and they had no real complains as to how the traffic was handled. Of course the park had some issues with parking during a few of their busiest days but I attribute that to growing pains.

Like Jeff, I did not visit SWO last year. It was a park that I would only visit one every 5 years or so. Now that our season pass to SF include the use of the resources at the other end of the lake it becomes more of a "no-brainer" for most Aurora families to have season passes to the park.

I have a wife and two small kids and we are looking forward to doing some of the family things at the marine park. My retired parents purchased passes and it becomes a greater value to them since they don't ride the rides but will enjoy the marine park's shows and attractions. There will be more them to do when they take my kids over there on their own.

Down the street from the park a new retail center is going in with stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Kohls, and a Bob Evans. This will not help the traffic situation at all. Living in this area you take the good with the bad, there are ways of avoiding the traffic. It is exciting that so much is being invested in this park in our backyard and for a modestly priced season pass we can use the park all season.

Hey, you could live in Streetsboro. Enough said.

Just to let everyone know, it was ALWAYS Geagua Lake/ Six Flags Whatever that had the parking problems. Sea World never had parking problems in all of my years living in Aurora! Just because SF owns Sea World now doesn't mean that the parking crisis is over. If you ask me it will get worse. People will have the choice to park at either lot but they will park at the SF one because its closer to the rides.

GL+SF= Disaster SF+SW= Disaster
SFWoA+Driving in a Car= Disaster Transport

Don't think that everybody will be going to this park for the rides. Those people that said that they have grandparents that would be going there for the Marine World side will more than likely be parking on that side. I know my mother is planning on using that side because it is easier to escape to the backroads from there than the other side. I don't know how many people will be directed up 306 instead of 43 when you hit downtown Aurora though. Now that they are the same park I don't know if the GP will want to split up. Regular visitors may discover that it will be easier to park on the MW side which would break up the traffic patterns.

I am sure that common sense will prevail. The probably would be signage with something like "Geauga Lake -- Hurricane Harbor, SFWofA North lots, left,....MarineLand -- Group Picnic Area South lots, right.

Crikey, they just spent $110 million, to them that parking is pretty valuable. I cannot see them tearing out gates and a perfectly good handicap and charter bus area for sake of keeping traffic in one area.

Maybe, here is a good one, season pass holders with parking privlidges will be designated to the North or South lots. Hey, I may be smart. Someone call Gary Story with that one.

I think it's great.:)
I was just there last July 21st and 22nd,and I can't wait to hit it again this year.:)
Talk about a bargain..... *** This post was edited by DirtyVern on 2/6/2001. ***