Friday, July 02, 2004
CoasterCon Part 2a: Geauga Lake
We arrived about 2:00pm on Thursday (we stayed at our Cedar Point hotel another night because there were no events on Thursday until later). Checked into our hotel and then after a quick nap, went over to the park.
It was a nice day but even being a Thursday, the park was empty. The longest we waited for any ride was Big Dipper and that was because they only had one train running. And we wanted the front. I managed to ride all the coasters (except for Steel Venom-closed, Head Spin-makes me sick, and Raging Wolf Bobs-closed) before the 7pm ACE Welcoming Reception. It was nice of Geauga Lake to feed us so well (nacho bar and mixed fruit) but it took a lot of waiting in line. They announced that they would have ERT on Villain instead of Raging Wolf Bobs, as well as Dominator and Thunderhawk.
Dominator (a B&M floorless coaster, formerly Batman) was running very well and even during the middle of the day it was walk on to the front row. Some people have laughed at the name, but I think it fits well. They even designed a really cool logo for it, so cool that I even bought a shirt with the design. It is a great ride and it really is amazing what kind of speed it has coming out of the first loop and low around the entrance. A really interesting thing I noticed was it didn't seem to have enough speed at the top of the first loop. It slowed down enough that you were no longer pressed into your seat. If you were in the front row it happened 3/4 of the way through the loop and you would fall "forward" into your restraint. If you were in the back row it would happen at the top of the loop and you would fall "up" (towards the ground) into the top of the restraint. A very interesting experience.
I only rode Thunderhawk twice (once during regular hours and once during ERT) and the less said about that ride the better. It is no Raptor.
The Villain was great fun. It is really amazing how that ride keeps its speed going. I think the front is the best because there are some great surprise moments when you think you are going one way and the train will turn a different direction.
On Friday it rained which made the crowds even less than on Thursday. We had morning ERT on Steel Venom, Big Dipper, and X-Flight as well as a breakfast of muffins, fruit, and coffee. At 1pm the park gave us lunch and Bill Spehn, the General Manager, was there to answer questions. He really is a great guy and he even stayed for an extra 45 minutes to answer more questions after the lunch was over.
Among complements and tiny questions there was some news and interesting notes:
-The park will be getting a hyper coaster (over 200 feet tall, like Magnum) soon.
-Raging Wolf Bobs will be getting some new trains. Most likely the PTC (the good kind) trains from the now closed Hercules at Dorney Park. Villain may also be getting new trains.
-He promised that all the rides would get the loving care they need and didn't get before.
-They are still taking about what to do with the animal side of the park. He did say that Sea World built some amazing stadiums and it would be a shame to tear them all down.
-He said a dark ride and more kiddy rides were a good idea.
-He said he would like to add a train to move people from one side of the park to the other.
-Building a new dock for the boats took longer and cost more then they though so they are just opening now. The boats don't have much maneuverability so any kind of lake cruise wouldn't happen.
-X-flight will only be running one station side and two trains from now on. They found that was much faster then running two stations and/or three trains.
-One man asked about a sign on the log ride that said each boat needed a minimum of two riders. The sign was only to been seen in the station and he asked if another sign could be posted at the entrance. Bill said that he would look into it and maybe even see if the sign could be removed. Not even ten minutes later, he announced to us all that the sign had been removed.
And finally, the big news I have been promising you all week. I asked this question of him and never expected the answer I got:
Q: I was looking around the water park and noticed that the kid’s area in the lower section has been walled off and drained. Why is that and are you planning to do anything with it?
A: That area is called Hook's Lagoon and when we took our first tour of the park we noticed that it wasn't up to Cedar Fair standards so we decided to keep it closed. We had planned to build a replacement and open it this season but we ran out of time, so next year will see the debut of a whole new section to our water park.
Overall Bill was a really great guy and has removed almost all doubts in my mind about him running the park well. When people asked him about problems he offered to get things fixed right away. He is a really great guy.
More about Geauga Lake and Memphis Kiddy Park later!
