User blog:RCTFan2002/What If? Episode 7: What if Cedar Fair didn't shut down Geauga Lake?

Hey guys, welcome back to the "What If?" series. I am so sorry for not uploading this sooner like I anticipated doing, but episode 2 of my "Whatever Happened To...?" series got in the way a bit. But now I can hopefully get back on track and continue updating this series on time like I want to (which I probably won't LOL XD).

This week's episode will be 1 of FOUR possible scenarios created for the now defunct Ohio theme park Geauga Lake. A few months ago, I ran a poll on which scenario for this park I should do first, and this one won by a landslide (and by that I mean it was the only one to receive a vote). This scenario will go over the possibility "What if Cedar Fair didn't shut down Geauga Lake?" So yeah, basically today we will discuss what could've happened to Geauga Lake if Cedar Fair decided to actually run the park as it was after Six Flags sold it to them instead of downgrading it to...whatever the f@*k it was by 2007 and then just silently closing it during the off-season. So with that out of the way, let's get started!

Introduction
Geauga Lake opened as a local recreational area in 1887, gaining it's first ride, a carousel, in 1889. It did not add it's first coaster, "The Big Dipper", until 1925, over 35 years later. The park continued to operate independently for several decades, until 1969, when Funtime Parks bought the property. They continued to run the park for the next 25 years, alongside their other properties "Darien Lake" and "Wyandot Lake", until Premier Parks, later on Six Flags, bought the Funtime parks in 1995. In 2000, when Premier Parks became Six Flags, Geauga Lake saw a massive expansion with FOUR new coasters and got it's name changed to "Six Flags Ohio". However, just a year later, Six Flags also bought the "Seaworld Ohio" park that opened right across the lake from the park in 1970, integrating it into their own park and creating "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure", the world's largest theme park. Sadly, due to Six Flags' financial issues, they sold the park after the 2003 season to Cedar Fair, who did...questionable things with the park aftewards. Not only did they tear down the "Seaworld Ohio" side of the park and replace everything with a new waterpark, but also removed two popular coasters and eventually shut down the park as it was seen as redundant and less popular than Cedar Point and Kings Island. The waterpark was shut down after 2016 and to this day is just an empty lot.

But what if Cedar Fair had different plans for the park? What if instead of downsizing the park and eventually closing it, Cedar Fair actually decided to keep running Geauga Lake as it was? Would rides and coasters like "X-Flight" or "Steel Venom" still be relocated? Would it become as big and popular as CF's other Ohio parks? Find out now!

Year-by-year predictions
Unlike the rest of the episodes which have gone through the year-by-year predictions with lots of detail about what I predict the park would've gotten each year, I'm gonna try to do this in a different format that hopefully doesn't waste too much time explaining everything and will be short, sweet and to the point.

To be honest, for 2004 and 2005 I think Cedar Fair would do the exact same thing they did to the park IRL (removing the zoo part of the park and replacing all the animal exhibits with "Wildwater Kingdom"), because I honestly cannot see Cedar Fair running a park with animal exhibits in it, so this move kinda does make sense for the company (even if it means killing a really cool part of "Six Flags Worlds of Adventure" unfortunately). 2006 though would be where this diversion actually starts, in that "Steel Venom" and "X-Flight" wouldn't be removed from the park. IRL, Cedar Fair deliberately got rid of these two coasters because they thought the park was "too extreme" and wanted to focus more "on families", but in reality we all kinda know that they were trying to downsize the park on purpose to drive more attention to "Cedar Point".

But here's the thing - Cedar Fair claiming that they downsized and shut down "Geauga Lake" because "hAvInG tWo PaRkS iN oHiO wAs ReDuNdAnT" doesn't make any sense when you take "Kings Island" into consideration. They didn't even buy KI until THAT VERY YEAR from Paramount Parks, so time-wise, Cedar Fair should've showed more attention to "Geauga Lake" than they did "Kings Island" - but instead, while GL was closed down within less than 5 years, KI got a HYPER, an INVERT, and a FREAKIN' GIGA COASTER. Redundancy, my ass. They just wanted to drive more people away from the park and to Cedar Point, and then ultimately Kings Island. Instead of looking at "Geauga Lake" as a liability, they should've seen it as an asset - more parks they have in Ohio, the more overall guests they can attract to that general area, and more money for the company. They clearly had no problems doing it with "Kings Island", so why not "Geauga Lake", which they had BEFORE KI? (Again, hypocrisy at it's finest).

Anyways, in this scenario, we could assume Cedar Fair actually took what I said above, about attracting more guests to that general area with more parks in that state, into consideration and decide to keep "Geauga Lake" running the way it is - without downsizing it and making BS excuses for doing so - but just taking expansion and new additions a LOT more slower than Six Flags did (SF expanding the park really quickly the way they did was partly the reason they had financial distress and sold the park in the first place). So, yeah. "Steel Venom" and "X-Flight" stay, meaning Kings Island and Dorney Park never get "Firehawk" or "Possessed". Considering what KI did to "Firehawk" though, we probably just dodged a bullet.

But the park DOES still need a new ride of some sort, since the last one (not counting the new waterpark) was in 2003, maybe even before. Which brings me into 2007 - I predict that this year, if Cedar Fair actually put more investments into the park, Geauga Lake would build an S&S drop tower complex, just like the ones at "Cedar Point" and "Dorney Park", over the former spot of "Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall", which i predict Cedar Fair still would've gotten rid of anyways around this time since it was an old, outdated version of a drop tower anyways. This new modernized drop tower would definitely be a rejuvenating take on the old ride in it's place and, with more towers, means more capacity and less lines. Plus it's location - at the very front of the park near the entrance - would definitely provide an appealing visual to people even before they enter the park.

For 2008, I predict that the park could finally see it's newest coaster for the first time in 7 years - but given Cedar Fair's more family friendly atmosphere, I predict that the best type of coaster this park could add, given the time period as well, is a spinning coaster, just like what both "Knott's Berry Farm" and "Worlds of Fun" also added around this time period (the manufacturer shouldn't really matter, Worlds of Fun got a Gerstlauer, Knott's Berry Farm got a Mack, you can decide for yourself), It's the perfect combination of a family coaster and thrill coaster, being an exciting and thrilling ride but also appealing VERY much to families and kids, as it's not too tense for them. This type of coaster is also usually compact in layout, and seeing that the old "Hurricane Hannah" waterpark on the theme park side is pretty much just open land now, I think this coaster could perfectly fit here, probably over the former wave pool (and maybe even rejuvenate that area a bit, as before becoming a waterpark in 2000 it was also part of the theme park so I feel like this could be the perfect spot for adding new rides in the future).

For 2009, I predict a waterpark expansion on the former spot of the "Happy Harbor" area of the park, because to be honest, this area worked a LOT better when Six Flags was running the park, as there were more rides on that side. But now with Cedar Fair running the park, it's just...separated from the park and painfully awkward just sitting next to the waterpark, far away from all the other rides. Since it's right next to "Wildwater Kingdom" I believe that using this land for a future expansion of the waterpark would be a MUCH better choice than keeping it as an awkwardly placed park area. As for the rides, I predict that some of them would be reintegrated somewhere else in the park while others are scrapped (it depends on which ones are the most popular w/guests, though for some reason I can see "Black Squid" being scrapped simply because it's older). Also, "Time Warp" would most likely be removed from the park around this time because I honestly just don't see it as a fitting ride for a Cedar Fair park in general. For 2010, a kids area conversion, turning the "Kidzworks" area of the park into "Planet Snoopy", as the other CF parks did around this time, and expanding it a bit to cover the old spot of "Time Warp" which was literally right next door. This would give the park it's much needed Peanuts kiddie area that it never got IRL for some reason.

For 2011, I predict that we would see a Mondial WindSeeker come to the park. Even though the park isn't exactly Cedar Point or any of the Paramount Parks that CF bought, remember that "Knott's Berry Farm" and eventually "Worlds of Fun" also got this type of ride later on so I could definitely see a ride like this coming to "Geauga Lake", especially if Cedar Fair was actually investing into keeping the park open and running and trying to attract more people to it. This type of ride would be PERFECT in the old spot of "Silver Bullet", the park's Enterprise that was removed in 2003 - it's certainly narrow enough to fit on the small former ride pad and would finally get rid of that awkward empty spot in the area where the ride used to be. For 2012, I predict that we would see the Dinosaurs Alive! open this year, in the spot of the Coyote Creek catering reserve. This type of attraction was opening at all of CF's other parks around this time, so I see no reason as to why "Geauga Lake" under Cedar Fair's control wouldn't get this as well.

2013 would probably be the best time for CF to add the park's newest coaster, to avoid such a painfully long gap in-between coasters. I predict a B&M giga coming to the park to this year, located in pffffft hahahaha, JK XD. No way I can say that with a straight face. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, but I honestly believe that with KI and CP nearby, and Cedar Fair's "promise" to keep "Geauga Lake" as a mainly family-oriented park there's no way the park would realistically add a giga coaster - the park, according to Cdar Fair's standards, just isn't built on the same level as CP and KI are. But I still think a new coaster being added to the park around this time is a strong and smart possibility, which is why I predict that the park would add a Chance Hyper GTX taking up the rest of the space where "Hurricane Hannah" previously was, winding around the turn on "Big Dipper" and back (I'd say it would have a custom layout but since 1 was only built so far IRL I don't know if that is the standard layout or not). This coaster would still be a much better choice for the park oriented towards families, as it's still an exciting and intense ride without sticking out too much from the rest of the park and looking too extreme/out-of-place.

For 2014, I predict a Zamperla Skater ride would be added to the "Planet Snoopy" area, over the site of that lakeside catering pavilion, and given a Snoopy-related name/theme, like "Skater Dog" for example. It'd give the area their first new ride in a while and, given this type of ride is already frequently seen in most of CF's other parks, it'd be perfect for the family-oriented "Geauga Lake". For 2015, I predict that the park could possibly add some type of resort or campsite ground right next to the parking lot, in that big vacant plot of land in between the parking lot and the nearby Depot Road, similar to what "Carowinds" and later on "Kings Island" did. This would greatly increase the amount of park guests and revenue, as people can now pay more money to stay at the park overnight, while simultaneously attracting more guests.

New for 2016, I predict that we would just see a new waterpark ride of some sort being added to "Wildwater Kingdom", like maybe a trapdoor slide complex replacing the old lakeside stand located on the waterpark side. It would definitely help revitalize the waterpark area a bit, and get rid of some awkward and redundantly placed attractions still from the "Seaworld Ohio" era. However, I also predict that this year would see the removal of the park's iconic observation tower attraction "Skyscraper", because at this point the ride is really old and with the nearby "WindSeeker", I believe that an observation tower ride would kind of be redundant and useless, since the "WindSeeker" gives a lot more exciting and intense viewing experience. As for what would replace it, I predict that in 2017 the park would get a Gerstlauer Sky Roller, exactly like "Skyhawk" at "Canada's Wonderland", in it's spot. This ride would be the only 1 of it's kind in the US and no doubt be extremely popular with the thrillseekers and adrenaline junkies as a result.

For 2018, I predict that, for the park's next coasterm we could possibly see an RMC conversion of one of the park's wooden coasters. Seeing as how the park already has THREE wooden coasters in it, and both "Steel Vengeance" and "Twisted Timbers" opened at other Cedar Fair parks this year, I think it makes a lot of sense to CF to convert one of these wooden coasters at "Geauga Lake" into a hybrid conversion around this time. Now before you ask me "would it be Villain or Raging Wolf Bobs getting converted?" I just want to point out that while "Villain" always for some reason seems to get the RMC treatment in a fictional "Geauga Lake" scenario, "Raging Wolf Bobs" is a lot older than the former and, being a Dinn Corp woodie, I can imagine how rough and painful it must be, especially by 2018 no less. Personally I could see "Raging Wolf Bobs" getting the RMC treatment instead of "Villain" as it's much older, but if some people wish to have "Villain" be the conversion, then go for it. "Big Dipper" however is an extremely old classic woodie and is therefore automatically out of the question. Also, like all the other CF parks, "Dinosaurs Alive!" would shut down this year. For 2019, I predict that we would just see park improvements occur, in order to spruce up the atmosphere of the park a bit and make it seem more appealing to newcoming guests.

2020 and 2021 would be sort of difficult, because that's when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. As for now, the only thing that I believe the park could've reasonably gotten during this time, without having a too-short gap between new coasters or waterpark attractions, is a new flat ride of some sort, probably a Larson Flying Skooters or a Zamperla Hawk I wanna say. Since "Canada's Wonderland" added their own Zamperla Hawk just a couple years ago, it's not unreasonable to assume that "Geauga Lake" couldn't get one too around this time. And since it's a rather small addition compared to, say, a new coaster, I think this would still oen in 2020, albeit delayed due to the pandemic. For 2021, I predict that we would just see park improvements yet again, as the pandemic is still going strong and I can't see Cedar Fair adding any major capital to their parks - except for KI obviously - right at that point. For 2022, I predict that, as the chain is finally recovering and getting back to normal financially from the pandemic, that we could see a new waterslide of some sort in "Wildwater Kingdom". Again, not that big of an addition but it'll be something to help the park bounce back financially from the pandemic, and make the waterpark look more attractive and exciting to the public.

Conclusion
In conclusion, that's what I believe "Geauga Lake" would look like up to current day if Cedar Fair actually treated the park with respect and decided to keep it open along with "Cedar Point" and "Kings Island" instead of just downsizing it and shutting it down. Do you agree with my predictions? Why or why not? What are some of your possible predictions for this scenario? Please leave your comments in the comment section below!