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Skyglider Thunder Falls User is Offline Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 701	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:05 pm    Post subject: Rest of Park Going Soon · Quote I heard that more equipment has been seen moving into the park and that many, many structures have big X marks on them.  This could mean massive demolition of the remaining structures is coming soon. Anyone else hear or see anything like that? Without an announced contract to sell the land, it would be unfortunate to see everything cleared now - if Cedar Fair's current buyer falls through, some of that could make the land more attractive. _________________ "It's a very special ride. We want to make sure it has a proper home." CF Spokesperson Robin Innes about the Big Dipper. Ohio and North America have few structures that rank as high as 12th oldest in the World.  Remember the Big Dipper.
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Dwight Schrute Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 15	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:13 pm    Post subject: · Quote it would be sad, but while you have the heavy equipment there, the cost to remove would be less than if they did it later. as far as attractiveness goes; not likely unless the buyer intended to create a new amusement park there, its not likely that the a new developer would have use for standing concession kiosks.  bare land would be the (most unfortunate) best "show" for a potential buyer.   Also, who knows, some day Geauga Lake may return in some sorm or fashion.  Those familiar with it, look what happened when Coney Island (in Cincinnati) moved to Kings Island.  That park was pretty much left for dead, now it does quite a business as a (small) amusement, water, and concert park.
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cjc618 Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 62	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:43 pm    Post subject: · Quote I'm going to imagine that Cedar Fair is going to sell the property to somoene who has NO interest in operating an amusement park. i wouldn't be surprised if a non-compete is included in the deal. By removing all remnants, the chances of a park re-emerging go from slim to none as that infrastructure is expensive to replace. Oddly, by removing it themselves, they guarantee the park is gone, make a few extra bucks on the auction and let someone else pay to raze the place, and then having a clean plot of land makes the land more marketable. I'm still not sure how CF planned on making money by buying GL. I also don't think the plan to destroy GL makes sense either considering the cash investment involved.
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minnesotahome Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 7	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:39 pm    Post subject: · Quote A non-competition agreement is about the only thing that would make sense for the property with the water park still just across the lake.
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Dwight Schrute Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 15	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:41 pm    Post subject: · Quote yea, I don't buy into the theory that they bought it to close it.  You don't spend millions of investor's dollars on a personal mission to destroy a business.   It was a risk.  When Six Flags listed it for sale it was a perfomring property that they sold to better their capital position.  Unfortunately for CF, the non-inclusion of the former Sea World assets (animals) killed what made the park "different."  But they probably bought it to "control" the competition. And unfortunately when a broken limb won't stop bleeding- sometimes you have to amputate for the better of the rest of the body.
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John Peck Splash Landing User is Offline Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 178 Location: Columbus, Ohio USA	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:29 pm    Post subject: · Quote ^ I totally agree with you Dwight. However, in the case of Coney Island... There are 2 things that really allowed the park to make a comeback: 1. Of course was the sunlight pool and picnic groves, and its continuation to attract people. 2. Is the fact that the land Coney Sits on isn't land you can build anything on due to the constant flooding. So in the winter, those rides are stripped down to the bare structures and the parts stored away from the area.  Sure there is some cleanup to do, but it's not anything they haven't done before. Hopefully the town of Aurora will purchase an additional larger portion of Geauga Lake for swimming and picnicing and a community area, but i doubt thats even likely considering it wont make money, if very little.
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Sohio Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 94 Location: Nashville, TN	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:43 pm    Post subject: · Quote I have never understood why it is so hard to believe that someone would spend millions to eliminate a perceived threat.  Sea World did it when they bought Marineland of the Pacific.  Can you really accept at face value that Cedar Fair had no idea that the loss of the animals would drastically affect attendance?  The loss of the Halloween event was a smart move when you have parks putting out press releases in July about their Halloween event?  The decision to close Geauga Lake was only made days after the end of the season, yet deconstruction crews were at work on Thunderhawk and Dominator almost immediately after the announcement? If there was an intention to actually make the place a success, it was only done half-heartedly at best, and that's being generous.  $145 million to eliminate your competition, acquire three rollercoasters to add as "new" at your other parks (minus the deconstruction, moving, and reconstruction costs), and God knows how much money they will get for the sale of the land?  Sounds like a smart business decision. _________________
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coasterdad Site Admin User is Offline Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Posts: 1549	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:28 pm    Post subject: Re: Rest of Park Going Soon · Quote Sohio wrote: $145 million to eliminate your competition, acquire three rollercoasters to add as "new" at your other parks (minus the deconstruction, moving, and reconstruction costs), and God knows how much money they will get for the sale of the land? Sounds like a smart business decision. Exactly, why is that so hard to understand???? Skyglider wrote: Without an announced contract to sell the land, it would be unfortunate to see everything cleared now - if Cedar Fair's current buyer falls through, some of that could make the land more attractive. I have a feeling a lot of the clearing has to do with the mans name on this sign at the shopping center right next door. _________________ Greed is what caused GL's demise and that just makes me sick. Lets do what we can to rat out Kinzel - hes a snake. In the end the truth will come out and we will then see whos laughing at who.
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cjc618 Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 62	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:47 pm    Post subject: · Quote King's Island was way more and would be still way more competition then Geauga Lake as it is a much larger and well known park i'd suspect. I'd think killing Kings Island would be much more beneficial to "Cedar Point" I don't think they ever had plans for GL to be anything but a small park and were going to rip out many of the coasters over time, but then decided to forget it and kill the park. I would state that very few people in ohio have ever thought Geauga Lake was a competitor of Cedar Point, but rather a nice little park close by or next to Sea world. How much does a new rollercoaster cost anyway?   i do think that angle has credence, but the costs have to match up.
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ChadV Splash Landing User is Offline Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 161	Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:00 pm    Post subject: · Quote According to RCDB: Thunderhawk: $10 Million X-Flight: $15 Million Raging Wolf Bobs: $2 Million (1988 Dollars, $3.7 Million in today Dollars.) Big Dipper: $50,000 (1925 Dollars, $625,000 in today Dollars.)
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Sohio Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 94 Location: Nashville, TN	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:58 am    Post subject: · Quote From the 2007 Cedar Fair annual report... For the 2008 operating season, we are investing $88 million in capital improvements at our 18 properties, including the addition of world-class roller coasters at Canada’s Wonderland, Kings Dominion, Dorney Park, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Michigan’s Adventure. Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland was $25 million (26 million Canadian), a new SLC runs about $7 million, a floorless like Dominator is about $15 million, and an Impulse coaster is about $9 million.  Couldn't find pricing info on Pony Express at Knott's, so a guess will have to do, maybe $5 million? If every coaster was brand new it would have cost them about $61 million, more than two thirds of the capital expenditure budget spent on 5 parks alone.  Cedar Fair has stated that it was cheaper to move the coasters than build new ones. _________________
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Skyglider Thunder Falls User is Offline Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 701	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:51 am    Post subject: · Quote Dwight Schrute wrote: as far as attractiveness goes; not likely unless the buyer intended to create a new amusement park there, its not likely that the a new developer would have use for standing concession kiosks. bare land would be the (most unfortunate) best "show" for a potential buyer. Generally true. But in this case, the land was up for bid for months and they only got two bidders for the land where the park sits. Bidder A (possibly Glenwood Homes, based on the trucks that have been in and out of there) is negotiating and plans to build a residential development (kind of risky in this economy, so they are looking to buy low). Bidder B was an unknown developer that was working with Herschman Architects and ACE to build around the Big Dipper, incorporating it and some other existing structures. While that bid has been withdrawn, and someone else currently owns the Big Dipper, it seems it would be good to have that as a back up in case Bidder A doesn't like the price and pulls out. The way it is now, Glenwood or whoever has all the leverage. Though it would be complicated, maybe Bidder B (or someone of like mind) would be a potential backup option, but not if everything is cleared from the land. _________________ "It's a very special ride. We want to make sure it has a proper home." CF Spokesperson Robin Innes about the Big Dipper. Ohio and North America have few structures that rank as high as 12th oldest in the World.  Remember the Big Dipper.
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Dwight Schrute Beaver Land Mine Ride User is Offline Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 15	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:34 pm    Post subject: · Quote i still think the land would be more attractive to potential buyers if it were cleared of random souvenir buildings and concession kiosks. I know that the info smacks in the face of people who loved the park- but I'm certain that CF has a committee that made a decision that the land was best marketable as a empty lot; sad as that sounds.
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John Peck Splash Landing User is Offline Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 178 Location: Columbus, Ohio USA	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:16 pm    Post subject: · Quote Those buildings should come down pretty quick considering that most of them don't have much more than a slab foundation. I've got to wonder if the footers will be ripped up from all the steel coasters.. there sure were a lot of them used on Batman and Serial Killer. Considering on how much I watched all the Astroworld desconstruction a few years back, Cedar Fair really has been able to reuse a lot of equipment from Geauga. Matter of fact, only 1 coaster has reopened from Astroworld and thats a Vekoma speed-racer thing that was once the Mayan Mindbender.
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ChadV Splash Landing User is Offline Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 161	Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:23 pm    Post subject: · Quote There's a concrete recycling place in Twinsburg... I don't know if they pay for scrap or just take it free, but if they pay, I guarantee that one of the scrap/demo companies will be hauling every bit of concrete they can get over there...
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