Trip Report: Geauga Lake

Aurora, Ohio - 08/23/1998

"Bounce Bounce Bounce"

Getting to Geauga Lake is always an adventyure because traffic engineering in Northeast Ohio, quite frankly, STINKS [Footnote 1]. It is less than fifteen miles from IR-271 to Geauga Lake, but it is almost a 45-minute drive. Part of the problem is underposted (and rigidly enforced) speed limits such as 25 mph through field and forest, increasing to 50 mph upon entering the Aurora city limits. But a bigger problem is traffic signal timing...for instance, at a point where all OH-82 traffic turns left, the protected green lasts for about three vehicles. Then, at the Sea World exit, the light is timed for the benefit of traffic exiting Sea World (at 10:30am, that translates to "nobody") to the detriment of traffic heading straight through to Geauga Lake. I like Geauga, but getting there is a royal pain in the keyster!

Major parking lot improvements are evident...new tollbooths, a long entrance driveway to keep traffic from backing up onto OH-43, and a $5 parking fee. You would think that a park with an oil well in the parking lot wouldn't need to charge for parking...

Serial Thriller
Trains: 2
Load: 20 (10x2)
Interval: 1:22
Ride time: 1:40/2:07
Capacity: 878 pph

To begin with, Serial Thriller is the most visually appealing of the Vekoma Suspended Looping Coasters (SLCs) I have ridden. The station has a very nice feel to it; parts of the ride are shrouded in mist, and its location is just perfect. Geauga Lake also has about the most efficient SLC platform operation I have seen. Geauga gets trains out in as little as 1:15 (960 PPH) which is literally as fast as possible. Geauga Lake is the one park with an SLC
that could actually make 3-train operation worthwhile. Of course, they only own two trains, which is why the platform must often wait for the second train to arrive. Is it a coincidence that Serial Thriller does not have chute gates? It is also worth noting that the ends of the chute line up nicely with the red "stand behind" line...and people tend to stand at the end of the chute, right behind the line, with no verbal prompting and no physical barrier.

WOWEE! Folks, after a front-seat ride, I think Serial Thriller IS different from the other SLCs in that there seem to be closer clearances. I mean, they all have that one rollover where only the inversion keeps you from losing your feet, but Serial Thriller has four more incredible foot-choppers. If Serial Thriller is different, then the difference is very subtle. But it just has a different feel to it from, say, PCWo's Top Gun. Maybe it's because the track is red. Geauga Lake has a real winner with this ride.

Heading back to Ragng Wolf Bobs, I notice that all the decoration is gone from the Yukon Yahoos (Mack Matterhorn)...

Raging Wolf Bobs
Trains: 2 (1 operating)
Load: 24 (6x(2+2))
Interval: N/A
Ride time: 2:36
Capacity: N/A
Measured interval: About 4:20
Resulting Capacity: 332-372 pph

Am I the only person who actually likes this coaster? Except that it is having some problems. Specifically, it is back to bouncing again. It is a problem I have long associated with NAD coasters. It's not that the road wheels are hopping...banging up and down...but rather that they are bouncing. I don't know if the whole track is bouncing, or if it's just the track laminations coming loose, but I know I've felt it on Geauga Lake's woodies before. I'd thought they corrected it last time I was here, but this morning, the Raging Wolf Bobs was ROUGH. So rough, in fact, from bouncing up and down, that it distracted from the lateral shuffling action caused by the poorly-engineered trailers. A later front-seat ride proved to be far less jouncy, and in fact quite enjoyable, though the mistracking caused by those darned [Footnote 1 again] trailers was far more evident.

The thing that scares me about this is that while riding the Mirage (Huss/Weber 1,001 Nacht), I watched a train on the Big Dipper, and noticed that it too was bouncing. I'll have to check that out...

Anyway, I asked the operator about multiple-train operation, as I have never seen Raging Wolf Bobs run with two trains. She claimed that two-train operation is common, but that the ride was understaffed. Which was true; actually, except for Big Dipper and Serial Thriller. No rides were shut down due to staffing problems, but crews were spread a little thin. The trouble is, with a 1.3% unemployment rate (yes, there is a decimal point in there!) parks are lucky to have anyone at all, and in the last week of summer...right when parks get really busy...all the help wants to take the week off for vacation to go and be part of the big crowd in another park. So I can understand the staffing problem. That doesn't mean I have to like it or approve of it.

Geauga Lake's Mangels/Ilions carousel is in great shape, the band organ sounds great, and this 4-row all-jumping carousel operates at an unusually fast 6 RPM. It is also worth noting that the Mangels slide-out mechanism works beautifully (the one at Wyandot Lake does not). You see, while Dentzel carousels have conical platforms, with the horses canted out a bit at the bottom, the Mangels carousels have flat platforms. The pole on the bottom of the horse rides in a slot so that the horse will tip outward at the bottom. Of course, the reason for this is to redirect the forces on the rider so that he doesn't get flung sideways off of his horse. Cedar Point should send someone to Geauga to learn how to maintain a band organ, then send someone to Kennywood to learn how fast carousels are supposed to turn.

I went out to my car to get my camera and spotted a sign on a ticket booth: "No rainchecks or refunds. Geauga Lake is not responsible for inclement weather." I like the way they put that: "Hey...it's not our fault that it rained..."

Double Loop
Trains: 2 (1 operating)
Load: 24 (6x(2+2))
Interval: N/A
Ride time: 1:27
Capacity: N/A
Measured intervals: 2:45, 2:23, 2:32, 2:25, 2:31
Average interval: 2:31 - 2:29
Capacity: 572 - 579 pph

All aboard for a ride on this classic Arrow looper. Traditionally, this is one of the smoothest Arrow coasters around, and it mostly didn't disappoint today. A zippy 90-second trip as usual, with no lateral headbanging whatsoever. But what's this? Why is THIS ride bouncing rhythmically, particularly between the loops? I don't get it. But it's not bad. The biggest problem is that the park is crowded and the crew is too small to run on a 60-second interval, so they are not running both trains. I miss seeing the platform attendant hitting the lap-bar release pedals as the train enters the station, though. The crew is trying hard to keep things moving, it's just that when the other train isn't whipping through the helix, there isn't any pressure...

Big Dipper
Trains: 2 (1 operating)
Load: 24 (4x(2+2+2))
Interval: N/A
Ride time: 1:41
Capacity: N/A
Measured intervals: 3:10, 3:22, 2:55, 2:55
Capacity: 466 pph avg.

What the [CENSORED] happened here? This thing is bouncing around so much it makes Raging Wolf Bobs look good. And the single train operation is outrageous. The ride has a full crew, the park is BUSY, and the ride has about a 45-minute wait. A visit to the customer service booth at the main gate seems to indicate that the only reason for single train is that the crew is being lazy. I asked the operator about the second train; she didn't seem to think the ride was busy enough. Not busy enough? People are shoulder to shoulder on the midways and the ride has a 45-minute queue. How busy do you want it? My "friend" at the customer service window suggested that the problem was staffing until I noted that there were four operators on the ride; he claimed that with sufficient staff, they normally go to two trains when the park population hits 10,000. He started making phone calls, but I never saw the second train come off the storage track. At any rate, my one back-seat ride was rough, jarring, and bouncy to the point of not being the slightest bit enjoyable. Serious trackwork is needed...and given that the ride ran beautifully last November, I don't think it is even a matter of track replacement, but merely a bit of track maintenance. Bolt-tightening and such. As it now stands, Big Dipper is almost unrideable, at least in the back seat. And the lethargic operation makes me unwilling to go back and ride again, since the wait is about 45 minutes. I really feel bad about this one. Oh, I should mention that the trains are not NAD trains; they are scratch-built Geauga Lake trains built to match the old NAD trains. Both trains were built before I visited Geauga for the first time. And, Mr. Cline, you complained of extra padding in the train...I must regretfully inform you that the train was exactly as I remember it, which suggests that any excess padding you had to deal with may have been your own.

Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall was running in yo-yo mode all day. If I ever need a ride control system, I must be sure not to order it from Birket...they were really having lots of trouble with the controls for some reason. I mean, the ride is supposed to go up and down all day, but not quite in this manner.

A thought on ride capacity...
Geauga Lake has a vandalism problem...marking, carving, and gum-sticking. The problem is particularly evident in the queues for Raging Wolf Bobs, Big Dipper, and Double Loop. But it is not at all evident on Serial Thriller, and in spite of the amount of gum-sticking, there is less marking and carving at Big Dipper. This leads me to an interesting observation...Running rides at higher capacity does generally result in shorter waiting times. Perhaps more important, though, operating at full capacity keeps the lines moving. People who are walking through the queue are not carving their names into the railings. I think the vandalism is directly related to lines which remain stopped for an extended period of time. For that reason...the desire to keep people moving while waiting in line...I think it is in the park's best interest to run rides at full capacity whenever possible, even if the crowd is light.

I skipped the Mind Eraser, Geauga's Vekoma Boomerang. I rode three of those on my recent vacation (including the one that is newer than Geauga's) and didn't feel like baking in the queue for this one.

In any case, as the day wears on, the park just keeps getting more crowded and I don't feel like standing in 45-minute queues for Raging Wolf Bobs and Big Dipper. I've ridden all the coasters except the Mind Eraser and a few of the flat rides; it's almost 6:00...since the crowd is getting ridiculous, I'm going to Cedar Point, stopping enroute someplace where I can get a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink without standing in line, for $4 instead of $9 with a 20-minute wait.

Rumors and findings:
Of course, I had to ask the big question: When are the Traver Rocket Ships coming back. The tower is still sitting behind the Raging Wolf Bobs helix, and I was told that the rockets have moved to a more accessible location. Customer service says that they may be back next season (which is, unfortunately, what they said last year and the year before). The person I talked with also claimed that they plan to put up their gondola Ferris wheel just inside the gate, as shown in the park's logo. The wheel in question needs a bit of work, as it was the gondola wheel at Old Indiana, so I can understand that delay. I mentioned my fear for the Rocket Ships, as the Rocket Ships are not exactly the kind of ride you would expect to find at Six Flags.

The tone of the conversation changed slightly at that point, and I was told that Geauga Lake would have to change a lot to come up to the "code of Six Flags". I remarked that the Six Flags parks could probably learn a lot from Geauga, but he went on to talk about the need for such things as non-asphalt midways, additional midways, new coaster, stuff like that. His implication was that a conversion of Geauga Lake to Six Flags is not imminent.

I got to thinking about it, and I got to looking more carefully at the park, and I realized how much different Geauga Lake is from so many theme parks, partly because it is such an old park. But more important I think is Premier's positioning of the park as "An American Classic." Except for the styling of the Serial Thriller (which reminds me a lot of the area surrounding Twisted Sisters), all of the effort and expense Premier has sunk into this park has not been so much to turn Geauga Lake into a modern theme park, but rather to do neat things to emphasize Geauga Lake's image as a classic traditional park. And the result so far has been rather striking. How many modern theme parks are full of people picnicing out of their coolers and baskets in the grove (and when will Geauga Lake realize that their food service needs to be competitive with those baskets?)? How many modern theme parks have been around for more than a hundred years? In my opinion, Premier should not even consider folding Geauga Lake into Six Flags, as there is no way that it would fit. But with some careful planning and investment, Geauga would do well to cultivate itself as "An American Classic," with a Kennywood-like seamless blending of the ultra-modern with the classic. They should build the high-tech launched coaster, but they should also bring back the Rocket Ships. They should be seamlessly integrating the old and the new, perhaps seeking out old (or retro) flat rides. Geauga Lake should be considering a Rideworks Whip...a restored Tumble Bug...perhaps Whalom's old Fly-O-Plane...how about a Vekoma Air Jumper, or a Huss Bee-Bee; maybe get someone to build a Flying Coaster. You get the idea. Geauga isn't a modern theme park, and it certainly isn't Six Flags. It is a classic picnic park, and it works well that way. It needs some updates to get the capacity up; it simply can't handle the number of people who now visit. But if they are smart, they will be able to keep the attendance up without chasing people away.

The obligatory ride list--

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Footnote 1: Not quite exactly the word I had in mind, but this is a family newsgroup. [Return to text]

--DCAjr.

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