CEDAR FAIR ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTION FOR GEAUGA LAKE

SANDUSKY, OHIO, September 21, 2007 – Cedar Fair Entertainment Company announced today that Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora, Ohio, will become exclusively a water park attraction beginning with the 2008 season.

“After four years of operating Geauga Lake as a combined water park/amusement park attraction, we have concluded that its future should be entirely as a water park,” said Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. “Visiting Geauga Lake is a 119-year-old tradition in northeastern Ohio. That tradition will continue, but in a new and exciting way.”

“Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom has been recognized as one of the finest water parks in the country,” Kinzel said. “Over the past three seasons, we have invested approximately $25 million to create and develop the premiere water park in northeastern Ohio. Since its opening in 2005, Wildwater Kingdom has been the park’s highest rated attribute.”

Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom attractions will include Tidal Wave Bay, a 30,000 square-foot wave pool featuring seven different types of wave patterns; Liquid Lightning, a 60-foot-tall tornado slide; Thunder Falls, Ohio’s tallest water slide complex; an activity pool; an action river; and a multi-story play structure. The park will also provide a catering facility and picnic pavilions for group outings and poolside cabanas will be made available for daily rental.

Water parks are very important to Cedar Fair. In addition to parks where the water park is incorporated into the amusement park, the company owns and operates five separately gated water parks: three in California, one in Ohio (Soak City at Cedar Point) and one in Missouri.

Kinzel added, “Water parks traditionally draw from a closer geographic market than amusement parks, and we believe Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom will continue to be successful in drawing visitors from the greater Cleveland, Youngstown and Akron-Canton areas.”

Geauga Lake’s 2008 operating schedule, admission pricing, group programs and other operating details will be announced at a later date. However, the water park season is traditionally Memorial Day to Labor Day.

As part of the changeover to exclusively water park attractions, a number of the rides at Geauga Lake will be introduced at other Cedar Fair parks.

The property not necessary for the operation of the water park is being reviewed for other uses and development.

Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FUN.” In addition to Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom, Cedar Fair owns and operates 11 amusement parks, five other water parks, one indoor water park resort, and six hotels. Cedar Fair also owns and operates Star Trek: The Experience, an interactive adventure located in Las Vegas, and operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, Calif. under a management contract.

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NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm certainly glad I went this year!

Same, even though I didnt get to ride X-Flight, Steel Venom, Big Dipper (was closed cause of rain), or Raging Wolf Bobs. Well Im happy that I made it out for its last year.

I am glad I went the Last weekend. I will miss GL.

But I can see this helping CLP if they reopen next summer.

I can't say one word. No way. Unbelievable. I didn't expect as this bad news really occurred. I've started to guess there's almost no way to save Geauga Lake. Goodbye all the biggie coasters.

I said it when it was sold this will be the death of GL. My prediction was that all or part of the land would be sold to a developer and the rides would be sent out to other parks in the chain.

So where do you think the rides are going?

Here are my guesses.

Batman (or whatever they're calling it) - Carrowinds
Thunderhawk - Michigan's Adventure
Villian - Worlds Of Fun
The Boomerang - Valleyfair
Double Loop - Scrapped or sold to some other park
Beaverland Mine Ride - Who knows
Big Dipper - Sold to Knoebels or scrapped
Classic Illions Carousel - auctioned off piece by piece
Raging Wolf Bobs - Scrapped (I'm not broken up by this)


Have Fun

Paul

They...

They can't remove the Big Dipper. They simply can't Taer It Down. Cedar Fair knows better than to do that. Raging Wolf Bobs is one thing (how ironic to go out SBNO), the Villain, well, it was nice, the Double Loop is a piece right out of amusement park history and it could make some smaller park very happy, but...

YOU DO NOT SCRAP THE BIG DIPPER.

I simply can't see how Cedar Fair could even think of doing that. Surely there's relocation plans in place. They're giving a crappy SLC to another park, why can't they give a unique and fun wooden coaster to a park lacking in that department?

(Oh, wait, this is Cedar Fair; they're really not quite sure what to do with those rides made out of wood that people seem to like so much.)

This is horrible news all around. Geauga Lake was a very pretty amusement park, Six Flags forced it to become too big for its britches, then CF stepped in and just pulled the plug. Oh, this is a damn shame.

I wish I would have visited before SF took charge. My visit in 2006 left me very unimpressed with the park. I'm glad I was able to score all the credits, but won't miss any of the rides except the Dipper.

I am gonna miss going to Geauga Lake and ridind Dominator, Big Dipper, and Villain which is my favorite woodie.In a newspaper article this morning I read in The Morning Journal it said thay want to relocate Villain, Dominator, Thunderhawk, Big Dipper, and Raging Wolf Bobs to other parks but they aren't totally sure.I sure hope Big Dipper is saved as it is an important piece of history to the park.So many parks have closed in the last couple years.I wish they could have turned the park around like it used to be.

All I want for Dominator is that it won't get scrapped and will be moved to other parks such as Six Flags or Cedar Fair. It was the very coaster that had got me into the coaster riding as I was 14, plus was the biggest looper I had ever seen on a computer at my school. I just miss that credit a lot.....

I'd bet the other rides were looking great as well. Oh I forgot to mention something, Geauga Lake theme park website was totally gone and all the description of each attractions was demolished.....what I saw on the top of that page was a thank you message for all valued guests.

Here is a link with my last trip to GL on coaster-net with photos.

http://coaster-net.com/forums/?showtopic=7636[/url]

I was so glad you could have last memories at Geauga Lake. That was the moment as the park was operating as 'a theme park with 110th year long operation' as well. =)

I have some severely mixed emotions about Geauga Lake closing for good. I grew up in Northeast Ohio so we went to Geauga Lake at least once a year. My Dad's company picnic was usually there so that worked out well. I never really appreciated Geauga Lake back then. Yeah, there were some fun rides and we always had a good time but it was not a special place to go. Cedar Point was the park I always looked forward to each summer.

We went CoasterCon at Geagua Lake back in 2004 and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the park was. It had a lot of potential. We went back in 2005 to check out the new waterpark and had a blast! The Sea World side of the park was always the more attractive side and it showed. I'm glad to see that part of the park survive. Sea World was one of my favorite places to go when I was a kid. It was always spotless and a fun place to spend a day.

So, what does the closing of Geauga Lake mean to me? I honestly don't know. I'd love to see the Big Dipper and the old airplane ride saved but besides that, I think I'd be OK with everything else sinking into the lake. I have a lot of fond memories of the park but I haven't been a big fan of it in years.

I'm still just shocked that the day has finally come. I applaud Cedar Fair for putting out an official press release so soon. It's better than having everyone wonder over the off-season.

I think that Waldameer is going to have a huge season next year as a result of this closing. Add in the new coaster and they should be ready see record crowds. I'd be surprised to not see double-digit growth there in 2008.