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By Michael Dery, webmaster Geauga Lake is having an identity crisis and it's showing at the gate. Okay, that may sound a bit too harsh of words but how else can you describe the rough road Cedar Fair has experienced since acquiring the property last year? In recent newspaper articles it has been pointed out that attendance at the park has not lived up to Cedar Fair's expectations. I know they can't be too happy with the results so far but as quoted by park general manager Bill Spehn in a recent article in Crains Cleveland Business " We're not going to push the panic button". This is reassuring news. Unlike Six Flags, who poured a ton of money into the property in the four years after the conversion into a full-fledged Six Flags park only to dump it shortly thereafter, it seems Cedar Fair is in it for the long haul. But what has contributed to this slow turnaround for the park in Aurora? Several factors have had a direct impact on increasing the numbers this year. THE ISSUES First, Cedar Fair president and CEO Dick Kinzel has admitted in the Crains article that he "misjudged the impact of Cedar Fair's decision to get rid of the marine animals and wildlife exhibits" as well as stating that he "didn't really visualize how much of a draw the animals were." This particular issue has continued to be the thorn in what really is a rosy outlook for the park. I will agree that the animals made the property a unique attraction but I must ask - were they really THAT popular? While this could be the topic of an entirely new article, all I will say is that Busch's sellout of Sea World to Six Flags in 2001 should be a good indication that the marine park was not doing well. I still stand behind Cedar Fair's decision to not incorporate the animals as part of the "new" Geauga Lake. It's not their forte to run such an attraction. Second, the mismanagement of Six Flags hurt the public's perception of the park. With any business if you can't deliver good customer service, your guests will not return and they did not return to Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in droves. Six Flags continually reported attendance losses since 2001 and even though they made great strides in 2003, the damage had already been done.
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