CLP Junction

Junction118 · Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:46 pm Post subject: Opening Day!

There are 2 article in today's Meadville Tribune concerning the park....

Conneaut Lake Park ready to roll
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/local_story_145222318.html

Park's midway spectacular
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/local_story_145223005.html

There are 4 rides not expected to be running this weekend...

The one part of the second article that really caught my attention was this...

rollocst · Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:44 pm Post subject: Re: Opening Day!

Junction118 · Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 10:57 pm Post subject:

That's the ride I was hoping it was when I first read that article, the different spelling made me wonder because some Himalaya type rides go by the name "Rock n Roll". A recent post in rec.roller-coaster confirms that the park is indeed getting a Chance Rok-n-Rol as well as a replacement Scrambler and that both should be at the park in about 2 weeks. The post also states that there is a good chance that the park will be buying the Whip from the now defunct Lesourdsville Lake/Americana.

It's been nothing but positives for the park so far and we're only 3 days into the season. After everything I've read in the past couple days I take back any questions I ever had about George managing the park long-term....

In the past park management has been satisfied with "business as usual". It's too early to tell if the park will really turn things around with George at the helm but he's definitely in this to win.

cappy · Member Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Western Pa

Wow! It is so nice hear about so much positive things going on at the Park after so many months of uncertaincy. Maybe all those who posted the negative comments on other forums will be singing a different tune now.

Well I must say that the management is on a roll! Taking back the Midway I think will be one of the best decisions ever made, the Midway is the heart of the Park, its decline really impacted the Park. It felt more like one of those midways from a cheezy carnival than the way it use to be.

As for the new rides! Again positive news! I think getting the train up and going will be a real moral boost. And getting a couple more and maybe even the Whip back, now that would be something!

A new possible lower midway again??? Your killing me with all of these posible thoughts. It broke my heart to see those building torn down. If it can be done I hope it happens. Rebuilding that section really opens up lots of possibilities for the future doesn't it? More games, more food, making it two stories would give the park space for offices like the old days. Could even put some meeting/conference rooms on the second floor. Definitely an interesting thought!

And now I hear that there is a movement to save the old bowling alley/fun house. We had talked about that a few months ago on here. I'd be more than happy to volunteer some time to help out on that project.

One last comment, I worked in the old Fascination game area years ago and it was a real money maker. Especially on hot days since we were the only air conditioned place on the Midway. I remember a few nights that we would be so crowded that the rides and majority of the Midway would be closed and we'd be running strong. So might be something for the Park to explore.

All positive things. Definitely shows the Park is headed in the right direction, let's face it the Park will never compete with the big boys, but it can carve out its own little niche. People are looking for alternatives, the crowds over the weekend prove that people will turn out if you give them a good product!

So good show George and all your crew! Keep it going!

jimmyt · Member Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 377

Cappy, why didn't you call ?!?!?!?! I see you cut your grass so I know you were here....call me, please.

Now to the park. I'm not sure where the 4000 people were Saturday. I was there almost all evening and you could have shot a cannon down the Midway and not hit anyone; even the car show was not well attended. They need to move the rides they are going to move and do it fast!!! They need to decide what they want the hotel dining room to be, upscale or more casual, family type dining. The new chef is very good, but the wait was terrible!! Over one hour between the salad and the entree. The prices are higher, but the food is worth it, but not the wait. Get more help and get it fast!!! The new employees do look and act better. The line for Camperland was huge on Friday night!!! And the new parking isn't too bad, yet many people park outside by our place and hop the fence. I can't believe what people do to save 2 bucks!!! Speaking of 2 bucks, the food prices are all wrong between whats posted on the menu boards and what rings up on the register. The Midway stand only had about 5 or 6 people waiting on Saturday night, but the staff couldn't handle it. They even had to ring the pop up on a different register?!?!!?! No sense in that. ...George is doing a great job, but I don't think they were ready to open.....Hey Cappy, remember when we had "preview" days ???? The park would open one if not tow Saturdays in May just to work the bugs out. Maybe something to consider for next year. Hope George reads this, and hope he takes this as constructive criticism. It's great they were open, but take it from one who was there....the crowds were no where near as big as they made it out to be, and alot were unhappy they had to pay full price for a ride pass and only half the rides were open.

jimmyt · Member Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 377

The ride purchaes are "tentative", based of course on finances. They need 4000.00 to buy the Whip and that's what they are going after first. They may have some financial backing for the other two, but since in the past they have "borrowed" money without seeking court approval, they have to be very careful what they do. They got scolded pretty bad last time by the judge and he will not be a happy camper if they do it again.

Junction118 · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 6:06 pm Post subject:

Here's the link to where I got most of my info about the new rides and other plans the park has...

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.roller-coaster/browse_thread/thread/1f7ed1f52855cac4/695c7016f893b2c1#695c7016f893b2c1

As always I try to not get too excited when reading about things the park plans on doing since there have been a lot of things that haven't worked out in the past. I remember a few years ago there was talk of rebuilding the old Wild Mouse. Back in the late 90's there was also rumors that the park was looking into moving or recreating the 2 old Idora coasters.

CLP till has a long way to go but it's nice to see George thinking big instead of being satisfied with maintaining what is already there.

I'm not surprised that the park wasn't totally ready for opening weekend. It's probably a near miracle that they had as much ready as they did considering that they almost didn't open at all.

jimmyt · Member Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 377

The nice thing about working fascination (other than the air conditioning) was no matter how busy the park was, only 40 people could play at a time (20 on each side)...remember cowbell nights??? Tuesdays, I think, and if you won on a diagonal line, you got to play for free, until someone else won diagonal. You got the cowbell placed on your glass top instead of money and we would ring it instead of collecting a dime....Imagine!!! a dime!!! you could play ten games for a buck...I didn't mean to sound so negative in the last post, but Cappy and I remember the "primetime" of the park. I can remember parking cars in the lot by whats now camperland, and by noon or one o'clock. we would have cars parked clear back to the woods!!!! I can remember the place never got rollin' until after 9:00 on a Friday, when all the "mup'er" came up from down south. Most Saturdays after school was out, we wouldn't close until midnite or 1:00 am....I cam remember running two trains on the Blue Streak for 12 hours straight!!!! So when people say the park was packed, I guess I long for the days when it truly was "packed"

Junction118 · Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 12:44 am Post subject:

Don't worry about sounding negative Jimmyt....it's hard to sound positive considering the state of the park over the past few years...and any information that anyone has about the park is vital...

I wish I had experienced CLP when it was in it's "primetime", but since Jimmyt is getting all old-timey on us here I'll share my connection with the park....I was a "Kennywood kid" and didn't discover Conneaut til the late 80's. I don't remember if I've told this story on these boards before but my first time at Conneaut happened because when I was a Boy Scout we would spend a week camping by my Scout leader's cabin near Linesville. So one day during that week we would spend a day at the park. Until then I had only heard of CLP from TV commercials. There was just something unique about CLP that grabbed my attention and never let go....the Blue Streak was my first "non-Kennywood" coaster....the way the Sea Dragon made it seem like you were gonna fly out over the lake....the intimidating spectacle of the Hell Hole's "demon" facade...the way you were scolded if you intentionally bumped someone on the Dodgems....there was just something different about CLP. From the time I got my first dial-up internet account in '93 I've been following the park's story. I didn't make it back to CLP until 2001 but it still seemed just as special to me then as it did over 10 years earlier. I decided in the winter of '04/'05 to start a website to help the park get more exposure. At the time the official park website just flat out sucked and it seemed like the end was near. I hope that this site has helped just a little bit....the official park site is SOOOO much better now thanks to Mr. Costello (GuapoDugh....YOU ROCK!!!)....the forums on this site have given a voice to those who support the park (CLP82, you've proved without a doubt that even people who don't get paid to work there can make a huge difference....Cappy & Jimmyt, it's great to hear from people who have worked there in the past and know what the park used to be like...and BigKirby, it's awesome that someone who aspires to be in amusement park management appreciates a historic place like CLP)...and I hope this site has spread the word to the rest of the world that CLP is a place that really has a significant place in the history of amusement parks....

It's been quite the roller-coaster ride over the past few years. Every year it seems like the park won't be back next summer.....but somehow things work out. Last year I hated to leave the park on Labor Day cause I didn't know if the park would be here again this summer.

I've yet to experience the "new" midway, but the absence of blow-up prizes means I won't have anything to complain about. For the past 2 summers there were blow-up prizes of old WCW wrestlers...and it's been a LONG time since WCW wrestling even existed. Is there anyone out there who knows what (if anything) replaced the "lucky quarter" game in the skeeball room? Without the "lucky quarter" game there should be a lot of open space in there.....and as jimmyt says it's the only air conditioned spot in the park!! (except for the gift shop)....The report from CLP82 that there were lines at the midway games even after the rides closed on saturday night means a LOT cause I never saw a line at ANY game at ANY time last summer...EVER...

The only time I've ever seen the park "packed" was on the Saturday during the Pumpkinfest last fall. You couldn't even walk through the midway without having to weave through walls of people. I don't remember the numbers that were estimated for attendance that day but it was impressive.....wall to wall people...

When you think about it...it's amazing that a place like Conneaut still exists...so many parks like it have closed over the past 20-30 years....Idora....Chippewa Lake...White Swan....Cascade.....Lesourdsville Lake....Whalom....Euclid Beach....

I think this summer will be the make-or-break year for Conneaut....if they can turn even the slightest profit this year it will prove to everyone that the park can survive.

I didn't expect the park to be able to bring in even ONE new ride this summer....and now there's the prospect that they could get THREE new rides....that's pretty much a dream come true for Conneaut. That could also explain why the park hasn't moved the Round-Up & Toboggan from the lakefront area. With 3 more rides there isn't really anywhere else to put them. If they pick up a Scrambler, Rok-n-Rol, and Whip they will have almost as many rides as they had in the good 'ol days Very Happy

CLP82 · Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 7:04 am Post subject:

Thank you!!!!!
Thank you not only for a fantastic post but also what it brought to our community. You have connected everyone on a personal level and even introducted us to new ideas. Thanks for the time and effort you have spent making sure we have a place to discuss, critique, and support Conneaut Lake Park. I don't know about anyone else but I have also used IM's to meet a few people on this site.

Further, we all started to connect by members who went in on the brick by brick campaign. So this brought me to my next idea for us to come together once again. How about we come up with a CLPJunction day at the park. We can pitch ideas here on the site and determine a day that we can maximize members to all meet at the park to ride, eat, play, whatever. We could possilby reserve a table in Elizabeths for lunch, or bring our own picnic style lunches. Any ideas!?!? I would prefer to wait until after the 4th so we can see how the park is coming along halfway through the season. Also many changes seem to be ready for after the holiday also.
_________________
Please be sure to check into volunteer weekend to help Conneaut in the fall or in the spring!!!

cappy · Member Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Western Pa

I could not agree more with what has been posted. I enjoy reading the posts on this site and hearing everyone's insights and comments. COWBELL nights! I forgot about those Jimmyt! I dreaded those really crowed nights at Facsination because it was all you could do to collect everyone's money before the game ended. Definitely fun times though! And alot of the same people would play week after week so you kind of became like family. Those were the days!

I remember my first ride on the Blue Streak. I hate roller coasters and I was suppose to meet Jimmyt and a couple of others and I was late. Very late I think! So as my punishment, they dragged me on to the Blue Streak and we sat in the very last seat. One thing they forgot to tell me was to use your feet to keep you in the seat. Well on a couple of those hills I thought I was going to fly right out of there and land in one of the trees.

Anything done to the Midway has to be an improvement. I am looking forward to checking it out myself. And I am sure there were lots of issues over the weekend, but I think it is amazing that they got everything up and running in the short time that they did. But like Jimmyt said, maybe next year if they don't have start up money issues, they should think about the old preview days where they would open up on a Sat or 2 in May to get the bugs out and to get people trained.

I hope they can pursue the new rides, and I know space might be tight, but I'd still like to get those ones off the midway. They seem so out of place. Hmmm ride space tight? maybe the Park will need to add property to its footprint in the ride area.

Hopefully it will be a good summer and the Park make some real money. I'd much rather talk about good posibilities on here rather than selling things off for survival. Maybe too if the Park has a good year and people continue to support it might awake interest in some investors to help with future capital improvments.

That's a pretty cool idea CLP82, CLPJunction day! Here is another thought, Maybe the Park could consider a CLP Reunion day next year in its schedule. Be fun to see old faces from years ago.

Junction118 · Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:23 am Post subject:

The CLP Junction day idea is something I actually considered last summer but I thought it would be better to wait & see how popular this site was first. We still have a rather small group here but seeing topics started in these forums by people other than myself has proved to me that creating this site was a good idea. So everyone who has ever posted here gets a big THANK YOU from me....and to everyone who appreciates what this site represents I'm happy that I've been able to provide a place for fans of CLP to gather...

As of right now I'm planning on being at CLP on June 10.....so if anyone here can be at the park on that Saturday I'd be happy to meet you there....after that I'm not sure what days I'll be able to make it up there so you're all free to decide on a day to meet up for a CLP Junction day. I'll try my best to get there that day but I don't know when I'll have to be working. I do agree with CLP82 though that it should be later in the summer to give the park a chance to get everything going. As far as food goes, I've always liked eating at the Beach Club.....they had GREAT wings there last summer.....

Cappy....I know what you mean about using your feet to stay in the seat on the Blue Streak.....I wasn't prepared my first time either.....it might have the most intense first couple hills on any wooden coaster I've ever been on.

Technically the park was open before the official opening weekend this year for "Reunion Ride Weekend" but they didn't have everything open so they didn't get a real preview weekend.

CLP has almost always had rides on the lawn....starting with the old Circle Swing ride in the early 1900's.....the Sky Wheel....the Sea Dragon & Paratrooper in the 1980's...the Toboggan today....I do agree that the Round-Up does seem kinda out of place where it is but I have no problem with the park having rides on the lawn by the lakefront. It brings more activity to that area. There used to be a walkway between Park Ave. and Comstock St. that went behind the Dodgem building. I'm not sure how much of that space is taken up by the waterpark now but maybe they could open that up again and put some of the new rides in that area.

jimmyt · Member Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 377

That walkway behind the Dodgem is exactly where the roundup used to sit. Anyone remember the Flying Swings? Thye sat there also. I'll never forgot the day I was running the roundup and a teenage boy puked while facing outside....made it the full 360 degrees and got old Lou that used to run the Dodgem....that was the day I learned the umbrella was for more than keeping out of the sun....

jimmyt · Member Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 377

Sorry, I meant Flying Cages.....too much pain medication, I guess..

cappy · Member Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Western Pa

Just thought I'd pass this along. I was up in Conneaut today, since the Park was closed I could not check too much out. But what I did see though is all of the train's old ties and rails have been removed and there are several big piles of gravel out in the picnic grove area where the Blue Streak makes the 180 turn at the main highway. As I drove past the area I could see the new gravel train bed coming out towards the road from back between the Blue Streak and the old Jungle Cruise. So work progresses on the train and looks like they will have everything prepped and a new train bed down and ready when the new ties and rails arrive.