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Waves of change; Geauga Lake hopes to make a splash with water park plan.

Publication: Crain's Cleveland Business
Publication Date: 18-APR-05 		Format: Online - approximately 1188 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access

Article Excerpt
Byline: JOHN BOOTH

Redecorate a room in two days? Kid stuff. Overhaul a house in a week? Yawn.

Re-invent an entire theme park in about nine months, the way they are at Geauga Lake?

Now that's an extreme makeover.

Deftly maneuvering a Ford Explorer over winding paths usually meant for sandaled feet and strollers, Bill Spehn looks over the acres of mud and razed buildings that once were home to aquatic life ranging from sea anemones to killer whales. Unassembled sections of water slides lie side-by-side like pieces of a gigantic toy.

Mr. Spehn, vice president and general manager of Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom, has seen Cedar Fair L.P. buy and refurbish five amusement parks and three water parks in his quarter-century with the company. This $24 million undertaking in Aurora, though, is something completely different.

"We've never put this much capital into a park so quickly after acquiring it,'' said Mr. Spehn, who began his career 26 years ago cleaning up trash at Cedar Point in Sandusky, where parent company Cedar Fair is headquartered.

Cedar...

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