What I've missed at Geauga Lake the past few years has been some of the flat rides they removed when it was renamed Six Flags Ohio, namely The Rotor and that Rocketship type swing, the latter of which was one of, if not the last one operating in the country from what I read somewhere. I remember riding one those when I was just a kid at Idora Park in the late '70s and early '80s and so it was very nostalgic.
Idora had theirs over a little food stand and I thought I read somewhere that when they initially pulled it, they were thinking of relocating it and putting a restaurant or food-stand underneath it to mount it on. That's a good idea. If Geauga Lake still has it (I heard in year's past it was on a backlot or something), I hope they'll reconsider that idea and restore such a classic flat ride. I'm not sure who still has a Rotor operating Kings Dominion used to have a really cool one in a cave-like setting with overhead lights and played rock music (I remember Tears For Fears' "Shout" playing the last time I rode it), but the last time I was there (3 years ago), I didn't see it so maybe they removed theirs also. I've always got a kick out of that ride and Cedar Point hasn't had one in ages. It doesn't take up much space, so you think they could find room for it on the Animal side or something now.
When I used to go to Geauga Lake in year's past (before the giant expansion by Premier), the flat rides that CP didn't have were the things I enjoyed most along with the Big Dipper and water park. When they removed those, it was just one more step towards, "I might as well go to Cedar Point instead if they're going to turn Geauga Lake into a lesser version of CP." What made Geauga Lake special to me in the past was that it was DIFFERENT from CP. Its water park was included (and I still think the loss of "The Wave" didn't help as it was kind of unique compared to the "constant wave" pools most water parks have these days). Geauga Lake also had some classic flat rides. It cost a lot less and was a lot closer to me (1 hour instead of 2.5 hours). By removing flat rides and jacking up prices to CP levels, Six Flags then only had one major factor that still kept me coming back and that was they bought Sea World and so it was a fantastic deal with a season pass to be able to see animal shows and ride rides in the same day.
I'm not sure what the deal was last year (other than constant rain which definitely ruine a lot of potential trips for me), but I tend to wonder if some of the crowds that used to frequent Geauga Lake in the old days stopped going when they raised the prices up to near CP levels. I know I tended to think, if I'm going to put out around $40 (before any discounts), I'm going to the park with the big coasters (and I tend to prefer "Out & Back" air-type coasters anyway, which CP has several of and Geauga Lake really doesn't have any, save maybe Big Dipper and even then not quite. I haven't gone this year so far because with the loss of the animals and still fairly high ticket prices, I'm still more inclined to just drive the extra hour and ride my favorite coasters at CP instead.
I may go at Oktoberfest, though. I always enjoyed that in years past at Geauga Lake. Unfortunately, that doesn't conincide with the other thing I like about Geauga Lake and that's the included water park. I liked those new 2-person raft slides last year. But i haven't personally been there when the old body slides were running (Were they ever running the past few years? They got a new coat of paint when it switched to Six Flags, but they were never running when I was there which was kind of bad from a nostalgic standpoint also, as I was there as a kid the first season they had them, etc. They really aren't situated as well to the new slides (as they were designed to go with the old "Wave" centralized location), but do empty right at the kiddie area (which was under repair last year when I was there, so that might have bee why they were closed).