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wildcatroc

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  1. Seabreeze Park opened for the 2019 season on May 18. This year the park will celebrate its 140th anniversary. Here are some photographs from the park's opening day. Bobsleds is freshly-painted, the cars were painted and refurbished, and sections of the track were replaced. The 1996 Seabreeze Carousel. A replica of a Wurlitzer 165 Military Band Organ, built by J. Verbeeck. The waffle and fried dough stand is being remodeled this season. Helix is having sections of the slide replaced. A new family water slide is being installed in Soak Zone. South end of the park. Jack Rabbit will celebrate its 99th birthday in June. Jack Rabbit's brake run was rebuilt this past winter. Sections of the ride were also retracked. The park is filled with beautiful flowering trees. They are my favorite part of the park in the springtime. These colorful lanterns adorned the park in the 1920s and could be found on the Dodgem, Virginia Reel, Penny Arcade and on food concessions. Today they illuminate the train depot.
  2. A good question. So far as I have been able to tell from my research on the Jack Rabbit, I believe the tunnel to have been added around 1928. There was no tunnel from 1920-1923 so far as I can tell based off of pictures showing damage from the 1923 fire. A 1928 newspaper reports that some of the dips were steepened and talks about the ride going deeper into the rabbit's burrow. I suspect that this is about the time when that final drop was tunneled, although the evidence I have is not definitive.
  3. Here are a few pictures of the Jack Rabbit in her wintertime slumber. Since the park closed in September, the second drop has been re-tracked, the brake run was rebuilt, and some track work was done in the tunnel. Jack Rabbit will be 99-years-old this year and, as always, running beautifully! Photos shared with park permission.
  4. The two new slides will be a nice upgrade to Soak Zone. The straight pink kiddie slide has been removed and is being replaced with a slide of the same height, but with a 360° twist. It will be tunneled. The second slide, a new addition to the sprayground, will be an open-air family-sized body slide. The colors of the slides will be dark green/light green and purple/white; they ought to look quite nice and be well received by park guests.
  5. My experience is that a Top Spin does not flip nearly as much when the load is lighter. If ridership is low, that may play a factor.
  6. If Alpine Bobsled is open, ride it when the line is short. The park otherwise does not have long queues. Blizzard is a fun indoor Scrambler ride; check it out. And don't discount the walk-through attractions. Alice in Wonderland is a nice break from the rides and a blast from the past. The walk through cave in Ghost Town is perhaps unexciting but fun. Take your time and explore the park, there are lots of things to check out beyond the rides.
  7. An evening at Seabreeze is perfect and that is plenty of time to ride to your hearts content.
  8. I like this mobile format a lot and it looks terrific with the new theme!
  9. A few pictures of the new Time Machine, a Super Miami ride by Technical Park of Italy. The theme was designed locally in Rochester, based on a concept developed by Seabreeze Park, with the work completed by park staff. There are a few small pieces to be added yet, but by large the ride appears to be complete and it seems to be a hit with park guests. Time Machine is located on a site adjacent to the front gate, next to the Tilt-A-Whirl, where a smoking area was previously located. The dial on the Time Machine is set to August 1879, the month and year during which the first trainload of visitors came to Seabreeze (then called Sea Breeze Park) on the newly constructed Rochester & Lake Ontario Railroad. A view of the Time Machine, under construction, from the southern side of the Tilt-A-Whirl, by the Jack Rabbit. All aboard the Time Machine. Destination: August 1879 A view from the parking lot. A new fence, gray and white in color, has been erected. The building behind the Time Machine, which houses the machinery, was designed to complement the existing buildings at the front gate.
  10. I have been working on a small research project to learn more about the Wild Cat roller coaster that was a centerpiece at Sea Breeze Park in Rochester, NY from 1926 - 1935. I have collected a number of photographs, a few articles, and have been in close contact with the park's archivist. My hope is to be able to tell the story of the Wild Cat so that it can be remembered. I am reaching out to see if anyone has any information related to the ride that they would be willing to share. Wild Cat was designed by Herbert P. Schmeck of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company and it looks to have been an interesting ride. It filled the giant ravine where the park's log ride now sits and I love the tunneled run through the ravine at the start of the ride. The pictures below gives an idea of what the ride looked like. Anyone want to go for a ride? Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge! Wild Cat's curved drop was right behind Jack Rabbit's station. Jack Rabbit is still a great ride to this day. Wild Cat Entrance A view from the north. I pasted a couple of pictures together to help get a general idea of what the ride looked like.
  11. The event was a lot of fun; I made the I made the 3 hour journey down from my home in New York along with three friends who hadn't ever visited the park before. We stopped at Waldameer from 5 - 9 and arrived at Conneaut Lake at around 10:15. There weren't many cars in the parking lot and so for a few moments we were worried that perhaps the event had been changed. We were relieved to see the rides lit nicely as we approached the front gate and some people wandering around; we quickly made our way over to get our wristbands. They were giving attendees and staff glow necklaces to wear and I thought that was a great touch. The Blue Streak train was also decorated on the front and back with glow necklaces outlining the features of the train--it looked neat flying through the woods that way! I had a few glow things back in the car and so I went out to get them after our first few rides. All of the adult rides were running and we rode almost all of them. We had a wonderful LONG bumper car ride, some awesome night rides on the Blue Streak, and some great fun on the Tumble Bug. I loved how the operator at the Flying Scooters asked each rider if they knew how to work the ride. I've ridden a lot of Flying Scooters in my life and she is the first person who has ever cared enough to ask. I thought it was really nice that she did that. Along the way we chatted with some guys who seemed to be 'official' and 'in-charge' and I thought that it was really nice that the folks who are running the show were out and about with the staff and guests. The staff was quite friendly and we enjoyed chatting with a bunch of them along the way. One lady was telling us about the work her husband has been doing on freshening up the props in the Devil's Den and there is no doubt that it looked quite nice! I especially liked the lighting effects on the facade; awesome touch! We stayed until 2:00 when the park closed and we had an absolutely awesome time. I truly hope that the park runs this event again because I would return without a second thought. Before leaving I picked up a few souvenirs: a Blue Streak cup, a Blue Streak hoodie, and an event t-shirt. Many thanks to the park and their staff for a really fun end to the summer season! We had the time of our lives; what a fun night at the park!
  12. This summer I traveled with my nephew for two weeks and we talked about how we wish that amusement parks were open late-night. I noticed that Conneaut Lake Park is having a "Park After Dark" event this weekend (Saturday 9/6/2015) from 10pm to 2am and so it's the perfect opportunity to get some late night coaster riding in on the Blue Streak. I'll be going down with some friends and am curious if anyone else from TPR is planning on being there. ------------------------------------------------------ From the park's website: First Annual Park After Dark Event September 5, 2015 Come ride the rides in the dark at Conneaut Lake Park! 10pm - 2 am $20 Wristbands Season Passes not valid during this event Limited quantity t-shirts available for purchase Concession stands open More Information: Call 814-382-5115
  13. You should have plenty of time to do both Fantasy Island and Seabreeze, just watch the time as was mentioned earlier. If your goal at Seabreeze is to simply do the rides you can do everything you want to do in 3 hours. If you want to spend some time strolling through the water park or reading some of the displays in the Carousel building or the historical signs throughout the park, then a little more time is appropriate. If you arrive at Seabreeze after 5pm there is a discount admission. With the park open until 10 there is plenty of time to do everything that you could possibly want to do, even if you arrived at 6 or so. The nights are lovely at Seabreeze and so you're definitely in for a treat. Have fun!
  14. Sounds like a fun trip! I've done the Conneaut/Waldameer adventure a copule of times now and it's quite feasible. I usually go down to Conneaut for opening and then head up to Waldameer as to arrive in time for the after 5:00 admission rates which still gives me plenty of time to do everything that I want to. Be sure to watch the clock as I've found that I always want just one more ride at Conneaut Lake on the Blue Streak or Tumble Bug and before you know it the hours have flown by! Waldameer is a wonderful park and is full of action. Be sure to pause for a few moments to check out their beautiful gardens and statues as you wander around the park. Be sure to go for a spin on the super-fast Musik Express ride; they really know how to run it well! Their log flume is also excellent! Seabreeze does a good job at handling their crowds and so even on a busy day the wait times are minimal, so have no fears about the crowds. Be sure to ride Jack Rabbit in a couple of different seats. The front is a lot of fun with a couple of spots of airtime while the back is a bit wilder. The view from the top of Whirlwind is beautiful if you're riding forward up the lift. Also, the Flying Scooters and Log Flume are rides not to be missed. The carousel is beautiful and I just love its story. Be sure to spend some time checking out the history display in the Carousel building. I haven't been to Martin's Fantasy Island or Sylvan Beach in a number of years and so I'll leave feedback about those parks to others who know them better than I do. Waldameer has the largest of the waterparks on your trip and looks to be a lot of fun. I visited once about ten years ago and much has changed since then, but I'm willing to bet that there is a good amount of stuff that is unique in there. Seabreeze has a fun little waterpark that was completely overhauled just a few seasons ago. They some fun slides (octopus racer, cannonbowl, two tube slides), a lazy river, a wave pool and a couple of splash areas. The lines generally move quickly so you can get a good number of rides relatively quickly. The exception to this is the bowl slide (Helix) whose line moves a bit slower. The Vortex (enclosed tube slide) is my favorite of the bunch and the racing slide is also always a blast. Even if you don't visit the waterpark, be sure to take a stroll through it. There are some great views to be had of the park from that area and you can get a view of Jack Rabbit's final helix from the grassy seating area behind the Wave Pool. Seabreeze has a neat flume. Be sure to ride twice: once in the front, once in the back. The drop is particularly steep and you'll get a very different experience in each of the seats. Single riders are allowed. You will get, at a minimum, very damp. I've had many fantastic rides on these Flying Scooters. They are located at a high point in the park and you can catch the breeze off of Lake Ontario on many days which makes for a great ride! They've been around for a good amount of time, definitely longer than Larson has been in the Flying Scooter business. Was Bisch the only other one who made these rides? If so, then it must be from them. Seabreeze doesn't have any restrictions of this type. There also are no single rider lines.
  15. They made a good choice for their first coaster and have an exciting plan. I love seeing entertainment centers enter the rides market. Congratulations to them!
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