N'at Man

Photo TR: Conneaut Lake Park 6/3/2006 This was a park visit I wasn't so sure was going to happen several weeks ago when Conneaut Lake Park was initially denied a loan. But once a loan came through the park was set to open for another season. Crowds poured into the park over the holiday weekend. Lucky for me and not so lucky for the park, it was a slower day this past Saturday. In general the lake area was quiet due to the cool temps and scattered rain. No surprise the park wasn't all that busy and with a decent number of rides down it was a better time for that to occur rather than the peak July and August periods. This year I bought a season pass at the early discount rate in order to help give the park some startup money. The pass clipped on to your shirt like an employee name badge so it made me feel like an employee in a way. Speaking of employees, they looked more organized with light blue polo shirts and tan pants/shorts. Parking at all lots was just $2. I didn't see a free lot and I didn't see staggered parking rates which I think is good. A flat $2 for everyone. I started the day off by riding the Blue Streak. Conditions were walk on to a one train wait most of the day but to start off we had a half train load. The cool ops gave us multiple rerides early in the day. It was like showing up and getting free ERT.The old school, traditonal atmosphere and attitude was a small reminder of why classic parks like this are so special. Sure they have their issues and people like to get down on parks like Conneaut and Camden, but the park world would be much less interesting without them. Back to my rides, I scored a bunch of back seat rides which is always a tough thing to get with the count 16 (short Vettel train) loading. I must say that I had airtime approaching what I used to get on the bigger NAD trains years ago. It was a nice surprise. There was some new wood on the track at the turnaround. Under and around the Blue Streak, work was underway on the rehabilitation of the Bessemer Railroad. Stones and ties are on site. Donations are still needed but work is underway. I had a chance to enjoy the new Kaylee Belle narrated lake cruise. For $6.50 you get an hour long cruise all around Conneaut Lake. It was very nice and it did a good business based on the limited crowd and hourly departures. The games midway was much cleaner and improved in quality this year. The park now runs the games. Gone are the cheap carny run games and outdated inflatable souvenirs. Also updgraded is the Log Cabin gift shop. Gone are every last piece of redneck and junk merchandise. That old stuff was funny but trashy. Now it is primarily new park merchandise with more items set to arrive soon. The carousel sounded much better this year and it looked good. Extra bumper cars were added and I think it was a wise choice as this ride is fairly popular. The ride still could use some work but at least it has some capacity now. The rehabbed Witch's Stew (Tempest) looks great but it wasn't operational. Strangely Devils Den was closed. The two lawn area rides, the Round Up and Toboggan, were not ready and they may be moving to the midway but I'm not sure yet. If you're looking to the future, I understand a replacement Scrambler, a Chance Rok-N-Roll and the whip from LeSourdsville Lake could be coming to CLP as soon as this summer. I ran into a park rep who recognized me (that's always odd). His crew was filming commercials that will be run in Pittsburgh (much needed IMHO). I asked about the Tumble Bug and he said he kept hearing it was close to being ready yet no work has been done on it recently. So I don't know when the Bug may operational again. In the front of the park the Tilt-A-Whirl, Paratrooper and Flying Scooters were open. I'm not sure if the Ferris Wheel was open or not. It wasn't listed as closed but nobody was on it when I passed by. The park is working to get things going and I am just glad it was open with signs of improvement. While first time visitors may not understand, improvements have already been made which have laid the foundation for future upgrades. Over time these changes will become more visable and appreciated. Until then it's still great to be able to enjoy this classic park. The Beach Club and Down Under bar on the beach. Not a bad place to search for mullets. Work has started on the Bessemer Railway. Here's the classic carousel. Witch's Stew looks good but it wasn't open on Saturday. Cruising Conneaut Lake on the Kaylee Belle. The new Kaylee Belle departs. Notice the Dippin Dots cart in front of the Dreamland Ballroom. For CLP, the new DD locations are an improvement. But you can still get old fashioned ice cream too. Even though Cleveland isn't too far away, only quality Steelers prizes are awarded. The midway has been cleaned up and repainted. New wood on the Blue Streak. The Blue Streak rolls into the station.

Thanks for the correction on the Rumblefest attendance. It makes more sense based on the length of the line. As for my top ten (15 actually), here it is but there are a few things I should probably tweak as far as moving up Raven and moving down GA Cyclone. GA Cyclone still does what I like but it has some nasty, rough track these days. My rankings are almost in a tier order, mostly when it gets to the more extreme airtime rides like Balder, PNE Coaster and GA Cyclone being grouped together. You won't see Thunderhead but its around 16 or 17. Legend just dropped out of my top 15. It's seems strange not to have Balder top 5 or Phoenix top 10 but there are many great coasters out there now. 1. Voyage 2. Shivering Timbers 3. Boulder Dash 4. Tremors 5. Hades 6. Balder 7. PNE Coaster 8. GA Cyclone 9. Rampage 10. Raven 11. Phoenix 12. Megafobia 13. Colossos 14. Timber Terror 15. Avalanche

Rather than write up a true TR I'm going to review the Voyage, Kentucky Rumbler and a few things in between from Holiwood Nights and Rumblefest. The Voyage at Holiday World I took my first ride around 5 PM on Friday in the back seat and while it was great, something wasn't quite right. It turned out to be a dud ride, the only one I had the entire weekend. My second ride, 15 minutes later in the front, was so much better I was shocked. I pretty much declared the ride my new #1 at that point, dethroning Shivering Timbers after 8 years. But I knew this ride wasn't nearly warmed up yet. During ERT I rode exclusively in the back seat with Mike Saunders except for our last rides of the night where we got a double ride in row 2. With every ride the coaster got better. It was amazing. But my first true night ride was beyond belief. By about the second hill light was scarce and by the turnaround you couldn't see anything. I said to some people, every successive ride taken on the Voyage will probably be the greatest roller coaster ride ever taken. I said it again later on Saturday night too. On Saturday we felt like the Voyage was running as well at 3 PM as it was at 8 PM on Friday. It was scary to think how crazy this ride was going to get. Around 9:30 PM we had a ride in the back seat that was flat out stupid crazy sick. That put the ride into another universe. I think we had rides that were a tad bit better later but not all were quite this impressive. So for a good 2.5 hours in the dark the Voyage seemed to max out. That's quite a long time for a coaster to run at it's absolute best like that. The crowds for the ERTs were odd the first night but more predictable the second. On Friday the line for Voyage was fairly short to begin with and it was near walk in the station for a while. I think it was the dinner rush as 15 minutes later the basement queue starting filling up incredibly fast as people wanted to get a few night rides in. Saturday was much more consistent with the crowds dropping after the first round of rides. The basement queue only filled up half way and by the end of the night it was on the stairs to start. I honestly didn't think having three trains on Saturday night would help much but it did. The event wasn't overcrowded as some had speculated and even if anyone happened to think that it was too crowded I'd still say it was a very small price to pay to get night rides like that on the Voyage. The Voyage goes from a clear cut #1 coaster at sunset to out of the stratosphere in the dark. Shivering Timbers, Boulder Dash, Georgia Cyclone, Thunderhead and Tremors. I heard them all fall from enthusiasts #1 spots after riding the Voyage at night. The amazing thing is that people who have varied tastes in coaster styles had no problems at all ranking the Voyage as their clear cut #1 coaster. It blew people away that much. Plus the Voyage has so many parts and sections that resemble other coasters that you're bound to get what you are looking for on this ride aside from very old school ejector airtime. But the speed and mind numbing intensity of this ride easily makes you forget about airtime like that. Still the ride has plenty of pop and float everywhere. Before I get into my detailed Voyage analysis, I will say that the Raven was running flawlessly. It's too bad I didn't have enough time to ride it more at night. Legend on the other hand was horribly slow. It didn't live up to it's own high standards. Back to the Voyage, the ride starts off with a first drop which is probably better than Hades but not Shivering Timbers (close rivals of that type of hill). The second hill is great but again, not like the second or third hill of Shivering Timbers or especially Colossos in Germany (possibly soon to be El Toro as well). The third Voyage hill has a kink in it like the Villain. Again, it's not ST but all of the hills do have adequate floater airtime. The fourth and fifth hills, featuring tunnels and a slight dogleg on the fourth hill, remind me a bit of Tremors but they aren't nearly as outstanding. Still they are very, very solid with airtime. In general I think the out run is the area that could take the most criticism but it really is very good overall and uniquely the Voyage. It's just that in sections I think Timbers and Tremors are better in the out run department. Even Boulder Dash in a few instances as well. But my criticisms mostly die at this point. Having a low turnaround area is pure genius. I never thought of such a thing. The block area, aka the "take a breath" point, actually serves as the high point usually found on turnarounds. To enter the turnaround you start an upward climb to the left, twist right and end up in a double down of sorts to a hard left turn. This may be the best moment of the ride. It's just that there are so many brilliant points of the ride it's hard to say. Either way it's shockingly good. This is followed by a few hops with directional changes before the first 90 degree turn. At night I think this is the one section where you can't predict what direction you will go even if you have the ride memorized. It gets you every time in the dark. From the first 90 degree turn you swoop into the second 90 degree turn. From there you hit a wild directional change and speed bump before a tunnel. After the tunnel you get a very short but much needed breather on the block brake area before diving into the triple down tunnel. It's not the Hades tunnel but it's amazing in its own right. It has a directional change in there somewhere and it ends with a nice plummet down a decent sized drop. It's not the big drop near the end of Rampage but it's good, especially in a tunnel. From here on I have zero criticism and I think the Voyage flat out owns any competing ride style for what it does next. It's the best of any breed in the return run of track. The intensity, action and speed are downright sick and demented. I think there are about four hills next, most with directional changes. The train hauls like a runway truck down a windy mountain road. People used to talk about the magic carpet ending of the Texas Giant but I can tell you this section eats the magic carpet for a light snack. Next there are two crazy speed bumps which lead to the third 90 degree turn. This is the only 90 degree turn that totally works for me. It's like a boomerang or sling shot that just tosses the train even faster around the bend. There is a thrilling, curving speed hill before you go up, twist and dive down into the queue house tunnel. At this point the ride kicks into overdrive. As soon as you thought it would start to slow down a little it takes off. The track goes up to a pop up and turn which at full speed is quite amazing. You careen under the walkway insanely fast into a final bump and curve up to the brakes. I can't even throw out a coaster name that even remotely reminds me of the finale section. It's very unique and it's as powerful as can be. You reach the brakes gasping for breath from the ride experience and the screaming you do while riding. Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park While the Kentucky Rumbler isn't a #1 coaster like the Voyage, it was hardly a let down during Rumblefest ERT. My first impression during the day was that this is a very fun ride overall and it didn't seem to have any weak spots. It wasn't extremely impressive anywhere but it had plenty of airtime pops in the front seat. At night the ride had picked up some steam. I tried the back seat and it was good but I could tell the front was the place to be. The back is better off the first drop but that's about it. At night the speed and intensity increased nicely. The station flyby hill and a wild curve-hop sequence at the end of the ride impressed me the most. For ERT we were treated to headlights on the train. It was a nice touch although I'm not sure how often this ride will run in the dark. I was afraid the 800 people in attendance would cause long waits but the waits for the one train operation were not bad at all. Some of the GCI folks were helping to check lap bars and that was fun for everyone. Overall this ride is much closer to the ground than Ozark Wildcat. It is more like Oz Cat than Thunderhead but I saw a little of both in this ride. I think Rumbler is a more consistent ride overall than either Oz Cat or Thunderhead. But Oz Cat has a better ending and Thunderhead is just a tier above both. But the Rumbler is definitely a fun ride, one that was great for an ERT session. I think the park has an appealing and thrilling coaster to offer their guests. It has already seemed to help make this park more of well rounded park than it was a few years ago.

I'd have to imagine that Phantom's Revenge would not be impacted by any potential Morgan wide shut down since it runs on Arrow chassis. Just a guess.

Cool to see the Haunted Mansion get some pub. I must admit that when I rode it I had some anticipointment because I heard it may be better than the one at Knoebels. I didn't end up agreeing although with the suspended cars the details of the Rehoboth ride are very good all around, especially the living room scene. I don't think it is was surprising as Knoebels but I remember it being a bit more well themed. Here is a nice photo filled article about the ride: http://www.laffinthedark.com/articles/funland/hm.htm

Great TR Captain. Yomiuriland looks amazing in the spring with all the trees in bloom.

Strangely we had a pretty good day at Fuji Q back in August (but I've also had good luck with my few visits to SFMM so go figure). The strange thing is that it rained for a while and I was sure Dodonpa would shut down but it didn't. It ran consistently all day. But we did got stuck in the hamster coaster line during rain which was a painful wait. They really should do something about continually adding lower capacity rides as it is a serious problem but we found the employees to be good and as efficient as the low capacity rides would allow. But I must say that this park seems inconsistent. To go in April and have virtually nothing running on a clear day certainly would have frustrated me. I guess you just have to prepare for the worst and hope you are lucky when going to Fuji Q.

Don't take the blame on that one as I needed that credit too. You're lucky the Bat wasn't too bad because we *would* have blamed you for that one. At least we had fun playing fake Yatzee on the PDA while waiting for that one.

TR: Paramount Canada's Wonderland 5/13/2006 Paramount Canada's Wonderland is a strange park for me. Saturday was my third visit to the park but my first in 13 years. The park was somewhat familiar yet very new to me at the same time. It's strange for me to not have visited a park within a 6 hour drive of home for so long but I kept waiting for the park to add a new coaster worth making the trip. Actually I'm still waiting but I decided to make the trip anyway along with Dave, Janna and Greg while meeting up with Derek, Nicole and Paul once at the park. We were not part of the ACE event but some of us did use the free Paramount ticket from Eastcoaster. My first visit to the park was in 1986 when Thunder Run debuted in the mountain and that was the only coaster type ride I was brave enough to ride. In 1993 I had just joined ACE and had a very limited track record but I managed to ride all seven coasters at the park. This trip I picked up five more credits. We actually rode every coaster in the park (aside from the restricted Taxi Jam) since Greg needed all of the credits. There aren't many days when I can say I rode 12 coasters at a park but Saturday was one of them. The park is very attractive and one of my favorites in North America as far as presentation. I love that it has brick pavers instead of blacktop for example. Wonder Mountain is an excellent centerpiece for the park. The park has a nice selection of flat rides and some newer coasters although they don't seem to get the signature coasters other major parks seem to get every five years or less. Vortex is the last high quality thrill coaster the park installed IMHO and that was 15 years ago. I suppose land is an issue as the park is bordered by a highway and sprawling housing complexes. You even have to drive around one complex just to get into the park. To beat the crowds in the morning we started with the Italian Job Stunt Track. The line wasn't very long as it looked like most people headed to Top Gun or Tomb Raider along the way first. But we did have a slight mechanical delay before getting on rather quickly. This coaster is the same as the one at PKI except many special effects weren't working. I think we were all caught off guard by the power of the helix after the launch. IJST is a fun coaster but it doesn't warrant waiting through a long, slow moving line in the middle of the day. Next up was Tomb Raider The Ride, a Zamperla Volare. We were not looking forward to this but I must admit it wasn't nearly as nasty as the Denver model. That's not to say it was any more thrilling or worthwhile but at least I wasn't beat up too badly. We skipped Top Gun for the time being since the line was already ridiculous. We headed over to the Bat because of its low capacity. It probably didn't matter too much because the line was already over 30 minutes. The ride was pretty tolerable for a Boomerang so we weren't too mad a Greg for needing to ride this. Next up we rode the Fly. It was a solid mouse with minimal braking. It's a great ride for the park in a nice location. Our next stop was the Krackenwagen bumper cars. I don't usually ride theme park bumper cars but these are probably some of the last Lusse bumper cars I haven't been on. Unfortunately they are newer models and they don't run very well. Half of the riders seemed unable to move during most of the ride. We worked our way over to Dragon Fire which has lost a 'y' in its name since I rode it last. The old Arrow coaster surprised me with the speed it took the inversions. The loops were powerful and the counterclockwise corkscrew was fast. The transitions still sucked but it was a fun ride. Our next ride also lost a letter, 'e', and that would be the Wild Beast. I don't remember being too impressed with this ride and I still don't like it very much. It has some speed but the track is crap. Plenty of bounce and shuffle. We stopped for lunch at the new Backlot Cafe. I was impressed with my personally cooked pasta dish. It's a nice place to have a meal. After lunch we rode the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. I remember this being a nice ride but they've removed and altered several hills since I rode it last. Now it's just a strange ride. It wasn't as bad as Wild Beast but it wasn't all that good either. Nearby is the Sky Rider. The capacity of this ride isn't bad for a Togo Stand-Up. This ride had a decent crew. I try to control myself with line jumpers because you usually can't win. But when six people push by it tends to irritate me. We actually got the upper hand on a group of line jumpers and it didn't hurt that the rules sign was nearby. We had some fun with it without getting into a nasty situation. When the place holder in the station confronted me I said, well, if I let them line jump that operator over there would have to eject your friends from the park and I wouldn't want that to happen to them. Actually I could care less but why not take the high road. Anyway, the ride was enjoyable. The ending bunny hills were my favorite element producing some nice floatage. This Togo is one of the better ones. Next we headed over to do some junior coasters. The Silver Streak was enjoyable with its old, wide OTSRs. The Ghoster Coaster has a great airtime moment off the second hill which really surprised me. We finally got around to riding the Vortex, an Arrow Suspended. I knew this was the best coaster in the park but it was running very hot. It slammed into the brake run causing everything to shake violently. It's a pretty coaster to begin with as it climbs the mountain and runs over a nice lawn and out over some water. But this ride is fast and intense. I rode Top Gun at PKI last year and the Vortex blows it away. Plus it is smoother than Top Gun. Overall this coaster may be better than the Big Bad Wolf. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to ride it again later in the day. We still had to get on Top Gun even though we were not looking forward to it. When we arrived the ride was down because they were looking for a lost article. I thought parks just waited until the end of the day to do this. The operators were very slowand it was probably slower with two trains than most SLCs are with one train. We had to wait a good hour and the line crawled. The ride was awful, one of the worst SLCs I've been on. To bad it wasn't a nice B&M Top Gun. We got a call from Derek and crew so we finally met up with them after riding the Psyclone which is Mondial pendulum style ride. It was fun but not as good as the giant Huss version. Nearby was an interesting Huss Jump 2 ride called Sledge Hammer but we simply didn't have time to ride it. I hear its not as wild as it looks but I still wish we would have had time to try it. Time was running short but we wanted to get on the powered Thunder Run coaster. It runs through the mountain and it is a fun ride with good speed and intensity. We had just enough time to get in line for Shockwave, a Mondial Top Scan. It's nice that Wonderland leaves the ride lines open until the park closes. I'm not sure I know what a good program is on one of these but it certainly had its insane moments. I left impressed. We had a nice, full day of riding each ride once at PCWo. Unfortunately as nice is the park is the coaster collection will probably not draw me back for a while. But for a rare visit it was well worth the trip up to Canada.

PTR: Kennywood Opening Day 5/7/2006 Let me get this straight. I can pay $15 to park my car at a Six Flags park or I can park for free at Kennywood and get a full day's admission at the discount price of $19.00 courtesy of Giant Eagle. Then inside they have good, reasonably priced food I actually want to buy and eat. Kennywood really is an amazing value. Even their full price admission is $3 less than Knoebels in peak season. It was a little cool on Saturday but it was dry. I was joined by friends Dave, Janna and eventually Greg for the day and we ran into a few familiar faces along the way. The crowd at the park was very unusual for Kennywood. The parking lot looked rather sparse but all of the major rides had long lines. Pretty much the park was filled with teenagers with school tickets. Not the typical school picnic as there weren't families at the park picnicking. All of the family rides like the Turnpike, Garfield's Nightmare and the Carousel were near walk ons while the Phantom had a huge line all day even with two trains. It was a very atypical crowd distribution at Kennywood. Still, we managed to ride most of the attractions we wanted and we felt fairly satisfied with our opening day visit. Swing Shot is the new S&S screamin' swing ride at the park. Maybe I should just call it Sling Shot like *everyone* else at the park. I think it is a great addition to the park. It is a thrilling ride with a comfortable motion and good capacity. Even if the queue is full it is not a long wait to get through the line (20 minutes or so). The cycle is just about the right length. I only was able to ride on one side but when at 110 degrees you can get a wild view of the Phantom flying by on the track below you. The ride physically fits into the park better than I expected. Now Kennywood has a "swing corner" as I called it with the Swing Shot and the Wave Swinger sitting next to each other. As I mentioned the Phantom's Revenge had a long line all day. It never runs two trains to start so the line built up right away on Saturday. They did add the second train before 2 PM (about as early as they'll do it) but the damage was done to the line for the rest of the day. The wait wasn't too bad in general with two trains (30 minutes) but it's one of those oddities of Kennywood. Another strange thing was that the big Phantom's Revenge sign was missing. New to the Phantom are some brakes by Velocity Magnetics. The brake run now has the Slide Matic. The last full hill once again has a brake one it (Dyna Brake I would guess) so it's not quite as untamed as last year although front seat rides are affected less than the back. In general the ride still packs a punch as always. Unfortunately something caused a train on the lift hill to be evacuated just after sundown and the ride was closed the rest of the day. By the time we got around to the Exterminator it had an hour long wait. Since the wait can be excruciating even when it's only 30 or 40 minutes we skipped it entirely. Pitt Fall had a longer line than I usually wait in but I had a good ride on it. Later we came back to Lost Kennywood to catch a ride on the Whip, something I typically do after riding the Exterminator. The Thunderbolt was running with first brake barely on which allowed for a powerful bowl section. The second brake was hard most of the day but on our second ride they were adjusting things and we flew through it nicely into the ravine section. Don't expect favorable braking on T-Bolt for long as it is only an early season phenomenon. The Jack Rabbit has a new train color, green. It's a bright green and it replace the white train. At first I didn't like it thinking that a pastel shade would have been better. But after a while I decided that it looked good on the white track. It seems like more people go for the front rows first anymore as we easily scored back seat rides the first two times we rode JR. I guess they just don't know about it. The Racer had a great deal of track work done. I'd say it was running very nicely indeed. Racer is my favorite woodie at the park and our night ride was excellent. We rode the Turtle two times and had a blast on it. On the second ride we rode like rage dolls and let the ride toss us all around. The Kangaroo was also fun. Over the last few years I haven't had many rides on it so it was nice to enjoy it again. For lunch we ate at the Parkside Cafe. Last year the menu was pretty weak and I didn't even eat there. This year they have a nice, varied menu. We opted for stuffed chicken which essentially replaces the turkey dinner of years past. Later we had tacos at Pedro's and had some evening fries at the Potato Patch. Unfortunately, once again, cheese-on-a-stick is gone from the Lucky stand. As far as other park changes or improvements, the Lil' Phantom now has the same color schemes as the Phantom's Revenge along with a real station. It looks great. The Garden Theater (with the Swing Around on top) is now gone and replaced by a lame looking high dive show. I hear the show is popular but the setup looks like a used car dealership meets the county fair. It was a slightly odd day at Kennywood but we rode most of the rides we wanted. Best of all it was just nice to be back at the park after a long off season. This has to be considered Pittsburghese Did the Jack Rabbit break a leg? Thunderbolt braking was pretty light Lil' Phantom looks a lot more like Phantom's Revenge now Here's the new high dive theater. I hear it's a good show but it's not an attractive area. The green JR train Janna, Borg and Glutenfree of BACT (but without the 'B' today). Here's my TPR style self portrait. There's got to be an event here today. Look at that gravy. Kenny Kangaroo, Kennywood's REAL mascot. Forget that other character who ruined the Old Mill. Swing Shot coming right at ya Swing Shot in operation Swing Shot is the new ride from S&S Power Is there an enthusiast event today? Ahh, it always good to get back to Kennywood

Conneaut Lake Park will open pending approval by judge Jane Smith 04/05/06 — By Jane Smith meadville tribune Only one hurdle remains for Conneaut Lake Park to open this year: For Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Vardaro to approve a $250,000 loan from First National Bank of Pennsylvania to the park. “We got the loan!” an excited LeRoy Stearns said Wednesday. Stearns, court-appointed overseer of the 114-year-old amusement park, said he will submit the paperwork for Vardaro to review and sign as soon as possible. The park needs the money to complete final preparations for its Memorial Day weekend opening. The park already has one loan with First National; that amount will now be raised to $500,000. “The $250,000 will be basically an extension of a loan the bank gave us before,” said Stearns. “We feel really good as a community bank to be able to provide this to Conneaut Lake Park,” said James Kirk, senior vice president of the Erie office of First National Bank. “There are a lot of jobs which would have been lost,” he added, referring to the 280 people expected to work at the park this season. The only requirement in the loan is that it and all other loans be paid back at the time the park completes a proposed sale of 3.3 acres of land at the park. Stearns got court approval recently to begin planning the sale of land around and including the former Flynn House site. With funds from the sale, Stearns plans to pay off the park’s $1.9 million debt as well as the new loan. But even as the park appeared to clear a major hurdle, a character from its past cast a shadow over the good news. Former park owner and operator Gary Harris filed a motion Wednesday asking the county’s Court of Common Pleas to give him more time to respond to the proposed sale. He said there are remaining issues that require consideration before any liquidation of property. In 1997, Harris turned over the park to a board of trustees to operate the facility in trust on behalf of the people of northwest Pennsylvania. He then engaged the park in a series of lawsuits, claiming a variety of land parcels and materials such as amusement rides weren’t included in the transfer of ownership. Over a period of years, various judges and courts threw out all of Harris’ claims. For that reason Stearns is confident Harris’ most recent legal maneuver will not have an impact on the park’s loan and effort to prepare for this season. Wednesday’s announcement of a loan deal marks a week-long saga over whether the park will open this year. Late last week, Stearns got court permission to plan the land sale and said he was confident that permission was all he would need to secure a loan. That deal collapsed on Monday, however, and that same day Stearns laid off all the park’s workers. At that time Stearns said that unless the park secured $250,000 by Friday, it might not open this year. The situation took a dramatic change Tuesday as Stearns called all the park’s workers back and announced a deal was nearly done. The park is under court oversight because the board of directors put in place after Harris’ ownership eventually dwindled to one as controversy over how to handle Harris split the members. In 2004, the court declared the park a charitable trust. http://www.meadvilletribune.com/features/local_story_123223900.html

With all of the changes I think everyone knew this was a do or die year. That's why they are on the brink of success or failure right now. One ruling the wrong way and they could be finished. But I think the loan was the last big question mark as I can't see why the judge would not approve it. The great thing is that the property sale will pay off most of the debt and they can start making a profit. I've been very impressed with the new park GM and more recently the court appointed guardian. Talk is cheap and now we are seeing some action.

Park expected to get funds it needs to open By Jane Smith 05/03/06 — The on-again, off-again opening of Conneaut Lake Park appears to be on again. Twenty-eight hours after park officials laid off 30 employees Monday and announced the park would close unless $250,000 was received by Friday, the news had changed. The park is expected to come to terms today with a new lender willing to provide the money it needs to open for the season. A similar arrangement collapsed Monday, leading officials to lay off the employees and set a Friday deadline for a final decision on the opening. “It looks very promising to the point we have recalled all our employees back to work and will continue preparations for opening,” court-appointed park overseer LeRoy Stearns said Tuesday. Stearns said he will seek an expedited court hearing to ask Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Vardaro for approval of the loan terms. Since the amusement park was declared a charitable trust, the court has to approve all loans. Stearns asked the court last week to approve the concept of selling 3.3 acres of land at the park to generate enough money to pay off the park’s $1.9 million debt and give it the $250,000 it needs to open. He said plans for the sale will proceed. The only contingency for the loan is that it and all other outstanding loans be repaid with the sale of the property. Stearns said all events scheduled at the park will go as planned, except for this weekend’s volunteer cleanup event. Since two days of work were lost (Monday and Tuesday), some other preparation work must be done before volunteers can be called to work. Stearns expects the cleanup will be rescheduled before Memorial Day weekend — the park’s traditional opening. “It’s great for us as long as we can get in there and get stuff operating. It will be great,” said park maintenance worker Jerry Smith. “We are playing our rollercoaster.” The past week has been quite a rollercoaster for the park. Last week it won approval from Vardaro to begin planning the land sale park officials believed would secure a $250,000 loan to open. Everyone went into the weekend believing everything was OK. Then came Monday’s dramatic setback as the loan deal dissolved and Tuesday’s reversal as new loan deal emerged. Now everyone is holding their breath and waiting for the judge’s approval. The 114-year-old amusement park has been closed for only one season, in 1995 after a local group that owned the park declared bankruptcy. The next year Gary Harris purchased the park and reopened it, operating it for the 1996 and 1997 season before turning it over to the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park in trust for the people of northwestern Pennsylvania. The park fell under court management when its original board dwindled to one member. Membership fell when one board member sued the rest over an agreement they made with Harris. Since that time, however, the park has been declared a charitable trust. http://www.meadvilletribune.com/homepage/local_story_122224523.html

Yes, workers have been called back. The details aren't known right now but they should be in the news on Wednesday. Talk about a roller coaster ride! I've edited the "secondary" subject noting this updated news.

Despite a favorable ruling on Friday allowing the park to sell land which would easily cover the amount of the bank loan, a loan was not approved. I must say I was not expecting this and now the situation has suddenly become very serious. Here are the news articles. Conneaut Lake Park might not open CONNEAUT LAKE PARK — Conneaut Lake Park will not open this year unless somebody comes forward by Friday with $250,000 to loan to the park. An expected bank loan fell through and the park has no money. “The park is closed right now,” court-appointed overseer LeRoy Stearns said Monday afternoon.. All 30 employees were laid off Monday except for general manager George Deshner, according to court-appointed overseer LeRoy Stearns. “We are waiting until Friday to see if anything breaks on the loan or somebody comes forward to make a loan,” Stearns said. If that doesn’t happen, the park doesn’t have the money to open for the 2006 season. http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/local_story_121143411.html?keyword=topstory Conneaut Lake Park lays off employess, future in doubt By John Bartlett @ timesnews.com CONNEAUT LAKE -- Conneaut Lake Park today laid off all of its employess and all work on preparing the park for the 2006 season ceased. Court appointed custodian LeRoy Stearns said a hoped-for $250,000 loan was not approved and the park does not have the money to open this year. He said a final decision on the park's opening would be made by May 12. It could come sooner. The park must have more than $10,000 by Friday to pay its Workers Compensation premium. "If we don't have the money by Friday, our workmen's compensation is canceled and that will (mean) the shutting down of the park," Stearns said. The park will operate Hotel Conneaut for scheduled high school proms and the Conneaut Lake Cuisine event today, but otherwise it will be closed until further notice. The park has stopped selling season passes and it will no longer take reservations for picnics or schedule other events. Friday, Stearns received approval from Crawford County Judge Anthony Vardaro to market a 3.3-acre parcel, to obtain money to pay down the park's $1.9 million debt and secure a loan to open. The judge would have to give formal approval to any deal. However, the lending institution decided today it could not risk lending the money until a sale was guaranteed, Stearns said. As a result, Stearns said he is unsure of the park's future. "I'm very concerned the park is not going to open," he said http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060501/NEWS02/60501013

This place has some Nara Dreamland elements, like the monorail, but Nara isn't nearly that bad. It also reminds me of the defunct Family Funways in Minnesota, which actually had scarier looking rides but luckily didn't have the war torn Baghdad look going for it. I wish I could find some pics of Family Funways because several years ago it was the park people couldn't believe was for real until they saw the video.

Tonnere de Zeus was my all time biggest letdown. It was awful when I rode it. I was expecting top 5 and it ended up on the bottom half of my rankings. To be fair, I do understand that it has the potential and I'd like to get back on it someday. Millennium Force was a slight letdown but I think I knew it wouldn't be like Superman. I also rank Thunderhead around 15 but I was surprised by it since GCI had yet to really prove itself to me. But I agree that it lacks in the airtime department. As for the Coney Cyclone, I was a bit underwhelmed when I first rode it but I thought it was great last year. It's an aggressive, classic ride.

That was my "I can't believe Derek is taking a picture of me at the urinal" look. Also, I was a bit enthused that I was going to finally ride Georgia's Vu without waiting very long. After the ride it was thumbs down!

With these "plug and plays" they are much easier to predict than a Gravity Group or GCI coaster. I hope they made some changes but what I see looks exactly the same as Colossos, off the shelf elements at the beginning of the ride. It's interesting how I shouldn't be a little skeptical but it's fine to assume that the "GP is gonna love it". Likely everyone will enjoy it including me. I am excited about it but I'm not expecting a top 10 ride. I find it interesting to talk about the details and potential of rides, especially before the season hits full stride.

While El Toro is looking quite amazing, I can tell you from my rides on Colossos that in some ways it is probably looking better than it will perform. The beginning of El Toro is essentially the same sequence as Colossos. The first drop doesn't have the profile to do much as far as airtime goes. The second and third hill is really where the stellar action will be. On Colossos those hills exceed the airtime power of Shivering Timbers (although the restraints are more limiting). The turnaround and the following hills don't do much of anything. I think the X factor is the curvy ending which doesn't appear to be built yet. Colossos has three solid bunny hills at the end. El Toro won't have that. I think El Toro will be a very good ride but I'm not getting my hopes up for a top ten ride.

Toshimaen - At the front gate you have to pay for admission and you can also buy your free pass. We bought the waterpark pass by mistake (waterpark only and rides only both cost the same) as the attendant thought we pointed to the blue logo pass instead of the green logo pass. You can also buy a free pass inside the park. This may be a good option if you see it is raining and you want to wait to see if most rides are open. I believe the ECC trip hit rain and only the carousel was open. If only a few rides are open you can probably just buy tickets. Joypolis - As Elissa mentioned, they have an entrance fee. If you only want the credit or just a few attractions, pay per ride is probably the way to go. This place is pretty easy to figure out and they readily speak English. Sea Paradise - I think you can walk right into this park for free. You can buy tickets or a free pass. We had trouble locating the free pass center but it is in the middle of the park. We bought passes in a machine but needed to exchange them for wristbands. We found that a free pass was worth it. One ride on the Sea Coaster alone is 10,000 yen ($10 USD). Yokohama Cosmoworld - This park is also free admission. We found that buying tickets from machines was cheaper but we only picked up the credits. I think they had a pass and it may be worth it if you also do the Ferris wheel and the cool looking flume (I regret passing on that one).

Yes. Kennywood is tied with Knoebels and Blackpool as my favorite park. Luckily KW also has my #3 steel coaster with Phantom's Revenge.

After two weeks I received my e-mail confirmation from the park. I have to send them my credit card info but at least now I have a confirmation number and I know they set aside the correct room type.

I spotted a photo in the Meadville Tribune the other day showing a new boat named the Kaylee Belle that will cruise Conneaut Lake. Here are some details from the CLP Junction website. "A century long Conneaut Lake tradition will be given new life this summer. Conneaut Lake Park has negotiated a contract that allows the 43 foot paddlewheel boat to dock at the Hotel Conneaut and the park will recieve a percentage of the ticket sales. The most recent sightseeing boat to cruise the lake was the Barbara J which was retired in 2001. The new boat was purchased from the Ottawa Riverboat Co. in Ottawa, IL by Fisher 1 L.L.C. and will arrive at Conneaut Lake by the end of next week. The boat will be available for daytime tour cruises and private parties, and it can hold 49 passengers."

You are correct about the wheels. The launch is the best part of the ride by far and it runs smooth on the track after an abrupt launch up and over the top of the tower. After that the ride is a joke. It shuffles around the curves and it slams into the brakes. As an overall coaster operation it is pretty pathetic but the experience of the launch is world class. Dodonpa on the other hand is a great overall ride that also has a more natural launch, meaning that it doesn't go a minimal distance before climbing a tower but rather has a long straightaway launch.