Canobie Coaster

And it very well could be one most nights given how unreliable Infinity Falls seems to be.

I will have to take advantage of the 10 pm closings next year. I waited assuming they'd have late hours for Halloween, which isn't happening this year.

The Haunted Graveyard is no longer working with Lake Compounce. They are now partnering with Quassy just down the road. This is a major win for Quassy and their first scary Halloween event. Meanwhile, Lake Compounce announced Happy Hauntings as a replacement. This will be a daytime only Halloween event. The event is catered more towards families. Lake Compounce losing (what I think is) the best haunted walkthrough to their rival is bad enough, but it also stinks the park will be closing before nightfall most days in the fall now. That used to be the best time of the year to get Boulder Dash night rides since the park is rarely open late enough.

If you've been following along the Lake Compounce thread, the park is no longer working with Haunted Graveyard. It's not going far apparently as Quassy is now teaming up with Haunted Graveyard to make Terror at Quassy! Link

Earlier this summer, I took a day trip to Maine to hit all the parks that I had to skip in 2020 due to covid. I had a goal of visiting Aquaboggan, Funtown, and Palace Playland in the same day since they're all within 15 minutes of each other. However, I made one critical error. I visited on a Monday. As I would later find out, this is the busiest day of the week for Aquaboggan and Funtown. Aquaboggan does a half off promotion on Monday, so that made sense. However, I was confused why Funtown was so busy. The line for Excalibur stretched back to the Camelot bridge and the park had to close the line for it early. In my past visits, I've never had to wait more than 1-2 trains for Excalibur. And many of those visits took place on summer Saturdays. Aquaboggan This is a fairly small water park, but the rules are far more lax than corporate parks. The park allows you to ride backwards down most slides if you so choose, which is one of the reasons their halfpipe slide (Stealth) is one of my favorite slides out there. Those halfpipe slides are downright freaky when you go down that steep drop backwards. The park's other slides are located on a hill. For 2021, the park added a new addition in Yankee Ripper. For this slide, you lug this heavy sled atop the hill, travel down this relatively steep drop, and then skim across the water. If you don't keep your balance, you will comically wipeout in the water at the end. If I didn't get to Aquaboggan at opening, I would have had difficulty riding everything in a short period. But because I got to the park a half hour before opening, I was able to ride all the major slides in about 90 minutes. Funtown U.S.A. Excalibur received a lot of trackwork this past off-season and I'm happy to say the ride is running better than it has since the early 2000s. In 2019, the turn under the lift hill was brutal. Now, it's very smooth and the ride carries more speed through the rest of the layout. Excalibur is a great coaster when it's running like this. The ride has an excellent setting in the woods, some strong airtime in the first half, and powerful laterals in the second half. I spent most of my time waiting for Excalibur, but I also took rides on the park's best non-coasters. Astrosphere was a spectacle as always. Dragon's Descent is still one of the most forceful S&S drop towers. Thunder Falls is a great log flume, but you have to watch out for the geysers at the end. And then the kiddie swing ride still has Donald Duck on top pumping gas. The one weird thing with this park is that it's impossible to get free water unless you're pregnant or a veteran. That was especially annoying with the water fountains turned off. In the past, water cups cost 25 cents but now they charge as much as a soft drink. Palace Playland But at least Funtown doesn't charge to use the bathroom like Palace Playland. My visit to Old Orchard Beach was more about getting the food on the boardwalk. The Shack makes amazing lobster rolls and Pier French Fries makes (you guessed it) amazing fries. I did intend to take a few laps on Sea Viper, but the park's signature coaster was closed. The park's kiddie coaster was also in pieces. I'm unsure if that ride ran at all in 2021 and I wonder the ride is on the way out now that they have the SBF Visa spinner for kids. I did ride Power Surge, which is still one of my favorite flats in New England. The base no longer spins on this one, but it runs a pretty long cycle and offers a disorienting experience with plenty of flipping.

Because it's La Ronde, Dragon isn't eligible for the Flash Pass or skip the line passes.

That makes sense to open this one before Iron Gwazi steals some of its thunder.

As far as I'm aware the Corkscrew hasn't operated at all in 2021. Recently, the ride was removed entirely from the website and park map. The park has taken closed rides off the website before, but this is the first time I've seen them remove a closed ride from the map entirely. Given Corkscrew's location next to the small and highly popular Castaway Island water park, I suspect the park is getting ready to expand their water park onto Corkscrew's plot.

The front row is amazing, but the back car is my favorite spot on Expedition GeForce. I can't deny myself the insanity of that first drop.

Charles Lindbergh was fantastic. The room was small, but the Quick Passes for FLY, ability to walk around Rookburgh after hours, and food were excellent perks with the base rate. Plus they let you in Rookburgh before everyone else in the morning, I was able to get 2 rides each morning on FLY without waiting more than 5 minutes.

Bummer coaster is down, but fingers crossed they can keep it running as well as they have.

Before going to a new park, I make a list on my phone of any ride I'd like to experience. I then figure out where they are in the park and figure out a plan for opening. Typically, I go for the signature rides first in the event weather or maintenance becomes an issue. If there's a super low capacity ride on the way and I can walk onto it, I'll knock that out on the way.

Last week Europa extended their close to 7 pm several days.

I thought Great White was running well a few weeks ago. I wouldn't mind Millennium Flyers or Timberliners though since I prefer those trains.

In trip reports I've seen in the past, those coasters are all usually open as long as the temperature isn't too low (not sure what they use as a cutoff).

Riddler Mindbender started testing yesterday. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to the Instagram user that caught it, but it's an encouraging sign. The only thing I didn't realize with this update is that the trains were shortened from 7 cars to 5 cars, assuming they're currently testing the final trains. I wasn't expecting this update to reduce the capacity like that.

Vertigo quietly closed for good this past weekend. If you navigate to the ride's page on Tivoli's website, you will find the following: I rode Vertigo once back in 2019 and absolutely loved the ride. It was unbelievably intense. I couldn't believe how strong and sustained the Gs were. That being said, it had a painfully low capacity to begin with and on a lot of recent reports, the ride has only been running one arm.

^ I think Lake Compounce raised the issue to resolve it since my visit.

Shivering Timbers reopened today. Only one train is available. Some new wood can be seen going into the station.

I'd rather them do this right rather than rush and have an issue.

Michigan's Adventure removed the message that Shivering Timbers was closed from their website and posted on Twitter it has reopened (they posted a picture of the ride and replied to someone it reopened late today).

Lake Compounce was stunned that was Idlewild's policy, so I'm hoping they can raise the issue to streamline it going forwards. But Boulder Dash and Phantom's Revenge...

2021 is the first year that Palace Entertainment started offering a Platinum Pass good at all their American parks. It is supposed to offer free admission and free parking at all their US properties. Since I live so close to several of them and not too much more expensive than my Lake Compounce season pass, it made a lot of sense for me to purchase one. While the entry process with season passes for other chains like SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, and Six Flags is straightforward, there has been zero consistency with how you enter a Palace Park. I wanted to make this forum to figure out how Platinum Pass holders go about entering their non-home Palace Park. Thus far, I have seen how Lake Compounce, Kennywood, Dutch Wonderland, and Idlewild handle it, but I would love to hear how the other parks are handling it. Dutch Wonderland- Parking is not included. Passholders can proceed directly to the turnstiles. Idlewild- Now you can go straight to the parking booth. Your home park used to have to call Idlewild to be added to a guest list. Lake Compounce was surprised Idlewild had this policy and is investigating how it can be streamlined in the future. If you're unfamiliar with Idlewild, the park is set up that you must purchase admission at the parking booth, which is why you can't just go to guest relations like the other parks. Kennywood- Go to guest relations. Passholders will receive a paper ticket that can be used to enter the park at the turnstiles. Lake Compounce- Proceed directly to the turnstiles. Noah's Ark- Go to guest relations. The pass does not scan at the standard turnstiles. The pass got me preferred parking for free.

It looks like the similar rides across the chain are operating today.

They closed their antique car ride so they could use that sizable building as a station/queue and then have the ride run down that empty midway and then go behind the arcade/restaurant.