Canobie Coaster

Adventureland (NY) I’ve only been to Long Island twice, but it’s a bear to get there. If you like gridlock traffic and a choir of horns, Long Island is for you. Long Island is also for you if you love crazy spinning coasters. Adventureland is arguably the narrowest amusement park I’ve ever seen. Most of the park is wedged between a Target and some warehouses. The plot is so narrow you may even have to parallel park! For every new ride Adventureland adds, they basically have to remove one due to their space limitations. I visited on a blazing hot day. I think my car said it was 100 degrees. Fortunately, Adventureland had us covered. The park had misters and fans above the midway. What a great touch! These were absolute godsends on such a hot day. The park is also prettier than you’d expect. Despite being pressed for space, they have several trees, flowers, and figures scattered about the park. It gives it a nice charm. Now that's my type of flower pot. Hmmm, I don't remember the bat suit having an Adventureland logo on it. But I was there for Turbulence, one of the most underrated coasters anywhere. I love Mack spinners. I said that even before Time Traveler was a thing. These coasters are glass smooth, spin a ton, and pull more Gs than you’d expect. The biggest Achilles heel of most spinners is the pacing. For obvious reasons, they don’t go full tilt start to finish. I guess not everyone has an iron stomach. Turbulence throws that aside and is a fast-paced blur from start to finish. Once your car starts spinning, it doesn’t stop. Combine that with a super compact layout filled with tight transitions and you have one of the most disorienting coasters anywhere. Then throw in a surprise pop of air on speed hill and sustained Gs on the final helices, and you have a real winner. I love Turbulence. I’d take it over a lot of B&Ms. I’d take it over some hyper coasters. Do not underestimate this ride. 8.5 out of 10 This is your captain speaking, we will encounter some turbulence. The amount and speed of the spinning is incredible. These would fit in at any park. The other two rides were a bit problematic. No one else wanted to suffer through Long Island traffic, so I was flying solo. That was an issue for Mystery Mansion (dark ride) and Adventure Falls (log flume). Despite there being a sign saying “no single riders,” the attendant at Mystery Mansion said I could ride alone. She explained the rule is in place for kids. That made my life a lot easier so I boarded the suspended (yes suspended) cars. Unfortunately, the ride didn’t really capitalize on the unique seating. I think there was only one effect that took advantage of it. I didn’t find the ride particularly scary, but it had decent set design. And it was a long ride as it spanned multiple stories. 7 out of 10 Cool ride system. Not fully utilized though. This poor guy was scared to death. Unsurprisingly, Adventure Falls had a bit of a wait considering the temperature. Fortunately, I was able to skip the last third of the queue since a parent didn’t want to purchase a ticket to ride with their child. I’m stunned Adventureland sports a custom flume considering they’re pressed for space. But most importantly, it had two solid drops. They were decently tall and had tiny pops of air at the start. And the splash was perfect on a scorching hot day. 8 out of 10 I can't believe such a small park has a sizable flume like this. Just make sure you aren't flying solo. That's not allowed. Two hours was plenty of time to get my rides on Turbulence, the dark ride, and the flume. One could easily spend more time if they ride all the flats, but none of them stood out to me. Plus, Adventureland was just a pit stop en route to my final destination, Coney Island.

Hey I actually like that P.O.S. Power Surge.

^^ As long as you don't plan to go in the water park, that's plenty of time.

^ Wouldn't be the first Cedars Fair park to have inaccurate queue times on that site. Valleyfair lists all their rides as closed or 5 minutes.

No problem. I'm always glad to show off Story Land since it's a place most enthusiasts don't make it out to. For the most part, Palace/Parque Reunidos has done a good job keeping Story Land similar to how it always has and I can't complain about them adding Roar-o-Saurus. Yeah Story Land really goes the extra mile on the appearance of their ride vehicles. I think Dr. Geyser's, the train, and the Antique Cars are the only plain vehicles in the park. We absolutely had a great time for a great cause. I'd love to know more who manufactured this carousel and if more exist, but so far it's one of a kind for me.

If they're going to invest in Wildcat, I'd prefer they RMC it since the twisted layout is similar to Lightning Racer. GhostRider had one of the best wooden coaster layouts so it made sense to preserve it there. But back to the 2020 addition, great coverage!

^ Isn't Skyrush usually a walk-on by mid-afternoon anyway? I've only seen a line for it right after opening because of its location.

^ Wow I missed the 6 car trains. I'm sort of surprised they're so short. This ride looks great. Having this and Skyrush next to each other is awesome. I also love how that outward banked drop after the helix is actually happening. I remember seeing that in the initial photo wondering if that was a mistake.

I was amazed how lax the park was with loose articles. They had people bring bags onto rides like Zeus! Trace du Hourra is free running like Flying Turns. The biggest difference is Trace is steel instead of wood.

I'll be sure to put it to the test with Bandit next month.

Story Land- Coasting for Kids It’s important to give back to the community. For that reason, Emily and I were glad to do our part and ride roller coasters for Coasting for Kids, an amazing event for Give Kids the World. We decided there was no better place than Story Land. For New England kids, Story Land is essentially Disneyland. It’s a ridiculously charming and well-themed children’s park. Both of us have incredibly fond memories of the place growing up (and for me, more recent thanks to Roar-O-Saurus). We were the only two members of Team TPR, but there were about 30-40 people total. Between Emily and I, we raised $408. Thank you to friends, family, and forum members who donated. In total, I think the event raised almost $7,000! When I told my coworkers I was going to Story Land, their response was "We already did our time there." I guess they lost their inner child. The morning started with ERT on the Polar Coaster, one of the cutest family coasters around. The Polar Coaster is the epitome of a terrain coaster. I don’t think it gets more than 5 feet above the ground as it carves its way down the hillside. 5 out of 10 The Polar Coaster is a cool ride. Story Land's zero cars are incredible. If this isn't the textbook definition of a terrain coaster, please let me know what is. Helix of death...ok not really but this is the fastest part of the ride. But the main course was Roar-O-Saurus. This coaster has single handedly turned Story Land into a park I feel compelled to visit annually as a grown adult. And I have no shame saying that. It’s amazing! Anyone who has been on one of these junior Gravity Group woodies knows that they pack a serious punch. And Roar-O-Saurus is easily the best of them in my opinion. Yes it shuffles a bit on the ridiculously tight turns, but the airtime is something special. Ejector air on the first drop, pops of air on a double up, floater on a camelback, airtime in a tunnel, pops on a double down, and one of the best finales of any coaster. The finale reminds me of Steel Vengeance. Yes I just compared Roar-O-Saurus to Steel Vengeance. If that’s blasphemy, Lightning Run also works. The finale consists of four consecutive bunny hops with powerful ejector pops. You don’t even have time to return to your seat before the next pop happens. Even seasoned enthusiasts are caught off-guard by the power of Roar-O-Saurus. I think Emily and I were the only two who stayed on Roar-O-Saurus for the full half hour. This coaster is legit. 9 out of 10 This is why you all need to get out to Story Land. We were glad to all do our part and ride for charity. This is the part where Roar-O-Saurus makes you think you're on Steel Vengeance. I love how Story Land publicly shames those who fail to stow loose articles. Since it was 90-something degrees out, we made our way to Dr. Geyser’s Remarkable Raft Ride. This is a “river rapids” ride without any rapids. That probably sounds awful, but bear with me. Dr. Geyser’s instead uses a series of water effects. Some are innocent sprayers and misters, but some are downright evil geysers. You’re basically playing Russian Roulette with those things. 8 out of 10 Dr. Geyser's is the perfect prescription for a hot day. The cutest ride in the park is the Bamboo Chutes. If you don’t look at those logs and say “aw,” you aren’t human. Just look at those pandas! In terms of layout, the Bamboo Chutes is a very short flume. But I just love how well it uses the park’s natural terrain. 7 out of 10 Aw Since we were already down the rabbit hole of an unacceptable level of wetness, we took a spin on Splash Battle: Pharaoh’s Reign. This may be the best splash battle out there. The layout is short, but this one has a big advantage- children. Young kids give zero effs about getting wet. This is the first time I have ever seen every single water cannon around one of these attractions manned. And they took no prisoners. 7 out of 10 So naturally we came off soaked. And Emily took it upon herself to get revenge on the kids afterwards. If you hate water, stay far away from this ride. Emily took no mercy. Since it wasn’t enough to blast kids with water guns, we also launched some foam balls at them in the Loopy Lab. It must have been at least 15 years since I had gone in there, but I felt like a kid launching balls across the room. First she shoots kids with water. Now she shoots them with balls. What's next? Story Land used to have a Slipshod Safari ride. Basically it was a knockoff Jungle Cruise ride where kids rode in cages (yes you read that right) and parents made sure to document the moment. It was also very well done. The old safari scenes were numerous and detailed. For 2019, the whole experience was rethemed to the Rap-Tour Safari. While kids can still ride in cages, the ride experience has been dramatically altered and I’m sad to say it’s not for the better. The whole ride came across as tacky and half-baked. The new ride had riders trying to locate Bob, a lost explorer. Most of the ride was dead space outside of 3-4 dinosaur figures. 3 out of 10 No seriously, kids can ride in cages. Oh look, a dinosaur. Looks like poor Bob doesn't have a face. Maybe Nick Cage stole it? Thankfully the Los Bravos Silver Mine Tour was just as a remembered. This is a really unique walkthrough that combines a crooked house, fun house, and cave tour all into one. But the highlight was the 5 or 6 year old girl who joined us. I guess imagination isn’t her foray, as she contradicted every point our tour guide made. Guide- “Here is silver.” Girl- “That’s not real silver.” Guide- “Here are the miners who got lost.” Girl- “Those aren’t real people.” Props the guide who kept calm, composed, and didn’t break out of character. 7 out of 10 Who needs a casino when you can go to the silver mine? Story Land had a dearth of water rides on a manmade lagoon. Unfortunately, the water levels have receded. As a result, the park quietly retired the Story Land Queen in 2019. Guests can still set sail on the Buccaneer though. Admittedly, that was a mistake on such a hot day. Instead of enjoying the corny pirate jokes, we couldn’t wait to return to land. We would have gladly walked the plank to cool off. Once back on land, we took a spin on one of the most unique carousels anywhere. Unlike most carousels that go up and down, riders manually rock the Antique Carousel back and forth. I have never seen another carousel quite like it. As a grown adult, it was pretty easy to get the horses rocking. However, it was an absolute bear as a child. It was even more of a workout than Toy Story Mania! 8 out of 10 This carousel rocks (both literally and figuratively). Walt Disney World isn’t the only place where kids can meet Cinderella, you can also do it at Story Land. What really makes the experience magical is that Cinderella arrives at her castle in a pumpkin coach at set points during the day. While we didn’t care to get our photo with Cinderella, we took full advantage of the opportunity to ride the pumpkin coach back down the hill. You know, I think Disneyland's castle may actually be taller than this one. It's the little touches like this that make Story Land special. The last ride we did was Alice’s Tea Cups. It’s one of those old PTC tea cup rides with the double turntables. Unfortunately, those versions do not allow riders to control the spinning. I prefer the ability to spin like a lunatic. 5 out of 10 Cinderella isn't the only Disney IP featured at Story Land. We had an absolute blast at Story Land. Yes the park is aimed towards kids, but anyone who appreciates a beautiful, well-themed park (or a wild, airtime-filled wooden coaster) will leave Story Land with a smile on their face. Thank you to Story Land and Give Kids the World for putting on a great event and we’re glad we could help do our part at 2019’s Coasting for Kids! Story Land brings back so many memories for us. Emily picked the wrong bench. We'll be ba-ba-back. After leaving Story Land, we also made a quick detour to ride my favorite alpine coaster in America, the one at Attitash. There's nothing worse than having a slowpoke ahead of you. Attitash had us covered. They barely had any cars on the track. There was at least a minute between each dispatch. While that resulted in a painfully slow queue, I knew I could go full tilt down the mountain without careening into someone. This one has a sizable drop under the lift, a few double downs with quick pops of air, and some borderline violent turns. I love it. 9 out of 10 This was about a 40 minute wait.

I love TPR.

When I got off work yesterday, I was stunned Canobie hadn't closed since it had been pouring for most of the afternoon. So I figured it'd be the perfect evening to try their new Castaway Island water park. The water park is cute. It's very small, but they have tropical music playing and a lot of small touches like palm trees, tiki heads, etc. Plus it had heated water! That was the biggest surprise. None of the big 3 water slides were particularly fast. If you're traveling a distance, the water park is very skippable. To be honest, I don't feel the need to go back since I'm more of an amusement park person. That being said, it's an amazing addition for the park. The employees were saying the water park has been hitting capacity most days and there has been a queue just to enter. I'm glad the park is getting a return on their investment. The park ended up closing early at 6:30, but they gave return tickets for everyone left. So I'll take 1.5 hours of free Canobie plus a future visit.

Great report and a lot of beautiful photos. It pained me to read that you skipped out on food at Europa, but if it helped you get on all the coasters I completely understand. I agree Silver Star is quite good. The two drops after the mid-course have some really strong air in the back.

Thanks! So Ocean City is where the Jenkinson's Flitzer went. When I Google searched the characters, the images on the side of the fun house all match some of the first results. Thanks! Glad to show off a carnival as a change of pace from the usual parks. Not only was SFNE's carousel open late, but it's a classic one from 1909.

Avalon looks incredible and you can really feel the airtime on Untamed just looking at the photos.

We'll trade you. Those T-bar restraints are amazing. Except not really because I like having two trains. One train on SFNE's Superman was a nightmare last summer.

I think they tried return times towards the end of the ride's life.

^ When I rode Nightmare in 2000, I thought the capacity had been halved. They only allowed 2 riders per car. That line was the 7th circle of hell. I don't remember liking the ride much, but that was probably because 7 year old me was stunned it took 1.5-2 hours for 100 people to ride.

Great report! The cliff walk photos are really neat and rare views of the rides.

I think Knoebels.

Brockton Fair What did you do as a kid during a car ride? Sleep? Play Game Boy? Ask “are we there yet” until your face turned blue? I was an odd duckling. I’d spend my car rides combing the skyline for carnivals. My parents were so unbelievably understanding. Almost every time I saw that portable Ferris Wheel, they agreed to stop so I could ride the Gravitron for the umpteenth time. But they drew the line at one carnival, the Brockton Fair. And like any child, I of course wanted the thing I couldn’t have. So I bided my time, patiently waiting until I had my own car and health insurance until one day I could visit the Brockton Fair. There she is in all her glory. Brockton isn’t exactly the best neighborhood. So I definitely understand my parents’ viewpoint now that I’m older. The fair specifically is usually home to at least 1-2 fights per year. For that reason, I always make sure to visit during the day when the crowd is predominantly families. 2019 marked my second visit to the Brockton Fair. Before my visit, I consulted the Reithoffer Fairs mobile app (yes that’s a thing) to see the ride lineup. It looked like they copy and pasted the lineup from 2017. However, that ride lineup was laughably inaccurate. We’re talking Six Flags wait time inaccurate. I’d estimate only half the rides were correct. On the bright side, this meant there were two surprise coaster credits waiting for me. They also had animals, but I wasn't a fan of the enclosures. No bloke to soak today. The first was the Wild Cat. This is one of those Interpark galaxy coasters that have taken the US fair circuit by storm. If you thought Morey’s Rollie’s Coaster had unnecessary OSTRs, wait until you see the restraints on the Wild Cat. You have a seatbelt, lap bar, and comfort collars. Unfortunately, this was one of the single car models. As a result, the drops didn’t have any airtime and the coaster really crawled through the helices. 3 out of 10 Wild Cat was declawed. It really crawled through the course. The second new credit was far more embarrassing, the Wacky Mouse. The most noteworthy thing about it was the fact that one of the employees stood in the middle of the layout while the train cycled. Oh how I love carnies. 2 out of 10 I'm glad everyone kept their hands inside the train. Otherwise, they would have hit that poor carny. I also rerode the Indy 500, which is a portable flitzer. If you remember my 2017 report, you know I got stuck on the lift of this ride and was rescued by a carny pounding the wheels with a block of wood. My ride this year was far less eventful, as I crested the lift with ease. Flitzers aren’t particularly forceful, but the twisted, headchopper-filled layout is enjoyable. 5 out of 10 Also, what exactly is the blocking mechanism on a flitzer? I noticed several cars on the circuit at once, but no mid-course brake sections. The ride was naked this year. Sneaking a peek at the backside. Is this the last Flitzer in the US? But the stars of the show were the flat rides. My personal favorite was Speed, the KMG booster. Usually these rides have the same short cycle- 3 rotations one way and 3 rotations the other way. Speed was different. It had 10 consecutive rotations in the same direction. I sort of liked this better because there was no reprieve from the craziness. Flipping wildly while diving towards the ground is quite the thrill. 9 out of 10 It wasn't on the wristband, but it was well worth it considering the long cycle. Stinger was my second favorite. This is a portable version of that insane Mind Warp ride at Fantasy Island. All you need to know is that this is one of the most bizarre frisbees out there. The initial swings produce some airtime, but that’s all you get. Usually that would be a black mark for a frisbee. However, Mind Warp isn’t about the airtime. The first half is all about the insane positive Gs on the downswings and hangtime over the top. But the second half is what truly makes Stinger insane. By this point, the ride stops inverting. Then the magic happens; the seats unlock. Just imagine bolting a zipper cage to a frisbee and you have Stinger. The whipping and snapping was simply out-of-control. 9 out of 10 It looks like a normal frisbee. And at first it acts like a normal frisbee. But then the seats unlock and the profanities start. I then got a bird’s eye view of the fair from atop the Sky Flyer. This wasn’t a particularly tall model, but it was about as good as you’re going to get from a fun fair in the US. 5 out of 10 The ride was dispatched with the op still in the base of the ride. The fair also had some IP-themed fun houses. The first was the Hero Zone. I think this is the first ride in the world to combine both Marvel and DC characters. Hmmm, I wonder how they managed that… When Avengers and Justice League collide. The other was the Ice Palace, a fun house with a Frozen facade. Curiosity got the better of me and I went inside. And I now have a new number one, a new worst fun house! The effects themselves would have been ok; however, almost all of them were broken. Fortunately, it looks like they were trying to fix them. Why else would there be hard hats on the floor? 1 out of 10 If you thought this fun house would be good, let it go. Note the hard hat in the bottom right. It took me about an hour to make a lap around the fair and that was plenty of time. I got the new coaster credits, rerode the fair’s two craziest flats, and escaped unharmed. Last but not least, anyone who wanted to learn firsthand what it’s like to work at a carnival missed their opportunity. Reithoffer was offering patrons $12 per hour to help dismantle rides later that night. These signs were posted at every single ride. I kid you not. And I'm sure you get paid under the table too.

Nice report! I hope to make it out there in the next year with Elitch's eventual closure happening. I'm glad Twister II was ok in the front since that looks like a coaster that could be quite rough.

It can't run in the rain (trough has an issue draining) and it also cannot run after 6 due to noise. As for the issues it has on sunny days, I've only heard speculation.

The fact they may get this open a year early even after it partially collapsed is impressive.