[Lake Compounce Off-Season Tour 2012]

Every year, Lake Compounce's management holds an off-season photo and info tour for a bunch of us rabid fans. We had a small group this year, no doubt do to the threat of bad weather (which wasn't great, but not so bad as it looked like it could have been!), but a great tour. LC's GM, Jerry Brick, couldn't make it this year, so the tour was run by their Larry, the park's Rides/Halloween/something-else-I-forgot manager, and Mike, the Operations manager. Disappointment at not seeing Jerry was short-lived, Larry and Mike gave the best tour I've ever been there for!

 

Anyway, I thought some of you might want to see and hear some of what I was lucky enough to be there for!

 

First off, I apologize for the abysmal photo quality; thanks to my cat's utter destruction of my bedroom, I couldn't find the batteries for my camera and had to settle for my Blackberry, which is a terrible camera...and I'm a worse photographer.

 

Still, better than nothing, right?

 

Other than the info with the photos below, there were a few other little details. The plans for a new coaster, likely a spinning wild mouse but possibly something else entirely new, are still in the works. Hopefully we'll see one down near the Skyride in the next few years. The water park expansion consists of five phases right now, and is going to get more impressive with each one, hopefully including a water coaster later if the water parks proves successful enough. No rides are currently slated for removal; everything is in good shape and should be sticking around, though the rides manager wouldn't mind getting rid of the Trolley, as it's an operational nightmare, and the most difficult ride to train for and run. We also got a few more interesting little tidbits that we're not allowed to talk about yet, so watch for some more announcements from the Lake soon! ^^

Inside the maintenance shed. Not that much going on in here this time, most of the really interesting work (Boulder Dash trains!) has already been finished and sent back out.

Zoomerang has seen extensive work, on the lift system and on the trains. We got a nice look at the mechanics for the restraint system; not something you see often!

The train being refurbished. It looks beautiful!

Tanks for the new Proslide racing slide going in this year.

The Haunted Graveyard, all closed up 'til next fall. There's some new stuff going in for next year, a new scene that we weren't given details on yet. Larry seemed excited about it though, so so am I!

The carpenter's shop. Nothing too interesting going on in here at the moment though.

One of those walk-in "people dryers" going in in front of Sawmill plunge.

Sawmill plunge is drained, and some concrete work is going on to improve the drainage and filtering. Apparently not so much work on keeping wildlife out. Look close, inside the bend in the trough before the lift. Hello Mr. Skunk!

Sawmill Plunge's logs undergoing fiberglass work.

Inside the back control room for Sawmill Plunge.

Mr. Skunk is watching us!

The Pirate ship is being repainted and, if all goes according to plan and schedule, getting new LCD lights for this season.

Thunder and Lightning saw extensive mechanical work. Again. Great ride, but I'm glad I'm not responsible for keeping it running!

 

The Ferris Wheel barely opened last year, after all the work they did on it, because of the incident at Morey's Piers. For this year, it's sporting custom bars around the tops of the cars to make Darwin Awards more difficult to achieve on it. They should keep the insurers happy, and they're nicely done and shouldn't detract from the ride's looks or experience, fortunately. Still one of the best looking Ferris Wheels around!

The Marketplace has some new items going on the menu, including some new gourmet hot dogs. I'll be looking to try those come opening day!

Larry demonstrating the new cage bars on the Ferris Wheel.

Boulder Dash's trains have been stripped down, rebuilt from the frame up, and repainted. The new logos were painted free-hand - pretty impressive looking! Sadly my camera entirely failed to capture that well.

Boulder Dash also has a new, upgraded control panel. (I believe Larry may have said this was actually added last year; not 100% sure now.)

Well, this isn't something you see every day.

Fun stuff to a geek like me.

Underside of the Boulder Dash trains taken from beneath the brake run. Sadly, out of half a dozen pictures I tried to take here, this was the best one I got. Yeah, I know.

Boulder Dash's original trains, or what remains of them.

The heart of Downtime, the park's S&S turbo drop! As impressive as these look, they're about a quarter the size of the pumps and compressors for Thunder and Lightning.

Downtime's control panel. We were informed that the park does not actually use Downtime's PA system, because when they do, it can be heard at ESPN.

The view out the skylight on top of Downtime's control booth.

Downtime has this huge control room, all for one little control panel. It makes for a bizarre Twilight Zone effect, walking in the big, almost entirely bare room.

The Bumper Cars building is home to much of Wipe Out for the winter.

More of Wipe Out.

The central structure for LC's classic carousel. All original. We were informed that the lead horse on the carousel is worth $25,000 on its own...but they wouldn't tell us which horse that was!

The carousel's classic Wurlitzer. Unfortunately, do to its deteriorating condition and the fact that only one person in New England can repair it, and all parts have to be hand made, it will only be running very rarely, most likely on the coolest days of the season. Sad =<

This is the park's current, tiny wave pool. Next year, it will be replaced by one three times its size!

This will be a small kiddie splash pool come the water park's opening day. Also, new cabanas for rent going in in the background. The raised ones will be more expensive "VIP" cabanas that come with extras like food and drink. Even more expensive lakeside cabanas may be coming later. Apparently, guests have actually been all but begging for these; some people must really love spending money!

Ground work for the first part of the expanded water park!

Lights Out has seen extensive cleanup, work, and painting. No more rusty walls inside!

Looking back at the park from near where the runout pool will be for the new racing slides.

A year ago, this was Mount Vernon Road.

The Lazy River uses a -lot- of chlorine.

Pumps and tanks for the Lazy River and the slide that drops into it.

Wildcat's station. The old coaster has seen a ton of work for this year; the park had plans to do a lot of retracking on it, but the weather let them get far more than they planned on done. It should be the smoothest ride it's been in a very long time now. They're hoping within a few years to have it rebuilt so completely that it will ride like Boulder Dash.

Wildcat's air pump and tank, for the station brakes.

And Wildcat's main computer.

Can you tell which is the new track? New track probably will never be painted; the park's manager says painting the wood is horrible for it and just makes it deteriorate faster. I have to take his word for that. It looks messy now, but once all the wood's been replaced it'll be much nicer.

Lots of pretty new track.

The park is planning lots of work on this turn for next year.

Mike showing off some of the bolts that hold Wildcat together.

The original lift motor wheel on Wildcat!

And the motor itself, hidden somewhere in the blur. Because these things make ride mechanical geeks like me happy.

More of the lift motor assembly for Wildcat.

This used to be the Skee-ball game. Last year it was replaced with a ring-toss game which turned out to be too easy to win, and cost the park money in expensive prizes. This year it will be something new, the first game of its kind at an amusement park. Angry Birds! Players will be launching birds from big slingshots at pins. I know lots of people that are going to love this.

It's hard to see since the photo is so busy, but Wave Swinger's picket fencing has been replaced with chain link. The picket fencing was too expensive to maintain, as it was a magnet for graffiti and vandalism. The ride itself saw a complete refurbishment as well, on top of the gorgeous LED lighting it got last year.

The park's staff rebuilt a lot of the concession carts, adding lots of nice cosmetic details to them.

Coming soon here; Bloomin' Onions!

The park has extended their contract with the popular Cirque en Vol show, and it's been expanded and improved as well; now the stage is being upgraded to support it.