abovethesink

I I saw this and I will potentially head down depending on what they open. We only live about two hours away and occasionally head that way for shopping anyway. I just don't see Cuomo letting major rides open up and attracting crowds at this point, as much as I'd love a Comet ride. I doubt it would move well in the cold anyway. The event also might be a bit cold for anyone in the area for Christmas. I mean Lake George/Queensbury are pretty balmy compared to areas north and closer to the high peaks, but the people that would travel to Lake George for Christmas and New Years are from the southern parts of the state and it will be pretty cold for them.

So Santa's Village, a small Christmas themed family park in Wilimington, NY (just outside of Lake Placid) has been cleared to reopen according to local news. I wonder if this could open the door for parks like SFDL or SFGE to do a holiday in the park in the unlikely event that they wanted to.

This happened?

Canobie Corkscrew #149, late August 2020

They definitely seem to be teasing something more than a simple retracking that the GP wouldn't outwardly notice. Switching track types makes a lot of sense. RMC is gonna RMC an RMC. Man, the English language is weird.

Last year we spent the longest day we have ever spent in a park doing the haunt at Universal. We got there at normal park open which was at like 8 AM if I remember right and then left around 1 AM, maybe a little after. I was pretty happy though as we got through every single haunted house without buying any sort of express pass which we were told would be impossible. Though I will say they definitely had diminishing returns as the night went on. The wife and kid stopped being scared after a couple. One thing that really hurts them is the never ending line. The other guests break the immersion. If a social distanced version gives your group some separation and makes you feel alone in there, that would be an infinitely better experience. The logistics of that are a nightmare though. You'd have to make each house and individual upcharge or something to really manage that.

Well like I said, it was probably 2013, maybe 2014 last time I rode it. I'd be shocked that it was suddenly better, but also happy. One interesting approach might be using the GCI topper track competitor. It would be neat if their niche was taking old, rough woodies and instead of RMCing them, just completely retrack them with the new steel track to give the ride a new life. Same layout and everything. Maybe new trains for the new track. I'd love to see that. I wonder if layouts would have to be tweaked at all for pacing issues or anything like that. It seems like the train might move faster on the steel track, but I guess if they were getting new trains too they could just counteract that with the weight of the trains, if they even wanted too. Often a little faster would be better.

You could do like a 24 hour fast leading into your rides and then eat right after the coasters in question if you think you are going to cut it that close. Whenever we have fasted I always feel super slim because all the bloat is gone.

Lapbar only on Tantrum, unless something explainable or really strange happened to it in the year of shut down it was perfectly smooth in 2019, a very nice small Euro Fighter. The two really rough coasters at the park are Predator (if you're in the front it really isn't all that bad but anywhere else is unpleasant) and Mind Eraser, but that's to be expected. Yeah, DL was my "home park" for a lot of my life. I am 33 now, but my family started camping there when in 97 when I was 10 and Mind Eraser was brand new. That three year stretch of Mind Eraser, Nightmare, Boomerang, and Superman is what made me a coaster nerd. I put home park in quotes because it was a four hour drive on a good day, but we went every summer for at least a few days. My parents would relax in the campground and I would usually bring a friend to explore the park with. If not, I'd at least drag my little brother or whatever cousin came with us around. It was ideal for everyone. My kid is ten now and we have only been once since he was born, and he was pretty small. I don't remember how old he was/what year, exactly, but he was kiddie ride young and I remember having fun on that stupid but charming moose ride they added. It was probably 2013, 2014. We were supposed to go back this year for a day on a road trip but it didn't pan out for obvious reasons. Predator is still by memory the roughest experience I have ever had on a coaster. I remember at one point getting very bad chest pains on it even though I was probably like... 15? It was an awful ride, but like you said front seat did make it more tolerable. The sad thing is I remember loving it in the very late nineties, very early 00s. I don't know if I just started growing up a little and losing tolerance for the roughness or if it just fell apart. And a SLC is gonna SLC. I am a proponent of RMC Predator in a big way. I'd like to see the SLC torn down and replaced eventually too, but that won't happen any time soon. As for the rest of the lineup, I don't have complaints. MotoCoaster was cute. Superman will always have a soft spot in my heart and I think at least as of my 2013/14/whenever ride it had become a little underrated. It and its clone are still good rides. Viper low key is one of the better original era Arrow loopers left standing. A Boomerang is obligatory and you probably can't do anything better with that footprint anyway, at least not with a coaster. Tantrum was a great edition on paper to round out the lineup too, though I haven't experienced it yet. Glad to hear it is lapbars only. So, I assume you have been on Mind Eraser when it was new? What was it like back then? Did it feel the same? Also, did anything else change since it first opened? I loved Mind Eraser when it opened, but I was also 10 or so. I think we become a lot less tolerant to jankiness/roughness as we age. My kid normally doesn't even seem to notice it. Plus, I am sure it has gotten worse over time. Thankfully they have stopped building them, but that does mean I don't ever get to experience a new SLC as an enthusiast and compare the experience. I am fine with that. But as for differences I can remember... Two trains, station was in better shape, people in line... That's about it, really.

Am the only one who thinks La Ronde gets dumped on a little too much? It has basically become a park meme with Six Flags America, but all three of my visits have been fine. It is relatively pretty and relatively well kept physically. The layout is weird, but whatever I think complaining about walking is a little weirder and I have a bad foot. I really, really love Goliath and think it is maybe the most underrated coaster I have been on and their Batman clone absolutely flies through the track noticeably faster than any other of the clones I have experienced. Monstre is so bizarrely paced that I found it charming too and well the rest isn't great, but I don't think it is all that worse than a bunch of other parks I have been to. Of course, and I am very sorry to whoever I am about to offend, but you do have to deal with the... locals... But I will just leave that as alone as I can other than acknowledging it. I will say it is downright funny to watch youtubers try to address the subject as they review the park, so there is that at least.

Also, I would be doing the world a disservice if I forgot to add how amazing the Go-Karts are at these parks, especially the Kissimmee location. I could have ridden them after dark forever. The racing got intense and my god those stacked tracks are pretty nuts. There was literally light air time on a couple of them. The Orlando tracks were good too and I thought they were great until I got to Kissimmee, so I recommend doing the parks in that order. Mine Blower is the main event for the coasters too. Honestly, we did SeaWorld, BGT, and both Universals along with the two Fun Spots and while those places were great as always, I think the most fun I might have had on the whole trip was on those go karts. Do not just go for the credits and miss them, especially after dark. They are included in the normal ride all day wrist band too.

Lapbar only on Tantrum, unless something explainable or really strange happened to it in the year of shut down it was perfectly smooth in 2019, a very nice small Euro Fighter. The two really rough coasters at the park are Predator (if you're in the front it really isn't all that bad but anywhere else is unpleasant) and Mind Eraser, but that's to be expected. Yeah, DL was my "home park" for a lot of my life. I am 33 now, but my family started camping there when in 97 when I was 10 and Mind Eraser was brand new. That three year stretch of Mind Eraser, Nightmare, Boomerang, and Superman is what made me a coaster nerd. I put home park in quotes because it was a four hour drive on a good day, but we went every summer for at least a few days. My parents would relax in the campground and I would usually bring a friend to explore the park with. If not, I'd at least drag my little brother or whatever cousin came with us around. It was ideal for everyone. My kid is ten now and we have only been once since he was born, and he was pretty small. I don't remember how old he was/what year, exactly, but he was kiddie ride young and I remember having fun on that stupid but charming moose ride they added. It was probably 2013, 2014. We were supposed to go back this year for a day on a road trip but it didn't pan out for obvious reasons. Predator is still by memory the roughest experience I have ever had on a coaster. I remember at one point getting very bad chest pains on it even though I was probably like... 15? It was an awful ride, but like you said front seat did make it more tolerable. The sad thing is I remember loving it in the very late nineties, very early 00s. I don't know if I just started growing up a little and losing tolerance for the roughness or if it just fell apart. And a SLC is gonna SLC. I am a proponent of RMC Predator in a big way. I'd like to see the SLC torn down and replaced eventually too, but that won't happen any time soon. As for the rest of the lineup, I don't have complaints. MotoCoaster was cute. Superman will always have a soft spot in my heart and I think at least as of my 2013/14/whenever ride it had become a little underrated. It and its clone are still good rides. Viper low key is one of the better original era Arrow loopers left standing. A Boomerang is obligatory and you probably can't do anything better with that footprint anyway, at least not with a coaster. Tantrum was a great edition on paper to round out the lineup too, though I haven't experienced it yet. Glad to hear it is lapbars only.

Thanks! I swear I used to have an account here back in the day, but I can't figure out what I might be so I might also have just been stalking this place for a very long time.

While their SLC's restraints make it more tolerable than most, well, here is how I see it... Presumably you don't run the coasters in the low temps because you think it will hurt them long term. But if the SLC were to just wear down a little faster... well, I might run it too.

I live in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. Leaving my driveway from November to May is riding Nitro in the snow. Probably wouldn't even have to bring the winter coat traveling down to the tropics of Jersey!

They're both closed. They run Batman, Mind Eraser (or whatever), Joker, Thunderbolt and then usually some combination of Pandemonium or Flashback even though they don't advertise it. The DC area is closed and everything beyond Pandemonium is closed. Goliath is closed because it's a turd. Thanks. That is a hard pass for me. Well, most years it would be. Maybe we would still go just to support the business after being closed all year.

White Lightning didn't need this, but it is fun to see them experiment. It isn't like it was some amazing credit I don't ever want to see touched. It was a good, but not great ride in my two rides last October. Mine Blower, despite being the better ride with that awesome layout, could use something like this given how rough it has been. But obviously it isn't a GCI, so that is less feasible. Still, if they want to proof of concept the idea for coasters beyond their own woodies, just drive down the road!

In previous HIIPs, did they open both Wicked Cyclone and Superman? We would probably make the drive if they were both open, but not if either of them was closed. That's a two horse park, mostly. My third favorite coaster is... uh... probably the Pandemonium clone.

So for those who have experienced both, how has Tantrum aged compared to Untamed at Canobie Lake? Is it a potential headbanger? My wife will want to know for next time we get there. Thanks!

Here's a trip report from a couple weeks ago: Date: Sunday, August 30th Background: Tuesday through Sunday the 30th was supposed to be one of two roadtrips for us for the summer. This one taking us to Darien Lake, Waldameer, Conneaut Lake, and ending at Cedar Point before the return trip. Obviously Covid did that in. Conneaut and Darien didn't open and Cedar Point had some rides closed, but the nail in the coffin was when Ohio was added to the NY two week quarantine list. We salvaged the vacation by exploring the Maine mid-coast, mostly Rockland and Camden, and kept a coaster component by reserving a spot at Canobie Lake Park where we had never been for Saturday, August 29th. The park was basically on our route anyway. However, the park did not open that day so we took the somewhat bold step of switching it to Sunday. This is despite the fact that we still had a seven hour drive home after the park and work the next morning, but I couldn't live without getting at least something in. Unfortunately, this did make the visit more of a credit grab than I like to do as we were pressed for time, but we got to visit nonetheless. Experience: First impressions were great. They organized the entry into the park pretty well and while the reservation system was a little clunky, it worked. Ours was 10:45 if I remember right. The park is very pretty upon entry. It has a small, intimate feel. Colorful, mostly fresh looking paint popped everywhere and looked great against all the foliage. A lot of the flats had some sort of simple, consistent little self contained theme that looked nice. I figured we had a little time, so I let my 10 year old ride some flats. He got on Ice Jet with my wife and the flyers by himself while she recovered from the spinning. I don't do much spinning myself. Ice Jet got good reviews from a 10 year old, but the flyers he didn't like compared to the ones he rode at Holiday World in June. My only real disappointment was finding out that their classic, hand carved carousel is indoors and therefore closed. I mean it makes sense on both accounts, so no complaints, but of course I would like to have seen it. Next we decided it was time to get the credits and found an extremely long line for Yankee Cannonball stretching way, way out into the midway. We were hoping that it was more an illusion than anything else because of all the spacing in it, but with one train ops and only a max of ten passengers per train (barring a super big party that could sit together), it wasn't. We also realized later in the line that there must be some sort of fast pass system because people coming up the exit (I think it was the exit) would sometimes take over trains and the main line wouldn't move at all. We waited two hours for a little family woodie, but I was getting my credits damnit! One thing we were very impressed about in the line were the social distancing and mask enforcement. Staff constantly had guests move around and had people put masks back up over their noses. One pair of teenagers ahead of us got pretty consistent attention with this. Unfortunately that wouldn't hold true throughout the park, but it was a good start. When we finally got on the ride, I was relieved to find the time wasn't completely wasted. What a fun little woodie. I am sure the fact that I hadn't ridden anything since early June contributed to how much I liked it and it isn't some great ride by any means, but it is a fun race to the parking lot and back. There was some light airtime and it paced itself pretty well. By the end of the day I realized it was the best of the three rollercoasters in the park. Next up was Untamed. This is where the social distancing fell apart. In that line, which did not spread out of its queue, there were a couple faded stickers on the ground in the last two switchback rows and that was it. No enforcement and social distancing relied on how close people felt like getting to you. I was looking forward to the ride still and it didn't bother me that much. One thing unrelated that did bother me was a pair of dogs. There were two waiting for people in line. One was clearly a traditional service dog, a Golden Retriever, and it was perfect. The other was a small, terrier type dog that barked its head off whenever it could see the service dog. I hate to see people abusing the support animal system like that to bring their pet in, of course, but come on man. If you're going to do that, then have some respect while in the park at least. Just move around the corner to a different bench so it can't see the service dog. I imagine that must be stressful for the service dog dutifully doing its job even though it is trained not to respond. When I wasn't being distracted by the barking dog, I was first admiring how pretty the Eurofighter in front of me was. The detail work of painting the supports like birch trees was wonderful and the bear trains were pretty too. Unfortunately staring at the track also created the realization that this was going to be a rough ride. That thing SWAYS with each ride. The whole course moves a ton as the trains pass through it. Unfortunately after maybe a half hour in line, it delivered the ride it looked like it would too. For me, it wasn't that bad. The first drop was good fun and I liked the layout. It was pretty damn violent and beat up my shoulders, but I still enjoyed it overall. My kid did too. My poor wife, however, got her head all banged around and she was out for the day with a headache. I really just wanted to get the last credit anyway though so that didn't kill my day. We got some water for all of us, ice cream for them, and she went to the car. My son and I then proceeded on to their Arrow Corkscrew model for credit #149. That took about 40 minutes in line, I'd say, and it was the experience you'd expect. Spoilers: It was bad. But I will say two good things: 1) The setting is very pretty. The ride looks great and you get some good views from the lift. 2) Knowing their days overall are numbered even if a ride like this in a smaller park will probably outlast most of them, I do get a nostalgic sort of pleasure from them still. So it was was mostly forceless except for banging my head around, but I am still glad to have gotten the chance to experience it. I also sort of enjoyed and sort of was mortified by my kid's reaction to another kid his age exiting the ride. The other kid told his presumably mother that it was a 10/10 ride and my son just thought it was the funniest thing that someone could love one of these. I have made a mini-coaster snob. We exited the park without incident, found the already cooled car, and took off. Final Thoughts: First and foremost, I owe the park something closer to a full day. I can't really review the park as a whole with only a few hours of credit whoring, but I can say it is a charming place with a pretty aesthetic and a nice looking collection of flats. There is little reason to visit if you're only into coasters, but I did enjoy the ambiance. We also didn't step foot in the small water park. My number one priority would be fixing Untamed, if possible. I think the fact that it should be the flagship attraction at the park but had the shortest line of the three coasters speaks volumes. I get why the small woodie might have a longer line as the family friendly choice, but Untamed didn't really have better capacity than either and shouldn't be outdrawn by an old Arrow corkscrew model. I can only assume there is a connection between the massive swaying of the track and the roughness too, so I would be curious to explore whether adding a handful of strategic new supports would help with the poor ride experience. Beyond that, all I can say is that I look forward to a visit in a post-vaccine world where we can take our time a bit and really let our kid ride everything in the next couple years before he gets too old to want to do the flats. The park is right on our way to both Boston and/or Maine, so it pairs nicely with non-coaster trips too. tldr: Go if you appreciate small, regional parks and want to make a slow paced day of it. Go if are a credit whore as there are three there. Don't go if you only go to parks for good, high end attractions like big coasters. They aren't good enough to justify the trip versus any number of other parks.

I am assuming you would still recommend FL+ for Saturday, October 24th, right? I am not sure if we are going to be able to make the drive yet because of work situations, but we might be able to get away for a long weekend and that would be the target day for my first visit to KI given that it won't be open on the Friday before.

Twenty years from now I fully expect to be grumbling at yet another Raptor credit I have to get at some random small park like I do with the Boomerangs now, haha. People liked Boomerangs when they were new like we like Raptors, right? They kept building them anyway. All enthusiast mandated clone whining out of the way, these are truly awesome additions for smaller to midsized parks. I haven't actually been on one yet, but the POVs look amazing and reviews seem good across the board. A park like Silverwood will benefit tremendously from this ride. Plus, it does look to me that it is a modified version of Railblazer. It will need to reprofile, if only subtly, to accomodate for 10 car trains, no?

Man, that doesn't look like a crazy intense ride from what I can tell, but with that level of theming it doesn't need to be. That looks really awesome. I need to make a Eurotrip in the next five years.