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Lake Compounce Discussion Thread


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Ghost Hunt still has the same number of cars as far as I know, usually fluctuates between 4 and 6 throughout the year. They have 7 cars (car 1 got parted out). There are some issues with the cars though. If there is too much weight in the cars, they will occasionally veer off the track and keep going until they hit something then stop. The ride will not shutdown though if this happens and sometimes the operator will not notice, which can lead to trouble. This happened multiple times last year. They implemented a policy to only allow 2 adults per car to prevent this, but ride ops sometimes do not care and will load a car fully. There must be something they can do to fix this as this was not a problem until a year or two ago. The lines were very long last year for the ride because of this.

 

I still wish they would run more logs on Saw Mill, I think 8 is the max they are comfortable with. I would prefer something like 10 or 12. They do need more operators when they run more logs though.

 

I don't expect them to open until late June at this point. I am guessing around 2-3 weeks after whenever SFNE opens. They will have a ton of work to do to get the park ready once they get the all clear. I am also wondering if their new waterslide Venus Vortex has been shelved or not, doesn't seem likely for it to open. Most if not all of the foundation work is done, but it has not gone vertical yet. (And likely won't until things are back to normal). Their website used to say Memorial Day weekend, but now just says 2020. Since attendance is almost guarenteed to take a hit this year, they might choose to open it next season, although there is still a chance for late summer I guess.

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^ They specifically said the rafts for Venus Vortex were coming from China, so they are stuck waiting on that as well as the construction itself.

 

That's sort of funny about Ghost Hunt veering off-course. I never realized that could happen.

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Ghost Hunt still has the same number of cars as far as I know, usually fluctuates between 4 and 6 throughout the year. They have 7 cars (car 1 got parted out). There are some issues with the cars though. If there is too much weight in the cars, they will occasionally veer off the track and keep going until they hit something then stop. The ride will not shutdown though if this happens and sometimes the operator will not notice, which can lead to trouble. This happened multiple times last year. They implemented a policy to only allow 2 adults per car to prevent this, but ride ops sometimes do not care and will load a car fully. There must be something they can do to fix this as this was not a problem until a year or two ago. The lines were very long last year for the ride because of this.

 

"You know why the ride keeps breaking? The capacity isn't quite horrendous enough. 2 people per car!"

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  • 1 month later...

Lake Compounce has delayed their Venus Vortex water slide until 2021 and extended season passes through the end of next year.

 

Lake Compounce – May 8, 2020 -This year hasn’t gone like any of us expected. We know how challenging it has been to wait. We want to see you, too!

 

We continue to plan towards Opening Day, though an exact date remains to be determined. Our top priority, as always, is the health and safety of our Guests and Team Members. We will continue following the rulings and recommendations of our local, state and federal leadership throughout this process, working alongside health and safety officials and our colleagues in the amusement and attractions industries.

 

Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on our operations and the wider world, we have suspended work on Venus Vortex until next year. Venus Vortex will make its splashing debut in 2021. This beast of a water slide deserves the spotlight and a full season for its opening, and that is not possible this year.

 

Because of these changes and the uncertainty of the situation, we have extended all 2020 Season Passes to be valid through the end of our 2021 Season, including newly purchased season passes for a limited time. It’s the right thing to do in appreciation of your patience and support.

 

While the experience will be different from any other season in our history, we remain committed to delivering the safe, family fun that has been our calling card since 1846. From all of us at Lake Compounce, thank you for your continued support. We can’t wait until the day you’re back with us and the sounds of summer fill the air again.

 

https://www.lakecompounce.com/plan-a-visit/season-passes

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  • 1 month later...

I'm hoping to go on July 5 to get some rides on Boulder Dash, but I need two things to happen:

 

1) Connecticut lifts their 14 day self-quarantine for visitors.

2) Massachusetts lifts their 14 day self-quarantine for anyone returning to Massachusetts.

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I'm hoping to go on July 5 to get some rides on Boulder Dash, but I need two things to happen:

 

1) Connecticut lifts their 14 day self-quarantine for visitors.

2) Massachusetts lifts their 14 day self-quarantine for anyone returning to Massachusetts.

 

Both of those are virtually non existant. Not like 2 months ago when they had cops at the state lines asking where you went. Been down a few times for food, shopping, and Foxwoods and no one bats an eye.

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^ I know it's not being enforced at the border anymore, but I'm going to respect the rules put forth by the states.

 

It looks like Connecticut will lift the self-quarantine in Phase 2 (starting tomorrow), but Massachusetts hasn't given any indication when they'll lift their's.

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Connecticut has a quarantine? We work about 2 minutes from the NY / CT border and I've lost count of how many times I've crossed it. Never heard of a checkpoint of any kind. Nothing on the highway information signs (and we cross it on I-84, it's not like we're taking some random back road). I don't see anything about it on the Connecticut tourist information site either but maybe I'm just blind.

 

I went there twice last week just for a burrito.

Edited by coasterbill
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I've been relying on the USA Today link to keep track of all the state-to-state travel restrictions. That's where I originally saw CT's 14 day self-quarantine and I've seen it referenced elsewhere in other articles.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/04/04/coronavirus-travel-restrictions-us-states-quarantine-requirements/2947021001/

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  • 1 month later...

Fyi to anyone planning an upcoming Lake Compounce trip, but Boulder Dash is currently closed. A few trees fell during the tropical storm. The damage doesn't appear significant. The park just needs time to clear the track and replace a few handrails per Facebook.

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Good to know.

I will done with finals tomm, and the weather is clear on Thurs, so I was planning on going.

Is the status of B.D. noted anywhere on the site? I will absolutely make sure to check before trekking out there.

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^ Yes. There's a ride status page atop the website. It lists rides temporarily closed (supposedly day-to-day) and things closed for the season. They have been good about updating it daily and even list if a ride is supposed to open late on a specific day.

 

https://www.lakecompounce.com/Ride-Status

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^ Yes. There's a ride status page atop the website. It lists rides temporarily closed (supposedly day-to-day) and things closed for the season. They have been good about updating it daily and even list if a ride is supposed to open late on a specific day.

 

https://www.lakecompounce.com/Ride-Status

 

Nice! Now that's what I'm talking about out.

Well long as BD is open on Thurs and its not supposed to rain, I'll be going! I really need that cred again. I only got 1 ride on BD last time despite being their 3/4 of a day that was dead (long story short......GP friends lol) and it was 60 degrees and cloudy/drizzly. Not best conditions for a wood coaster. It was fun not quite what I hoped for.

Perhaps the conditions, overhype etc but ready to try again!

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^ Yes. There's a ride status page atop the website. It lists rides temporarily closed (supposedly day-to-day) and things closed for the season. They have been good about updating it daily and even list if a ride is supposed to open late on a specific day.

 

https://www.lakecompounce.com/Ride-Status

 

Nice! Now that's what I'm talking about out.

Well long as BD is open on Thurs and its not supposed to rain, I'll be going! I really need that cred again. I only got 1 ride on BD last time despite being their 3/4 of a day that was dead (long story short......GP friends lol) and it was 60 degrees and cloudy/drizzly. Not best conditions for a wood coaster. It was fun not quite what I hoped for.

Perhaps the conditions, overhype etc but ready to try again!

 

 

I feel your pain. I dont like going to parks with my parents, they are "We already rode that, why do you want to go on it again?" types. TBH I dont visit parks with them very often but each time I do I'm reminded why I avoid it lol

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While I don't dislike the ride I've never entirely understood the crazy hype for Boulder Dash and feel like it almost works against it. I know I've stated before that our last rides on it were legitimately terrible but for the most part whenever we ride it it's a lot of fun and I do like the ride but even when we rode it at night during haunt and had the best rides on it we'd ever had I still feel like it's a little overhyped and probably best enjoyed with more reasonable expectations. I much prefer any RMC wood coaster, El Toro, Phoenix, Twister and others...

Edited by coasterbill
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Oh yeah was super fun, but I thought (b/c this is what I always heard) airtime on every hill and crazy air, "you barely touch the seat before the next" and I have learned over time POVs are not a great judge, but I mean dang it did fly over all those hills. So when it wasn't that I was a bit let down but again it was not a good weather day and it was one ride.

 

So gotta try again, but true that was years ago when I was a lot more zealous I've learned since how to ride w/o expectations getting the better of me.

Well hell nothing is like RMC, and El Toro and Phoenix are untouchable but RMC does bring up agood point. Sometimes rides just don't compare as well to others over time. Like they may have been HOLY **** OMG at one time but as newer rides hit the scene, they just arent as good through no fault of their own. That may be is as well, and this has caught me a few times. Its why I try to now do new rides opening year or within 1 if I can!

But also I was serious, there's not much in NE, Six Flags is closed, so this is really all I got thats remotely near me so it is what it is!

 

^ Yes. There's a ride status page atop the website. It lists rides temporarily closed (supposedly day-to-day) and things closed for the season. They have been good about updating it daily and even list if a ride is supposed to open late on a specific day.

 

https://www.lakecompounce.com/Ride-Status

 

Nice! Now that's what I'm talking about out.

Well long as BD is open on Thurs and its not supposed to rain, I'll be going! I really need that cred again. I only got 1 ride on BD last time despite being their 3/4 of a day that was dead (long story short......GP friends lol) and it was 60 degrees and cloudy/drizzly. Not best conditions for a wood coaster. It was fun not quite what I hoped for.

Perhaps the conditions, overhype etc but ready to try again!

 

 

I feel your pain. I dont like going to parks with my parents, they are "We already rode that, why do you want to go on it again?" types. TBH I dont visit parks with them very often but each time I do I'm reminded why I avoid it lol

 

Yeah, and actually I hate saying "GP" and dont do all that, so if I do ya know I was mad but it's true, a few times now non enthusiast friends have either caused me to miss something (Maverick twice) or kinda dragged down a day, or in this case just kinda slowly meandering and not wanting to really do anything. So by the time getting to BD a second time "sorry park is closing in like 2 mins" and we had to leave. You said it, I just go solo/with other enthusiasts is all.

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Yup, I will conclude that, through absolutely no fault of its own, age just has gotten the better of Boudler Dash.

One, we got Intamins, RMCs, and GCIs which these days really kick ass.

Two, perhaps age has gotten to it physically? I used to hear about he stupid air on it, every hill, unrelenting pace and damn it sure looked like it. Well, I found it a bit underwhelming 7 years ago and honestly, despite it being a warm sunny day, it was even more so.

Don't get me wrong...fun. Still a top 10 woodie (though gunna be dropping), gotta love it romping through the woods, but the first half was a bit weak honestly. Second half while better, was just pops of airtime. Not strong floater, not sustained, deff not the GCI "pops" of brief but intense air. Hate to say but it even felt and looked sluggish coming into the station. I tried my best too. Kept the belt loose and the lap bar was not close to me, even kept my feet up as I do sometimes on woodens to maximize any air. Just wasn't really there.

 

So yeah, not sure if (like other rides out there) it was superb in the day but just is lesser as new rides come out and people still remember it from "in the day", if 20 years has taken its toll on it, both? Still solid, and I bet it is one helluva night ride but its not dark by 7 (not sure if that's always the park close or just currently) so figured no point in hanging around as I did everything as much I wanted.

 

I did love Phobia. Second time doing these Premier Skyrockets and I can say I love em. I hear they're worse with the OTSR but this one was just lap bars.

 

Needless to say was a dead day. The 1 train ops slowed things worse than any covid protocol did, but still wasn't bad at all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Going to the park one of the days of Labor Day weekend before they close. Haven't been in probably 8 years. Sad to hear how much Boulder Dash has fallen from grace but at least Phobia will be new to me. Enjoyed Tempesto and hear this one is better.

 

Too bad the Wave Swinger is closed for the season, always enjoyed the Batman The Ride G's you pull on that thing. At least the Sky Ride isn't closed for the season...oh wait.

 

Anyway should I expect insane lines for Boulder Dash with one train ops or are they at least trying to move things along these days? Does Wildcat still absolutely suck? Should I bring my own log for the flume?

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I was there a few years ago and Boulder's line moved horrendously slow with one train operation then. Granted, I waited the extra time for the front, but it was still a long wait just to get into the station from the bridge.

 

I am also sorry to hear that it's falling apart. I do remember that my 2nd trip there, I found it to be a lot rougher than the first trip there (about 6/7 years ago). It was still a great ride though and I am not a fan of violent wooden coasters.

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Going to the park one of the days of Labor Day weekend before they close. Haven't been in probably 8 years. Sad to hear how much Boulder Dash has fallen from grace but at least Phobia will be new to me. Enjoyed Tempesto and hear this one is better.

 

Too bad the Wave Swinger is closed for the season, always enjoyed the Batman The Ride G's you pull on that thing. At least the Sky Ride isn't closed for the season...oh wait.

 

Anyway should I expect insane lines for Boulder Dash with one train ops or are they at least trying to move things along these days? Does Wildcat still absolutely suck? Should I bring my own log for the flume?

 

I went on a Saturday last month and Boulder Dash had a full queue that took roughly an hour. I've heard lines have been much better on non-weekends when the park has hit capacity a few times. The park does take seating requests so I strongly recommend the front. That's the best seat on the ride by far (most airtime & smoothest).

 

Wildcat got rougher after the retrack and it has an even worse capacity than Boulder Dash.

 

And then you have the flume which has a similar capacity to Wildcat.

 

Just make sure to check the ride status page on the park website since they update it regularly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went to the park for a couple hours today. It wasn't exactly crowded, but the mix of social distancing requirements and atrocious operations plus about half the rides being closed led to an early exit.

 

First order of business when I got in was Phobia, which was still new to me as I hadn't been to the Lake in at least 8 years. The line was one switchback deep in the larger maze, but still about 45 minutes or so. The ops were getting trains through decently fast here at least, but with only two cars most trains only had 6-8 riders.

 

As for the ride, lots of fun as expected but I think,I prefer the three car model. You get more air over the top on those. But this is still a great ride for Lake Compounce and dominates the landscape.

 

While in line for Phobia I couldn't help but notice the lack of ride noises around me. I would hear Boulder Dash go by once every 10 minutes, the Screaming Swing every 10 minutes, and Wildcat go up the lift even less frequently. This was after passing a taken-apart Wave Swinger, a closed Disko, a closed Pirate Ship, and a closed Skycoaster on the way in. Also noticed a 30-40 deep line for Potato Patch and almost every other food booth closed. So I knew it wasn't going to be a very productive afternoon.

 

After passing the Screaming Swing line and watching them run only one side with maybe 8 people on it, I knew that line wouldn't move. The Log Flume indoor queue section was over half full but we all know how slow that line moves. Ghost Hunt had a full queue and has as many cars as the log flume has logs so that was a no go.

 

Finally settled on Boulder Dash which had a line out the front entrance and onto the pathway. Obviously people were spread out but I knew it would still be long based on how many times I had heard it go by earlier. Once I finally got up to the station I noticed they were keeping two rows empty between groups and further worsening capacity by pulling off load times in the neighborhood of 5 minutes. They had to clean the train every 30 minutes and between the dispatch times and the ride time, they were getting 3 trains out per cleaning cycle.

 

After over an hour I was finally on in the 4th row and finally got to see what the bitching was all about. I always know to take the bitching with a grain of salt because it's never as bad as everyone makes it out to be. And well... I'm in a pickle about how to feel about my ride. It's not that rough. Its on the same scale that Twister at Knoebels and Wildcat at Hershey are on as far as roughness goes. But it is definitely not what it used to be. One good retracking would probably do wonders for it. But what was once truly the best wooden coaster in existence (pre 2006) is no longer even the best wooden coaster off I-84 in Connecticut. It still has the tremendous layout, but it loses a lot of speed now due to the shuffling and the airtime is totally gone. And it used to be the best night time ride ever conceived (no Beast, not you) but without seeing what's coming it would probably really suck at night now. So it's still more than rideable, but it's no longer great and they need to spend some time giving it TLC because it deserves it.

 

Continued down the hill and walked by the Wildcat line which was out the entrance and halfway to the Wipeout ride. While dealing with some roughness is worth it on Boulder Dash, dealing with even more roughness for a terrible roller coaster (especially with a long line) wasn't in the cards. Downtime and Wipeout were both being cleaned with half full queues when I went by.

 

Noticed more closed food booths on that side of the park (only Pinks was open and the line was way out around the corner). The path down to the former Skyride and the,serene side of the lake was closed as well. As we walked back around the corner towards the front of the park we kinda just walked right out knowing it was just getting busier and things weren't going to get better.

 

Maybe I got spoiled by the great operations at Hershey and Knoebels, even during a pandemic. But today was...not good. Lake Compounce has always had below average operations, but making them worse when things are running at half capacity is not a good combination.

 

Heading to Vegas next week, mainly for some poker but can't turn down a couple quick stops at Adventuredome and Stratosphere. Might even bash my brains in on that wonderful Togo creation on top of New York New York.

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The employees for the most part were doing a good job given the circumstances. I totally agree that Saw Mill and Ghost Hunt are basically un-rideable unless you get lucky with a shorter than usual line. The park does need major work in the maintenance/capacity/dealing with crowds department. Hopefully that can be addressed when things go back to normal. It was basically impossible to get a drink in under 20 minutes and this is a serious problem when the water fountains are off.

 

IMO BD is running fine but does have a few rough spots. The train is not in the best shape either. The blue train is a combination of basically the 4 trains they have had and it feels that way. The front rows of each of the cars are way better than the back rows as well.

 

Also the park is no longer allowing snap backs on the flyers which is super lame. The park even shut them down yesterday and today. Revolution opened after its extensive breakdown after parts fell off and it went back down this weekend. The food locations were a disaster too especially this weekend.

 

Also I don’t think this has been brought up yet here, but the park does have a new General Manager this year. Larry is now the GM and he was assistant GM for a few years. He has big shoes to fill.

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