grsupercity Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 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. Would you blame it on a staffing issue or upper management not caring issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zand Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I'm sure a staffing issue has to do with most of the closures and you can't fault them for that this year.. But the place has had an "upper management not caring" issue for far too long and it becomes especially apparent in years like this. Having 4 cars available on Ghost Hunt, 4 logs available on the flume (I might be off by one or two but I'm not even really exaggerating), and a piecemealed train on your star coaster goes beyond staffing issues. As for Boulder Dash I wouldve loved to have sat in the front of the second car but an exit pass got the front and then they kept two rows between each party empty so got stuck in the back row. Like I said I didn't even find the roughness that bad, but I used to lap the thing in the back row for hours. Can't imagine I would've gone more than 2 or 3 times yesterday if there was no line. But the biggest thing is how much slower it runs than it did 10-15 years ago. You can see it in POVs now compared to then. Twister has gotten rougher but has kept its speed, Boulder Dash hasn't. It's too bad because I really want the park to be better and to go there more, but it's at the point where Quassy is literally the better park. It feels like a tiny Six Flags...slightly nicer looking but poorer operations. At least it isn't Elitch Gardens I guess lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I contend that Twister isn't getting rougher, we're getting older. They re-track huge sections of it every year. I feel like it's running great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zand Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I contend that Twister isn't getting rougher, we're getting older. Aint that the truth! Although I have noticed now that I "fill out" the seats in PTC trains a little more these days, they can't throw me around as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Add to the cost saving cuts. Lake Compounce announced Wipeout is getting the ax. https://www.facebook.com/80018245271/posts/10158490762370272/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 They made out better than the other Parques Reunidos parks. Nobody cares about that ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 17 minutes ago, coasterbill said: They made out better than the other Parques Reunidos parks. Nobody cares about that ride. I hear you but for a park that really doesn’t have that many rides it’s just another one gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 ^Isn't it at least better than what people were worried about them taking out!? Wasn't a lot more rumored to leave like the sky ride, log flume, etc.? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenturyFlyer Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 ^ I think the Sky Ride is already closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Sadly the sky ride was demolished. The park cited safety concerns when they took it out if they ever had to evacuate it. Keep in mind, Lake Compounce also quietly had closed their best water slide last year in Lights Out. I think they're going to keep it standing since the Lighthouse it's built into is probably the most iconic structure at the water park (well as iconic as a 2 decade old structure can be). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Imagine how much money they could save if they just toss Boulder Trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 6 hours ago, SharkTums said: ^Isn't it at least better than what people were worried about them taking out!? Wasn't a lot more rumored to leave like the sky ride, log flume, etc.? Oh no doubt. Like Canobie Coaster mentioned the sky ride is gone but removing wipeout is a much better choice then the flume. Glad that’s staying. They have the new Venus Vortex slide coming in so a positive addition on that front too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I still want to know why they didn't get more of the logs from Log Jammer when Kennywood closed that ride. Meanwhile Kennywood is auctioning them off on eBay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Oh man, I didn't realize they got rid of the Sky Ride already. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Finn Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 How can Kennywood justify closing FOUR rides (two great, one alright, one meh) and Lake Compounce gets away losing just one meh one? I know Kennywood has more to begin with, but still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Because Lake Compounce already got rid of everything else... 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 a new chance freestyle would be a fitting replacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 At least there's hope Lake Compounce will add something when they finally clear all the land around the lake and presumably make the park a full loop. Because removing a bunch of trees and clearing a bunch of land only to not use it would be as illogical as transferring the second train onto a roller coaster while the other one is on the circuit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 1 hour ago, grsupercity said: a new chance freestyle would be a fitting replacement Yea but something that SFNE doesn’t have would be welcomed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Quassy has one too. That said it's a flat ride so whatever. I still feel like it's replacement will be benches and a potted plant though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 To Lake Compounce's credit, more often than not they replace a removed attraction with something new. The only exception that I can think of off the top of my head is the Sky Ride. While we may not get a new ride next year, I imagine it will be replaced eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Didn't they also recently pull out some water slide/ride everyone liked and didn't replace it with anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScreaminNewEngland Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 3 minutes ago, boldikus said: Didn't they also recently pull out some water slide/ride everyone liked and didn't replace it with anything? They removed “lights out” which is considered to be the best attraction at the water park to most people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 They did close Lights Out (I doubt they'll remove it since it's part of the lighthouse structure), but they started building Venus Vortex shortly thereafter in a separate plot of land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Oh, the lighthouse thing? Yeah that was a super-popular slide that everyone liked that’s been there forever so I’m glad they saw another opportunity to suck monkey nuts and took immediate action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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