josephwanek Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Enchanted Castle On Friday the 15th, my boyfriend Joey and I left for Enchanted Castle in Lombard, IL. It is a family entertainment center, and a well endowed one at that. It has arcade games, a restaurant, mini golf, bumper cars, a 3D/4D simulation ride, and a very small powered coaster called the Dragon Coaster. This was going to be my 100th coaster (even though it is a powered). Ok, first some background on the story. So a few months back, my friend Sarah and I decided to get all the kiddie coaster credits in Chicago and the surrounding area. When we got to Enchanted Castle, we were denied because the Dragon Coaster had an under 52” height requirement. After being very disappointed, I sent an email to Enchanted Castle. The general manager, Ken Phillips, sent me back an email saying he was sorry and he was also a coaster enthusiast. He said he would like me to return so that I could get to ride the Dragon Coaster. He also provided us with a VIP status. When we got to Enchanted Castle on the 15th, we talked to the manager named Roy. He said he was expecting us and he immediately took us to the restaurant for a free pizza and pop. We also got a VIP wristband and tokens. We played some of the games for a while, including DDR. Then we decided to do the 3D simulator show. We tried one that was about space battles or something that looked like Starfox on Nintendo 64. I was pretty fun but all the kids definitely loved it. Then on to Enchanted Castle’s fun mini golf course. There were fountains and the whole thing was themed really well. My favorite part was the bumper cars though. Even though they were in a small space, the best part was that you can spin in a circle really really fast. It was better than some amusement park rides. And last but not least, the Dragon Coaster. For some reason, kiddie coasters are sometimes almost more of a thrill than big coasters. Even though it was small, it threw me up over the inclines, especially when going backwards. We had a great time at Enchanted Castle, and I definitely recommend it for any family in the area. Check out the picture attachments below (I still don’t know how to put them directly into the post). Kiddieland The next day, Joey and I went to Kiddieland in Melrose Park, IL. We made the mistake to come on the opening day which also had a ½ off coupon offer that we got at Jewel-Osco. So the admission was only $10 and there were hundreds of people waiting to get into this very small park. After waiting 40 minutes just to buy our tickets, we went straight to the coaster credit “Little Dipper” which is a small wooden family coaster that was built in 1950. And it was showing its age. The line wasn’t very long at all, but then some dumb woman told all of her relatives to come and cut. Now, these were adults, and they cut us and a large group of children. That’s right, these ADULTS were cutting a bunch of kids. So then we are about to get on the coaster next but then the ride operator had a problem. Since the Little Dipper is so old, it has manual breaks that the operator has to pull in order for the ride to stop. The train slipped on through and went back up the lift hill. She couldn’t stop again and it went on for a third ride. Finally she got it to stop, but this time it got stuck on the brake run. She had to call someone to help her push it back into the station. They unloaded the train and then ran it for a test run. At this point I was praying to God that I could get this credit. We got on the train in the back seat and it went up the lift hill. It was actually a pretty forceless ride, I was kind of disappointed. Then on to the water slide raft ride. It was the kind that has a two person raft that goes down in pitch black. We got cut by little bratty kids so many times that it really put us in a bad mood. Who knows where these kid’s parents were. The ride was really fun, but after that we decided that we had enough of this park. Obviously, the place is called Kiddieland and it is going to have kids there, but this park is bad at enforcing their “children under must be accompanied by an adult” rule. There were also not enough ride ops by a long shot. The girl running the Little Dipper was all alone and it looked like it was her first day on the job. However, if we had gone on a less busy day, I’m sure the park would have been a fun little place for people to bring their kids. Sorry! I don’t have pictures of Kiddieland, but you’re not missing much… Yay! You read the whole thing! Sorry, it was a little long for just two coasters. Oh my god! Is that Samora from The Ring? Oh..wait...no, that's just me putting that nasty horse tail on my face.... Joey playing mini golf. Joey riding the crazy spinning bumper cars. Yeah, sometimes horse games put me in the mood.... My 100th Coaster, "The Dragon Coaster" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockman89 Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Congrats on the big 100! It must be some wierd subconcious requirement that that coaster has to be a kiddie coaster. I think mine ended up being Woodstock's Express at Dorney Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maliboomer Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Lol, nice second picture very 'look at me on my horsey and wearing a polo, come ride me!' . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephwanek Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 ^ Haha, ya exactly. That damn horse game sucked though. I didn't know how to control it so I lost in, like, 30 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Boooo!!! Powered Coasters!!!! Elissa "Just kidding!" Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Force_4_ever Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Congrats on 100, I hate Enchanted Castle! when I went they wouldn't let me ride the little dragon coaster, I was too big issed: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephwanek Posted April 20, 2005 Author Share Posted April 20, 2005 ^Yeah, that's what happedned to me too but if you talk to Ken Phillips and tell him you are an enthusiast, you may be able to set something up to ride it. Although you may need to have a membership card to an enthusiast group but I'm not 100% sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Force_4_ever Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 ^I do have a membership card (yes it's valid ) do you have his email adress? oh yeah when I went to ride the dragon coaster I was even wearing an ACE shirt and they still wouldn't let me on!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiCoastal Kid Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 First picture made me go "Awwwwwwwww." Haha, sounds like you had fun Bratty kids and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I don't understand the point of having a maximum height limit on a ride, especially when the limit is not there because of safety. If the ride is safe for people over 52" to ride, then anyone should be allowed on. It also means more money for the place since they get more riders. I know it's probably to make sure the wait time is never too long for kids but at a place like that, I can't imagine the wait is ever that bad. In general, I wish that parks would use age for determining if you are allowed on kiddie rides rather than height as long as it's safe for someone of any height to go on the ride. It doesn't seem right to me that an 8 or 9 year old for example who might be tall for their age would not be allowed to go on certain rides with a height limit (even though people over the height limit might be allowed on the ride if they have a child within the height limit so it's not a matter of safety), but if an adult happens to be short like under 5 feet, they would be allowed on certain kiddie rides (not that most adults would want to go on a kiddie ride, I'm just saying they would be allowed to) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephwanek Posted April 21, 2005 Author Share Posted April 21, 2005 M_Force_4_ever, if you go to the enchanted castle website, http://enchanted.com you can find an email address. Ken Phillips (the general manager) is also an enthusiast, so he's sympathetic to us coaster whores. If you just tell him that you are a member of ACE, I'm sure you could set up a time when you could visit. YoshiFan, sometimes those rules are put into effect because of the ride makers maximum weight limit. Especially since the Dragon Coaster is so small; I could barely fit my legs in. So I understand in that situation, but when parks have that dumb rule about riding with a kid (example, Elissa always having to steal a kid for a credit), thats crazy. Obviously, if the ride can accomodate adults, everyone should be able to ride no matter what. Plus, one time I "stole" a kid to get the Wacky Worm credit at WOF, and my stolen kid smelled like a thrift store... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Yeah, I wish the parks would be more consistant with their crazy kids policies. That stupid kiddie at SFStL comes to mind! I saw this fat kid get off of the ride, so I went up and begged to ride. The guy said I was too big. I told him that I didn't actually weigh more than some of the kids, but he just laughed and said no! Elissa "Boooo" Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephwanek Posted April 21, 2005 Author Share Posted April 21, 2005 Yeah, that's the thing I hate the most. When you know you've seen an adult riding the same kiddie coaster in a picture on rcdb.com, and then when you go they tell you that there's no one allowed on over a certain height. I've actually tried to bribe the ride op with money before. Stupid ride ops that don't take bribes..... Joseph "10 bucks is the maximum bribe" Wanek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Force_4_ever Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I would print a picture of an adult on the coaster to prove it and say "this is photo proof of adults on the kiddie coaster! LET ME RIDE!!!!! lol thanks for the site Joseph I am going to email him today." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mind Eraser Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Why is everybody freaking out over a tiny POWERED coaster? -kip- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Force_4_ever Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I would print a picture of an adult on the coaster to prove it and say "this is photo proof of adults on the kiddie coaster! LET ME RIDE!!!!! lol " if the winking smilie and the lol wasn't enough to convince you it was a joke then I'm sorry I was "freaking out" and for the record, I'm not freaking out now. let's all calm down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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