Photo TR: Conneaut Lake, Fun Fore All and Kennywood

[CoasterFanatic]

Over the last couple of months, I am sure that you have seen the barrage of messages from me promoting this year's Coaster Conclave. Due to a couple of other events that were taking place this weekend, the numbers were much lower than I would have liked, but I was on a mission to make sure that this event still took place. With a lot of help from Mike Costello at Conneaut Lake Park and the dedicated members who showed up, the weekend was still a success in my mind. I think that the other attendees will also agree.

 

Friday evening, Catrina and I made our way to Meadville where we had a reservation at the local Holiday Inn Express. Along the way, I made some phone calls to a couple of friends that I knew would be staying in the Conneaut Lake area. After checking in, we made our way up to CoasterDave's room and called Paul Fowler (Carnage) to meet us at the Applebees across the street. It was a great opportunity to catch up with a couple of great coaster friends.

 

After a couple drinks and some food, we made our way back to our respective rooms to get some much needed sleep. We would be meeting up again very shortly at Conneaut Lake Park.

 

The next morning at Conneaut Lake Park, we met up at the gates and then went inside for some ERT on The Blue Streak!

 

David and Dave Hahner (KpBook04) grab the front row on The Blue Streak while Paul grabs a seat behind them.

 

John Hurter enjoying some very Exclusive Ride Time.

 

During most of the ERT, all the attendees just sat on the train and cruised right through the station.

 

After the ERT session was over, Mike Costello (Conneauts PR Director) escorted us through the structure for a little tour.

 

Inside the structure, we had some exclusive photo opportunities.

 

You narrator posing in front of the lifthill.

 

Little David posing for a shot near the rides pre-lift tunnel.

 

Catrina posing in front of the lifthill.

 

Would you guys like to go in the lifthouse?

 

You bet!

 

The Bluestreak is now on it's second lifthill motor after the first was fried this season during a lightning storm.

 

It may be old, but it gets the job done.

 

While Conneaut may be lacking a little in funds, they definately have the hardware to keep this thing running.

 

The power lines going to the lifthouse.

 

David poses for a nother shot. This time in front of the tunnel's exit to the lifthill.

 

Many people were amazed at the way this oak tree has engulfed part of the coaster.

 

Mike told us that this chain return was constructed only a week or so ago.

 

Once the park opened, we walked down the midway. Devil's Den would be the first public ride of the day.

 

Chris Godsey getting his "Credit"

 

Chris's wife, Natalee, looks to be amused by this rides playful nature.

 

Chris exiting the ride.

 

Later we walked down to the lake, where we were happy to see that the Toboggan was running.

 

Catrina was very entertained by her first Toboggan experience.

 

The one operating train made the Toboggan the longest line of the day. It must have been all of about 5 minutes of wait time.

 

Overview of the ride

 

Another shot of the Toboggan.

 

"Rumble on the Lake" was going on during our visit and the motorcyles were EVERYWHERE!

 

This one in particular really caught my eye.

 

David Drake (Coasterdave) enjoying his ride on the parks classic carousel.

 

Chris, on the other hand, looks quite angry.

 

Beautiful murals adorn the park's carousel on all sides.

 

Unfortunately, the park's Rollo-Plane was not operating. I think that a lack of staffing was keeping a couple of the park's rides from running.

 

But .... the Tumble Bug was running in all of it's refurbished glory.

 

Tumble Bug Detail.

 

Dave was having way to much fun sliding all over the car's bench seat.

 

More Tumble Bug riders.

 

What is this that I see?

 

A big thank you to Conneaut Lake Park for really rolling out the red carpet. Little extras like this made it a special day.

 

The NAD train waits for another chance to rip through the course.

 

Time for one more ride on the Bluestreak.

 

The Bluesteak was in good shape and running very well.

 

Before leaving the park, we had to go over and visit Kenny (KidCoaster) and get a ride on the park's newly reopened train.

 

Kenny seemed to really be enjoying his "Engineer for a Say" status. I think I even caught him running an empty train around the course a couple of times.

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

 

We passed by the Bluestreak Picnic where we just had our meal.

 

Ready ... Aim ....

 

Fire!

 

We left Conneaut and made our way to Fun Fore All where we would have our run of the place for three hours!

 

The boxing game was a hit with Natalee.

 

Catrina opted more for the classics.

 

Once the rain subsided, we went outside for a round of Putt-Putt.

 

Fun Fore All has two 18 hole courses. We choose the "Cave" course.

 

Dave lines up his shot with the uptmost precision.

 

Catrina and Natalee got impatient with us and skipped ahead the other holes.

 

Little David joined his mother and father in a round.

 

Now it was time for the REAL attraction.

 

Fiesta Express!

 

Paul, Dave and Myself just couldn't pass up a chance to ride the teacups.

 

More Teacup action.

 

Natalee held out for a while but just couldn't pass up a chance to whore it up on this 6ft coaster.

 

With Fun Fore All in the books, we stopped for dinner at a local Pittsburgh institution.

 

Primanti Brothers!

 

Now on to Day 2 of Conclave and it looks like Kennywood is getting ready for Fright Nights.

 

We gained three more people as Rick (Hombre), Jason (Phantom67) and Carrie (CoasterChickie) joined us for the day at Kennywood.

 

After entering the park, we went to Lost Kennywood and made Exterminator the first ride of the day.

 

Since Lost Kennywood remained quiet for a while, we went ahead and knocked out the rest of it's attractions. First The Whip and then Pitfall.

 

The sign.

 

Time to head over to Kennywood's newest attraction.

 

Swing Shot! (One side down as usual)

 

Little David is back for more photo opportunities.

 

Phantom's Revenge

 

A lot of the attendees really got a kick out of Kennywood's unique attractions. Over the course of the day, I think we hit them all.

 

John and Jenn share a car on the park's classic Traver Auto Race.

 

Catrina, your chaffeaur is waiting!

 

Chris and Natalee leaving the station.

 

Chris and Natalee poses for a picture before leaving their vehicle.

 

Of course, you have to shoot the same two pictures everyone else does on their Kennywood visits. I give you picture #1.

 

... and picture #2.

 

Some of the other attendees were taking picture from the rides entrance and I thought I would try the same.

 

Jack Rabbit.

 

The Somewhat New Jack Rabbit Logo.

 

After riding the Jack Rabbit, Catrina completely showed me up by winning this large stuffed Jerry.

 

Catrina and I posing with Kenny Kangaroo.

 

The rest of us wait for Racer while Jason watches on.

 

Looks like Jerry is starting to put the moves on my girl.

 

Post-Logjammer.

 

Paul had already visited Kennywood twice, but I never got to ride the Lil Phantom. That was ... until now!

 

In case you are not familiar with the Lil Phantom

 

Phantom dropping into the Ravine.

 

Within two days, we had ridden both of the Tumble Bugs in existence.

 

... and the only "Flying Coaster"

 

Now onto the park's classic Dentzel Carousel. (Jason is just way too cool to ride on a horse)

 

But Rick and Carrie aren't.

 

Catrina's favorite ride in the park.

 

One of my favorite food items in the park are these Ice Cream cones. They are excellent!

 

Catrina enjoying her cone.

 

Our last ride of the evening was Garfield's Nightmare.

 

Swapping Yarns with Smoking ... I mean ... Cowboy Joe.

 

Posing with Cowboy Joe.

 

Chris wanted to see some of Kennywood at night, so we walked back up to Lost Kennywood.

 

The parks fountains are beautiful at night.

 

Fountains.

 

More Fountains.

 

Even More Fountains.

 

Catrina and I pose for one more picture.

 

One more fountain picture.

 

Lost Kennywood.

 

OK ... I lied ... another fountain picture.

 

and another.

 

Another big thank you for everyone who helped make CoasterConclave 2006 an event to remember.

 

Thanks for reading!

[ImAPrincess]

I had a blast meeting up with everyone and it was AWESOME beating Ted, as usual...on my first throw no less

[Carnage]

It was a great weekend. I had alot of fun, and Blue Streak was really a sleeper hit for me.

 

I made it home in pretty much exactly 6 hours. Got away from Kennywood at 6, and made it home by 12. Unlike going into the US, the Canadian customs officer seemed to just be annoyed that I was interupting his computer game(I sweat that's what he was doing).

 

I'll post my TR later hopefully, including my experience in the Conneaut hotel.

[redfoot12]

Looks like you guys had mucho fun. Sorry I couldn't make it up there. I'll definitely try to make it up there next year.

 

Ted--any early ideas for what will happen for Coaster Conclave next year?

[memphish]

Looks like it turned out to be a great trip. Sorry I didn't end up making it up there, I got talked into using my free travel voucher the week before to go to Illinois.

[Dailey Enterprizes]

It's always interesting to see how Conneaut Lake Park is doing these days. Haha, I always make a bet to see if they run 3 or 4 cars on the Blue Streak because it tends to change everytime I visit. I'm happy to see the train and tumble bug running, those two rides were absent the last time I was there .

[FlyingScooter]

Great shots, Ted. Looks like you guys had a blast.