Rastuso Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 Seabreeze Park – June 9th, 2009 I only visited Seabreeze once when I lived in Niagara Falls. It was the day I bought my main axe, an Ibanez Joe Satriani model, from the House of Guitars. My parents were in town, so we made a quick visit. Unfortunately, the unique Bobsled coaster was closed. I didn’t recall the Jack Rabbit being very good either, so I didn’t have high hopes for a return visit. My family was joined by grandma and my 3 year old great neice, who had never been to an amusement park. We start out by dropping by the House of Guitars, I think for the first time since I bought said Ibanez that is still my beloved main axe. It looked exactly the same. The front building jam packed with guitars, although I saw no Ibanez ones. The back building a perfect example of what music stores used to be before Richard Branson took them over, and the record industry sued all it’s customers so they refuse to buy records any more. A huge room filled with various media, including tons of imports. Of course, I don’t buy music anymore, since I know how the recording industry works now, but my son wanted to buy a CD. Of course, it had to be Metallica. We looked though all the import singles and regular stuff, but couldn’t find a King Nothing one, his favorite. A worker did find a US single in another spot.. It amazes me how anyone can find anything there. They have tons of pics too, including a vintage one of Metallica, probably from the day they opened for Aerosmith at the local baseball stadium. A great show, with a weird lineup including Metallica and Warrant!?! We then go to Hank’s Roast Beef and Ice Cream that I found online. They made some great burgers, and I had their Frankenstein Roast Beef Sandwich that was damn good. Their ice cream is just Perry’s. Not bad, but not home made there. We get to the park about 15 minutes after their first evening opening to find a pretty large crowd. The main lot was already full, a really bad sign. We park about half way down the Jack Rabbit and go get tickets. They charge a hefty $10 for non riders, and only $7 more for riders. They really should have a cheap senior entry fee, since my mother in law paid $10 to watch people, although I do think she got her money’s worth. First up, of course, was the in-house built Bobsled coaster. This is a hybrid wood structure ride with tubular steel track. I believe it was built to resemble the Mattterhorn, and it sure does. You ride in 4 person single cars with comfy restraints. The ride starts off excellently with a series of bunny hops and a great diving S-curve leading to the lift. After that, the ride is a series of big drops, followed by turnarounds with small drops in them. The ending is a nice downward helix. This ride is amazing. My son and I love it. I quickly get on the cell phone to tell my wife she’s gotta get down to this ride, as she’ll definitely like it. She was with my great neice in the kiddy section. My son and I go and ride the spinning mouse while we wait for them to arrive. This is a clone of the Waldameer mouse, and is just as fun with not too much spinning. We decide that our niece could ride the Bobsled too, if she was willing. She was, so we all got in the surprisingly short line and hopped aboard. Well, my neice absolutely LOVED it, squealing and giggling the whole ride. We all decided for another ride, again fun was had by all. This ride really kicks serious fun We ask our niece if she’s interested in the frog hopper, and she says yes. So, I ride that with her to again here tons of giggling. My son chooses the Music Express, since he has discovered he loves spinning rides, and I sure don’t. The little one rides the incredible carousel next. A very well taken care of antique, with a simply amazing organ. The signs say it is a reproduction, but uses some original parts for the more intricate features. They also have a complete set of music reels for this model of organ. It sounds absolutely amazing, and all the percussion add-ons work perfectly. This is the true gem of the park. I guess the original burned down a fire a few years back, but this obviously well built replica is total ear candy to anyone who loves the sound of a classic midway. We return to the kiddie area where my niece rides everything over and over. She’s having an absolute ball, and obviously is a junior thrill rider. My son hits the yo-yo and we contemplate the log ride, but it looks fairly average and its jacket weather, so we skip it. We make it up to the other end of the park, home to the Bear Trax kiddie coaster and Jack Rabbit. We all take spins on Bear Trax, which is again loved by the little one. My son and I then get into the not too bad line for Jack Rabbit. I really thought the lines would be worse with the crowd, but the park was just right. Full enough that it’s obviously healthy, but not too full to hurt your experience. Despite the Morgan trains, Jack Rabbit was quite fun, especially the drop after the double down. The ending tunnel was fun too. Much better than I remembered when I rode with my dad many years ago. Night had fallen, and the park was just fabulously lit up with all the rides moving, the awesome organ playing, and the sight of tons of families having great fun together. This was really a magical night. One of the best traditional park experiences I’ve ever had. They do desperately need a good old fashioned Pretzel dark ride to be a perfect park. Their ride selection was very similar to Waldameer, but Seabreeze is much cleaner, and has a great setting, with Lake Erie visible from the Bobsled and Mouse. Not to knock Waldameer though, it’s still a great park too. We decide we all need some more Bobsled rides, so we leave grandma at the front gate and run down for what ends up being 2 rides because we just couldn’t get enough. This made us god a bit longer than expected, which didn’t impress grandma, who was a bit upset when we returned. We bid farewell to a wonderful park, and I wondered why I hadn’t been there more often. I’ll definitely return if I make it back to Buffalo in the Summer. Don’t miss this gem of a park. The amazing organ. I had a stick of cotton candy while I watched the spinning lights and listened to this amazing organ. Truly a slice of heaven. The park has lots of historic signs showing how it has changed over the years. My son enjoys the Crazy Daisy. A new coaster enthusiast is born. God, I love traditional parks. Where else can a little girl go and ride tons of unique rides just her size, and also ride some great coasters. More of the great Bobsleds. A view from the top of the ride. The start of the excellent Bobsleds coaster. The huge record store area. Back in the day, this place was hopping. Now, it's probably one of the largest record stores still in existance. Truly a dying breed. A fraction of all the amazing guitars they have. About 18 years ago, I tried out my custom made Joe Satriani Ibanez right here, Nothing's changed. The world famous House of Guitars. My wife and great niece get demonic on the Bear Trax.
tedten Posted June 30, 2009 Posted June 30, 2009 Thanks for posting! Looks like a great time. I think there are still quite a few of the larger record stores, mostly in large cities. I know St. Louis had an absolutely huge one we got to wind our way through for an artist's signing session. Keep up the TR's!
Speeddeamon128 Posted June 30, 2009 Posted June 30, 2009 Nice TR! I visited Seabreeze with TRP & had a great time. Whirlwind is a lot of fun!
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