Waldameer Discussion Thread

[GrapesLie]

So Ravine Flyer II just became my number 3 favorite wood coaster!

[firewalk13]

^ Night rides on Ravine Flyer II are AMAZING!! We had an hour of ERT last year with TPR at night once the park closed. One of the best ERT sessions I have ever experienced.

 

aww man, I am JEALOUS... The park's not far from me at all so I can probably try it this summer!

[A.J.]

i just wanted to remind everyone how freakishly awesome Ravine Flyer II is. I had thirteen rides on it on Saturday. The front and back seats are amazing, though I slightly prefer the front.

 

[molemaster43]

I was at Waldameer and Conneaut yesterday! Here are my Waldameer thoughts:

 

Ravine Flyer II: The ride was running great and was as good as ever! Tons of insane airtime, great views, and sheer speed make this ride great, along with some 90 degrees! I rode it twice and waited a maximum of 10 minutes.

 

Whacky Shack: Whacky Shack was nice and had great looking sets. This ride ended up having the longest line of the day with a 20-25 minute wait. I ended up riding it once.

 

XScream: This ride was absolutely insane! It was my first drop tower by this maker and it was really intense. It caught me completely off guard. I rode this four times and walked on each time.

 

Thunder River: I rode it when I was here last year and remembered it being pretty good. This year, it was great! The mist in the tunnels felt great and the ride was a lot of fun. This was a lot better than I remembered. I rode it once and waited about 5 minutes.

 

Steel Dragon: This was my first Maurer spinner and I had fun. The first drop did catch me off guard a bit as I was going backwards. The spinning was fun, but it did somewhat jerk me on the overbank. Overall, fun ride. I rode it once and waited about 10 minutes.

 

Pirate's Cove: Great walkthrough! Very disorienting and very long. Definitely go through it if you can.

 

Overall, I had a wonderful time at Waldameer. Great small park that has tons of fun rides and attractions!

[Philrad71]

^ I agree on RFII...went there on Tuesday and got two awesome rides on it. The coaster is still running great...insane speed, great views & still a top three wooden coaster for me.

 

My partners six year old granddaughter rode it for the first time & LOVED it. She even went hands up during her second ride!

 

We also rode the new Music Express and have to agree with others that it is one of the most insane ride cycles I have ever had on this type of ride. This is like something I would expect to ride at Oktoberfest!

[ajfelice]

Back with some updates and an interesting history find.

 

For 2014, Waldameer is looking at its infrastructure which needs to rapidly catch up to our increasingly larger crowds. On the amusement park side, a new restroom facility is planned to be constructed by Steel Dragon and Thunder River which will eliminate the need for the outdated restrooms in Rainbow Gardens which were not consistently open. Also, some of our ride lighting packages are planned to be converted to LED. XScream, Tilt-A-Whirl, and Spider (Yes, we are keeping it around) are all proposed for conversion this coming offseason (can't guarantee all three for sure, but they are all on the list). The Giant Ferris Wheel is still on the wish list for new lighting, but unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees yet. As we approach the Water World expansion/overhaul starting with the Wave Pool in 2015, several of the existing waterslides will receive some much needed TLC for 2014. The original Giant Body Slides, Presque Isle Plunge and Lake Erie Dip, are both being resurfaced and repainted lime green and yellow. The 3-slide complex of Bermuda Triangle and the 2-slide complex of Midnight Plunge and Awesome Twosome will also sport some flashy new colors.

 

In order to keep Ravine Flyer II from falling into the current stereotype for coasters from Gravity Group becoming rough, another 1/3 of the track will receive some retracking. I'm not sure which sections exactly, but I know that the majority of work will be on sections that weren't covered by the retracking project before 2013.

 

Also, when flipping through my copy of Jim Futrell's Images of America: Waldameer Park, I found a picture of one of the original layout proposals of Ravine Flyer II. This one is different from the previous CCI layout from the late 1990s and the current Gravity Group layout that was constructed. Sorry about the quality, but I was not about to flatten my new book to scan it, so I did the best I could with a mediocre camera.

[Geauga Dog]

Great to hear Waldameer is taking a year off from adding anything and working on making the guest experience better. I was unaware that Rainbow Gardens had a restroom so adding a new one in that part of the park is a welcomed addition.

 

As for the RFII layout I think they got the better ride by waiting so long to build it over the original proposal despite it looking like a longer ride.

[Myself]

I always thought there ought to be a restroom on that side of the park. Also good to hear about the LED packages.

 

Do you know any more about the plans to turn the Merry-Go-Round grove into a restaurant, by any chance? The last I heard about it, which was quite some time ago, it was tentatively scheduled to happen next season.

[SaraAB87]

Had a good time at the park this summer as it was my first visit, hopefully I can go back to get on the rides I missed. The park is tightly packed but there is a lot of things to do in a small area and a lot of seating which is good. You don't have to go far to get to the next ride. Food prices were good and the food was decent. I would buy food in the park again without question. It's possible to walk back to the car easily. The only problem was it took well over an hour just to get into the park after getting off the thruway and getting to the road the park is on which was extremely aggravating and frustrating especially for someone who doesn't know the area well. I am not sure if this is due to construction in the area or if it's just normal park traffic. This is not necessarily the park's fault. Perhaps there is a better way to get to the park off the highway that I don't know about.

 

Wally cards were not a problem, I just saved my prepaid gift cards that I win in online contests and used those to pay for food and drink.

 

The ravine flyer 3 was insane, but this was good, everyone was happy on this ride. When I was done I ran right back to get in line again! The music express is just downright painful, I also saw someone's glasses fly right off while on it, mine didn't fall off though. I got whipped on this ride so badly that I barely was able to ride any of the other rides. I won't be going on this again. But that again is personal preference, the others on this thread seem to like the ride. The other rides were all good. 2 trains on each coaster makes lines nonexistent or very very short, it's amazing what 2 train operations and properly trained ride staff can do for a park. No problems with ride ops or park operations here. You can't see the coasters because of the woods so that adds an element of mystery because you don't know what the coaster will be like when you get on it.

 

Overall I would definitely go back to the park, a much better experience than other parks.

[ajfelice]

I thought many of us TPR might enjoy taking a stroll through a park in the city that leads the USA in snowfall, Erie PA. Look for some 2014 improvement updates mixed in as well!

 

Paratrooper is getting a complete repaint plus a new lighting centerpiece that replaces the unreliable florescent tubes that were previously used.

Winter Lift Hill Porn.

Comet did not receive too much track work, but a lot of new wood in the coaster's superstructure.

Interesting how Zamperla Mega Disk'Os are folded up for winter.

I crawled underneath the tarp on the recently delivered Ali Baba ride vehicle to take a sneak peek at the new individual lap bars. Also, work is being done to improve the lighting.

Thunder River boats are all getting a much more extensive rehab than in years past, and we also did some work on the conveyer lift motors on "Big Thunder."

Tilt-A-Whirl cars are getting a rehab with new paint! Unfortunately, the LED lighting package was cut from this years budget.

$100,000 later and XScream has new LEDs! We will finish the crown on the top once the weather improves.

First time walking the entire Steel Dragon lift.

Wipeout is getting a new backdrop. Lighting package also received some much needed love.

Another significant re-tracking project was completed on Ravine Flyer II. This section was the only accessible one in the offseason. Test runs in October were fantastic! (Many of these RFII pictures were taken a few weeks earlier when it was safer to do some climbing)

Transfer track got re-tracked and adjusted in hopes of eliminating the many mornings of manually pushing the 12,000lb train.

A winter lift walk was one of my nerdy goals this year!

Is riding without a car considered a new credit?

Edited January 28, 2014 by ajfelice

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Good to hear about the slide repaints. Nothing is worse IMO than seeing only White/Dark slides.

[kidcoaster 2]

^^ Thanks for the look! I loved getting a offseason tour of the park a few years back. It's very peaceful.

[arby]

Thanks for sharing the pictures and giving us an inside look at what's happening at Waldameer in the off season. It's sad that I grew up in western PA and have not yet been to Waldameer. I hope to change that in the next year or two.

[Geauga Dog]

Thank you so much for those off season photos. What a great way to warm up on these bone chilling days as of late. Those LED's on X Scream are going to look sharp at night.

 

Love the photo of Steel Dragon from the top of the lift since that is a hard ride to get good photos of.

[coasterbill]

Those LED's on X Scream are going to look sharp at night.

 

I totally agree, they look great on the Knoebels version.

[ScottyDoesKnow]

Awesome photos! Can't wait to go back to Waldameer this summer!

[LiMiT]

This was a great decision by Waldameer to look at improving already existing rides. Looking at the first drop, I never noticed the houses at the bottom of the hill! I wonder what it's like to live so close to a roller coaster...

[Philrad71]

^ I believe those are summer cottages at Sara's Campground but even still, I would imagine that it has to get pretty loud in those units right next to the drop. I believe that is why it took forever for Waldameer to get the go ahead to build RFII is because the people that owned units in that same area (and Sara's, I believe) were fighting it.

 

Anyhow, thanks for posting the report...very cool! I would assume that Jamestown and Buffalo can't be too far behind you in the snowfall derby!

[BrownStreak]

Kinda funny to see this update! I'm an OTR Truck Driver and I just passed this park two days ago on the way to a pick-up location in Erie...

[XYZ]

Waldablog posted two interesting posts about Ravine Flyer II:

 

http://waldameer.blogspot.com/

[KI Kidd]

Thanks for posting, nice to see Ravine Flyer II getting some love!

[OISU8P]

Looks like some of Erie's finest came out of hibernation...

 

Man Stabbed At Waldameer Park

MAY 26, 2014-- A man is in the hospital after he was reportedly stabbed at Waldameer Park. Police were on the scene at Waldameer after a man was reportedly slashed in the neck near the games center. Waldameer Park officials say the victim was inside the park and ran out to the parking lot. They say he was not cooperating with police at the time but was taken to UPMC Hamot for treatment. Shortly after the incident police say a large fight broke out. Police have a few people in custody involving the fight but are not sure if they were involved in the stabbing at this time. Waldameer Park officials say they have security on the property and have not had something like this happen in years, but they are prepared. The park was slowly shut down as part of procedure following the incidents. Police say they are going to the hospital to talk to the victim again. The park says they only host fire works the day before major holidays now in case something happens in large crowds.

 

http://www.yourerie.com/news/news-article/d/story/man-stabbed-at-waldameer-park/12660/Th7NWbstlUqdQT_YxtYEnQ

[Philrad71]

^ This is really pathetic & sad to see.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they stop the Memorial Day and Labor Day fireworks because it seems like they tend to get a bit of unruliness at the park during those holiday weekends.

 

This incident will undoubtedly get park management to perform a risk assessment to weigh the benefits and the risks for future holidays. I think at minimum that they would have to heavily increase security and police presence in the park at future events based on this incident alone.

 

When we went on Memorial Day a couple of years ago, I could not believe the amount of line jumping and just overall lack of respect shown towards other park guests and park employees while we were there...it was really disheartening to see people act this way in an otherwise family-friendly park. Adult parents swearing openly in front of (or at) their own kids, open smoking around young kids and pre-teen kids throwing f-bombs and threats at my 71 year old partner because he stood up to a blatant line-jumper....that just totally ruined it for us.

 

Unfortunately because of our experience there, we have no desire to ever go back to the park on a holiday weekend. We'll simply keep our visits to weekdays in the summer instead when the park is usually less crowded...and has less douchebags.

 

Personally, I think they should completely scrap the free admission into the park and start forcing people to pay an admission fee ($20 for the park and then $30 for the water park combo).

 

Perhaps try this (at minimum) on the holiday weekends in hopes that it might keep out some of the riff-raff?

[ajfelice]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they stop the Memorial Day and Labor Day fireworks because it seems like they tend to get a bit of unruliness at the park during those holiday weekends.

 

Fireworks nights are not the problem. Fireworks are held the day prior to Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day when crowds are actually much higher. The last time fireworks were held on Memorial Day was 2011 only because a major storm cancelled the show originally planned for the night before. Even before 2011, Waldameer held fireworks on the days prior to holidays for several years. Fireworks night are actually a very exciting night to be in the park. Lots of families who bring multiple generations to the park, and many groups of friends meet up for the evening. It's really a community event as Waldameer is one of the very few places to see fireworks in the Erie area anymore. Crowds are far from unruly on fireworks nights.

 

Memorial Day Monday with absolutely no fireworks, special events, or offers was the night that had this incident. The incident will continue to be investigated and analyzed to determine the appropriate actions to be taken in the future.

[coasterbill]

We were thinking about visiting on Labor Day weekend on our way back from Cedar Point but obviously I'm a little hesitant to do so now. I know this incident is extreme no matter what kind of crowd the park draws but do they typically have a rougher crowd?

 

Forgive my ignorance, I just don't know much about the park other than the fact that they have a great wood coaster.