Pt 2: Coasterfest at Lake Compounce
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Words cannot describe the wonder of this day. As we headed for Lake Compounce, Cindy and I, neither of us having visited before, speculated on what we thought the park would be like. I said I envisioned something along the lines of Americana, while Cindy guessed it would be like Lake Winnie "with less stuff." We were wrong on both counts. Like Kennywood, you enter Lake Compounce through a tunnel. But what follows after that is simply a jaw dropper. Lake Compounce has the best entrance to any amusement park in the country! You walk out of the tunnel and come upon a scene that is truly magnificent. A lone carousel horse sits atop an old fountaintop filled with flowers. Behind that is a colorful building with marionettes spinning inside the windows. A world clock sits on top of the building, and more marionettes come outside and make their way across the balcony. All the while, beautiful, chime-like music plays popular sing along songs ("Keep Your Sunny Side Up" among others). Behind this wondrous setting sits the Wildcat roller-coaster, perfectly framing this magnificent entrance. And of course the mountains loom even farther in the distance. What a surprise Lake Compounce is! This park is so pretty, so relaxed, so traditional, so unique! The mountainside setting is truly grand, and the quality of everything at this park is first rate. The employees are friendly, the rides are attractively presented (in particular the swinging gondola ship) and look well maintained, there is no trash to be found anywhere, and the whole atmosphere is one of relaxed, family fun. This was day two of the Western New York Coaster Club's Coasterfest 2000. There were many RRCers in attendance, but surprisingly the entire event only drew 108 participants. One of the things I liked most about this particular trip was that it gave me a chance to spend some quality time with people who, for whatever reason, I had either never met or never had a chance to really hang out with. I really enjoyed getting to hang out at various times with CoasterSue and Rich, Alan Weiland, Steve O'Brien, Ed Nelson, Kevin Dorey, May Coryell and Stephen Fox. And of course, it was the most fun getting to hang out with all the other RRCers in attendance, and there were many! We met Shawn Mamros at the gate and ran into Adam and Bret. Shawn suggested we hit Wildcat first so as not to be too let down after riding Boulder Dash. Adam and Bret looked at us like we were crazy and bolted for the boulders. We climbed in the front seat of Wildcat, where I took what would turn out to be my one and only ride. Wildcat is fun, but there's not much else to say. It doesn't have any airtime, but it has good speed and some nice laterals. All the lateral throws are to the left, I believe, so tenderfoots should sit on the right. Oh yeah, and by all means, avoid the axle seats, they are brutal. The Wildcat isn't a terrible coaster, it just isn't terribly exciting. I told Cindy I wouldn't want to come back for ERT on it the next day, and it turns out nearly everyone else felt the same way - only eighteen showed up for ERT on Wildcat the next morning. Lake Compounce has a great variety of flat rides. Over the course of two days we did everything - the top spin, pirate ship, giant ferris wheel, enterprise, carousel, flying scooters, trolley and the train. The carousel is very nice, and Chris Lucht said they played funky music, though I couldn't identify the song playing when we rode. The trolley was great fun, but the view from the train ride was outstanding! I would ride this again just to relax and enjoy seeing the park from across the lake! There is another *awesome* ride called The Tornado! It is like a spinning tea cups ride only this time you sit in open air seats and are airborne!!! It was *great* fun and CoasterSue, Cindy, Fred and I got our car to spinning amazingly fast! Surprisingly, the flyers had to be the biggest letdown. You simply are not allowed to have any fun on them. Poor Ed Nelson. The man only *looked* like he might be getting close to snapping a cable and the ride op barked at him over her microphone. There are three outstanding rides at Lake Compounce. The first is Ghost Hunt. This is a Sally dark ride where two people sit in a moving car and shoot at targets, some of which move. It was great fun, and Cindy and I developed quite an intense rivalry! Tim Vaughn got off saying "try to beat 1080." Well, I rode with Cindy, and while I shot a respectable 790, Cindy scored an amazing 1710! Well, I was clearly given a challenge, and I was ready to meet it! On our next game, I saw her 1710 and raised her 1820! Yay me! Cindy's quite a competitor, though, and she insisted on riding alone the next time. Without the challenge of a competitor, she scored an amazing 2190!!! So while she holds the single rider high score, I was still able to retain the highest score with competition. Next showdown at sunset! Note: There are several gargoyles guarding this attraction. One of them spits water at unsuspecting guests as they pass by. And another has the most disturbing looking tail that, because of the way it protrudes beneath it's legs, looks like a satanic penis! Another great ride at Lake Compounce is the scary Sky Ride. Now this isn't some piddly 30 ft. off the ground colored tub you ride over the midway, no sirree. This is an honest to goodness ski lift that seats four and goes aaaaaaallllll the way up the mountain..............and back down again. The entire trip takes half an hour, and the view was spectacular! I rode with Cindy, Chris Lucht and Fred Biederman, and it was hilarious seeing the different reactions of people going up such heights in such a vulnerable contraption. As I told Fred while he grasped the handle bar with all his might, "the only thing holding this up is one little bolt!" "Oooooooh," said Fred. It's good to be bad. The food is another great asset at Lake Compounce. A bunch of us had lunch at the Croc Pot cafeteria, and it was outstanding! I had never had Clam Chowder before, so I figured when in New England...... anyway, I loved it! I had also never had a candied apple before. Ugh. Yuck. Patooey! As Cindy said, "underneath all that sugar, it's still an apple." I threw it away after three bites. Other new stuff we tried included Flavor Blast ice cream cones (I had a vanilla cone with butterscotch flavor blast - I liked it but it kept repeating on me for the rest of the night) and Bavarian glazed nuts! These were so good I will order them every single time I visit Lake Compounce. Cindy got the pecans per Chris Lucht's recommendation, I dissed him and got the almonds. The pecans were better - next time I'll listen! We got these at SFNE a few days later, and Lake Compounce's were much better! I also had patch fries the following day and all I can say is thank God for Kennywood! One more word about food. The WNYCC all-you-can-eat-till-you-hurl buffet was unlike anything you've ever seen. I remember being impressed at last year's event at Martin's Fantasy Island, but this year's spread was so incredibly gluttonous it was like being at the Rio in Vegas! They had hot dogs, italian sausages, hamburgers, chicken, barbeque ribs, veggie burgers, tossed salad, two kinds of macaroni salad, two kinds of soup, o'brien potatoes, *crisp* corn on the cob, fresh fruit, you name it, they had it! And for dessert, all you had to do was open up a giant freezer and take your pick - fudge sicles, cream sicles, ice cream sandwiches, popsicles. I wanted to crawl in there and shut the door! WNYCC puts on a *GREAT* event and I will be attending Coasterfest every year from now on! Of course the star of the show was Boulder Dash! This thing looks SOOOOOOOO cool against that mountain backdrop. What an incredible setting! You look at the footers and they are literally poured right into some of the boulders! How in the heck did they build this!?!? I was not expecting to be blown away. I was expecting a fun ride, and nothing more. What I got instead was a coaster that exceeded every expectation, and in such dramatic fashion, that I don't think I have ever been more surprised by a coaster. It is simply the most incredible coaster I have ridden since Shivering Timbers. And it's not just an out and back. Yes, it looks cool, sitting up there against the mountainside, defying gravity. But it's still just an out back, right? WRONG! This coaster is WILD! It is easily the most thrilling ride I've ever ridden, with insane speed, constant sudden changes in direction, and surprises at every turn. You cannot tell what's coming up next, and each hill delivers a different variey of airtime. The out section is thrilling in it's constant directional changes - you get *thrown* to each side with every turn! My favorite hill on the out section - the one that follows the double down, has sustained floater air that lasts all the way to the bottom of the drop, and at night you can see the train's shadow against the huge boulder that sits a little too close to the hill! But the biggest surprise is in the return run. There is a sharp lateral that catches you by surprise every single time. It follows a humongous drop that is shocking in the amount of airtime it delivers, so you really can't prepare for that sudden change in direction! And the speed with which the train barrels down the track is simply incredible. You barely have time to register going over the trick track when you're thrown out of your seat again! My absolute favorite moment, though, occurs on the next to last hill. It is an OH MY GOD moment, and if you're riding with your seat belt fully extended and two clicks on your lap bar, you might want to sit in the back. Otherwise, prepare to moon those riding behind you! The thing that makes Boulder Dash so amazing is that every single seat delivers a number one ride. The front and back are so different, and the type of airtime you get is different as well. And they are both so good, I simply cannot pick a favorite. During ERT I rode primarily with Cindy, and we chose seat 4 because of the insane airtime we were getting over every hill! Seat *4*!!!! The lifthill on Boulder Dash is extremely steep, and the woods engulfing the lifthill are really quite creepy. During one of my night rides with Sean Flaharty, we started calling it Blair Witch: The Ride. We started making twig snapping sounds and saying things from the movie ("it's all around us"). Sean told Fred Biederman about it, and Fred insisted on having the last ride of the night with me. As we went up the lifthill we started imitating things from the movie, so I was already laughing. When we flew down the first drop and hit that first crook in the track Fred screamed out "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!" I just lost it! I started to laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. I was crying and my stomach doubled up. I'd completely forgotten about that line, and it made me laugh so hard I couldn't hold on. I was flailing about all over the seat, slamming into Fred and the other side of the car. I have never laughed so hard in my life! This was the best night of coastering I have ever had. Better than Stark Raven Mad, better than 2 1/2 hours on the Comet, better than 4 1/2 hours on the Vancouver Coaster. Boulder Dash is an all-out thriller, and it is number two on my list, right after Shivering Timbers. Who knows, it may even take over number one! This was a night I did not want to end. Lake Compounce graciously extended the ERT for an extra twenty minutes, and still it was not enough. As the event ended, an extended social hour began in between the coaster's entrance and exit ramps. Everyone slowly made their way out into the parking lot, but not before being serenaded one last time by the dancing marionettes in the entrance. Todd Long gave me a book to read, and Ted Ansley gave me two two-liter bottles of Cranberry Dry. Chris Lucht was passing out the Moxie for those who dared drink the dirt. It was a happy time in the parking lot, thanks to a happy time in what is without a doubt the most surprising park of the year. What a perfect day. What an incredibly thrilling night. And what a wonderful surprise to find such a top ten park in Lake Compounce. Up Next: Six Flags New England
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