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Photo TR: Credit Run in the Northeast


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While browsing around RCDB about a month ago, I was shocked to find how many coasters I was missing in New England and the nearby area. I knew I had never been to La Ronde, but several of the ski resorts added mountain coasters or there were scattered smaller credits I never got. I've embarked on a 2 month quest to try and reduce this number.

 

York's Wild Kingdom- Page 1

Funtown U.S.A.- Page 1

Canobie Lake Park- Page 1

Story Land- Page 1

Cranmore Adventure Park- Page 2

Attitash Mountain Resort- Page 2

Santa's Village (in summer)- Page 2

Marshfield Fair- Page 4

Granby Zoo- Page 4

La Ronde- Page 5

Killington Resort- Page 6

Okemo Mountain Resort- Page 7

Gunstock Mountain Resort- Page 7

Adventureland- Page 7

Bowcraft Amusement Park- Page 7

Camelback Mountain Resort- Page 8

Party Zone USA- Page 8

Big E- Page 8

Canada's Wonderland- Page 8

Niagara Falls Fun- Page 8

Sky High Adventure Park- Page 10

Lake Compounce- Park Discussion Thread

Berkshire East Mountain Resort- Page 10

Six Flags New England- Page 11

Santa's Village (in winter)- Page 11

iPlay America- Page 12

Six Flags Great Adventure (Holiday in the Park)- Page 12

 

York's Wild Kingdom

I hadn't been to York's Wild Kingdom in almost 10 years. Primarily a zoo, the park also has a decent rides area with some good fun houses and other flat rides. The real reason for my visit was to ride the park's Wacky Mouse, a wacky worm, that wasn't there in my last visit.

 

Wacky Mouse was basically what I expected except there was a trim brake on the ride's "big" drop. Why aren't people signing petitions for this like they did with the trim brake on Intimidator 305's drop? This is major news if I'm a kid.

 

The fun houses had some effects down and the park doesn't allow you to go upside down any more, but the fun houses are still unique. The Persian Camel one has sliding staircases which is a rare and very fun gag. Then the Jungle Fun House feels like a cheap version of Noah's Ark and I loved every moment of it.

 

My favorite ride at the park is still the Ferris Wheel. The park runs this one quite a bit faster than most parks and this produces a tummy tickling sensation going over the top. It also helps that the views of York Beach are very nice.

 

On a sad note, the park removed their old Bumper Cars, which were amazing. They added new bumper cars by the Go Karts, but these cars were extremely slow and couldn't do anything more than tap other cars.

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This is still the best ride in the park. They seriously run this faster than any other park.

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This is some of the theming you get inside lol.

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The wonderfully cheap Jungle Fun House. Look at that gorilla!

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They also have a barrel, but you can't go upside down any longer.

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The other fun house is the Persian Camel fun house.

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I imagine the sliding stairs would be difficult/funny if one were intoxicated. Please add these to a German fair circuit.

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And a Scrambler.

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There's also a round up that can hypnotize you into going on the Wacky Mouse. I was hypnotized.

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There it is in all of its glory. The trim brake of doom.

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Specifically this one.

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York's Wild Kingdom. Most people come for the animals. I come for the rides.

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And you get views of the beach.

Edited by Canobie Coaster
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Funtown U.S.A.

 

I was shocked to have realized I hadn't been to Funtown in almost 8 years, so I decided to remedy that with a visit after York's Wild KIngdom as the park was offering an $11 late night special. I had all of the credits, so the visit was purely to ride my favorites at the park. I still love the overall family vibe at the park, but the ride park can definitely be done in just a few hours. Most of their recent additions have added to the water park. My ride count for the day was:

 

Excalibur- 4X

Dragon's Descent- 3X

Astrosphere- 1X

Thunder Falls Log Flume- 1X

Bumper Cars- 1X

Wild Mouse- 1X

 

Excalibur- This was one of my first wooden coasters and it's still a favorite of mine. The ride has a great setting in the woods and the first drop is surprisingly steep which results in some powerful air in the back. The entire first half has some really strong air. The second half seems to lose quite a bit of speed though and substitutes the air for laterals. Night rides on this are particularly nice since there's no light out in the woods. 8 out of 10

 

Wild Mouse- This is a pretty average mouse. The ride looks big where it's located in the park since it's near the Tilt-a-Whirl, Frog Hopper, and Astrosphere. 6 out of 10

 

Dragon's Descent- In general I prefer other manufacturers' drop towers to the S&S ones, but Dragon's Descent is one of the best S&S ones I've been on. The park has a very nicely themed area around the tower and the views from the top are fantastic (sit on the side facing the dragon entrance and you can see the ocean and Palace Playland's Galaxi coaster). The drop gives a nice burst of air, but slows up faster than the other manufacturers. 8 out of 10

 

Astrosphere- This is hands down the best scrambler anywhere. It may not be as fast as some of the others, but it has a long cycle and an incredibly good light show. And Fire on High is one of my favorite songs. 10 out of 10

 

Thunder Falls Log Flume- A very good log flume. The ride hugs the terrain well and has a long layout. The final drop is fairly tall and the splash has the perfect amount of wetness. 9 out of 10

 

Bumper Cars- These are some of the best bumper cars around. The park gives a 5 minute cycle and allows you to go in any direction. This is also the only park I've seen that doesn't discourage head-on collisions. 10 out of 10

 

On a sad note, the park no longer sells authentic metal swords by Excalibur.

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It's highlighted by the amazing light and music show known as Astrosphere.

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The 5 minute cycle, head-on collisions are permitted Bumper Cars are up there too.

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Dragon's Descent is the tallest thrill ride in New England.

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Bye Funtown. I'll be back next year.

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And one of the best themed drop towers anywhere.

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Better than the prequel trilogy.

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I took a lot of photos of the drop tower, but that's because it's so well themed.

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It's the little things like this that make me like Funtown.

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This is what I like to see in the parking lot. The lift hill is about the only part of Excalibur you can see before walking up to it.

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Any park with a suit of armor is good in my book.

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The drop pod and mat racer slides were new since my last visit. I didn't get a chance to visit the water park though. They looked nice!

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I really like the Sea Dragon's appearance over the water. It's a small touch but I really like it for some reason.

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I did ride this water ride. Thunder Falls is a great log flume.

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The park really tries to give you an unacceptable amount of wetness by color coding the drop to the water cannons.

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The park has a good collection of classic flats.

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The park's other coaster is a pretty typical wild mouse.

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Canobie Lake Park

 

I had all of the roller coaster credits at Canobie, but I was overdue for my annual visit to the park. I love Canobie (if my user name doesn't give that away) and have been going there my whole life. The park is very well run and has the perfect classic park atmosphere.

 

One of the primary reasons for my visit was to check out Canobie's new pinball parlor. The park renovated the old arcade near Untamed and moved all of the park's pinball machines there. The park had a great mix of classic machines with modern machines and I'll be sure to stop in for at least a game or two in all of my visits.

 

Yankee Cannonball- This was my first wooden coaster so it holds a special place in my heart. The park takes care of the ride well as it is one of the smoothest wooden coasters anywhere despite being 80 years old. The first and third drops still gives really good air in the back; however, the GCI retracking smoothed out the ride and sapped it of the air-time that used to be present on almost every hill. The ride is still fun and a classic, but it's not as good as it used to be. 7 out of 10

 

Untamed- My first Eurofighter is an intense little coaster. I love the bear-themed cars and lodge-themed station. The first drop gives really strong air and is the most intense moment in the park. Unfortunately the rest of the ride needs to be ridden defensively as the transitions can be pretty rough. I'd love to see this get lapbar only trains, but until then I'll continue to ride it defensively to enjoy the loop, inline twist, and first drop. 7 out of 10

 

Canobie Corkscrew- Every year I visit, I keep thinking it will be the ride's last year. However, the ride just keeps on kicking. The first drop still gives good air in the back and the corkscrews aren't too uncomfortable since I've ridden it enough that I can brace myself appropriately. 6 out of 10

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It was 60 degrees, so I wasn't feeling the Boston Tea Party.

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Great lighting package on the ferris wheel.

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I did get the fried clams though. They were decent, but a little expensive even by park standards.

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Classic log flume.

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I'm at Roller Coaster Tycoon the park.

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Star Blaster is one of the best double shot towers.

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Actually not really. Roller Coaster Tycoon the park would have the vehicle shooting off the tower.

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I haven't found a rotor or gravitron that goes nearly as fast as Canobie's.

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Inside here is the craziest rotor around.

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And those cars.

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Untamed is wild.

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I just love the station.

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This is the only photo I got of the Cannonball. It's a really difficult ride to photograph from inside the park since it runs along the parking lot.

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Ghostbusters

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Lord of the Rings

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And lastly the pinball parlor!

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Pirates

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And the famous Roller Coaster Tycoon

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Spider-Man (wish it wasn't themed to 3 though)

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Star Trek

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Star Wars

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Classics like Super Mario Bros.

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  • 1 month later...
Sorry to hear the fried clams were just decent. I always recommend that place even though it is expensive because I like when parks serve local food and the clams were fresh both times I bought them.

 

I really appreciate them serving the local food, but objectively I've had far better clams. Maybe they were better in past years. I've found the park's food quality has been trending downwards in the past few years.

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Story Land

 

Because of my love for Quassy's Wooden Warrior, I had to check out Story Land's version, Roar-o-Saurus. I don't know why it took me this long to get back to the park (actually I do; it's probably because I have a beard and no kids) but I really enjoyed my visit. Story Land is one of the best themed parks around. Even their standard rides like the tilt-a-whirl, tubs-of-fun, and flying scooters are themed. The park is also littered with playgrounds and play areas for the young kids.

 

Roar-o-Saurus- For anyone who has been on Wooden Warrior, Roar-o-Saurus is a more aggressive version. The ride has more hills, all of which have airtime. I think I counted 12-13 moments of air time. The ride is pretty smooth; some of the turns have shuffling but that's a relatively minor complaint. Don't be fooled by the ride's size because this is definitely one of the top 10 wooden coasters I've been on out of the 70 or so I've been on. 9 out of 10

 

Polar Coaster- The park's oldest coaster is still a unique little coaster. Situated on the park's hill, the Polar Coaster has a mine train esque layout with small dips and a solid final helix. For a junior coaster, it's a really fun ride. 6 out of 10

 

The park also has a great collection of water rides. The flume (Bamboo Chutes) has the best themed ride vehicles anywhere in my opinion and a solid layout. The river rapids ride (Dr. Geyser's) is an interesting version. There's no rapids whatsoever, but instead the ride has several sprayers and geysers to get you wet. Then there's Splash Battle if you want to leave drenched from head to toe.

 

Onto the photos!

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Story Land is one of the nicest themed parks around.

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The park has plenty of little play areas for the kids.

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Hope there's some air freshener in there.

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I always wanted to milk a cow! If this is one of your dreams too, get down to Story Land.

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Welcome to Story Land. For future reference, going here alone with a beard probably looked kind of sketchy.

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No wolf, so everyone is safe.

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Omg is that really a Tebow jersey...

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Beware of animals.

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The horses rock back and forth. It's a good way to exercise.

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The park also has the best carousel without rings.

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Or regular cars if you don't want to feel like a hick.

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The Bamboo Chutes is a cute little flume. Yes that is a dragon. And he may blow all of the rides. With water that is.

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These are the best ride vehicles ever.

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Crazy Barn is an interesting flat.

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If spinning is your thing, Cuckoo Clockenspiel has you covered.

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Just look at the detail on this tubs of fun ride.

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If a dragon blowing on you doesn't get you wet enough, there's Dr. Geyser's.

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This is how I learned to make it rain.

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They also have these farm tractors.

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The park even themed their flying scooters. Unfortunately they're pretty tame and unsnappable.

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This was one of my first ever coasters way back when.

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The Polar Coaster feels like a mini mine train coaster. The park uses its natural terrain very well.

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Story Land may be the park with the best trains/ride vehicles anywhere. Yes better than Disney.

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This is the park's only real thrill ride. Half the kids I saw came off crying. The other half were excited and ran back in line.

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The real reason for my visit was the park's Gravity Group woodie, Roar-o-Saurus.

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Roar-o-Saurus was fantastic. It's an intense little coaster with way more airtime than woodies 2-4 times its size.

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Lift hill porn.

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I love the trains! The park's attention to detail is impeccable.

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Oh yeah they also have the safari ride which is an awesome rip off of the Jungle Cruise.

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It even has a little white girl!

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Then there's this evil thing if you really really want to get wet.

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If you're not dizzy enough there's the Turtle Twirl.

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Nice report thus far.

 

I totally agree with the Roar-o-Saurus love. Gravity Group did an amazing job on this ride. It doesn't look like much from the ground but it is just so much fun. You could make a case that it's the third or fourth best wooden coaster east of the Appalachian mountains behind El Toro and Boulder Dash.

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Awesome TR! Looking forward to the less talked about Mountain Coasters!

 

Thanks! I really like mountain coasters. Usually they have great settings and do a great job maintaining their speed the whole way down. I actually just rode the one at Berkshire Mountain a few hours ago and it was one of the best ones I've been on. My favorite still is the Attitash one.

 

Nice report thus far.

 

I totally agree with the Roar-o-Saurus love. Gravity Group did an amazing job on this ride. It doesn't look like much from the ground but it is just so much fun. You could make a case that it's the third or fourth best wooden coaster east of the Appalachian mountains behind El Toro and Boulder Dash.

 

Thanks! The first time I rode Wooden Warrior I was expecting a kids ride, not an intense little ride jam packed with air. I figured Roar-O-Saurus would be the same and I was right. I'd also throw Phoenix and two classic woodies in New York ahead of it as well (Comet & Cyclone).

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Cranmore Mountain Adventure Park

 

My credit run in the Northeast included quite a few mountain coasters. The one at Cranmore Mountain marked the first one I came across. As far as mountain coasters go, Cranmore's is easily the weakest I've been on. Not only is it the shortest, but it has the worst setting of them all. Cranmore's doesn't really have anything concealing the layout like the others. It's more-or-less just a large empty hill. The ride is still enjoyable- decently fast with some good turns- but there are better ones out there, especially the one down the road at Attitash which happens to be my favorite (more on that later). 7 out of 10

 

Cranmore also had a few other rides and attractions. I only came for the mountain coaster, but I saw that they had a short zipline, a weird Screamin' Swing knockoff, and a skylift up the mountain.

 

Onto the photos!

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The Mountain Coaster was the real reason I came. Unfortunately it was the weakest one I've come across.

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And here's that crazy knockoff screamin' swing. The ride slowly lifts riders up and then releases them for a few swings.

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The obligatory chairlift at a mountain resort.

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Attitash Mountain Resort

 

5 minutes down the road from Story Land and 10 minutes down the road from Cranmore is the best of the mountain resorts I've come across, Attitash. Attitash has had a summer area for as long as I can remember, as my family would always drive by it on the way to Story Land, but we never stopped. Because of their head start with summer activities Attitash has a wide variety of offerings ranging from alpine slides to water slides to air bag jumps to a mountain coaster, which is the best one I've come across.

 

Nor'Easter Mountain Coaster- I have been on almost 350 coasters and the Nor'Easter Mountain Coaster is easily in the top quarter. The ride has a fantastic setting along a highly wooded mountain and has the best layout I've come across. The coaster quickly establishes speed and is littered with small drops that give tiny pops of air and tight turns that give some good Gs. But the most memorable moment of the coaster is about halfway down when there is a very large (for a mountain coaster) drop underneath the lift hill that gave a huge pop of air. Unfortunately I had to slow down for the final few turns due to traffic up ahead, but the coaster had already made a lasting impression. 9 out of 10

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It's quite simple really, you just climb up the ladder and jump.

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And the park's scariest attraction, the Air Bag Jump.

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This was (and might still be) Attitash's flagship summer attraction, the Alpine Slides. I've never tried one of these since I know I wouldn't use the brake as much as I should.

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A bungee trampoline.

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A rock wall.

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The four minute ride up the mountain is a great time to think about life and all of the kiddie credits you are missing in New England.

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The El Toro of mountain coasters if you ask me. This thing doesn't let up and has a crazy hill about halfway through.

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The park's tube slide. They also have some mat slides on the other end of the resort.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Santa's Village

 

Like Story Land, I hadn't been to Santa's Village in well over 10 years. I had planned to make it to Story Land this year for Roar-o-Saurus, but wasn't planning on hitting Santa's Village. That changed when I saw a surprise listing on RCDB for a second coaster at Santa's Village called Poogee Penguin's Spin Out, which is one of those SBF spinning coasters that have been spawning at parks far and wide. I didn't have much time at the park (~ 1.5 hours), but it was enough to get rides on all of the major attractions and take some photos.

 

As I remembered, Santa's Village is a very well themed park. It may have been 90 degrees out, but it felt like Christmas thanks to the festive music, candy cane light posts, penguin trash buckets, and religious symbols like Tennessee. Basically every ride was a 5 minute wait or less. The park had expanded quite a bit to add a swing ride, a drop tower, a water park, a unique all-weather tubing ride, and the brand new spinning coaster.

 

Poogee Penguin's Spin Out- This was my first SBF spinning coaster and the ride was about what I expected. The ride doesn't have any real drops, but the ride can generate some good spins, especially if the cars are unbalanced, which is easy to do in a park when kids often ride with their parents. I just wish the ride had some soft head rests since the hard backs can be a little painful on a few turns, but overall it's a nice fit for the park. 5 out of 10

 

Rudy's Rapid Transit Coaster- The park's first coaster is still the park's best in my opinion. The long train builds up causes back seat riders to get a pretty forceful first and second drop. The park also gives two laps on this Zierer tivoli coaster. 5 out of 10

 

Onto the photos!

 

Rudy's Rapid Transit Coaster-

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The park also has a really nice set of Antique Cars.

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And the Chimney Drop freefall tower.

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Even the carousel has reindeer instead of horses.

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And a dark ride despite the park's relatively small size.

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The Great Humbug Adventure lets you shoot humbugs with tickle guns. Yes you read that right.

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It may be August, but someday I could see snow hitting New England in the summer.

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Last but not least is the Ferris Wheel. From atop, you can see Mt. Washington and the White Mountains. The park has a great setting!

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The park has so many little touches that make it feel like Christmas year round (music, candy cane lights, penguin trash buckets, etc).

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Welcome to the North Pole (aka Northern New Hampshire), a land where there still is no cell service.

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And they'll squeegee the seat for you before you board.

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As far as thrills go, the Yule Log Flume is probably the park's most thrilling attraction.

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Before there was Harry Potter, this was how I dreamed of flying.

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This one also has a bonus helix!

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These coasters are spreading like wildfire and for good reason- they're compact and fun for all ages.

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And an operator who doesn't know how to separate his whites and reds.

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The real reason for my visit is a new to TPR coaster, Poogee Penguin's Spin Out.

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Since my last visit, the park had added a few new flats like the Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree swings.

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The park's senior coaster is still funner in my opinion, Rudy's Rapid Transit Coaster.

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That name seems just as cumbersome as Gotham City Gauntlet.

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The park has a really unique monorail themed to sleighs that gives a tour of the park.

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You really build up some speed on the second drop and can spin down in backwards.

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I like the logo.

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The park also has a unique all-weather tubing ride appropriately named YouTubing.

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I honestly thought you were joking about the name "youtubing" but they're serious, haha! Great report. I haven't been to the Northeast yet but the parks you visited look fantastic.

 

I didn't even know the ride existed before I got to the park. When I saw something listed as "YouTubing" I figured it would be clips of Xmas celebrations from YouTube. I'm really fortunate to have grown up around Santa's Village and Story Land since they really are two of the best kids parks around. Basically every ride can be enjoyed by all due to low height requirements.

 

I think this is the first time I have seen a Photo TR from Santa's Village without any creepy elves.

 

I was short for time so I forgot to take photos of the Elfabet brigade!

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Woah Woah Woah time out... they actually have a ride called the "Yule Log Flume". They'll be getting a call from my lawyers immediately. That was my idea and I was planning on licensing it to Six Flags Great Adventure for Holiday in the Park for a nominal fee of approximately 17 million dollars per year. (as soon as I find some lawyers).

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Thanks for sharing all of the pictures. Just getting caught up on this now. I did not know that Funtown/Splashtown had great bumper cars when I visited so I unfortunately skipped those.

 

I didn't realize Roarasaurus was as large as it is - definitely need to stop and check it out as I really enjoyed Wooden Warrior.

 

You should post a selfie so we can put a face to the screen name. It's nice to know who is talking to you

 

David

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