Photo TR: Maritime Parks

Last week was my mixed family vacation in Massachusetts and a somewhat crazy trip to the Canadian Maritime provinces to check out all of the little parks in that area of the world. Along the way I rode El Toro at Coaster Celebration and had a quick vistit to Canobie Lake Park. On the way home I made a rest stop at Funtown USA. But this report focuses on the new to me attractions in Canada.

It's a very long drive to get to Nova Scotia so I took the CAT ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to save 10 hours of driving on Thursday. Ideally the weekend ferry from Portland would have been even better but Upper Clements Park doesn't open on weekends until July. I did bring my car with me as I had some stops along the way to get to this point. That meant a long drive home after the trip but I didn't have a choice really. The ferry is high speed and not a big, clunky boat as you may expect. Being faster meant more up and down motion and I found myself a bit seasick. I should have just sat down and adjusted first before running around the boat checking things out. The crossing took three hours.

Friday morning I made the hour and a half drive to Upper Clements Park. The park was open during the week for school days. It opened at 9 AM but when I arrived at 10 AM not much of anything was open and the park was virtually empty. Nervous about the weather, I went straight to the Tree Topper for the credit. I rode it four times on my own.

The ride has a Cyclops type layout but it is a bit bigger and less intense for certain. Lots of curving drops and S-curves. It also has a Camden Big Dipper/William's Grove Cyclone feel to it with some tracking which has evolved with some odd angles. Like J2, the mistakes give it some airtime. It was a very interesting ride so that was good as I was expecting a family snoozer. It had some shuffle and bounce but it wasn't really rough. I enjoyed it enough. I took nine rides during the day with the light school crowd.

I figured I'd be bored with the park after an hour but I ended up staying there four hours. The park doesn't have many mechanical rides but it is a rustic park that is perfect for exploration. It felt like a UK park and it reminded me of Oakwood and Lightwater Valley. It has a big lake in the middle between the hills and trees of the park. It has a flume, bumper boats (and some bumper boat style bumper cars), train, rock-o-plane, carousel, antique cars and the unique pedal car track. Aside from that there were numerous little eateries, craft stores and other interesting buildings.

With the weather still uncertain, I headed towards Halifax to find Atlantic Playland. The park has a kiddie coaster, tilt house and some Lusse sport skooters. The only problem is that virtually nothing was running. This is the type of little park which has a few ride ops which operate a few rides depending on when people show up. I asked if the coaster was running but they said it wasn't and that they didn't know when it would run. The park was to be open 3 more hours but with no guarantees or much interest from the employees I decided not to stay. The tilt house was deserted (required a tour) as were the bumper cars. What a waste of time this park was.

Since I was nearby I took a ride through Halifax just to see it. If I had it to do over again I'd have stayed downtown to check it out a bit more. It reminded me of Seattle a bit. But I had to head north to Amherst for the night.

The forecast looked even worse for Saturday but I followed my schedule and it somewhat worked out for me, weather wise at least. I was heading to Prince Edward Island. I'd been to PEI before the bridge was built back in the 80s. It's a beautiful island and I enjoy being there so it was worth the return toll of $40.50 CAD on the 8 mile bridge. It beats the price and time of the old ferry.

My first stop was little Burlington Amusement Park. I could see the kiddie coaster in the distance but it looked odd. Once I pulled up I could see just a lift hill and station track, nothing else. The other pieces of track where in a pile. Not a good sign. I had no idea it was going to be partly disassembled. Since I was out of luck I didn't bother investigating the future status of the ride.

Next stop on PEI was Sandspit Cavendish Beach. I visited this park before the coaster was built but now there is a Wildcat called the Cyclone. The odd thing about this coaster is that it has a canopy over the cars. It looks bizarre. I don't know if it is for rain or to keep hands in but you ride totally enclosed.

After some lunch on the island, I headed to Moncton, New Brunswick to visit Crystal Palace. This is a mall style amusement park but rather than being in a mall its across from a mall. It's a big circular building which has the Zierer Crystal Bullet family coaster circling the building. It's a fun ride with a surprise helix with a pirate themed tunnel. They gave you three circuits per ride. The building itself was dark despite a big glass center featuring a Wave Swinger in the middle. Other family and kiddie rides surrounded.

I'll spare you the long ride home over the next two days. But despite the couple kiddie coaster disappointments it was a very interesting trip. I was happy to finally get on the Tree Topper. I think it is about as obscure a woodie credit as I have with the possible exception of Jupiter in Japan.

Scenic shot of the fifith drop.

Fifth drop.

Fourth drop.

Second drop.

The first drop. You'll notice plenty of trees which make it hard to see the layout.

This way to an obscure wood credit!

These pedal cars were cool

Upper Clements is a rustic park with a nice lake in the middle

Here we are at Upper Clements Park

Inside the CAT ferry

The CAT ferry departs Bar Harbor, Maine for Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Here are the rest of the photos from the trip.

Here's the Crystal Bullet circling the park.

But the Crystal Bullet is the main attraction.

The Wave Swinger is the centerpiece.

Over in New Brunswick is the indoor Crystal Palace.

Sandspit is also home to a Rok-N-Rol.

Sandspit is a nice looking small park.

Wacky!

The Cyclone. Notice the canopy on the car.

Luckily Sandspit was up the road in Cavendish.

Well, I suppose that may be a problem.

First stop was a little FEC called Burlington Amusement Park.

Time to cross the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.

This is the kiddie coaster. I don't know if they normally operate it. They weren't sure.

Technically Atlantic Playland was open but was it really? I think not.

Nice PTR. That canopy on the Cyclone is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen on a coaster.

How long is the train on that crystal ride...

Good stuff.

Was wondering if the Burlington coaster was going up or coming down. RCDB lists it as being there since 1960. Maybe it's just maintenence. Yeah, that the ticket.

I'm guessing the canopies on the other ride are so you can ride it in the rain. It is that bad there? Odd.

Todd

How long is the train on that crystal ride...

15 Cars long, gotta love those wacky Zirier trains...

Anyways, great photos of some obscure Canadian parks. I also agree, those tops on the Cyclone are the oddest thing ever...