[Jay]

***Beginning note. I had thought about doing the photos in this trip report at a slightly higher resolution, but since there is likely to be many pictures in this thread I went with a slightly lower resolution so I could keep a decent loading time.

For all park-pics in this thread, including very hi-res images, go to my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/.



Since I have some friends in the Greater Boston area, and the New England area had some new parks and coasters for me to get I decided it would be a good idea if I went up there for a long weekend. I had been planning to get up there for at least 2 years, but finally pulled the trigger this year.

I awoke at the wonderful time of 4:30 and headed to the Greensboro airport with more than enough time for my 6:30 flight. There was a Dunkin' Donuts across from my gate so I thought it would be a GREAT idea to spend 8 dollars on a terrible breakfast sandwich.



Breakfast of champions?

I had a connection at Reagan. It was quite busy and we sat for about 45 minutes on the runway, but the views were worth it.


Sorry Washington perhaps I will re-visit you another time.

I finally got to Boston around 10am and after some fun public transportation I met up with my first friend (Freddie). We then made our way to the first park. The first park was actually...

FENWAY!

Yes a baseball park. We bought our tickets for the 'tour' at the pro shop, which made me appreciate not being a big baseball fan, because then I would hate the Red Sox even more than I already do.


Wall to wall merch.


'Tour' Ticket purchased.

Before I get to the pics of the park let me say that this 'Tour' was sooo incredibly touristy and annoying. We only did about 4 stops, but the tour guide woman had to detail the history of the park and team most of which I either already knew or wasn't interested in at all. Also the park was the size of a minor league ballpark, but a major league team has been playing there for the better part of a century. The park is METICULOUSLY maintained which you would expect for something of that age, but it really is an army of people. As with a lot of the newer ballparks there are NO distractions to take your attention away from what you should be paying attention to; the game of baseball. Anyway enough of my ramblings.. I give you Fenway Park.



The first of four stops was on the first deck behind home plate where we learned that the real magic of Fenway was sitting in hard wooden seats behind large metal beams that obstruct your view.



The second stop was in top of right field where the above panorama was taken from.



The third stop was inside the press box, which was only open on non-game days, which this was.



The last stop was the relatively new seats on top of the Green Monster.



It was a pretty good view.

Overall I'm glad I did the tour as tickets to a game would probably be impossible to get as well as amazingly expensive. Maybe one day. Me and Freddie were both hungry so we made our way over to the Cask'N Flagon which was rated #2 Baseball Bar by ESPN!



Obviously we did not go during the game, but the food was extremely mediocre and fairly expensive. But the waitresses were pretty much Hooters Girls with more clothes on, that were very friendly. Take the good with the bad I guess.


For all 112 of my Fenway Park pics, including hi-res of the ones above, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620132032252/.



The most themeing in a Six Flags park yet.

We then rode the most excellent 'T' up to our second friends house (James) where he met us and we promply drove the 2 hours to Six Flags New England. I was sort of worried that the lines would be bad since we would only have about 2 hours in the park. I had been to the park once before in 2004 and really enjoyed it. Superman was to this point the best steel coaster I had ever been on, and Cyclone had one of the most amazing single pops of airtime ever. I also thought it had lots of cool flats, but as I explored the park I quickly learned that nearly all of these had been removed.


Our first stop of the park was of course...


It was the only coaster in the park I needed.. #482 cha-ching


It was nowhere as good as its Nickelodeon Universe counterpart, but I think they are pretty good rides overall. Every park could use something twisted and spinny, though I do prefer the Maurer Sohne designs over the Gerstlauer ones.

The next ride is one of the more interesting woodies out there, Riverside Cyclone.


No one has this pic.


As you can see the park was very crowded today.

I really like Cyclone, but the pacing is so damn terrible. The fast parts are really good and fairly smooth, but the tall parts are extremely slow and sort of rough. Overall a good ride, a ride in the back seat is definitely recommended.


Hello Flashback, we are not riding you today.

We took the Skyride back over to the middle of the park, then took a ride on Thunderbolt.




It has brand new trains, but the Six Flags operations didn't quite have it figured out yet. Overall it is another good ride, a classic old woodie with some floater airtime.


We did not ride Scream, but take a look at the blue sky as you won't see it the rest of the report.


Finally, it was time for the 'new' Bizzaro. As I said before the old Superman was my favorite steel coaster to date.


NEW! MIST!


NEW! FIRE!



The verdict?

Fire? Who cares.
Sound? Who cares.
Extra themeing? Plus.
Mist? BIG PLUS.
New trains? Kind of rattle-y, but not too bad overall.

It's still the best steel coaster I have ever been on. The mist wasn't on last time so that was great. Another thing that is probably underrated that was done, they put simple cardboard cutouts right after the overbank which was the 'worst' part of the ride. It makes for some interesting head choppers.


One last pic of Bizzaro.


With that we went over to Catwoman's Whip, which was Poison Ivy last time I was here. Catfight! *rawr*


The boobies make me lol.


I really love the Tivoli rides, they are great for families and the long trains are hilarious.

I insisted on one more coaster, and with the way lines had been all day I knew we would not have a problem.


No it was not the SLC.


It was the Batman, the often forgotten floorless.


I didn't mind it too much 5 years ago, but we rode in the back seat this time, and it was sooo rough. We might as well have ridden the SLC.


We were running out of time in the park, so we took one more quick ride on Bizzaro and left.



Hey look its a Wild Mouse.. oh wait.. it isn't.


For all 142 of my Six Flags New England pics, including the ones above in hi-res go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620053252011/.


We then drove about 90 minutes to our hotel in the middle of Connecticut. It was pretty nice but there wasn't much nearby in terms of things to eat.

Next Up: Quassy, Lake Compounce, and the best ride in the park by far?

[Houston Thrills]

When are you coming to Texas?

[Jay]

When is the State Fair?

[chargercrazy]

Why are you clowning Fenway Park?


Ok, I guess I'm just jealous. Thanks for the pictures.

[Jay]

I didn't think I was clowning the park itself at all. It is a amazing park and I wish to go to an actual game there someday. What I was clowning though was the tour which was incredibly cheesy and touristy. I could have done without all that, just let me walk around and take pictures where I want. (Even though I know what a security hazard this poses. )

[Jay]

The next day we woke up around 10 and took the short journey to Quassy Amusement Park. I had been here once before in 2004 and but I didn't really like it much. With the Mouse going away soon for a new Gravity Group woodie, I thought it would be important for Freddie to get his credits.

This ticket booth was new since my last visit. It's their first step on becoming a real amusement park.



Our first stop of course, was the extremely old-school Herschell mouse. It has GREAT capacity as you can see in the next photo.


This line took 25 minutes. I'm sure this is a primary factor in them getting rid of it.

Yay crazy mice.



The line of grease in the grass makes me lol.



Continuing with the need for Freddie's credits we hit Little Dipper. I had quite the horrific experience on this last time I went on it so I did not ride.



Freddie and James look PUMPED.



Weeeeeeeeeee.



Last year the park added a pirate ship. I love pirate ships so we had to take a ride on this.



Next we did the Paratrooper. These rides have grown to become 'must ride' whenever I see one. I really like them.



Coasterdave will recognize this one.



I had one more ride ticket left so I took a ride on the Giant Slide. I don't know many American parks that have these, but in England the Helter Skelter is quite popular.


We were done at this point so we just walked around and took a few more pics.




After an hour we said goodbye to Quassy, I'll see you again when you get the woodie. I liked you a lot more this time, you remind me of a small Lake Winnie or Waldameer.


For all 110 my Quassy pics as well as hi-res versions of the ones above go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620272404814/

The size of the ESPN headquarters never ceases to amaze me.



Since we were done with Quassy we drove the 45 minutes to Lake Compounce. I had also visited this park once before, and really enjoyed it, although the park was completely empty, so I'm sure that helped with me liking it a lot more.

Such a classic looking park.



After being unsuccessful 5 years ago, the first thing we did is we went and tried for the Kiddie Coaster. The operator saw "someone's" coaster shirt and asked, "Are you THOSE coaster enthusiasts?" We kind of looked at each other and I said "Uhh.. we are some coaster enthusiasts..?" The op then said "Uhh ok you can ride."

Unbeknownst to us at the time the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain was at the park and had apparently pre-arranged rides on the Kiddie Coaster. I definitely want to thank them, as pathetic as the entire ordeal is.

Credit #483 cha-ching!

Do you have this credit? No you do not.


At this point our friend Glen showed up. He has a pretty massive coaster count of 3, and one of them was not Boulder Dash. So off to Boulder Dash we went.


I had heard that GCI did a lot of work last year and I was curious to how it made the ride as I really liked it last time I was here.

Example:

The left photo is from 2004 and might have been one of the worst parts of the ride with the long boring flat track. The picture on the right is from today's visit as you can see they made it a triple-up which is absolutely amazing.


The verdict?

Boulder Dash skyrocketed from a top 15 wood, to a top 3 wood. The only two rides I have better than it are Voyage and El Toro. The ride was at least twice as fast, twice as smooth, twice as airtime-y, twice as intense as I remembered in 2004. The only bad thing here is the park wasn't open any at nighttime, so I didn't even experience Dash at its best.

Continuing with the coasters we hit:


Lots of people are not fans of this ride, but I rode in the front and it was very enjoyable.


Dash it isn't, but the end has some nice floaty airtime hills.

We then made the long walk to the other end of the park where only two rides reside.


The first was Thunder River. This rapids ride is quite different than most others as it does not feature like a 'waterfall' element. Despite this you get absolutely soaked, more so than many other rapids.

The second ride is one of the more terrifying rides out there.


The Lake Compounce Skyride is the same as every skyride at a ski resort, except instead of smooth snow below you, there are jagged rocks and trees.


The entire ride takes 30 minutes, and the views on the return trip are absolutely spectacular.


Where's Waldo?


Unfortunately this monkey was sacrificed by Satanic freaks.


They should build a coaster on the side of THIS mountain. Call it Boulder Dash II.


The Trolley had just arrived so we hopped aboard and took a ride back to the main part of the park.


It was pretty late in the day by this point so we had to get something to eat. (I have no pics of us eating)

Glen still had never been on Zoomerang so we took a spin. Nothing to say about it.


On the way to our next ride we passed by the flyers, they were absolutely terrible last time, so we did not ride this time. It really makes me appreciate having the best set out there at Carowinds.



Coming to 2011 at Carowinds.. OOPS.


The S&S Swing Thunder N Lightning was also new since my last visit. I have been on a few and I like them for about one swing then it ends. If they were longer I would like them a lot more. I would like to see Carowinds get one as they are capacity monsters and are very impressive to look at.



Continuing with the flats I missed last time we hit the Enterprise.


Then the Ferris Wheel.


Yep.


Running out of captions here.


Mmmm, Dash. Oh yes, we went there next.


After Dash we hit Downtime the park's Turbo Drop.


Wipeout was new for this year but really they just moved it from Kennywood.


We took a 3rd Dash ride, and I went and stole a quick Thunder N Lightning while the others were farting around.

We rode Pirate next where we learned that fun was not allowed. It does look nice though.


OMG A BUG.


The Wave Swinger was loading so we ran over and took a ride with a special guest.


The rain looked like it was coming so we took a ride on Ghost Hunt the park's Sally shooter ride. It had been slightly reprofiled since my last visit, and now the 'outside' portion had been covered. The cars had also been changed to the trackless models.




We were starting to get bored with the park so we took one final ride on Dash.


We all could have easily stayed on it the rest of the time at the park, but it was only running one train. Relatively short 10-20 minute waits, but just enough to be annoying after 4 rides.


To see all 207 my Lake Compounce pictures including hi-res versions of the ones above go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620172769165/

We left at 7:30 and we had the long drive back to our hotel in North Boston. Strangers With Candy THE MOVIE was playing and that made up for the extremely amazing accommodations. (The room sucked)

Next Up: New parks for Jay? Mother Nature disagrees.

[swampfox43]

J, funny I did those parks in the same order as you (minus Fenway). We started with Dorney & Great Escape to SFNE. I'm sure you know about the Cyclone's reconfigured first drop, which is still visible in the framework. I have yet to experience a force like that on any wooden coaster to this date. The odd configuration of forces on that original first drop practically had my face in riding partner's lap. Seriously, the forces were very odd. But you are right about that mean pop of airtime.
I can't believe the park was that empty. SRoS is still my #1....

Quassey was dead when we went but we got there when they opened at noon. They wouldn't let us ride the Mouse alone. Had to be 2 people per car. I think it needed the extra weight just to make it back to the station. Still love those old mice though. I hope this one can be salvaged and restored somewhere....Knoebel's needs a mouse....

I like the looks of BD's new triple up. This was still one amazingly fun coaster prior to that so I am sure it's all there now.

Enjoyed the pics......I haven't been to these parks since 2001 so it's nice to see the updates.

Looking forward to the stormy pics.....

[bgwfreak]

Great pics Jay!

I'll get up to the Northeast one of these decades.

[Jay]

This day was the day I was looking forward to most, as we were going to 3 parks I had never been to, as well as 2 states I had never been to, and I would also 'finish' the eastern seaboard coasterwise (north of Valdosta, Georgia anyway).

We woke up around 8am, which seemed to be too early for me and I slept right through New Hampshire and woke up 19 miles into Maine. It was raining very slightly, but the weather wasn't calling for anything significant.

We pull into the Funtown/Splashtown USA parking lot and see this:



I ALMOST felt worse for the bus full of schoolchildren, even though I'm sure they live closer to the park than me.



Excalibur was the main attraction for even entering the state of Maine.



Most people have never heard of Excalibur but it is a CCI from 1998, most people that have actually been on it say it is pretty underrated.



Traveled 900 miles and all I got was this amazing picture.



The park's other MAINE attraction (lol get it?) is the S&S tower.



We snooped around for a bit until we found the maintenance parking lot, so we could get some Mouse pics.



The Mouse is 'New for 2009' and replaced their old Galaxi.

The other park was a mile or so away, and though things looked bleak decided to take a visit.

Old Orchard Beach reminded me of a lot of the Jersey Boardwalk cities like Ocean City or Seaside Heights just on a much smaller scale. Of course it was rainy too so the place was completely deserted as well.



I imagine this would be a very good picture if it had, like, you know, sky?



Yes you are not open today either.



Here is the MAINE midway (lol get it?) The large doors on the left open up to the arcade which is a big part of Palace Playland, and was actually open during our visit.



Technical Park Street Fighter says HAY.



If you look closely you can tell this is the Wave Swinger from Wild West World in Kansas.



Just proof that I was here, Galaxi behind me, Orient Express behind it.



This was the only redeeming feature in all of Maine, but no one was even in the arcade so even setting off a shooting gallery wasn't as fun.




After walking around in the rain for another 20 minutes we decided to give up and leave Maine. Both of the Maine parks looked nice enough, and I can understand being closed, but I have ridden at least 30 coasters in as-bad or worse weather, so it was frustrating to say the least. James took pity on me and Freddie as we did not have the 4 Maine credits, so we hit a surprise 'park' about 30 minutes outside of Canobie.

This... is Funworld Game Center.



Ignore the GLAMOROUS exterior, its all about the inside. Where they have a custom Orient Express.



I'm not sure why Pinocchio is in the helix of the coaster.



As you can see I'm very pleased to be getting at least one open credit. #484 cha-ching



Overall the ride was pretty crazy, and moved in ways no kiddie coaster should move.

The 'park' also has a Merry Go Round which we did not ride.



The boys wanted to do a little DDR'ing, so I took that as a opportunity to play with some of my camera settings.



Overall Funworld was a nice place to waste 20 minutes and get a credit.

For all 26 Funworld Game Center pics, including hi-res versions of the ones above go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620429707296/

Finally, we came to an OPEN outdoors park. New for me as well!



OMG THE CANOBIE FAN IS HERE. Make sure to visit his most excellent Canobie fan site at http://www.canobiefan.com.



We pretty much made a beeline for Yankee Cannonball as James feared it might have a long line, since it only has the ability to run one train. But we had to make a stop first.

This is the famous Canobie mirror maze, it used to spin slowly back in the day making things quite confusing, but stopped some years ago.


Back on track.. we made it to Yankee Cannonball and were greeted with this line:


(Yes no line.) Credit #485 cha-ching



Overall I really really enjoyed Yankee Cannonball. It looks absolutely amazing, is smoother than most B&M's and has floater air galore. I would have a hard time believing it was 73 years old if RCDB didn't say it way.



I can't name any woodies that have a better paint job.



OMG POV.

Next up we walked across the park to find Canobie Corkscrew with no wait.



Credit #486 cha-ching

A bit of history, this coaster first operated as the Chicago Loop in the short lived Old Chicago. My parents got that credit in the late 70's and they still talk about it to this day.



It was your typical Corkscrew, but as I learned with everything at Canobie, it looks great and runs very well.

Continuing with our rapid-fire credit getting we hit Dragon.



It's just a normal Zamperla Dragon. Credit #487 cha-ching.

With all the credits out of the way we could concentrate on the great collection of flats that Canobie features.

First was Boston Tea Party, the parks splashboat.



Yes I was not stupid enough to do this in 50 degree weather, but two of our party were.

That honor would go to Rob and Rob. They are quite intelligent.



lol. Beaver.



The next flat was DaVinci's Dream, the park's waveswinger. I have to say I have not seen a better themed waveswinger anywhere.



At this point is was around 3pm so we were all very hungry. So we stopped off for some pizza. It was mediocre to say the least.



Right across from the pizza place was Starblaster, the parks Double Shot. I have been on quite a few Double Shots but this one rivaled Indiana Beach's as the best.



We took another ride on Yankee Cannonball then took a ride on the Wipeout. The last 1/3rd of the ride it decides to become a round-up and doesn't tilt at all while it spins. It was amazing.



Since we had just ridden an imitation round-up we decided to ride a real one, but first we pose.



It was pretty intense.



They have a set of Rooster-themed Flyers, but James says they are terrible so we did not ride.



Next up was the Frisbee. The scaffolding is just part of the theme it is not under construction.



Mona says hi.



This park has a very 'RCT' feel to it. I was expecting something to pick me up with tweezers at any time.




They even let dogs in just like Knoebels!



Back to the rides we took a SPIN on the Rotor. A REAL one not the Chance type ones.



They of course had a pirate ship which we took part in.



Nearby was the dark ride, Mine of Lost Souls, which made less sense than most. You started out in a mining town in southern New Hampshire and midway through the ride you were transported to Egypt and attacked by mummies. It was amazing.



Near that was the Log Flume. Most do not get you wet, but we had the bright idea of cramming 4 guys in ours. Not sure if anyone has a pic of the 4 of us looking like silly gooses, but I will definitely post it here if they do.



The park appeared to be closing soon, so we sprinted our wet asses over to Yankee Cannonball and made it just before they cut off the queue. The park was great and despite doing pretty much everything I wanted, they gave EVERYONE in the park a free rain ticket good through September of this year, I may try to do FINAGLE something later in the year. Overall Canobie was a really great park, and lot bigger than I thought it would be. James and Freddie said since it was empty it I didn't quite 'get' the 'real' Canobie atmosphere, but I will take my rides with no wait thankyouverymuch.

For all 153 Canobie pics, including hi-res versions of the ones above go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamminj/sets/72157620430606600/

I had about 4 hours till my plane was to leave so we dropped Freddie off at the train station and me and James farted around a mall for a while till they closed about 20 minutes after we got there.

Goodbye Boston. Perhaps I will visit you in the near future.



The plane ride home featured some interesting places I have been before..

Such as Rye Playland! Hello Dragon Coaster and Super Flight. (Click for Hi-res)


Manhattan. Times Square is the tiny obnoxious piece of lighting. (Click for Hi-Res)


And Washington DC. The Mall looks like a body of water, but really its a body of grass. (Click for Hi-Res)


And that is the end of my Trip Report, I want to thank anyone who made it this far for reading. This was more fun to do than I expected. I may do some retroactive trip reports from past trips in the future.

Until next time...

[Wormy]

Great stuff Jay. My wife is a former New Englander, and grew up with Lake Canobie - she's gonna love these. Thanks!