Impression: Quassy/Lake Compounce

To be honest, I never had much of an interest in Quassy until they added Wooden Warrior. To me, it seemed a little lame, with nothing more than two rickety old coasters and some standard kiddie rides. I'll be frank and say that I only spent an hour there, so this is really going to be more of a Wooden Warrior Impression. What I did see of the park looked nice, however. I really would have liked to try some of the rides if I had had time, but we only had a short amount of time. I'll quickly summarize my experience on Little Dipper as rough and unpleasant, and now I'll move on to Wooden Warrior.

HodgePodge: Week of September 18, 2011

Hey all! Steve here. Let's see what's been going on at some parks around the world and in our backyards!

Cedar Fair

Ok, let's add Dorney Park to the list of parks within the Cedar Fair chain who will be receiving Dinosaurs Alive. The list includes King's Island (installed in 2011), Cedar Point, and King's Dominion. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm, but wamp wamp...

China

In terrifying news, a roller coaster in Shandong, China got stuck in the middle of an inversion. Yeah, seriously. Check out BBC's report/video of the freak accident. WARNING: If you get scared easily, don't watch!

Europa Park

Enjoy a photo update of Mythos at Coasterfriends! This wooden coaster (name yet to be announced, dubbed Mythos currently) looks much larger than the RCDB posted lift height of 114 feet, but, looking at the photos, the drop is going to be intense! As one of the world's most-attended theme parks, Europa is going to please many fans with this one! See a sample photo at the top of this post!

Dollywood

Wild Eagle is about to get track soon, as it is on-site! What's even more exciting than watching this B&M wing-rider go vertical is seeing how immersive Dollywood is with their guests. The park has set up a booth located right at the base of where the lift hill will be and the booth is interactive and allows for guest input and comments about the ride. Setting a standard in customer satisfaction!

Coaster Update - September 2011

Reese here. I just wanted to give you an update about some of the biggest coaster projects under development that should be coming your way in the next year or so. I’ve chosen what I think are some of the biggest projects for the 2012 season.

Leviathan

Canada’s Wonderland will be receiving the highest coaster designed by B&M in May of 2012. Leviathan will have a lift hill of 306 feet with an 80 degree angled first drop. There are a few camelbacks, but it seems to be more of a speed-based coaster instead of being all about the dips. This will be B&M’s first coaster to reach the 300 foot mark. What with the great history behind Canada’s Wonderland, I’d say they picked a great park for it.

Verbolten

Busch Gardens in Williamsburg has what looks like a great themed coaster. This was just announced recently, so details are sparse, but it seems to be themed around a drive through the “Black Forest” with the coaster car shaped like a convertible. Multiple launches up to 50mph are promised as well as some thematic elements and special effects. The name, by the way, is a play on the German word “Verboten,” which means “Forbidden.” With other great thematic attractions that Busch has been putting out recently (such as DarKastle), this one looks like it will be promising. Really excited for this to open.

Skyrush

It’s been a while since Hersheypark has had a new coaster. At 200 feet tall and 3,600 feet long, Skyrush will be drastically changing the look and feel of the midway. Located next to Roller Soaker and the Wildcat woodie, the new yellow behemoth will be blocking many a view of the American Midway area. A 75 mph launch and an 85 degree drop are not record-breaking figures, but this is quite for jump for a park as small as Hershey. I haven’t heard too many opinions on this one, but there seems to be some complaints on the design and layout. We’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out.

X-Flight

No, not the former name of my favorite flying coaster. This X-Flight is a new “wing coaster” set for Six Flags Great America sometime next year. What’s a wing coaster, you ask? It’s a new design where the seats are suspended on both sides of a track with the middle of the coaster keeping them in place. Sort of like the wing of a bird. At 3,000 feet with 5 inversions, it looks like another winner from B&M.

Just wanted to point out one more thing. We won’t be seeing a new coaster at the Point until 2013. This would tie CP and Magic Mountain’s coaster counts which I find very interesting. Having said that, I predict a new MM coaster in a year or so to keep the race going. That’s it for today. Keep checking back for more.

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