07/10/2004 - CLP & Waldameer

My niece's graduation party was this weekend in Erie so my girlfriend and I thought it would be nice to stop at Conneaut Lake Park on the way home (we also were looking at an Airedale breeder).

We got to the CLP at around 1:00pm purchased tickets for two rides on Blue Streak and a ride on Devil's Den ($15.00), and made our way into the park. Walking in was a flood of memories as we used to take yearly trips here for my Dad's company picnics. Everything was similar to how I remembered it, except for the holes where rides used to be. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and excited to be there again and there was actually a good amount of people there.

We jumped into line for the Blue Streak and waited one train due to the 12 person trains. They only had 3 cars attached. Anyone know why? Capacity? Weight? The ride isn't quite what it used to be, my thought was that the trains weren't as heavy as they usually are, whatever the reason it was pretty tame. The first three drops are great, then you brake heavily into the turn around. Lots of shuffling, then you coast back through the bunny hills and back into the station. It was a fun ride, but certainly not all that thrilling. We took one more ride later on and had a similar ride.

After riding the Den and walking around the park some we headed to Erie and waldameer to ride the new mouse.

I wanted to take my lady on some of the classic rides that I grew up with and after realizing it would cost us just as much to buy the tickets as it would to be ride-o-ramas we did that instead.

Rode Comet and had a fun ride, the small cars are tough on my knees. Did the Wacky Shack, Pirates Cove and then Thunder River. Thunder River is a fun flume, but lacks any theme at all and that's the only thing that hurts the ride IMO. Lost my brand new hat, bummer.

The last two rides were on Steel Dragon, once in the front and once in the back (the ride doesnt start spinning until after the first drop). The wait was about 1/2 an hour.

The ride is pretty darn fun but not particularly forceful or thrilling. After the first two blocks it is rather tame, and the spinning is never out of control like Exterminator can get sometimes.

They were running the ride -3 cars and left one of the loading areas blocked off, so only one car was being loaded at a time. All in all it is an awesome addition for the park and just what they needed. Everyone I spoke to at the party from Erie loved the ride and cant wait for RF2.

BTW, Waldameer was crazy busy. Both parking lots were over filled, and the lines for most everything were filled.