CAC Weekend Part One - Silverwood
Associated parks:
None
--Silverwood--
Overall impression: a beautiful park in one of the most beautiful parts of the US. Out of the way? Expensive to get to? Yeah, but absolutely worth every effort and penny to visit. The park has a Holiday World vibe which was as comfortable as your favorite sweater.
With the addition of the Boulder Beach waterpark attendance has increased an amazing 60%. Unfortunately the park's ride capacity has not increased, meaning all rides but Corkscrew had long, long waits. While I know nothing of how to operate a park I none-the-less have suggestions for 2004: finish phase II of the waterpark -- already planned for this off-season -- widen all the park paths and add better lighting, move or make the park entrance larger, add a second train to Tremors [and Timber Terror, if possible], and put in a few high capacity flats and maybe a Shoot-the-Chutes to help spread out the crowds. Sure, a third woodie would be cool, too, but its not necessarily needed until they get the rest of their "problems" worked out. Trust me, those are all problems any park would love to have. They seem to be planning on adding a Sky Coaster..it's sitting in their bone yard.
Unlike others we didn't have any problems with the service at Lindsay's Restaurant, although we only sat at the bar and ordered drinks and appetizers. Who knows what would have happened had we actually got a table. Lindsay's, like all the other eateries in the park, seemed to be stretched beyond their limits, and complaints were pretty common. Again, a good problem to have and one I'm sure the park will work on fixing for next year.
Phase I of Boulder Beach is quite impressive despite being low on attractions. The "children's" activity area was thankfully devoid of the mass of wet rope one must climb on at the similar version at Splashin Safari. I made it a point to stand under the bucket as it tipped...that was quite a pummeling and it reminded me of Dorney's rapids ride. The best part of the waterpark is their long lazy river, especially since you can paddle yourself into a shallow lagoon, sit yourself on a submerged barstool, and order a beer or frozen mixed drink without having to leave the water! Nice touch, Silverwood!
Due to the long lines we didn't ride many of the flats, most of which can be found in any amusement park. I wish I had gotten on their Chance Skydiver...I love those and they are hard to find. I do have to give Silverwood props for the placement of their Paratrooper, over the Bumper Boat lake Indiana Beach style. Unfortunately because it is unable to load in the "down" position capacity is horrid. Their Sellner Tilt-o-Whirl is computer-driven but thankfully programmed to speed and slow the main turntable, which is more than I can say for other parks who no longer have manually operated T-o-Ws. Not the best Tilt ride I've had but not awful SFMM quality by a long shot. We also took the relaxing, 20+ minute ride on the Steam Train into the nearby wilderness. About half-way through the ride we were treated to a hold up and what we think was comedy. While I appreciate the park's efforts and realize the skit was more for the kids than the adults it did seem to stretch on a bit too long...like a really bad SNL sketch.
The two water rides [flume and river rapids] were fun, with the rapids ride being the wetter of the two, naturally. At night both courses are almost completely pitch black. However even better than the water rides was the placement of the water cannons. There is just no escaping them! At .25 cent a shot it should come as no surprise we spent quite a few dollars at the geysers, especially the one on the flume. Those with talent [namely Flare] could slide in two quarters in quick succession and give boats an extra long spraying.
--The Coasters--
Corkscrew: It was nice to say hello to an old friend and my very first inverting coaster. She seemed to have aged very well with just one rough spot coming out of the second cork. I can't explain the lack of a line for Corkscrew except that perhaps people in the area just are not used to riding coasters with inversions and are more leery than
normal.
Timber Terror [my #321]: While I enjoy out-and-backs my preference is for twisters and coasters with a good mix of laterals and airtime, preferably happening all at the same time. That being said I found Timber Terror to be an outstanding ride that only got outrageously better during ERT and ends up being my absolute favorite O-n-B coaster. Well maintained and smooth even in areas that would prove problematic at most parks it will land somewhere in my Top 10 for Mitch's poll.
While there isn't a bad seat in the train the back is definitely where I preferred to ride. The out-bound portion features an excellent first drop and speed hill, a double up that is second only to Legend, drop from the top of the double up with extreme air all the way to the bottom and an excellent low airtime/lateral bunny entrance to the turnaround. The return portions features another excellent drop from the exit of the turnaround, bunnies of various sizes, a barely-banked
slam-you-into-your-neighbor helix and what has to be the best finish on ANY out-and-back: a small dip and rise into the break run that obviously inspired Cornball Express's insane ending. During ERT trains were entering the brake run with as much if not more speed than Raven during ERT. Some called it a 'mini-Timbers' but I felt Timber Terror was far, far better than it's bigger cousin in Michigan.
Tremors [my #322]: now this is my kind of coaster! Like most woodies Tremors needs all day to warm up to show its full potential and during ERT it was running "at 11." Out of 85 wooden coasters I've ridden Tremors has by far the best opening sequence, especially when riding in the back end of the train. My favorite part of the opening sequence is the landing in the second tunnel. Right when you mind is telling you "OK, you've gone down far enough and now it's time to rise up out of the tunnel" you continue to drop a bit more, which remained unsettling on every single ride. The same can be said for the landing in the fourth tunnel...it just seemed a bit lower than it should be and had a deliciously crunchy hard landing.
The rest of the ride reminded me of the portion of Legend from the helix to the final brakes or Raven after the fifth drop: taken at way too fast a speed and totally unpredictable even after many rides. Others may claim that Tremors has a dead spot leading up to the drop into the third tunnel but I felt that it was delivering in spades on every single turn and drop from top of lift to final brakes. In fact I really enjoyed the mind game the bunnies leading up to the drop into tunnel three [aka the camera drop] was playing, with the first two drops getting just slightly larger and the last more than double the one before it.
While Tremors is definitely the more intense of the two coasters I could have easily ridden in a wheel seat for another hour. In fact my last three rides, just after 1am, where in the very last row. I only gave up when I noticed Jim and Dave were ready to return to the hotel, and I'm sure they wouldn't have minded too much had I stayed on for a few more circuits. Oddly I don't have a single bruise to show for the wonderful beating the coaster dished out. Tremors will make my Top 5 in Mitch's poll and may very well end up in the #1 spot [sorry Raven!].
A great weekend at a great park with great friends riding great coasters. It just doesn't get any better than that!
mOOSH [part 2 coming soon]
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2004 Coaster Calendar now available. 13 Coasters in 12 months! Order in advance and save. Quantities are limited! See S&D Greetings for details.
*** This post was edited by Mamoosh 8/28/2003 12:14:25 AM ***
When did mOOSH get broken into parts? :)
Mamoosh said:
Timber Terror ends up being my absolute favorite O-n-B coaster.I remember telling gator the same thing when we were at IoA, and we were talking about how much he was gonna love the trip. TT's really a great ride, and easily outshines ST in every way for me.
I'm glad you guys had such a great time, and I really wish I could have made it out with you guys.
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Mike Miller - Con-Quest 2003 pictures now available at http://photos.yahoo.com/bassistist
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Rob - Jerk/Loser - Standing up for the unfunny and unattractive. - Click here for details
nasai said:
Can Kevin schedule it next year to coincide with the Puyallup fair? Many an enthusiast would be grateful to hit that difficult-to-time Coaster:Thrill Ride. At least Jeff got some pics for Coastergallery. :)
Probably the only way I could see us returning for CAC next year is if it were timed to coincide with Puyallup...
bill, thought TT did *everything* that ST was supposed to do, and then some....as for Tremors, words just plain fail me.....ME....?!!?? ;)
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"The robot mafia is running numbers?"
"Well, nothing fancy, mostly just ones and zeroes"...;)
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Drop the 't' at the end, and add a second 's' ;)
*** This post was edited by Robocoaster 9/3/2003 11:58:04 AM ***
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