Canobie Lake Park 8/8/05!

Well what used to be the best amusment park in New England in my eyes, has now changed to a park, which i still loved and think is great but its losing charm.

This was my annual trip that I have been taking to the park since 99'. Every year (minus last) the park has added some attraction and every time they're great additions. But this time I found myself thinking I rather be @ SFNE. Something that I used to think would NEVER cross my mind while here.

Lets Start With the Pros and Cons!

Pros:
- Love getting to the park as its extremely easy!
- Always clean pretty much every were
- New Mid season ride (Skater(Disko))
- Looks great, Awesome gardens and tons of new paint
Painted things
- Round up
- Tiki Maze (retheme)
- THE OLD SKATING RINK which is now used for storage, was completly redone and you can see inside, has many castaway parts in there I noticed.
- Bumper Cars (Yet paint chipping in que area)
- And a couple other things but cant remember right now
- Rides to left of entrance open @ 11 (Including "water park")

(Some Questions)
- Do you have to have a bathing suit to enter Castaway, there were employees checking at the volcano and I didnt go in because I thought you couldnt go in?
- Why is the yellow paint already chipping on Corkscrew, the paint job isn't even two years old and many rust spots especially in the second corkscrew have appeared?

Cons -
- Rust on Corker (not parks fault, crappy paint)
- Fountain under Sky ride (the big circular rock) isn't working
- The Wheel on the flume building wasn't spinning!!!
- Rude employees - Some didnt seem like they were happy and one named Jesse working at the Funnel Cake stand near corkscrew had an attitude. Needed change for a friend and he was mumbling when I asked and I was also getting ice cream so its not like i just wanted change. Onto that...
- Dasani water Machines - These blow, Atleast 5 diffrent occasions I over heard people complain about how it wont take their dollars. My friend got fed up so he got change and the machine ate his change and never gave him water.
- Bubblers - Some dont work (near train) and others have no pressure and are hot (near pool/park entrance)
Only good one was near the Ocean Trip!
- Park needs capacity rides - The parks best ride Yankee Cannonball only runs one train and it REALLY needs to get that other one on the tracks at the same time. This better be done for next season or many people are going to get pissed off. The que was full all day today, atleast a 40 minute wait (even though they were having GREAT loading times in the station) The ride has to use 2 trains everyday, the guests are getting mad even, i heard many say "never again" and "this line is way to long" and "why are they only using one train, this takes forever".
- Park needs a coaster badly, I thought that the Castaway Island (Which many refer to as a water park) would take a lot of people from rides but I was wrong, it was packed as was the park. Every ride has atleast a two cycle wait for it. The park needs a good capacity coaster to make up for the Rockin Rider removal.
- Parks menu is very Bland, they have been trying to improve it (minuteman fried clams and the Coffee house) but still not much variety.

Well onto the trip report

Weather was very nice, but very hot with real feel in the mid 90's.

Got to the park at 11:15 and waited 10 minutes in line to get in.

Many guests complained (including my friends) about something i never acknowledged before, theres no metal detectors and many feared for their safety because of it.

Anyway love the rides to the left open @ 11 thing.

Flume had a long line already so we went to the Pirata.

6/10 - I dont know what they did to the ride but its nothing like it used to be, its now slow and short. Not really fun anymore. Shame!

Then we went to the Mine of Lost Souls - 8/10, Very fun and short line @ 11:45 only took 5 minutes to get on. Everything was working that i noticed but again was asked why is their an egyptian theme at the end, it really doesnt fit in?

(my friends know that i'm like a Canobie Guru so i can usually answer any question!)

Skater - Great ride, just dont like the location, 9/10, looks great as if it just came out of a factory (probably did) really fun ride to, really gives a fun ride and not too sickening, GREAT addition ridewise, just work on the whole temporary look.

Went by Castaway which looks awesome!

Corkscrew had quite the line today ranging from 10 to 25 minute wait, love the quick loading though, the ride is still fairly smooth for an old arrow looper, banging in the corks thats it, love that first drop. Ride seems to have become very popular with the Castaway behind it and a missing coaster infront of it. 7/10

Yankee Cannonball - 10/10 - Well besides needing paint, (which it will get this winter) the ride is running great (except for the whole one train op thing) I really hope that the work done this winter was to prepare for maybe a second phase for winter 05/06 to get two trains going because Canobie has become busier and busier every year and it needs a high capacity #1 ride!!! With guests complaining and me only getting one lap today because of a long line (atleast i got the back seat which was awesome) they really need to get on that asap!

MatterHorn - 9/10, kicks the crap out of Kontiki @ SFNE, what a great ride, Canobie's most thrilling i'd say. Kinda long line but worth it!

Bumper Cars - 8/10 - nice new paint job but already chipped alot on the que area, but nice decent ride time, love these bumper cars!

Round up - 9/10 - Intense and runs great for a classic ride, Nice new paint job and I love the new belts over the old rusty chains that were finally replaced!

Tiki Maze - 7/10 - Cool ride, like the new theming and paint to go along with this new hawaiian themed section the park is going for, really looks great for an old ride. Wish it'd spin again though!

WipeOut - 9/10 - Awesome intense ride, something canobie lacked, This has awesome theming and is a really good fit in the area. All the park needs is a LOOPING flat ride, only way you can go upside down is on the Corkscrew! Wipe out opened at roughly 1:30 as mechanics were fixing it prior to that.

I saw every ride in the park operating which I was happy about.

Log Flume, we waited about 45 Minutes. Very angry to see that the wheel on the mill no longer spins. Anyway good ride but I actually got more wet on the first tiny drop then i did on the huge second drop, ironic no? 8/10 Friend complained that the log was very uncomfortable on his knees.

Carousel - Sad to see that its really chipping away and not in pristine condition, The elements has made the refurbished (in 1999?) carousel look like a vintage one all over again! 7/10

StarBlaster ! well love the airtime and waited about 10 minutes. 8.5/10

TiltaWhirl - Havn't been on in a while but it was fun, could use some paint though, very faded 7/10

I've noticed the park has plenty of room for flats, like behind Dragon Coaster (Which I personally feel they should put Skater, Near the Turkish Twist, and many other grassy areas that could fit rides, Also the park has 3 Car rides, one for kiddies and two for the family, They could take one out and expand and build a coaster on the Canobie 500/Galaxi site.

Sky Ride - Was nice, they used almost every other car for what ever reason, line was about 10 minutes 7/10.

Caterpillar - Last time i went Canopy wasn't working but it is now, seems to stay down longer though, lifts only when ride is over with. 7/10

Over the Rain Bow - Me and my friend spun this thing so damn fast that we couldnt see for minutes, that thing can really spin if you make it, way more then tea cups! 8/10

Vertigo Theatre - Opened with a woodie, but i couldnt figure out which one, anyone know? Also had race car clips and a carnival and an old Shwarzkoph (SP?) looper which I thought but isn't Revolution @ SFMM. freezing cold A/C, sat right on the vents...9/10 for the A/C!

Psycho Drome - Another cold one, went REALLY fast too, 9.5/10!!! When was this built? My friend asked and I didnt know, also the rides really dirty, if you look @ the center it has like layers of dust.

Crown still missing from Paratrooper and Davincis had a nice line all day, thats a capacity monster though so good move Canobie on that, just get MORE HIGH CAPACITY RIDES and a really good Thrilling coaster!

Food -
Got Ice Cream which was really good!

Went to Portofino for the first time, AWESOME view of the lake and my friend who got a slice of cheese said it sucked but my two other friends and I ordered a pizza and with the Parmassan cheese provided was very good! 9/10 for Porto-fino!

Well thats my trip report, Overall had a good day but Canobie needs to get a coaster, I thought 4 was low enough but now 3, thats just terrible, they are making tons of money so spend it on a new coaster.

Thanks for reading, as any questions you like!