My dad's a farmer, and every year the company to which he sells grain invites all the farmers to a big old picnic at Coney Island, which just happens to be right down the river from the company. Last Saturday, my wife and I went along.
Coney Island is a beautiful little "park." I use the quotation marks because, in its current state, it's more like a city park with a few rides than an amusement park.
We got to the park about 1 p.m., marvelling at the nearby I-275 bridge over the Ohio River. One of the coolest things about this park are the signs all over, documenting where the river water crested during recent floods. These signs are located 10 feet up on buildings that are very far away from the river. Yikes.
Anyhoo, first thing we did when we got there is head for the Pepsi Python. It's a small Zyklon-style coaster. It's virtually identical to the Serpent at Americana, except instead of two drops, two spirals, it's two drops, one spiral and a final drop. My dad and I sat in back, and enjoyed a few big jolts of airtime (would've been more if not for a trim before the final drop.)
BTW, this was my dad's first coaster since riding Vortex in the early 1990's and literally turning green.
After our ride, for which we waited 15 minutes, we chowed down on our free picnic lunch of burgers, hot dogs, brats, etc., and then hit the arcade, where my whole family had a very spirited hour of skee-ball. I tied with my sister-in-law for highest score (310). I also tried to play Arkanoid but the screen was weird and curvy on one side...made it very hard!
Next we hit the Ferris wheel, where I terrified my wife by rocking the chair. Also got yelled at by my mom from the chair behind us. Jeez, I'm 25!
The line for paddleboats was too long. We went to the Trabant next, which is one of the best flat rides (fyi, they also have a Himalaya, Round-up, a slow Tilt-a-whirl, carousel, and super slide). The Trabant starts with laterals, then segues nicely into negative Gs.
Then we played mini-golf (skins) on the slightly boring course, designed to look like famous fairways. I've never seen a fairway with three pipes leading to the hole. ;)
Well, I wanted to ride some more rides, but everyone else was ready to go. It was about 95 degrees, so I agreed, and we left happily, stopping at Graeters for ice cream. Mmm.
Thanks for reading.
