Conneaut Lake Park

I just got back from CLP and I had a great time. There was a nice croud for a Wed. and the Bug was fantastic. I felt like I was back in the 40's. That's one thing I like about the park. The Blue Streak was flying over those hills and the Tempest was a surprise, I think I rode it about 5 times. They have a new boat ride on the lake. It takes about an hour and it was a nice change too.

All in All I had a great time and the park was running great with only the tobagan down.

Excellent, sounds like this park is starting to get things back together. Maybe it is beginning to turn the corner. I hope I can get up there this year.

Its so great to go to a park where you appreciate those smaller flats that you tend to bypass at the bigger parks (if they have them at all). I really need to get to some of the smaller parks so that I can ride a Scrambler, a Tilt-a-Whirl, a Roll-o-Plane, Flying Scooters, and a Tempest again.

How many cars did they have on the bug?

I saw a picture on their blog showing 5 cars on the Bug.

Your right they had 5 cars and it ran great, I think I even experienced air time

Nice report! Always good to hear nice things about Conneaut. Putting another boat on the lake is a good idea. My kids always loved the Barbara J and were pretty bummed when it stopped.

A good Tumble Bug will produce some airtime as you go over the frist hump past the loading platform. This is because of the acceleration that results because the dip after the hump is below the track in the loading area. The ride will also tend to push the riders together at times as well. If the seats are smooth (as opposed to the ones on the KW turtle) the riders get squeezed a bit adding to the mild thrills that result.

The Tumble Bug is a great ride for families. All different ages and heights can ride together. It's just a wonder that only two still remain in operation in the country.

By the way, what has become of the Whalom Bug? This would be a great ride to add to LC if it is still around. Kennycorp has the other Bug (besides the one at CLP) so they could maintain it properly. The ride would certainly fit into LCs family image and would appeal to nostalgia seekers that used to go to Whalom and now miss that park.

I figured this would be a good a place as any to post a CLP update.
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_199131526.html

They reached their goal for donations.
Great!

Thats good to hear that they had 5 cars on it.I think before they rebuilt it they were running only 3 or 4.

I ran that ride one time while at West View,VERY hard to operate,you have to judge when to shut off the power to the cars so there is enough speed to make it to the station,but not too much so that the brake can hold it without going over the first hump. *** Edited 7/22/2006 1:12:28 AM UTC by Ex_Westview and KW_worker***

I was bummed that I went to CLP on Monday about two weeks ago, paid for parking an hour before the park opened, then waited in the van for them to open. Finally around opening time we walked up front and they said they were closed for the day due to weather. We were like huh? So they had to radio someone else to get our parking money back to us. I spent the night in a hotel and drove there from Indiana only to find the park closed due to sprinkles. The weather cleared up on the drive home.

There's my luck though. Glad to hear it's open for the rest of the world! I really really wanted to ride the tumble bug! Maybe next year. I can't afford to drive back again this year.

Does the park look different this year from last year? It sounded like they really cleaned things up and are trying to turn the park around. I couldn't see much of anyting past the closed front gates.

^That bites.

For what it's worth, the Tumble Bug wasn't re-opening until the 8th or 9th.
You were probibly there on the 3rd, which would be the only Monday they'd be open in July.

Back in the late 80's early 90's, the park would close whenever they felt like it. They'd get on the PA and announce: The park will be closing tonight at 8PM and such. (that's one of the things that pissed people off. They'd have a park full of people, the weather was good, and they'd close an hour to two hours early).

I'm planning to go to CLP next week. It's been about 10 years since I was there and I would like to see what changes have been made there. I'm also interested in the restored rides and the Blue Streak. Hopefully CLP will be with us for a long time instead of its future continuing to remain in doubt from year to year.

Closed for weather isn't as bad as when Kevin and I went to CLP earlier this year. Blue Streak had been hit with lightning earlier in the season, and they didn't yet have it up and running again. I rode my Toboggan and Devil's Den, and left.