Enchanted Village

Went to the Six Flags newly acquired park in the Northwest, Enchanted Village/Wild Waves.

First thing I did was walk through the park and take notice of changes to Wild Waves section from how I remember it being several years ago.

First ride ended up being on one of those slides where you ride on the burlap sack. This was actually kinda fun because it was obvious that the park spent the time to actually wax and polish the slide. It was really slick. I didn't quite distribute my weight right, and I ended up being somewhat slow, and my girlfried beat me to the bottom quite significantly, how embarrassing.

Next, the bumper cars. Noticed that the cars are new and seem to run well. But, but the building is small, and all it takes is ONE lost person to clog up the entire track and cause everyone to sit while the rideop gives operating instructions over the PA, "The person in the red car, turn your steering wheel all the way to the right please ... "

Headed for the Wild Thing next. Capactiy on this is horrible. This ride doesn't have any gates on the loading platform, and I suspect because of this reason, they weren't allowing anyone on the platform at all. And, they couldn't seem to figure out how to coun't 28 people to fill the seats, the guy with the measuring stick whose job it was to count to 28 just kinda looked around with a blank stare on his face. On a positive note, they were giving two rides per load. They did unload small kids who didn't want to go the second time and this slowed this down too, but it was kinda nice to ride again without having to run around and climb the stairs again. The ride itself was actually pretty good for a park of this size. Three inversions, one loop, and two through the corkscrew. The G's are mild though and I prefer Anton's loops, but the floating sensation through the inversions might be liked by others. The downside to the ride is in the transistions into, and out of the corkscrew. Both times my jaw smacked into the OTSR on the exit out. I didn't ride it again, but it reminds me alot of my days as a kid and riding Corkscrew at KBF. Really a decent coaster for this size of park.

We didn't eat before getting there, and that was because I specifically wanted to try the park food. That probably wasn't a good idea. Two sodas, a pepperoni pizza, and a cheese pretzel ... $16 for a cardboard disk and rubber knot ... at least the soda was good.

We changed into swimwear and splashed around in the wave pool a little. Two kids caught a wave and plowed into me, knocking me over where I was promptly overrun by the next incoming wave. Price, one scraped little toe, one twisted ankle, and some muscle in my right leg stretched further then it should have been. Found out later that the bottom surface is smooth, and not abrasive in the deeper areas; if I had known this to start, I'd have a bit more skin left on my lower extremities.

Did one of the slow float rides where you ride around on an pretend vynl innertube. Would have been a lot more fun with fewer kids, and a cup holder in the tube I could set a beer in. No beer, and to many kids ... well that should say enough.

Next off to the old water slides. These are still a lot of fun. I laid on my back and cupped my hands next to my sides to capture the water behind me in an effort to speed me along It worked. I ended up VERY high ... TO high on one of the turns. I went quite a bit higher then the water normally flows ... well ... without the water to act as lubrication .... I no longer slid gracefully along, instead I rolled and tumbled back into the normal course ( no known brusies at this time!). These are great, and the lines were short because its an "old" attraction.

Did the purple tunnel on the new fancy slide. Grab a tube, and wait in line forever. Well, it wasn't forever, but it wasn't quick either. They have a wierd policy of pushing riders into the tunnel, and they only had one staff member for four tunnels. I asked was told the dispatch interval required was 15 seconds, but with only one staff member, the interval was 30 seconds. The ride itself wasn't that great. It was fast, and smooth. However, the tunnel was dark, and didn't really give much in the way of sensation of speed. And there was no "out of control" sensation like the slide on your own backside older slides. This ride was over way to fast for the wait in line and the experience it gave.

Decided to get dressed back into regular clothes when I was told by my neice she had just rode the new coaster with tight turns. I forget the name of the ride, Klondike something or other I think. It was obvious the rideops on this were brand new. I should also mention that earlier in the day there was maintenance personel riding and checking track when we first got there. They hit the brakes and yelled for the ops to "press the button". The ops just stared blankly back. The maintence shouted again, "Step back and don't touch anything." They climbed out of the cars and walked along the track back to the station and climbed into the lead car to do more inspection.

Anyways, after grabbing our clothes, we went ahead and walked to the back of the park to get a ride on this mouse. If you ride with a girlfriend, ride on the outside, the turns are sharper and you will end up with her nearly in your lap ... of course if you want to end up in her lap ...

I think this may have been the first day this was open to the public. Its ran real smooth and kept the speed around the corners well. I wish the drops were higher though, as it is quite mild with the fairly low speeds. The only other caution I have is to brace yourself for the brakes. It stops quite quick. Perhaps with time this will loosen up a bit and not be so sudden.

Overall it seems that Six Flags has made some positive changes, and its obvious that there are more changes in the works. If the park had another two "real" coasters, I'd certainly buy an annual pass. Right now, the water park portion would be worth the cost if the summer crowds from kids isn't overwhelming.

Another thing I noticed is that the space isn't used real well, so Six Flags could add a WHOLE LOT of things if they take things out and put them back squashed closer together. I hope the attendance goes up enough that they invest again next year.

*** This post was edited by Sprig on 6/11/2002. ***

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The crowds were not that bad for most of the park. I went on Sunday, and expected them to be a lot worse. The wave pool was packed like sardines, but the rest of the park wasn't what I would call crowded. My longest wait was for the purple slide and that was about 15 minutes. The second longest was Wild Thing, and while a 10 minute wait may seem long, being able to ride twice in a row really made this worthwile.

I did notice that the current parking was nearly full, as we parked 3/4ths the way up. It looks like current parking won't crowd the park. HOWEVER, I also notice they are working to make the parking lot 4 times bigger then it currently is. That could make the park quite a bit more crowded.

Yet, it seems Six Flags may know what they are doing. With the newly added attractions finished, this will distribute the park goers and may not make the increased attendance affect wait times to much.

I guess the bottom line though is that we will have to see what happens when the school kids get their summer break.

Sprig

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This contest can not be decided by our knowledge of the force but by our skills with a lightsaber.
Count dooku episode II