First time to Lake Compounce 8/25

Well I finally decided to go to the park which is 130 miles away from me and today looked great so I went. Got to the park right when it opened @ 11 and after a lady in a car yelled at me in the unpaved parking lot we got out of the car and headed for the park.

First off, the park isn't even visible from the road, its incredible, its just a huge mountain. The park is very hidden, looks awsome. But whats with the industrial village you drive through to get to the park? Anyway, VERY friendly employees, it was incredible.

Staff - A +
Rides - A -
Food - A
Capacity - A -
Atmosphere - A+

The park entrance is beautiful and I love the rotating figures at the top of that building. The park looks very traditional in the front and the first ride we did was Wild Cat...

Wild Cat, one ride, 15 minute wait, 6/10, The ride...well...its old, from 1927 its a classic but it...well...pretty much sucks. I hate to say it but the ride, which had a long line (one train) isn't good. Its just boring, its got very little air, and its fast at some points but not really fun, I went on it with an open mind but was disappointed. We then went to Musik Express

Musik Express - 7/10, one ride, one cycle wait, fun spinning ride which is pretty intense and nice long cycle. A lot of broken lights though.

Then we hit Down Time,9/10, The parks newest attraction is awsome. 3 rides, 10 minute wait, certainly worth it. Its very fun and why cant SFNE load their towers like this. It has such quick loading and it was really REALLY fun and i loved the ticking and the top you hear the ticking till it rings and you get shot down which is terrifying. Wow AWSOME ride, what used to be in that location before it and where was Top Spin in the park?

We then Went to Boulder Dash,10/10, all day atleast 30 minute wait. I was very upset to only see the red train running for my first back car ride, but later on in the day the yellow train was only running and the red wasn't, supposedly it was smoking and they removed it. The ride in the back is fun and intense but the yellow train in the front seat is the best wooden coaster expirience i've ever had. The ride was heaven, smooth, so much great airtime, it was just amazing. Words cant describe the ride. Sorry Yankee Cannonball but your no longer my #1 woodie. This ride was just absolutly awsome. The going up the mountain and speeding down it again and woods, it this thing is very long to, great ride! Tobad only 1 train op or i would of rode it much more then 4 times.

Enterprise - AWSOME flat, walk on, this thing is the coolest, I love how you can just sit and recline and relax and spin, doesnt even make you dizy and its fun! 8/10, 1 ride.

Saw Mill Plunge, The station loading was cool but I still think Canobies is much more quick and effective. Fun ride though. 8/10

All rides were open from what I could see, but didn't ride certain rides like Big wheel and Ghost hunt or the kiddie coaster or Twister or Flyers.

Pirate - once, 8/10, rivals Canobie, very fun, loved the waterfall too. Fun ride with long cycle.

Rotor - Canobie's Turkish Twist embarrases this ride. This ride looks like a old run down carny ride, its ashame. The ride is fast but has no thing in the middle and the floor goes down alot! A little kid slid down all the way though @ its "highest" speed. 7/10

Zoomerang - Once, Front Row, 8.5/10, My friends rode in the back and said it was rough but me and my other friend sat front row and wow, wat a smooth ride. Hit my head only ONCE in the cobra roll going backwords, very fun ride!!

Wave Swinger - Once, 7/10, fun but I dont see how so many people say its awsome. Its ok but Canobies and even Six Flags are better in my opinion.

Trolley - Once, 8/10, what a classic trolley and definitly saves a walk. First time i got in line it broke down and we did all the rides @ that end of the park and it was open when we were done. I love how old it is, its great.

Thunder Rapids, 25 minute wait, Fun and got me completley soaked BUT,I dont see how everyone says its better then Blizzard River. Its much shorter and certaintly not better. Its got cool drops and rapids but thats it. BR has all that plus tunnels, waterfalls, and awsome mist, and water that shoots up from the river.

Sky Ride - walk on all day, most terryfying expirience of my life. No idea why but i was FREAKIN out on this ride. It goes so friggin' high. I was holding on for dear life. How do people vandalize the rocks and get up there???

Thats about it for the rides, the staff was awsome, all they do is be polite and funny, it was great

Food - Lunch I had a prime rib sandwich and provologn cheese, It was AWESOME, BUT the rib wasn't hot but it was still awsome. Loved the free soda but there are bees EVERYWERE, and then we had a snack, fried oreos, Oh My God, these were the best things i've ever eaten, they were so amazing. I wish Canobie had these or Six Flags.

Thats about it for my day, we left around 7ish and it was a good day but the park lacks something...a steel coaster perhaps, and the 1 train op on Boulder Dash sucked. I might return once next season but I still like SFNE and especially Canobie much better, Thanks for reading M/M!

"what used to be in that location before it (Downtime) and where was Top Spin in the park?"

The Music Expres was where Down Time is now. The Top Spin was in the location where the Flyers are now.

I was there on Tuesday and they were running 2 trains on Boulder Dash. Never more than a 10 minute wait, and the parking lot was full. It sucks that they were only runing one on Wednesday :(

I agree that some good steel would make the Lake perfect.

I'm guessing that people who get freaked out by the Sky Ride don't ski/snowboard. I found it to be very placid.

Lake Compounce is just my favorite park...period.

The Lake usually runs one train on Boulder Dash unless the crowds are ridiculous. A shame because they should really run two on their feature attraction to help with the crowds. That's all the negative I can say about the park though... that, and the Flying Scooters.

Interesting that you say the Wildcat "sucked" but it got a 6/10 on your ratings scale. Not to dismiss your opinion or anything, but why did you give it a 6/10 when you clearly think very little of the ride?

I've only seen 1 train operation on Boulder Dash once.

And Rob has a point. A 6/10 is average in my book.

If you got a 60% on an exam, you might describe your performance as "sucky." I might, anyway.

So what do 0 through 5 represent?

Varying degrees of suckiness?

There's seems to be two distinct camps on how to interpret ratings on a 0-10 scale.

One side seems to think like Den describes comparing it to school like grading and the other side (the way I see it) uses the full 1-10 with 5 being average, middle of the road and getting progressively better or worse from there.

To me 6 of 10 says "slightly above average" or "on the high end of average" - from your description, on my interpretation, it's more like a 2 or 3.

I never saw the point of using just 6 though 10 (presumably representing the 'grades' of A,B,C,D,E in general) - that's a 6-10 scale, not a 0-10 or 1-10 scale. If you rate that way, I'd rather see a letter grade as I find 6/10 equating with "sucky" to be a little odd. What do 0 or 1 through 5 mean? Does it really take 5 or 6 numbers to describe the level of suckiness? If so, then why not multiple numbers to represent the levels of goodness? Isn't that the point of a 0-10 scale? Am I too worried about it? Of course I am!

On a related note, if you want to see the 0-10 scale raped even worse than that, then try to make sense of these ratings :)

*** Edited 8/27/2004 9:36:54 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Anyone remember that silly Griswold scale when the only place to discuss coasters on the internet was RRC? The scale went from -3 to 5, with 0 indicating an average experience. Yeah, that's simple and makes sense ;)

Thanks for the laugh, Gonch. I've never thought of 1 thru 5 indicating varying degrees of suckiness!

I know that we're nitpicking in the most ridiculous way, but just to continue the conversation... 6 out of 10 mathematically equates to 60%, and I take that kind of rating to mean that you enjoyed 60% of the Wildcat. That doesn't sound like "suckiness" to me... I WISH that I enjoyed 60% of most rides that I go on!

Hey, I liked the Griswold scale!

It eliminates the exact confusion we're whining about.

0 is average. 1 thru 5 rates varying degrees of greatness and -1 thru -3 rates varying degrees of suckiness. It's still a 1 thru 9 scale with different values.

The 6 thru 10 scale is just a 1 thru 5 scale using different numbers. A,B,C,D,E would be the same scale using letters. That's what kills me. What's the point of using 6 thru 10?

I'd officially like to propose the 'prime number rating scale':

11 is average.
1,3,5 and 7 represent the varying levels of 'less than average'
13,17,19 and 21 represent the varying levels of 'better than average'

Or how about the 'batting average scale':

Your rating is a percentage of enjoyment expressed as a three digit decimal (just like batting averages).

"Good drop, decent air, solid laterals, but a lackluster ending that's over trimmed and the trains were a bit uncomfortable - I rate it .687" Hell, that'd be hall of fame material in baseball, but only the top 2/3 or so in coasters.

The point is you can put any values into the scale and it all essentially means the same thing. I still don't understand establishing the scale as 0 thru 10 and then only using 5 of the potential 11 numbers. "It's a 0 to 10 scale but anything under 7 is 'sucky'" - It seems as ridiculous as my silly suggestions.

To me, if something is a 6, then that means that 60% of the score is above zero. If you get 60% of anything, you have a controlling share, so you would be 10% over half. Half is, to me, average. This is how I rate, personally:

0= This sucks. I'll never forget it, and will not ride again, ever. TAER IT DOWN!!1!1!!

1= This sucks. I'd probably forget that it sucks, and accidentally ride it again.

2= Bad ride. I'd ride this again, just to make sure I don't remember the exp. wrong.

3= Not a good ride. I'd ride it again if I were there & didn't have anything else to do, or was with someone who hasn't ridden it ever.

4= Not a good ride. I'd ride again, but it is either slightly rough, or just dosen't thrill me.

5= Average. Every coaster should be at least this good. Most should be better if they want me to come all that way to ride.

6. Good ride. I'd ride it at least once everytime I go. But I still won't be smiling the entire course, even though I'll be happy.

7. Good ride. I'd ride this 2 times and would probably smile most, if not all the ride, but not after I'm a few steps from the exit, just cause I'm like that.

8. Really good ride. I'd power ride this. It delivers, ride wise, or theme/scenery wise, but only one or the other. And it still isn't best at either, but good.

9. Great Ride. I could ride this all day and leave the park. It has great themeing/scenery or really delivers ride wise, or both. Almost heaven, not much better

10. One of, if not the, Best. I'd come to a park just to ride this. It has a killer layout. It may also be enhanced by killer scenery, but this is the ride I came for.

But thats just me, YMMV

That makes too much sense. ;)

Yes, it may confuse some lesser minds, gonch, but thats just me(not that you are a lesser mind, mind you;)).

I've never yet given a coaster a 0. I think the lowest/highest coasters I've given scores to this year are:

Mean Streak-4 (and not for roughness, but for not thrilling me)

Vortex @ PCar-2

TTD-8

BORG-5 (yeah, I'm a sicko too.)

Gemini-9

I think Gonch knows which coaster I would give a "0" to!

I visited Lake Compounce last year and fell in love with the park. The atmosphere was great and employees were wonderful.

Boulderdash was the highlight of the day for me, as it would be for anyone. It resides as my #1 coaster, both wooden and combined. Its just amazing. Everything I explain the ride to non-enthuiasts, they are amazed, but usually just at the fact that it is on the side of a mountain.

At the end of the day when I was there, the train chanted "One More Time" and we got two extra rides when the park should've been closed. That shows great hospitality when the Ops are willing to let the train go through two more times when they were planning to close the ride down.

When I went there was also a one-train Op as well. I was kinda bummed because the line was 30 minutes to an hour (more so the latter), but I got in 12 laps, but that was thanks to like 3 rides in a row at the end of the day.

Lake Compounce is awesome, I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go there again!

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Rob Ascough said:
I think Gonch knows which coaster I would give a "0" to!

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Well you certainly wouldn't give it a "48" ;)

We have a winner!

Im sorry, I meant to give it a 5/10, i mean it wasnt horrible but it wasnt very thrilling or even much mun, little to no air, etc etc, but i would try it again for sure.

No sweat, you sparked an interesting little conversation/whine session.

Nor do I question your reason for thinking it average. I love Schmeck coasters but I've always found that one a little lacking. One of his lesser Wildcat designs or the result of Curtis Summers taking out of the ride whatever elements that were mildly entertaining?