Lake Compounce 9-16

Well I am ashamed to admit that I grew up in CT and had never visited Lake Compounce. I now live in Boston and frequent SFNE but yesterday I drove to Bristol so I could finally see the lake and Boulderdash. We arrived around 2:30 or 3 pm. The first this we did was hop on Wildcat which had no wait. It was a really fun little wooden coaster. Nothing spectacular but a fun old classic. We road it a few times in a row because there were very few people at the park and the Ride Ops were great about letting you stay on or switch seats providing that no one was in the cue for that seat. After that warm up we headed for Boulderdash which maybe had about a ten minute wait for the front seat. We hopped on and headed up the side of a rocky CT hill. The coaster was one of the smoothest and fastest woodies I had ever been on but to be honest aside from the environment it went through, the ride didn't impress me much. We walked around and got on in the back seat in about 5 minutes, again smooth as can be, pretty scenery but not much of a thrill. After that we went and tried a few of the flat rides, they don't have many, its a really small park. We did have a ball in the Haunted house ride where you sit two in a car with laser tag like light guns and shoot ghosts. It was a blast, except for the time that I got a bad gun and just got spanked thoroughly by my date. After that we took a few more spins on Wildcat again no line. Just a fun little coaster. Then it was back to Boulderdash to see if it had awakened later in the day as many claim it does. Guess what? They are correct! It was suddenly a lot faster and even a bit rougher with the laterals in certain areas. We decided that it could only get better later so to kill some time and to work on my fear of heights we went on the sky ride which is basically a ski lift that goes up the hill that BD is on. It was very pretty and peaceful. We couldn't believe how quiet it got at the top! I actually enjoyed it despite my acrophobia, though I believe that I left a permanent impression of my had print upon the seat bar to which I was holding on to. When that was done is was back to BD. It was getting darker and BD was getting faster! Thankfully the park was getting even emptier so we almost never left the train from 6:30 till closing. Well we did three times, once to get an on-ride photo, once to wait for a last ride in the front seat and once to go bust some caps in some ghosts at the haunted house just cause it was so much fun. BD in the dark is awesome!!! I don't know much else to say other than that. It continued to get faster each ride. Going around in the woods in the pitch dark is something else. By the last few rides the lateral got so strong that you really felt as if the train was going to tear itself off of the tracks. I lost track of how many times we rode, it had to be somewhere from 20 to 30 times that day. We even met a character who works at the park and seems to spend all of his free time on BD. He was an interesting fellow but he never smiled for the camera? Guess that's what 500+ rides will to you. Anyway If you go to ride this coaster go at night. It is phenomenal and a completely different ride than it is during the day. Not much air time but the speed and the layout is something that is hard to match. This is truly a "Terrain Coaster"

Got frisky in the Haunted House huh? he,,he,  It happens.....anyway, Im glad you stayed till the end of the day to ride Boulder Dash as you can tell its not much of a morning coaster and it awakes later in the day. Im also glad to hear somebody enjoy Wildcat, Nobody I know really likes it but me. I bet you enjoyed the skyride to...lol!  nuff said.

I have ridden the Boulder alot and for some reson it seemed that this year it was much less intense as it opening season. The airtime seemed to be scarce on hills which used to provide some excellent airtime. The did do some re-tracking on the coaster during the off-season but that shouldn't have affected the whole ride. all they did was tone down the trick-track, which really dissapoints me. i still enjoy the ride but it just doesn'y deserve to be in my top 5 or 10 for woodies. I didn't get many night rides this year so maybe that's my problem, It takes a while for the Boulder to be awakened in the morning.

It's all very well to say Boulder Dash awakens at night, I don't doubt that it does, but there are two points:

1) a truly great coaster gives a good ride regardless of the time of day - e.g., Phoenix, Ghostrider, Beast, Villain.

2) If you arrive at the park on opening, what are you supposed do until the evening - there's not much at the park.

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I am sorry but I went to PKI at the beginning of the day and had the two worst rides that I have ever had on wooden coasters, SOB (I couldn't think of a better acronym) and The Beast. Those are the most overrated wooden coasters on planet. If you enjoy being concussed and receiving other internal and external injuries then I guess they are for you but for me? No thanks. The Villain is an Awesome coaster. BD does give a great ride in the morning, its just not as intense as it is at later in the evening when it is dark and the track has warmed up.

Grant, Lake Compounce is a family amusement park, not a thrill ride park. If you are only into coasters then there isn't much to do other than the three coasters. If you are a family and like flat rides, mini steamships, peddle boats, mini trains, mini golf, and prize games, there is plenty to do at the park. Most people who attend LC are families who aren't just out to find the ultimate coaster experience. I love coasters but I had a wonderful time there on the flat rides, enjoying the atmosphere especially in light of the recent events. The were playing patriotic music all day and it was very refreshing. If I want thrill rides I go to a Six Flags or to Cedar Point where I am going next week : ) !!!!!!

*** This post was edited by Figaro on 9/21/2001. ****** This post was edited by Figaro on 9/21/2001. ***

*** This post was edited by Figaro on 9/24/2001. ***

i have to agree with your sentiments, figaro, Beast and SOB are so overrated. i was extremely dissapointed by how many brakes were on the Beast but you know what i bet i would've had a concussion if there weren't so many trims. Since the ride keep pushing me violently into the seat in front of me. SOB was also just very painful and didn't really thrill me because i had to try so hard to ignore the pain. there is no doubt that most enthusiasts consider Boulder to be a better ride then both Beast and SOB just look at AT's top 25. boulder is number three but i really think it doesn't deserve this recognition, many woodies like villain, Ghostrider, Roar are more thrilling and deserving. Boulder Dash is a good ride but not in the upper echelon of woodies.