Tekwardo & AV Matt's New England Adventures (Part 2)
Quassy & Lake Compounce
September 5, 2010
I slept better Saturday nite than I had on Friday. Not sure about Matt, I was having allergy/sinus issues, so I snored pretty badly. On Sunday morning we got up and headed out, leaving our room at La Quinta behind. Our first stop of the day was Dunkin Doughnuts for breakfast. What is up with New England? They don’t keep chocolate cream filled doughnuts all year round, they’re only seasonal. Whatever.
Breakfast was still good, though, even if I settled for Bavarian cream. Matt learned not to call the cashier a Yankee, even if she tried to take his $10. Then it was thru the back roads of Connecticut and off to Quassy. We arrived at the park after 11am and families were already pouring in. My first thought was that it reminded me of a nicer Camden park. Walking around, though, it reminded me more of a smaller Beech Bend.
We walked over by the Mad Mouse but decided to walk around so I could take some pictures first. The park was very nice, and we walked all around snapping pictures. I was going to ride the kiddie credit, but ended up skipping it. One thing I liked was that they had a ticket machine back by the carousel, so we got 2 tickets and headed back towards the coaster. This will be its last year here, so it was our chance to check a rare ride out.
Mad Mouse-I wish Matt and I could have rode it separately, but oh well. The car was uncomfortable, but the ride was fun. The first drop after the mouse section was a ton of fun, and going around the tight turns was rather scary (the ride shakes). I honestly was hoping the car wouldn’t derail because of our weight. Overall, though, it would have been a great ride if I’d been in a car by myself.
We walked around and did some more photos before heading out. Quassy is a nice park, and I really hope they have a hit with their new wooden coaster for next year. Matt keeps calling it the Quassy Comet, and I think that’s a great name. Hopefully they’ll put a nice light package on it as well. And maybe next year I’ll get back up there to try it out. We got some construction photos as we were leaving.
Next up on the trip was a stop by (World Famous) Ted’s Restaurant, a hamburger joint (one of many) that steams the burger. I was excited to try it. We met up with Kyle & Jenna for lunch (they treated us, thanks again folks!). The burger was very good, and we had a nice lunch and a chance to sit and talk for a while.
Lake Compounce wasn’t very far away. Joe & Steph had called Matt and said they’d meet us there for some Boulder Dash rides. I was excited because the park looked great in pictures. Little did I know I’d have a chance to see ESPN while I was there! And we saw some odd looking tall building where they test elevators. Double score (and Foursquare now has a check in by me at ESPN to boot!).
We got to the park and it looked packed. Once we got in, though, the crowds were fairly dispersed throughout the park. I had packed my swimming trunks yet again, but it was just too cool to go to the water park. We walked around the park and headed straight to the reason both of us were there, a new credit for me, and one of Matt’s favorite coasters…
Boulder Dash (#230): The line was about a 30 minute wait, and I must stop here and say that this line had people line hopping each time I was in it. I was kind of caught off guard each time (I didn’t think it would actually happen as much as it did) or I would have stopped it. Anywho, I loved that the lift went thru the trees up the hill. We rode in the back and there is some great airtime on that first drop. Then the next hill. Then the next hill, too! The turn around near the sky ride was filled with laterals, and then it’s just all out airtime madness on each hill as you hop and jump back to the station. Boulder Dash was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I finally got a shot at it. Matt said it was running at about an 8/10, so that’s good enough for me!
We headed to the sky ride next, which afforded me the opportunity to get some decent shots of the park and especially Boulder Dash. The sky ride was pretty awesome (best thrill in the park!) I got some pictures in between my hyperventilation (I’m so afraid of heights). It reminded me of the tram at Pipestem State Park in WV.
We headed down to the train afterwards and rode back over to the main section of the park, hitting up some pizza and taking a break from walking. Next Matt took me over to Wildcat for a ride.
Wildcat: It has a decent layout, and some nice hills, but it needs some work. If it ran as well as Boulder Dash, it would be a nice classic wooden coaster. My biggest issue was that I hit my knee on a metal box in the train going up a hill. Still, the first drop is fun, the turns were forceful, and there is definitely airtime to be had. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but it wasn’t that great either.
We walked over to Zoomerang but the line was too long. We walked around to a few different spots for picture taking and eventually headed up to Boulder Dash’s entrance to wait for Joe and Steph. We ended up waiting for about 40 minutes before heading out to other parts of the park. In fact, we may have checked out the Zoomerang line after waiting. I do know we ended up riding the Rotor. I hadn’t been on one of those in years! It was tons of fun, with the floor dropping out and everything. I hate that Kings Dominion got rid of their Time Shaft, it was really great.
We headed back to Boulder Dash’s entrance, but no Steph or Joe, so we got in line. Eventually, once we were close, we saw them in line and they waited for us after the ride. Boulder Dash was even better than the first ride, which was nice.
I needed to get my Zoomerang credit, so we headed over to that line (after I stopped for some Birthday Cake Dip N Dots). Steph and Joe waited for us as Matt and I got a front seat ride.
Zoomerang: My 2nd new Boomerang in as many days. It’s a Boomerang. The drops are great, the inversions a little more intense than I like, and I come off all disoriented. That’s about it. Oh, but this one has pretty trains.
We headed up to the park’s S&S swings, Thunder And Lightning, where we waited for a quick ride. I love those rides, even if they’re ugly. They’re a lot of fun. After we rode we headed over to Downtime, the park’s S&S drop tower. This one seemed to hold you at the top longer. I was nervous, but I’m still getting a little better at these types of rides. As we were in line, some weird guy who kept riding over and over gave someone in line with a kid some grief over the Red Sox shirt the guy in line was wearing. Drama ensued and a manager had to come over. The creepy guy on the ride wasn’t all there mentally, I don’t think, and Matt said he’s always at the park.
So we headed back to Boulder Dash for a mostly dark ride. That first drop was still insane and the airtime coming back was great. Joe and Steph had an interesting on ride photo as well. We hurried around to the front of the queue to ride again, but they had just closed it. Oh well…
I wanted to ride the dark ride, but the line was always really long. Lake Compounce has a great selection of rides, and I wish I lived closer (or at least that the park was closer to me). The gang took a spin on the Wave Swinger while I sat out. I wish I had known that they had one of the bouncing tower rides that Beech Bend has, but it was too late to ride it at this point.
We headed out and talked to some other enthusiasts Matt and Joe knew. The park is really very pretty at nite, esp. in the front where it’s all lit up. And I love the tunnel lights going into the park. We headed to the truck and met up with Joe and Steph at a nearby BK where I proclaimed myself King. Matt still has the crown, too. The drive to Jersey was long, but we went thru NYC and I went over the GW Bridge. Sadly, it was not lit up like it usually is (Do they turn the lights off late at nite? We went over it around 11pm).
We arrived at the Crowne Plaza near Six Flags Great Adventure a little after midnight. Thankfully there was a sofa bed for me, as the room only had a king sized bed. I slept like a baby. Which was bad for poor Matt, since I’m sure I snored like crazy.
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