Update on Lake Compounce with a surprise

I attended Noreast coaster at the Lake on March 3 and here is a update of whats going on at the park for this season and beyond. Projects for this season:

The retracking of Boulder Dash is a 2 year project with 75% to be completed this year by April 1 and the rest next year but with the mild winter they completed it a month early. They were going to do more but since Renegade is behind schedule they were sent there to speed up construction. The only thing left is to clean up the mess left behind.

The Wildcats new braking system and track work is almost complete and when its done they will finish painting it as they have half of it painted already. The second train is already painted and ready for testing which should be starting by the end of the month.

The work on Zoomers is almost complete with most of the themeing being done. There are lots of details on the ride that include the entrance to the rides Q that will look like an 50s looking garage, and a drive-in movie screen, a coverd bridge, and billboards along it track. The cars will have speakers in them that will play music and the safety instructions for the ride.

They are pouring the concrete pad for the new ballon ride to go in the kiddie area this week and the ride is to be delivered in the next couple of weeks.

As some of you know the Mark Twain riverboat that used to cruise the lake has been sold to another park. It is being replaced by a new 40 seat pontoon boat that will be called the Cabana boat.

Future projects:

The water park expansion is going to be a 3 year project that will start this year with the relocation of the road and site work. They will add attractions in the 2nd and 3rd year and when its complete in 2010 it will have ahuge wavepool lots more slides and a water coaster from Proslides.

The park is in talks with a couple of companies to add 4person cars on Ghost Hunt to increase its capacity

The Surprise:
Coming to the park in 08 or 09 is the worlds first mountainside outnback spinning coaster. They have 2 different plans of the layout submitted by Mack with lots of turns and twists. The ride will go on the mountainside behind the Thunder Rapids ride. The entrance to the ride and Q will be between Thunder Rapids and the mountain Sky ride and will have spinning trains to incease capacity. The location for the rides was chosen to get more people to that end of the park since there is only 2 rides there.The date is not set because the park is waiting to see if the town and state are going to help finance the road relocation project if they do it will be 08.

Here are some pics:

http://www.lakecompounce.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=17864#17864 *** Edited 3/5/2007 3:05:01 PM UTC by Ajrides***

I've always felt that LC needed a small steel coaster. Glad to hear it's FINALLY happening.

This park seems to be making all of the right moves. When I was growing up in CT the Lake was always seen as a little kiddie park without much to do. Boulderdash changed that mindset, but a lot less than what you would think. The switch to free soda (combined with the incompetence of SFNE) saw a lot of middle class families heading to LC instead of SFNE.

But LC knows it has a good waterpark and they're not letting up on it. Antique cars was the one classic ride missing from LC whose absence was felt in the park. Boulderdash was getting bumpy toward the end of lsat year, so this retracking will be appreciated. I hope they do something about that one really jaring bump after the turnaround that has been there since the ride opened. And the Wildcat retracking has been needed for a few years now. They should actually just tear down the mess that Dinn (or was it Summers?) put up and have a qualified team build the ride based off of Schmeck's blueprints. But that's just a dream :)

Also, the new spinning coaster sounds like a perfect fit. There needs to be more of a draw on that far end of the park with nothing but the rapids and the skyway.

Over the last summer I've noticed a lot more of my friends' families going to the lake instead of six flags, and with the improvements lined up (combined with the much cheaper admission price) I believe that trend will continue.

Maybe the switch to mag brakes will preclude a return to the Schmeck Wildcat? I occasionally hear rumblings about the park wanting to do that, but I guess other projects deemed more important take precedence.

It's great to see a park ADDING antique cars instead of removing them for once (points to KI, BGE, etc).

Hurray for the Lake! I agree that improving the capacity on Wildcat and Ghost Hunt is something that should be done. This should mean none of those ridiculous waits that some parks have. LC seems to be following the same philosophy as HW when dealing with line matters: increase capacity instead of adding pay-to-cut.

The spinning coaster on the mountainside is a great idea for the future. Adding another coaster will add to the parks overall appeal. I also agree that Zoomers is the one thing that the park was lacking last year. \

LC has such great growth potential and could become a major park in the future. With Six Flags having those bad operations, high prices, etc. I'm glad to hear that some people are deciding that LC is a better choice for them. Keep it up.

As for the past perceptions regarding LC being mostly for kiddies, wasn't that also the case for HW? So LC did many of the same things as HW: a big wooden coaster, an interactive darkride, an expanded waterpark, free drinks, and good overall value. The main difference between the parks appears to be that LC has a bit more in the way of thrill rides and transport rides while HW puts more focus on themed areas.

*** Edited 3/6/2007 1:05:54 AM UTC by Arthur Bahl***

Increasing capacity on Ghost Hunt is one of THE smartest moves I've heard of this year as far as improving existing rides. It certainly rivals what PKI is doing for FireHawk, another rides whose capacity simply was NOT what it needs to be for the lines it's going to have.

"Re-Schmeckification" of the Wildcat...for that, I'll make a special trip to New England (and maybe catch more of the underrated Schmeck YC and that delicious Excalibur).

Mountainside spinner *and* revitalized BD *and* Wildcat running "as the designer intended"? That's almost enough to make me MOVE to New England...LOL!

What is PKI, er, KI (don't want to piss off anyone by using the incorrect acronym) doing to Firehawk to improve capacity? Like I said elsewhere, I'm out of the loop.

I agree with you guys, LC seems to make smart decision after smart decision. The park isn't growing very fast but everything they do makes sense and helps them in the long run. Boulder Dash, waterpark expansions, free drinks, Drop Time, Zoomers... I don't think many parks have planned with amount of intelligence. No wonder that LC sees more and more of my business each year while other area parks see less and less!

What is PKI, er, KI (don't want to piss off anyone by using the incorrect acronym) doing to Firehawk to improve capacity? Like I said elsewhere, I'm out of the loop.

Nothing, and that was his point. Gator was using it as an example of a park doing the opposite.

LOL, quite the opposite, Moosh. From what I *understand* (and I am always willing to be wrong), FireHawk is having some "fixing up" to the controls of the ride so that the TRAINS have less to do with the computerization.

If what I've heard is true, then what is *supposed* to happen to FireHawk has been shown to do GREAT things for Borg, in terms of uptime AND capacity. Given that X-Flight was located in a park that was basically deserted, capacity was not really an issue at GL. PKI is exactly the opposite scenario, and if the "New for '07" ride at PKI had (has?) the same capacity and operational/maintenance issues that the ride had at GL, then the mechanics and operators at PKI would be in for a LONG long summer.

Hopefully changes are made. I was at SFA and GL on days when the parks were empty and there was still a line for those coasters because they were inefficient.

I wonder if GL would be well served by becoming more like LC. Use the wooden coasters and the waterpark as the anchors for the overall park and go from there. Add ample family attractions and focus on overall value.

They would.

Geauga Lake should become a family park- something that CP and KI are not. Put in a darkride, a small steel coaster or two and some new flats. Focus on entertainment and hype the hell out of the waterpark. Keep Dominator around because it's a thrill ride that satisfies the older crowd. In other words, do a lot of the things that CF's other Ohio parks don't do.

Are you listening Holiday World?

HW, like LC, is a park that appears to be doing things right. Any park that draws over a million guests a year without being in a major metropolitan area or a prime tourist area has to be doing something really special.

The big question is, what's next for HW? Will there be more thrill rides, will there be more themed attractions, or will both happen? The main thing that can be counted on is that HW will remain family friendly. That does not preclude thrill rides. HW added those coasters to a park that used to be regarded primarily as a "kiddie park". LC shows that you can have it both ways by having some thrill attractions (the coasters, Down Time, Thunder and Lightning, etc.) along with the family attractions. That is especially important to families with both younger and older children.

One more point about KI. This was a true "family" park back in the early years but like so many other megaparks got carried away with coaster fever. Disneyland left its mark on the early KI as evidenced by the park's original layout, the former theming, and many of the attractions of that time. Much of that, sadly, was lost in recent years. *** Edited 3/6/2007 6:16:35 PM UTC by Arthur Bahl***

Quick question.. if they're using mag brakes on the Wildcat, will they be getting sued for infringing on a patent?

KW installed mag brakes on the Jack Rabbit a couple of years ago. I wonder because of this and the Wildcat whether Kennywood Entertainment will be targeted. Right now, the focus appears to be on the big chains but that could expand to include other parks if the courts role against the chains mentioned.