Monday 4th June
So thanks to the weather storm getting Canobie Lake to put up that message on their website (lucky that I spotted it to be honest - there was
nothing on their socials saying the park was closed or anything like that) I had some rescheduling to do. I had a hotel booked that night near
Six Flags New England and since it was a bit of trek to get there (would have been an even bigger trek had I gone via Canobie Lake though) I
figured I might as well have a late start and just just head there. If the weather was awful by the time I got there then I'd go to the cinema
or something otherwise go to the park (I had got a SixFlags season pass at La Ronde, so it wasn't going to cost me anything extra to park/get in
anyway).
Didn't look promising on the (3 hour) drive South though.
But thanks to the coaster-gods, as I got close to
Six Flags New England the rain eased and as I was getting into the car park I even saw
the RMC cycling.
Goon-behaviour took over then and I rushed to
Wicked Cyclone and because of the weather I guess that had put everyone else off going to
the park that day (I got there around 1pm) I was gloriously greeted by the sight of an empty station (the train was full, but thats fine of
course).
Front row first ride, like to do that if I can... and it was good. Very good for its size indeed.
Rode it a half dozen times (no wait) until I got used to it. Some sillyness towards the end with the mini-ejector hills that was a bit weird,
but lots of good stuff in it. Was the smallest RMC I've ridden but on a thrill-per-height basis very good indeed.
Felt the need to get my "credits" in ASAP just in-case the rain came back and closed stuff (rain was forecast for the next day too when I'd
planned to be here). I didn't need much as I'd been here a while back (2007). Headed across the part towards the super-hero area, but passed
Great Chase on my way just as the train was loading (with little kids, its a kiddie coaster after all). "Can I ride this?" I asked the
ride-op, "sure" he says (surprising me a little to be honest). So unexpected (only in that I'd expected to be denied) +1.
Back on plan I get to
Joker the entrance of which is even further away than the ride was as they have slapped a big flat ride in the
way that you have to circumnavigate and ride both sides of that ('cos you should really shouldn't you?).
Not sold on these rides to be honest - the original one at Fiesta Texas I'd ridden a few times as it was a novelty back then, but I don't
think they give a very good ride. They
look interesting, but not as good to ride as the similar Intamins I think (well at least the one
in Sweden, the one in California was just horrible).
This is the new ride they stuck in the way - was down all today, had only opened 2 days earlier as well - ha.
Batman - The Dark Knight was up next, just because it was right there. Ridden this before but couldn't remember much about it so I had
resolved to pay a bit more attention to it this time. Was good, if a little standard-floorless-B&M ; nothing wrong with that of course just
nothing "special" about this one.
Despite the next coaster being installed here since my previous visit, this wasn't a credit since it lived many years ago at Kentucky Kingdom
where I'd ridden it on a couple of visits (even got evac'd from the lift hill on it the last time I rode it there).
Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum had had a bit of facelift since its Kentucky days and it was reasonably well presented
for "just a mouse".
I'd only ridden the mouse next as
Superman - Ride Of Steel /
Bizarro / Superman the Ride had been down, but by the time I'd processed the mouse
it had reopened with no line - cool, get a few rides in on that I thought.
Only I get seated on the thing, seatbelt buckled, restraints down, but they are struggling with one of the cars (getting the previous
riders released) and they close it down again. Pah.
I resolve to try to ride everything else then, just in case tomorrow is a washout.
Not getting to ride this though; down and no train in sight (have the credit from Magic Mountain though, but still would've liked a go)
Yay, a working boomerang,
Flashback;
Little spinner thing,
Pandemonium (had been a Tony Hawk branded thing last time I was here, Tony Hawk was even doing a show out in the
staff car park that day which I watched)
Even rode the SLC
Riddler Revenge, also re-branded (from the more fitting 'Mind Eraser') since my last visit. And with actually
not-uncomfortable new restraints! The ride was still a bit awful though, shuffling around a lot when it should be gliding, but at least the
vest restraints saved you from mashing your ears on the solid horse-collars of the old restraints.
The old woody
Thunderbolt - was a bit rougher that I remembered but its not too big so no great pain was had.
Park had an annoyingly early closing time of 4PM too, so with an hour left (yep I'd done the whole park in 2 hours with several rerides) I saw
Superman the Ride was running again and re-boarded that (at the front).
Fab ride that, fast and an airtime machine. Perhaps showing its age a bit though, since along with the earlier random downtime, got to the
brake run and it stopped (as normal). But they then didn't/couldn't move us from the brake run to the station. Hmmm.
Sat there a while (was one train ops so no-one was panicking yet). After a while someone came over and apologised for the unspecified delay.
Pretty uncomfortable those Intamin lap bars when you are locked into them for 20 minutes I'll tell you.
Happy face!
Some mechanics turn up and do very little - I'd have thought they could have released us at least, we were sat on a platform in the brake-run
after all.
After a while something happens and the train rolls back into the station. Drama over. There is a PR-person handing out exit passes to us all,
only you can;t use the exit pass on any of the BIG rides there (like Superman nor the RMC), so thats some poor PR right away. Pah. (Not that
I needed an exit pass anyway).
Right, maximise my time left on this then,
Cycle it a few times until closing time, ride-op was going to let us stay on for the last ride as there was no Q, but evil ride supervisor
told us to get off. I told her she was "mean".
---
Hotel was in the city centre of nearby Springfield (lol, Simpsons), I had thought that there might have been some life to the place to keep
me occupied for a couple of hours in the evening (food & beer mainly), but it was a bit of a dead-zone. I found some German restaurant within
walking distance so that looked like the best option.
Place was quite cool actually - decent (German) food, had a local pint though.
Walked around the city a bit, zombies could have been through here before me, wouldn't have noticed.
So pretty decent day in the end, despite the weather. Can't recommend Springfield as a tourist destination though, apart from its proximity to
a lovely RMC that is!
