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"I think they are going to make it work."
Monday morning, I took a leisurely drive up IR-79 and made my way to Conneaut Lake. I didn't make it to Conneaut last year, and I felt rather badly about that, knowing that any trip I make to this park could easily be my last. So given the opportunity...a holiday weekend, with me already in Western Pennsylvania...Conneaut Lake seemed to be an obvious choice.
The park does not normally operate on Mondays and was making an exception for the holiday. It wasn't much of an exception...today the park would close at 6:00pm. That's awfully early for an amusement park to close, but would work well for getting me home at an almost-reasonable hour. Because of the short hours, the park offered a discounted POP price, which was fine with me. I entered the park and started looking for things to ride.
Of course I didn't have to go very far. Conneaut Lake has a portable-model Flying Scooter right inside the gate. Talk about convenient! It's a road model, and it has the narrow tub hangers on it, so I was able to get my tub to swing back and forth wildly, but I was having only minimal success with actual controlled flight. No cable "snapping" to be found on this ride!
At the Flying Scooter, the midway breaks to the right to go around the waterpark. Here they have a hydraulic [Footnote 1] Paratrooper next to a today-disused Eli wheel and a Tilt-A-Whirl with no passenger tubs on it. Past the Paratrooper, the midway turns left and rejoins the (now closed) road that runs down the middle of the park. On one side, a karaoke booth was doing a continuous business. How about that? Get the customers to pay to supply their own entertainment. Has Six Flags heard of this? Seriously, it seems karaoke goes over well in Northwest Pennsylvania; the other place where I saw such a popular karaoke show was at Waldameer.
I continued down the tree-shaded midway past the today-disused miniature train and the miniature golf course. Pity; I figured that the train would be a good way to get some photos of the Blue Streak. Speaking of which, that was my next stop, once past the dismantled Tumble Bug and the (operating!) Bertazzon Himalaya.
The Blue Streak is, to put it bluntly, in terrible shape. It tracks the curves okay, but the odd thin track it uses, with the track ties between upper and lower track laminations, bounces in wild and unpleasant ways. It is a testimony, then, to the power of spring-loaded upholstery cushions in the ancient, classic train that the coaster is actually rideable. The current train is 4 cars of 2-bench cars that were probably built by Ed Vettel himself. The lap bars are fixed in place, the seats are fully sprung, fully upholstered, and resemble small sofas. Riders are secured by a leather strap hooked in place with a snap-hook to one of five or six metal rings. It's a lot like the way the Kennywood Jack Rabbit was set up through last season, only the strap is heavier and more adjustable. As I have noted before, this is the only case I know of where a park removed a classic train from a coaster (in this case a beautifully restored NAD Century Flyer) and replaced it with a more classic train. Above the track at the downtrack end of the station is a mural with a stylized illustration of the coaster, and lamps mounted at intervals along the picture of the track. As the train rolls through the course, the lamps illuminate to indicate the train's progress. It's odd to see this kind of signalling on a ride this old, so I took a front seat ride and hunted down the triggers.
The ride begins with a trip through an unexpectedly long, completely dark [Footnote 2] tunnel. It makes sense to have the tunnel, as the drop from the station to the base of the lift is probably less than ten feet, but the track has to double back behind the station, duck under the return track, and start up a lift that is roughly even with the downtrack end of the station. I suspect it all has to do with making the coaster fit the site, with the station positioned alongside the midway, and the turnaround used as a safety brake.
Looking up the track while riding in the front seat is a bit of an unsettling experience. There is an obvious kink in the track going up the lift. Add in the lack of walk-boards, the peeling paint, and the minimalist track construction, and the ride looks downright flimsy as you approach the top of the hill. I was talking with a wood coaster engineer once who noted that on the whole, as with any major construction, wood coaster structures are not optimized. That is to say, the bents are erected in accordance with building custom and generally accepted practice. It's kind of like the way house builders put wall studs on 16" centers regardless of the wall covering or load unless that would be inadequate. Structurally, the Blue Streak seems to adhere to this standard as well, but up on top, the track is a different story. We're all familiar with the 'default' sort of wood track: six to eleven layers of nominal-dimension lumber stacked up, with the top two or three layers offset inboard an inch or two to provide an upstop surface, and with the road steel laid over the thickest part of the track. The Blue Streak track is totally different. It's made with three layers stacked in a square profile, with the road steel on top and a metal flange on the inboard side for the up-stop surface. That is attached directly to the track-ties. What comes below the track ties varies with location, and seems to be at least crudely optimized. On hill peaks, for instance, there may only be a couple of boards between the track-tie and the ledger board on the top of the bent. By contrast, in the valleys there may be six or seven layers making up the track bed. I remember reading an article some years back that talked about the San Diego Giant Dipper, and about Prior & Church track in general, and how the low-profile track was laid over a separate track-bed substructure, and I wonder if this is conceptually the same sort of construction.
The Blue Streak gets going with a series of long drops, each with a tight rollover on top, each one producing a quick jerk out of the seat followed by a nice float most of the way down. The train tends to bang around a little on the drop, and at the bottom the landing is a bit harsh, or at least it would be if the seat cushion weren't thick and internally sprung. The opening series is interrupted by a very heavy trim brake, which I wonder if it was designed to function as a block brake. It's certainly long enough. After the brake the ride features a big round turnaround, a high keyhole-shaped construction up by the road. The drop out of the turnaround carries though the dog-leg to rejoin the outbound side for a series of short hills to lead back to the station. The ride doesn't give the continuous-action out-of-control nonstop experience we've copme to expect from the best modern wood coasters, but it's a good solid classic performance from what is very much a Miller-style coaster. Hmmm...knowing that the later trains came from NAD, I wonder if the Blue Streak's current train came from Dayton Fun House. If it did, then it was probably designed by John Miller, even if the rest of the ride was not.
On down the midway and across the street, I took a ride on the Pretzel dark ride. In recent years, the ride has received some refurbishment, mostly a coating of flourescent paint on the stunts inside. The infamous gum wall is still there, but it isn't called out as an attraction anymore. I still don't feel comfortable calling this a coaster, even though it is gravity powered, it has a lift hill, and just about every argument I can give for not considering it a coaster can be quickly refuted with an example of something that is absolutely a coaster. Unconventional track? Wild Mouse, PNE. Just a dark ride? What about Revenge of the Mummy at Universal? Too short? So is Cyclops at Mount Olympus. You get the idea. And yet, something about it just shouts to me, "This isn't really a coaster."
Next door to the dark ride is the park's Trabant, and in a vacant lot next to that are the components of a black-painted Scrambler. I didn't think much of it until later when someone pointed out to me that the roof had fallen in on the building that normally houses the Scrambler. I knew, but had briefly forgotten, that Conneaut had an indoor Scrambler [Footnote 3].
On the opposite side of the main midway, across from the Blue Streak, the Tumble Bug is still dismatled, but the unusual Himalaya was running all day long and seemed to be quite popular. On the corner is the ancient bumper car building, now running with not-so-ancient cars. The floor is large, there are not too many cars, and the cars have some decent speed, though they are lightweight modern cars. I'm a bit mnystified by the "safety" belts, though. Each car has two belts attached to the stinger pole and then fastened to a buckle at each front outboard corner of the seat. The belts are almost too short to reach the buckles to begin with, and the operator expects me to jam a shoulder under each belt. Riiiiight. If I could manage to do that, then I wouldn't be able to actually reach the steering wheel. I stuck one arm through to make the operator happy, figuring I could yank it out pretty quickly if a hard bump seemed imminent. Why is it that on the whole, parks are so keen to set up bumper cars so that they will hurt people? I made it through this ride with nothing worse than a bruise on my upper arm.
Across from the bumper cars is a classic Roll-O-Plane. Conneaut Lake runs their Roll-O-Plane full cycle, meaning you get to ride in both the vertical plane and in the horizontal plane, with the boom rotating in both directions. I'm a little suspicious of the door keys they were using, but the ride runs very nicely. Well, as nicely as you can expect from what can be a rather unpleasant ride under the best conditions.
Next to the Roll-O-Plane is the tower for an otherwise dismantled Chance Yo-Yo. It isn't obvious what is wrong with the ride, but it looks like the park plans to get it running eventually. Back on the midway I strolled past the food and game joints in the lower level of the ballroom building. Conneaut Lake has a very nice second-floor ballroom accessible from a stairway at the corner of the building. The ground level of the building features midway joints on the one side, rest rooms on the adjacent side, and the remainder of the cavernous structure appears to serve as the park's maintenance shop. Pity the upstairs wasn't open at all when I visited this time...I'll have to check and see if I have any decent photos fom a previous visit.
The midway extends for another block, which leads down to the lake. The Round-Up was in perfect working order, but across the midway the Toboggan was not operating. At least I got to ride it last time. At the end of the midway is a sandy beach and a couple of apparently-popular bars. The beach was especially popular as people played volleyball, swam, sunned themselves, and did the usual sorts of things people do on the beach. I walked along the small marina and found the museum closed. In the other direction, I followed the boardwalk [Footnote 4] around to the Hotel Conneaut, but when I got there it had closed for the week.
Back up near the Blue Streak, across from the dark ride, a band organ on a trailer played merrily away, presumably brought in special for the holiday. It was being tended to by a gentleman from DeBence Music World, the same organization [Footnote 5] that took (takes?) such great care of the band organ at Geauga Lake. I don't remember much about the organ apart from the fact that it is an unusual design that uses air pressure instead of vacuum to drive the tracker bar [Footnote 6]. It took me a few minutes to get my mind around how it worked, using a DROP in the air pressure in the control line to open the pipe wind valve. I guess it is actually more reliable than the more conventional vacuum tracker head because airborne crud doesn't get clogged in the tracker bar. Interesting, at least for a geek like me.
There is one more shameful detail I should mention. As I was preparing to leave, I thought a funnel cake sounded likme a good idea. I changed my mind when I got to the stand, though. Conneaut Lake is using pre-made (frozen?) packaged funnel cakes, which they simply toss into the fryer for a few moments and serve. Am I missing something here? There are certain park foods which are especially desirable because not only are they unique to parks and carnivals, they are invariably prepared and served fresh. Cotton candy, corn dogs, cheese on a stick, funnel cakes, elephant ears, fried Oreos...these are foods which are not difficult or time-consuming to prepare (although cotton candy gets a bit messy). So when I saw that Conneaut was using pre-made, packaged, and re-fried funnel cakes, I rejected them outright. That would explain why the few I saw out on the midway all looked over-done. I can't imagine what the park is thinking. The packaged cakes still have to be deep fried. Unlike fresh ones, they also have to be bought, stored, transported, stored again, unpacked, unwrapped and separated. Okay, so maybe it is a more consistent product...but it is a product that is consistently not as good as something they can whip up fresh just as easily. I don't know what they are thinking, but this time it cost them a sale.
Overall, the park is showing a lot of promise this season. Yes, a large number of rides was out of service. But of those rides, only two...the Tumble Bug and the Yo-Yo...didn't show promise of running soon. Several, such as the Toboggan, Train, and Ferris wheel, looked like they were ready to go but perhaps staff wasn't available. Others, like the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Scrambler, appeared to be on their way to full assembly. Remember, this was not just the first weekend of the season, it was also a Monday, a day of the week when the park is normally closed. This park has suffered greatly in the past few years, with ownership disputes, back taxes, and other distractions that have little to do with the day to day operation of the park, except to the degree that they suck time, money and personnel away from the park. As I understand it, they finally have the legal crap mostly sorted out. Most important, the general feeling I got from all the emloyees was that this is going to work. The vibe is that 2005 is going to be a good season, just what the park needs to be a successful amusement resort once again.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: While many Paratroopers have electro-hydraulic drive on them, "hydraulic" in this sense refers not to the main drive, but to the ride version with a hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the ride for operation and unloading. [Return to text]
Footnote 2: And on this particular day, entirely skunk-free. [Return to text]
Footnote 3: I even wrote about it on my last visit... [Return to text]
Footnote 4: Actually it is concrete. [Return to text]
Footnote 5: With a special emphasis on the first two syllables-- "ORGANization." [Return to text]
Footnote 6: On an air-operated automatic instrument, the "tracker bar" is the mechanism which reads the paper roll. Air is blown or drawn through the tracker bar which contains a separate air line for each control on the instrument; the perforated paper roll prevents or allows airflow, and that airflow triggers the controls on the instrument. [Return to text]
--DCAjrNext: Cedar Point #3/CoasterMania 2005
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