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this ride reminds me of those old home movies you see of roller coaster weddings from the 40s. you know what im talking about? where the minister has the couple say their vows at the top of the lift, then they get in their "i do"s and a quick kiss and then off down the drop. it has the vibe of a little provincial roller coaster that didnt try to stand out, it was there for the locals, not the newspapers. everybody knows there were hundreds of rides like this running all over the world throughout the 40s, 50s, and beginning of the sixties. but this one survived through luck, serendipity and perhaps divine intervention, if you favor thinking in that type of way. quite frankly i think that schmeck and ptc got lucky with this one, and as a fan of wood coasters i feel lucky too, because not only is phoenix a survivor of a bygone era but it may be the best example of its genre ever made. it now stands as an engineering marvel of ultra efficient mad crazy laugh producing fun. to use a comparison from a different discipline, it reminds me of the kinks album, "village green preservation society." i dont think the kinks really knew they were making a masterpiece, they just went into the studio and hammered it out. time has wiped away any illusion that it was anything other than a compact display of simple pop brilliance. phoenix is like that too. a very typical double out and back woody meant to serve as "the coaster" at "some fun park" that happens to also deliver one of the greatest coaster rides available. it always feels fast, and it ripples through the layout like a sveldt little squirrel, one violent little pop after the next. i thought the final run back to the station was totally magical. the different shapes and sizes of the bunny hills each deliver a unique feeling of negative G, complementing the one before it. and unlike the nearby schmeck comet at hershey, this one doesnt peter out, instead it runs riot from beginning to end. look for yourself when you go for the first time. every train coming back to the station is full of laughing giddy people. i feel like im stepping into a time machine on the phoenix.
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