Cyclonic
Posts: 2636
Registered: 7/19/2002
Rank: Experiment 626
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 8/25/2005 3:46:48 AM
Great Northwest Coaster Tour
Day 2 - Enchanted Village
August 23, 2005
Weather - Early clouds, then sun, mid 70's
Due to lack of time and sleep, I am not including the pictures within this report. If you would like to see them, you can find them here:
http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/gallery/757435
http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/gallery/754331
This morning was our late morning, as we headed out to Enchanted Village, a mere three miles from the hotel.
Enchanted Village is a nice park, if not very large, but it does have a fine wooden coaster in Timberhawk. We got to the park at about 9:00 for a 9:30 ERT session on the ride. at about twenty after, park PR greeted us and lead us back to the coaster, which is on top of a hill at the back of the park. It is a pretty looking ride surrounded by tall evergreens.
They had one train running, which was enough to fit everyone in the group. The seats seemed a bit tight, they were nicely padded, but the seatbelts were really tight, and varied from seat to seat. Also, the belts had poorly placed buckles, they ere inside, right up against the seat divider, which made them difficult to fasten. But, the crew was very good, they were friendly and enthusiastic. They did a nice job for the ERT.
The ride itself? I like the ride. It is not very intense, but it is fun, with some airtime and lateral G's. The front gave a decent ride, with one hill giving massive ejector air, but I liked the ride better in the back, where they forces were spread out along the entire course. I pretty much stayed in 3.3 for most of the ERT.
After ERT, most folks stayed to get a few more rides before the GP reached the back of the park, be I decided to check out the rest of the park. Nearby was the paratrooper, but oddly, hey did not allow single riders, so instead I headed down the hill and to the Wild One
The Wild One is an Arrow loop screw that originally started its life at Rocky Point Park in RI. After about a 15 minute wait, I got into he station and found Tony waiting near the front. I hopped in line with him, and after the next train we were on. The do something interesting here, they give double rides. I don't know why, but when you come into the station, they ask anyone that wants to get off to raise their hands, and after a quick recheck, they run it through again. Does this make it a six inversion coaster? In any case, the ride was not back at all, not smooth, but I did not get banged up, which made the reride enjoyable as well
Tony and I headed back up the hill to the Ring of fire. I think this is the first time I have ever seen one in a park. It is also the first time I have ridden one in at least 15 years, but they were not hanging you upside down, so I figured why not. Tony and I squeezed into this tiny little seat (again, no single riders, they had a lot of that at this park) and we were off. the ride was actually pretty enjoyable.. Across the walkway was a Falling Star, so of course I couldn't pass that up. It was run pretty well, with decent speed that threw you around a bit with some ai time as well.
We walked toward the back corner of the park. Tony had already ridden the Kiddie Coaster, but I hopped about. It is a little Zamperla powered coaster and was relatively fun Next to it was the giant slide, which is built upon the hill. Several of the other folks from the tour were on it now, racing down it, so Tony and I rode it as well. I lost 
Further back in the park we found the mouse coaster, but it was closed at the moment with a mechanic feverishly working on it. I would open up later in the day, and it is one of the better mice I have been on. It is a Zamperla as well (there seem to be a bunch of Zamperla rides in this park), and had no braking on the course, only at the end, the the turns were fast and sudden, and he hills vicious. I really like this mouse, wish more were run like it.
In the far corn of the park is their splash own
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