Monday, March 30, 2009

Aerial Antics: Lake Compounce


Lake Compounce, known as "New England's Family Theme Park," is located in Bristol, CT. Formerly owned by Kennywood Entertainment Company, the park is now part of the Parques Reunidos family.

The park is very old, and touts itself as the oldest continually operating amusement park in America. That's not an easy title to come by!

And one of the most classic rides the park features is the Wildcat:
The classic wooden coaster originally opened in 1927, making it one of the oldest operating coasters anywhere. Originally designed by Herbert Schmeck and constructed by PTC, the ride was upgraded in 2007 to allow two train operation.
Also in the right side of this image you can see the park's Ghose Hunt interactive dark ride. It was opened in 1999 and created by Sally Dark Rides. The attraction was given a total overhaul just this past season.
I think river rapids rides look so cool from the air. Here is Lake Compounce's version, aptly named Thunder Rapids. Added in 1997 it was built by Hopkins.
A classic ride and a modern thrill - the park's Ferris Wheel sits next to Thunder n' Lightning, an S&S dual Screamin' Swing.
Here is the park's water park that they wish to expand so badly. I think the waterslide that's built to look like a light house is a really neat idea. The slides that end directly into the lake are a cool idea, too.
And here's the 'star' of the park, Boulder Dash. It's buried in the woods so you'll have to click on the larger image to really see it. The massive wooden coaster was built in 2000 by Custom Coasters. It sits perched on the side of a mountain and quite literally dashes past massive boulders while careening through the woods.
Here's a crazy image for you all, the above massive maze is the park's haunted house attraction, "The Haunted Graveyard." Open only during the Halloween season, the 45 minute walk through attraction is actually operated by Graveyard Productions, a prominent haunted house and prop manufacturer.

And here's a link to the Live Local images!


4 comments:

Benjamin Gagne said...

The water park is not THAT small! They have the lazy river, the family raft ride, as well as the interactive play structure.

Benjamin Gagne said...

Might I suggest you add a picture looking at the parks Halloween attraction, The Haunted Graveyard. It is a 45 min. walk through, and it is very rare you can see a haunted house from above! I think many would find it interesting!

NewsPlusNotes said...

I didn't capture the whole water park - instead I just wanted to show of the two slides I found interesting.

And I had no idea that was a huge haunted house! That thing is massive. Thanks for the heads up.

Benjamin Gagne said...

What's crazy is, it has grown even more since that photo was captured! There are also sections in the woods that you can not even seen from birds eye view!