Photo Trip Report
I finally got around to using my second of 3 tickets that I bought on opening day. I was meeting up with 2 friends and one of their relatives. I arrived at 11:05 park had only been open for 5 minutes and despite being a Friday I found myself being parked on the far side of the parking lot. I also noticed a few busses unloading campers and driving off to be parked off site. Needless to say the park was very crowded. Every ride even the smaller flats had full queue lines that overflowed into the midway by Noon.
My friends were running late so I hopped on Xtreme Frisbee and spent the rest of my time looking over the park and taking pics. The corkscrew is being repainted, you could smell fresh paint. I had seen a photo of a test section and was not impressed but as they paint more of the coaster I am finding I like the new color scheme.
The park is also adding a new haunt for this year’s Screeemfest event. Terror in the Corn will be an outdoor maze that they grew on site. They added a number of small touches to the front and side of the attraction to make it more appealing to the park itself not just a field of corn. They even planted a small garden in front of it.
The rest of my group arrived around quarter to 12 and it was time to start our day. My friend Andy and I road Wipe out, later we all road the Dodgems. I have not been on the bumper cars in years. Fun ride, like that there is no divider, but cars are slow. We then made our way to the Be Bop Diner to eat. I refilled my Souvenir cup for a 1.08 after tax. The rest of my group got 2 Chicken Finger baskets and 2 waters for just under $26. It was a very good meal and I liked the chicken. We then went to hit a few rides before the shows started.
Ride count: (rides down none, Untamed did have some down time but was up quickly)
Untamed X 6 most of the rides were alone later in the day in the rain
Star blaster X 2 (end of day in the rain)
I rode the fallowing rids X 1: Dodgems, Zero Gravity, Wipe out, Tea cups, PhycoDrome, Caterpillar, Xtreme Frisbee, Canobie 500, Log Flume, Mine of Lost Souls, Canobie Express, and Yankee cannonball.
We made a point to watch the shows. The rest of my group had not seen any of Canobie’s shows in the last few years so every show was new to them. SimonWill Productions continues to bring high end shows to the park.
Michael Jackson
It was a very good show as always. Eddie Moss is by far the best Jackson impersonator out there and it’s a treat to have him at Canobie. The song selection was pretty similar to last years show with most of the changes taking place involving the between song dancing. Scaffolding was added to both sides and they incorporated them into the dancing prior to the song Bad. I also noticed that many of the dancers here back from previous years. This may have been why the choreography was expanded. They didn’t’t have to teach the entire show.
Lady Gaga
I went into this show with a bit of skepticism. I am not the biggest Ga Ga fan but I do like a few songs. In all the show was very good. Everything came together well. I found myself only knowing half the performed songs but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the show overall. Playing Gaga is Erika Moul, who prides herself on the fact she performs each show live. She is a phenomenal singer and seemed to be having a ball playing her role.
Justin Bieber
I didn’t watch the entire show just the first 2 songs which I didn’t know. No one in my group was interested in the show and I am not really a fan so I simply took a few photos and tried to get a sense of the shows appeal to the viewing guests. The show drew a good crowd. I didn’t however see too many quests swooning over him. Not like I see at the Jackson and Elvis shows. The seating area was full and no one walked away before I did so I guess the show is a success.
The park also invited the NH based Wildlife Encounters back for another season. The show is really good but we just never got around to watching it. The shows will be ending soon and new shows will be brought in for Screeemfest. Both Mini Kiss and The Madonna Tribute show.
I am not normally one to spend time in the arcade. But my friend Sharin and her Sister Andrea are. We spent a bit of time at the palace arcade and at the skee ball building. We also played skee ball and deal or no Deal at the Boat house arcade. The park is rehabbing the boathouse. Next year it will be the new location of the Casino. A new sign was added to the building that says Boathouse Casino and the building is getting a new roof, siding, eve supports and fresh paint. The building is looking amazing.
We all road rides and enjoyed the park till around 8:00. My friends wanted to head out since they had a long ride home. I walked them to the front of the park and we went our separate ways. I watched a family play a dart game. I was impressed to see the father referencing the child’s allowance compared to the cost of the game. I also talked with the games manager. The old basket ball shoot in Old Canobie will be replaced for next year.
Since Untamed was down when my friend Andy and I tried riding it earlier I checked on it to see if it was opened. Luckily it was. seems it was only down for a few minutes. I walked around to the single rider line and got in it. There were 6 people in line. Seems the concept of single rider was lost on them. When one of them said the single rider line was an amazing concept I chimed in with “Yes but it’s intended for single riders not groups of 6 to split up.” They seemed to ignore my statement but soon after they all went let’s go ride Cannonball and ran off. I along with one other single rider was let on at one time. He was a rides employee and after we spent some time talking about the owners and the park in general. It was starting to rain a bit to he took off since he was riding home on a bike. And I got in line for Untamed for another ride.
A storm came in but the park stayed open since it was close to closing. For the last hour of operation the ride kept running with flat rides slowly closing towards the end of the hour. It was pouring, I was soaked, the sky was lighting up and I just kept riding getting back in the single rider line and getting on again. I will admit to see the sky light up as I climbed towards it and seeing flashes of lighting as the car flew through the inversions was exciting. They kept things going until the tires were slipping on the track and they got the call that it was unsafe to continue.
So I walked in the rain to Star Blaster. I saw that the line was opened and people were about to ride so I went around and got in line. After I was informed there would be one last ride but I had to walk around. As I got back on and buckled myself in they announced closing. One strange thing though is the ride moves faster the gravity pulls rain. So as you travel the rain slows, pause,s and then seems to pull back towards the sky. Reminded me of the matrix.
In all it was a good day I was able to snag a free pretzel from the stand on my way out which made for a nice end of night snack. I got a few photos of the midway in the rain before slowly making my way to the front. It was a day of many faces. Extremely crowded then reasonably busy after the camp groups left, perfect weather then rain, and yet another trip but completely unique having gone with friends that have not been to the park in years. I can’t wait to be back for Screeemfest and hopefully can work something out to hit closing day.
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