Park Review
|
Farmingdale, New York
Place: Long Island Adventureland (http://www.adventurelandfamilyfun.com) Before starting this review, I must say that this trip was made much easier by �Surf Dance� Chris (http://members.aol.com/surfdancec). He spent time looking up information for another enthusiast he had never met and made my trip immeasurably easier. There are few things I like better than visiting a park for the first time, especially when it is a traditional park. As readers of my reviews know by now, I am a lover of tradition at heart. Naturally, I was excited at the prospect of visiting Long Island Adventureland, kind of a �new� traditional park. Since it opened in 1962, it is hard to lump this place in with parks like Compounce or Conneaut, but it does not fit in with other parks of the era like Six Flags over Texas or Disneyland. Since this was our first visit to Long Island, we (me and two friends) were a bit taken back when we stepped off the LIRR train in Farmingdale. It felt like small town America, not a few train stops from the Penn Station we had boarded roughly an hour before. All that was missing was a child�s lemonade stand or some hot apple pie for a step back in time. We hopped in a cab at the station and paid $8 for the three of us to go to LIA, not bad. Once at the park, we each purchased POP armbands for $20 (and, for those interested, I believe the park has free parking for those who drive). After entering, we saw one of the rides I had come for and immediately hopped in. It was a Huss Ranger, here called the Looping Star, and was my first experience on Huss� interpretation of the classic looping pirate ship ride. I had heard good things about it, and just looking at the ride, I knew it would be an enjoyable one. Huss knows their mechanics, as they put a large, powerful motor in the middle of the boom and have an ample counterweight at the other end. Therefore, it has smooth, powerful arks as opposed to the jerky motion I found in the ARM Skymaster that I experienced at Miracle Strip just last March. The pod is enclosed with lapbars only, which were more comfortable on the venerable male nether region than Huss�s Top Spin contraption. On the first swing we were at the highest point of your typical pirate ship, and on the second we were thrown completely upside down. The Ranger did three spins in each direction at good speed then, sadly, the ride was over. I wish the park had a longer cycle on, but overall it was better than all of my other looping boat rides (ARM Skymasters & Intamin�s Looping Starships). Next door were some bumper boats. Although I am not a huge fan of them, one of my friends always enjoys a chance to be overly violent, so we waited around ten minutes for your typical bumper boat experience. We then worked down to the Hurricane, a 1991 SDC version of the coaster found at many parks (such as Rye Playland, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, etc.). My first ride was in the second seat in the front car. The train had a little too much side-to-side shaking, but overall it was a much more pleasant experience than my first trip on the S&MC interpretation found at Rye. Also, unlike Rye, the crew always had two trains going and there was no mid-course tire, so the coaster delivered the full force of �the drop,� which is advertised as an 80-degree falling turn. For a coaster this size, the Hurricane definitely packs a punch. Did this park used to have a Schwarzkopf coaster? I only ask this because the lighting apparatus near the Hurricane�s entrance looks suspiciously like the bottom half of the �adornments� Anton used to put in the middle of his coasters (especially the Doppel loopers), such as shown at: http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/OKdoppelloopingGF.htm. Now, Gladiator�s Gauntlet at Busch Gardens was one of my favorite rides, perhaps simply because it was so unique. I think if there is a flat ride that comes close to (and one-ups) the sensation of GG, it is Mondial�s Super Nova. At LIA it is called the Surf Dance, and was the first version in the U.S. Mondial has recently gotten a lot of attention for their unique inverting rides like the Top Scan and Splashover at Paramount�s Canada�s Wonderland, Lagoon and fairs like the Meadowlands. This ride is a little older (and, like many of LIA�s rides, transportable), and although it does not go upside down, the swinging sensation is quite good. Our first ride was towards the front, where we had to adjust to the Mondial lapbars. For safety�s sake, they keep constant pressure on you, so if you suck in your gut they move in a little closer. From a safety standpoint this is important for little kids, but a bit of a nuisance for older, larger riders. The ride itself takes a few turns for the arms to gain enough momentum, but after that it is non-stop fun. The arm�s turn independently of each other so that the tub has a unique (yet obviously calculated) speed and angles as it goes through the motions. When this thing moves, the tub falls at super angles (seemingly on its side) and has some severe side-to-side motions but, as we have come to expect from Mondial, is not jerky in the least. As we moved down the walkway, I saw two skeletons floating back and forth across the midway, one utilizing an old swing chair as a seat. This helped usher us into the park�s haunted house area. If I remember correctly, the name of the park�s Sally dark ride is 1313 Cemetery Way. I don�t �love� Sally dark rides, but I would definitely rather see a Sally at a park than nothing at all. After a short wait, we hopped on and experienced a ride that was fun, but there were a few tiny things I would fix if I were the park. I think the lights that shine on the stunts need to be a bit brighter, as on both of my trips I had a bit of trouble seeing them. True, it was a very sunny day out, but I think brighter lights would help up the thrill and sight factors a bit. Like Canobie Lake�s ride, this one had a mummy, and I still do not understand how these Egyptian mummies have wandered into haunted houses (or, in the case of Canobie, a haunted mine). I don�t usually nitpick, but one little thing I think should always be attempted at a park is realism. In other words, if you don�t believe in something you present, your customers won�t either. The only thing that that �bothered� me about one of the stunts was the one that showed the chains being rattled against a fence. Granted, this is small, but we started laughing when we realized the ancient spooks had chosen Master Locks to scare us with. I know probably no one cares about this but me, but I think it would cost probably $.50 or a dollar to paint these a flat gray or black, or perhaps put some UV lights in and paint it with UV paint ala Le Cachot. Sorry for the randomness of that thought. This attraction was fun and something that the whole family could go on, as opposed to some dark rides, like at Knoebels, where I think little ones would be scared on certain parts. Down the midway there is an absolutely beautiful little scene where the antique cars pass a stream and water wheel. It was the spot that I will always think of when LIA is mentioned. The park has an �L� shape, so at the end of the well-wooded midway, one must turn right to continue. Here we saw a Huss pirate ship. We sat in the back but got only minimal airtime. Now it was onto Adventure Falls, the parks new flume ride. Honestly, this is one of the more bizarre flumes I have been on. It has some very good points and some bad ones. The boats can only really comfortably seat three, as they are split so that two people sit in the front and one in the back. They are also well-decorated with �supplies� on the boat. The station utilizes a grab bar above the entrance, which assists riders getting in or stepping out of the boat. After the station conveyer let us go, the boat hunt and pecked its way through the course worse than any other log flume I have been on. The problem seemed to be that the trough was too small, so the boat only made it through turns after being pushed by the water built up behind it. There were a few times where the boat slowed to a near-stop, and I was afraid we would have to get out and push. The first lift was short, utilized planks (Sparky pointed out to me that these were not unlike Intamin�s shoot-the-chutes lifts) to raise the log to the top of the drop, and I did not notice any anti-rollbacks. After a wet splashdown, we made a u-turn and headed up the second, larger hill. Here there was no water at the top of the lift, only tires, and the water rejoined the equation as the hill sloped downward. The splash at the bottom was wet - I mean Barr log flume wet. It did not bother me, but I could tell it splashed more than the park expected because large sheets of plywood had been set up at the bottom of the hill to help contain the �extra� splash. Does anyone know the ride�s manufacturer? The antique cars were next, and they were a bit disappointing. Instead of allowing riders to power or steer the cars, they simply operated on a rail like a dark ride, so the element of control was lost. The little kids in front of us did not seem to mind, though. We worked our way back over to the Ladybug Express coaster, which looks to be a standard Zierer coaster, like a smaller version of the ones found at Six Flags New England, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure and Six Flags Great Adventure. It was quite fun, and the ride�s speed definitely surprised my friends. The coaster�s best feature was a nice tunnel that was placed in front of the coaster�s last turn. We walked down the left side of the park and hit the bumper cars, which provide okay bumping action, and got on the Zierer swings. Again, Sparky pointed out to me that the park only utilized two of the three possible rows for swings, and they looked a touch bare. We got a nice, long cycle and the park has some nice foot choppers as a result of the trees being so close. Next door was the 55-foot Zamperla balloon wheel, which had a really long cycle and offered nice views of the park and surrounding areas. The front of the park houses a great kid�s area. Anyone with little ones could spend hours here, the park knows how to cater to families with a kiddie area that seemingly has more attractions than most major themers. We spent the rest of the day getting more rides in on the Looping Star, the Music Express (nice, long cycle), the Surf Dance (a great ride) and the Hurricane. Being a glutton for punishment, I got several rides in the Hurricane�s last seat and near the end was starting to gray out (just a little bit) from the bizarre combination of positive lateral g�s and negative vertical g�s. It was a very nice way to end the day at this pretty little park. I had come to the park with pretty high expectations, and I must say they were met and surpassed. Because my friends do not obsess over coasters like I do, we only spent a little over three hours at the park (4-7), but I could have easily stayed until nine or ten. The rides look to have very nice lighting packages and I would like to see the park when it was pitch black out. Thank you Long Island Adventureland for a wonderful day. I hope the park has continued success. It looks like they are a bit landlocked, but it was hard to tell. If they do have room to expand, I would love to see a small, used Schwarzkopf looper (like Laser at Dorney or Scorpion at BGT); I think it would be a perfect fit. Or, if they want to continue with flat rides, I think a used Mondial Top Scan, Splashover, Shake, or a Huss Top Spin or Zamperla Wind Shear would all be perfect fits for this park - a slight jolt in the thrill factor. Almost all of the staff was fast, efficient and friendly, a rarity at today�s parks. Congratulations to LIA�s owners & staff for running the park so well. I can�t wait to return!
***************
|