Park Review
|
Bogota, Colombia April, 2001 It's taking me a few days to get to this, and it won't be complete cause I'm still half out of it, but I thought I would share with you guys and gals a little bit about my one week trip down south - at least the coaster-related stuff. First, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is indeed thrill-parks in Bogot� - not just one, not just two, but at least four. I only made it to two of them, but I'm sure that I'll get to the others once we move there. The first park that we visited was Salitre Magico, a small park in the center of the city with several kids rides and several flat rides, all portable, many permanently anchored, and some with their trailers still visible. Included were variations of a Huss Top Spin (but by a different company called Top Fun), a gravitron/round up mix in which people sat with OTSRs, a lobster-like ride, and a few others. Many showed signs of age, and the park wasn't anything spectacular. Just kind of there, but it was better than nothing. Included in the mix was their "new" rollercoaster. They apparently put in "Corkscrew," their coaster, last year, and many people believe that it is new. Once you get a good look at it, however, it's obviously not. It is definitely an old Arrow corkscrew, but I have no idea where it is from. But it sure looks to be one of the original few. Same layout, same cars, only one train. Some of the paint was missing, no pads in the trains, and it showed other signs of its age. But it's apparently the biggest coaster in Bogot� now, and something new for many of the people. And when admission/all you could ride for the park was only $6 US, who was I to pass it up? Needless to say, it was rough, with a couple of very good bumps/bangs. But I could tell you why very easily, and I'm tending to doubt in a lot of ways that it is Arrow's fault. This coaster needs some serious maintenance. Not only were the upstop wheels not in contact for much of the observable route, neither were the side-gap wheels. You could see the spring assemblies on the wheels, and they looked shot. And the wheels looked rather worn to. No way are you going to get a smooth ride on that. But it was good for the memories of my first looping roller coaster ride years ago on the corkscrew at Knott's Berry Farm.
Keep on ridin'
|