Lake Winnepesaukah- September 9, 2001

The alarm rang around 7:30 and I got out of bed. As is usual for me I slept marginally the night before I visited a new park. I hit the highway, enjoying U2’s “The Joshua Tree,” Rage Against the Machine’s Self-Titled debut and David Gray’s “Flesh” as my tires ate up the road. The trip took shorter than I anticipated at two hours, so I pulled off the highway at 11 eastern.

The park has some beautiful vegetation common to many great, traditional parks.

At 11:30 I pulled into Lake Winnie’s parking lot and met URC’s own Atlantacoaster. I met several other ACErs in the parking lot and after waiting a short bit paid & entered the park for the first time. For people who have not been there, the park is laid out much like a “U” and the lake fills in the U as the park stretches around it. The front entrance puts you in the park at the bottom right-hand corner of the park. So, we walked to the left and back over the Cannonball (John Allen, 1967, coaster 104 for me). The coaster simply says that it is a classic out & back design. With its white paint contrasting with the green trees and grass around it the coaster makes a fine visual statement.

A perfect day- the view from the crest of the lifthill.

Our first ride was in the front seat- with no one else in the train. We spent the next rides enjoying the front back and my personal favorite, 1.3. As I said in my Allen history this is one of the better-maintained Allen coasters and a great example of the large-small-large style of hills that he liked to throw together. I must say the trains looked beautiful as they were recently rehabbed by P.T.C. The running boards are gorgeous, the park kept the single-locking lapbars but added individual seat belts and seat dividers. I really do not care (I guess I am getting used to these sad additions) if one or both of these accessories are added to a train, but when both are present it makes loading much slower. If coaster-owners are intent on adding seat belts & dividers, go the S.F.O.G. or Miracle Strip route and add one seat belt for both riders. It makes loading a breeze and there is less to dig for within the seats. Sure, it saves only a few seconds, but those do add up over the course of an operating day- which means customers wait in less lines. Back to the coaster. After the skid brakes drop the train meanders over a nice 180-degree right-hand turn into the lift. A quick lift to the top ensues and shortly afterwards we were dropping down the first hill. The train flies over this, then a drawn-out bunny hop and then up a large mid-course hill that is almost as tall as the first. After the anti-rollbacks clatter you fly down over another small hill and up into the turn-around.

The drop off the turn (which uses Allen’s anchor and chain support system) is nice and the coaster parallels itself back into the station. One of the ride’s best moments is the entrance to the brake run where, much like on the Six Flags St. Louis Screamin’ Eagle, it looks like your hands might get lopped off by the roof.

The Wild Thing packs a punch and is one of the best Wild Mice in the country.

We also got in some rides on the new for 2001 Wild Thing, an L&T Wild Mouse (coaster 105). To my knowledge it is only the second operating L&T mouse, the first being at Jazzland. I was expecting this ride to be merely fun, but it really surprised me. First off, after you board the train is pulled up possibly one of the steepest mouse lifts in existence. After that it goes through a series of switchbacks on the top level. These turns got progressively more violent and the some of them felt as if they were right on top of the lake- the visuals were wonderful. We were lucky in that the brakes barely kissed the train before it entered the second half. This was a series of hills that featured a few glances of airtime. But, the best part was the final two turns which were taken at very fast speeds and through supports so the cars felt like they were going off the track into the superstructure. Overall this coaster exceeded expectations and I applaud the Lake Winnie staff as they picked the perfect coaster for their park.

We went back and forth between the two coasters until E.R.T. ran out. I must say Cannonball 1.3 never gave quite the air I had hoped, but we never got to experience a full train in that seat and the ride was obviously still warming up.

As the E.R.T. came to a close Bill & I hit a flat ride I had heard stories about- evil, maniacal stories. The ride was the Eyerly Fly-o-Plane. But, looking at the ride I wondered, could this really be the evil experience that so many people have described?! It looked more like a plane from the Thomas the Tank kids show than a machine to extract confessions. Puzzled, I stepped inside the small cockpit and the trademark restraint came down on me. Sitting in front of me were two small steering wheels which each controlled the wings that sprouted from the nose. After everyone was buckled in the engine started, a whirring ensued and after a few revolutions we were high enough off the ground when I dared to touch the wheel. A nudge to the left and the cockpit rolled over, with me hanging only by the seatbelt. With all of my might I forced the wheel to the other side and the plane lurched over the top and left me upside down again. As the ride continued I got the hang of things and was rolling it like a pro. One thing that is important to remember about the Fly-o-Plane is that you need to work hard for the plane to roll well. It is a given that the cockpit will not stay upright, so you have to work to keep the ride rolling. I can honestly say that the Fly-o-Plane is one of the more intense rides I have been on (when spun fast) and I can do nothing but applaud Lake Winnie for rehabbing a ride like this (they used to have a Fly-o-Plane but got rid of it years ago) and putting it in their park. In an age where many parks think that big and expensive are the only ways to go, the park got it right by including a ride that is little short of an American ride classic.

The Fly-o-Plane may have debuted decades ago, but the thrills are enough to bring pleasure to even the most jaded rider.

Looking at the Fly-o-Plane it seems simple by today’s standards. But, I think it is important that we remember the great contribution the Eyerly Aircraft Company made to inverting amusement rides. They were the forerunners of today’s masterpieces by companies like Moser, Zamperla and KMG. The “o-planes” started it all, combining safety, portability and a quality ride put together in nice, affordable package for parks and carnivals. This was my third in the Eyerly line of o-plane rides (along with the loop and roll o-planes), but still have to enjoy the “rock” version of the ride. Enough about Eyerly, on to the rest of the park.