Whalom Park

Whalom's fun midway. The funhouse is on the left and the golf course & stage are straight ahead.

A slow tilt-a-whirl and fun backwards-running scrambler were experienced and off to my right I saw what looked like the car to a Traver circle swing. Considering how old the car is, it looks to be in pretty good shape. Behind it was the museum, which was closed. The kiddie land was next door, and I must say that like at Lake Compounce the size of the kiddie land here is very impressive. It never ceases to amaze me how big the kiddie parts are in many of the traditional parks I have been to. Plus, they usually have a lot of antique rides in them, often made by Mangels and other famous flat ride designers.

A car from the park's dismantled Traver circle swing sits in the park in great condition.

I decided to grab a drink- Mark McKenzie and others of rec.roller-coaster had extolled the virtues of cranberry dry…and being a mid-western boy I have never gotten the chance to experience this interesting soda. It was definitely one of the different drinks I have had…and I enjoyed it so much I went back for a second. It is one of those things I cannot describe, you just have to try it for yourself.

The carousel building was spooky as the turntable and the moving parts (basically every part of the carousel except the horses, sorry I do not know carousel terms) were sitting still, but with the lights on in the darkened merry-go-round building. It was down right eerie. One additional note is that I saw on the news tonight that one of the daughter’s owners is trying to buy back the horses and 25% of the people who bought the horses had agreed to it so far. Hopefully there is some hope for this treasure yet. (I believe it is a Looff). Also not operating was the Monster Motel funhouse (which I had be told by Jay Ducharme had a rotating wooden barrel) it had a sign which said it was closed for renovation.

The Flyer Comet is one of those coasters which I put in the “just hanging in there” status. The ride itself was built in 1940, designed by Vernon Keenan and stands 60’ feet tall (which looks taller as you look off to the right to the parking lot and lake). It featured P.T.C. three bench cars with no headrests, seat dividers and single-locking lap bars (YEAH!). The structure needs some money put into it and some TLC by the maintenance people.


The coaster is a fun, little ride in need of some love & money. It follows a figure-eight layout and is a fun little ride.	The park is in a beautiful area, as evidenced by this view from the top of the first hill.

The ride itself was a bit rough, but fun and featured a good tunnel…called the Black Hole with a small bunny hop in it. I rode it a few times in the front and back and found that although the front was smoother the back gave better air. The grade of the track in the station was quite steep and the handbrakes & skid brakes are always fun to watch.

The rest of the day was spent mostly on the Flying Skooters. One funny thing that happened was that several dads would watch my snap the ride, then get on the ride and try to do it (fail miserably), they would go watch me again, ride again (and fail)…this went on for a while…they never got it down & I think it really bothered them. After too many rides on the Flying Skooters I began to get rudder hand (which I have heard you can blind from if you do it too much!) so I decided to leave.

All things considered, I guess I did have a whale of a time at Whalom Park and will go back soon (hopefully)!

A sign on a railroad bridge tells you Whalom is only a few miles away.