Lake Compounce - May 25, 2024

My wife and I decided to take a trip up to CT/MA for Memorial Day Weekend. Both Lake Compounce and SFNE were pushing the opening days for their respective water parks, and we hadn't been to either park since 2022. I was excited for the Titan Track experience on Boulder Dash as well as the retracked Wildcat, along with maybe getting a shot at Zoomerang, which was closed during my last visit. My wife was very excited for Compounce's water park (not my thing).

So I'll get to the rides first and address park quality, crowds, food, etc afterwards.

• Boulder Dash (3x) - When I rode this in October 2022, it immediately became my favorite woodie. An absolute wild ride down a hill and through the woods, tons of ejector airtime, and a great sense of speed. The Titan Track sections run butter smooth, and the sound of the train traversing the Titan Track is something like a cross between a B&M roar and a classic woodie. Unfortunately, the parts of this ride that are not Titan Tracked have severely deterioriated since that 2022 visit. This ride elicited a splitting headache with each ride and also messed up my wife's neck and upper back. The transition from Titan Track to wood track is stark and instantly noticeable. This ride desperately needs the full Titan treatment. The roughness here is a relentless jackhammering, not unlike the roughness I felt last summer riding Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer. Is this just how CCIs age? Quite honestly I shouldn't have ridden this three times... I'm not convinced this ride didn't give me a concussion. The line for this ride was a steady 30 minutes all day.
• Wildcat (3x) - The infamous Wildcat, for decades said to be one of the roughest coasters on the planet, has been masterfully reworked by Gravity Group. Tons of fresh lumber and some slick reprofiling turned this rough-and-tumble Dinn woodie into a smooth, family-friendly affair with some surprising airtime and good laterals. I didn't think this woodie was nearly as bad as the hype made it out to be in 2022, but this is for sure a welcome improvement. However, the coaster's return run was left untouched, and it feels significantly different. The last couple of bunny hills bounce you around like crazy. While Boulder Dash's roughness is like a hard jackhammer, this is more like driving on a bumpy side road, so this isn't headache-inducing. Again a steady 30 minute wait all day.
• Phobia Phear Coaster (3x) - Skyrocket II clone. This is a great ride - a fun swing launch, some great hangtime, whippy inversions, and a couple of surprise ejector pops. The line for this ride stayed short all day.
• Zoomerang (0x) - Closed, waiting on a part from Vekoma. Apparently will reopen this summer. Foiled again!

Also sampled a selection of their flats:

• Carousel - Late 19th century Carousel in good shape. There is a Wurlitzer organ built in, but they're not using it.
• Down Time - 185ft drop tower. I don't do this, but my wife enjoyed it.
• Ghost Hunt - Surprisingly fun dark shooter ride.
• Rev-O-Lution - Zamperla Disk-O which took the place of the old Rotor, according to a guest I was standing next to in the queue. Pirate Ship meets Scrambler.
• Ferris Wheel - It's a Ferris Wheel.

For the uninitiated, Lake Compounce is a small park tucked away in a nice part of Connecticut. It's a really pretty park with a friendly atmosphere and staff. It's probably the smallest park I've been to, comparable in size to Waldameer. Its overall footprint is larger due to the lake and the hill, but the actual park area is compact. This is an ideal family park with a good cross section of rides for little kids, families, and thrill seekers, and admission is inexpensive compared to larger parks.

Unfortunately, this visit was not without its issues. Compounce advertised its water park to be opening for the season on that day, but when we arrived, the parking attendent informed us that only three attractions were open in the water park. The gate attendant told us there was a burst pipe and that much of the water park was not running, and gave us both a comp ticket good for any day admission through the end of the regular summer season.

While I appreciate the comp ticket, it's obvious that the broken pipe was a known issue well before Friday, and Compounce said nothing and warned no one. It takes longer than overnight to fill an entire Lazy River, so they must have known about this issue well in advance. I'm not into water parks, but there were a lot of disappointed parkgoers that day. It wasn't just an Act of God burst pipe either - parts of the water park, specifically the larger children's area, were still actively being constructed. LC was clearly not prepared to open the water park, and they should have been more upfront about this in advance.

Unfortunately a few rides were removed in advance of the 2024 season. The vintage trolley alongside the lake, the bumper cars, and a kid's pirate ship were all removed, with no replacements. Additionally, the janky foam dinosaur exhibit has been replaced by a generic garden.

The food at this park is not great. There's a few stands here and there, as well as a Johnny Rockets and a pizza place. My wife and I got a bucket of fries from the Potato Patch near the front of the park, and received a bucket of cold, soggy fries for $20. Eat a big breakfast and get dinner after you leave.

Fine park for a day trip, but it seems to be on the decline. The next day we went to Six Flags New England. I'll cover that in another thread.

TL;DR:

• Boulder Dash's non-Titan sections are very very rough
• Wildcat is in great shape
• The park overall is not being well cared-for
• Good park for families, good mix of ride intensities
• Worth a day trip