Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH (USA) boasts what is supposed to be one of the oldest roller coasters still in operation in the area (if not the entire country... not sure on that one). It's not nearly as thrilling as the flip-you-upside-down variety to be found at more modern parks, but for scaring you witless that baby can't be matched. Mostly because you're clutching the sides wondering if it's going to hold together long enough to get you to the end! The tracks are up on this big old-fashioned wooden scaffolding that's painted white, and the train makes this ominous rickety noise as it
s l o w l y climbs that first big hill. But it's
SO much fun when you go plunging down the other side.
They also used to have something called the Turkish Twist, which was one of those centrifugal force thingies that would spin you around so fast and so hard you'd be plastered to the wall. I think they eventually got rid of that thing; it made a lot of people sick.
The best rides I've ever been on were down at Bush Gardens in Virginia (1991). The Loch Ness Monster has two loops and is insanely fun. But even better is the Big Bad Wolf, which is like a roller coaster where the cars are suspended from an overhead rail rather than riding on top of one. There's one point in the ride where you're whipping around a corner and plunging straight down toward this ornamental pond... right as you hit the bottom of the turn (exactly where you feel like you're gonna plunge into the drink), water squirts out of the support tower, and if you're in the right spot, hits you square in the face, so that for one milisecond, you think you
have gone into the water. It's freakin' diabolical, but SO much fun.
I haven't been to an amusement park in ages... I developed sinus problems a few years ago, and tend to get nasty vertigo. But I love roller coasters.
W/T would probably love amusement parks, too, as the rides would appeal to the inner child in both of them. Not to mention the cotton candy and fried dough.
Firefoot
-----