The Comet Lives Again! by Ken Denton, sysop@elan.rowan.edu I just got back from Comet Con IV at The Great Escape, Lake George, NY, where I got to ride the Comet for the first time. The weather for the event was a mixed bag - when it wasn't raining, it was quite nice. But it rained a lot. Good for the coaster, not good for the riders (of course, the Phoenix in the rain is a treat!). But I digress... The Park ======== The Great Escape is a medium-sized theme park, geared primarily toward families with small children. Much of the theming is based on popular children's books (Goldilocks, Three Little Pigs, etc), and there's kiddie music playing everywhere. There's also a nicely themed ghost town. Admission is pretty steep at $19.95, especially since the park is only open until 6pm. Other than the coasters, the park has: Rainbow, Trabant, Enterprise, Scrambler (indoors), bumper cars, Yo-Yo, flume ride, reproduction carousel, ferris wheel, swinging pirate ship, and maybe some others I'm forgetting. I didn't ride 300 miles in the rain to ride a swinging pirate ship. The Coasters ============ Steamin Demon An arrow looping corkscrew, this is the first thing you see when you pull in the parking lot (or pass by on Rt. 9 - if I was a parent, I would never drive by this park with kids in the car; "Daddy, pleeease!!"). Painted an interesting orange and yellow, it makes a visual statement. That's the best I can say for it. The ride itself is boring, rough and without any thrills. There's a slight bit of airtime on the first drop, but after that it's your typical Arrow square-wheel head-whacking torture rack. The attendants did send the train around twice, though. The Comet Most of my coaster thoughts this winter have been centered around the rebuilding of the Comet. Paul Greenwald's Comet videotape shown at EastCoaster whipped me into a frenzy. Everyone I talked to who had ridden the Comet in its previous incarnation at Crystal Beach had nothing but raves - it was perhaps the best that ever was. The various photos in ACE News showed a beautiful coaster in the making. Can a coaster that's been as hyped as the Comet live up to expectations? For me, no. The official schedule for that day's events called for the Comet to begin running at 12:30, after various ceremonies. While on the Ferris Wheel at 11:00 to get some photos of the ride, I could see it running...with people on it! After talking myself out of climbing down the Wheel, I got off and ran to the Comet to take my first ride. The Comet is located at the very back of the park, up against a hillside, with views of the Adirondack mountains distant. The ride is very photogenic, with a walkway along the entire length of the ride. At one end of the ride (the 1st turnaround end) is a large dirt field, where in one corner rest the old Comet PTC trains. According to Tom Rebbie of PTC, these were not salvageable, having been neglected for about 4 years in the weather. Fortunately, the Comet sports PTC trains again, and not the Morgans that were rumored at one point. Unfortunately, the new PTCs are hardly 'classic'. The station is quite beautiful, with its decorative arched wooden roof. The queue line is split when you enter the station into a line for the front 2 cars and for the back 2 cars. You can wait for any seat you wish. They were only running one train on opening day, with the second looking quite ready but not in service. I got only 3 rides on the Comet, seats 1, 2 and 12 (back). The wait was about 15 minutes, a bit longer if you wanted the front or back seat. The new PTCs feature(!) orange ratcheting lap bars that seem to stay put, and seat dividers. Thankfully, no headrests or seatbelts to be found. The station attendants did not force the bars down in the slightest, just pulled up to make sure they were locked. Nor did they say anything about cameras, though a sign on the platform forbid them. At around 2:00 the ride was shut down temporarily(?) for some reason (brakes?) and we left the park for the long ride home, sadly unable to stay for the evening ERT. How's the ride, you ask? FAST FAST FAST. The Comet's greatest strength is its sustained speed, no slow points at all, more so than even the mighty Phoenix. [A note: from my first ride, I though of the Comet as a bigger brother of the Phoenix, so I'll be mentioning that ride a bit.] From first drop (actually, from about midway up the chain lift when the variable speed lift motor cranks into overdrive) into the uncovered brake run, this thing absolutely flies! The turnarounds are exceptionally fast. The tracking is top-notch, smoothness is on a par with Stricker's Grove Tornado. Hopefully, this will remain so over time. There's some terrific jogs in the track, mostly occurring at the crest of hills that send you flying in the opposite direction the train is now turning, much like the Wild One. Unfortunately, the Comet is not the airtime-laden monster it looked to be (and was remembered by some as). There are a few good negative G shots, but not very many. The double dip after the 2nd turnaround does not send you floating from your seat as you would expect. The front seat gave more negative G moments than the back. Granted, this was on opening day and the coaster has a lot of breaking in to do, so maybe this will improve over time. I don't want to make it seem that I didn't enjoy the Comet, as it is a top 10 ride in my book, it just wasn't what I expected (what is?). The ride is very fast and very smooth, but not very wild. Sort of like a larger Phoenix, though the Phoenix gives air on almost every hill (especially on a rainy day like this was, the Phoenix would have you standing up for most of the ride). I applaud The Great Escape for rescuing the Comet from certain extinction, and for rebuilding it faithful to the original. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and will ride it again when I'm in the area. I just wish it was a bit wilder.