Park Review: Lake Winnepesaukah

Lake Winnepesaukah (Chattanooga, TN)

This review is the first in my 3-part review series of the American Coaster Enthusiasts 2005 Spring Conference.

In this review, I will be using the Eric Griswold rating system, which rates parks and coasters on a scale of -3 to +5, as follows:

+5 - THE ULTIMATE
+4 - Golden Ticket Material
+3 - Excellent
+2 - Very Good
+1 - Good
+0 - Okay
-1 - Lousy
-2 - Miserable
-3 - Tear it Down and Try Again


THE STORY:

Hearing all of the positive reviews of Thunderhead, you can imagine my excitement when I heard that the 2005 ACE spring conference was coming to Dollywood. Lake Winnie is where the convention began, but I knew from the start that it was a mere warmup for the real coaster thrills at Dollywood. Regardless, hearing good things about Lake Winnie's classic wood coaster, Cannon Ball, I looked forward to a good day at this small park, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The day was rather uneventful. The trip was about 10 hours from Tampa, so I split it up into an 8 hour drive the first day, and a 2 hour drive the next morning, stopping in Calhoun, GA to visit one of my high school buddies. If you ever visit this park, my best advice is to get gas in Georgia, and not Tennessee... it is 15 cents cheaper. The day is always fun when you are at an ACE event, but I have to admit that this park doesn't have alot to do. I actually left halfway through the day to check into the hotel and browse around Chattanooga instead of spending the whole day at the park. I came back at night for the BBQ dinner, mini-gold tournament, and night-time ERT sessions on Cannon Ball, Wild Lightnin', and Wacky Worm. This park really didn't do much for ERT... usually, we get ride time when the park is closed and the guests have left, but Lake Winnie just barred access to the coasters from the guests for the last hour the park was open. We still had a blast, as always, but it felt kind of bad to be taking the ride tima away from the guests. Well, that's the day. Now onto the raw numbers for this rather mediocre park.



THE PARK: +1

Lake Winnie is a nice little park, but it felt more like an oversized fair than an amusement park. All of their non-coaster rides were more like carnival rides... like a tilt-a-whirl, tiny ferris wheel, and a cheap haunted house. The prices were very appropriate, though. Admiussion is only 3 dollars, and each ride costs between $1.60 and $4.00, or you can pay $19.00 for unlimited rides. The kids on field trips were clogging most of the flat rides all day, so I spent the whole time taking pictures and riding the 2 'big' coasters. The coasters they have are a John Allen out-and-back, a kiddie coaster, and a wild mouse. The assortment was just not enough. This park really needs some more and better rides. I have already been on everything to its max, so I have no reason to go back. It just needs more. This park gets a positive score because Cannon Ball is a nice classic woodie, and the prices are much fairer than the big parks. Food and drink were about half of the price they are at Cedar Point and Six Flags parks. So, go to ride Cannon Ball and Wild Lightnin', but don't expect much else.


THE COASTERS:

Cannon Ball - +3

A good old classic John Allen PTC coaster. I like this coaster better than Blue Streak at Cedar Point, which basically has the same layout, but it is still nowhere near the leauges of the CCI coasters. What I give this ride so much credit for are its classic appeal, and wonderful floater air. The airtime is great. Over the tops of at least 3 hills, you jump out of the seat sitting in the back. ACErs had a blast during the ERT session, as always, cheering and clapping for the good old thrills of this Allen coaster classic. This is just a great example of why a coaster doesn't need to be the tallest or the fastest to give you a great ride. It is smooth, feels nice and fast, and has some great airtime. Not quite in my top 10 list, but still a great ride.


Wild Lightnin' - low +3

This ride really kicks the crap out of you, which I love in a coaster. I love lateral g's, and this coaster really delivers them. After the traditional wild mouse flat sharp turns, you drop down a bit, and then take turn after turn at lower radiuses, going faster and faster the whole while. So, I give this coaster a great score for really feeling out of control, and kicking the crap out of you with the insane lateral g's (around 2.0 is my guess for the numbers.) This coaster doesn't look like much, but it is a really fun ride.



Wacky Worm - +0

A really slow steel kiddie coaster, need I say more? This is just a credit on my track record, which leaped up from 75 at the beginning of the day to 78 after getting off this ride.



My top 10 list remains unchanged. None of the coasters were good enough to add.

TOP WOOD:
1. The Legend
2. The Raven
3. Shivering Timbers
4. The Villain
5. The Beast

TOP STEEL:
1. Millennium Force
2. Magnum X-L 200
3. The Incredible Hulk
4. Montu
5. Nitro



Well, so ends part one of my trip. Dollywood was what I really came for, and I was itching with the anticipation of riding Thunderhead the next day. Well, that's all for this park review. Thanks for reading, and I hope you read my next review, of Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. In it, you will get the real scoop on GCI's greatest creation, Thunderhead, and a recount of the ACE-only question and answer session with Chris from Great Coasters International. Till next time, this is cjd, your source for reviews, signing off.

Wacky Worm - +0

A really slow steel kiddie coaster, need I say more? This is just a credit on my track record, which leaped up from 75 to 78 after getting off this ride.

Wow... I wish I could ride a coaster that gives me 3 credits!


Good review though. Cannonball sounds like lots of fun.

Oops, I guess I worded that wrong. Edit.

I'll tell you CJD that the family owned park are way more fun than the corp parks. In fact Lake winnie has given a free ACE event for last 4 years at the end of the season. Ok I just think after being in ACE so long that I really like the family owned park as to going to corp parks. HW,IB, Kennywood, Knobels, are a few I would rather go to. Don't get me wrong I do go to Corp parks but I just don't have the fun as I do with small parks.

I like small parks too, but this one just didn't have enough variety. That's why I gave it a +1... it is good, but not great. There are so many better family owned parks out there, like Holiday World and Knobel's. A +1 means that I had fun, and thought that it was a good value. I have given negative ratings to numerous Six Flags parks for their bogus prices and poor maintenance. I give credit to Lake Winnie for having a nice little park, but they could really use better flat rides IMO, like a drop tower. Sorry if it seems like I am dissing this park, but I'm really not. I'm just saying that there are better parks out there.

The hard truth is that ACE and families are usually the only people that really appreciate small family parks. Most people don't really appreciate small parks like this, and most of the peeps here would probably run out of things to do. It's good to go to a classic family run park once in a while, but I just like to have more than a couple things to do. Cannon Ball and Wild Lightnin' were the only rides that I wanted to go on more than once, aside from going on the train to take pictures, and I just like to see a few more things to do than ride coasters all day. Don't get me wrong, Cannon Ball is a great ride, and I could ride it all day, but I think this park really needs a couple more rides, or even some great shops like at Dollywood. There just isn't enough stuff.