Monday, November 26, 2012

Aerial Antics: Lake Winnepesaukah



With more and more new Google 45 degree images appearing, suddenly I have plenty of new parks to feature here in Aerial Antics.  A prime example of this is Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park, or just Lake Winnie as it is commonly referred.


And there's the lake that gives the park its name!  Lake Winnie is built around the water, with rides lining midways that extend on three sides of it.  The park first opened back in 1925 or so, so there has been a lot of development over a long period of time - traditional amusement park by design you could say.


The park offers an impressive collection of flat rides, a large portion of which can be seen above.  There's the classics like a tilt-a-whirl, sea dragon, and mat slide aside plenty of others - big and small rides mixed together.


The park takes advantage of its lakeside location to the fullest, with some rides and attractions over the water.  The Wacky Factory is in the center of the photo, which Scott & Carol covered and visited when it opened in 2011.  There's a Wacky Worm hiding among the trees behind the Wacky Factory, if you look close.  This park is too wacky!


One of Lake Winnie's oldest rides is the Boat Chute, an original mill chute water ride and the oldest operating one in the U.S.  The boats plunge down toward the lake and then skim across the surface, before moving back to their leisurely pace. 


The Cannon Ball is Lake Winnie's big ride, a John Allen designed wooden coaster that opened in 1967.  The ride is about as a traditional out and back as they come, filled with plenty of air-time hills along the way out... and back, of course!

The area adjacent to the Cannon Ball, which looks like it is currently used for parking, was recently announced to become a water park next Summer.  By my guesses, it'll look a lot like this: 


Pretty nice looking, right?  I have a feeling that the water park addition is going to be a huge success for Lake Winnie.

Here is a link to Google's aerials of Lake Winnie if you'd like to look around.


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