Jul 25, 2016

Summer fun

It’s summer.  It’s hot.  Test your thrill factor. Get the adrenaline pumping and let the fun begin. Take a child, or a grandchild, or release the child within and head to one of New York States’ many amusement parks for thrills, chills, and spills. 
Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, which opened in 1879, is the 4th oldest amusement park in the country. Those first visitors, even in their wildest imagination, could never envisioned Seabreeze’s The Helix. Take a friend, or go alone – if you dare!
From the top of the 45-foot high slide, alone or tandem, whoosh through the pipe on an inner tube to the giant fiberglass bowl and into the vortex. Then hop over to the Rabbit built in 1920 making it the third oldest operating coaster in the country. The wooden coaster has over 2000 feet of track with a 75-foot drop, plus exciting curves and dips before ending in a dark tunnel. The faint-of-heart will love the Lazy River as they relax on an inner tube and float over water bubblers and drift by cascading falls. 
Darien Lake offers a one-stop destination for the family including the Big Kahuna, a 700-foot long extreme four-person rafting adventure. Keep the scream factor going as you speed 70 mph on the Superman Ride of Steel, one of the tallest coasters in the Northeast. Check out their Performing Arts Center, hotel and campground. 

Visit Six Flags’ The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom near Lake George. For big thrills ride the Cannon Blaster, the Boomerang, and Comet roller coasters. New this year is the New Revolution Virtual Reality Coast, the Northeast’s first inverting Virtual Realty Roller Coaster.   Bad weather can’t spoil the fun, the Great Escape Lodge, reflecting the Adirondack Great Camp style, was the first hotel in New York State with an indoor water park. 

Chill out on one of many water rides – there are more than 30 - at New York’s largest water theme park, Water Safari Enchanted Forest, on Route 28 in Old Forge. Tube through the jungle on the Amazon, scream down all 500 feet of the double tube slide, or be a shadow of yourself as you slide through the enclosed Shadow. Spin dry on the Tilt-O-Whirl before taking a train ride through Story Book Lane. 

Hear the thunder! Feel the rush! Try extreme body sliding at Thunder Island, a small family-owned park in Fulton. The newest slides to the park are two enclosed body flumes. Adventure Blackwater Sliding is what Pro-slide Technology calls the most popular body flumes to date. One is 32' of drop in total darkness combined with speed, rapid twists and turns or the longest 380' long starting from high on top of the tallest tower and drops an amazing 60' in a long and enjoyable slide with the safe feeling of being up high and enclosed but seeing as you go thru the translucent gel coated fiberglass. 

Ride the wave at Roseland Waterpark on Canandaigua Lake. The park’s Giant Wavepool has a beach entrance, 5-foot waves, six wave patterns, and lifeguards. It is the largest water park in the Finger Lakes Region with 56 acres of water fun, plus heated water and nine unique attractions for the entire family. Make this summer a thrilling one. Pick a park!  Pick any park! Visit one of New York States’ amusement parks – or, even better, visit all of them!