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Wildcat Review (2024 Update), Lake Compounce Wood Coaster | Gravity Group Fixed This Ride!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 เม.ย. 2024
- Wildcat at Lake Compounce has been infamously rough for years, but the park and Gravity Group finally fixed the ride in 2024. The ride now features pre-cut track, so it's significantly smoother. And the ride also has some airtime now between the faster tracking and reprofiled elements. This has to be the most improved coaster of 2024.
Video Credits
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Wildcat POV 2024 (Lake Compounce)
Wildcat Reverse POV (Lake Compounce)
Background Music
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I really hope more parks start contracting GG for woodie refurbs. It keeps these rides smooth for substantially longer, while still feeling like wood. Gravity Group is the future of the wooden roller coaster.
This is a great ad for precut track.
Another Huge Gravity Group W here. I'm definitely a believer
It showed just how good the track is.
I love that the gravity group was able to fix wildcat. I bet there are going to be a few parks with rough wooden coasters watching to see how wildcat does this season
I agree. It's night and day the old versus new track.
This is so great to hear! Wildcat currently ranks #754 out of 754 roller coasters for me 😂when I got off in June 2021, I said that I would never ride this thing ever again until it got major work done on the track and people started enjoying it. I guess we're here now!
It is so much better now.
I remember being a kid and riding Wild Cat. After getting off you felt like you got in a violent car crash. Not to mention the carts had little to no cushioning so you were bouncing off of the hard wooden walls of the cart
I'm glad it's mostly comfortable now.
LOLOL, yes I remember thinking that when I visited Lake Compounce for the first time a couple years ago: that the road leading into the park was an airtime-filled ride in itself, haha!
It does have some airtime. Those humps are legit.
You forgot the massive overhaul of Loch Ness Monster Busch Gardens is undertaking when discussing ride refurbs happening this year
That's another big one.
I love hearing this. I would've skipped it if it were still the same as before, but now, I will have to give it at least one ride on my visit in August. I might splurge on speedy pass if things look as busy as my first visit, when Wildcat was 90+ minutes all day, on a Wednesday, and Boulder Dash was an hour. That ending sounds similar to KD's Grizzly now, switching over to the old track towards the end, suddenly becoming quite bumpy, but not unbearable.
Speedy Pass was surprisingly affordable last year even on busy days. And it saved a ton of time.
Rode it on Saturday, It was absolutely amazing!! W Gravity Group honestly should be the primary retrackers for Lake Compounce.
They did a great job revitalizing this ride.
Shockwave at Drayton Manor has also been converted into a sit down coaster called The Wave. Sadly there are no more Intamin stand ups left, I quite enjoyed it in its previous incarnation.
I wish I rode it as a stand-up to try that zero-G while standing.
@@CanobieCoaster it was weird, but the best part of the ride.
wish they would of retracked the whole coaster but maybe next year or the following they will
I believe the plan is to do the finale this offseason.
Nah man, kitty gotta have its claws
@MrHappy-hx3go bone crushing claws
The Gravity Group also did some work on Grizzly at Kings Dominion, and it improved dramatically. In 2019, it was on my worst list. My 2024 ride moved it way up.
I love what they did to Grizzly.
They did a good job with most of this ride, but the last two hills are rough and need to be retracted as well.
I remember when Wildcat at Hershey gad switched from PTC trains to Millenium Flyers. The Millenium Flyers are way heavier than the old PTC trains and though it was rough before, it was a new type of rough with the new trains. It also seemed to run slower with the millenium flyers if I remember right
Yeah Hershey's Wildcat got noticeably slower. It had more airtime with the PTCs.
Amazing timing. Just minutes ago I heard that this coaster had reopened and so I just squeezed Compounce into my summer itinerary.
Boulder Dash is still the crown jewel, but this is now fun too.
@@CanobieCoaster I was spited this credit the last time I visited. But I look forward to a reworked Boulder Dash, too!
I’m glad they were finally able to fix this up. Dinn really messed this ride up when they rebuilt it. In fact this ride is basically a Dinn coaster because they didn’t even use any of the original blueprints, they just replicated the Schmeck design as best they could, and clearly they messed up the foundation somehow, because if they didn’t the ride would be smooth from all the track work it has gotten. Though it no longer resembles a wooden coaster from the 1920s, these modifications were much needed, the ride was so messed up that they wouldn’t have been able to keep it the way it was, and now the intended audience (families) can enjoy it.
That's a fair point it is more of a Dinn at this point.
Between Gravity Group precut track and GCI Titan track, I really hope the precut track becomes the more popular option for parks in general. Titan track feels like it just serves to slowly phase out wood without necessarily improving the ride beyond maintenance and smoothness. RMC justifies its conversions because of what they create with their new rides. So far, Titan track hasn't been used that way and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Gravity Group has found a way to keep wood alive but still smooth. And it's still likely going to last longer than traditional retracking. I would just hate to see every woody that becomes rough become a Borg type amalgam of rough wood track and steel Titan track that just slowly becomes more steel with every passing season.
I just want quality rides and all the solutions can improve a ride if used properly.
I used to feel that way, like Titan track would make it less pure somehow. I don't feel that way anymore. Wolverine Wildcat at my home park Michigan's Adventure got a Titan retrack on the first drop. I've been riding that coaster since the year it opened and now it's better than ever. That first drop is seriously one of my favorites anywhere now. At 88 feet and maybe 53 degrees, 😂.
The positives in the valley are magic.
@@carysage I understand where you are coming from. But I guess I'd argue that if you can fix areas that are rough with new better designed wooden track then you probably should. My reasoning? Because the tendency with Titan Track will only be to slowly replace the rest of the track with more steel track as time goes by. It's not like a park with a wooden coaster that adds Titan track to a rough patch is going to go back and redo future rough areas with wood. They'll just see that Titan track was cheaper over time and then it's just a matter of time before the old classic is a hybrid. And for what? Not for a new more thrilling ride experience like you get with RMC. Just as a way to decrease maintenance cost but keeping the coaster smooth. Which means they just phase out woodies.
I'm sure many coasters with Titan track run smoother with the steel. But if I could choose between two forms of smoothness but one of then will gradually replace wood while they other keeps woodies alive as a concept then I'll take the option that keeps woodies alive.
@@zacg_ Actually that's exactly what they did, lol. In '22 it got a Titan 1st drop. In '23 everything between the 1st and 2nd turnaround was replaced with new wood and reprofiled. The last lap was still a little rough but I'm hoping to see new wood there too when they open in a couple weeks. And I would also argue if you completely replaced the wood track with Titan track on ANY wood coaster you will improve the ride experience. It does more just make it smoother. Smoother means less friction, less friction means more speed, more speed means more airtime and laterals. Unless of course they also add some trim brakes
I’ve never ridden a ride with Titan track, but what I like about woodies is that they are a little bit rough and give an out-of-control feeling. If Titan track makes them feel like steel coasters, then I don’t think that would improve the ride experience. Also, from videos, the sound Titan track makes is awful, and the sounds a coaster makes is part of the experience for me.
I never went on the original Wildcat so this is exciting!
I'm happy they did it.
GG precut track with GCI MFs sounds like a dream tbh
It runs good now (in the addressed parts).
Another stellar review!🤙
Thanks!
It just blows my mind that for a little bit of extra money for the end part they could have salvaged the entire coaster. It's crazy. I mean just do it once and for all! Why fix 85% of the coaster and leave a little bit? How much extra could it have been for another 50 metres of wood? It's not like the structure needs replacing, just some pre cut wood. What, another 10K maybe? 20k max? I mean it's like they are determined to leave a part of the ride to break their guests' backs - so far anyone I have spoken to told me the old sections are still rough as guts. I don't remember if it was open on my visit last year as I didn't even *look* or have any interest in it. I just rode phobia and boulderdash all day, well, half a day.
Edit, it seems the pre cut track needs specialised supports? I had that wrong. That would be a lot more expensive than I thought. Oops.
They should have just titan tracked the whole thing then from A-Z.
Edit 2, OK, they could have at least fixed the end of the ride, as that's what everyone is complaining about. I''ll even advocate for titan track just for the very last section where the pre cut wood finishes. I still refuse to ride this as I am not going to give myself back pain for a silly coaster.
According to the park, they are strongly considering addressing the finale this off-season. I'm guessing they waited for cost and/or scheduling purposes.
I hope this precut track can be used to fix the stupid awful helix on Mighty Canadian Minebuster
It could help many rides.
Maybe this will convince Lake Compounce to hire Gravity Group for Boulder Dash instead of more Titan Track!
The GCI bits rode well last year.
I know that it probably wont be too soon but im so curious about your review for Voltron Nevera at Europa park. It looks top 15 worthy from povs
It looks like an amazing ride. I'm deliberately avoiding spoilers on the theming/show scenes.
Usually ide be against reprofiling a old coaster like this but this one was an exception.
This needed work.
Great to hear! Do you have any info on when Boulder Dash will reopen for the season? The website says "a few weeks" but I don't know if you have any other knowledge? Great review, and I am excited to make the trip back to Lake Compounce this year. I rode wildcat once before and I found it so bad it was funny, but if the ride is good that is fine by me. More excited for Boulder Dash however!
The train is still at PTC. I suspect it should be open towards the end of May.
It’s back up and running as of today! Great work by lake compounce getting it open as soon as possible
Not too sure why the park went with millennium flyer trains instead of just 3 bench individual lap bar PTC trains, especially since the rides profiling was not designed with millennium flyers in mind. But knowing how better the ride has gotten and after just riding it today, I think it’s fine with millennium flyers
Gravity Group saved this ride.
They'll do this but god forbid make some Ghost Hunt merch
Maybe they will in the future.
What other wooden coasters out there do you think should get this vertically stacked track refurb by gravity group?
It's a good candidate for any that are rough.
That’s strange because I went on it yesterday and it was very bumpy and uncomfortable and it was forcing my neck down into weird positions and then jerking us up and it felt like you were about to break your neck and then fly into the stratosphere and the operator made it go extremely fast
The end is still bumpy, but the first 3/4 is good now.
Woodies are cool. I would ride this.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
It's fun now.
A lot of rides I can think of that would benefit from the same treatment including one I live near in Arkansas Twister
Reprofiling would really help that one.
I went to Lake Compounce in 2014 and 2015 and rode both this and Boulder Dash. I found this to be very rough, and Boulder Dash was a bit rough too, but it was tolerable and a very fun ride - definitely not as rough as this one. As someone who loves wooden roller coasters but doesn’t like ones that are very rough, do you recommend trying Wildcat again now? What about Boulder Dash, as I’ve heard it’s gotten rougher?
Boulder Dash has gotten some trackwork in recent years. It's aggressive, but I find it tolerable.
I don't know if its true but ive heard a rumor that the state will only ever allow 1 train ops since 2017 when the 2 trains collided on boulder dash
I imagine they could reprogram it to safely run two.
@@CanobieCoaster it was an accident caused while the coaster was in manual for maintenance then the state banned it even in automatic where it is safe to do
Its kind if funny how rough the pov gets at the end.
They should be fixing that after the 2024 season.
I don't know if you'll reply to this, but when will you post a review on the Updated Boulder dash experience? I'm just waiting so I can watch it. 😭 I am a Connecticut resident, so Lake Compounce is my home park.
I haven't ridden Boulder Dash yet in 2024. I plan to ride it in June. I'm not sure if I'll make a new review since I've heard the experience is similar to how it was last year from those who rode it.
@@CanobieCoaster Thank you for the update, if you do make a video. You can bet that I will watch it.
Anyone know whats going on with boulder dash? I heard its still closed and im thinking of going to the park for memorial Day weekend
The train is at PTC, so the ride doesn't have a train to run at this time. I suspect it should be open by Memorial Day weekend.
Update- The train arrived at the park today. So it should be ready soon.
@@CanobieCoaster awesome thanks for the update!
Not surprised that the Dinn Corporation wrecked this coaster
At least Gravity Group fixed it.
rode this last weekend, and it was still the roughest coaster ive ever been on. never again.
Did you find it smooth until the end?
@@CanobieCoaster up until the back half I’d say. It was especially brutal at the end though haha
Would you consider this a new credit, or not because it has pretty much the same layout?
1 credit, just improved.
It is a new credit if, like me, you visited this park before when Wildcat didn’t open all day!
Have you ridden grizzly with its retract yet?
Yes, I liked it before and after the retrack.
I hope this won’t become rough like Tonnerre 2 Zeus… it’s terrible now, and it’s been only 3 years since the end of the refurb
If I recall, only a few parts like the wave turn got precut track.
Is wildcat still open now day?
Yes it opens when the park does
it makes your neck hurt at the end
They plan to retrack that part this winter.
@@CanobieCoaster hopefully they doo!
I think Thunderbolt at Six Flags New England is now the worst coaster in New England
I disagree. Orient Express at Palace Playland is.
Oh that is bad too!
I had to turn the volume down because this guy was so... ANNOYING... 😩
Sorry my voice annoyed you.