gardener14
Posts: 85
Registered: 3/12/2003
Rank: Senior Critic
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 6/30/2003 9:17:00 PM
My brother and I visited Funtown in Saco, Maine on Saturday June 28, 2003.
What a surprisingly nice little park this is. It actually packs in quite a few fine attractions in a compact layout. The grounds are very clean and nicely kept with flower beds and signs throughout It is clear that some sections were older than others giving it the distinct feeling that it had been expanded in parts and pieces without a clear plan, but that added to the charm. Funtown is basically a traditional, seasonal, small amusement park that is well managed and cared for.
Excalibur is an awesome wooden coaster built by CCI. It was very smooth and very fast, and the first drop seemed extremely steep. The loading station was a castle and surrounding entrance area was themed to Camelot with a bridge and gift shop. Even the cars were given names of Knights.
The other star attraction is Dragon's Decent, a 220 foot free-fall tower from S&S. It was an awesome ride, but the themeing made the overall experience even more fun. The surrounding buildings look like Chinese buildings and the gardens carry the theme with Japanese Maples, dwarf evergreens, and other weeping trees with Chinese Lanterns overhead and interesting signs. The entrance to Dragon's Decent is a huge and impressive larger-than-life Dragon.
The rest of the park is a nice mix of family rides. We enjoyed the Flying Trapeze (one of the best swing rides anywhere with strong forces), log flume, Casino (trabant model I think), two different antique car rides, bumper boats and go-karts (both included with admission). We rode the carousel which was modern and fiberglass but it was quite elaborately decorated and it had a real band organ which created a great atmosphere, and a large tea cup ride. Other rides include a Tilt a Whirl, Swinging Ship, and Matterhorn/Himalaya (I'm not sure what they called it), and there were numerous kiddie/family rides. They have one of the best bumper car rides anywhere. It had decent force, there was no center island, and music blared through the speakers making it fun.
We also enjoyed the very rusty Galaxi coaster which was incredibly smooth and got me a little dizzy in the spirals. Another 'unique' ride was Astrosphere, an indoor Scrambler with lights and music. It kind of had a home-made garage band feel to it, but it was lots of fun.
We also enjoyed watching the rehearsals for their shows which opened the following day. An oldies rock 'n roll show and a patriotic show. They were very good for small park entertainment, and I give the performers lots of credit.
I thought the admission price of $23 was reasonable, food was very reasonably priced, parking was free, and skee-ball was still a quarter (gotta love that). Fun pop music was playing throughout much of the park and employees seemed to be enjoying themselves and were mostly friendly.
The park was mostly attended by families and young people who were all pleasant and enjoying the day peacefully. Lines were short to nonexistent throughout the day. There also seemed to be an abundance of employees and all rides, shops, and food stands were open and operating making me think that the management is on top of things.
They have a very nice small water park called Splashtown with a seperate admission fee, but we watched it from the observation deck and it looked like fun.
If I had to make any criticisms of the park it would be that the Galaxi coaster and surrounding area needs to be renovated and some of the older buildings look dated. However, I'm sure they are working on this over time, and judging by some of their recent improvements, they have goals for good things to come.
The funny thing is we went to Funtown without great expectations, and we left so happy after having such an enjoyable time. Honestly, we did more and had more fun than we ever had as SFNE. It's amazing how quality service and attention to the little things that matter can<
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