Who would have thought my favorite ride at Seabreeze, a quaint little community park in upstate New York just brimming with nostalgia, would be this new-fangled, brightly-painted, European whiligig? By jingo, it was a gas, I tell you, a regular Jet Star meets a Virginia Reel. That ol' jitney the Jack Rabbit was all wet, by comparison. My, it was a high old time aboard the Whirlwind!
I'm not exactly a spinning-coaster connoisseur, but this was certainly the best of the breed that I've encountered. This little shaver would have a decent layout for a compact coaster even without all the 360-degree flim-flam. Add that to the mix, however, and it's almost enough to give a body pause. I'm pretty much habituated to the typical roller coaster experience at this point, but launching from a dead stop, darkness, and going backwards can still raise a little dew on my palms. Now I guess we can add spinning to that list. Whilwind was a double threat in this regard, as during one ride I traveled up the lift and down the tolerably steep first drop backwards, and then before I could recover from that manuever, the car commenced a-spinning. Another swell element was the section of vertical track following the dive from the Wild-Mouse like turn-around; we were hitting on all eight right about then.
Until recently, I had only one other spin-coaster as a basis of comparison, that being the Zamperla Wild Mouse at Beech Bend. That, too, was a pretty game bangtail, but I paid rather dearly for hands-up rides by cracking my elbows and ribs against the hard plastic and stainless steel of the big, four-across cars. The tune-up was exacerbated by the Zamperla's spinning action, which was abrupt, almost violent. The pods on the Whilwind, by contrast, seat two sets of two riders back-to-back in cushiony, well-enclosed comfort, and the vertical, lateral, and centrifugal hijinx all meld famously along its merry way. On both models, achieving the proper weight distribution seems to have a lot to do with getting the maximum spinning action. This means that some rides are relatively tame, but the variety gives the ride some added personality.
Without a doubt, Whirlwind is a gimmick coaster, but a gimmick that works is one definition of an inspiration. It's a fun, slightly nerve-wracking, occasionally nausea-inducing variation on a themepark classic. I have to be strict with my numbers, but this rattler gets the highest of 7s. EP on the bing, and that's the crop!
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