Roller Coaster at Lagoon is one of the oldest continuously operating
roller coasters in the world. This ride opened over 100 years ago,
but this coaster has changed quite a bit over the years. These changes have
impacted most aspects of the ride including the appearance, set-up, tracking, and trains.
But have all these changes been positive? Find out in this review of Roller Coaster.
This was Lagoon’s second roller coaster ever, opening back in 1921.
This is the world’s seventh oldest roller coaster and the third oldest with upstop wheels. The
coaster was designed by John A. Miller and it had one of the most daring layouts for its time, as
the underside wheels allowed the coaster to safely navigate steeper drops than its predecessors.
While this ride has always officially been known as Roller Coaster, it has gone by a few
other names during its lifetime. A 1923 John Miller catalog called the ride Pippin Dips.
Postcards from the 1930s call the ride the Giant Roller Coaster. And for many years,
locals referred to the ride as the White Roller Coaster, but that name is now outdated.
Until 2004, the ride featured white track and supports. Older wood coasters were often painted,
typically white, to help prevent the wood from absorbing moisture and rotting. Newer
wood coasters instead pressure treat the wood, allowing it to maintain its natural brown color.
As Lagoon has retracked the ride over the past 2 decades, they have used brown wood. For years,
the ride was a mishmash of white and brown supports, but it now has one consistent color.
This ride’s trains have also been updated a few times. The ride was damaged by a fire in
1953 and around that time, the original trains were replaced by Century Flyers from National
Amusement Device. A few decades later, the trains were replaced by 3 bench trains from PTC.
These trains originally had buzz bars, but an incident in 1989 changed this ride’s
restraints and operational policies. A girl riding alone presumably stood up,
causing her to fall off the ride to her death. Roller Coaster reopened with individual ratcheting
lap bars. And the ride implemented a policy that single riders are not allowed in the very front
or back rows. Many of Lagoon’s coasters had this policy over the past 3 decades, but it has been
relaxed on all rides outside of Roller Coaster. The trains were updated yet again in 2018.
Two Millennium Flyer trains from Great Coasters International were added. The
capacity per train didn’t change, as they still held 24 guests. These trains were just comprised
of 12 individual cars instead of 4 3-bench cars. These are the only trains I’ve ever experienced
on Roller Coaster. I imagine the original buzz bars made the experience even better,
but I understand why those freeing restraints will never come back given the history with this ride.
2018 also marked the year that the ride’s station was reconfigured. The load and unload sides were
swapped. This gave the coaster some more queue space, although the physical line can still only
hold about 15-20 minutes worth of people. This is common practice with many of Lagoon’s coasters,
as the park likes when lines bleed on the midway since they believe it adds to the atmosphere.
Roller Coaster has a fantastic station. From the outside, it has a retro design with a
giant sign that lights up beautifully at night. And the roof has these gorgeous rainbow lights.
Then the load platform has a giant mural with historical photos and information about the ride.
Lagoon is clearly proud of this coaster. However, very little of this ride’s double
out-and-back layout is visible from within park boundaries.
That’s because the ride goes out into the parking lot. It makes for a cool arrival experience since
you park on all sides of the coaster and are able to walk underneath it. And I love how
many shots of this ride have the mountains in the background. It’s stunning to see.
Lines are usually manageable for this coaster. I’ve only visited this park on busy Halloween
weekends, yet the line typically is around the 10-15 minute mark. The park has run
two trains in both my visits with lightning fast dispatches. Stacking is exceedingly rare. In fact,
the crew usually gets trains out so quickly that the trains often block check on the lift hill.
And on some rides, they had to be stopped until the prior train cleared the final brake run. The
fast dispatches are helped by two factors. One, no bags or loose articles can be stored
on the ride platform. Thankfully, this ride has complimentary lockers
before you enter the main queue. It’s nice Lagoon makes these free unlike most parks.
Two, the restraints consist of just a t-bar. There are no additional restraints or seatbelts.
And in general, I like these restraints. The bars will want
to continuously lower like all those on Millennium Flyers, so once checked,
I would advise holding onto the bar unless you want the ride to staple you.
I think it’s worth trying both the front and back on this coaster. Each seat has
some elements that ride better. You are allowed to choose your row on this ride,
unlike some of the other coasters at Lagoon. Once you hear the siren, you’re dispatched. You
round a slow corner by the queue line and then head up the 62 foot or 19 meter tall lift hill.
You get a nice view of Lagoon’s other coasters to the side or the parking lot straight ahead.
The first drop is pretty weak. It doesn’t offer any airtime even in the back. Then
the valley has a very noticeable shimmy. Thankfully the ride gets better fast.
You the crest a camelback. Those up front get a decent pop of airtime on the ascent.
Then those in back get a great burst of airtime on the descent since it feels considerably
steeper than the first one. It feels like the floor drops out from beneath you.
You then head into the first turnaround. Those up front weakly lift out of their seat rising up.
Then you crawl around the turn, but that’s fine because you get a neat visual of the park’s
skyline and mountains in the distance. The drop off this turnaround is another good one in back,
as it offers some decent floater airtime. Next is another camelback. It’s not quite as
good as the first, but those on the ends of the train will still get some weak floater
airtime. Just watch out for the valley. It’ll shake the train a bit and it’ll try
its darndest to lower your lap bar a notch. You then shoot into the second turnaround.
The entry levels off pretty abruptly, so those up front get an ejector pop going into it. The
unbanked turn offers a nice headchopper with the lift supports and a pinch of laterals. Then the
drop off the element gives a weak to ok airtime in back depending if the ride is warmed up or not.
The next stretch is the weakest on the ride. You have a camelback and a little speed hill.
Neither offer any airtime regardless of where you’re seated. The camelback
at least has some sweet headchoppers at the apex to compensate at least.
These two hills are followed by the third and final turnaround. Those up front get some very
abrupt ejector airtime entering it. It’s the single strongest airtime moment on the ride.
The turn is enveloped in the ride’s structure and then it leads into a small double down.
The first dip doesn’t do much, but the second gives a weak pop if you’re in back.
You then crest another hill that has yet another double down on the
other side. Like before, only the second dip delivers. This
one gives a faint bit of airtime up front and an ok burst in the back.
You then rise into the final brake run and you decelerate pretty darn quickly.
It doesn’t feel like the back car will fully make it onto the brakes before you stop.
But you do and then you return to the station, ending the 2500 foot or 762 meter long coaster.
For a ride as old as it is, Roller Coaster rides smoother than you’d expect.
The ride sounds pretty rough from the sounds the trains make, but it actually tracks well.
Some of the valleys I specifically noted are a bit bumpy, but it’s overall fairly smooth
for a wood coaster. That is probably helped by the ride’s modest speed.
That ties into my next point though. This ride doesn’t have the strongest pacing.
You noticeably slow down atop several turns and hills. I can look past a lack of speed if
the hills all still deliver, but there are a few that don’t quite offer the airtime I expected.
So what would I rate Roller Coaster? I would give this woodie a 6 out of 10.
It’s a decent coaster and that’s even more impressive when you consider its age.
Both the front and back rows have a few elements that have some really nice airtime. While the
other hills aren’t of the same caliber, the ride is still enjoyable and quite reridable because of
how well it is taken care of. I always make sure to take a few laps on this when I’m at Lagoon.
So those are my thoughts on Lagoon’s Roller Coaster. What are your thoughts
on this ride? Let me know if the ride was better or worse with the old trains if you
experienced both. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave
this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot
more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!