Story Land is one of the best theme parks in the world for kids. Located in Glen,
New Hampshire in the heart of the White Mountains, this park was built by the Morrell family in the
1950s and it has continued to grow under the ownership of Palace Entertainment.
Now it offers nearly two dozen rides, most of which are geared towards kids and families.
So in this video, I will rank this park’s top 15 rides and attractions.
Two notes before starting. First, the park used to have
a very unique dark ride known as Voyage to the Moon, but it was removed during my childhood.
This ride featured a series of colorful characters and some impressive physical sets, but
it was sadly removed due to awful capacity and increasing maintenance costs.
This would have likely placed in the top 3 had it still been operating.
Second, the park has a big area with nursery rhymes brought to life through a series of
exhibits and displays. I don’t think it’s fair to rate this area against the park’s
mechanical rides, but I wanted to note it’s an important part of any visit to Story Land.
15) Rap-Tour Safari- It pains me to put this ride this low. In its original form as Slipshod Safari
Tours, it would have placed in the top 5. It was a narrated tram ride through the woods past some
animal statues and displays. It felt like a discount Jungle Cruise. But a few years ago,
the ride was shortened and rethemed to the Rap-Tour Safari. The old theming was
gutted. Now you have a few dinosaurs sparsely scattered about and some automated audio.
14) Alice’s Tea Cups- This is a rarer variant on the traditional tea cup ride.
This is a PTC Crazy Daisy where the cups travel in a figure 8 pattern.
You get some cool near-misses, but you cannot control how much your cup spins,
so it’s not as dizzying as other installations. 13) Crazy Barn- This is a unique flat ride from
Preston & Barbieri. A barn raises a few stories into the air and twirls around.
You don’t rotate particularly fast, but the tilt and elevation yields some interesting visuals.
12) Buccaneer Pirate Ship- This is a slow-moving boat ride through the park’s lagoon. Riders are
given fake oars to “control” the boat. How good your experience is depends on your captain.
Some really get the crew pumped up and heckle bystanders. Others are more laid back and fairly
quiet. Just watch out on a hot day. You will bake in the sun as you float along the ride’s course.
This ride used to share the same lagoon as the Story Land Queen,
but that ride has since been decommissioned. 11) Farm Tractors- This is a cute track-guided
car ride. You have some pockets of theming as you pass some colorful produce and even pass through a
barn. It does move at a slow pace, but that’s fine so you have more time to take in the visuals.
10) Antique Cars- This is a more traditional track-guided car ride. The course is very
well-landscaped and includes a fun bridge midway through the layout. It’s one of the best examples
of this type of ride in my opinion and it’s an absolute favorite with kids.
9) Turtle Twirl- This is an above average tilt-a-whirl.
For whatever reason, this one seems to spin more than others. So you can chain
a series of forceful rotations in a row if you throw your weight around strategically.
8) Antique German Carousel- This is a unique merry-go-round. Rather than the horses
automatically jumping up-and-down, riders manually rock their horses back-and-forth. This was tricky
for me as a kid, but as an adult, I can get these rocking at a fairly fast clip. And the music the
ride uses suits the overall area quite nice too. 7) Splash Battle: Pharaoh’s Reign-
This is a good splash battle ride. The layout is compact, but it has two things going for it. One,
there’s some Egyptian theming along the course and in the immediate area.
Two and more importantly, there is a ton of interactivity. Kids have no qualms getting wet, so
there are some fierce water fights. Most seats and guns adjacent to the attraction will be manned.
6) Los Bravos Silver Mine Tour- This is a neat walkthrough attraction the park’s Mexican area.
It’s a guided tour that starts in a crooked house. Then you take a sketchy elevator down into a mine.
You have decent theming and scenes down there, but your experience is
very dependent on the quality of your guide and how invested the other guests get.
5) Polar Coaster- This is a nostalgic ride for me. This Hopkins creation was one of my first
roller coasters. You have awesome walrus themed cars that wind their way down the hillside. It’s
not too wild, consisting of some small dips and turns, but you finally get some speed for the
final helix. I have an entire review if you want more in-depth thoughts on this ride.
4) Cuckoo Clockenspiel- This is the world’s best tubs of fun ride. For one,
the vehicles are exceedingly easy to spin. If you go full-tilt like me, you won’t be
able to walk straight afterwards. Two, you have incredible theming. The ride takes place inside a
giant cuckoo clock. The detail is remarkable for a flat ride, especially with all the moving parts.
3) Bamboo Chutes- This is a small but enjoyable log flume from Hopkins. First off,
I love the theming. The logs are themed to look like they were made of bamboo and you have these
adorable panda faces on the front. Then you also have a custom musical score in the area.
Second, the course is scenic. The first half passes a dragon animatronic, which will spray
you out his nose, and then the second half climbs up a hill. Then the experience ends with
a short but zippy drop and a refreshing splash. 2) Dr. Geyser’s Remarkable Raft Ride- This is a
very different take on the river rapids ride, but I like it. You barely have any rapids. Instead,
this attraction uses themed water features to get you wet. You have thing such as a rain machine,
characters holding hoses, and a holey water tower. But the wettest part of all are the geysers.
There are a handful of these blasting giant jets of water into the air. They were timed
better when I was a kid to soak you, but there’s a spinning one towards the end with the ability to
drench you depending when it goes off. See my review for more, but this is one of my
favorite rides of this type for its uniqueness. 1) Roar-O-Saurus- Do not be fooled by this little
wood coaster. It’s just 4 stories tall, but it has a serious punch. This Gravity Group creation
is jam-packed with airtime. That’s no surprise if you’ve ridden any of their other small scale
woodies, but this one has more power. Every single hill launches you from your seat. And the airtime
seems to get wilder as it goes. The finale has 4 rapid and intense ejector pops reminiscent of
an RMC. The one downside with the coaster is that the tight turns have some jackhammering,
but the overall experience is very tolerable with those uber comfortable Timberliner trains. See my
review for more, but this is the perfect signature ride for this park. It’s not too tall to scare
kids away, but it’s a feisty experience that can satisfy even the most jaded coaster enthusiast.
So that is how I would rank the top 15 rides at Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire.
Many people also like to visit the nearby Santa’s Village. That’s a great park on its own,
but I think Story Land has the better rides. What are your favorite rides at this children’s
park? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this countdown, 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!