Trip Report: Upper Clements Park
Richard Bonner
TRIP REPORT
for
UPPER CLEMENTS PARK
(Nova Scotia, Canada)
________
DATE OF TRIP: Sunday August 19, 2001
WEATHER: Sunny with no cloudy periods.
TEMPERATURE: Mid to High 20's, but taking the humidex into
account, gave it an equivalent of the low 30's.
CROWDS: Moderate all day, despite a full parking lot.
Note: My pocket recorder was not functioning, so this will be a report
in less detail than my usual ones.
Our group left Dartmouth at 9:30 AM and after one washroom stop,
arrived without incident at the park around 11:40 AM. There was a short
line at the entrance but it moved quickly and we purchased park
admissions and premium attractions bracelets. Total cost for admission to
both Upper Clements Theme Park and The Upper Clements Wildlife Park, plus
the bracelet was only $16, encompassing tax - an excellent deal,
especially since parking is included.
We entered the park and headed immediately to the:
ROLLER COASTER: (Cobb, 5 X 2 X 2 PTC Cars) The "Tree Topper" terrain
coaster opened with the park in 1989. A couple of
seasons ago they replaced the mine-shaft entrance
with an uncovered cut right into the hill, thus
making the beginning of the entrance trail level
instead of having to walk up a mound only to walk
down the other side to the main entry trail.
As we wound along the path under the structure and
approached the station, we noticed that they finally
did something I had been requesting for years and
that was to add a shorter return path from the
coaster's exit to its entrance. Before this, one
traversed two flights of steps to ground level,
followed a path out to the main park, along a
walkway, around a corner and up a hill to the
entrance, then down the winding path to the station.
Now after the exit steps, one turns left, goes under
the final slope containing the brake shed, turns left
and walks up a short hill to be deposited near the
ride's entrance.
We entered the station and walked up to a
partially loaded train. For those of you not familiar
with The "Tree Topper", it runs one train (it's only
a 60-second ride) which consists of five PTC 2-bench
cars. Although there are no headrests nor back
dividers, there are seat dividers and seat belts.
Fortunately there is only a single non-ratcheting lap
bar that allows plenty of room between you and it.
This is fine because the ride attendant does not
force you to tighten the seat belt.
We boarded the middle cars and in a few seconds
were whisked off for our first ride. I have described
this ride in previous reports, so I won't repeat
that. (E-mail me if you wish to read those.) Our ride
was pretty fast but not with a lot of airtime. At the
bottom of the fourth drop, which is the longest,
there was considerable side-to side motion which
dissipated some of the energy required to make the
fifth drop (my favourite) give the airtime I like.
Later in the day when the coaster was running faster,
subsequent rides were an improvement, especially in
the front and rear cars.
Despite the faster speed and the increased airtime
on those later rides, The "Topper" has developed a
fairly serious shuffle that now limits some of its
potential. Also, I observed that the sixth hill trims
were on, something I rarely ever noticed in all my
years of riding this coaster.
Getting back to the morning, we next headed along the Ryerson Lake
boardwalk and took in the:
BUMPER BOATS: (Kartworld, 9 X 2 Adult Boats) This year the kiddie
bumper boats have been moved a little further up lake
to an area once known as "Pirate Island". It's been
revamped with a new pen for the boats and an
underwater deck for the safety attendants to walk on.
Before, they would accompany junior riders by
standing in thigh deep water but on the lake bottom.
This underwater deck gives a more level and stable
surface upon which to walk & stand, and thus is much
safer for the attendants.
In their old location, access was directly from
the boardwalk. Currently, one must cross a solid
walkway to the small island which now serves as the
entrance to the Kiddie Bumper Boats. There was once a
floating-dock style of walkway, that I enjoyed, but
it's gone now. The island may still be used for an
observation and/or photo platform as from it, one
gets an excellent view of that area of the park in
all directions.
We waited in line for the adult boats for about 15
minutes and finally boarded. This year, the boats
seemed slightly more governed as I couldn't get up
the speed I like to achieve before ramming my fellow
riders's boats. My trick is at the last minute to
throw my weight forward & down to squeeze water
between the hulls and force it all over the other
person - fun! However, I could not get more than a
few good splashes. Still, they were enjoyable.
We walked along past the kiddie bumper boats and up on to the main
path beside a dam which is crossed by the parks' train on a trestle.
This dam was built to create Ryerson Lake. After a short walk up a path
we headed for the:
ROCK-O-PLANE: (Eyerly, 8 X 2 Tubs) As we approached, I noticed
that there is still no sign at the path entrance to
this ride. We walked up and got almost right on. The
ride ran smoothly and was quiet, at least until I got
on. You see, I like to try to hold the car at a
specific attitude, my favourite being nose-down to
the ground. This requires an off-on-off braking
technique which makes a lot of noise because the
stops are metal-on-metal.
It took three rides through the day to practise my
technique to the point where I could get the car to
hold in most positions that I attempted.
Next up was the:
FLUME RIDE: (Intamin) The "Sissiboo Sizzler", which was
previously The "Caribou Log Flume" at Expo 86, has
461 meters of flume with 12 and 9-meter drops. It was
running well today, as always. This is the most
consistent ride in the park other than the train as
far as operation goes. We only waited a few logs and
boarded. It was a treat to be at the top turn-around
of this ride not only for the excellent view of
Annapolis Basin, but for the breeze it afforded. By
that time of the day, we were pretty hot and welcomed
the soaking we got from the two drops into the cool
water.
To dry off, we lingered on the upper exit platform in the bright sun
and then headed off to Digby Motors to ride the:
ANTIQUE CARS: (Gould, ? X 4 Cars) This ride goes under the name of
"Digby Motors" and consists of simple U-Drive cars.
They are patterned after those built almost a century
ago at a nearby auto plant in Digby, Nova Scotia.
Since one of our group didn't have a driver's
license, of course he was elected to drive. The cars
seemed to be running well, but a little slower than I
seem to remember.
After a walk past the carousel and former Maze location (it was
removed in the mid 1990's) we waited at Windsor Station for The:
EVANGELINE TRAIN: (Severn Lamb - Love that name!) This is a 3 X 24
train which runs on 900 metres of 600mm-gauge track
from the back of the park to Aylesford Station at The
Village Square near the park's entrance. It resembles
an 1860's train, called The "Evangeline", which was
the first train to run throughout Nova Scotia.
The run gives a good overview of the area from the
entrance all along one side of the park past the
climbing tower, water slide, and carousel, around the
antique cars and flume ride, and the woods at the
back of the park. It ends up near the restaurant and
bakery courtyard.
At the back end of the line is a loop and switch,
while at The Village Square, there is a manual
turntable to rotate the engine around and on to a
siding. It then is run to the opposite end of the
train where it goes through another switch and is
backed up to attach to what was the rear of the train
upon approach to the station.
After reaching Aylesford Station, where the turntable is, we stopped
for lunch at the station canteen and enjoyed a meal of home fries with
pop. I also had a hot dog. The prices are up from previous years, but I
paid under $6, which is good considering the small fries order was as big
as a large from anywhere else and the pop was 600 milliliter not 355. I
must mention that the fries are made right on the spot from whole
potatoes. You can actually see one of the workers using a press to make
the raw fries and then dropping them into hot oil. Very tasty and fresh.
After this, we did some shopping at the Toy Store which occupies the
Discovery Center's science exhibit building of a few years ago. It also
now opens directly into the rear of the Red Store where I bought a new
UCP postcard for my collection.
We then sat in The Village Square and watched the entertainment while
our food settled. I did not get the name of the act, as none was posted
in the official entertainment brochure for that day. I guess it was an
open date and this was a last-minute booking. They played in a kind of
traditional laid-back Nova Scotia folk style and were very relaxing.
After a song or so, we walked over to magician David Moon's booth. David
is a friend of mine and I wanted to say "hi", but he was off that day, so
I left a message on one of my business cards. We then headed back to the
boardwalk via the tube slides that take one from the Village Square level
to the lake level. Here, we had a game of:
MINI GOLF: This is one of two mini golf courses in the park and
is on a peninsula shaped like the province of Nova
Scotia. It's a 9-hole, PAR 3 course and still has not
been revamped. Several of the fairways have slopes that
are difficult to deal with because the balls always run
to the concrete edging. Even after moving the ball the
allowed club head-width, the balls often return to rest
against the edging.
Another problem is the gravel used on the walkways.
It's too small so it is picked up by golfers' feet and
ends up on the fairways, causing unpredictable ball
direction changes. As well, some of the holes had tubes
that the balls travelled through which are now not used.
In the off season, small animals made nests, so they have
had to be bypassed, reducing some of the fun. (UCP is out
in the middle of the woods and there is much animal life
in the area.)
We played and I tied for first place. However, due to
the course difficulties outlined above, all of us were
over par.
A walk along the boardwalk and past the coaster exit took us to the
Wildlife park shuttle. This year, the shuttle has a new tractor which is
quite nice looking. It appeared to have an automatic transmission. After
a short wait we boarded the passenger car and were being towed through
the corrugated tunnel under the main highway to The Upper Clements:
WILDLIFE PARK: I won't go into much detail here except to say there
are over 30 types of animals ranging from birds and bears
to wild cats, moose and reindeer. I mainly wanted to see
my Lynx baddy and so we showed our bracelets for
admission and headed around the circular path. I finally
got a good view of the Lynx this time, despite having
forgotten to bring my binoculars with me this trip. After
viewing the rest of the animals, we arrived back at the
entrance, and following a 10-minute wait took the shuttle
back to the theme park.
I must say that this is a great deal for the public.
Admission covers both parks and with the unique tractor-
pulled shuttle, one may easily cruise back and forth
between the two. The quiet, shaded trails through the
woods in the wildlife park are a nice change from the
busy theme park and should be taken in, if visiting UCP.
After the long walk, we were in need of relaxation and coolness, so we
headed for the ice cream parlour in The Village Square. It was crowded,
but did not take too long to get served. I had a butterscotch sundae
which used ultra-smooth ice milk covered in butterscotch syrup and
whipped cream. We sat on the back verandah where it was cool and we could
look down to the adult bumper boats through the trees and listen to
another musical act at the Village Square Bandstand.
Being refreshed, we again boarded the train to take us back to Windsor
Station and took another "Rock-O-Plane" ride. We considered the flume,
but the line was long and we wanted to get some more coaster rides in. We
headed to The "Tree Topper" via the back way and took a stop at the art
gallery. This gallery is in the old "House of Illusion" and is in the
original stone farm house that was once this property's use.
We then exited and walked down a curving path to the coaster where we did
three more circuits, including a double ride because no one was waiting
in line.
Still hot and also tired, we opted to leave for home, arriving back in
the city after a stop for fuel, at around 8:30 PM.
________
Here is a rides & attractions list for UCP:
Adult Rides:
Roller Coaster (Cobb)
Flume Ride (Intamin)
Carousel (Chance)
Train (Severn Lamb)
Water Slide ( ? )
Antique Autos (Gould)
Rock-O-Plane (Eyerly)
Bumper Cars (Exasco)
Pedal Boats ( ? )
Bumper Boats (Kartworld)
(Now: Can-Am Kart)
Plus:
Mini Golf Island (UCP)
Troup Barn Mini Golf (UCP)
CNR Steam Locomotive,
Box Cars and Caboose
Stone House (Castle) Art Galley
Kiddie Rides:
Convoy Trucks (Zamperla)
Red Baron Airplanes (Zamperla)
Bumper Boats (World Famous)
Plus several Play Areas with tube slides, ball room, pulley swings,
climbing tower, playground equipment, and a wading pool, along with
croquet, shuffleboard, & horseshoe pits for adults and/or kids.
Entertainment Venues:
Amphitheater
Village Square Bandstand
Food Court Bandstand
Richard Bonner
Managing Director:
The Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada
www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/CEC.html
Dave Sandborg
Seriously, thanks for the trip report. Someday, I *will* get to visit
Upper Clements Park. I will of course contact you beforehand so you
can give me the grand tour.
--
Dave Sandborg
Remove Spam-away to respond via e-mail.
Richard Bonner
> Richard! You rode a coaster! Some of us were wondering!
*** I'm not surprised. It was my first coaster ride since August 2000.
I live so far from any major coasters that it just costs too much to ride.
Even that one little UCP trip set me back about $50. It's a 400-kilometer
round trip.
> Seriously, thanks for the trip report.
*** You're welcome.
> Someday, I *will* get to visit
> Upper Clements Park. I will of course contact you beforehand so you
> can give me the grand tour.
> --
> Dave Sandborg
*** I would be pleased to escort you or any rrc'er to UCP. Just e-mail
me well in advance so I can clear the time.