By Elena Blanco, Summer Times Staff Writer
On July 13th, 225 Exeter Summer students packed into multiple buses seeking a Saturday afternoon full of fun at Canobie Lake Park. This amusement park in Salem, NH, has something for everyone, making it a popular destination for families in the New England area. It has more than 85 attractions including family rides, water rides and thrill rides. Canobie also offers live shows, fireworks, a ferris wheel, games, arcades, and a new water park called Castaway Island.
We arrived at the amusement park around 4 p.m. and immediately decided to check out the first ride we saw, which was Zero Gravity. This family-friendly ride goes around and up. Once it reaches top speed, the ride tips to a sixty-degree angle, creating a very fun and interesting perspective for riders, you see the sky going around and around very quickly. One of my tips would be to definitely avoid this ride if you just ate, and if you get dizzy very easily, since you are spinning around for almost two and a half minutes.
One of Canobie’s most popular water rides is “Boston Tea Party“, whichconsists of a fifty-foot drop that makes riders experience what it was like to be a tea crate during the Boston Tea Party. Riders go up a hill and when they reach the bottom, the 20-passenger boat creates a huge splash which is 50 feet high and 100 feet wide. Exeter Summer student Marcella Santos described this ride as very fun, amusing, and thrilling. Visitors who don’t want to go on the ride have the option to stand by the splash zone; which — trust me — will leave you soaking wet, just as if you were inside the boat.
After visiting “Boston Tea Party”, we enjoyed some dippin dots and decided to ride “Untamed”, which is Canobie Lake Park’s newest roller coaster. This ride starts by lifting riders 72 feet in the air in a completely vertical position which is very exciting, you feel as if you are approaching the sky. Later, there is a 97-degree drop which yes, is beyond vertical and makes you feel like you are going to fall head first into the concrete. This is followed by loops, zero gravity rolls and bank turns. The combination of all these elements made this wild ride an incredible and exciting experience! This was without a doubt one of my favorite parts of the day. If you like roller coasters and are visiting Canobie Lake Park, you don’t want to miss “Untamed.”
Another ride we visited was “daVinci’s Dream,” On this ride, you sit on floating swings which go around and give you an incredible view of Canobie Lake. If you don’t enjoy rollercoasters or hard core rides, this is a great and relaxing option for you. Tip: if you visit this ride during sunset, you will get an awesome view of the sun setting towards the lake.
I am very satisfied with our visit to Canobie Lake Park and would recommend it to everyone who is in the area, since there is a variety of things to do. There are great food and snacks, awesome rides for the whole family and cool carnival games. I had lots of fun bonding with my new friends, it was an awesome time!