Enchanted Forest question

[coasterlover]

I am planning to go there this year for the first time to check out Challenge of Mondor.

I don't know anything about this park other than they have a cool looking log ride ("biggest in the northwest") and a funky lookin matterhorn rip-off.

Anything else I should know about this place? Anyone ever been there?!?!?

[65skylark]

I go every year with my family as we live less than an hour away. The log ride is a fun ride. It is actually a flume/roller coaster hybrid that has an unexpected dip before the final drop and is more highly themed than Silverwoods log ride. Ice Mountain Bobsleds is a unique roller coaster but very low intensity. Basicly a kiddie coaster but still fun. There haunted mansion is a walk through attraction and is a lot of fun. It takes about 4 to 5 mins to walk through.

Overall a fun park that will be even better with the new dark ride. Plan on 3 hrs or so to do everything on a normal day. Also Thrillville USA is right next to Enchanted Forest. It is just a parking lot with some carnival rides, a go-cart track and a water slide but you might want to catch a ride on the Ripper, a Schwarzkopf Jet Star coaster that is kind of fun and you don't have to pay to get in you just pay per ride.

[Bud Parsley]

Sally trackless dark rides rock. Trust me on this one. This is going to be huge for that little park.

If only Silverwood would invest in something as cool as this.

[styvx]

skylark, can you elaborate on the flume ride? what is the ride like, and specifically when does it change over to a rollercoaster and for how long?

thx.

-styvx

[65skylark]

Enchanted forests log flume is set on a heavily wooded hill side. You start directly out of the station to the lift hill. After you get to the top of the lift hill you enter a working saw mill with some minor anamatronics and sound effects for theming. As you exit the saw mill you take a short flume ride through the forest. Unlike Silverwoods flume you are a good 10 to 15 feet above the ground as you travel out and then turn back past the saw mill. You then make a 45 degree turn and hit the "coaster" part of the ride, which is simply a big dip on a steel track. Immediately after the dip you make a sharp turn to the right and plunge down the final drop which is 40 feet. I'm guessing Silverwoods is maybe 30. At any rate it is a noticeably longer drop. Then one last turn into the station.

Overall it is probably no longer, if not a little shorter, than Silverwoods. It is much more unique however with more theming and more excitement.

I have lived in the Portland area my whole life and have been going to this park sense I was too young to even remember. It is a very nice little park and is very literally in a forest. On a nice sunny day you are rarely out of the shade at any part of the park. Simply put, there is no park that is anything like it in the Pacific Northwest. A great haunted house, a western town with some awesome caves you could almost get lost in, a quirky little coaster themed like a bobsled ride, and now an interactive dark ride. So now that I've bored everyone to death I will leave you with a couple pictures of the ride....

The coaster section


The final drop.


Pictures from RCDB.


Justin.

[coasterlover]

Very cool info skylark. You have got me anxious to check this place out.

It sounds like they definitely have something no other park in the NW has - heavily themed, immersive rides. That's something that I look forward to the most.

[65skylark]

Well, when it comes to theme parks I can get a little worked up in my descriptions. One thing to keep in mind is that while it is a very unique, and in my opinion, fun park, it is small and very limited on the nuber of rides. Over half the park is walk through attrations.

I was re-reading my post and I thought, man I'm making this place sound like Dineyland. Because I grew up going to this park It will always be a very special place to me that I look forward to visiting every year with my own kids.

So have fun. You will have will have to post when you get back and let us know what you thought of the place yourself.

[coasterlisa]

Hey Skylark, since you grew up in Portland do you recall hearing of an amusement park called Jantzen Beach? It had a great white wooden coaster refered to as the Dipper that was designed by the late famous NW coaster designer Carl Phare. It was located where the JB Mall is today. It almost was my first coaster if it had not been destroyed.

The Monster Mouse that was at Oaks ended up being my first serious coaster ride that wasn't a Miler kiddie coaster. I rode that in the summer of 1977 when the movie Rollercoaster came out. I remember the ride op was telling us he had seen the movie over 20 times. That was a bit intimidating since we knew the movie was about a terrorist bombing coasters. I think the Monster Mouse was rather new that year too. It was shiny and the cars appeared in new condition. Wasn't there another coaster after that one that operated at Oaks prior to the Pinfari, Looping Thunder? Seems like there were so many mice that were transported to and from that park in the 60's and 80's.

[65skylark]

I know all about the Dipper. My dad rode it many times and said he loved it. It was torn down in 1970, 4 years before I was born. I would love to have been able to ride it though.

Now the Monster Mouse I had many rides on and just like you Lisa, it was also my first serious coaster. I can remember it clear as day and I was only 5. That coaster and Space Mountain (which I also rode at 5 years old) are 2 coasters I will always remember my first ride on and are probably responsible for turning me into a coaster freak.

I honestly don't remember any other coaster between Monster Mouse and Looping Thunder but there was an extended period of time where I did not visit Oaks Park even though it is just a few minutes away from where I live.

The Dipper.