Roller Coaster Reviews - Funtown/Splashtown USA

Here are some of the coasters, and what we think of them, at Funtown/Splashtown USA.

Galaxi: The steel Galaxi is a fairly tame Wild Mouse type ride. The single-car trains can hold up to four people as it winds its way through a few helixes and 2 drops. The drops seem just a tiny bit more extreme in the back row of the cars. Although we couldn't stay late enough to prove it, it seemed like this would have been more fun, maybe even a little romantic, after dark.

- In the back of the park is the young (new for '98) Excalibur. This CCI woodie has been rated one of the top ten coasters by an editor of Amusement Business magazine, and this park is gonna make damn sure that you know that. This fact is written on their park maps, their website, on a banner inside Excalibur's station... It's hard to dispute this claim. While not our favorite coaster of all time, this is a pretty good coaster. Excalibur's Castle Station

Excalibur's layout doesn't easily get classified. It's sort of a cross between an out and back and a twister, like it can't make up its mind. At the top of the lift hill there is a short, nearly flat section of track that allows most of the train to get off the chain (sort of like a B&M) before plummeting down that first 100 foot drop. Up and around, into the second drop. Then as the track rises after this drop, it curves to the right 90 degrees, then floats down into a low speed hill before really getting into the twisted portion, which includes a figure-eight.

The first two drops provide some air-time, like an out and back. It's actually pretty substantial in the back of the train (there is, by the way, only one train, with each row themed to a Round Table knight. The front row is King Arthur, of course). After that, the train zips through some wild curves with decent speed. The twisted part is fun in the front, but lame if you're in the back of the train. So it's hard to get a great ride in one trip. It would be great to magically change seats in the middle of the ride. Overall, this ride is best in the front row.

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