Trip Report for Old Town
6/19/04
Crowds/Weather: Medium/Showers

Park Rating
Clarisse: 2.9 out of 5
Clarisse’s Park Comments: Old Town is a very strange place, I’d been there once before and I still don’t know what to make of it. There is a shopping strip with a wax museum, fake Indian goods store, a magic shop, a storefront selling puppets and marionettes, and fast food. Along with G-force and the Kissimmee Skycoaster, there are indoor bumper cars, kiddy coasters, one adult coaster, a bucket slingshot ride and some other county fair kinda rides I’m forgetting.
We didn’t get on the coaster but its not original, and we’ve been on the same kind before. It's really good, however so don’t miss it if you haven't been on this type before. There is also a gyrotronc machine which I really wanted to try but somehow never ended up doing.

Also, there was an antique car parade on the day we went which was quite neato and surreal. Some of the cars were phat and very well taken care of.

The park works for the Orlando area. There is something for almost every kind of person. Mom can go to the shops and there are attractions just for you and just for the kids. Enjoy!

Park Rating
Mike: 1 out of 5
Mike’s Park Comments: I kind of loved Old Town but let’s face it, there’s not much here for adults unless you like to drink, shop for tourist shit or pay $50+ for upcharge attractions. I figured that Old Town was a giant leech sucking off whatever few tourist dollars it could from nearbye Orlando. Though there is truth to this, Old Town also seemed to have it's own regional vibe that I really appreciated.

We were at Old Town for one reason: to do the Skycoaster. The bungee swing thing here is the largest, so we decided this would be the one Skycoaster we would do on the trip. In a similar gesture, we did not ride any go karts until our visit to the Wisconsin Dells, the official heaven on earth for go karts. Our plan for the only skyscraper we do to be at Moreys Piers (claimed by them to be the largest and claimed by a few trip reports to be the best) was foiled by the Skyscraper being closed on our visit. We rode our first Skyscraper at the Dells and like many attractions of this nature it was fun as hell but not really worth the large upcharge.

But let’s get back to Old Town. Having blown 60 dollars or so on the Skycoaster, I was very money conscious. We therefore decided, reluctantly, to skip the tiny coaster at the back of Old Town. I’m happy to say that I’ve now realized that I’ve ridden this model of coaster numerous times subsequent to Old Town, a few times at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and few more times later in the trip at Celebration City. Though I’m happy we saved the money and rode the same coaster in two places where we got more for our money, I can also say that this is not a kiddie coaster, which Cla and I assumed based on it being ridden almost exclusively by 11 year olds when we were there.

Old Town overflows with iconoclastic charm. But… c’mon. There’s no rides. And I’m rating this park as a park.

Kissimmee Sky Coaster

Mike: 5 out of 5
Comments: The world’s tallest Sky Coaster can be summed up in two words: fucking terrifying. I screamed like a little girl in the face down free fall. It’s absolutely the biggest adrenaline rush on this trip. However, is it worth the $64 I shelled out for 2 people? Probably not. But regardless, I’m glad we did it.

Incidentally, we’ve done a few other Sky Coasters (the ones at Great Adventure and Cedar Point to be specific). I think that the Kissimmee Sky Coaster’s much greater height and fairly larger drop makes it a must do attraction even if you’ve done other Sky Coasters at your home parks.

Clarisse: 4.998 out of 5
Comments: Utterly thrilling. I’m a fan of sky coasters (when I can afford the insane charge) but nothing prepared me for this. The Kissimmee Sky Coaster is the highest sky coaster around. The tower is 300 feet high and I’m guessing the drop is like 280 feet. I couldn’t get a straight answer as to exactly how high the drop was. I pulled the cord which hurtled us into an insane freefall. Its kind of sickening to pull the cord when you’re looking down from that high up. I can’t front, I closed my eyes on the drop and screamed alot. Fear…you are so sweet.

Curious by nature, I turned around to see what the ride ops were doing when they hooked us up to the contraption. The ride op said it was bad luck to look backwards. Which was cute, and being mildly terrified, I took the superstition as fact so I was afraid that I had jinxed us. The slow ascent up was scary and heart wrenching & I clutched Mike with both arms. I volunteered to pull the cord to release us into a free fall for 250 feet or something. Up at the top I didn’t want to pull the cord but I knew I had to, otherwise what else would we do up there. The free fall is quick and never ending. Plummeting 260 ft toward the ground 62 mph really cannot be described. There is a speedometer so riders know exactly how fast they went. Swinging back & forth on the ropes was exciting and exhilarating.

The workers and everyone connected to the sky coaster were very blasé about the whole thing. The workers were quick and efficient, showing that they did this oftend & knew their jobs. These actions simultaneously bolststered my confidence that I was in good hands while making me paranoid that they were bored with their jobs & its all rote to them & that it might make it easier for them to forget something essential. But they didn’t, thanks guys!

Haunted Grimm House

Clarisse: 2.7 out of 5
Comments: Welcome to a cheesier version of a walk through haunted house. My visit to it made me think it was more of psychological thrill house then a haunted house. It had the requisite props, scenes, animatronics, slanted long dark hallways and nooks for the actors to hang out and scare you. There was a riddle to solve to get out of one of the rooms and they have stuff to tickle your legs and head, which is successfully phreeky. The make up on the carnies/actors was fantastic, featuring scary goth guy and phreeky guy. They were both kinda creepy. But of course their creepiness has a a limit. When they're trying to tell you something, or make sure youre not too scared, they become grown men in makeup and costumes.