Along with Six Flags New England and Canobie Lake Park, another New England amusement park will be debuting a new roller coaster in 2011. Middleburry, Connecticut's Quassy Amusement Park will be replacing their aging steel roller coaster, Mad Mouse, with a family wooden coaster dubbed Wooden Warrior. The new ride's name was chosen via a name contest that the park held with local schools.

Wooden Warrior was designed by world-class designers The Gravity Group. They're responsible for The Voyage at Holiday World; a coaster thought to be the best wooden coaster in the World. Unlike Gravity Group's previous designs, Wooden Warrior will be one of the company's first smaller, family-sized designs. The ride will feature a rather short 35' tall lift hill that will produce a top speed of 35 mph. In comparison, The Voyage doubles those stats topping out at 67.5 mph with a 163' tall lift hill.



As you can see from the video above, Wooden Warrior doesn't aim to be a white knuckle thrill ride. Quassy's owners needed a coaster that was fun for all ages and from the video, it looks to be just that. Roller coasters don't require a lot of speed to produce those joyous little pops of airtime that make them so much fun. I'm a huge fan of The Gravity Group's other work and it looks like they may have another winner here, albeit in a pint-sized form.

Like many of my favorite roller coasters, Wooden Warrior will traverse Quassy's natural terrain. For example, the initial hill is 35' tall, but will drop riders a total of 45' as the track hugs the park's topography. The new wooden coaster is a huge update for the small park as they'll go from having a 44-year old run-of-the-mill ride to a sure crowd-pleaser that will provide a unique experience.

Filed under: Theme Parks