Lake Compounce

On August 8th, 2025, I visited Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut. This was my first ever visit to this park, and my first amusement park during my New England coaster vacation. Lake Compounce is also the oldest amusement park in America. I visited Lake Compounce as a pit stop during my drive to Six Flags New England, and to ride a world-class wooden roller coaster named Boulder Dash.

The entry experience at the park was interesting. After being on the highway for 2 ½ hours from New Jersey, I had to drive down a mountain to enter the parking lot. I managed to arrive at the park around ten minutes after it opened, and I had to walk under a large tunnel before entering the park. After going under the tunnel, I was greeted by a small park entrance and one of their wooden roller coasters named Wildcat. They have five roller coasters, but I only rode three of them because I didn’t ride the kiddie coaster, and Zoomerang was closed.

Phobia Phear Coaster

Once I entered the park, I walked to the back of the park to ride Boulder Dash, but I decided at the last second to ride their launched roller coaster named Phobia Phear Coaster since it had no line. This roller coaster model is named a “Skyrocket II” coaster, and it can be found at both Busch Gardens parks. I preferred Phobia Phear Coaster from the other Skyrocket II coasters at the Busch Gardens parks because this coaster only had a lap bar instead of an additional restraint called a comfort collar. The three launches were punchy, and I loved the heartline roll that was elevated 150 feet which was insane.

Boulder Dash

After riding Phobia Phear Coaster, I saw the entrance to Boulder Dash and walked in the queue. Once I arrived at the station, I was amazed at how this roller coaster was built into a mountain. When the train went down the first drop, it roared into the woods, and it was one of the most intense wooden roller coasters I have ever experienced. There were many moments of airtime, the laterals were very strong, and the ride was very fast paced. Many of the locals who ride this roller coaster frequently say that I need to ride it at night when it is pitch black, and I would love to experience that one day. I understood why Boulder Dash was voted as the #1 wooden roller coaster by Amusement Today for several years.

Wildcat

The last roller coaster I experienced was Wildcat which is an American Coaster Enthusiast Landmark, and it opened in 1927. Before riding, I heard many negative reviews about the ride being extremely rough, but I was pleasantly surprised when I rode it. I thought this roller coaster was very smooth, and I appreciated how well the roller coaster ran considering its age.

Speedy Pass tactic for Boulder Dash

Since I had only a few hours at this park and it was busy, I purchased the Speedy Pass to ensure that I made the most of my visit. There were three tiers of speedy passes which were standard, premium, and elite. I purchased the elite speedy pass because it allowed me to skip 90% of the queue. If you have ever purchased a fast pass from a legacy Six Flags Park, it worked similarly as you had to select a ride that you wanted to experience on your phone, and then it will present a QR code for a ride operator to scan to enter the station. Since the website said that Boulder Dash had a 30-minute wait throughout the day, I had to wait 3 minutes before I could enter the station for each ride. One trick I used to ride Boulder Dash many times during my visit was to immediately reserve another ride on Boulder Dash as soon as the ride operator scanned the QR code for the previous ride. This made it possible for me to ride Boulder Dash seven times because the 3-minute timer ended as soon as I got off the previous ride, and I could walk up a ramp near the exit and experience the ride again with no wait.

Water park and other attractions

Although I didn’t visit the water park, I saw a little bit of Crocodile Cove and I thought it was a cute place for water rides. I also rode Thunder N Lightning and their Carousel which were fun.

Final thoughts

Overall, I had a great experience at Lake Compounce. Their signature roller coaster named Boulder Dash was worth visiting the park alone, and I thought the park was well-kept and all the employees were nice. Upon leaving the park, I made sure to pick up some souvenirs to show that I visited this park.