Summer of Sam – Wisp Resort: Sam’s 1st Mountain Coaster

It was Wednesday, July 29, 2020 and I had a plan. I saw that Lakemont Park would have their rides open and I had nothing to do that day. I also knew Sam doesn’t work Thursdays, so I asked her if she had any plans. She did not. I then asked if we could meet up for dinner because I wanted to chat with her.

We met up not too long afterward, grabbing some carryout and taking it to a waterfront park. I told her I had somewhere I wanted to take her the next day, but I wanted it to be a surprise. That surprise would in fact, be Lakemont Park. I knew she’d be tickled to get in two more credits, with one of them being the world’s oldest roller coaster in Leap the Dips. I did have plans with another friend for lunch that next day, however, so we’d have to go up some time after noon. We’d have plenty of time to head up to Lakemont once I was done.

When I looked into the trip to Lakemont on Google Maps, I also checked into seeing how feasible it would be to hit Wisp Resort for their Mountain Coaster on the way. Sadly, with my lunch plans, that just wouldn’t work. Since I knew we couldn’t do that, I told Sam about me looking into that, but it ultimately not being in the cards. Sam said that would have been cool to do, but we could save it for another time.

Fast forward to a few hours later and my friend asked me if our lunch plans the next day could be postponed. That would open up the time we would need to do Wisp beforehand, if Sam wanted to wake up a little earlier to make it happen. I made mention of the change of plans and asked her about Wisp. She eagerly said yes, saying she’d love to get a mountain coaster credit. The credit was also be new to me, so I was obviously game.

We woke up early the next day and made our way out to Western Maryland. It was quite the haul, but eventually we arrived. We signed our waivers and luckily for me, I was allowed to wear my GoPro on my chest mount. You might have seen the Wisp Mountain Coaster POV video on the site’s YouTube channel already. If not, you can give it a watch down below. Just be warned, mountain coaster lift hills take quite a while to ascend. Skip to 3:15, if you want to skip to me getting to the top.

Anyhow, as we stood in line, Sam and I became worried that we’d have a bad experience. The group in front of us consisted of four people – two young kids, their mom, and the kids grandmom. The grandmom was constantly nagging the kids and saying how she was going to go slow down this entire course. I know all too well how someone stopping or going slow can kill a mountain coaster experience. My only ride on Camelback Mountain Adventure’s (CMA) Mountain Coaster was riddled with constant stops for me. Luckily Sam, Renee, and Greg wanted to grab this credit, so we squeezed it in before our Thursday, August 13, 2020 trip. I will give you a park report on both of those in the days to come. I’ll just say, I got a much better ride and since I now have the GoPro, I was able to film a POV of their mountain coaster as well.

It took us a while to get to the loading area since Wisp was doing a bang up job of cleaning all the carts after each rider finished. The doom and gloom feeling during our wait made us ponder letting others go in front of us so we wouldn’t be behind grandmom, mom, and two kids. The amount of time it was taking to get up the hill to load, however, also made us not want to add even more wait time. Thankfully, all turned out well.

As the group in front of us prepared to load, the grandmother shared that she was going to go slower down the course to the ride operator. The ride op then spoke over a walkie talkie up to the top of the lift, telling that person to stop the lift while their two cars came back down to the bottom. Thank you Wisp!

Once it was our turn, I got on first and clicked on my GoPro. I was sent up the lift and then stopped about half way up. That is why, if you watch the POV video, you’ll see a cut in the footage there. I didn’t want to keep filming if we were held there too long. It was a good thing I did as we were held for probably close to five minutes. I guess grandma wasn’t lying!

Overall, the Mountain Coaster at Wisp feels like it hauls. Trying to go full speed down the course, I felt like I flying off the rails. I found myself letting up ever so lightly from time to time after hitting those first few turns. Sam agreed.

“The car moved way faster than I thought it would. At a few of the turns, I was going so fast I thought I was going to fly off the edge!” Sam said.

When Sam and I returned to the base of the course, we both compared what we thought of the ride. Sam really liked the coaster, as did I. It’s weird that I felt like this was the shortest of the six mountain coasters I’ve experienced to date, but track length-wise, it’s not the case at all. At 3,002 feet, it’s longer than both the Nor’Easter Mountain Coaster at Greek Peak Mountain Resort (2,904 feet) and the Sky High Mountain Coaster at Holiday Valley (2,953 feet) – two of my favorites.  Maybe Wisp’s goes a little faster? I’m not quite sure as I’m not seeing exact speeds listed online. I’d venture to say, however, that most of these mountain coasters all travel about the same speed.

I’m happy Sam got her first mountain coaster experience and I’m glad I got to add another one to my credit list. They have really piqued my interest since last summer when I rode my first two at Pigeon Forge, Tn., in Rocky Top Mountain Coaster and Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster.

“I thought it was really awesome,” Sam said. “The scenery was amazing and it was a fun experience I’m glad I got to have.”

And with that, it was now onto Sam’s surprise location, Lakemont Park. Be sure to read the blog, “Summer of Sam – Lakemont Park” to see how that part of our journey went.

Have you ever ridden a mountain coaster? Do you want to try one, if not? I’m always wanting to experience new mountain coasters, so if you’re down…

You can be my wingman anytime! (Top Gun, 1986)
Patrick