Richard Bannister

Parque Diversiones is the only amusement park in Costa Rica with permanently installed roller coasters, despite the best efforts of John Hammond and friends. It was set up in 1981 by Dr Roberto Ortiz Brenes in order to raise funds for a local children's hospital, and has expanded slowly over the intervening years. Nowadays it features a total of twenty-three rides, including three roller coasters and one rather slow powered coaster, Montaña Ghibli, that is strictly off limits to adults. For our visit today the Búmeran was also out of commission, but this wasn't that much of a loss.

The first coaster of the day became Teletren (#2137), a Zamperla-built torture device that I've now had the questionable pleasure of experiencing in fourteen different countries spanning five continents. There was no problem at all with adults riding, subject to the usual maximum of one per car, but even with that, the ride was having trouble parking in the station. The operators' technique to solve the problem was to run an additional cycle, and the group in front of us got five laps. We were relieved when this didn't happen to us, allowing us to disembark after two.

There was a three quarter hour wait signposted for Bocaraca (#2138), but achieving that time would have required moderately efficient operations rather than those measurable with a sundial. That said, the queue area was a pleasant shaded footpath lined by trees rather than a cattle grid, and the ninety minutes we spent there passed quickly enough. Megan made a point of reminding me that this was a credit that she didn't actually need, having ridden it at Knoebels at the tender age of ten, but she was still quite happy to climb into the seat next to me. The ride quality wasn't bad, as is typical from a Whirlwind, though there was one fairly horrid snap just as the train disengaged the lift hill.

It was early evening when we arrived back at our hotel, and the lights of a small travelling fair were clearly visible on the far side of the road. We decided to go over to investigate, and found a small credit. Montaña Rusa (Stop) (#2139) was a fairly bouncy ride, to put it mildly, but it did make for a fine conclusion to our trip.