I picked a gorgeous day to fly out from lovely San Jose, CA to the closest roller coaster that I hadn't been on: the New Mexico Rattler
at Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Cliff's is a modest park just off the Interstate a few miles
north of downtown Albuquerque. It's definitely a "mosey" park.
On the warm-but-not-hot cheery Saturday afternoon, I found the
park, the employees, and the patrons all quite laid-back and
friendly.

Scattered throughout the park are more-or-less a very recognizable
set of well-run and well-maintained flat rides with the New Mexico
Rattler squeezed and stitched into the middle of the park, making
for some beautiful external visuals.

Starting with the Raven at Holiday World and continuing on to
The New Mexico Rattler, CCI managed to construct a portfolio of
absolutely brilliant roller coasters. The New Mexico Rattler
certainly holds up to its lineage and actually demonstrates
a complete command of both the science and art of wooden
roller coaster rides. Cliff's, even through the hardship of having
to deal with CCI's demise halfway through construction, should be proud of this stellar ride.

If you've been on Tremors and Cornball Express, you'll feel some
familiarity with this middle-cousin that splits the difference in size
between these two other excellent rides.

The NM Rattler starts off with a excellent Traver-style first drop and
then delivers floaters, poppers, a couple of great Fine del Capos, a
great curve through a tunnel, and some wonderful head-fakes through its 2700+ foot course. CCI & Cliff's did another perfect job
at getting the timing of every moment of this coaster just so. There
is hardly a moment when I wasn't surprised by it.

Even better, the NM Rattler, running on steel-supported wood tracks, is infinitely re-ridable. There was enough there to keep me interested through 12 rides with neither roughness nor staleness in repeat rides.

Aside from the NM Ratter, I enjoyed their pleasant log flume.
There's nothing remarkable about this ride other than it was
a great cool down from coaster riding.

It's important to repeat at this point that Cliff's is a mosey park.
The loading procedures for the single train on the NM Rattler occur
at a measured pace: first the seat belts are checked, then the ratchets lowered, then the ratchets checked, and then a careful dispatch. Don't go expecting Cedar Point throughput: do go to this
off-the-beaten path park expecting a fantastic ride.


Eric