Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire is one of those old-school New England parks that punches way above its size. It is not a mega-park with ten coasters, but the rides it does have are worth the drive, and the lakeside setting beats any concrete parking-lot park. Here is how I would spend a day and which rides you should not skip.

Untamed

Start here. Untamed is a Euro-Fighter with a beyond-vertical drop, meaning the first plunge tips past 90 degrees and throws you straight down out of your seat. It is short but genuinely intense, with a couple of quick inversions and airtime hops that catch first-timers off guard. The lift hill is a vertical elevator-style climb, so the anticipation is brutal in the best way. Ride it first thing when the park opens, because the single train and small station make this the longest line in the park by early afternoon.

Yankee Cannonball

The Yankee Cannonball is the soul of Canobie. This wooden out-and-back dates to the 1930s and still delivers real pop of airtime over those hills, especially in the back two rows. It runs rough in the way only a classic woodie does, and that is the whole point. Sit in the back, keep your hands up, and you will understand why locals have loved this thing for generations.

Canobie Corkscrew

The Canobie Corkscrew is a vintage Arrow coaster with two back-to-back corkscrews. It is a bit rattly and the restraints will bonk your ears, but it is a fun piece of coaster history and the line moves fast. Worth a lap.

Water and thrill rides

On a hot day, hit the Boston Tea Party shoot-the-chutes and the Policy Pond Log Flume to cool off. The Tea Party soaks the whole boat and drenches the bridge spectators too. For spin-you-silly rides, Xtreme Frisbee and the Starblaster shot tower give you the stomach-drop fix, and Da Vinci's Dream is a great disc-o style spinner the whole group can ride together.

Timing and crowds

Canobie does not publish live wait times, so plan by feel. Weekday mornings in June and early September are the quietest, and rain in the forecast thins the crowd fast even if it never actually rains. Weekends and July afternoons get busy, especially around the coasters. Arrive at opening, knock out Untamed and Yankee Cannonball in the first hour, then save the water rides for the hot middle of the day. Evenings cool off nicely by the lake, and re-riding the woodie under the lights is one of the best things you can do here.

Skip nothing, but if you only have a couple of hours, Untamed and the Yankee Cannonball are the two rides that make Canobie Lake Park worth the trip.