Retro Photo TR: Busch Gardens Tampa 1998 Patrick's Park Pics

This is the thread where i'll be posting all of my trip reports. I've posted links to my previous photo trip reports below, but from now on i'm just going to post everything here.

2009 Reports

Photo & Video TR: Six Flags Great America 4-11-09

Photo TR: Six Flags Great America 5-25-09 with the Big Mike Road Show!

Photo TR: Six Flags Great America 6-12-09 "Dinner Impossible" and Coasters After Dark

Photo & Video TR: Six Flags St. Louis 8-6-09

Photo & Video TR: Kiddieland 9-26-09 Second to last day before they closed. All of the videos have been uploaded!

The Wilderness Resort, Timber Falls Adventure Park, and Wilderness Canyon Zipline Tour

2010 Reports

New Years Trip: Waterslides and Coasters in the snow, Knuckleheads

Photo & Video TR: Six Flags Great America 4-24-10 - Opening day with the TPR Midwest gang!

Photo TR: Six Flags Great America's Grad Night/Coasters After Class 4-3-10

Photo TR: Six Flags Great America Gumball Rally Can we ride every ride and see every show and parade in one day?

Photo TR: Six Flags Great America Gumball Rally Try 2 Check out our second attempt at a gumball rally along with a couple show reviews

Photo & Video TR: Holiday World 7-10-2010

Photo TR: Theme Park Review Day at Six Flags Great America 8-13-2010

Photo TR: Another day at Holiday World! 9-26-2010 Fun with Ted, Jeff, and Danny!

Retro Photo TR: Busch Gardens Tampa 3/16/1998 A look back at Busch Gardens!

All of My Videos

The Wisconsin Dells

To start it off, I went to The Dells towards the end of last summer. I posted the entire report over on The Wisconsin Dells Fansite and decided to post some of the highlights of my trip here.

We stayed at The Wilderness and went to Timber Falls Adventure Park for a quick ride on Hellcat. Despite the economy, The Wilderness added a bunch of new upcharge attractions last year. Even though i'm only showing the highlights of my trip, there are still quite a few pictures so this will be split into a couple parts. Please excuse the quality of my pictures, my old camera wasn't that great.

Part 1: General Wilderness update

-Hurricane

-Black Hole Adventure

-Halley's Comet Racers

-random slides and pics

Part 2: Timber falls Adventure Park

-Hellcat action!

Part 3: Mini Golf

-Wild Abyss 3-d blacklight mini golf

-Jurassic mini golf

Part 4: Bumper Boats and Go Karts

Part 5: Wilderness Canyon Zipline Tour

ADMIN EDIT: I have gone ahead and added "Photo TR:" to your thread's title. Otherwise, keep up the good work.

Overview of the lazy river. Coming up next is Timber Falls Adventure park!

A dinosaur astronaut wearing a swim suit? Awesome!

And now time for some artsy shots of Halley’s Comet Racers.

You will get wet here. There is actually another side so you don’t have to get drenched. The lazy river has some rapid sections as well.

Just these kiddie ones.

Before the racers, there were really no slides here.

Look at how tall it is!

Here is the slide down from the upper level.

The place is centered around the 2 leveled lazy river.

Halley’s Comet Racers were new last year.

Next up is the newest waterpark, The Lost World.

The Waterdome has a great wave pool, dueling family slides (that don't really dual), and a clear roof to let the sun in.

Some slides from Klondike.

Ooh, funnel shaped.

And the kiddie slide!

The funnel goes right over the lazy river.

They've got some sweet lights while waiting and inside the funnel. Last year they had water misters and made the stairs rumble.

A hurricane? In Wisconsin? Really?

Hurricane is one of those giant funnel slides but theming. And that drop has some scary awesome airtime!

And now it's time for one of my favorite slides, The Hurricane!

Tube jam!

"I found a lemon!"

Now we're heading on over to their other indoor park, Klondike Kavern. There was a mountain here with a bunch of slides in it. I miss it.

LOOK, there's a bucket!

Fantastic Voyage is the family raft ride here. Anyone else think we should start a Waterpark Index?

The Wild West has quite a few slides.

Rafter's Rage

Here we have the Lake Wilderness outdoor park.

They've added some sweet lights and audio in the bowl and the exit.

I'm nicknaming it BHA for short.

Off in the back, Cannonbowl has been renamed and rethemed Black Hole Adventure

Today's report starts off at The Wilderness.

Nice TR! I always love waterpark trip reports.

I like stuff like this (obviously). I want to see the mini golf and stuff at Timber Falls, too!

Part 2: Timber Falls Adventure Park

I had to ride a coaster before I left the Dells so we made a quick stop at Timber Falls Adventure Park to ride Hellcat. If you don't like left turns then this isn't the ride for you.

Airtime enthusiasts unite!

Overall a fun little ride!

Avalanche signage is still up.

Got wood?

The ride was fairly smooth, probably because of they aren’t running it as much because of the ride limit.

5 ride limit? Not cool.

You can never get enough sunset shots.

Great pictures! I have a thing for waterslides, in ways they can be much more interesting than coasters. And I think that's awesome how much theming that place does for their slides. I can't wait to get back to the Dells this summer.

-Nick

Part 3: Mini-Golf

There are two new 3-d blacklight mini-golf courses in the Northern Lights Arcade area, The Wild Abyss and The Wild Buccaneer. Both are only 9 holes and the 3-d glasses are included. My main complaint is that the 3-d and blacklight bit is really just a gimmick. While it looks cool, the courses in general are flat, very flat. There is no terrain and the bricks are just glued to the carpet. Please excuse all of the blurry pictures. I did my best with my crappy camera. Again, check out the Wisconsin Dells Fansite for more pics and angles from this report.

Next up is bumper boats and go-karts!

This is actually a full 18 hole course unlike the other two.

Prices

The third mini-golf course is outdoors at the Lost World.

I think this might be some petting area but they weren’t doing anything with it when I was there.

Sharks make everything cooler.

“I’m Poseidon! Now give me some candy!!!”

This bit was actually cool. It was an animation of Poseidon telling us to get the hell out of his temple.

OMG, is that a hill?

I think the seahorse has a thing for the dragon.

Is that a snake?

Sorry guys, even mermaid boobs in 3-d can't save this place.

Loop!

"I shall name him Squishy, and he shall be mine."

BLUR!

See what I mean? Flat. This is hole #2

I like fish. I. LIKE. FISH!!!

The Wild Abyss has aquariums full of a bunch of fish.

First up? WIld Abyss. We didn't make it to the Wild Buccaneer course this time around.

Awesome TR!

I want to go back to the Dells one day. See all the things I missed the first time around and allt he new additions.

Thanks for all of the kind words everyone!

Part 4: Bumper Boats and Go Karts

The wave pool in Wild West has been converted into upcharge bumper boats and go-karts have been added to the Lost World area.

Go-karts overview. Next up is the zipline tour!

Junior karts overview

They also have some cute little junior go-karts.

The go-karts are also new.

Overview

The old wave pool sign still remains as well.

Prices

You know what would make this better? Bumper boats in the waves!

They still have the sign telling you when the next waves would come up.

Bad news is you gotta pay

Bump!

Notice how the new sign is just covering the old wave pool sign.

Part 5: Wilderness Canyon Zipline Tour

And that’s it from the Dells for now! I'll try to upload pics from Knuckleheads soon. Thanks for reading!

This is tower 5. It is tall and brown. Any questions?

They really do use the terrain to their advantage.

Wait a minute…

Wow, that looks tall!

Looking back at tower 1 and 3.

Now we're over on the other side of the canyon.

Wheeeeee!!!!!!

The final zip is hard to get pics of. Those people are the brakemen who slow you down because you're going pretty fast!

What goes up must come down.

You can see the last tower on the ground. The last zip is 914 feet long.

Look, a raccoon!

Here's tower 2 on the other side of the canyon.

The zipline tour criss-crosses back and forth across a small canyon.

Ziplines are a ton of fun!

People climbing up tower 1.

You can zipline with a reservation from 9am-5pm with groups every 45 minutes. For some reason none of this info is on their website.

You get this cool card with your group time on the back, but you don’t get to keep it.

Tower #3

Rules. The weight limit was changed because people were going too fast. Yea, too fast.

Merch

The only bad part about it is the prices, but you really can’t find this anywhere else in the Midwest. The site says this is for resort guests only, so i'm not sure who can and can't go on it.

Signature shot!

There are 5 different zips on the tour. Some you can go backwards, some you can get a running start, and on the last one you can race each other!

Probably my favorite thing the Wilderness has added is their new zipline tour! You can see tower 1 in the distance.

I just got back from Wilderness last night, and it truly is an amazing place. This was my first time going to any water park resort like this, and I am so glad my friend and I picked Wilderness. We had such a great time, but unfortunately we didn't get to do everything (we only stayed one night). We're thinking of going again but staying an extra night or two just so we can get everything in.

Did you happen to check out the Ghost Town or Mirror Maze? We didn't get a chance to do that, but we were also wondering if it was worth the extra money.

BTW, Time Warp has to be one of the best bowl rides ever.

Nice report. One of these days I will make a trip to this part of the country. I have family in the area but I keep visiting the wrong time of year. So many things to do and so little vacation.

Did you happen to check out the Ghost Town or Mirror Maze? We didn't get a chance to do that, but we were also wondering if it was worth the extra money.

I wasn't able to check out Tombstone Town, but I haven't heard great reviews from people. Their lazer tag isn't that good either.

Thank you Robb for mentioning my trip report in the last TPR email!

^Thanks for the info! I'll keep that in mind for when we go there again.

Wow! I never realized all these things are in the Dells! It's a cooler town than I realized!

Wow! I never realized all these things are in the Dells! It's a cooler town than I realized!

And everything besides the coaster was at ONE resort! There are a ton of other tourist traps in the Dells to experience.

Awww, now you're making me want to go back there even more!!!

Try to skip Top Secret if you can. My brother said it was a waste of money and time. Oh, and Rick Wilcox puts on a great magic show. I saw him a few years ago, and I am planning on seeing him again this summer.

I love the Dells. The last time I took a trip up there (before this past weekend) was Sept. 2006. I do plan on going more this summer. Anyone else want to go?

New Years Trip: Waterslides and Coasters in the snow, Knuckleheads

Well, time for another update from the Dells! Because it's winter right now, I decided to head on over to Knuckleheads. The TPR Park Index overlords will love this because it hasn't been covered yet! It's a fairly nice family entertainment center with bowling, rides, and games. I was also able to snap some pics of coasters and waterslides in the snow. In the full photo trip report I checked out some ski hills and took a couple nicer pics from The Wilderness. Enjoy! I got a new camera so hopefully the pictures are higher quality.

I was able to upload all of my Kiddieland videos so be sure to check those out as well. I should be going to Six Flags Great America opening day and Grad Night. I'll also be traveling to Holiday World and Mt. Olympus this season.

I always love seeing pictures of waterslides and coasters in the snow. Here’s the outdoor slides of the Kalahari.

I missed the ferris wheel, so I got the wall instead.

The funnel from The Great Wolf Lodge. This is the place in the Dells that has MagiQuest.

Noah’s Ark, home to the world’s largest aqualoop.

Sorry about all of the power lines, but here’s Mt. Olympus.

Look, a giant wooden horse!

I will ride you sometime this year Hades!

Sexy. I’m pretty sure Hades goes over the speed limit though.

Hellcat/Avalanche from Timber Falls Adventure Park.

Hello Knuckleheads! Why are we here? Because you have a coaster credit and i'm a credit whore!

Knucklehead’s is actually a nice place. They’ve got bowling, an arcade, and some smaller amusement rides.

I thought it was nice that they both normal bowling and cosmic bowling at the same time.

Go-Karts

Ooh, they have a glow necklace dispenser!

They’ve also got a mini-himalaya

I love mini-bowling! I’m not much better at it than normal bowling though.

Here’s the real reason why we’re here, a coaster!

And now it's time for more pictures of a kiddie coaster than you actually need.

I was able to touch the ceiling on that hill.

HELIX OF DEATH!!!

The train

They’ve even got a bit of theming.

Love that carpet!

HELIX OF DEATH!!!

You really do get slammed into the side here.

Knuckleheads has a bunch of these little kiddie rides. This is Baja Buggy.

Zamperla, sign of quality?

They’ve got this cool drum game. I thought they only had these in Japan!

Flying Tigers

Looks like a fun little kids ride

Best ticket redemption game ever? I think so.

This is a Jeff Johnson approved credit.

Bumper cars underneath some sweet lights

XD Theater = seats that tilt back and forth

Wall of prizes!

These spring rides are pretty fun

I went on the one at Kiddieland (RIP) and liked it.

Tornado!

And that’s it from Knuckleheads. Thanks for reading!

I had no idea that place had a Moser spring tower, and indoors too! I don't understand why those things aren't more popular when it comes to FECs. They give great rides and really don't take up much space at all. Oh well, thanks for the great pictures. I'll have to keep this place in my mind for whenever I finally get around to do a midwest trip.

I had no idea that place had a Moser spring tower, and indoors too! I don't understand why those things aren't more popular when it comes to FECs. They give great rides and really don't take up much space at all. Oh well, thanks for the great pictures. I'll have to keep this place in my mind for whenever I finally get around to do a midwest trip.

They really are fun rides, way better than frog hoppers IMO. Thanks for all of the comments guys. Six Flags Great America opening day trip report is coming up next! I'm only posting this so that my next report will be on the 3rd page. Nothing worse than waiting for tons of pictures to load. Mods can combine them if they want.

Six Flags Great America opening day with the Midwest TPR gang!!! April 24th, 2010

So yesterday was Six Flags Great America's opening day and I had a blast! The weather forecast said that it was going to rain most of the day, but the rain held off and we didn't get drenched! It was very foggy, but the forecast scared away lots of crowds! There were not many people there that day. The longest we probably had to wait was either for food or 15 minutes for Superman which was only running one train.

Pretty much everything was open which was very nice. A couple rides only had one train running (Superman, Eagle, Whizzer put a second train on later in the day), but the crowds were never that bad. Little Dipper is coming along nicely and is looking great so far. Magiquest looks kinda fun, i'm sure it will appeal to some people and hated by others. The park staff was very friendly this trip which is always a plus.

I can't stress enough how much fun I had hanging out all day with TPR peeps, I always have a great time with all of you! If you haven't come out and said hi, you're missing out! I got a new camera for Christmas and I took lots of "artsy" shots. I'll put in a couple pictures of the gang, but you guys will probably find more once I post them on Facebook. I also got tons of video so hopefully i'll be able to make an antic video AND a normal video. Those should hopefully be up in a couple weeks, but the end of the school year is coming up so no guarantees. Enough talking, how about some pictures?

So our day started out with lots of rain on the drive down to SFGAm.

The rain held up, but it was VERY foggy that day. You couldn't even see Giant Drop from the parking lot!

Hey Columbia Carousel, looking nice today.

Of course what was the first thing we noticed upon entering the park? Bananafarians!

Stupid tree...

Good morning Viper! You're looking, um, woody today.

OMG, a train! Apologies in advance for the lack of trains in pictures, I was probably busy filming and having fun!

New character meet and greet areas have been added around the park.

Next up would be Raging Bull. Forget pictures with the sun in the background, go cloudy and overcast pics!

They've added these dots in line for Bull and a couple other rides.

Hi guys!

Stupid lightpost ruining my shot...

Giant Drop

I like how this one turned out.

Are you ready for the Glow in the Park Parade? No? What about The Karate Kid presents The Whizzer?

I'm not a big fan of the ads plastered all over Whizzer.

I mean a couple are alright...

But I think they went overboard with this one.

Spirally goodness

Trees = good

MANLY POSE!!!

I like the contrast of colors here.

I spy some TPR members!

Everyone's probably seen this pic already, but have you seen it in the fog?!?!

There is a shark in this picture which instantly makes this photo tr cool. We actually did see some people on Buccaneer Battle even though it was so cold out you could see your breath.

New roof over the food court.

Also new this year is Magiquest.

While I think the entire concept is cool, it is pricey. Plus it took over most of the County Fair area.

Our group was asked to be filmed. We might be in a commercial sometime soon. TPR represent!!!

Accessories you can get for your wand.

You get to battle virtual monsters. Kinda cool right? Right?

They had a couple areas outside of Magiquest to kinda test it out.

Revolution doing its thing

American Eagle

Iron Wolf actually looks kinda peaceful in this pic

Nope, still hurts

Spaceley's takeover!

Little Dipper is opening on Memorial Day weekend!

Vertical Velocity

Now time for some "fancy" Batman shots

I see you Little Dipper!

TWISTY!!!

This one turned out well.

Currently my desktop background

Rode King Chaos for the first time, very fun ride!

Superman

Watch out for that tree!

I spy something grey...

Fly!

A green pipe? For what?

Now this is REALLY cool, it's a scale model of the park from the Marriott days.

Look, there's Whizzer!

Demon. Sorry about the glare guys, couldn't do anything about it.

Carousel Plaza

Seriously, this thing was awesome.

There was a small crowd around it just remembering those good ol' days.

Sky Whirl!

Bring back more Great America history, I loved it!

Very mature guys.

Random t-shirt

Hometown Fun Machine and Whizzer

Backside of Whizzer. I want to walk on that boardwalk, I think it would be cool.

The Orbit

I think this looks cool.

Raging Bull

Raging Bull

They're replacing 90% of the wood on Little Dipper.

They've still got some work to do, hopefully it will be open on time!

And one night shot before my camera died. Thanks for a great day everyone! Be on the lookout for those videos.

^^

Very nice Photo TR. A lot of really nice shots in there and great attention to detail. Looks like even though it was somewhat of a gloomy day, it was still a good visit to the park.

It's a Bananafarian! That really has to be the best looking prize out there.

So this video of antics you speak of, is there a certain clip where I'm dancing and singing to Lady Gaga while in line for Whizzer...errr I mean Karate Kid Whizzer?

^Maybe I haven't started editing the videos yet so there's still plenty of time to bribe me

^Maybe I haven't started editing the videos yet so there's still plenty of time to bribe me

Who wants ice cream?!