themeparkguy27

Thanks for posting. Entertaining and informative as always.

Garmin > Tomtom

Sorry if this was answered, couldn't find it. When exactly did you go? You mentioned that most things had a walk-on. Curious as to what day of the week it was.

I would love that too! I'm sure if you ask the employees there, they just may let you. I seen too many signs when I was there that said no cameras allowed, so I obeyed the rules.

Thanks for posting. We loved that place last year on our first family trip down to Tennessee. We probably spent 2 hours walking around all the stores...and eating some pretty good ice cream if I remember correctly.

Love the captions and the pics. Thanks for posting.

4 ducks.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/roeder/1646642,CST-FIN-roeder01.article The Sears Tower Skydeck opens its lure for thrill-seekers Thursday. It's called the Ledge and it gives the illusion of standing on air a few feet outside the building, 103 stories off the ground. It could put the Skydeck on the must-see list for tourists, right up there with the museums and Michigan Avenue shopping. It's supposed to be an engineering marvel. The Skydeck bays are retractable so they don't block the window-washing equipment. Stancik said each one is designed to hold 5 tons, about the weight of three Toyota Camrys, while the city code required only a 2-ton limit. "Dare to stand out" is one tagline the tower will use for its attraction, although the Ledge is strictly optional for Skydeck visitors and included in the $14.95 admission price, which recently was increased $2.

Just voted too...ahead by 2.5% percent. Good luck

I agree IB is awesome, and it maybe an every year or every other year spot for us. Being a one day up and back drive, we can probably swing it. I like the out and back type coasters, so I guess that's why I enjoyed Hurricane more. They were really both tons of fun and maybe instead of #1 and #2, its more like 1a and 1b. And no Dr Frankensteins. From what I hear, I missed out. Next time!

Yes, its free to park and free to walk around. If you want to ride, you can either pay per ride (like coasterville said, about $3-4 per ride) or they have the Pay One Price wrist band. The band costs $29.95 for over 48 inches and $19.95 for under. We brought in Coca-Cola cans for $3 off each ticket. The water park is $7 more if you want to go on the slides and the beach areas. We did pass on the extra admission Castle. I am already regretting it. It was a $3.50 upcharge, and with 5 of us, it would of been another $21. Shouldn't of cheaped out, but at least we have something new to look forward to for next time.

We got up Saturday morning, and decided to finally hit up Indiana Beach. We have lived in the Chicagoland area our whole lives, but never once been to Monticello. We had seen the "There's more than corn .... " slogans for years, but just never felt the urge to go. So we jump online to get the address for the Garmin, and then notice that Monticello is not on central time. DOH! Another hour wasted. So by the time we leave Gurnee (10am) its really 11am already in Monticello. Two and a half hours later, we arrive. I follow the signs for the FREE PARKING (wow) and we park. There is a shuttle bus waiting for us as we got out. And that's where this TR starts.... We ended the night with one more spin on LoCoSuMo. 2 1/2 hours later we were back home. Great time, glad we finally went and we will get back again. The kids love all the spin type rides. We figured they rode over 30 rides in this 8 hour span. Definitely worth the price of admission. The Paratrooper and Flying Bobs were two of their favorites. Thanks for reading! The kids really liked it and wanted to go again. Its was 9pm at this point , and we wanted to make sure we got all the credits. The Steel Hawg was on the agenda. The line was 20-30 people deep. Took at least 30 minutes. We got treated to a nice little line jump argument while in line too. Ok ride, the drop was my favorite part. Probably wouldn't wait for it unless the line was 10 people or less. We took another spin on the Hurricane and then our first on the log flume. You can see the "gum tunnel" on the back. Not going to lie. Pretty gross. Tig'rr! Next we went on the Tig'rr coaster. There are not seat belts on this ride. From what I read, this is a new feature on this classic. A little too crazy for me, but I can see how people would and can love this one. Map overview...you can see just how much is smashed in together. Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the Cornball Express. We really enjoyed it. Great airtime. My 2nd favorite of the day. We had to wait about 15 minutes. Slow dispatching on it on this day. One train operation. We got our first ever flyer credit. I got slightly dizzy on em...rides that spin will do that to me. Turnaround. LoCoSuMo . Take the tunnel ! LoCoSuMo Cars (as seen from the Antique Car ride). Does stuff no coaster should. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain lift and track. We didn't know what to expect on this...I had seen Robb's video, but it still didn't do it justice. If you are a coaster fan, you need to experience this for yourself. It is nuts. More Hoosier Hurricane...my favorite ride there. You can see the train tracks where their little train runs under the ride. We kept seeing boats coming right up near the boardwalk. Tons of people sun bathing and just relaxing. Pretty cool atmosphere for the park, I thought. In this picture, you can see the water swings bottom right. You can see Galaxi in the mess near top right. LoCoSuMo is in the front left, and the Cornball, Hurricane jumble is on top of that. Steel Hawg is way top left. The GIANT WHEEL did provide excellent views. Some more of the same area, from the Swings. The swings were really fun, kinda scary, and really tight for me. I had to put the chest buckle around me and it barely fit. Ugh..need to lose 20 or 40 Chloe and the expertly named "Giant Wheel". You can see some more of the midway going the opposite way. The midway once we got off. This is mid-day on a hot June weekend. Not too bad at all. The Beach and water slides took the brunt of the guests. Here is their Mack Splash Battle, expertly named SPLASH BATTLE. I don't like how the track is over the water. I guess its only a few years old now, but the water cannons for onlookers didn't work, as they were all taped up. After going on SFGam's Buccaneer Battle, and seeing what they did with theirs, this was a disappointment. But we didn't drive nearly 3 hours for a Splash Battle... From the skyride you get a good idea of just how much is cramed into one place. Here are the Antique cars intertwining with the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (more on that later). Good views were had by all on the skyride. She was part of the water ski jump / high dive show on the lake front. Another great little perk of the place was this show. It seemed like it was going on for most of the day. We had to take a try on the skyride. Old school all the way. Haven't been on one of these is sometime and they are fun. Only part that was kind of lame, when someone wants to return to the other station, they actually stop the ride, make the people get off, scan their Pay One Price (POP) wrist band, and then restart the ride. Chlo enjoys the shooter type games. Next up was the dark ride "The Den of the Lost Thieves". While I couldn't really follow the story line, this ride was classic. Alot of fun, and you even pop next to the midway on the 2nd floor of the ride. The Galaxi is somewhere in between that mess of 1980's style water slides. From doing some research, I see the slides and the Galaxi have been repainted in the past few years. They both look good. Next up was the Galaxi, an old classic. They were running 2 trains. No line on this beautiful warm Saturday. Taken from the Hurricane station, here you can see the lift hill and brake run of the Hurricane. You can also see the Cornball Express track that goes over. We started the day down by the Steel Hawg entrance. We passed on it, and figured we would come back later. I wanted to hit the Hoosier Hurricane. A 1994 CCI. It really is my favorite kind of coaster. Its quick and a little rough, but fun. Being over the water was a cool element that just added to the ride. The picture you WOULD have seen if I parked at the correct entrance. Oh well....

Great TR! Your captions make the reports. Keep em coming.

#800! Wow...that's sweet. The swing ride in the last update looked awesome.

SFGAM ticket has been found. Chloe found Big Mike's Card

^ I was already going to the park tonight...so I will check, but figure it will prob be gone already.

Great TRs! The retro Orlando stuff got me sucked in...and the SFGA were fun to read also. Keep em coming!

^ Same five I see.

Best photo quote ever

Well, I think its four, but I am sure I probably missed one, so official guess is 5.

There are some pics on their Facebook site, showing a nearly completed roof. They say it should open soon....if so we will probably go back later this summer.

Day 3 was the much anticipated City Museum. We heard many great reviews about this place and were really looking forward to it. It did not disappoint. Pictures don't do this place justice. On a side note, we stayed at a new Hilton Garden Inn off Hawley. We got a super deal thru Expedia where we got the 3rd night free. It ended up averaging $59 a night. The location was good, about 10-15 min from downtown, and 30 from SFStl. I highly recommend it. Madi didn't care...she was going in. All in all a super day at the City Museum. We will definitely be back! There is this , what appears to be a fountain area. But you go inside, and underground. There is some underground tunnel. I wasn't about to try to go in. The kids loved it This area was the coolest. Inside the whale are giant Tom Sawyer Island style caves. There are super small holes (like only a 6 year old can go thru) in some spots. I got scraped up pretty bad trying to fit thru one spot. Chloe coming down huge slide It was quite crowded. On this Sunday it was open 11-5. We stayed the whole time. On Fri and Sat nights, its open till 1AM and sometimes they turn the lights off, and its flashlights only. Also there are at least 3 HUGE bar areas. There was a flask display. I wanted this one. Big Boy Beatnik Bob's Snack area. Cheap snacks and soda. With cool stuff to look at! World's largest underwear. They sold em in the giftshop for $20 Some random room, that's not done. You can check out the trains up close here. I wasn't about to try to slide thru this one. You go up and over to the other side, where you end up by tiny train town. There is all this random crap all over the place and nothing is off limits. Random old bank safe you can play with. This was weird. You can walk across on top, or crawl thru on this little bottom crawl thru. Many adults could barely fit and they were doing this. This place is a serious MUST DO if you are in STL My kids climbing thru dangling giant slinkys view down Outside its called Monstrocity. Giant ballpit Random Big slide, about 3 stories up There are giant slinkys, tunnels, slides and hidden passages all over this place. A kids paradise! (Big kids too!) Looking up from the main room Noted. Prices. Bus hanging off the roof. There are a bunch of new things opening soon up on the roof, but not yet. Yet one more reason to come back soon! The City Museum is built in an old warehouse in Downtown St L.

At the last minute, we decided to take a long weekend trip down to St Louis. The family consists of: Me - Will gon on pretty much anything, but spinning rides Wife - Goes on pretty much nothing but trains, tame coasters (think SFgam Whizzer) Brianna (11) - Will go on SFgam's Batman & Superman, but chooses to skip Eagle and Bull (doesn't like the Big Drops) Madi (8)- Daredevil, will go on anything that she can. About 50 inches tall, so she can't get everything yet Chloe (6)- Another daredevil. Loves coasters and will go on anything she is tall enough to ride. Loves Tower of Terror. We made the 5 hour drive on Friday (5/22) from Chicagoland. Drive was pretty much uneventful. Friday night we went to Busch for the ballgame. Saturday was SFSTL. Great time. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the park. Some pretty good rides, and the employees were great. We will definitely be back. Day 3 to follow.... EDIT: Pictures are backwards. Oh well. Well, you can't have a STL TR and not have a pic of the Arch. We never made it to the top...too much else planned. Maybe next time. Outside of the stadium. Stan the Man. Beautiful ball park. I highly recommend going if you are in town for SFSTL. Great downtown location, good food, and beautiful park. Brianna got a ball tossed up during BP. Bri was so excited! Chloe got a ball tossed up about 10 minutes later. Sweet! Royals vs Cardinals in all Missouri inter league battle. Damage done by Albert Pujols the night before. Chloe brings home Fredbird Ted Drewes....great way to finish our first ever day in STL. After a 30 minute drive from near downtown STL, we are here. Plaque near the front. Near entrance. Feels like a Main Street type entrance. Evil Knivel was the first coaster of the day. Very smooth. I was impressed by the trains. Super comfortable! This log flume ride was pretty fun. Crowds were pretty light for a nice weekend day. The front of the Scooby Swamp queue. Attention to detail in the queue All the famous villains are represented...even this robot guy I didn't know what to expect, but this Swamp ride was pretty sweet for SF. It was long, and pretty well themed. Wait was about 10-15 minutes. He's everywhere!! Mr Freeze. We passed since no one wanted to go with me. There seemed to be about a 20-30 min queue, and I didn't want to make everyone wait for me...NEXT TIME! About a 10 minute wait. Madi really enjoyed it. It was a little rough for me, but a fun ride. The Boss Station This was their Orbit - type ride. While I passed, the kids went on a few times. The kids enjoyed the giant jungle gym Bugs Bunny Land was pretty nice. Nice collection of rides for the kids. Here is Tidal Wave. The kids really enjoyed this on a hot, muggy St Louis day. I found it weird that there was no water on the shute coming down...looked a lil weird. You can see some of The Boss and a lil of Mr Freeze View from Colossus is great, here you can see Batman and Hurricane Harbor on its opening day. Madi not enjoying Colossus. They waited about 15 minutes for TH Big Spin. They had waited earlier, but it started drizzling, and it was promptly shut down. Tony Hawk's Big Spin...the kids loved it. A lil too much spin for my tastes. I passed.

Here is our familys, mostly my daughter plays: Name: Brianna Town: Disney Friend Code: 2406-8805-8415 Fruit: Apple

Wow! Under $2? That is sweet. Here in Gurnee IL, its 2.40.