shesaidboom

Jer really liked the chair swings, but I thought they were terrifying. Like you, I had the swing infront of me hitting me also. They were neat because of the 'over the water' thing, but I wouldn't ride them again. Maybe I'm just a wuss though I liked our backwards ride on Lost Coaster, but I didn't turn my head around to see where we were going so while I got thrown around a lot more than the frontwards ride, I didn't get the crooked spine pain that Jer got. You're right about the Chicago traffic. Yuck.

I couldn't get a non-blurry picture of the dive show but I had to include it because of the Canada love I use a Sony Cybershot, which isn't the greatest camera ever but it's alright. Judging by these pictures I really need to clean the lense..lots of smudges in these. Yep, there are three but we barely caught the Hurricane in it so we left it as an 'almost'. You didn't miss much, although maybe I'm not the best judge. I smacked my arm on the car near the beginning of the ride and was in too much pain to concentrate We thought the park map thing was really weird since we could clearly see a pile of maps sitting right there. Strange. Thanks for all the feedback. We'll have a few more parks done in a few days

Iron Eagle at Six Flags America.

shesaidboom and 307 do the parks that are kinda the mid-west but some are more easterly but I guess a few can be considered mid-west but maybe "central" is a better term for them - PART FOUR of it's only funny once It was the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the new millenium, and we were at the major destination park of the trip - Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. What could possibly go wrong? Before we begin, I would like to make a list of the things that we had been repeatedly told about this park. These are not things that one person said to us, rather things that we had heard almost unanimously from those who we've talked to or read about who had been to this park. *ahem* a] The park would be empty on a Tuesday in early June. b] The operations are outstanding, always with great loading times and reliability. c] Everything is awesome, the employees, the rides, the atmosphere. d] The Voyage never has long lines except when the park is crowded - which most definately will not be a Tuesday in early June. e] Raven is one of the best coasters in the world, but Legend is possibly even better. Keep these in mind when reading the rest of this. We arrived at Holiday World at 10AM Eastern. Unfortunately for us, we had crossed a time zone in the process of driving there from Scottsburg, IN, and were an hour early. So after waiting an hour impatiently, we noticed an unexpectedly large amount of people gathering up for the running of the bulls. "Where the hell are all these people coming from?" we both wondered. The people wouldn't stop coming. Soon there was what could generously be described as "a whole freakin' lot of people," and we were starting to worry about the validity of the advice we received. So finally they opened the ropes and the bulls, they did run, and for the first time EVAR~!, we partook in it too. We made it to Voyage after lots of huffing and puffing, only to find out - IT WAS CLOSED. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Nikki almost beheaded the man standing next to her. Fortunately, after about twenty minutes [and a quick spin on the amusing Gobbler Getaway later], it opened and we made a mad dash for the station. This ride is awesome and is my new number one coaster. The end. I'm tired of writing this, and really, does anyone want to read this much? I know I don't. So here's a quick list of piss-offs we encountered during our stay at Holiday World: -- Raven and Legend were both running one train. -- Legend was closed for the first three hours of the day. -- After waiting for nearly an hour for our first ride on Raven, it broke down just before we got on. This was sort of a blessing in disguise, however, as we met some TPR posters [the dual identity of imbordisux], and it helped to kill the nearly TWO HOUR delay the ride had. We were fortunate enough to have a ride supervisor apologize profusely to us about the breakdown and tell us that the park is never like this, which did boost our mood somewhat. -- WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE. This really annoyed us, though by early-afternoon, many had vamoosed to the waterpark, leaving half-empty stations on Voyage. I would like to say that despite the annoyances and the absolutely horrible first four hours in the park that we had, the following three were very good [including nine rides on the Voyage], and thus we walked away feeling at least slightly happy about the day. Except about Legend. Man that thing was whack. One more thing: SONIC BREAKFASTS RULE!!!!!!!!! We didn't take many pictures at Holiday World. Chalk this up to being super pissed most of the day. We did not ride the Liberty Launch even though Jer wanted to. He will never let me forget it. Damn you, Scuba Steve. What I want. What I want. Voyage. Doot doot. Jer thought these were bidets until he read the 'do not sit on fountains' sign. Howler sucked. Finally fixed! BROKEN! This mechanic nearly came to blows with another mechanic right infront of the eight people who waited in the station during the two hour breakdown. This is what we think of Holiday World, although our opinion changed a bit as the day progressed. Raven was a really fun. However, it was pretty short and was probably overrated at being called the #5 wooden coaster in the world. We saw some love for Canada. This is the only picture we took of Legend and it's closed. We did not feel this overrated and over-hyped coaster was worthy of more pictures. This was Jer's favorite thing at the park. "Mom, can I have a soft drink?" These people enjoyed their ride on the Voyage. And if they didn't, poop on the dolla bill! Did I mention how awesome this thing is? Every time we hit the brake run it felt as though we had just run a marathon. So much for no lines. They even opened up the downstairs queues, which took nearly as long to walk through as the rest of the wait. Fixed! Look, it's the Voyage and it's broken. Look, it's Raven! Jer devising a plan to get the entire park done in 43 minutes and 27 seconds. The exclusive picture of the water tower.

shesaidboom and 307 do the parks that are kinda the mid-west but some are more easterly but I guess a few can be considered mid-west but maybe "central" is a better term for them - PART THREE of SCHFIFTY FIVE After we finished up at the Wisconsin Dells, we made the journey south again, back through the hell hole known as Chicago and down into Indiana. Specifically, Monticello. Indiana Beach was next on the itinerary, however here are some observations about this specific area of Indiana. a] there was a Curves gym - in a shack! b] Farm, farm, farm, farm, farm supply shed, farm, house next to a farm, WAL-MART, farm, farm shed, McDonald's. This made no sense. But everyone seemed to worship the Wal-Mart like some sort of retail store God. It was very weird. c] Downtown consisted of a movie theatre which only plays movies at night, a drive-in theatre, an Arby's, Subway, and a couple of local shops that were closed on Sundays. d] From the outside, most of the hotels in the area looked really crappy. I'd say three of the four looked poopy. e] Ours was probably the worst. I could go on and on about how dumpy our hotel was. If you're ever there, avoid the Pine View Resort/Lodge. It's a hole! The door didn't even close all the way. There was still about a half-inch gap between the door and the frame once the door was closed. I awoke the following morning with a freshly spun spiderweb ON MY FACE. That was not pleasant. Anyways, Indiana Beach was really nice. If you DO want to come here, don't let the terrible area surrounding it dissuade you. The park is very nice and interesting. It's also unique in that it's built on an inlet and is completely surrounded by water, which is great since the park uses it to it's fullest extent, building numerous rides [including a skycoaster] over the water. Onto pictures!!!!!!!!!!!! They refused to give us park maps despite us seeing them in the ticket booths, so this is the best we could do for our souvenir map. We tried to get the coasters in the background but clearly we failed. Jer wont let me post all the Hurricane pictures Jer didn't realize that this coaster was built over the water until we actually rode it. Almost three trains! Jer is a tourist. My camera likes to turn pictures blue. This has been done, but it's still funny dammit. OMG PHOTO! Jer likes this picture because it was the 307th picture we took on the trip. Here's a picture of what the train looked like for several minutes between dispatches. The ops would sit and talk while waiting for the trains to fill up. LAME. Those people in the back are getting hair time. Tigrrrgkadhgka COaster broke my arm. Despite the lack of restraints, this Tigrr was not a wonderful thing. As we walked by Jer pointed and yelled 'FLYING BOOBS!' I will teach him how to read one of these days. Camwhoring on the Paratrooper. All the pictures of us look the same since we had nobody to take them for us. Chair swings of death. These things are terrifying, they rock you back and forth and make it seem like you're going to fall into the water. Jer laughed at me WE FINALLY FOUND A TRAIN!! n out o no rie. Indiana Beach's new for 2006 ride was fully operational when we got there. WOW, LOBSTER TRAPS! Exclusive shot of Lost Coaster. Unfortunately it was impossible to get a train in a picture because of the super slow dispatching. Peacock. In this mess of track you can see how Indiana Beach makes use of their limited space. Despite rampant praise for this coaster neither of us found it to be anything more than mildly enjoyable. It did involve corn, which upped our opinions slightly. Indiana Beach is fun for all ages. Here a boat takes these old fogies out to pasture. Pirate guy makes another appearance in this high in da sky shot. Pirate guy single handedly persuaded us to ride the Den of Lost Thieves. Nikki proceeded to get the worst score ever. OMG TWO TRAINS! Getting one train in a picture was hard enough since dispatching was so slow. Turnover was about five minutes as operators preferred to converse rather than send out trains. Lost Coaster promises to be a bone jarring experience, however Nikki came out unscathed. Jer's spine wasn't as lucky. When going backwards do not turn around to see where you're going, your spine will hate you. We got some Hurricane on the horizon. We got there an hour early by mistake, which became a recurring theme on the trip. To get to the park you have to walk across a giant suspension bridge. It's bouncy, as I demonstrate here!!! Bye bye Indiana Beach!

I want to ride the snails! Lots of great pictures, looks like you guys had an amazing time.

Legend at Holiday World. I keep hearing how awesome this ride is, although I have heard it has gone downhill this year. While it wasn't the worst I've ever been on I thought it was pretty bad and definately don't understand all the hype.

Holy crap, that go kart track is the weirdest one I've ever seen.

All the ride accidents they mentioned in the article and many of the ones I've heard about lately seem to happen because of stupid parents. I have no idea why anyone would think it would be a good idea to put a six year old on a ferris wheel by themselves. Just because they're tall enough to ride doesn't mean they should. I know there are a lot of responsible six year olds out there, but I still wouldn't put them on a ride like that by themselves just incase anything were to happen. While it is very tragic and I'm sure the parents are traumatized, I still think they need to stop blaming others and starting up law suits, and realize they made a bad call. Instead of trying to start a pity party they could do something more positive like telling others to be aware of the warnings posted [do most people actually read those?] and make them aware that it's their job to make sure their own child is safe. I do think parks are responsible for ensuring physical safety on rides, but parents need to determine if their child is ready.

I liked the coasters at Busch Gardens Africa better, but Busch Gardens Europe was a much nicer park. Most beautiful park I've been to.

Great TR, you really put a lot of work into this. We did a lot of the same parks as you on our trip. We did two days at SFGam and while the first day wasn't very crowded and we did most of the park in a couple hours, the second day was packed. Both were weekdays..so I guess with SFGam you just get lucky or you don't and unfortunately you guys didn't. For us only Dejavu and a couple flats were closed. We weren't too fond of Chicago either. We were so glad to get out of there. We definately didn't like SFKK either. We did the entire park in an hour and a half and just left. Luckily everything was open for us, but I agree with you in that their operations were horrile. When you were there did they make you leave up your lap bar to check seat belts and then go back to check the lap bars? It took so long to dispatch a train this way..but oddly enough they still had to tell maybe 10 people each train how to do up their seat belts. It looks like you guys had a great trip overall. I'll be looking forward to reports from your next trip.

I noticed this when I was at SFKK too. I got a map at Great America both times I visited, but didn't at Darien Lake. I should've asked for one, but I completely forgot until I was handed one at SFGam.

Are you sure? On their website it says the $37.95 [CDN] admission price gives you access to everything...and every time I've been there, although it's been a while, it has covered everything. The volcano doesn't even look like a volcano

It seems to happen quite a bit. When I was at Geauga Lake in 2004, I was waiting for the front of Steel Venom and all of a sudden something went skipping across the platform. A bird had hit the seat I was about to get in Luckily the only person on the ride was sitting in the seat right beside it and managed to not get hit in the face. A couple days later at Cedar Point Millenium Force's train ran over a hawk. Unfortunately the hawk's wing got stuck underneath the wheels and the poor thing was still alive and terrified. They spent half an hour getting the hawk out. I'm not sure what happened to it, but its wing was definately not in good condition

On their website there are a couple new kiddie rides listed and something called "Viking Adventure". Is that the topple tower? In future plans it just lists a bunch of aquarium stuff.

Didn't someone post a thread a while ago saying Marineland was getting a Walrus themed topple tower? I see no topple tower.

I didn't have access to a computer when this was posted, which is my excuse for commenting two weeks late I had to read this thread after looking at your TR in the random section. These parks look like a lot of fun. I wish we had the bouncing horse rides here, they look amusing..I can see why you guys liked them. Too bad I wont be getting to Spain any time soon. Lots of Canada love in this TR..well, in the form of clothing anyway.

Wow, it looks like you guys had an amazing time. You did/saw so much and there's still more to come! I love going on trips just to parks [so far have only done that in the US/Canada though], but it's nice to see the sites and culture of the countries you're visiting too. These TRs must be taking you such a long time, thanks for posting them. I'm looking forward to more. Also, that airport art with the shark eating the baby...

Umbrellaless - Matthew Good Band.

Watch out for the elephant.

I can't stand when people buy a pet and when the pet gets sick or injured say "I don't want to take it to the vet, the *insert type of animal here* only cost $20. I can just get another one." Animals are living things, it shouldn't matter what price tag is slapped on them. When getting that animal those people made a promise to that animal to take care of it, they should stick by that. People like that shouldn't own pets. I hear way too many stories like this.

We found the crowds to be lighter at night, although the lines for Millenium Force and Dragster were still around 45 minutes. Many rides were walk-ons and the rest had minimal lines. In the morning I would recommend parking near Soak City. Just pull into the parking booth on the left and tell them you're going to Soak City, then drive around to the back of the park. Doing the front of the park later in the day is always a good idea since the crowds tend to start at Raptor/Maxair and move their way back [with the exception of Millenium Force and Dragster, those have lines no matter when you go].

If you do go back, the Black Hawk Motel was a good deal..like we mentioned like five times already Did you notice how every pool outside the motels in the area had weird double water slides shaped like dolphins and whales? Every single one. Maybe I'm the only one who finds this amusing. We were going to hit up Little A-Merrick-A but decided against it at the last minute. We thought it was on one of the routes between parks but it ended up being a while out of the way. Plus, it would've meant another Toboggan credit and one was more than enough

Eeep! That carp pond is terrifying. I hate fish, especially when they have huge mouths. That was my least favourite part of Indiana Beach.

Yeah, I've noticed this a lot. I guess part of it is that we really don't know many people on here. Oh well, will still post more TRs Thanks Avalanche beat the crap out of us too, but it was still worth riding many, many times anyway. The second turn was pretty painful when we rode, I think that and the last or second to last were the worst. Usually pain makes me not want to ride something over and over, but for some reason I loved every second of it. The sideways airtime was insane.