Big Mike

Thanks Bebes

Enjoyed your report Mikey!! Brings back memories of my visit there and I was amused at how close it was to the border and another state too! Plus my visit to Oasis lanes during a big lightning storm too! Peace, Big Mike

Hi Lena! Lovely to hear from you! I bet you had to really search for this thread lol. I am currently in Florida hanging with the TPR gang, so I will check my calendar when I get home. I have been working on the new schedule and new update for 2013, plus finishing up last years contests! I toolk a little time off to recoup from having Megan cheat on me but will be back soon. The Big Mike Road Show has a new agenda for 2013, will reveal it soon!!! Thanks for taking the time to write me Lena, you have always been super special to me Peace, Big Mike

You were too busy the last month Skyping with Richard Bannister behind my back to put up an update, that's what the real story is. Sad to finally figure out that all my coaster friends were right when they said that you were just using me to go to China. I didn't believe them. Surprise!!! lol Good luck with your new relationship and I look forward to the next updates!!! Peace, Big Mike

That sounds like a great idea Elissa, so this half of the equation is accepting the date! Peace, Big Mike

Hey hey! Between the 16 day TPR trip, being down about splitting up with Megan, having no power after the storm, and then spending a week in Barbados, its been hard to post! I did see your fantastic job at the contest, and will verify it when I get home next week! That is, if I have power yet lol. Peace, Big Mike

Chadster, good job dude! I just blew through the pictures, is there a safe date on when this will be opened so I can book a condo ahead of time? Thanks, Big Mike

That is a good ducky find!!! 3 picks for you Brian, good job! Peace, Big Mike The Jeff Johnson ducky!!

Hi Josh good buddy!! First off, LOVE the profile picture on here! We do have basketball going too, still lots of teams available, see page #1 on here. Hope all is well and that we met up again very soon! Peace, Big Mike

I can't wait to see all the pictures of you and your good buddy Josh coming soon!!

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Big Mike posting a quick update with the promised Megan Cartwheels, Big Mike awarding the Grand Prize for the 2011 Find the Ducky Champion, adding a few last hidden duckies for 2012, and updating everyone on the Nascar and Baseball section of our contest! Our 2012 contest in baseball has come down to Coastinmiller with the Detroit Tigers VS. Highroller with the San Francisco Giants! Good luck to both players and congrats to Mike who picked the Tigers with the 1st OVERALL pick of the draft! Our 2012 Nascar contest has 12 drivers left in the chase, and here is who is represented: 1 Jimmie Johnson (amyamy) 2 Brad Keselowski (picknyourseat) 3 Denny Hamlin (picknyourseat) 4 Tony Stewart (mikeykaise) 5 Kasey Kahne (sspaz1000) 6 Clint Bowyer (GriffyTiffy) 7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (amyamy) 8 Kevin Harvick (GriffyTiffy) 9 Greg Biffle (GriffyTiffy) 10 Martin Truex Jr. (GriffyTiffy) 11 Matt Kenseth (GriffyTiffy) 12 Jeff Gordon (nrs2420) Our NHL contest is still in limbo as the league is locked out, so if the season gets canceled, everyone gets new picks!! Big Mike still has about a half dozen Find the Ducky games to post in the upcoming weeks before we decide the 2012 Grand Prize Winner!!! First, we will start with a video of Big Mike surprising the 2011 Find the Ducky Grand Prize Champion, Brian, at his doorstep Publishers Clearinghouse style in Saginaw Michigan with a free one week condo stay: Second, the promised Megan cartwheel video, this one from Chichen Itza in Mexico (one of the 7 wonders of the world): Finally, we have a few more hidden duckies to release to you guys before it gets too cold and the parks close and the poor duckies have to survive a cold winter! There are still 4 duckies hiding in Canada at Wild Water & Wheels, Santa's Village, Marineland, and Canada's Wonderland which could be found here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1216519#p1216519 There are still 5 duckies hiding in Wisconsin at Bay Beach, Mt. Olympus, Timber Falls, Knuckleheads, and Little Americka which can be found here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1206620#p1206620 OK, on to a picture of Brian and a few pictures of Megan, and a few Michigan duckies to find too!!! Peace, Big Mike Brian crowned 2011 Find the Ducky Champion and winning the Grand Prize!! Megan cartwheels the Bird's Nest in China! Megan cartwheels the Olympic Village in Beijing! Megan cartwheels Chichen Itza in Mexico! Kokomos in Michigan! Michigan's Adventure! Hope everyone enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

WOW! That is totally amazing!!! 5 pictures, never thought that could be done! Mighty fine job!!!!!!!!! Well looks like you will be Grand Champion unless somehow your bud can accomplish this task in 4 pictures! 10 days to go! Peace, Big Mike PS - You look great in those pictures too!

Working as always.

I have to come down there and check out the naughty nurses! Maybe next weekend!

The idol part IS true! We need to get together soon!!

Hi Chrissie!

Tremendous reports!! Can't wait for all the rest!!!

The front page is totally up to date now!!! Here is every player that still has picks to make, and you can make them at any time! 53. Zingoman - 54. Zingoman - 55. Zingoman - 74. Her0ofLime 118. The Bebes - 119. The Bebes - 120. Milo1188 - 121. Milo1188 - 122. Milo1188 - The first event that will be decided will be the Nascar Race to the Championship, with the current standings below and a possible 6 Valuable Big Mike Readers still in contention: 1 Jimmie Johnson 2096 Leader (amyamy) 2 Brad Keselowski 2095 -1 (picknyourseat) 3 Denny Hamlin 2089 -7 (picknyourseat) 4 Tony Stewart 2086 -10 (mikeykaise) 5 Kasey Kahne 2081 -15 (sspaz1000) 6 Clint Bowyer 2081 -15 (GriffyTiffy) 7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2070 -26 (amyamy) 8 Kevin Harvick 2065 -31 (GriffyTiffy) 9 Greg Biffle 2063 -33 (GriffyTiffy) 10 Martin Truex Jr. 2062 -34 (GriffyTiffy) 11 Matt Kenseth 2061 -35 (GriffyTiffy) 12 Jeff Gordon 2051 -45 (nrs2420) Another Find the Ducky Game coming up next! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Everyone and their Uncle is going to post TPR China pictures soon, heck, even Megan put one out already! Lots of roller coasters, lots of park pictures, but how many times do you get to see all the stuff that happens outside the parks??? Everyone knows TPR trips kick major ass and are a ton of fun, but a lot of the fun does come from things other than parks. That is where Big Mike comes in! This report is everything we did OTHER than roller coasters and parks I will leave the rest to the experts and the other 40 trip participants. This is the uncensored China through the eyes of Big Mike, including the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly! Lots of pictures to check out in no particular order. Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike The trip from Newark NJ to Beijing China was 13 and a half hours non stop, using this arching flight pattern that took us up near the North Pole. I added this picture because it reminded me of Roller Coaster Rider demanding more updates! Big Mike and peacocks! A trip to China is not complete without a stop at the Community Pubic Park! Since the flight was so long to China, Big Mike was prepared to take over if the pilot needed a break. One of our surprise BONUS events, a stop at the Tea House! TPR always puts "AND MORE" in their trips, this must be what they are talking about! Megan holding her nose to prevent the China stink from entering her body! Every day we would look out the bus window hoping to see sun instead of layers and layers of pollution in the air. "AND MORE!!!" A Jade store tour! The Great Wall of China! The approach to the Great Wall has shops and bear feeding! The bears would stand and catch the food! Despite contrary beliefs, the Great Wall is still being built and Big Mike lent a hand. Everyone gets to enjoy an alpine slide lift up to the Great Wall and a ride back down. The Great Wall of China! I suppose the view would have been a bit better if there were not such an abundance of pollution in the air. Big Mike checks off another thing on his "Top 50 Always Wanted To Do List", visit the Great Wall of China! Big Mike and Megan share some Wall time together. Big Mike in Tiananmen Square! The square is right in front of the Forbidden City! I think China may be the only place in the World where you can look directly at the sun and your eyes would be fine due to the many layers of protective pollution. Big Mike and Megan inside the Forbidden City! You are not forbidden if you are on a TPR tour! Big Mike and Megan just outside the Emperor's residence. More bonus fun, a Silk Tour!!! Relaxing time at the pool for The Big Man! Megan is Big Mike Road Show representing! What better product placement?? You can tell that some of the rides in China have not been ridden in quite a while by how big the birds nest is. Big Mike and Megan take in some Chinese culture. A Chinese acrobat show! Big Mike and Megan check out the Olympic Birds Nest and Water Cube lit up at night! Meanwhile, the hot Chinese girls check out Big Mike! One of Big Mike's favorite thing to do, soak Chinese people! Best yet, each shot considering the exchange rate came out to 6 cents per shot! Beijing Olympic Park! The Birds Nest! The Water Cube! Exclusive inside the Birds Nest photo! Big Mike and the Olympic Torch! Beijing Olympic Park! Megan is a HUGE gymnastics fan and went searching for Nastia Luikin's gold medal! The gymnastics geek in her could not wait to find the Indoor Stadium where the gymnastics were held! Being that Megan loves gymnastics, we video her doing a cartwheel at most famous places like this, so if you want Big Mike to post some cart wheels from the Olympic Stadium, Great Wall, Chichen Itza, etc, post "I want to see Megan's cartwheels" in my thread! The Water Cube lit up at night is a great sight! We are going inside the cube! Swimming and Diving took place here and is also where Michael Phelps won all the medals! Many parks had Ice Houses, which were very cooling. The 2nd best part about the ice house after cooling down was the ice slides! A Big Mikesickle! Big Mike never saw these before, kid's pants that purposely had slits cut out of the pants so the kid could take a squat dump or whiz wherever they wanted. Yep, I knew no one would believe me, so here ya go! Traffic in China is horrific! They even won't let some cars drive on certain days according to your license plate number. Worst of all, there are these bikes all over the place thinking they own the road. You know it is out of control when the gas line for the bikes is 10 times that of cars. There were a LOT of stray dogs and cats anywhere you went. Big Mike found an American Pizza place that delivered and was very happy about that! Megan challenged Big Mike to an archery championship! What was she thinking?? Actually we played a few times and Big Mike won and got the prize, much to Megan's disappointment! Signs of a sore loser! Feeding the monkeys! The Chinese love their fish! Big Mike cuddling a red panda! Megan too, as displayed by Big Mike's much better photo taking skills. We have a new addition to our family! Megan scouted out a Haagen Dazs! Big Mike and Megan visit the Panda Reserve! Only here can you see so many pandas in one place! Big Mike checks off yet another thing on Big Mike's Top 50 Always Wanted To Do List, hold a panda!!! Megan holds one too! Our family is getting bigger and bigger! Baby panda!! Big Mike feeds a black swan. Doing so many parks in China, Big Mike had to hire someone to cart him around. Long bus rides were easier for Megan with pictures of her doggies to look at. A visit to a Chinese garden. McDonalds delivery!! The Pearl Tower, where there is a coaster in one of those balls. Big Mike all the way at the top of the Pearl Tower. It's high, but not as high as the Shanghai World Financial Building, also known as the Bottle Opener! The Pearl Tower had a glass floor! Nice shrubbery. We took a ride on the Maglev train, run by magnets and very fast and smooth. The Maglev reaches 301 km/h but has the ability to top 500! The gang took a boat cruise while in Shanghai! Shanghai lit up at night. Shanghai Zoo! Delicious is not the word I think of when it comes to a toilet. Big Mike was pleased by the thought of finding a Carls Jr. During some down time, we all went and got all kinds of massages at the local mall for free. The massage gave Megan a look I've seen before, right after a Big Mike Delight! More swimming, this time at a different pool. Pretty nice view! The Shanghai World Financial Building, wow! 100 floors up and the World's tallest observation tower! The view. Candice, President of the roller coaster group in China and one heck of a hottie. Talking about hotties, seems every China girl came running to Big Mike for a picture! China food was not to Big Mike's liking, so carrying some extra Pizza Hut around came in handy! Big Mike concluded the trip with some China Geocaching success! The TPR trip to China was a lot of fun and very exciting as always, but seemed to be too much for the rookie travelers. On the other hand, the veteran travelers always had excess energy to spare! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Great news Shane!!! Congrats and best of luck in the new venture! I was lucky enough to get the thrill of visiting Cowabunga Bay, and the place was MAGNIFICENT!!! Everyone should go and enjoy it, but if you can't, you can see it on my trip report below! I think this may have been one of the best trip reports I have ever done, solely due to the love of Shane and his great park! It's a must see! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=793674#p793674 Peace, Big Mke

Who's Mike?

Thanks Brandy!!! Congrats on 1000 posts! I am sure everyone would be interested in hearing your frst impressions of Big Mike and if he was a good ambassador to TPR? Peace, Big Mike

Arosania vs. ahecht in the finals, congrats!!! Will try to post some China pictures this week so my good buddy takes it easy on me Peace, Big Mike

Big Mike is back in the USA! The contest is now closed!

Thanks everyone! It is now official, Big Mike has left the group and is at the airport hotel for tomorrows flight. About one day left to get those semi final Not So Epic entries in!! Funny story, Megan and I left with Elissa to come home early and when we checked into the hotel, the check in lady asked me point blank... Mr. Betzler, will you be sleeping with Ms. Alvey tonight? THAT would have been a great ending to the trip lol! Peace, Big Mike