Big Mike

Awesome trip report so far! Any time you go on a trip with Larry and Larry is not in one picture, thats a successful trip report to me! Peace, Big Mike

Dearest Friends, I am just posting what Patrick sent me to see if you guys think he should be happy or sad with his first guess. The OFFICIAL FINAL answer will be announced tomorrow! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Friends!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!! The Big Mike Road Show 2008 postponed its trip up to the Boston area this weekend and just stayed home and relaxed! Now I know how the major singing acts that tour the country feel after traveling non stop for months from place to place! The weekend came and I just did not have the ooompf to get up and go again, plus I had no one scheduled to meet up with too, so it made it an easier decision. The official press release will state that I was suffering from a sore throat and could not perform! We will try the Boston area maybe later in September after South Carolina, Michigan, and The Coaster Palooza visit, and right before California! It also did not help that I had 6 fantasy football drafts this weekend either! I have to win enough money for my TPR trip addiction ya know! Anyway, my friend Patrick sent me a picture to the answer of this weeks ducky game, I always appreciate the help just like Beemer Boy did last time! The funny thing is that Patrick guessed and got locked into 9 before he found a 10th ducky, but was a good enough sport to still send the picture! I will post the picture now and ask for your thoughts and comments and tell Patrick if he should be happy or sad that he was not allowed to change his guess Magic Springs and Crystal Falls in Arkansas goes up tonight!!! Peace, Big Mike

The Big Mike Road Show 2008 was tipped off about this a month ago on exactly what it was, but was sworn to secrecy! Peace, Big Mike

This was a fun read so far Natalie! I enjoyed your pictures and you have a great sense of humor, which makes your trip reports very entertaining to read. I am glad you liked your first TPR trip and hopefully I will see you on a future one. Keep up the great work! Peace, Big Mike

You are absolutely right Amanda!! Sorry sweetie! I even quoted you myself This extra studying for my fantasy football draft has my mind on other things LOL Here is the UPDATED list, with Amanda right on top Here are the friends that have guessed 9 duckies: 1. hikaru-chan 2. topthrilldragster 3. stevec 4. beemerboy 5. doubled1 6. bhartley 7. pkimanjz 8. gisco 9. groteslurf 10. geekgrrl 11. majorapple 12. traincrossin 13. coasterdad 14. teamthriller 15. coasterpalooza 16. omnio55 17. tunnellover#1 18. colincoon 19. alpengeist04 Here are the friends that have guessed 10 duckies: 1. strr8xxxinedge 2. jakizle 3. creativeforce 4. orientexpress 5. hansruben 6. spaceace12 7. eltorogirl84 Here are the friends that still have to decide: thebannedkid cobraroll06 taytig esvadj nay dammie16 bubbaz If the correct answer is 9, only one more person can move on to the next round!!! If the correct answer is 10, lots of people are going to be eliminated!!! The drama, the suspense, the extra views on my thread Peace, Big Mike

That was a great day!! Thanks for the video I passed a cross like that last year on one of my trips! Hope to see you again, Big Mike

Here we go again Friends!!! It is the same as last round LOL Are the people guessing 9 missing one, or are the people guessing 10 seeing one that is not there? I love this game Here are the friends that have guessed 9 duckies: 1. topthrilldragster 2. stevec 3. beemerboy 4. doubled1 5. bhartley 6. pkimanjz 7. gisco 8. groteslurf 9. geekgrrl 10. majorapple 11. traincrossin 12. coasterdad 13. teamthriller 14. coasterpalooza 15. omnio55 16. tunnellover#1 17. colincoon Here are the friends that have guessed 10 duckies: 1. strr8xxxinedge 2. jakizle 3. creativeforce 4. orientexpress 5. hansruben 6. spaceace12 7. eltorogirl84 Here are the friends that still have to decide: hikaru-chan thebannedkid cobraroll06 taytig esvadj nay dammie16 alpengeist04 bubbaz Good luck to all!!! Peace, Big Mike

Here is where we stand so far, I will order them up later. This also has what number your guessing order is for each the "9" guess and the "10" guess. jakizle - 10 (2nd) hikaru-chan beemerboy - 9 (3rd) coasterdad strr8xxxinedge - 10 (1st) stevec - 9 (2nd) colincoon omnio55 traincrossin - 9 (11th) thebannedkid creativeforce cobraroll06 eltorogirl84 tunnellover#1 taytig pkimanjz - 9 (6th) bhartley - 9 (5th) majorapple - 9 (10th) esvadj coasterpalooza topthrilldragster - 9 (1st) spaceace12 nay gisco - 9 (7th) hansruben geekgrrl - 9 (9th) doubled1 - 9 (4th) groteslurf - 9 (8th) orientexpress dammie16@vt.edu teamthriller alpengeist04 bubbaz Peace, Big Mike

Ok, I will then

Thanks to everyone who is helping quote all the guesses!!! You guys are awesome!! I especially like Bob quoting himself lol. Peace, Big Mike

Yes to all 3 questions. I took some construction pictures too but could not fit them in the report. This was a great park if you don't rush through it. Peace, Big Mike

Hello Fantastic Friends!!! This is a great day, as not only do I get to show you a fantastic park in Silver Dollar City, but this is also the 2nd round of The Big Mike Reader of the Year Find the Ducky Contest!!!! Now of course, everyone can participate at home trying to find the duckies, but please let only the remaining 33 participants post their guesses and don't give away the hiding spots!!! Out of the remaining 33 players, the first 20 to answer correctly will advance to the 3rd round, or whatever number answers correctly if it is less than 20. The players still in the Find the Ducky Contest are: jakizle hikaru-chan beemerboy coasterdad strr8xxxinedge stevec colincoon omnio55 traincrossin thebannedkid creativeforce cobraroll06 eltorogirl84 tunnellover#1 taytig pkimanjz bhartley majorapple esvadj coasterpalooza topthrilldragster spaceace12 nay gisco hansruben geekgrrl doubled1 groteslurf orientexpress dammie16@vt.edu teamthriller alpengeist04 bubbaz Now to take care of a few loop holes we had in the first round that made a few Big Mike Readers a little edgy, we have added this new wrinkle to the game. Since you are only allowed to guess once with no editing, a few smart people found their way around that rule. To hopefully fix it, once you post your answer, I or anyone else after you post, must "quote" you and post the quote. Once someone posts your quote, it is set in stone as your final answer. Example: Someone posts that they guess 11. I or anyone else sees the answer 11. We hit "quote" on the post and then post it to our thread. Now the guesser has no way of changing the guess! Pretty smart, right??? Big Mike is always looking out for the best interest of The Big Mike Readers!!!! The guesser can change the answer until someone quotes and posts it. That is it everyone. Don't rush to guess since we are taking 20 people to the 3rd round, make sure you get it right!!!!!! I hope everyone enjoys Silver Dollar City!!!! Peace, Big Mike Big Mike ALWAYS takes care of his readers!!! I hope you enjoyed everybody! How many duckies were there??? Peace, Big Mike This hut was actually used for a person who came down here to get away from everything for peace and quiet. Alright, there has to be some salamanders or bats around here somewhere! The last of the daylight I will see for over an hour. You enter the cave through this door at the bottom of a long stairway. The sign says salamanders and bats! Big Mike is not coming out of the cave without a picture of one of those for the valuable Big Mike Readers! The cave map. You start on the left and end on the right. Marvel Cave inside Silver Dollar City. If you can make it through the enterance, you can take the tour. I was walking in the park and came across this sign. How can I pass up the Worlds largest natural dome and also the worlds only cave railway??? Its also free with your admission to the park!! Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present to you, Credit #688 for Big Mike!!!!!! You can't stop The Big Man, you can only hope to contain him! I have to stay in coaster shape throughout the coaster season, not just leading up to the TPR trips! Here is the whole track. Big Mike could not get the lap bar to close and felt stupid with a whole full line watching. Big Mike stewed all day and waited until 15 minutes before closing for one last try with less lines. The Grand Exposition Coaster! Notice Big Mike did not give you a credit count on this one One of these foam factories for the kids and Big Mike. Big Mike loves shooting the kids with foam balls! A shooting game. Now to look at a few other attractions at the park. The swing ride. Exclusive shot well hidden from the public eye. The lift, and people looking right at you. Mark and Stephen chose frontwards. Not like usual backwards coasters that the whole train goes backwards, this has frontwards and backwards on the SAME train! What is cool about this ride is you can choose if you want to ride frontwards or backwards. Hey! Look who is in line. TPR readers Mark and Stephen who I met yesterday also! Thunderation! Credit #687 for Big Mike! Talking about nature, I like how the wildlife comes out of the woods here to watch the coasters go by! This was a nice nature shop. This store had a Big Mike wacky hat to show you. I told you that Silver Dollar City was patriotic. OH NO!!! They ARE the ducks that float around in the Ducky Game. Even the Duckys lost their job in this tough economy! Now to show you some of the stores. These ducks on sale look like the ones floating around in the Ducky Game. I managed to get a picture of the splashdown where you get wet. And away we go! This is the hole they must be talking about. The benches you ride on, wet already. This tips Big Mike off that he is going to get wet. Fire in the Hole! Credit #686 for Big Mike! Root beer float time for the Big Man. Big Mike is not above ordering a kids meal also that is less than 1/2 price of the adults meal. The person at the lemonade stand said this place was hopping last week when it was 107 degrees, but now that it is 75 degrees, it is dead. Lots of choices. Now it is time to show you some of the food I found. The lift. The person in the 2nd row is pointing to the condos I stayed at in the background. The train. Wildfire! Credit #685 for Big Mike! I thought this water tree was cool, and the two little kids also. Colorful scenery. A fruit monument. The broken track in the last picture can be found on this roof along with an upside down coaster train. Great stuff. Between showing you all the coasters, I will show you other stuff too! Here is a few pictures of the scenery I found. Built on a mountainside, you get lots of great views while riding. Over the hill and enjoying lots of air. Ready on the launch pad. The train uses a transfer to get from the station to the launch pad. The train. Powder Keg! Credit #684 for Big Mike! There are a lot of miltary and battle theming around the park. The park is very patriotic and has veterans salute the flag at park opening. The park map. Here are the prices. Silver Dollar City in Branson Missouri!

Thank you Jeff! I really wish I had the skills to do some of this. LOL Peace, Big Mike

Hello Friends!!! Chugging along here with the updates on the Heart of America tour! This stop was at Celebration City, a nice park in Branson Missouri. This will be the last update before the Find The Ducky Round #2 begins!! Maybe it is just me, but it seems like EVERYONE is posting trip reports at a feverious pace, I cant even keep up with them all! Peace, Big Mike Find the Ducky Round #2 will be the NEXT trip report!!!!! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike That ends the night and this trip report, with the exception of... Water, fire, lasers, fireworks, and music! 3-D moon shot courtesy of The Big Mike Road Show 2008. It is even in 3-D!!! When it gets dark at Celebration City, they have a nightly show to watch which is really good. How about a funnel cake that fits in a pizza box? They ate some of this already too! This new one made HUGE splashdowns. The new for 2008 ride, Roaring Falls! These were new about 10 years ago??? One of these too. Dog show. Flume ride. These were cool. Rockem sockem robots. You get in and control them fight, and try to knock each others block off! I so could have gotten my ass kicked by Larry on this! Big Mike LOVES go-carts. The only problem with free go-carts is the 45 minute wait in line. Big Mike used that wait time to scout out the best go-carts of course. Big Mike got his top pick and started 5th out of 12, and finished in FIRST PLACE of course, lapping all but 1. Big Mike was most impressed by the FREE go carts!! You don't see that very often anymore! Just in case you were flying overhead! Here is the rest of Celebration City in the pictures ahead. A blurry picture of Big Mike Readers is also better than no picture at all! TPR Readers Stephen and Mark came out to say hello to The Big Mike Road Show 2008, THANKS! Credit #683 for Big Mike! A blurry picture of Big Mike is better than no picture at all The was a nice ride. The lift. The front of the car looks great. This was a hard coaster to get pictures of, so I have a few from different angles for The Big Mike Readers. Ozark Wildcat! Some crazy turns. Lift. Cars. Overview. Thunderbolt! Credit #682 for Big Mike! Credit #681 for Big Mike! Here is one of them. Some good drops too. A good view of the track too. See what I mean? You get a good view from up at the top. The lift. Cars. Jack Rabbit! The park map. Here are the prices and the various options. Celebration City!

Hello Friends!!! The 3rd park I visited on The Heart of America Tour was Route 66 Carousel Park right on the Missouri/Kansas border! This is ANOTHER park that has not had a trip report done on it by anyone yet. So when you are in the neighborhood and want to go, take another look at Big Mike's trip report I hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike It is worth the drive just to say you drove on the famed Rt 66! Hope you enjoyed! The Ducky 2nd round is 2 trip reports away now!! Peace, Big Mike Bumper Cars. Go Carts. Batting cages. Mini Golf. You really can't call it a carousel park without a carousel. Ferris wheel and kid rides. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this a McDonalds playground thing? Double correct me if it isn't Mayor McCheese! Since that is it for coasters, I will show you some other things at the park like this tilt a whirl. Credit #680 for Big Mike! The drop. Ride Op: "That guy sure is sad and pathetic". The lift POV. The short haired, golden tanned, million dollar smile guy! The track. The train. The tiger did look terrifying. It kind of looked like Hot Fuzz Rich was whoring AGAIN right before me. I moved on to one that I could ride, Tiger Terror! I could have easily fit in there too! Here is the course anyway. Big Mike was praying and pleading just like the Go Gator seems to be doing, but to no avail. ... The Go Gator had a limit of 52 inches and neither the ride op or the lady in charge was willing to give Big Mike a break! I would only need to buy one ticket because.... Here are the prices. Route 66 Carousel Park!!