Photo TR - Wild Waves

[odie]

Yesterday I finally went to my first theme park since October. It's been such a long off-season, but I made it through alive. I brought my camera along and decided to give you guys my annual Wild Waves update. I guess I'll write a little too; so here it goes:

 

We left for the park at about 9:30 and got there almost an hour later. The weather was a little overcast but it cleared up as soon as we went through the front gate. The first stop was getting my season pass processed and grabbing us a locker. Then we changed, and we were off to the slides.

 

We hit Zuma falls first (The 4 seat family slide) and I was a little disappointed to see that the raft lift had still not been put in. But we still carried our raft up to the top and went on down. It was OK, like usual, but nothing too special. The thing I really liked was the energetic lifeguards. We were crawling up the tower and all of the sudden 5 gallons (at least) of water fell on top of us! We looked up to see a lifeguard leaning over the edge of the handrail with a big smile on his face and a big Gatorade bucket in one hand. We made it to the top and set our tube into the water, and then he screams "WELCOME TO ZUMA!!!” and splashes more water at us.

 

It was sad to find that he seemed to be the only lifeguard in the park that was appreciating his job. We made our way through all the other raft slides, all four green slides, the activity pool, 2 speed slides, 1 hydro slide, and the wave pool in less than a hour and a half. I have to admit that the one hydro slide scares me every time. As you come over the curve of the drop, you look down and see a slope that looks like it could go on forever. But as soon as you know it, you crash into the splash pool at the bottom. It's the best slide at Wild Waves by far.

 

After the slides, we dried off and headed around the lake to the rides. We were going to try the new Disk'o first (since it was new), but someone had just thrown up on it. So instead, we hit the Falling Star first. Then the Disk'o was ready for us. I had no idea what the ride was going to be like, so I was a little nervous. But there was no reason to be! I ended up really liking this ride. Especially when you’re facing straight toward the sky and it yanks you back down to the ground. It's nothing I could do twice in a row though... It's just a *little* too spiny for me and A LOT too uncomfortable for me.

 

Next we just hit some flat rides around the park and worked our way up to Timberhawk. Nothing too special... besides the Kang-A-Bounce! Which is a must ride when coming to wild waves. We had a holdup at the bumper cars, which turned into a 20-minute wait! The ride operator didn't know what to do when one of the cars stopped working. So he called the park mechanic guy and together, they pushed it into the corner. Then he started his speech to us about the ride rules etc. Every sentence started the same way: "OK, ummm.... ". To me, it just seemed very unprofessional, but 20 minutes isn’t too big of a deal.

 

Timberhawk was just Timberhawk. It has two OK hills and the rest are just kind of fun. I did notice that I seemed to like it in the front more than the back. It's usually the opposite. But it seemed like at the top of every hill you would just get slammed out of your seat (in the front), and in the back, you just kind of rolled over them. But I still wouldn't consider this ride anything amazing.

 

We worked our way back down the hill to the Wild Thing. We got into the front seat in less than 10 minutes of waiting. This was my first time in the very front on this ride and I like it MUCH better in the second to back seat. It's smoother, and has airtime down the hill back there.

 

At this point we just did some more flat rides, Klondike, Lumberjack, and a couple more times around Timberhawk. Then, we were all really tired and ready to go home. This park is a workout for me, and I'm a Cross Country runner!

 

Overall, yesterday was a pretty great day. Low crowds, lots of rides, and some sun too! I'm glad PARC added the Disk'o, and I hope they keep adding stuff like this. Maybe even one day, a drop ride! *Wink wink*

 

So... here’s some photos:

KANG-A-BOUNCE MADNESS!!! More to come!

It seems way bigger than this in real life.

Disk'o bottom!

Time to try out the new Disk'o!

The Falling Star gives a nice view of the park.

First ride of the day: Falling Star.

Nice kids ride.

No more fountain

Mandatory fish picture.

But the black hydro slide is better!

The speed slides are good...

The old green slides.

"Don't worry lonely footer, the lifeguard said the raft lift is coming..." Whisper: "...last summer."

First up, 5 gallons of water falling on your head! By the way, when we went, the line didn't exist.

Park map.

[odie]

More photos... but first:

 

I forgot about my lunch story! I walked up to Subway and started ordering my $6.50 1/2 foot long and the lady looks at my TPR shirt and starts laughing. She says "Do you think your going to get special permissions just 'cause your wearing that shirt?" I laughed at said "No, no, no, it's a website and I'm just a proud member of it." She laughs again and shows everyone she's working with my shirt. I tried to explain to her that I'm really into theme parks and stuff like that and I found a great site online that I like, so I bought a shirt from it. I ended up talking to her for about 5 minutes. She was really nice but I don't think I could ever convince her that TPR exists.

 

Anyways... onto the pictures.

Huss Swinging Ship.

Through the pulled down, cut, placed, and nailed trees!

Timberhawk.

Pony Express?! Where are we again?!

"Call the mechanic and he'll move it out of the way, duh!"

"OK, ummm.... what do I do if a car stops working?"

Hey look PARC! Room for a drop ride!

The naughty kid chair.

Can't wait!

The helix of death kiddie ride.

This slide had some steep drops.

Watch out for the cone on the dry slide!

[odie]

The last update:

And I leave you with a photo of Timberhawk's first drop. Thanks for reading!

Timberhawk's turn around.

Lumberjack's falls.

The naughty kid cage.

Lumberjack's nice-lookin' sign.

Klondike Gold Rusher from the Ferris Wheel.

The tea cups of death.

"GRRRR... I'm a left over from Fright Fest!"

OMG! IT'S DRIVING ITSELF!!! = O

I'm glad we did the slides earlier!

Wild Thing corkscrew #1

Lift hill shot

[TheRapidsNerd]

Never seen Wild Waves before. Neat place. Good to see Lumber Jack Falls/Old Mill Scream (Opryland) again. Cool TR.

[Corkscrew]

Nice TR, I was there about a week ago.

 

I agree that the Kang a Bounce is a must ride, it's actually really fun. The only thing I don't like is how the restraint literally crushes you. I didn't ride the Disko when I was there because I get motion sick easily, but now I kind of wish I had tried it.