Theme-Park-Urge Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 After Indiana Beach, the second stop on my 2008 Midwest Tour was the Wisconsin Dells - namely, Mt. Olympus and Timber Falls. Although rain was predicted the entire time I was to be there, I thought that the rain gods would be on my side, especially since I was heading to the home of Zeus. This had been my first time to the Dells since senior prom, when we rented out a block of cabins on a lake (Lake Delton? I’m not sure). Needless to say, the area has changed a bit since I was last there (15 years ago. Dang, I'm getting old). Heck, there weren’t even any coasters there 15 years ago that I remember. Speaking of coasters, Mt. Olympus has a couple that are pretty decent and a couple that impressed me for various reasons. Hades, which I like to think of as Voyage’s older cousin, was thoroughly a fun ride with a thrilling layout. First, I rode in the middle of the train to much adulation. Later in the day, I tackled the front seat and found out that the parking lot tunnel is pitch black even in the front but seemed to give a more jackhammering ride. Overall though, Hades packed a pretty good punch and was a seemingly endless ride. In fact, Hades’ pre-drop course is more thrilling than some coasters I’ve ridden. Cyclops was pretty uncontrollable for such a not-so-large (I can’t exactly call it small) coaster, after braving the age-restrictive back seat. And let me tell you: Holy $h!t, that last drop nearly took my arm off!! Seriously, I had my arms up for the last drop and the forces from the violent ejector air yanked my arms clear behind me with my hand smashing the back of the train. Luckily, I managed to escape with only a severely bruised thumb with a nail that was one step away from falling off. It made for painful picture taking but left more of an impression on my view of the coaster: I don’t think any one drop (or coaster, for that matter) is more pleasurably brutal than Cyclops. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone that thoroughly enjoyed Georgia Cyclone in the back seat too. Zeus was pretty short, simple, and rough. I had heard that this coaster was in need of some TLC, and I couldn’t agree more. It jackhammered throughout the course much to the dismay of my already-hurting brain. I think with a little bit of rehabbing this coaster could become a very enjoyable out-and-back (again). Pegasus was a cute little ride that didn’t provide much in thrills but did finish with a nice bunny-hop into the station. Finally, Opa! was your standard-fare spinning mouse that spun quite a bit since I was the only one in the car. Other than coasters, there are really only go-kart and waterpark attractions to occupy your time. I’m not a huge waterpark fan, but I did enjoy the indoor not-so lazy river and two of the slides. With Mt. Olympus conquered rather quickly due to virtually no lines (Hades queue was the longest of the day, clocking in at a meager 10 minutes), I headed over to Timber Falls for Avalanche - the infamous left-hand-turn coaster. Its layout is nothing to write home about (after the drop, it’s left turn, airtime hill, left turn, airtime hill, left turn, airtime hill, etc.), but it was a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be! After Avalanche, I relaxed with a couple pitchers of margaritas at Pedro’s next door thanks to a buy-one-get-one-free drink deal card that covered 32 local restaurants/bars. This may have been given out due to sagging business in the Dells, which was obvious. At times, the Dells didn’t even seem like a vacation destination, since there weren’t crowds of people anywhere I visited. In fact, the area by Tommy Bartlett’s was a virtual ghost town, most-likely due to the draining/flooding of Lake Delton. Perhaps the bad weather the Dells endured earlier this summer combined with the slow economy has put the area in a rather precarious position. I have the opinion that the future of the area lies in all-inclusive resorts like Mt. Olympus and Kalahari, rather than the park/attraction hopping that was so common in years past and gave the Wisconsin Dells a bit of its charm (albeit white-trashy charm). Anyway, enough chatter. On to the pictures. Thanks for reading and enjoy! llama (!!!)... I think I got that one right! (Did I?) Stay tuned for part two. moose (?!?)... maybe elk (?!?) some species of, erm, some animal... (If you haven't noticed, I'm not very good with animal names. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of animals in general. I don't trust 'em). deer (?!?)... There actually ARE things to see on Duck Adventure. There's a little farm area with reindeer (?!?)... I know, it's just a picture of trees. I like the way it looked, so I included it. Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself Far, a long long way to run (Sorry, that song just popped into my head when I looked at the pic. Feel free to send me hate mail.) Not quite sure what this has to do with anything... If you're unfamiliar with Ducks, they're pretty much boats on wheels & you see them frequently in the Dells (yes, on the streets too). This one gave you a nice backstage tour of Mt. Olympus. Now realizing that it was my right thumb that was smashed & I kind of need that thumb to hold my camera, I decided to ride Duck Adventure. Surely I could remain injury-free on it... And, of course, there's the Trojan Horse go-karts. ...and a Swing. With my thumb throbbing with pain, I decided to take some time off from riding & strolled around to enjoy the sights. They've got a little kiddie section with a Bi-Plane... One last shot of the evil, yet insanely fun (don't get me wrong) Cyclops with Zeus on the right. That probably looked like me: holding one hand up coz my other hand was in my crotch attempting to squeeze the pain away. (Again, notice nobody in the back seat on this train. I'm an idiot!) My thumb was smashed & all black & blue, leaving the nail barely hanging on by a thread. My arms (that were up in standard drop position) were ripped back behind me & my hand slammed against the rear of the car, causing intense pain that kind of distracted me from this point forward. Well, let me tell ya, it is WAY more intense than it looks! Now I know why the last seat is age-restricted!! I'm an idiot!! This drop is so pretty! How can it be remotely intense?!? One more drop to go. I think I can hold my hands up for this. (Notice there's no fools like me in the last car on this train). Oh crap! Violent ejector air!! Time to hang on again! This isn't so bad. That looks like a harmless little bunny hop. Yep. I'm holding gonna hold on a little! Better safe than sorry! OK. That was a pretty intense drop for only being 75 feet! Have no fear! Look! It's a baby! There's no way this coaster is gonna get to me in the back seat! I'm a professional! Sure. Why not?!? I'll do it! I have the cajones! I'm a die-hard coaster enthusiast dammit! How bad can it be?!? Well, since there ARE no other rides, I guess I'll subject myself to further punishment. Haven't they ever heard "Not to kick a man when he's down"?!? Now that my brain is mush, I think I'll walk around & check out some less-intense rides. How about Dive to Atlantis? Nope. It's been turned into Picnic Bench: The Ride, a new prototype based on the wildly-popular Bench: The Ride. ...as confirmed by the girl on the right in the second row. Does her "pose" remind you of anyone in particular...? Ok, that last description wasn't fun & neither is Zeus... It's at about this point that Zeus stops becoming fun & turns into a hold-on-for-dear-life-as-you-protect-the-contents-of-your-brain kind of fun. Wheee! Zeus' first drop. Zeus' lift from UNDER the trees. Ah ha! (BTW: After as many pics as I took, it was hard to figure out which coaster was which sometimes. Most of MO's woodies look the same when you take shots like this.) Zeus' pre-lift. I love the access ladder standing right there. Somehow the lack of idiots leads to park safety. With Hades conquered & thoroughly enjoyed, I visited his neighbor Zeus. And, finally, a drop back into the station. Phew! That ride was intense! (Trust me, it's more intense & exciting in person.) Sweet! Overbanked turnaround. Whipping thru the trees. Even MORE air! A great view from the queue. More twisted track! Super-fast station fly-under! Believe it or not, Hades isn't even close to being done with you yet. Airtime hill! once again. Seriously, the tunnels on Hades put Voyage's post-midcourse brake tunnel to shame, IMO - although they acheive two totally different sensations. One more pop of air before disappearing back into the tunnel... And, it's pretty photogenic too! Where's the train when I need it?!? The post-parking-lot-tunnel course doesn't consist of much, but it is fun as hell! ...then suddenly you're launched back into the daylight clear on the other side of the parking lot! ...you see THIS as you shimmy left, right, left, for what feels like eternity... (image ganked from somewhere online). ...then just as you're falling faster... ...until you're speeding out of control... ...then creep over the edge... ...coz you go up to the top... The drop, however, IS special... And what a lift it is! Actually, there's nothing special about the lift except that it's around 150 ft tall. OK, that's not that special either. Moving on... Finally, we're ready to head up the lift! The end (finally) of the pre-lift course. These "backstage" photos were obtained on Duck Adventure. More on that later. I don't think I can get any closer!! Yep. Even more. Seriously, this coaster has my favorite pre-lift course! More twisted Hades track. More of Hades' track hidden in the trees. Some of this is pre-lift track & some's post-lift. Really, I can't tell which is which... One of Hades' pre-lift turns. The best way to describe it is: Voyage's turnaround without the extreme forces. A couple seconds into it & you've already gotten airtime. Twice! Hades' pre-lift course is also more thrilling (thrillinger?!?) than most coasters' post-lift. The drop out of Hades' station (!!) is larger than & funner than most. I know that funner's not a word but why not?!? More than large = larger. More than fun should = funner. I mean more than funny = funnier. So why not funner?!? Hades' entrance. I've been looking forward to riding this ever since TPR got back from their midwest trip in 07. Mt. Olympus' star attraction: Hades. Hooray! I'm finally here! Btw: I love the plethora of soccer mom mini-vans. Yet another sign & a coaster. Please tell me I must be getting close!... Another sign & some waterslides. Yep, I must really be getting close... Mt. Olympus' Hotel Rome. I must be getting close... But perhaps the storms were moving out. *fingers crossed* The sky led me to believe that my weekend in the Dells would be a wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downunder Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 ^Nice report, ditto on the pre lift section of Hades that was sensational, especially in the back. I've got to say Hades at night in the back was amazing, it just blew me away, . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theme-Park-Urge Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Part two: Down the street from the park, I found this adorable hotel: The Carousel Inn. My heart went pitter patter when I saw it! Stay tuned. Next up: Timber Falls! And finally, the last set of waterslides. Well, that just about does it. That's Mt. Olypus. I had a great time there but found myself wanting a little more. IMO, they desparately need flats to keep people like me there longer than a couple hours. Especially since their coaster selection is rather small & not that re-rideable; I can't imagine marathoning ANY of their coasters. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun! Their old wave pool: Tidal Wave. This one seemed to sputter out a little wave every so often. Two huge way-too-intense-for-my-liking slides located at the back of the park. A huge blue mess 'o' slides. This photo was too adorable to pass up. With my knee banged up along with my thumb, I thought it best to call it quits and just wander thru the outdoor waterpark. This is their new River Troy - another faster lazy river. I opted to try out two of the waterslides since I felt comfortable enough walking up the stairs at an indoor park. I don't know why but outdoor stairs really bother my acrophobia. Indoors, I'm fine. BTW: The slides were AWESOME!! There's also the Warriors Water Walk which looked kind of fun. It looks like a kid's drowning in the Jaguar Hot Tub, yet no one seems bothered by it. ...and cool theming. ...slides... Hispaniola Bay had a ton of stuff for the kiddies. Water fountains... There's a not-so-slow lazy river, aptly titled Mayan Raging River. I did manage to further injure myself on this when I jumped in to retrieve a raft & scrapped my knee on the river floor. Ouch! Ah, the indoor water park. I can sneak into my suit in there. That way no one will see my pasty white skin. Triton overview. Here are the Triton slides that I didn't want to climb the stairs for. Plus, I didn't have my suit on yet. Now out to some of the waterpark attractions... Poseidon's Rage is a new wave pool that throws nine-foot waves at you every 90 seconds or something. I was unable to take any ground-breaking pics of the spinning mouse (big surprise, eh?), so we're done in here. ...and Opa! the spinning mouse. ... a spring ride called, erm, Spring Ride... ...a Disk'O... Wait! Where's the flippin' Disk'O?!? It's listed on the website, map, etc. & I was SO looking forward to ride it. Where'd it go?!? ...a Crazy Trolley... ...a bowling game that used little bocce-like balls... Time to venture into the Indoor Park section where I found Teacups... OK, I remember reading a reference to these robot seats somewhere but I can't remember where or what it was about. Someone please enlighten me!! Why is this just standing off the path?!? This is the extent of their games. Small but nice. I didn't see anyone play a single game all day though. Oh lord. Starbucks has invaded! Who was the Greek god of coffee again?!? I had a "Chicago Style" Gyro here. Which I can tell you is MUCH better in Chicago. But I'll give them points for trying. I wouldn't dare go in for fear that I may not fit through the door on the way out. Here's a gift shop where you can purchase exotic stones imported from Greece or cheaply made touristy plastic goods made in China. I can't remember... The shops had REALLY nice signs IMO but once inside, they were kind of blah. BTW: How is pizza Greek?!? Mt. Olympus doesn't really have a midway per se, but this'd be the closest to it. And Helios, which was closed down. Tiny Heroes beginner track. The Orion Intermediate Track. Oh yeah, Mt. Olympus has a lot of go-karts. This is the Hermes Turbo Track but you probably could of guessed that from the sign, huh... Future TPRers?!? Could KidTums future husband be on Little Titans as we speak? However, the foliage around this little coaster was top notch. Even if they did allow adults, I wouldn't have ridden it, unlike some people I know... ;-P Little Titans was a cute little kiddie coaster that didn't allow adults on it. If I'm paying 10 bucks, the ride cycle better be longer than 30 seconds or a couple full-height swings! Apollo's Swing looked bigger than the one's I had ridden, but wasn't worth the 10 bucks (if I remember correctly). They had a huge Screamin' Swing but it was an upcharge attraction. And another airtime hill into the station! Airtime hill! Finally some excitement! Another on the pond shot. Luckily a train was going by. A little more of the layout taken from ON the pond. Pegasus' drop. (Exciting caption, I know. But, hey, it's not that exciting of a coaster.) Pegasus' lift FRAMED by the trees. Ah ha! Pegasus' cute little pre-lift drop. Ok, my adventure into the wild backwoods of Wisconsin is over & my thumb's not hurting much since I popped an unhealthy amount of Advil, so let's go ride some more coasters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theme-Park-Urge Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Part three (aka The End): One final look at Avalanche as I decide to call it a nite & go get some half-priced margaritas at Pedro's next door. The Wisconsin Dells has been good to me today, even though I'm pretty banged up. Thanks for reading! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, they've got a couple log rides, aptly titled Timber Wolf Log Ride. Here they come! More airtime goodness! More left-hand turn goodness! The miniature golf course make this coaster look beautiful. (That just SOUNDS weird, but it's true!) And these riders are fixin' to crash into that waterfall!! (The hair never lies & that's some serious "h"airtime!) These riders know what's up. Look at it. How can you NOT get air on those hills?!? Seriously though, this little coaster is so much fun for so little that it does! There's so many little pops of air throughout the entire course. ...turn left... *yawns* ...airtime hill... ...turn left... ...airtime hill... ...turn left... ...turn left... That's all this coaster does: turn left... Two of the numerous left-hand turns that this coaster is (in)famous for. See what I was saying about being beautiful?!? The drop. Sorry, the ever-so-fun drop. Seriously, it was fun! The lift. Yep, that's the caption: "The lift". Although Avalanche technically does nothing more than provide a fence around their miniature golf courses, it is quite breathtaking from certain angles. Here's my (blurry) ticket. I'm ready to ride! Timber Falls' headlining act: Avalanche from the back parking lot. Outside the park is a huge Skycraper. If the car didn't rest at the top motionless while others boarded, I would've ridden it (even if it did cost like $20). Next stop of the day/evening: Timber Falls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike541x Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Great Tr. Awesome photos. I can't believe it's been a year since I went to Mt Olympus. I agree with a lot of the stuff you said about Zeus. When I rode that, my waist had a huge red mark all around from the airtime. The turn around was pretty brutal too. And if I recall, I even remember weeds growing out all over the track and the train plowing it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Thanks for the report. Lot's of good photos in there. I really need to get to Timber Falls. In a way, it almost looks like my perfect park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomNick Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Awesome trip report, thanks for posting it. Plenty of great photos in there, especially some nice up close shots of Hades. Reminds me of many of the photos I snagged during a Voyage photo walk-back at HoliWood Nights in 2007. The Dells is an intriguing place that I figure I will check out at some point. The 2 GG woodies I've been on so far (Voyage and RFII) were both phenomenal, so I'd love to ride their first baby. Although, many seem to think that the real star out there is Avalanche. Looking at those photos, I can see why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts