Michigan's Adventure in a few days

[Reon]

So, I'm at Bowling Green State University now down in Bowling Green, OH. Its about an hour away from America's Rockin' Roller Coast, and ~4 from both Waldameer and MiA. While I plan on hitting both parks before the season ends, it seems like this will be my last weekend to hit up Michigan for free thanks to my Platinum Pass (Dont worry, CP fanboys...I've already been to the Point twice since I arrived in BG and I'm going again tommarow )

 

Anyways, on to the question...How much time do you think it would take to hit everything? I see the park's open from 11-9 this Sunday, and it will be approximately a 4 hour drive to go up and back. I don't want to completely ware myself out, but I would like to get all the credits and hopefully also the other park perks in onmy visit.

 

Advice away TPR-ers! And thanks in advance.

[Chris Benvenuto]

In total, it takes about 3-4 hours to get everything at MiA on a lightly crowded day at the park. 5-6 Hours if it's any more crowded, and about 2 hours with next to nothing in terms of crowds.

 

Be warned on Zach's Zoomer,Wolverine Wildcat and Corkscrew they run only one train. Thunderhawk and Shivering are the only two coasters there that run two trains, the rest is Big Dipper (kiddie coaster, one train) and the Mad Mouse with several vehicles.

 

Off the topic of advice, they really need to reformat Wildcat into a two train setup. Because seriously that takes awhile and is painful to wait in line for, and the same thing for Corkscrew, but Corkscrew is a different story and the train itself is a menace for trying to get a tall person (like me) to get wedged in there.

 

In all regards, you should be able to conquer everything once by 4pm, and if you want rerides, do after that's said and done.

 

Hope this helps!

[Reon]

Good to know. One other quick question...Wolverine looks kind of like a Phoenix clone from the pics I saw on RCDB. Am I horribly wrong, or does it actually deliver?

[Airtime&Gravity]

^It has some airtime, and even though it is a Dinn coaster, they brought us Psyclone, Mean Streak, and Predator, it is actually really smooth. The only airtime is on the hills that lead into turnarounds, but it is still fun.

 

1. Get to the park early as it is located off of a two lane road that can get backed up.

 

2. Even if it is filled to capacity, you shouldn't need to spend much time there. Most of the queues are fairly small, and the only rides with slow moving queues are Wolverine Wildcat and Corkscrew.

 

3. Ride Shivering Timbers, then anything else you want to, then back to Timbers

 

4. There aren't many food options in the park, but unless you leave something in the car, you're stuck there. The only restaurants I saw were: Coasters, a pizza restaurant(seemed to only serve entire pizzas, snack stalls, and outdoor grills selling hot dogs and snacks.

 

5. The water park looked good, but it will probably be packed if it is hot out. When I went two weeks ago, the water park was packed, but except for the few hours during the lunch rush, the ride park was dead.

 

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As for crowds, I doubt it'll be crowded. When I went, I heard someone say that schools started the following Monday, so it was the last weekend of freedom for the kids. It was also really really hot, so a lot of people went to the park to cool off. Even though the parking lot was filled to capacity, it was not uncomfortable unlike if you went to a major park that had a filled parking lot.

 

So make sure you get a lot of rides on Timbers. If you don't like it much at first, ride it later in the day. When I first rode it around noon, it was fun with some airtime moments, but nothing too special. Later in the day, it hauled @$$, and there was a lot of airtime. It was a bit rough (similar to Avalanche/Hellcat in 06/07), but nothing terrible. Timbers even knocked off El Toro to be my #1 coaster if you need to know how much I like it.

 

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Pros for Mich. Adv:

1. Timbers

2. Price

3. Timbers

4. Operations (for most part)

5. Timbers

6. Cleanliness

5. Timbers

 

 

Cons to Mich. Adv.

 

1. No shade

2. No thrill flat rides

3. limited food options

[larrygator]

The water park is very good and popular. in good weather it draws a lot of people and keeps the ride side emptier than it would appear from the # of cars in the parking lot.