taytig Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 My First TR - I hope you enjoy! On August 11th, I was sitting around wondering what to do with my daughter. It was hot, we were all grumpy - NO A/C and my wife suggested we go to an amusement park. She was going to stay home with the youngest and I got a Daddy and Morgan day. I looked at a few more known parks but didn't want to fight the heat and the crowds so I decided to take the 2 hour drive to Martin's Fantasy Island. It turned out to be a great day and a great little park. Here are a few details. We arrived at the park after a 2 hour drive and 30 minute wait to cross the border into the USA. As I drove into the parking lot, at 1:30pm, I was surprised - no massive lot of cars and no $15 charge. In fact is was half empty and free! I parked about 20 spots from the main gate and we went to buy our tickets. It was fairly cheap and only cost us $42 total to get in! I also found out that they had a special as well - Wednesdays are $49 for a family of 4 when tickets are purchased at the Duty Free Store, but I 'll save that day for a return visit. We went in and immediately my daughter wanted to ride the "Drop Ride". It was a Moser Drop tower for kids, but it ran a fairly long style. We waited for about 3 ride cycles and had our turn. Morgan loved it! In fact, it would have been worth my $42 to watch her ride all day! We then searched for the small entry to the main midway. It was literally and small archway and if you were walking with more than 2 people across, you wouldn't get through. Anyways, we proceeded to ride the super slides and then made our way to the icon of the park - the Silver Comet. The Comet was great. I was expecting a rough ride, but it was very smooth for a wooden coaster and the forces were pretty good to. Morgan had not been on many coasters and I was unsure if she would like it. As we crested the lift, she was concerned it was too tall and her face on the first drop was sheer terror and we soared to the ground. As we crested the first hill, the expression changed to sheer delight. She giggle and laughed throughout the rest of the ride. Another coaster enthusiast is born! The ride didn't seem to let up speed and took each turn with just the right amount of forces. There are no flat areas of the ride and it seems to pick up speed as it runs throughout he course. The only down side was the hard breaks as we slammed into the break run. Morgan looked at me and I knew this was going to be the first of many rides today. This was not a problem as I think there were maybe 100 people in the park. We had a few more fantastic rides and Morgan even rode with her hands up the entire circuit! She made this enthusiast proud (tear in eye)! We then proceeded to do a few more rides in the midway. Sea Ray Ship, Sizzler and then we saw the larger drop tower - at least we thought it was the drop tower. Turns out it was a starflyer! We hopped on board and waited for about 5 minutes while the ride op found enough people to ride and then we were off. I have to say, it was not the experience I was expecting. It went a lot faster than I thought and, even though it wasn't too high, I was a bit nervous. Overall it was fun, but unusual as there are literally minimal restraints as we soared high above the midway. Let's just say I held Morgan's hands on this one. After this we headed to the water park. The water park isn't much, but it was a great place to cool off. We did the 2 body slides, the "toilet bowl" as Morgan called it, the lazy river and the wave pool. Overall a fun place. We then continued out to the midway to ride the old fashioned cars, Tilt-A-Whirl, Giant Wheel, Full Tilt and the other credit - the Crazy mouse. Not much to talk about as it was a standard spinning mouse that didn't really spin. But fun none-the-less. We headed back along the midway, did a few more rides and returned to the Silver Comet. We ended the day with trip around a little lake in a canoe. The park was clean, the staff were pretty good and lines were next to nothing. The only real downside was the lack of shade. Overall Morgan and I had a great day. I hope you enjoy the pictures! Weclome to fantasy Island - Lokk boss - da Plane, da Plane! First Up - The Moser Tower! Fee Fi Fo Fum - DROP! Sign Shot! An Enthusiast is Born!! Lift Hill Enthusiasts Rejoice! What goes up, must come down..... No Train , but the photo was taken from the train - does that count? Lots of Track in them there supports.... Lots of Turns... Brace yourself - the brakes can break..... Ride Data - Still a good ride, even without timberliners. Yeah for PTC! Really! Our Ride Op! He presses buttons! Ooooh! Buttons! Surprising Star Flyer - Sorry, no drop Tower here! Crazy Mouse - it was operational - there are cars on that track somewhere....Should we play spot the mouse? Morgan, Me, Midway, Midway through the day! See - I told you it wasn't busy..... Full Tilt - it didn't really tilt....but it was full! Us on the Train! A nice slow ride around the park, but the best spot to get coaster photos! Fence - taken by mistake - but a pretty good fence photo if you ask me! Toilet bowl Slide - lots of fun! But not ACE Approved - you had to be under 200lbs to ride with a partner..... Body Slides - very fast and fun! Morgan and I by canoe lake! Thanks for reading my TR!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Awesome fence photo, I agree. Nice to know the Silver Comet is still running well, I love that coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidra Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Nice trip report, love the small parks. My daughter's name is Morgan too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawesome1124 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Nice trip report, especially for your first one. I have heard a lot of good things about Martin's and Silver Comet, but never actually been there. I would love to get out there sometime though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taytig Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 It really is a great little park. I think I am starting to like the smaller parks versus the corporate chain parks. They don't have as many rides and there are not usually huge coasters, but the value for the dollar and overall experience are more enjoyable for me! Silver comet was also a great wooden coaster. It would be in my top 5 wooden coasters for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Wow, nice pics of Silver Comet. If I had known that you could get those kind of shots from the train I would have ridden it. Glad you had a good time. Martin's is a pleasant park with so much potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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