Photo TR: TPR's Middle America Trip

[chickenbowl]

Great update. I really want to get out to more Midwestern parks. Looks like you guys had fun.

[XII]

All right onto the next park. Six Flags Great America. This was the one park on the trip I had previously visited. Except this visit was much better due to the fact that my last visit did not include ERT, Backstage Tours, or a bridge party in a thunderstorm. All of which were present on this trip, which made this great park even better. Anyways, onto the photos.

During our drive to SFGAm, our bus driver pointed out this gorge. I forgot what it was called, but I took a photo of it and it does look cool.

Meh. Screw that gorge. Who needs it when we have Ice Bat.

Shockingly enough, there was NO Chicago Traffic at all, which brought us to our hotel much sooner than expected. While many people took this opportunity to go out drinking, or hanging out at a local restaurant, I decided to take advantage of the fact that our hotel was within walking distance of SFGAm and have a little bit of bonus SFGAm time.

Somehow, I feel like I've already gotten this credit. (Oh yeah, I already have.)

Hey Six Flags Great America. I haven't seen you in a while. Glad to be back at this awesome park.

First things first. I finally get to get my Whizzer credit that I couldn't get last time due to a damn break down.

While it was fun and all, I prefer the Tig'rr Coaster @ Indiana Beach that I rode just this morning.

Giant Drop at night.

To end my bonus night at SFGAm, I took a couple night rides on Viper. (And if I thought those rides were good, I just had to wait 24 hours to really see how good this thing can run.)

Fast foreword to the next day, we got the special privelage of being the first riders on Superman Ultimate Flight.

"Hey Kevin!! I saved you a seat!!"

"Syke!!!!!"

I miss Tatsu already.

While I may not be a fan of S:UF, being the first riders on any ride will make it better.

Up next, Ragin Cajun, the park's spinning mouse.

Not only is this ride not on the Qbot, but I also don't have the credit. Good thing we're riding now.

Good news. THIS RIDE KICKED ASS AND SPUN THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF US!!!!!! MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN PRIMEVAL WHIRL!!!!!!

Continuing on the path of getting the credits I don't have here, we rode the Little Dipper next.

While my morning ride on it was fun, I'm really looking foreword to our ERT on this tonight that will not and I mean not under any circumstance be cancelled for any reason whatsoever.

Up next, V2.

I may already have this credit, but V2 kicks ass.

Twisty Goodness.

Ok, back to getting new credits that I don't have.

Cha Ching!!!

Yup, next up was Iron Wolf.

Now a lot of people hate Iron Wolf because they claim that this ride is unbearably rough.

And they're right. It beats the crap out of you. But for some reason, I still like it. It's sort of rough, but in a funny weird hypnotic way.

Bad news for American Eagle. It really declined in quality over the past 2 years.

It's not necesarrily a bad woodie, but it's not nearly as fun as it used to be. (Nah, the ride's probably the same. It just feels like crap now that I have ridden the all mighty holiness of Prowler.)

Well at least Giant Drop hasn't declined in quality and still offers a giant drop.

Meh, Raging Bull is still fun, but I just see so much wasted potential in this ride thanks to those trims.

And with that said, it's time for lunch.

Lunch was quite entertaining as was the Q&A with it. We even got to see Dan's weiner.

After lunch, we began our giant backstage tour with a look at Superman Ultimate Flight.

"Hey!!! Tatsu may have forces, fun, a great view, and speed. But you can't get this shot on Tatsu!! So keep that in mind next time you judge me Kevin!!!"

"I'm still the inferior flying coaster. Arn't I."

Moving on with our backstage tour.

"Yes it's true. I do in fact 69 on a daily basis and I'm damn proud of it."

"Yarr!! Who dares blow my head off!!! They don't know that they just messed with Yosemitie Sam!! They'll be sorry they ever decapitated me once I get through to them!!"

Is this the park's new 2011 attraction?

Bullsh*t!! The sky is blue!!!

Yeah. Backstage tours are awesome.

Because you can get great rare shots like this one.

One Splash Battle ride is enough for this trip, thank you very much though.

I didn't ride Demon this year. But I'm sure that it hasn't changed since 2008.

And now, lots and lots of Raging Bull Backstage Photos.

You read the sign. Everyone slow down and form a single file line please!

"Umm, a little privacy please?"

"Thanks. That's much better."

I should warn you all, this ride has very nasty trims.

Thanks for the warning strange man with the camera.

YAY!!!! Backstage Viper!!!!

Double Dip Goodness.

Yup. Time for another Batman the ride Clone.

"Hey, you know that the blue color scheme is currently in."

"So, I'm still the original and best Batman the ride."

Yeah, it's still an awesome ride.

Speaking of Batman, I still have to get my Dark Knight credit.

"Who's the freak with the mask?"

It's not a bad ride. It's just not nearly as good as the park makes it out to be and doesn't match the theming. It's basically the Dr. Von Dark of coasters. (Or rather, Dr. Von Dark is the Dark Knight of water slides.)

Uh oh. Those clouds don't look good.

Come on. You're going to close the coasters just because of a little rain?

Well, now it's time to play the Find an open ride game.

We found a winner!! Fiddler's Fling was still open!!

No, that's not a blurry photo. The ride actually spins that fast.

Please don't tell me that this is the end of our Little Dipper ERT.

Welcome to the TPR Bridge Party. Where all hopes and dreams of Little Dipper ERT come to die.

Holy crap. The rain really got a lot harder.

"No!! I must flee the TPR Bridge Party before all my hopes and dreams of Little Dipper ERT die!!!"

"I'm making a rain angel. And I shall call him Mr. Angel."

Oh crap. We've got lightning here. I repeat. We've got lightning here.

Yo!!! I'm the lightning beeyotch!!! I have officially murdered Little Dipper ERT! And if I continue to have my way, it'll be the end of Viper and Raging Bull ERT too. Give me some thunder!!! *evil laugh*

When did it become daytime? Oh, it's just the lightning.

Yeah, that rain is coming down pretty hard.

"A little help over here. I'm kind of stuck."

I'm not sure how it happened, but Dan actually got wet!!! =o

All right. The storms dead now. Time for Viper ERT!!!!

YAY!!!!! VIPER ERT!!!!!

EXCITEMENT EVERYONE!!!!!!

While last nights rides were fun, they had nothing on this ERT.

To make things better, the ride ran much better thanks to the rain.

We also had ERT on Raging Bull.

Yeah, this kicked some serious ass.

I think the rain helped Raging Bull as well since those were the best Raging Bull rides I ever had.

Somehow, I wouldn't be suprised if this weather report was actually accurate. Up next, Mt. Olympus and Timber Falls Photos.

[odene497]

BRIDGE PARTY!!!!!

 

Despite being told 1-2 rides from getting my Little Dipper credit that we had to exit the line, that was a seriously amazing night with everyone.

[XII]

All right. Onto the next day. This day was spent in the Wisconsin Dells where we went to Mt. Olympus and Timber Falls. Mt. Olympus, it was definitely my least favorite park on the trip (and also my least favorite park I've been to.) It's best if I just leave it at this. As for Timber Falls, I found it to be a nice little place. A nice Golf'N'Stuff style place with a crazy kickass wooden coaster running around the place is awesome. And we even ventured into Knuckleheads for some real good credit whoring. Anyways, onto our day.

All right. Today started off with a bus departure at 5:00 AM. Not a fun way to start the day.

All right. Let's start the morning off with Hades.

Looks like we picked a very good day to come to Mt. Olympus.

While I really liked Hade's prelift section and tunnels, the rest...not so much.

You're gonna need that extra padding.

Not impressed.

Zeus was sh*t. Next!!

All right!! Cyclops!! I was really looking foreword to riding this!!

Aww. Looks like the ride is having technical difficulties.

"Wait a minute. I don't see a mechanic fixing the ride. In fact, I don't see anyone up there. Hello? Are you invisible or what?"

Nope. The ride op simply didn't arrive yet. NOT IMPRESSED.

Good news. Cyclops was fun and this drop did not disappoint!!!!

Cha Ching. Credit gotten.

Credit whores, put on your sad face. No adults on the kiddy coaster.

The final credit we needed here.

In true Mt. Olympus style, the car was barely spinning at all. FAIL!!!!!

Hey wait a minute. Didn't there used to be a DiskO in here?

You never know when you'll need a clean pair of socks. ; )

Well, at least the water park looks cool.

Hades from the other side of Mt. Olympus.

I wish that someone who knows how to run a theme park will buy Mt. Olympus.

Not a fan of big waves. Count me out.

Yeah. This pretty much sums up what we did for the rest of our time at Mt. Olympus. Just sit around and do pretty much nothing.

While these Go Karts look cool, they're not worth a 3 hour wait.

Meh, these may be the park's lame go kart track, but with only a 15 minute wait, I'll take it.

I'm just happy I managed to get on anything at this point.

Good Grief. Even the animals here look depressed.

Don't worry Mr. Goat. I heard that goats have a short lifespan.

And the moment we've been looking foreword to for the past 2 hours!! Lunch!!!

Good bye Mt. Olympus. I certainly hope you shape up next time I come back.

When walking over to Timber Falls, I came across Riverview Park. They used to have credits. But now they got rid of them and it's now just a waterpark.

All right. Next stop is Timber Falls.

While they have a cool skyscraper here...

And this log flume doens't look half bad either...

However, this is the real reason we came here.

Yup. Turns out that we have ERT on Hellcat for 30 minutes.

Hmm. Looks like a fun ride.

Hellcat was originally called Avalanche when it first opened, but then they renamed it to Hellcat for some reason, but they must have forgotten to take down the Avalanche Sign.

You guys ready to experience Hellcat?

While Hellcat may be small...

It packs quite a punch and is easily the best coaster in the Dells. Much better than that so called better coaster in the background.

I'm suprised the train doesn't have any motion bluriness from the sheer speed of the ride in this picture.

Let me tell you this now though. Hellcat is a brutal ride. It's a violent little sucker and it will SLAM you through all those turns. Do not go in expecting a smooth ride or else you will be sorely dissapointed.

But it's so worth it for the speed and airtime and laterals that this ride has.

I just got the sh*t beaten out of me, and I loved it.

And while that concludes our time at Timber Falls, we made a bonus stop at Knuckleheads. Why Knuckleheads you may ask?

Yup. They have a credit here. It's credit whore time.

Would everyone who finds themselves sad and pathetic please get into a single file line please. Thank you.

Yup. We're really going to ride this thing.

Well, there goes the last shred of my dignity.

"Dude. You're on a TPR Trip. None of us had any dignity to begin with."

They've also got a tornado at Knuckleheads.

And yes, Knuckleheads is also a bowling alley. So if you want the credit, just have a bowling night, then sneak off and get the credit you shameful secret dirty credit whore.

[XII]

All right. Since the Northeast Trip is only a month away and I still haven't finished my Middle America Photo TR, I had to fix that. Luckily, there's only one more update left to post. And that would be Valleyfair. While it was sad that this was the last day and all, man was it a great way to end the trip. This day included lots of great ERT, lots of great rides, lots of great food, lots of great people, and of course, Mike singing Bohemian Rhapsody was awesome.

Aww. It's our last park of the TPR Middle America Trip. =(

But luckily, we ended at a pretty kickass park known as Valleyfair.

In typical TPR Tradition, we have started the day with ERT on Wild Thing.

Yup. This is how ERT should be.

Wild Thing ERT Craziness.

It was pretty much just like Mamba and Steel Force. Yeah, all Morgan Hypers are pretty much the same. Now I've completed the standard Morgan Hyper Collection. Ok, I still need Steel Dragon in Japan, but I'm unfortunately not going to make it to Japan anytime soon, so it'll just stay with the American Trio for a while. (I envy everyone on the TPR Japan Trip.)

Ok, Wild Thing ERT is over. Time to go and get the credits. First up, High Roller.

High Roller was a very bizzare ride. It felt like it had potential to be decent, but was raped by a set of super harsh trims on the first turnaround.

All right. Up next, Mad Mouse.

While the ride itself was decent, A very special moment has occured on the Arrow Wild Mouse.

Ash got his #100th Credit!!!!

"Hey, at least my 100th wasn't a Boomerang."

OMFG!!! Who's idea was it to ride this and why the hell did I join them!!!? I've said it before and I'll say it again. These rides are the product of the Devil himself.

We decided to take a day ride on Renegade in case it blew up and Night ERT got cancelled.

Renegade is still a very good woodie and definetly my 2nd Favortite GCI after Prowler.

All right. Now it's time to take a ride on Excalibur, AKA "Frankenstein the ride."

"IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!"

Seriously though, Excalibur was a very bizzare and f*cked up coaster. I don't even know if I consider it to be a good coaster or a bad coaster.

As for good coasters, it's time for us to head to Steel Venom.

Yup, it was another really fun ride.

But unlike V2 @ SFGAm, the holding brake was actually working on Steel Venom.

Steel Venom Twistiness.

"Check me out. I got my 100th credit today. Arn't I special?"

Dude, they still have their Chaos here at Valleyfair. This place just got even better.

Wild Thing VS Steel Venom. FIGHT!!!!!!!

All right. Time to get the final credit needed here.

Credit #220.

To my suprise, this was actually a really smooth Arrow Corkscrew.

Verical Loop on the Corkscrew.

Hmm. This looks quite similar to another park I've been to.

Yet another fake helix of death.

All right. Now that we got all the credits out of the way, we can relax and enjoy the park.

But first, lunch.

This band was actually pretty good and managed to play some hits such as Smooth Criminal, and of course, Renegade.

Valleyfair actually decided to do something different and serve us a Tex Mesh rather than typical burgers and stuff. It was really good, I just wish it wasn't so windy since it blew my plate around. (Luckily, all the food was off.)

And then we had the Pointless Awards Ceremony.

Oh yeah. And as a suprise, Valleyfair gave us on ride photo magnests of us on Wild Thing during our morning ERT. First off, thank you Valleyfair. You guys are awesome. Second off, why do Laura and I look like we're getting tazered in our onride photo?

All right. Now onto our Backstage Tour.

Wheels. It had to be wheels.

"I knew we've only been together for a few minutes, but will you marry me?"

Who let Domo in here?

Wild Thing from the backstage tour.

And now, get ready to see a bunch of cool kickass backstage Renegade shots.

Here's the common backstage shot. It's a common shot and appears on Valleyfair brochures and on their website. But you can't get it unless you're on a backstage tour.

Yeah, this isn't a shot you see very often.

Check me out and my badass wood. Oh come on, my wood is too badass.

Mike, that's badass wood right there. What you were holding in your hands there is nothing but crap.

Another cool first drop angle.

Yes, there's actually airtime right there.

Renegade Goodness.

"Ha Ha! Look at those losers on the other side of the gate. Must take photo of losers."

I decided to go and check out their Screaming Swing.

Yeah, that was awesome.

Xtreme Swing from the earlier backstage tour.

We made a deal and promised that Neil would ride the Tilt a Whirl if Jackie would then ride the rapids. Thankfully, they both agreed.

Dude, I don't even care if Jackie does the rapids. Neil on the Tilt a Whirl was the funniest things I've ever heard in a theme park.

People in our group wanted to get their Mild Thing credit.

However, it was another children only kiddie coaster where you could only get the credit if you went to Valleyfair as a child.

*Puppy Dog Face* Aww. But we need the credit. Pretty pretty please!!! =(

You people are truly sad and pathetic.

I can not hide my feelings anymore. I love you Brian.

While it was cool to see Jackie on the rapids, I'd much rather see Neil on the Tilt a Whirl again.

Oh yeah. Valleyfair will be getting a Planet Snoopy in 2011. (Well, it is 2011, so they now have it.)

At this point, I decided to just head into the parking lot get parking lot shots until the bus comes to take us to dinner.

Ooh. Artsy Shot.

I keep expecting the train to come and hit me in this shot due to Mamba's Headchopper Helix.

Steel Venom Parking Lot Shots.

I really like this shot. There's just something about it that I really like.

Yeah. That holding brake is definetly awesome.

"Umm, Samantha? Is everything all right? I mean, it's only an Impulse Coaster. It can't be that bad."

Wild Thing Shadow Shot.

Good bye Valleyfair. See you later tonight for Renegade ERT.

In the mean time, it's time for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Cheers, to a kick ass trip and a kick ass finale of kick ass Renegade.

Looks like Martin is winning in Trivia again.

Michael's going for the Buffalo Wild Wings Challenge. Can he do it?

Yup, he did it. And while he looks like the Joker here, he still has more balls than I ever will for doing it.

Night falls and we head back to Valleyfair.

One last Wild Thing ride at night before it happens.

RENEGADE ERT!!!!!!!

Renegade ERT kicked major ass. It was simply f*cking amazing. There was screaming, cheering, excitement, hand slapping, and everyone was having a ball. Themeparkreview, Incrediblecoasters, the owners of Valleyfair, and even the park security joined in the fun. While I'm still depressed that the trip is over, I'm glad it at least went out with a bang.

Words can not explain how amazing this trip was. So to make it even more amazing, Mike Austin sung Bohemiam Rhapsody by Queen to make one of the most epic moments in human history. Reliving all these memories from the Middle America Trip is really making me excited for the Northeast Trip next month. Hope you enjoyed the Photo TR>