Photo TR SFGAm, CP, KI, HW, Valleyfair

hendrixmarshalljames · August 30, 2015

It all started when my ex-wife agreed to let my son stay for his birthday…

“Can you plan something kind of fun? We went to water world last year and he loved it…”

My first thought was Mall of America. It’s close by, lots of eye candy…non-threatening coasters. It’d be great. I have to mention we live in Minot, ND…I also have to mention that three years ago; we went to New York and planned a day at Six Flags Great Adventure.

This boy, having rode the Cyclone, was emphatic about boarding El Toro and hasn’t been on a coaster over 80’ tall since.

So…looking at the map…”y’know, it’s not that much further to Six Flags Great America from Minneapolis…”

“From Gurnee, it’s only six hours to Cedar Point…From there, it’s only three hours to King’s Island. Wait a minute! Holiday World is only three hours from Cincinnati…”

And so it began…Passes, hotels.com, reviewing the schedule so the wear-out /driving factor wasn’t too extreme. My work let me go a day early, so the schedule lined up like this:

Noah’s Ark

Six Flags Great America

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Cedar Point

Kings Island

Holiday World

Valleyfair

I didn’t know anything about Wisconsin Dells, other than the Travel Channel mentioning Noah’s Ark. It’s like Vegas for kids.

The list:

Six Flags Great America

Cedar Point

King's Island

Holiday World

Valleyfair

So...first stop was Six Flags Great America. I've been wanting to go there since Ultimate Flight was installed, so I was really looking forward to this. We got there a little early the first night and spent about four hours before they shut down. That first night we got the Whizzer, and a few trips on X-Flight. I have to say, winged coasters are heavenly...The restraint and ride experience has finally been matched up. Also, being a bit of a historian...riding anything by Anton that's still in service was a dream come true. I was expecting a "revolution" type of snap, and generally kind of rough. But it was surprisingly good at night. I can see why it's a family favorite.

We closed up the joint and went to bed and got there early the next day...We ran to Goliath, 1 hour wait at opening! Then went back to X-Flight, then Raging Bull. I loved this ride. Butter-smooth and really nice first drop. I remember reading somewhere that it was kind of tame...I love air-time, smooth design, and that "losing my stomach" feeling, so it worked it's way into my list of favorites. To each his own, I guess.

So we worked our way through some flats for our 12 year old, (the El Toro casualty)...Spacely's, Tea Cups, Octopus, etc...He was ready for the Dark Knight...Or whatever they call the wild mouse dark ride there. Flipped him out, completely...Which was odd, he loved the Dark Knight in New Jersey. Oh well, he didn't want to ride anything except the water rides.

Alrighty, then...it was getting kind of hot so off we go...We did the Rapids thing first, then the Boat thing, and then the Flume ride last. We got soaked on all three! In my day, you only "sorta" got wet on water rides...things have changed, for sure. Most importantly, our reluctant rider finally got his adrenaline on, and voted for Little Dipper. History and all of that aside, he loved it. Which is important to little guys who just get a little freaked out by the sounds and overwhelming height his brother and I are so addicted to.

Goliath had been working intermittently all day and the previous night...so we opted for Ultimate Flight. I had rode UF in Jackson and was expecting the worst, and hoping for the best. For whatever reason, my head just bounces between the top restraints you find on Green Lantern and the old Mantis/new Rougarou and this one. We got the very back, and holy smokes! We got PULLED! One of the highlights of this visit. Amazing what we go through for nanoseconds of bliss...

Never got on Goliath or Batman...I've rode Batman At SFGadv and SFMM, and so I'm guessing it's the same. But I want to go back and try-

Great America Photos:

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Calico System.nltrack

X-Flight at Sunset...Love the concept.