coasterbill Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 2018 Park map is available. I didn't really notice any significant of change. https://cdn-cloudfront.cfauthx.com/binaries/content/assets/ma-en-us/general-information/explore/directions/ma-2018---park-map.pdf That's weird. Did you try refreshing the page? Yes? Oh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp1086 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Slightly off topic, but thinking of mixing a June trip to MA with a weekend getaway to one of the beaches along Lake Michigan (never been before). Looking for somewhere within 75 min drive from the park with great beaches and a fun town for good restaurants / ice cream shops. Decent proximity to Grand Rapids airport is a plus too. Any suggestions? Was looking at Saugatuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Grand haven Muskegon and Ludington have beautiful beaches. Amazing craft beer scene in west Michigan. Muskegon is about 45 minutes from GRR and about 12 minutes from MIA. It has a couple good breweries. Whitehall is where I live and that is a very nice beach town with a beautiful beach. About 10 minutes from the park and about an hour from GRR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntaminLove Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 I like the Meinert Park beach in Montague. It's clean and there's only a few people there every time I go. Grand Haven has nice beaches, but they get pretty busy. Pentwater and Ludington have nice beaches too. I don't think it's necessary to go that much further North though. The beach by Duck Lake State Park in North Muskegon is pretty nice. I have always been told by my friends in the Whitehall area to avoid the beaches in Muskegon so I can't say how they are. Whitehall/Montague has a few ice cream shops to choose from and my favorite is Pekadill's. They have good ice cream and a nice garden in the back. I reccomend a peanut butter and banana milk shake. So good. They also have a sandwich menu with some other items. Kids like Dairy Treat because they have Monster Shakes. The shakes are 30 or more ounces and come with a little monster on your straw. They're cheap, but kind of bland since they're made with soft serve ice cream. Whippi Dip in Muskegon has really good flurries. Good restaurants are hard to come by, but my standards are high since I'm from Chicago. You can get good hamburgers at the Station Grill in Muskegon and Brown Bear in Shelby. I can't speak to the other items on their menus. Hobo's Tavern in Muskegon is pretty good. The few things I've had there have been good and are fairly priced. It's my go to place when I'm in the area. I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker821 Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 But they are investing in the park, just with things like a petting zoo. They have to be smart with their investments. MiA has major staffing problems, and the last thing you want in that situation is more rides. If anything, they need to remove a few rides that require more than one person to operate. Another big coaster like the enthusiasts want, which would require 5 or so people at all times to run, is ludicrous. They could just Six Flags' it and have 2 people for flat rides and coasters They currently have 3 on roller coasters and 1 on flat rides. All the rides have the minimum staffing required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp1086 Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Very helpful advice grsupercity and Intaminlove. Thank you both! Trying to figure a park to pair with MA and Lake Michigan. Was looking at Kings Island and SFGAm. Any other suggestions? Know Cedar Point is a great option of course but been there a couple times already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Depends on what you're into. Kings Island is a good choice since you can get a Platinum Pass and if you get the dining plan or something, it applies to both parks. The easiest to get to are Six Flags Great America and Indiana Beach. If you do go to Chicago, drive there that night and stay in Waukegan or Gurnee, don't fight Chicago traffic in the morning. It's 4 hours if you go that night, but could be 6 if you wait. Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and Six Flags St. Louis are all within 6-7 hours of Muskegon, easily done if you drive half that night and the other half the next morning. What direction are you coming from? That'll determine how far west/south you want to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 If you're going to be in Muskegon, there is an awesome (but not cheap) ferry to take you to Milwaukee, which is about an hour from SF Great America, and you get to avoid driving in all the Chicago traffic. Yes, the boat ride and time it takes to load/unload can be upwards of 3.5 hours, but it definitely beats the monotony of the Indiana Toll Road and bullshit of Chicago traffic (6-7 hours). https://www.lake-express.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntaminLove Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Cedar Point is my favorite park so I have to tell you to go there even though you've been there a few times. Kings Island is my second favorite park so if you haven't been there before then I highly suggest it. SFGAm is the closest major park, but it's nothing special. Half the coasters are clones and the others don't really stand out. Although I do like American Eagle a lot. I'm biased, but you would probably have a decent time there at best. If you're not interested in those parks then I don't know what to suggest without knowing how far you want to drive and what you're looking for in a park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewA86 Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Slightly off topic, but thinking of mixing a June trip to MA with a weekend getaway to one of the beaches along Lake Michigan (never been before). Looking for somewhere within 75 min drive from the park with great beaches and a fun town for good restaurants / ice cream shops. Decent proximity to Grand Rapids airport is a plus too. Any suggestions? Was looking at Saugatuck. I strongly recommend Ludington. It's about 45 minutes north of the park. All the Lake Michigan beaches are absolutely beautiful but I think the town of Ludington is better than the rest for 2 reasons: it is actually located right on Lake Michigan. You can walk from the beach into town and vice versa, where the others are very close, but still a 10 minute or more drive from the lake. And the other towns like Grand Haven, Holland, Saugatuck, are a little more touristy, where Ludington has more of an at home kind of feel. And then Muskegon is a town who's better days are behind it IMO. Montague and Whitehall I've never visited but those towns aren't right on the lake either. Ludington has a bunch of amazing restaurants. My favorites are the Old Hamlin which is a typical family restaurant, Scotty's for seafood, especially the fried perch, and they have the most amazing BBQ place outside of the south called the Q Smokehouse. For ice cream they have house of flavors. I'm not really an ice cream person, but everyone loves house of flavors. I posted a picture of their ice cream menu below... House of flavors ice cream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1br3tto Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 If you're going to be in Muskegon, there is an awesome (but not cheap) ferry to take you to Milwaukee, which is about an hour from SF Great America, and you get to avoid driving in all the Chicago traffic. Yes, the boat ride and time it takes to load/unload can be upwards of 3.5 hours, but it definitely beats the monotony of the Indiana Toll Road and bullshit of Chicago traffic (6-7 hours). https://www.lake-express.com/ That's cool to know about. Those drive-on ferries are a neat experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp1086 Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Thanks for all the awesome feedback everyone! Likely would be driving from King's Island area at this point, so would prefer to be South of Michigan's Adventure if feasible, so I could make it in ~5-6 hours or less from Ohio . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 South of Michigans Adventure still has some nice options. Grand haven, Spring Lake and Holland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visionist Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Would Excalibur be a good fit for the park? It has heritage & pedigree beyond its family friendly nature. The structure is simpler to dismantle than a more forceful hybrid and it would good in a wooded area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Excalibur is a brutal coaster, but sadly it would be a welcome addition at this park because it's better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visionist Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Seems a shame to let that rockwork sign & sword go to waste... I wonder how much it'd be to disassemble, ship and reassemble it next to Wolverine Wildcat, throw up a new station and open that path up between north & south. Come on CF! Jeez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Not sure CF has the money for that. It can only be disassembled by the rightful heir to the throne of Britain, and princes don't work cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visionist Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Yeah I think he's too busy asking his younger brother what the Hell he's doing marrying a two times divorcee, lol. Has Boomerang been spotted anywhere? Some remote train yard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 The boomerang would be much more welcomed then Excalibur. Employee dorms, belts to haul the tubes up the hills for the waterslides, and a path connecting Timbers and Thunderhawk would be even more welcomed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visionist Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I can see employee dorms helping the staffing situation somewhat. The park's a long way away from major cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Farmer Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 If you're going to be in Muskegon, there is an awesome (but not cheap) ferry to take you to Milwaukee, which is about an hour from SF Great America, and you get to avoid driving in all the Chicago traffic. Yes, the boat ride and time it takes to load/unload can be upwards of 3.5 hours, but it definitely beats the monotony of the Indiana Toll Road and bullshit of Chicago traffic (6-7 hours). https://www.lake-express.com/ We met a kid at Electric Forest last summer that rode a dirt bike (somehow managed to load a sizable tent + camping gear onto it) all the way around the lake from Sheboygan (WI) to the Muskegon area. He was pretty flabbergasted/pissed at how that ride went, so he went with the ferry for the return trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker821 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 I think the main reason they are not adding new rides is because there is just not enough staffing to run the rides they currently have. Just think, a new boomerang would take 3 employees to run. That’s the same as shivering timbers, a much bigger ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiABeta Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 So I’m at the park today and I tried to start my annual trash can count but I stopped at 30 lol. Anyway moderately busy but tolerable and has been pretty fun. Got a early ride on Timbers and spent a while in the water park, now we’re trying to finish the dry park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inlina Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 So I’m at the park today and I tried to start my annual trash can count but I stopped at 30 lol. What is the purpose of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 So I’m at the park today and I tried to start my annual trash can count but I stopped at 30 lol. What is the purpose of that? It's a symptom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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