Roadtrip! 12 Days in the Upper Midwest

[Zand]

Hello all,

I am embarking on a 12 day roadtrip later this month to Minnesota and back. I figured I will eventually use this thread for reports, but for now any intel on the following parks would be great! Keep in mind that my daily itinerary is pretty much set in stone at this point so I won't really have a lot of time to break off to visit other local things. At most of these parks I'll be spending less than a full day so if anyone can point out some less obvious must-dos at any of the parks it would be appreciated!

Day 1 (Sunday July 20): Drive 12+ hours to Michigan with a brief pit stop at Waldameer. I've never been there before but would like to get in and out in under 2 hours. Obviously mostly focused on Ravine Flyer but will also try to get the other two adult coaster credits and ride anything else unique to this park such as the flume and the fun house. Anything else unique I should be aware of?

Day 2: Michigan's Adventure. I feel like other than Shivering Timbers, the rest of the day will consist of a kind of quick loop around the park getting one ride each on the rest of the coasters. Planning on giving this park about 6 hours, and 3 or 4 of them probably will be Shivering Timbers lol.

Day 3: Indiana Beach. I might be more excited for this park than any other park on my trip. I will likely have almost the full day here as I will be travelling westward afterwards and gaining an hour from the time change. I should have no problem hitting everything once and then many rerides on the good stuff many times!

Day 4: Six Flags Great America. Will be here the full day and also have ultra flash pass so I don't see any issues getting on everything or needing a big plan to do so. I know Rakshasa isn't on Flash Pass but hopefully that line won't be too bad.

Day 5: Little Amerricka and Mt Olympus. Quick pit stop at Little Amerricka to check it out and ride the coasters. Then a slightly longer pitstop at Mt Olympus where I will hopefully live to tell all about it Anything unique at either of these parks I should be aware of?

Days 6-8: Visiting friends near Minneapolis for the weekend. Will be checking out Valleyfair and MOA during this time. And doing other Minnesota things. Whatever that is.

Day 9: Hopefully driving all the way to Ohio with a quick pit stop at Bay Beach which will add over an hour to the ride time but I think Zippin Pippin will be worth it. 

Days 10-11: Cedar Point. Expecting a shitshow but hoping for the best. I know my way around this place though. Lol

Day 12: Finishing the ride home and a pit stop at Six Flags Darien Lake. Have been there once about 20 years ago so will get the couple of new to me credits and ride Superman, a classic arrow, and hopefully an improved Predator.

This will be the longest road trip I've ever done but it will be nice to knock out pretty much every park east of the Mississippi that I haven't been to yet. Lots of bucket list coasters and hopefully good times to be had!

[AmyUD06]

Seems like a fun trip you have planned there, and you've got a lot covered.  Here's some additional pointers:

Waldameer has not only a Pirate's Cove walk through fun house, but also a Wacky Shack dark ride.  Both Bill Tracy creations.  Neither are to be missed.  Comet is also a classic and should not be missed just for history, but you're right that Ravine Flyer II is really the star of this park and arguably the only reason to visit. (EDIT:  Here's my TR from 2021)

At Indiana Beach, do NOT sleep on Dr. Frankenstein's Castle.  Yes, it's a minor upcharge, but is easily one of the best walk-through fun houses I've ever done.  Lots of great props, physical gags, and actual maze-like areas.  It was honestly the star of the park for me when I visited (before All-American Triple Loop).  There's also the 1998 shooting-dark-ride Den of Lost Thieves, which predates a lot of other shooting-dark-rides. (EDIT:  Here's my TR from 2021)

Six Flags Great America has one of the few Huss Condors left in the world, and should not be missed just for the historic value.  I visited this park in 2017 before they added Maxx Force, Sky Striker, and Wrath of Rakshasa and I don't know if I could have done everything in one day even then.  Don't miss Little Dipper either- I almost did on my trip there - it's kinda hidden. (EDIT:  Here's my TR from 2017, when I didn't care about credits and didn't have the appreciation of a lot of things in parks that I do today).

Add 2 hours to each of your estimated travel times through Chicago, and 1 hour to your trek across Indiana on the way back to Cedar Point

(Following is some alternative route-order advice, please ignore if your trip is fully booked and non-refundable or if you have personal reasons for doing it the way you are).

You should consider the Lake Express ferry between Muskegon and Milwaukee. It crosses the lake and completely skips driving across Indiana and through Chicago. If you're staying overnight in Muskegon after Michigan's Adventure, and your agenda is flexible, if I were doing this trip I'd modify it like this:

-Day 1: No Changes
-Day 2-3-4: Morning after Michigan's Adventure, Lake Express Ferry to Milwaukee, then stop by Bay Beach on your way to your MN portion of your trip.
-Day 5: Mt Olympus/Little Amerrika
-Day 6: SF Great America
-Day 7: Indiana Beach
-Day 8-9: Cedar Point
-Day 10: Drive Home, Darien Lake.

This way saves you one of the drives through Chicago and dodges the awful Indiana Toll Road almost entirely, eliminates all backtracking, and also gives you 2 extra days to build into your trip if you wanted to spend an extra day at SFGAm (I would, it's one of the better SF parks) or an extra day with your friends in MN.

Either way, have fun!

[Zand]

There's a couple reasons I can really adjust the days. For one thing, the Minnesota days fall when they do simply because it's the weekend. My friend that I'm staying with is off from work Fri-Sun so it wouldn't make sense for me to shift that forwards or backwards any. Also, I already have date specific tickets to Indiana Beach for Tuesday 7/22 (they were only $26 when I got them...I'm sure if I had to the park would be willing to change the date for me, but because of the Minnesota timing factor I don't think it would help to go straight across from MiA as much as it would save time and miles). 

On the day I drive from Minnesota to Ohio, more than likely I'll only make it to South Bend or so and stop there. I don't really care if I get to Cedar Point a little later the first day. If I'm getting into Chicago right at rush hour maybe I'll just stop into Great America for a couple hours to let the traffic die off a bit haha.

Appreciate the tips though! I definitely understand your reasoning for taking the ferry and avoiding Chicago one way. And thanks for the ride recommendations. I definitely love checking out old school funhouses, they are a pretty rare sight these days.

If Great America starts to look too tight time wise to get to everything then I'll definitely prioritize certain things but I think the Flash Pass should get me through everything. I'll do stuff like Superman, Joker, and Dark Knight last because I can ride them all in NJ and don't care that much about credits for the sake of credits. And as much as I enjoy impulses I could put that off till last as well because I'll be riding the one at Valleyfair and Dorney is close by to me.

[Zand]

Looking more and more likely that I will be missing out on Maxx Force

Out of all the parks on this trip, Great America would probably be the easiest to get back to since it's in a major city with cheap flights. So if it's still closed next week I guess I'll have a reason to go back!

[Zand]

Day 1: Waldameer

Basically more of a pit stop than anything, but it was my first time here. Arrived shortly before 5 and was pleased to see they offered an after 5pm wristband for $29 (I was prepared to buy $40-50 in tickets) so my day was already off to a good start. 

Started off with a front row ride on Ravine Flyer II as it was only running 1 train, but ops were decently quick with loading. Front row was pretty good, a few pops of air but nothing to really write home about. But I would return later...

Stopped by Pirates Cove which was a walk on and certainly an interesting walk through fun house. Lots of cool gas and a couple dizzying crooked sections. You don't find these too often anymore so it was really awesome checking this out.

Intended on riding the Flume next but it was down and drained with maintenance milling about in various areas. So I continued back to get by Steel Dragon credit. Pretty much a walk on, not the greatest spinner but a couple briefly intense sections. Didn't spin a whole lot.

Right next door was the awesome Larson drop tower XScream. I would be perfectly happy lapping one of these for hours on end. I was on limited time, or I would've done the same here. I love these things. Wish there were more of them.

Noted the Flume was starting to fill back up with water, I quickly detoured over to Comet to get my final credit of the day (with only two hours I wasn't wasting my time with the kiddie coaster and the Visa). This was running 2 trains and was a really fun, perfectly smooth family woodie. Even had a couple quick moments of floater. Too bad these junior woodies are as rare as they are, they almost all run good.

Headed back over towards the empty Log Flume which was cycling empty logs. As fate would have it, maintenance shouted down to the greeter to open the ride right when I walked up and I would be the first one in. This is a really awesome Flume. Neat tunnel section at the beginning and two good drops. Nice splash but not totally soaking. Two thumbs up for this flume, which is very popular as the line filled right up behind me so I'm glad I got to it when I did.

Unlike Great Adventure, Waldameer knows how to quickly get a Fluke fixed and back running!

Was 6:15 by this point and I rode everything I wanted except Whacky Shack which had a long slow line, so I headed back to Ravine Flyer for a 20 minute wait and back row ride. This is absolutely a back row coaster, the first drop is insane back there and the intensity throughout is turned up to 10. While the front felt kind of controlled and graceful, the back felt like a rampage through most of the ride. I thought this coaster felt similar to Excalibur at Funtown, maybe slightly more intense. Hope to get back to it someday.

Walking back through the park I noticed the line for Whacky Shack was a lot shorter so I hopped on. Another very fun dark ride. Really enjoyed this just as much as its neighbor.

Finished up with one more quick ride on XScream. Had to hit the road to Michigan and was sad to have to leave the park so quick. This is a great little park with a world class woodie, a couple fun support coasters, a great flume, 2 fun dark rides, a Larson Tower, and what looked like a very good package of flats. Not to mention it has a lot of charm and is very family friendly. Felt like a better Canobie. 

Off to Michigan's Adventure tomorrow and FINALLY riding Shivering Timbers for the first time. Can't wait!

[Zand]

Day 2: Michigan's Adventure and some other Michigan adventures 

Arrived at the park around 1 and there was no doubt where I was heading first. Shivering Timbers has been on my bucket list for 25+ years and it was finally time. Was glad to see it running 2 trains and was seated in the front row in about 10 minutes. Front row ride was a bit benign but also seemed pretty smooth. Went around for a ride in the back and this is where it's at...airtime out the wazoo but also quite brutal in spots. I would later return for one more backseat ride and after a little warming up this thing just yeets you out of your seat time after time.

The first couple hills were titan tracked (or something like that) and were nice and smooth, airtime like a hyper. But after that it was so bouncy that you would get several jolts of ejector over each hill and then you'd slam down in the valley. A great ride but very tough to reride.

Moved on to the Mad Mouse, my first Arrow Mouse. These seem to have better pacing and airtime than other manufacturers mice, but the ops were atrocious here. I started timing dispatches because I was bored and the average was about 1:15 or so, for a 4 person car. And they run 7 cars so you get to sit on the brake run for another 5 minutes when you're done. There couldn't have been more than 40 people in line and it took me 28 minutes from getting in line to getting off the ride.

Next door I found the Ferris Wheel to be a walk on so I got a quick ride on that. Nice views of a very pretty park.

Next on the credit tour was Corkscrew which had more awful ops. Dispatches were 5+ minutes and there were multiple cases where the whole train disembarked and everyone was all the way down the stairs and halfway to Shivering Timbers before they bothered to open the gates. Ended up being a 35 minute wait for a line that was halfway down the ramp. The ride was typical boring Arrow Corkscrew, but one of the less brutal ones I've ever ridden.

Hit up Zach's Zoomer which was fun enough. Not as smooth as Comet yesterday, but still a good family woodie. Walk on which was a nice change.

Made my way around the lake to find the SLC closed and the train also closed for some reason, rendering this part of the day a 10 minute walk into a dead end. Very nice looking walk around the lake though.

Walked all the way back around to Wolverine Wildcat which I can agree with the general assessment that this does a shitty Phoenix impression. A couple small floater areas but otherwise just kind of meanders. Smooth enough to enjoy though. Credit #300 acquired.

That's all I did, was only in the park for about 3 hours. This place kind of sucks on paper and in reality it's even smaller than you expect. Shivering Timbers is worth the drive but at the same time you'd love to ride it 20 times since there's not much else to do in this park, but for me anyway it was tough to ride it more than twice in a row. The park feels like it just kind of exists otherwise.

After leaving the park we drive to Silver Lake to check out Mac Wood's Dune Rides. This was a ton of fun and I would highly recommend the 30 minute drive to check this place out. The views are stunning and the ride is a lot of fun. They fly through the hills and you even get a couple airtime pops! The whole area is really nice. I would love to get back to northern Michigan to really explore the area for a whole week.

Staying in New Buffalo MI tonight and I didn't expect to suddenly get transported to the Jersey Shore but that's what it felt like. Stopped at the beach to watch the gorgeous sunset at 9:15 and then had dinner at a rooftop bar and no matter how many times I tried to tell myself, I couldn't believe I was in Michigan, much less mere miles from the Indiana suburbs of Chicago.

It was a great day exploring Michigan! Tomorrow is Indiana Beach, which might be my most anticipated park on the trip.

[Zand]

Day 3: Indiana Beach

Arrived around 1:15 after doing a little antique shopping with the wife this morning. Parked nice and close and was bummed to see the Log Flume on the list of closed rides but everything else seemed good to go. 

Started off with Lost Coaster after about a 20 minute wait (1 train ops with an 8-person train will do that) and ended up in a backwards seat for my first ride. This thing is a riot. So many weird turns and pops of ejector on unassuming 20 foot drops. I was laughing my ass off at quite a few points. It's aggressive without being rough. One of the most unique but fun coasters I've ever ridden.

Moved over to Tig'rr which is another capacity nightmare of a coaster but luckily with the light crowds today it was only about 20 minutes. Never seen too many parks that will only run 1 four-passenger car on a coaster. Anyway, this was fun and reasonably forceful. Fun whippy turns.

Grabbed two Cornball Express rides, one in front and one in back which were great rides. Some really good ejector pops in front on a few of the hills and the first drop is great in the back. It's short but it packs a lot into its small course.

Grabbed a couple drinks at the bar near Tig'rr before making my way back towards the star of the park, but first stopping to grab a ride on El Loco. I remember liking the one in Vegas better but this is still fun and zippy through the turns with a great stall. Another coaster running one 4-passenger car but a very small line made it moot.

Finally made my way back to Triple Loop, my first ride was in the front which in itself was very intense with a few jarring transitions and lots of intensity in the loops. I also grabbed a pair of rides in the backwards car and...good lord. The sheer intensity of this experience is like nothing I've really felt before. The first drop, the loops...unreal. By far one of the best coaster experiences I've ever had. I almost started feeling nauseous which never happens to me. This thing made my entire trip.

Made my way back into the park and got a lame front row ride on Hoosier Hurricane. This ride is smooth enough and looks like it should be a good out and back coaster, but the hills are very drawn out, your ass never comes close to leaving the seat, and it's a pure snoozefest. It looks nice though.

Last coaster on the credit whore tour was Cyclone, a Zyklon Galaxi. The 3rd coaster in the park that runs one 4-passenger car. Nothing to write home about here, we've all ridden one of these. It really drives home the boardwalk feel of the park though. Kind of cool that it's literally located in a waterslide complex.

Experienced several flats and other things while in the park. Frankensteins Castle was amazing. It's incredibly dark and creepy throughout. And I'm not gonna spoil it, but the part where you need to choose your path, so to speak, was kind of a mindf*ck before we finally figured it out. This thing is right up there with Ghost Ship and it doesn't even have scare actors.

Den of Lost Thieves was an interesting old shooter. Some neat scenes and some others that have seen better days, but still plenty of working targets. I think they have 3 whole cars on the track so this line moves slow.

The location of rides like the Paratrooper and the Swings make them really scenic and awesome. Also rode the Polyp which was a good time. The Chairlift is awesome as it really covers the entire boardwalk. The S&S double shot tower was excellent as they all are. This park has so many unique rides.

That brings me to the main point I want to make: this was my first time at Indiana Beach and it is officially one of my favorite parks. It's one part Knoebels, one part Morey's, and one part State Fair. There's a ton of food at this park and it's not all the same chicken fingers and burgers that you find at most parks. Multiple awesome bars and the prices are cheap. Staff is extremely friendly and the vibes are terrific all around. The retro boardwalk buildings look awesome. The ride lineup is excellent. The setting of the park is amazing. There is nothing to dislike about this park other than maybe the capacity of some of the coasters. After being at Michigan's Adventure for 2 hours yesterday and being ready to leave, I was here for 8 hours today and didn't want to leave. Also, the drive across the cornfields of Indiana at dusk is amazingly peaceful. You can go 20 minutes without seeing another car.

Off to SFGAm in the morning. As much as I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure it will be one of the best coaster lineups in the country, going from the immaculate vibes of Indiana Beach to the corporate bullshit of a Six Flags park is going to be a huge adjustment and I'm sure will feel like a letdown in comparison. 

[thepoint4life23]

Love that you just drive 6 hours across ohio and skipped Cedar point for now. 

This is a fun trip that I need to try to do something like it but I really don't need to go back to MA again unless they build something new. Locals have been asking for that for what the last 15 years. 

[Zand]

5 hours ago, thepoint4life23 said:

Love that you just drive 6 hours across ohio and skipped Cedar point for now. 

This is a fun trip that I need to try to do something like it but I really don't need to go back to MA again unless they build something new. Locals have been asking for that for what the last 15 years. 

Doing Cedar Point on the ride back. Been there several times so basically saved it for last in case I needed to push things back a day, but as of now planning on being there for most of 2 days. 

Yeah MA really was a total dud, but I really want to get back to Michigan (especially northern Michigan) so I assume I would stop back in, especially if they continue retracking Shivering Timbers.

[Zand]

Day 4: Six Flags Great America

Honestly after walking around this park twice on a sunny day with a heat index of 110, I'm way too exhausted to think about doing a full report with pictures. Maybe I'll add them in later. I'm just gonna give my reviews of everything I rode (in order of how I rode them during the day) and add in a few thoughts at the end. Like the other parks in this report so far, this was my first time here.

Columbia Carousel: I mean it's so unique and it's right there on the way in so I hopped on for an upper deck ride. Nothing more to say other than it's a really neat looking carousel.

With my season Flashpass in hand for some reason I started wandering aimlessly before coming to Little Dipper, which was a walk on so I hopped on. Kind of short and uneventful compared to the other family woodies I've ridden this week, but still really awesome to ride such a historical coaster.

I set my sights on the RMC but by the time I got back there it broke down, so I rode Fiddler's Fling while I was waiting. This thing is basically a scrambler on crack. Almost made me legitimately dizzy. Very fun ride and glad I hopped on. 

Goliath: I'm already not really the biggest RMC fanboy out there and I have to say this might be their worst. I rode in back and the first drop is great as they all are, but the layout just lacked anything interesting at all. The dive loop and stall is done better on almost every other RMC coaster that has them and it has some pretty brutal potholes in spots. The one airtime hill was very good. But that's all the ride has and the brake run comes up faster than I ever would've imagined it would. This was a 1 and done for me. It's the 3rd best wooden coaster at Great America. Sorry, not sorry.

Raging Bull: Rode this once in the early afternoon and really liked it. Rode it 4 more times before closing and fell in love with it. This might be my favorite B&M coaster. I just rode Fury earlier this year. I've ridden Goliath at SFOG. I've ridden Diamondback. I think this is legitimately a better coaster than all of those. The airtime in the back not only on the first drop, but off literally every hill on the ride is some of the most insane ejector found on B&Ms. The airtime off the midcourse felt illegal. The twists and turns provided some good positive Gs and it's nice to ride a B&M Hyper that's not the usual slate of boring camelbacks and a lame helix. This is an elite roller coaster and no one gives it the credit it deserves.

American Eagle: I liked this a lot, especially the first half. There's some good floater over the hills on the outward leg. The helix is a little rough but not terrible. But the size of this thing is just a lot of fun. I was surprised to see them running both trains on both rides during the afternoon. I rode the right side first and then went back at night to ride the left side but unfortunately they closed it. Credit denied, oh well.

X-Flight: I don't like Wing coasters and this is really no different. I actually thought the layout was one of the better of the wing coasters, but it had a very nasty pothole right before the keyhole element and the rest of it was just a rattly mess. Meh.

Wrath of Rakshasa: I loved this and wish I got back for a 2nd ride on it. It starts with the usual dive coaster fare, but quickly starts ripping through tight barrel rolls and whippy turns way more than any other dive coaster I've ever ridden. It's nice seeing one of these actually get a fun layout. Thumbs up on this one.

Demon: I appreciate the history of it. But it sucks. The coat hanger into the corkscrew section slammed my jaw off the restraint. And the rest wasn't much better.

Viper: Great woodie, best in the park. I think this was my first Cyclone based coaster and the back seat especially was full of fun floater moments and surprisingly smooth. Lots of laterals also because not a single turn has any banking. 

Whizzer: Another historical coaster in a park full of them, this was good fun. Some of the turns are slightly brutal but not really fast enough to hurt. But very fun and unique.

Sky Trek Tower: Too hazy to see Chicago, but great views of the park and they keep you up there for a while.

Condor: Every time I ride one, I always think it's the last time I'm gonna ride one because they're so rare at this point. So when I see one operating I make sure to ride it.

Dark Knight: I like that the whole queue is indoors. I don't like that unlike Great Adventure's version that goes directly up a ramp to the station after the preshow, this one goes down a long tunnel that for some reason added about 30 minutes to the line. Good news is all the effects are working on this one.

Aquaman Flume: I got absolutely wrecked by the wave that forms at the bottom of the drop. Never seen this on a flume before. It felt great today but it shocked me to get so wet on a flume. Therefore, next ride was...

Loggers Run: I love that the two flumes are so intertwined with each other. This one was a lot less wet but the double down was fun.

Batman: Running 1 train and the station was hot as hell. The ride was great, it flies through the course even after 33 years. But that wait sucked even with all the cool effects working. Too bad they couldn't fix the A/C.

Joker: I hate the way they load one car at a time now. SFNE does the same thing. Take a train off if you're going to do that. Sitting on the brake run for 6 minutes when you're done sucks. Anyway, I was on the right side and it was one of the more maniacal Joker rides I've ever had.

Sky Striker: It felt like this swung higher than other Discoveries I've ridden. Was it just my imagination or does this get up to a higher angle?

Giant Drop: Was closed all day but finally saw it operating in the last hour of the day. Rare ride on an Intamin 2nd Gen. I should love it but Larson Towers have spoiled every other free fall ride for me.

Credits missed: Obviously Maxx Force was the big one. Could be down for the year? Sucks to miss that one. Superman was down all day I think, not sad about that. Vertical Velocity I saw run one train when I was across the park and I never saw it running other than that one time. Typical Intamin. Would've liked to have gotten this one, but not the worst thing to miss. Aforementioned right side of American Thunder eluded me.

Other than the Batman themed coasters having slow, hot lines, ops are great at this park. I found the park to be well kept, employees were much more enthusiastic than most other Six Flags properties. Lots of air conditioned restaurants was nice. This is easily the best Six Flags park from an all around standpoint that I've been to. Will return for sure, especially to ride my new favorite B&M and hopefully ride Maxx Force.

On to Wisconsin tomorrow, Little Amerricka and Mt Olympus.

[Zand]

Day 5: Little Amerricka and Mt Olympus

Spent about an hour at Little Amerricka which was more than enough time to ride everything I wanted. It's a really cute roadside park and a blast from the past. Worth stopping in for if you're driving from Chicago to Wisconsin Dells.

Upon walking in you come to Mad Mouse, a Herschell mouse from the 1950s. It definitely runs like it was from the 50s as there's some good jolts, but the unique layout (with some very high speed hairpin turns that you won't find on a more modern mouse) was a lot of fun.

Right next door is Meteor and I got 3 laps in the back seat as they kept sending it around. Another nice classic junior woodie, a couple of the drops had a slight pop of air. Reasonably smooth. Fun classic!

Also grabbed a ride on the Chance Toboggan. You're already ending this paragraph in your head. But it's the last one in operation I believe so I tortured myself one last time.

Rode the monorail, Ferris Wheel, and Carousel. Monorail is a nice long ride all the way around the park. Ferris Wheel is one of the old school types that you don't see very often anymore. Also did the Haunted House which looks like it's just a tiny trailer sized house (and it is) but it makes up for it by having the world's narrowest pitch black passageways with the occasional funhouse gag.

The entire haunted house!

Continued through Wisconsin and finally arrived at Mt Olympus, a park I was simultaneously excited and terrified to finally visit! And it was every bit as much of a shitshow as can be expected!

You first come to Zeus so I started there. I walked up and got in line for the front row as the previous train was being checked. The lapbar in row 3 wouldn't stay locked so the ride op (every coaster except Hades only has 1 ride attendant here...strange!) moved that rider to row 5, then shouted over to the Hades station that one of the lapbars wouldn't lock and the attendant at Hades shouted back "Row 3???" So clearly everyone knows this is an issue that works there. So the maintenance guy shows up, sends the train around fully loaded with the loose lapbar being held down by the seatbelt, and then when it came back they locked it down and sent it empty. When it comes back again they locked and unlocked a few times and it worked fine, so they deemed it good for operation! A very warm welcome to Mt Olympus indeed!

Anyway, the ride in the front row had a lot of airtime and was decently smooth other than a couple shaky turns. The speed at which this thing hits the brakes and then stops on a dime is crazy. The whole structure shakes a ton and I'm surprised this doesn't cause more problems.

Next up was Hades, a bucket list coaster for sure but it wasn't without trepidation as I knew it would be aggressive. Sat in row 2 and after waiting 5 or 6 minutes for them to fill the train (they insist on doing this with every coaster here and will hold up the entire line to get 1 or 2 people to come forward, super annoying) we were off. The prelift section is surprisingly forceful with a couple spots of ejector and some fun and tight but rough turns. The first drop is great and then the tunnel section is just bonkers. There's airtime and turns in there that you don't expect and it lasts way longer than you expect it to. It shuffles like crazy in a couple of the turns and it's super loud, the whole experience is just totally surreal and it literally feels like the ride is taking you to hell. Finally you pop up into the corkscrew and a couple more airtime moments before diving back under, this trip a little quicker and less eventful than the first tunnel. The rest of the ride features some more good air and fast turns with lots of shuffling. I hopped into an empty seat in the back for a 2nd ride and somehow this was even more insane. It does get borderline painful but the intensity and craziness is just something I can't believe exists on a wooden coaster. This lived up to the hype for sure.

As I was walking down to Cyclops I noticed a fully loaded train completing its cycle, but also 3 maintenance guys milling around on the ride. Once the train unloaded one of them came into the station and said they had to close the ride. So once again they sent a train knowing there was an issue, so on point for this park! Anyway I headed over and rode Pegasus and got to experience the neck snapping goodness in back. Every turn on this thing is in a ridiculous spot taken at a ridiculous angle. It's like building a coaster on RCT with the tightest turn radius and not banking anything. I was cackling the whole time. Luckily not too fast to really hurt, but just very ridiculous and somehow fun.

I sat on a fence and watched a maintenance guy screw around with a drill in the Cyclops station for a while and my patience paid off as I got a back row zen ride. This ride is full of punchy airtime and the big drop has nice ejector. Reride a 2nd time, very fun and underrated coaster.

I had to get back on the road so that was it for me. But I survived Mt Olympus even though everything was exactly as advertised! What a shitshow of a park, but a super fun afternoon at the same time.

Valleyfair tomorrow!

[Nrthwnd]

I wish we had one of those original Mad Mouses (?) back at Playland. Years ago, there was apparently a little amusement center in the Russian River area in CA. And it had one of those Mad Mouse(s), too. When I last saw it, the park was shut down, weeds everywhere, and the poor Mouse (painted white) just sitting there, in disrepair. <sad> 

Mom took a photo of me on our Mad Mouse at the PNE. At least 1963, aged 10. 

Great ongoing Road Trip! 

[Zand]

Day 6: Valleyfair

Staying with friends for the weekend that live right in Shakopee. They came out for a couple hours this morning. Did a lap of the park, the bad news is Excalibur was down when I was back in that area after seeing it running early (my most anticipated coaster here) and now I decided to come back tonight and it's closed for the night. Will try to stop by real quick on Sunday! Otherwise...

Started with Corkscrew which was a walk on and actually a nice smooth ride and very fun. No headbanging in the corkscrews, no neck crushing G's in the loop, just a rare enjoyable ride on an arrow. How did they pull this off?!?

Next we came to High Roller and ended up in the middle of the train. This thing is trimmed to death but it's smooth and there's some modest floater on some of the hills. Can't complain too much.

Next was Mad Mouse, my second Arrow Mouse this week. This was trimmed way harder than the one at Michigan's Adventure so not nearly as fun of a ride. The ops were slightly less atrocious, but only slightly.

Headed back to Renegade next and got a back seat ride. This was a really good ride. I'm not usually huge on GCI's other than Mystic Timbers, but this has a lot of good airtime moments and good turns. Thumbs up for this. Tough to photograph so here's an awkwardly zoomed in photo from the Ferris Wheel.

After a failed attempt at Excalibur, headed next to Wild Thing which featured one of the typical terrible Cedar Fair groupers who couldn't figure out how to fill the train despite a 25 minute line. Anyway, rode in row 3. This thing is lame. No airtime to speak of. Kind of bumpy in the turnaround. And then the return run has absolutely no airtime because the midcourse hits so hard. Steel Force blows this to hell.

Ended up leaving after that ride, then came back to the park at 8pm. Got a ride on the world's jankiest looking Ferris Wheel and currently in line for Steel Venom which broke down earlier as well. Holding brake on the spike is still going strong!

 

That's all for today. MOA tomorrow!

[Zand]

Day 7: Mall of America

Doing this on a very hot Saturday was kind of a terrible idea so this report will be rather brief. The park and mall were absolutely packed.

Started off with a few kids rides with my friend's 4 year old, including getting the Hayride credit (still no idea how I got the lapbar to come down far enough to click, but that was a painful ride ) and a couple other tight squeezes.

Afterwards I started my own lap of the park but unfortunately by then the influx was on. First thing I came to was Orange Streak which was on two trains and was only a 5-10 minute wait. This was a neat ride, almost more of a sightseeing monorail than a real coaster layout but it had a nice long layout.

Next was Rock Bottom Plunge which was a 25 minute wait. Rode in front and got a rather shaky ride with a few jostles thrown in for good measure. Definitely one of the worst Eurofighters I've ridden.

Contained on to Avatar next which was a pretty quick 15 minute wait. This was my 2nd halfpipe coaster and I actually really enjoy these. I got a lot of spinning on my ride and the floater is a lot of fun on the spikes.

Last coaster was Fairly Oddparents which had a 30 minute wait. Fun ride with a lot of spinning in the 2nd half. Cool to see one of these in the landscape the coaster was designed for.

With the credits acquired I next went to Log Chute which has a line out the entrance. This took an hour but was a really good Flume. Got much better than expected and it was weird walking around the mall soaked for the next hour. Also WTF is up with the unload procedure? Instead of getting out on the right side, you get out on the left, go up and over the platform, then come down the right side right next to where you could just hop out of the log in the first place. WTF?

After that long, hot wait (the sun was brutal through the glass and the A/C couldn't keep up) I finished with a ride on the drop tower which, while small, give you 5 or 6 drops with a nice pop of air on each one. I thought it was fun.

I was getting tired of the heat and crowds so called it a day at that point even though there were a few more flats I wanted to hit. I had a nice day but not going there on a Saturday after again.

Tomorrow is mostly a rest day but I will be going to Valleyfair midday to give Excalibur one more try and get a couple more Renegade rides.

Awesome view from the living room window!

[Zand]

Day 8: Today was supposed to be a rest day but I took the 5 minute ride over to Valleyfair to ride Excalibur real quick since I missed it on Friday. The park was pretty dead because it is f*cking disgusting out today and the longest thing I did was the walk from the gate to Excalibur which took 12 minutes. No wonder they want to get rid of this thing.

Anyway, after Cedar Fair being ridiculous by chaining off the station in order to pulse in Fast Lane people that didn't exist, I was one of 3 people allowed into the station after the non existent Fast Lane people were done filing in. I rode in row 3 first which had a huge pop of air over that small bunny hill, and then hopped in the back for a ride that had a fun pop on the first drop but not as good on the other hills. The transitions on this ride are terrifying arrow goodness but it doesn't get too rough. Such a weird ride, glad to have checked it out before it checks out.

Since I was all the way back there I figured I might as well ride Renegade and got a front ride and back ride. The front shines in the second half on the smaller hills, but the back excels in the first half with some pretty wild intensity on the drops out of the turns. The first drop is excellent in back as well, almost a double ejector moment thanks to the twist.

On the way out I rode Wild Thing in back real quick to see if it sucked any less back there. It didn't. Luckily Minnesotans have an elite hyper coaster 6 hours away in Chicago, because damn is this thing lame.

Beginning the drive back tomorrow, with a quick stop at Bay Beach to check out Zippin Pippin. Considered stopping into SFGAm to grab a couple Bull rides but it's going to stay disgustingly hot tomorrow so i probably won't want to do that. Maybe will do a quick stop or two in the city and be a tourist for a couple hours on my way through.

[Zand]

Day 9: Bay Beach and lots of driving 

Drove about 5 hours from Shakopee to Green Bay and spent a little over an hour at Bay Beach. This park was pretty cool and the rides are insanely cheap. Between my wife and I we rode 10 rides for $9.50. The food was also reasonably priced and it's really neat that the city owns and runs the park. As for the star attraction...

Rode Zippin Pippin in Row 3 for my first ride and it was sort of uneventful up there. Some floater on the camelbacks. But then...that f*cking triangle hill. Good lord. I thought I threw my back out the first time over it. I don't know how much ejector air I was expecting to get, but it's more like one big jackhammer directly into the restraint and nothing can prepare you for how strong that one moment of airtime is. I don't understand how it why they built this hill, but it is very insane.

Rode again in back and this is where it's at. The first drop has solid ejector, every bunny hill launches you pretty good when you go over them, and then that triangle hill still hits like crazy in back. This is an elite wooden coaster in the back row. And that's with 3-5 people in the train. Can't imagine how good it would be with a full train. And you can ride it for the low, low price of $1.50. 100% worth driving out of your way to go ride it.

As for the rest of the park, it's mostly kids rides but they have an insane flat called Scat that is basically a roundup on crack, and they run it for a solid two minutes. One of the more dizzying experiences of my life.

They also have an old school Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel which is the 2nd I have ridden in the past 4 days after not riding one for the last 25 years since Whalom Park closed in Lunenburg MA. They also have a regular Ferris Wheel. We rode both.

Otherwise, they have a weird slide with very steep bumps but also long flat sections. I feel like you would get scary airtime on this on a cooler day but it was a little sticky today. They also have a Moser tower that they brought in from Fantasy Island that was okay but not as good at the one at MOA. 

I think that covers what I hit. Like I said, check this place out. It's absolutely worth going to Green Bay for. Staying in South Bend tonight after a miracle 4.5 hour ride from Green Bay to South Bend not hitting a lick of traffic in Chicago. Heading to Cedar Point tomorrow and Wednesday and then wrapping up the trip with a quick pit stop at SFDL on Thursday.

[Zand]

Day 10: Cedar Point

I can say without any doubt that today was the worst day of this trip so far. So much stuff down either for the entire night or off and on all night. Ops hit and miss. Bad Cedar Fair groupers. Something just feels off about the place. I don't know if I'm just jaded from going to Universal so often lately, but the park just doesn't seem to have its fastball anymore.

Arrived at 4 after finally getting through the usual 53 construction zones in Indiana and Ohio on the way in. Queue times showed Blue Streak, Sirens Curse, Millennium Force, and Steel Vengeance all down. Many others had 90+ min waits. But luckily one coaster was showing a reasonable 15 minute wait right at the front of the park and therefore I got my day started right with Raptor. Rode in back and was treated to a great ride like always.

Took the Skyride up to the middle of the park. Siren's was still down and I knew I wanted to get one of the new to me coasters, so I decided to bite the bullet and get into the posted 2 hour line for TT2. The line was a straight shot from the tunnel all the way up to the station which didn't seem so bad and it really ended up being about 1:20. But it does move incredibly slow compared to TTD. The two train ops didn't help as often times loading was delayed by a train that took a while to leave the unload station. Also not helping was the fact that the fans in line weren't turned on...like wtf?

I got a seat in the middle of the train and my first impression of the ride is the new station is totally soulless. The old open air station blasting Ready to Go had a lot of energy. This one just blurts the loading spiel over and over with no music, and the whole right side of the station is a big empty wall that separated the station from the spike (couldn't they have gone with a fence or a window instead?) so a lot of energy is lost with the new station. The pre launch sequence is a lot quieter than the old one as well. 

As for the ride, obviously the first launch is slow which takes away from my favorite thing about the old coaster and Kingda Ka which was the intensity of the launch. But the backwards launch is quite fun and then the view from the spike watching the earth grow smaller below you is pretty wild. The floater is decent too. Then the 3rd launch is fun just for the crazy speed at which you bolt down the entire launch. The experience from there out is pretty much the same, I didn't notice any shaking and no issues with the trains or restraints. Overall it's still a fun coaster but the kinetic energy of TTD just feels totally missing, which is too bad.

Moved over to Magnum next and got 2 rides in about 20 minutes as it was a walk on...or nearly a walk on if it weren't for the Fast Lane merge. The first time these people tried bringing kids that were way too small up to the station and the attendant held up the entire line while they stood there and argued, so a train went out about 2/3rds empty. The second time, someone came up in with a wristband that wouldn't scan, so instead of just waving them through since there was absolutely no line anyway, the attendant kept trying for over 45 seconds while holding everyone else up and once again half a train went empty. Not that this was a big deal at Magnum, but these things also happen at rides with longer lines and some of these employees just get in their own way. Anyway, rode once in back and once in row 3 and both were bonkers as always. After Wild Thing this weekend, this thing felt like it was gonna launch you to the moon.

Wanted to hit Gemini next but this was yet another breakdown while I was in the area. So headed back to Frontier Town. Steel Vengeance was still down and totally deserted, so hit Maverick which was about a 50 minute wait. They were stacking all 6 trains quite often which was a bit disconcerting to see. More often than not it was a guest causing the issues. Rode in back and had an excellent ride.

Headed back up towards the front, passing up MF for now and also passing a once again broken down Sirens Curse (which operated most of my time in the TT2 line). Made my way over for my first time on the Crazy Mouse. Most of the cars I watched didn't spin much, but I ended up in the far seat in the car with 3 small girls to my right and we spun like a top for the 2nd half of the ride, and even on the brakes it spun wildly for a solid 15 seconds before finally stopping. Pretty wild. Quick line here, 10-15 mins. Whole Boardwalk area is pretty nice but not many people over there when I was in the area.

Hopped on the Skyride again as it was getting late and I wanted to get a MF night ride. Got in line for that around 9:30, and after 15 minutes or so they announced that the ride was down. Meanwhile I watched Sirens Curse reopen from line. At 9:55 I finally gave up and headed to Sirens Curse before closing. The line moved fast and they really cranked trains through. Got to the station in about 35 minutes. A group of 5 in front of me asked for the back rows and the grouper allowed them to wait 2 trains back there. He directed me as a single rider to row 7 to join a group of 3 for the next train. I asked if I could go with the group of 5 to one of the back rows and he said I couldn't because they needed to fill as many seats as possible on the next train. WTF?!? For one thing, who cares if it goes empty on this train or the next train (the next one was the last of the night and half of it went empty anyway). Also, why should I be treated differently than another group just because I'm 1 instead of 5? Either let anyone request a row or don't allow it at all. And if you're going to treat single riders this way, open up some single rider lines. Picking and choosing who to allow to do it sucks to be honest. This shit only happens at Cedar Fair parks. Again I don't know if I'm just jaded by Universal or if this is just the road everyone else is going down at this point.

Anyway, this ride is phenomenal even in the middle, and I can only imagine how great it is in the front or back but only certain people are allowed to be able to know what that's like. The hold on the tilt tracks feels way higher than it really is, the drop is awesome, and the ride is full of ejector air and intense barrel rolls that are almost (but not quite) reminiscent of Velocicoaster. This is one of the best coasters in the park, bar none.

I looked into how much Fastlane Plus costs for tomorrow and...$199?!?!? Good lord. I will try to get on what I can but between the lines and the breakdowns it's pretty rough. I paid $299 for unlimited nationwide Flash Pass for Six Flags parks that was good for 17 months, I can't believe it costs 2/3rds that for one day at Cedar Point. 

Another thing that rubbed me the wrong way is literally every time I went to scan my drink bottle, they would also try to sell one to me... "Do you want to purchase another bottle?" I know they are being told to do this, but I've never seen another park do it and it's patronizing and greedy. And then after trying to sell you a second $40 dollar bottle the machines often didn't have ice.

I thought going from Indiana Beach to Six Flags Great America in one day last week was going to suck going from a small park atmosphere to the corporate bullshit, but it turns out SFGAm was a great day. But going from lots of nice parks recently to Cedar Point, which has long been the best park in the country, really was a huge wake up call in how far south a day can go compared to a day in a small park.

Back again tomorrow. Hopefully MF and SV won't throw fits and I can ride them finally. Other than those and Gemini (which I wanted to ride simply because I like it and I think its time is getting short) I hit what I wanted to. The rest I can live without. Will also try to get a couple more Sirens Curse rides and hopefully in a better row. I feel like this ride isn't being talked about enough. Even if it had a conventional drop, the layout itself is enough to make it a top tier coaster.

[Zand]

Me yesterday: All I want to be sure to ride tomorrow are Millennium Force, Steel Vengeance, and Gemini.

Cedar Point today: Lol no you don't.

[thepoint4life23]

I heard Steel Vengeance got struck by lighting the same day the front of the park flooded, If true sounds like the ride will be down a few days. 

I know its annoying they ask if you want to by a drink bottle but if that's what they got told to do,  then a no thank you an move on with your day wont hurt anyone. A lot of cultures fallow rules more then Americans So take that in to concertation as a lot of the food stand and such are brough in most likely on some kind of work visa program. 

 

Wasnt trying to attack you or anything just saying. Forgot this wasnt this Cedar point page. One thing i have notice i know cedar point gets a lot of crap for ride down time and some of that is the limits some of the rides push but just seems like across the country more rides have had longer down time. 

 

Also Epic Express is  over $300 bucks and that is for like 6 rides. 

[Zand]

Day 11: Cedar Point

Today was somehow much, much worse than yesterday. Maybe part of it was bad luck. Some of it is just me getting tired after a long trip and the awful humidity. But I can assure you none of what I'm about to post is hyperbole, but rather exactly how my day went.

I arrived a little before noon (despite wanting to be there early I just couldn't will myself out of bed after a late night last night, and I know it cost me a few rides this morning) really just with the goal of riding Gemini, Millennium Force, Steel Vengeance, and Sirens Curse and anything else would be a bonus. As posted earlier, all of those except Sirens Curse were closed when I parked. 

As I walked in, I figured I would start the day with something up front. However, Gatekeeper and Blue Streak both ended up going down right at that moment and Raptor and Valravn ended up with big lines. I checked the app again and noted that Gemini had opened, soni went over there. Just as I got to the station the ride went down. They sent a few test trains but then announced it might be a more significant delay, so after about 30 minutes I gave up.

Another challenge on the way in was finding a place to get a drink. Every restaurant and refresh station on the Main Midway had a massive line. Finally came up on the Pretzel place near Magnum which has 4 machines and each one was out of any type of Powerade or Hi-C and only had soda which I didn't really want on a hot day. So after the failed Gemini attempt my Sprite and I went to Frontier Town which was much quieter and finally found Powerade at the refresh station back there.

With Steel Vengeance still down for the count I hopped on the incoming train and set off for Millennium Force which had reopened by that point. App was showing a 40 minute wait, however I could tell upon arrival that it looked a good deal longer. Part of that was because Sirens Curse and TT2 had just gone down and an influx of folks hit the MF line. Luckily there would be no breakdowns here, but 3 minute dispatches and lots of Fastlane meant that posted 40 minute time ended up being 1:10. Rode in Row 2 and the ride was great as always. 

While in line, Sirens Curse came back up so I headed over there next. After about 15 minutes the ride went down. They sent a test train or two but then nothing for a bit and then they announced it could be over an hour before it reopened, so I got out of line after 45 minutes.

I watched TT2 running from the line (however at that time, Gemini, Iron Dragon, Raptor, AND Valravn were all listed as down) and saw the app was posting a 40 minute wait so I headed there next. I got in line for about 30 minutes (and was still nowhere near the frontt of the line) and...you guessed it...the damn thing went down. I was getting pretty tired of it and got right out of line. 

Gemini was finally showing as back open but with a 30 minute line, which seemed like a lot but I wanted to make sure to ride it in case it's my last time on it. Figured out quickly why it had a 30 minute line...only running the left side. I think this was the first time I've ever waited more than a train or two for this thing. Anyway, I rode in back and had a fun time as usual. By then it was about 5:00 and I had accomplished riding 2 coasters all day!

Had dinner in Frontier Town and noticed Steel Vengeance managed to get a train out to the midcourse but it was stuck there for a while, so I took the train again to the front afterwards. Longing for something more reliable, I got in line for Iron Dragon and was on in about 15 minutes. Another fun ride that I wanted to hit just in case.

I was exhausted and wanted to get out of dodge at that point, but figured I could hit something up front on the way out. I headed down the boardwalk figuring I could finish up on Gatekeeper aaaand...stuck on the lift. So, I just gave up and headed out after that. Grand total of 3 coasters in 7 hours today.

Between the horrible ride uptime and the awful humidity, it really was a terrible day. I had heard CP has been slipping in ride maintenance but I had no idea how bad it could be. I wanted to do so much more these past 2 days but it just wasn't meant to be. 

Three things are apparent to me after this stop at Cedar Point. First is not to put it into a long park trip. The park is way too big and tiring and after stopping by a ton of small uncrowded parks, it just feels that much bigger. 2nd is not to go during the summer. I've had great days there in May in the past and I think I want to return next spring to hopefully get some better days in. Even on weekdays the park is mobbed like most other parks only see on the weekend. It's Orlando park level crowds. The 3rd is that this park really sucks in the heat (more reason to go in May) as they just can't keep up with the crowds looking for drinks and A/C. Lots of unshaded areas and some of the longer lines under tarps are almost worse than standing in the sun. I actually thought Gemini has a nice line under some natural tree cover and it was much cooler over there than say Millennium Force and TT2 where they have covers but it just seems to hold the heat in. It's a brutal park when the sun is beating down and the humidity is sky high, more so than most other parks. Losing indoor restaurants like Melt and Chickie's & Pete's and not replacing them really hurts. They have multiple restaurants that could have indoor seating but instead just have massive mazes inside and then force you to outdoor tables. 

Just be forewarned if you're planning on going to CP this year that they're not close to firing on all cylinders. As for me, this trip wraps up with a quick pit stop at SFDL tomorrow. The Motocoaster and Eurofighter (and the SLC since it was closed last time I was there) will be new to me. It will be nice to ride Ride it Steel, Predator, and Viper for the first time in over 20 years.