Photo TR: Coaster Palooza X.....Midwest Excursion

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

COASTER PALOOZA X

I don’t know if it is actually “X” but it sounds good!

I know in the calendar I say 13 parks in 9 days, it was actually 12 parks in 10 days, even though we didn’t do any parks on our last day (Sunday). There were 7 time zone changes, 10 states – Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Kansas (including our flights out and back, California, Nevada, and Arizona), 4 flights, 3 car rentals, 6 hotels, and around 3,000 miles driven.

Day 1 – Thursday, Friday - Red-eye to Columbus, Ohio to arrive around 5:30am. We actually gain an hour on the drive to Bowling Green, Kentucky, so we thought we could arrive around noon. The drive is 340ish miles and after an all night flight, it was really sucking. Once we arrived to Beech Bend, we saw that the Rumbler wasn’t running. We walked up to the gate and there was a park person to greet people. She said that the Rumbler was struck by lightning the night before (Thursday) and they are expecting a part for it sometime today (Friday) to arrive from Ohio. We decided to ride the other rides since we were already there. Looping Star is one of the most painful rides I have ever been on. We also rode Power Surge, which is similar to the feeling of X at Magic Mountain, only you don’t have a track to know which way you’re going. It isn’t a roller coaster, so don’t get me wrong, but it flips you around similarly to X. We left after a few other rides and headed out to Holiday World, only 105ish miles away. J We were staying at Santa’s Lodge, along with most everyone else. The hotel is great. If you go to Holiday World, just stay there. No other reason to stay at any other hotel, unless it is sold out. With no sleep still, we went to Holiday World for Holiwood Nights. We saw Ted and Catrina, along with his group once we got there. We hung out with them for the rest of the night. The event started with a ride on Voyage. Oh my god! All the reports are absolutely right. This thing kicks a$$. Gyendolynne says it is like riding a quarter horse that is out of control and on the way back to the stables. I can’t believe all the airtime. The first ride felt like the train was actually jumping off the track many times. We were in the middle row too! Just when you think you’re at the end of the ride, you go flying by the queue line (underwater thing) and then you’re still going. It’s like it will never end. When we arrived back in the station we saw Michael Moore (Memphish, not the movie director) and his dad. They hung out with us too. All of us waited to ride the back row next. It was even better. We ate the awesome pizza dinner and had fudge, then rode Legend and Raven a couple of times. This was our first trip to Holiday World. Legend is a great ride. Raven has some fun spots too, but I liked Legend better than Raven. Voyage was definitely the best though. Had some beverages back at Santa’s lodge and then off to bed. We were up since 5am the day before.

Here is our first ride on Voyage. I think it was intense!

Rub the Belly, Rub the Belly...

Here's a random pic of Gyendolynne and I behaving goofy during dinner.

Sorry, not too many pics of Voyage. I thought ya all probably have seen plenty, but here is Ted!

and this is why we are here

but first, Will Koch would like to address all the enthusiasts

Oh yes, looking forward to riding you Raven...

Yep, there's the entrance

We must be at Holiday World!

All the furniture made the atmosphere there just great!

Here's our room at Santa's lodge

Parting shot of the Rumbler, will we get to ride you on this trip?

Hey, I'm Dale Earnhardt

Now it's starting!

I know that grin is fake!

Hey Honey, why don't you try riding it?

Wow I didn't like that at all....

Oh dear lord, now I am upside down!

Uh oh, I think I am going in a direction I hadn't planned on....

It just spins, right?

What seems to be the problem?

Will he take my tickets for the ride?

Let me try Power Surge....yeah that looks comfortable

Have I said that the Rumbler was down today?

Nope, don't need to ride you today

Oh my gosh! That drop is a little unexpected.

Just keep going up....

See, nice and easy....

Hey Gyendolynne, how about riding Shooting Star. No, there shouldn't be anything wrong just because no one else is on it.

I can still smile even after getting bashed around!

I think I will start to hold on, maybe that will help

Oh my gosh that is bashing me...

Happy now, just wait....

I know, I will ride Looping Star, that will make this 340 mile trip worth it....Won't it???

It's just right there, so close...

Oh how I wish we could ride it

Look at that monstrosity just waiting for us to ride it

NOOOO!!!! Are you kidding me???

As we continued our drive through Cincinnati, I found this Billboard funny

Of course we had to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel

We're off on the trip at 8:30pm!

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

Day 2 – Saturday – Got up at 8am, don’t ask me why. Gyendolynne and I aren’t water park people, so we weren’t going to Splashin’ Safari. We got to Holiday World around 10:45 and rode Legend. We took a walk around the park and then decided to head back to Beech Bend to ride Rumbler. I called them and they said it was running after a power failure. I asked what the wait time was and she said 16 seconds as she was laughing. We left Holiday World around 1:30 and arrived in Beech Bend around 3:15. I am so glad we didn’t call again because Derek said Rumbler was down around 2pm again. The ticket person at Beech Bend said if we waited 45 minutes, we could get in for half price. We needed to get back to Holiwood Nights, so this wasn’t an option. I rode it 6 times and Gyendolynne rode it 5 times. It is a good ride and we’re glad we got on it. The fly-by the station and the bank turns are great! The operators of the ride are really great people too! We had a lot of fun with them. Dinner at Holiwood Nights was at 7:30pm. We sat with Chris and Natalee Godsey from Rideworld. Everyone headed to Voyage after dinner. We were waiting in line with Memphish and his dad on the ummmm, ummm, ummm, pier, yeah, thanks Memphish! We rode it twice in complete darkness. I thought this ride was great, but in the dark it becomes even more awesome. When you don’t know which way you’re going and can’t even see it, OMG! It just seems to get faster and faster. We headed to Raven and Legend for some night rides. All these coasters at night are absolutely incredible. I can’t remember how many times I rode them, but I think I dislocated Ted’s shoulder twice, until he started to lean forward. J A couple more rides on Voyage in the dark and then we called it a day. It was a great event. We enjoyed meeting so many people and talking to everyone.

Here is a straighter shot

Oh yes, time to ride Legend

Here is the on-ride photo of Rumbler

Another fly by, I think I can see Gyendolynne..

A picture of the fly by, it is pretty quick and dark.

Nope, not yet, keep going

We're all trying to find the cheese at the end of this

I think we're starting to move, here's proof, the picture is blurry

Here we are waiting patiently, Michael, his dad and us

Now we have to wait on this bridge to ride Voyage

This is a very neat structure

The bridge back to Indiana

Too much fun

Oh yeah! Having a good time

by the way, we did make it back to ride the Rumbler!

Okie doke, we will

Use this turkey caller to get them back here

Hey the turkeys got away

These guys were stuck there for a little while

That's where the ERT was this morning.

More pics of the different areas

We decided to take a walk around the park

TheStig · June 7, 2006

WOW Most of my crew made it into this picture! See! Its us!

Colin"Nice update BTW"C

Yay were famous!

coasterbilly · June 7, 2006

very cool, any opinions, ranks for those rides?

scruffy · June 7, 2006

Coaster Palooza I saw you in line for Son Of Beast with your TPR t-shirt on.

jamesdillaman · June 7, 2006

I LOVE the Kentucky Rumbler, it's in the running for my favorite GCI woodie, I'm not quite sure if I like it more than Thunderhead, but we'll see as I'm riding Thunderhead again this Friday. I'm not getting to the Voyage until late next week. Parks we're (Julia and I, with some friends changing along the way) hitting next week:

Dollywood

Indiana Beach

Cedar Point

Kennywood

Six Flags St. Louis

Holiday World

Nice Photo TR, glad you had fun in my part of the country. More west coast cats need to get out here and ride our midwest woodie goodness!

-James Dillaman

CoasterFanatic · June 7, 2006

I see that you have finally made your way back! Had a great time with you guys at Holiday World!

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

^Hey Ted, have fun in the UK.

^^^Yes, I did have my TPR shirt on at PKI. Come on up and say hi next time! We were having a blast.

I am going to try to get the other days up ASAP. I would rank the parks more than the rides, but we had fun at almost every stop. After I put out all the days, I will put the rides and parks down. Right now though, Voyage, Hades, The Beast (Mainly for the night ride!), Kentucky Rumbler, Legend, Raven, Cyclops, Ragin' Bull, Superman Ultimate Flight, Hoosier Hurricane - all were incredible rides. I am missing a coule, but I am tired.

Freefallbestrideever · June 7, 2006

More west coast cats need to get out here and ride our midwest woodie goodness!

-James Dillaman

OMG Yes!! I dream that, but you know i can only pedal my bike so far.......

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

Day 3 – Sunday – Got up early….AGAIN….to drive to Louisville, Kentucky (75 miles) for SFKK. It wasn’t a bad drive, but you lose and hour going there. We arrived just after 11am and paid $5 for parking AT A SIX FLAGS!!! This was our first time paying to park on the trip. We went straight to Twisted Twins and rode it a couple times. Not a bad ride, but when you just got done riding Voyage, Legend, Raven and Kentucky Rumbler, anything else would have to really step up. I have been on worse wood rides though. This was much smoother than we expected. We rode Thunder Run next and went to get our on-ride photo. The picture had a border of the ride in the display, but the guy didn’t print it. He said we didn’t ask for it! We couldn’t believe it. That has never happened before. We just got some generic picture. AARRGHHHH!! Roller Skater was near by, so we rode that and then walked through the water park to get to Chang. IT WASN’T RUNNING!!! I rode T2 because we were there, but I will never ride it again. It was so hot too. A lady actually passed out from the heat and the emergency crew had to come. Only a couple of the smashed penny machines were working too. This park was disappointing to us. We decided enough was enough and left for Hard Rock Café for lunch. A 105ish mile drive was ahead of us to Cincinnati, Ohio for PKI. We checked into the hotel and as we drove by the park, it was packed! This was the Sunday before Memorial Day. After a little rest, we went to Lonestar for dinner and then to PKI for some night rides. There wasn’t a parking attendant when we showed up, so we didn’t have to pay! We walked around a little and saw so many long lines. The park was so crowded. We went straight back to ride The Beast. There wasn’t too long of a wait. We rode it once, and then we waited for the front row. This turned out to be the best move. By the time we got up to the front, the park was closing. They had fireworks at the end of the day and we were lucky enough to be on the lift hill in the front row when the fireworks started! It was an awesome ride and it was also in the dark.

Hot tubs in rooms are not overrated!

This is one of the reasons why it is great

Now for a great hotel room right by PKI

They had a kids' band setting up too

Time for a beer at Hard Rock

My shirt is actually soaked from sweat. I know it is shocking for anyone that saw me at Holiday World, but I do sweat.

At least they are smart enough to have a billboard of a good coaster and amusement park just outside their exit

We don't feel like sitting there either.

Nope, too hot to wait in that line

This was the same show they do at SFMW

Now the waterpark is open

So few Excedrin

So much pain

Oh my gosh, this is a bad idea

Lift hill looks innocent enough

I know, instead I'll ride T2...BIG MISTAKE!

Until we get to Chang

See, all is fine

Don't be sad, I'm sure the ride is okay

ooops getting caught with my smashed pennies

The fly by....

I think everyone wants to ride Thunder Run

Hey, is that a Boomerang...

I couldn't tell from our on-ride photo because the guy didn't know we wanted the cool border printed with it!

Thunder Run, oh is that what it is...

See it's a neat little ride

This neat little shoe ride wasn't operating yet

I guess a couple others wanted to face their fears

Nope, no one up here

It doesn't look like anyone else want to though

We will face our fears

A stage for some show later on...man it was hot!

Here is the water park before they open

Chang, I thought I would ride you today

Walking across the walkway over the road to the otherside of the park

Gyendolynne seems happy

Oh man, can we go back to Holiday World?

Good-bye Santa's Lodge, same time next year???

in case you forgot the name

Santa is everywhere...

The front of the lodge

Looking out the window from the restaurant

The two of us in the sleigh

The train....

The following are a few shots in the lobby of Santa's Lodge

Unfortunately it is time to leave Holiday World

mcjaco · June 7, 2006

Gotta love that Louisville heat and humidity! Never made it to KK but, I think I'm glad I didn't.....

Great TPR!

Meteornotes · June 7, 2006

T2 was brutal when I rode it many years ago. I see that it is consistant!

Cool photos. Looking forward to the next installment...

dt

CoasterJunkie · June 7, 2006

Any room with a hot tub in it is WELL worth it, especially after walking around parks all day!

Cant wait for more!!

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

Day 4 – Monday – Today was a quick trip to PKI to ride Italian Job Stunt Coaster and get a couple other rides in. We were at PKI in 2004, so we have been on most of the rides. We have VIP passes from PGA and thought we could use them to park in the VIP lot. They let us! This is another park we didn’t have to pay to park at. The park was very crowded again, but manageable. We rode SoB first. This ride sucks! I don’t know what they think they did to make it better, but it is terrible. We got the crap beat out of us. After the ride we went to look at our on-ride photo and the person said she had to censor it because the kid in front of us flipped off the camera. I asked, “What are you going to do to him?” She just shrugged. I couldn’t believe this. You can have any rule you want at a park, but it is all about enforcing them. As we were walking back to Italian Job, we noticed how the crowd was. It was busy, but everyone seemed to be getting around really well. Italian Job is a good time. We both liked the little Mini Coopers. I can’t wait to ride the one at PKD. The Beast was a walk on, we rode it twice and then headed to Wyandot Lake in Columbus, Ohio. Our flight was from Columbus to Chicago at 5:30. The park is mainly a water park with one rollercoaster called Sea Dragon. It is a wooden coaster that is a shorter version of wooden coasters at the boardwalks. It is old style where the operator has to pull on levers and such. If you like water parks, this might be worth the time. They also have a zoo that uses the same parking lot. We paid $3 to park at this Six Flags! I thought we were closer to the airport than we were, so we had to really make up some time! We got to the airport in enough time to return our rental car and get through screening. We were flying Southwest to Chicago and already had our boarding passes for group A. Everyone was on board and we weren’t ready to go. There were bad storms in Chicago and all flights were grounded. This flight had the most kids on it than I have ever seen. It originated in Orlando! Every time one of them would cry, it would start a chain reaction. The flight attendant came around to get everyone’s drink order before take off. I asked for a Vodka-Cran and so did Gyen. I asked how much it would cost because I like to give them exact change. She said if this (Screaming) keeps up, they’re free! The kid in front of us was named Michael. We know this because his parents kept saying his name every 5 minutes. “Michael stop that, Michael sit down, Michael quit it, Michael…” You get the idea. I have no idea what his sister’s name was though. This flight was supposed to be one hour to Chicago. The whole ordeal ended up taking 4 hours! Once we landed, we didn’t have a gate because of all the delays. One of the parents thought it would be a good idea to change their kid’s diaper in the seat while we wait for a gate. We found out about this once we got a whiff. They sat directly across from us. Michael’s dad asked how old their kid was and then borrowed a diaper to have his wife change their daughter. We started to move toward the gate and I thought we were saved, but he told her to change her anyway! It was the worst flight and the best flight. The crew was great, but all the other problems made it a bad flight. I would like to have that crew on every flight. We landed and still wanted to hit the Hard Rock Café. Thank goodness we did because we got lost pretty bad in downtown Chicago. It would have sucked to be there the next day with traffic. Today wasn’t bad because it was Memorial Day and no one was working. Traffic construction caused most of the problems. Chicago is a tough city to navigate through. We drove to Indiana Beach after Hard Rock. We arrived just after 1am at the hotel…..WHAT!!! IT ISN’T 1, IT IS 2am….NOOOOO!!!! Another time change. We need sleep.

A little worn out, but we can still smile.

4 hours later, we still made it to Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago

We were happy until we found out we'd be here for the next 2 hours instead of in Chicago after a 1 hour plane flight.

Time to leave and catch our flight

More smashed pennies

That you controlled steering from the sides...a little bit different

The bumper cars were cool. They were surf boards

Our personal on-ride photo. I also took a POV on this ride. I will post it later

yep, that's it

Wyandot Lake, we hear they have a coaster

Different scene...where could we be?

ya just gotta know what you're doing.

WOW, how did we get VIP parking with passes from PGA?

The Beast's queue

Here's our on-ride photo. I am so glad they included the border.

Nice mini cooper

alright, chase is on

as soon as we get in our car

Okay, we will

Look at how happy everyone is, they must have not ridden SOB!

No, it's the Italian Job!!!

Something that has you go through water???

Just a little bit of a wait for...

Here's the queue line for this coaster

Are we back in California?

Bubba Gump shrimp is what they got....

Here we are waiting for our LAST ride on SOB. This ride is so bad...I don't know what the girl was thinking about behind Gyendolynne

We're here at PKI bright and early, but that is the line for Season passes BEFORE you enter the park!

mcjaco · June 7, 2006

Sorry to hear about that flight. Those Orlando based flights are not fun.

CHicago isn't too bad to get around (this is coming from someone that lives there). It's a big grid system with some funky angled streets. They've decided to tear up all the ramps downtown which makes getting of I94 a little difficult.

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

Day 5 – Tuesday – Indiana Beach opens at 11am. I am sure that is to account for the time change. It wasn’t crowded at all. We parked in the south entrance to go over the bridge. This park is so awesome. Everyone there is nice and they didn’t put up with anything. There were mostly kids there and a couple of them tried to cut in line. The operator saw this and told them to get out of line. The kid looked at him like what are you going to do, and he yelled a little louder and deeper. The kid left the line. We rode all their coasters and other rides. We were very surprised by the air you get from Corn Ball Express. We rode in the front and back a few times. If you get the chance to go to this park, please do. It will surprise you. It is right up against the lake and you can take a cruise around it. If we had more time, we would have done this. Their dark ride is called Den of Lost Thieves. They also have an interesting coaster called The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. This ride sits you face to face, so someone is riding backwards. It is also in a cage type mine car. Very cramped quarters. It takes you up a lift (like an elevator not a lift hill) and then around the “mountain” inside. Don’t miss it if you go. Their swing rides take you out over water and as does their Sky Coaster ride. We traveled back up north of Chicago to Gurnee for our hotel. The last 15 miles took an hour. Have I said Chicago traffic sucks yet? We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel and checked into the hotel. The front desk person didn’t seem to want to help us find a laundry mat. We needed to do laundry because of how hot it was. We didn’t pack exactly right. Needless to say we didn’t find a laundry mat, but we bought a couple pairs of shorts.

We stayed right across the street from SFGAm

This must be our hotel room in Gurnee

Ending the day at Cracker Barrel. Our waiter actually used to work at SFGAm and told us everything to do there. Thanks Josh!

This is the ONLY smashed penny machine they had

You can go on a 75 minute cruise around the lake aboard this boat

Did I say we liked riding this?

The dark ride is next

A little snugger fit, but not to worry...

Next Coaster

This ride has no restraints or seatbelts

Time for a smaller ride

Personal on-ride photo

Hoosier Hurricane is the ride that runs the length of the pier. It is really neat in that you are actually heading toward the water quite a few times.

Had to have a muscle shot

First on-ride photo

This ride does give unexpected airtime

Just waiting around

We're here to ride more coasters

We didn't do this, but we hear it is really great

Time to ride the swings over the water

This is how the car looks and how it is loaded

Here we are in our cage of doom about to go backwards. Try to ride this going forwards first please

This one however is in the mountain.

Look at the goodness of coasters by the water

Gyendolynne, the bridge bounces.

Need to cross the bridge, safety first!

It's not that crowded though

After the long trip and drive, I can't believe we made it here!

Coaster Palooza · June 7, 2006

^That is what threw us for a loop. We had to take a detour off of 55 I believe and once we did that, we couldn't find our way. Saw a drug deal though...

mcjaco · June 7, 2006

^Ug, you came right during the Dan Ryan reconstruction....I'm sorry. There's two seasons here, winter and road construction.

Let me know the next time you swing out this way, I can give you some pointers!

Meteornotes · June 7, 2006

Indiana Beach rocks. I need to get back there sometime.

Chicago traffic is horrible. I love the random tolls there, especially the strange amounts of change you need to get through them. I always pack a lot of coins when I go to the area.

Too bad about the flight. I still think all children should be stowed in the overhead compartment...

dt

Coaster Palooza · June 8, 2006

Day 6 – Wednesday – Mt Olympus and Timber Falls in Wisconsin Dells. What a great time and great parks! You don’t have to pay to park here. Mt Olympus is very easy to navigate. Our first stop was Hades, which is just to the right as you enter the park. Cyclops and Zeus are close by too. What can I say about Hades? The drop….awesome, the tunnel….incredible, the 90 degree bank turns that you can’t see….unexpectedly smooth. The ride is absolutely fantastic. It feels like you’re underground forever on the way out. On the way back, it just feels very fast. Definitely a top woody! When we first got to the ride, we saw a couple workers tightening bolts. I thought, oh no, we will have to wait a little bit. Next thing I see is a train being dispatched and going right over them! I couldn’t believe it. We rode Zeus next. It is a little on the short side, but a good coaster. Cyclops is right next to these two and has a drop right by the parking lot next to Hades. The layout of the park is really awesome. Poseidon’s go-karts were right next to Hades. I heard about this track and how it goes under water. I wanted to ride it and I was able to talk Gyendolynne into it. All the go-kart tracks are pretty good. I would say if you want air, ride Medusa, if you want speed, ride the Trojan horse. We rode Pegasus, Titan (kid coaster) and Zamperla (their disk-o coaster, is it really a coaster??). While we were at Zamperla, I noticed the construction where I thought their new coaster Opa is supposed to be. It isn’t on the map. We went over there and, yep, it’s there. We rode their new spinning mouse coaster and also got a POV on it….to be posted later. As the day at Mt Olympus wound down, we decided to go to Timber Falls to ride Avalanche. Timber Falls is really close by. If you go to Mt Olympus, make sure to have a little time left for this place. I am sure some people will suggest Riverview Park and Waterworld, but we just didn’t have the time for it. Timber Falls is a miniature golf place with a log ride and a wooden coaster. It is a good one. Not great, but good enough. After riding that we headed into town because we heard they had a Famous Dave’s. We have only been to the one at Cedar Point and we love the BBQ rub. We stopped by there to buy some and then went to Moosejaw pizza & brewery for a microbrew. The bartender told us there is a Laundromat in town and it was right by Famous Dave’s. We did laundry and had dinner at Famous Dave’s and then went back to Gurnee. Until tomorrow…..

I miss you already....

Last two pictures of Mt. Olympus

They had neat old time slide shows

If you order a pizza, they will deliver it to you in this car

off to Moosejaw

Signature muscle shot move

Front row, hands up!

Train far away

Next ride, going over the lift hill

Me coming back into the station

Another shot of the miniature golf

View of the full park with the train going around

going up the lift hill, I'm a little scared

There's the train pulling out of the station...

Another superior on-ride photo, thanks!

You also shouldn't be ashamed of a smashed penny obsession....

It's a nice little park and you don't have to be a mountain man to enjoy it.

Yes, that is Avalanche's banked turn coming around the entrance at Timber Falls

and one final shot of Hades

Trojan Horse as we are leaving

If any of you know the Seinfeld episode with "The Jimmy" you will know where I am going with these shoes. Jimmy can jump...

You can actually pick up some good speed on this track

Coming around for the second lap

Heading up the track

I am in the back car on Trojan Horse's track

I am coming into the finish

This is a good track, you can actually catch air going down there

More of Medusa...

Here I am riding Medusa's go-kart track

Here's is the great OPA! I have on-ride video that I will post later

Didn't do the second one on this ride because we couldn't both fit into a seat

Yep...

Did I say something about a habit forming?

The under water go-karts

On-ride photo.

This could become a habit

Cyclops, you're next!

Mt Olympus didn't have any on-ride photos, so we did our own

Before getting on Zeus

Make sure to observe all safety rules....

We'll throw caution to the wind though and ride it

A little scary having those guys tightening bolts while the train is going by.

Time to concur Hades

Wooo Hooo, we're here!

PhishyBrewer · June 9, 2006

Just think what you were missing at PGA that weekend

Karen, Gavin and I didn't look for any of those breweries near San Jose. Guess we'll have to make another trip.

Coaster Palooza · June 9, 2006

Day 7 – Thursday – I had to ship some stuff home because we were flying to KC tonight. We were able to get to SFGAm before they let the ropes down for the run after paying $15 to park! You have a choice, either go right to Ragin’ Bull, or left towards Superman. We chose left. This place is laid out exactly like PGA with a little more space. I did get some eerie feelings of déjà vu by walking through it. We rode S:UF in the back row and got the picture. Next we went to the right to ride Whizzer, Ragin’ Bull, and Viper. Everything was a little too crowded except for Viper. We rode in the front row and got the picture there too. We continued to head to the back, after riding Demon. Yes, I have no idea why I got on this. Gyendolynne was smart, she didn’t ride it. After Demon, we were by American Eagle, but it wasn’t running. WHY???!!!! The park has been open for an hour and a half at this point! We rode Batman instead because V2 and Ragin’ Cajun had such long waits already. Marvin the Martian in 3D was a show that I wanted to see. It started at noon. After Batman we went to watch this. It is good and I think they can probably 4D it sometime soon. It ends a little too abruptly though. We thought we would bite the bullet and wait for Ragin’ Bull now. It took just 45 minutes and we rode in the front row! Great ride, very similar to Apollo’s Chariot at Busch Garden Will…umm Europe?? I’m still getting used to it. We went back to American Eagle, but the wait was too long. We had to catch our plane! I wish they would post the waits for the rides at the entrance to the ride so you could ballpark it to see if you want to wait to ride it. That is one downfall I noticed all day. It is also neat how similar SFGAm was to PGA (Our hometown park). You are right, I did geek out a little bit about it. We think SFGAm is a little bit of PGA and SFGAdv combined. We got to the airport in plenty of time and flew to KC. It was a short drive to Branson, with the last 100 miles in the pouring rain, and we’re there! We stayed at the Lakeview Inn. The people are nice, but I wish the rooms were a little better.