Adventure in Michigan

This blog will be known as the time I drove 784 miles out of my way to essentially ride just one roller coaster. You know, as I just typed that I realize how incredibly insane that actually sounds. Am I insane? Maybe. For those of you who read my crazy coaster blog know I just blogged about my trip to Kentucky Kingdom back in June 2016. Well I knew going into the trip to Kentucky Kingdom that I would take the Saturday after the Kentucky Kingdom event to visit a new-to-me amusement park. I also knew, because it was a Saturday, that I was going to have to pick a park that wouldn’t be insanely busy. I narrowed my choices down to two parks: Indiana Beach and Michigan’s Adventure.

Nice Entrance

I like an adventure so what better way than to drive 784 miles out of my way to go to an amusement park. I will say this first and foremost that I do not mind driving in the car. I have always enjoyed long trips on the road but this was fairly crazy even for me. I decided to travel all the way to Michigan's Adventure. My reasons for choosing this Michigan's Adventure over Indiana Beach were because I already had a Cedar Fair platinum pass to get into the park and they had a wooden roller coaster I have been wanting to ride for years in Shivering Timbers. Then to put a definite on the decision my friend Doug aka The Fury Guy said he would meet up with me at the park. It ended up being a good decision.

What an Entrance area

I left Kentucky Kingdom around 10:00pm and arrived at the Super 8 hotel in Plymouth, Indiana around 1:30 am. I was very surprised at how nice the hotel was for a Super 8. I needed a cheap place to stay so I chose the Super 8 and was not let down. I was so excited about going to a new amusement park that I don’t think I got the full six hours of sleep that I had intended on getting. I got up around 7:00 am, ate a very nice breakfast (surprising for Super 8), and hit the road shortly after 8:00 am for my remaining 2.5-hour journey to Muskegon, Michigan.

Is this really a Super 8?

Wow, I am really in Michigan!

I arrived at Michigan’s Adventure about 10:45 am on Saturday June, 25th and immediately noticed the mega coaster structure that is Shivering Timbers. I mean seriously, this wooden coaster shines as you enter the parking lot. In my opinion it is one of the coolest park entrances out there. The ride is just so huge it is hard to visualize until you actually see it in person. It blew me away really. 

I mean seriously!

Say what!? photo credit: Doug the Fury Guy

It did not take me long until I met up with Doug aka The Fury Guy. Doug and I had first met each other back in May of 2015 as he was out to ride Fury 325 (see previous blog post) over 100 times in a day. I enjoyed my 28 rides on Fury that day while Doug bypassed me, using Fastlane, as he enjoyed over 100 rides (yes, that is a correct number) on the best coaster ever! So, when I saw Doug again at a Holiday World event that same month I called him the “Fury Guy” since I did not know his name. I again saw Doug this May 2016 on a trip I made to Alabama Splash Adventure where I again addressed him as the “Fury Guy.” However, this time we actually introduced ourselves and have since become friends. The legend of The Fury Guy lives will still live on though. 

Doug and I love Shivering Timbers

The park was set to open at 11:00 am and since Doug had already been to this park before I let him take the lead on what to ride and in what order to do so. Of course when I visit a new-to-me amusement park I like to try and ride all of the roller coasters at said park if I can. Michigan’s Adventure has 7 coasters and as luck would have it I rode all of them. We started off with the Wild Mouse coaster because, well, these things suck at capacity. It was a one and done coaster for me as they usually are. Then we made our way up the midway to Wolverine Wildcat. It is an older wooden coaster that only runs a single train operation. It was an average wooden coaster at best and we only managed one ride on it during our day. However, if the line hadn’t of been long on this one I might have ridden it again.

I see a mouse!

Wolverine Wildcat = Michigan and Kentucky

Next up would be Shivering Timbers and boy would it be an incredible ride. I had known about this wooden coaster for years but since it was so far away I didn’t think I would be able to ride it for a very long time. Thankfully, that time was now. The Shivering Timbers wooden coaster was built in 1998 by Custom Coasters International. The ride is 5,383 feet long (VERY long for a wooden coaster) 122 feet high and goes 57 mph. These are all staggering numbers for a wooden coaster. It has hills galore packed with air time and forces and the ride simply goes on for what feels like forever. It instantly became one of my favorite wooden coasters.

Love this Coaster!

It was getting close to lunchtime, and I was starving at this point, so Doug and I headed over to a pizza place to eat. The food was OK but actually fairly reasonably priced so that was good. Since we were still in the area we decided to take another ride on Shivering Timbers again. After we rode Timbers we made our way onto the other side of the park. I took notice of the beautiful clear sky, and enjoyed the 80-degree day (with NO humidity - thanks Michigan!). I enjoyed the huge lake, which offered great scenery, in the middle of the park housing two rides: the bumper boats and swan boats. We unfortunately did not have time to ride these two attractions but they looked like fun.

The lake was nice

Lake with Swans

We made it to the other side of the park and took a ride on the Thunderhawk (yes that is really its name). Thunderhawk is a Vekoma SLC otherwise known as a “hang n bang” where you sit in seats suspended from the track overhead. Usually these ride models (Vekoma SLC) are known to be very rough (see my recent Kentucky Kingdom post regarding T3) hence the nickname termed “hang and bang”. However, this ride was actually smooth and borderline fum. It was one of the better models of these rides that I had ever been on honestly.

Hang and Bang on the right

Is this a ride or just nice scenery?

Next up we took the train in a complete circuit around the park and admired all of the nothingness in the area. Seriously, there was nothing out there. You could get some cool shots of Shivering Timbers though so that was nice. We made our way around to the kid’s area of the park and I rode Zach’s Zoomer (kid’s wooden coaster) and Big Dipper (another kids steel coaster). I probably looked like a fool riding this one as Doug watched, most likely laughing at me on the inside. Oh well credit obtained and time to ride more coasters.

Lots of land, oh and Shivering Timbers hill

DROP!

HILL!

It was now time to ride the 7th and final coaster at Michigan’s Adventure, The Corkscrew. Corkscrew ended up being the longest wait of the day at around 20 minutes because they were only running one train. It’s a good thing the coaster sucked so I only had to ride it once. It is your typical steel multi looping coaster that has not aged well in my opinion. I mean I love my coasters but sometimes old steel looping coasters need to be scrapped and something newer and more innovative put in its place. 

Of course I rode this

Lots of concrete, oh and Corkscrew

We made our way over to the area where the Ferris Wheel was located and looked around in one of the shops. I was very surprised when I noticed the park didn’t have any good Shivering Timbers shirts! I mean seriously? It is your star attraction and all you have are generic single color, simply worded shirts. I was disappointed. We took a ride on the Ferris Wheel, which cheered me up. I really enjoyed the views I got from the top. You could see the entire park and got great views of the surrounding area. Shivering Timbers was huge and it towered over everything. I got a lot of nice pictures.

Artsy shot

Back of the Park

Front of the Park

I mean look at those hills!

At this point Doug and I both only had a little over an hour to go until we both had to leave for the day. We spent that last hour riding the best coaster in the park Shivering Timbers. It was so great because there was no line and we got in 8 rides before we had to leave. It was one of those moments where you just wished you didn’t have to leave. I grabbed an on ride photo, as I usually do with really great coasters in parks that I don’t visit very often, and made my way out of the park.

No lines on a Saturday?! Say what!

Like the Energizer Bunny...it keeps going and going...

I had a really good day at Michigan’s Adventure. I think it exceeded my expectations. I only got to spend about 5 hours in the park but I think those were hours well spent. I was able to ride all of their 7 roller coasters as well as the train and Ferris Wheel. The weather was great, the crowds were minimal for a Saturday, and Shivering Timbers cracked my Top Ten coaster list. That ride exceeded my expectations on every level. I ended up with 10 rides on it during our visit but those 10 rides were memorable and made the visit to Michigan’s Adventure worth it.  

I enjoyed my day

I see Timbers Hills!

Shivering Timbers is HUGE!

Air Time Galore

Storm The Kingdom

It is now time for me to blog about my trip to my childhood park
Kentucky Kingdom. I went this year for three reasons; 1) I
hadn’t been since 2014 and I was only in the park for a couple
of hours then, 2) They built a new cool RMC coaster, and 3) It
was an awesome coaster enthusiast event. I knew going into it
that it was going to a fun event so I signed up and made my way
up to Louisville to attend.

Cool T-Shirt Logo

The “Storm the Kingdom” event was held Friday, June, 24 th . The
event was going to be jam packed full of fun stuff like ERT,
lunch and dinner, free drinks, and giveaways. I was really just
excited about getting to spend the entire day in a park that I
had spent some of childhood in. I still have a picture of my
Grandmother and I riding the Tin Lizzlies (car ride) back when
the park was brand new in 1991! I have lots of great memories at
Kentucky Kingdom and I was happy to make some more during my
visit this time. I knew it was going to be a great day yet it
ended up exceeding my expectations.

Happy to be Back!

I will start off by saying that I made the 376 mile five and
half hour drive North on I65 sometime after 8pm. Somewhere just
outside of Bowling Green, KY I hit one of the worst torrential
downpours I have ever had while driving. This one, however, did
not outdo the 2010 Nashville floods that I drove through on my
way to my Grandmother’s funeral. (seriously check it out here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tennessee_floods). It was
still a little scary though as it took me completely by
surprise. The massive amounts of rain caused me to slow down to
around 30-40mph while staying extremely focused on the road
ahead. Maybe Storm the Kingdom came a day earlier as Storm the
I65 North.

I drove through this mess

I got to the park the next morning around 9 am to sign in for
the event. There was a huge line of enthusiasts waiting to be
signed in so I stood there admiring the surroundings and did a
little people watching as well. If you think I am crazy you
should see some of these other people (see below). I will say
that sometimes crazy isn’t always bad (haha). It took a little
over 20 minutes to get my entrance tickets, lanyard, t-shirt,
and then I headed over to the entrance.

Event Attendees

Coaster Tat!

It really amazed me at how nice the park looked now. It looked
even better than when I went there as a kid in the 1990’s. It
was fresher and more vibrant with a great choice of color on the
buildings and rides. I was extremely excited because the first
ride of the day was going to be an hour of ERT on the new RMC
coaster Storm Chaser. There was also an hour of ERT on the
wooden coaster Thunder Run. I somehow managed to be fourth in
line scoring me the very first train of the day sent out in the
front row! I was stoked! I knew it was going to be a great day
when that happened.

Nice Entrance

Follow the PR Guy on left

Fourth in Line

Up to this point I had only ridden one RMC model coaster and
that was Outlaw Run at Silver Doller City. I actually did a blog
post on that coaster a while back (Running with an Outlaw) which
lets you know just what I think about these type of coasters. I
knew that Storm Chaser would not disappoint. I went in with high
expectations and the coaster delivered. Easily a top ten coaster
for me. Outlaw Run is #3 in my rankings and Storm Chaser is #8.
I am up to 197 coasters ridden so I consider this to be very
high praise.

Awesome Sign

Even Better Coaster

The ride itself could probably get its on blog post at some
point in time so be on the lookout. In the meantime, I will just
say this about Storm Chaser. It has everything that makes a
coaster great in my opinion. There was a unique barrel roll
(upside down) initial drop followed by a huge airtime hill into
another half inversion followed by more airtime hills and
another inversion. Then you hit a double up element (hill) into
a double down element (hill) followed by a nice helix and head
chopper effect back into the brakes. There was never a dull
moment.

Upside down First Drop

Inversions and Air Time

The coaster really does not let up until the helix portion of the
ride and even then it is different. While the ride height isn’t
that tall it makes up in extreme air time and lateral forces and
upside down moments. It is a solid addition for Kentucky Kingdom
and, I think, one of the best roller coasters in the entire
region.

Air Time!

Twisty!

After my first and awesome ride on Storm Chaser a line started
to form, so I made my way over to Thunder Run. I got in three
straight rides which were all great. Thunder Run really is an
underrated coaster. It was completely re-tracked a few years ago
and you can definitely tell by how smooth of a ride it is. There
are also great moments of air time and some cool turnarounds.
The only thing holding it back honestly is the fact that it
isn’t that long of a ride. Still a solid coaster though and
worth multiple rides on it.

Thunder Run with Storm Chaser and Mile High Falls in Background

I went back over to Storm Chaser, where the line had started to
die down, and got in 9 more rides (3 of those being front row).
Winning! Most of the rides I didn’t even have to get out of my
seat. Also winning! At this point the park was already open so I
then made my way over to Roller Skater roller coaster since,
surprisingly, I had never ridden it before. This was one of the
three original coasters built in 1994 for Kentucky Kingdom that
still remained. It is a kid’s coaster and was ok and worth the
one ride.

Credit Obtained

Seriously, the only reason I left Storm Chaser was because lunch
was scheduled from 11:00 – Noon. If it hadn’t of been for that
then I would have just stayed on Storm Chaser. I didn’t get over
there until about 15 minutes until noon so I almost missed it
then. I was glad I made it thought because lunch was good and
needed since I was getting hungry. The lunch included
hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, pasta salad, and baked beans.

Good Lunch

At lunch I met a guy named Barry from Cincinnati Ohio. It never
fails when I go to one of these events by myself that I end up
meeting a new friend to hang out with. We went and rode the
Ferris Wheel, since it was right next to the pavilion we ate
lunch. It is truly an awesome ride. The fact that it is around
150 feet tall adds to that fact though. You can see the entire
park from the top including downtown Louisville, airport, and
surrounding area.

Now THAT'S a Ferris Wheel

Great Views from up There

We went over to the other side of the park and rode Fear Fall a
very thrilling drop ride. You wouldn’t think it was that
thrilling by looking at it but these model drop towers really
pack a punch. Next up we went and rode/watched the 5D Cinema
Angry Birds in the building that at one time housed my very
first roller coaster Star Chaser. The video lasted about 15
minutes and included moving chairs that were fun. It was a nice
little break for the hot day.

Ready to Drop

Ready to Launch

We made our way back over to the other side of the park via the
park’s new crosswalk. Seriously I could not believe that it had
taken them this long to finally put something in like this! When
Kentucky Kingdom was initially built there was a road already
placed directly through the park separating the front of the
park from the back of the park. To remedy this issue, the park
had to build a walkway over the road so that guests could get to
the other side of the park. Unfortunately, that being the only
route across the road would often lead to a lot of congestion.
The new walkway gives guests another option to cross into the
other side of the park allowing for more access and less crowds!
Huge improvement.

Seriously GREAT Addition

Now onto the worst part of the day. The part where we decided to
ride T3 or Terror to the 3rd Power as it is known (yes, seriously
that is what it stands for). I rode this ride when it was brand
new back in 1995. It was T2 then and also a lot smoother. The
ride has not aged well at all. In fact, the park knew that it
had not aged well and decided to remove the over the shoulder
restraint system and replace it with lap bars and seatbelts.
Yeah, this did not work! The ride was a straight up *insert bad
word here*. Have you ever felt like you may be about to die?
Well, if you haven’t and you want to then take a ride on T3.
I figured I would try it for nostalgia purposes. My first on
ride photo came from T2 as well as many other fun rides with my
Dad. It was the first ride I think I ever rode over and over and
over again. I want to say I did 15 rides on it in one day back
in 1995. That will never happen again. I think the ride
experience now would be like that of a stationary moving
earthquake where you get thrown from side to side and tossed
around like a rag doll. Yeah, I am not kidding.

Sell it for Scrap, Seriously

After the T3 disaster we recovered quite nicely with a ride on
the 130 feet swing ride Skycatcher. These are fun rides and
somewhat thrilling especially if you are afraid of heights and
being hung 130 feet in the air by nothing but chains. While
riding Skycatcher I took a moment to notice all the new sections
of the water park. There were so many new slides and even a new
wave pool and adventure river. Unfortunately, I did not have
time for the water park on this visit. It has definitely added a
new element of fun to the new Kentucky Kingdom though.

Everything in this Photo is New

Next up was Lightning Run a roller coaster that I had been dying
to ride since my one and only ride back in 2014. That one ride
was so good that it stuck with me for two entire years as I
waited patiently to ride again. Lightning Run did not
disappoint. In fact, it really blew me away. If you look at the
ride you would not think it would be that great but it is really
a gem. It has more violent air time then 200-foot B&M model
hyper coasters (I’m looking at you Diamondback @ Kings Island).
I know that is hard to believe but trust me it is true.

Great Coaster

It was getting closer to dinner time and since I was already
towards the front of the park I figured I would head out to the
car and take a little break for a few minutes. My legs were
tired and my phone needed charging so it was a nice break.
Dinner was served between 5-6 pm so I made my way over. It was a
delicious meal with ribs, Brussel sprouts, roasted corn, cheesy
broccoli casserole and zucchini.

Great Dinner

After dinner I got a picture with the legend himself, Ed Hart.
Ed Hart is the owner of Kentucky Kingdom and the man responsible
for starting Kentucky Kingdom in 1991 and then re-building a
better Kentucky Kingdom in 2014. He won the Renaissance Award,
equivalent to an Academy Award, for the amusement industry at
this year’s Golden Ticket ceremony. I was seriously star struck
and grateful for the opportunity to meet him.

Me & Ed Hart

We took another spin on the Ferris Wheel and grabbed a lot of
nice pictures. Then we went and rode Thunder Run again. We went
over to the other side of the park and took a spin on the
Himalaya and I have to say that it was one of the better ride
cycles on a Himalaya that I have ever had. It went on for what
felt like forever. Then we made our way over and grabbed a ride
on Lightning Run to end the operating day.

Front side of the Park

Back side of the Park

I Love the Ferris Wheel

It was at this point in the day that ERT was about to start on
Storm Chaser and then Lightning Run. Storm Chaser was having
mechanical issues so we took one ride on it, while getting stuck
on the lift hill for a few minutes, and then made our way back
over to Lightning Run to get a bunch of rides in before the
event concluded. Boy I am so grateful for ERT events. I was able
to score 6 rides on Lightning Run in less than an hour.

Great Coaster

Also Great Coaster - Both Top Ten for Me

I simply cannot say enough about this coaster! It is non-stop
action from the drop to the brakes. The ride never lets up and
you really feel like you are going faster than you actually are.
The air-time is strong ejector-like air time that seriously
surprises you. There was air time in spots you didn’t even
expect there would be air time in. Then there is an awesome
twisty track low to the ground section that is thrilling. The
end of the ride concludes with four ejector air-time bunny hills
(small hills). It is one of the best endings on a roller coaster
I have ever experienced.

Those hills on the right!

Lightning Run, in my opinion, barely beats out Storm Chaser
coming in at #7 on my coaster rankings. What gives it the edge
you might ask? Well, to be honest the reason I think it is
better is simply because of the ending itself. The combination
of small hills one after the other offer a great, fun,
thrilling, ride experience. Regardless of how you would rank
Storm Chaser and Lightning Run, Kentucky Kingdom has two winners
on their hands. Both of which are top ten coasters for me.

Lightning Run Pano

What a day! I mean seriously my expectations were exceeded,
which I did not think was possible. Kentucky Kingdom has greatly
turned it around and made themselves into an amusement park
worth visiting. I mean seriously if you are anywhere in the area
of Louisville, Kentucky you should visit this park. I enjoyed my
entire day 10 am to 9 pm in the park and I didn’t even ride a
water ride or go to the waterpark!

This is a correct statement

Kentucky Kingdom is clean, the staff are friendly, and rides
range from very mild to very aggressive. There are three solid
roller coasters worth riding again and again (Storm Chaser,
Lighting Run, and Thunder Run). The kid’s area looked nice with
plenty of rides younger kids would enjoy. I am proud to see my
hometown (when I was young) park become a major success. Thank-
you Ed Hart for bringing Kentucky Kingdom back better than ever.

Great Coasters

Great Thrill Rides

Great Water Park

Great Trees

Great Buildings

Great Landscaping

Great ACE Event