Georgia on my Mind

Another month goes by and another blog post is written. I am still way behind on my blog posts but I am still doing them so that has to count for something right? In this blog I am going to write about our trip to Six Flags over Georgia on the Fourth of July in 2016. It was our first trip back to the park since Ashley and I went in the spring of 2013. Unfortunately, that trip was marred by a complete rain-out which actually closed the park mid-day. Luckily for Ashley and I we had a feeling the park would probably close so we went to see a movie.

Good Looking Group

Fast-forward over three years later and here we were again ready for a fun filled day at one of the best Six Flags parks in the chain (in my opinion). On this trip we would have a group with us. It was Me, Ashley, Bri, and her cousins Sidney Kate, Shelby, and Kaitlyn. If you are scoring at home then yes, Ashley and I took four girls to an amusement park. It ended up being one of the best days I have ever had at Six Flags over Georgia so keep reading.

Happy Fourth of July!

In preparation for the trip I decided that it would be nice to stay in a hotel right outside the park on Sunday, July 3^rd so that we would not have to get up extremely early and drive the two hours to the park. It helped that I was able to use my free night from hotels.com to stay at the hotel. Also, since the hotel was within walking distance to the front entrance of the park we did not have to pay the ridiculous $20 parking fee! Oh, and the hotel had a nice outdoor pool and solid breakfast as well.

Pool was Great

Another reason I chose to visit Six Flags over Georgia was because I had three free tickets to use as well as three 50% off general admission tickets. I also decided on the 4^th of July because it was a Monday and a holiday so I was hoping that the crowds wouldn’t be that bad. It turned out that I was right for once and crowds were minimal. I decided to turn in my voucher for the free tickets on Sunday night so that we would not have to wait in line to get the tickets Monday morning. Well, that plan back fired on me unfortunately.

Entrance at Dusk

Goliath Soars

When we got to the park on Monday morning around 10:00am and tried to use our tickets the three free tickets would not allow us to enter the park. After many curt discussions with clueless Six Flags Employees at the entrance we were told to go over to guest services to get them to re-do our free tickets for Monday. For some reason the person who issued the free tickets to me the night before had Sunday June 3^rd printed on the ticket. I mean seriously? I picked up the free tickets around 9:00pm the night before when the park closed at 10:00pm. Makes no sense why he would think I needed Sunday tickets to enter the park when one: I told him I needed the tickets for Monday and two: I would only be able to enjoy the park for an hour with a free ticket issued on Sunday.

Goliath & Georgia Scorcher

Beautiful!

Anyway, I learned my lesson on that one. Always make sure to redeem free ticket vouchers at Six Flags the day that you plan to use the tickets! I went to Guest services and I was offered the free tickets, with a sincere apology, and three exit passes for a ride of our choice. That was a nice touch. I will say this about the whole ordeal though. I am not the biggest fan of the Six Flags corporation (which is probably why I don’t visit Six Flags parks very often) but after being so down on Six Flags early in the day, after that issue was resolved, the rest of the day quickly got much better. In fact, it ended up being one of the best days I have ever had at Six Flags over Georgia!

THIS is what I wanted to avoid!

Ashley, Bri, and Kaitlyn entered the park earlier than Me, Sydney Kate, and Shelby because they used the valid 50% off tickets so that they wouldn't have to wait around as long. I thought we could meet up with the group but they were busy riding another ride so I decided to take the girls on their first ride of the day. We settled on Monster Plantation because I thought it would get packed later in the day. Monster Plantation is an iconic ride that you don’t really see in parks like Six Flags. It is more comparable to something you would see at a Disney park. There are monster animatronics and a few surprises along the course of the ride. I think the girls had mixed feelings about Monster Plantation but I really enjoyed the ride for what it was.

This is where the Monsters Live

We met up with Ashley, Bri, and Kaitlyn around the kid’s area in the park. They were riding the new free fall ride that was installed this season and seemed to be having a great time. We all went over and got in back to back rides on the Joker Funhouse roller coaster. It is an ok ride for a kid’s coaster. The girls seemed to enjoy it. Next up we took a ride on Splashwater Falls boat chute ride. Luckily we really didn’t get soaked but had a fun time. Next up we took a ride on Dalonaga Mine Train coaster. It isn’t a bad ride by any means but rather tame for a roller coaster junkie like myself. Unfortunately, Bri hit her ear on the side of the hard plastic seats so she was not very happy. The rest of the girls enjoyed the ride though.

Dalonaga Mine Train credit: rcdb.com Rik Engelen

Next up we decided to hit up the Sky Buckets (Sky ride) to take us to the other end of the park. It was a nice break with cool scenery from above. From there we decided to go on the Thunder River water rapids ride. I noticed immediately as we made our way deep into the queue line that the line was short. It was at this moment I did a happy dance inside my head because I knew that we were probably in for a deserted park. We only waited about 15 minutes for Thunder River which is seriously the least amount of time I have ever waited for that ride. It is normally an hour plus wait in the summer. The kids loved it and Ashley and I were lucky that we did not get completely soaked under the waterfall.

Ashley is happy we are in the shade.

We made our way through the Lickskillet (yes, that is what it called) area of the park and stopped to ride SkyScreamer a 240-foot-tall swing ride. It sounds scarier than it actually is, unless you have a fear of heights (which oddly enough I kind of do on rides like this). The kids loved it though and the best part about it was there was no line. As we walked around the park I seriously could not believe how dead the park was on this day. It was a huge blessing for our group.

SkyScreamer credit: Themeparkreview

Next up Ashley went and rode Great American Scream Machine with Bri and Kaitlyn while I rode the neighboring Blue Hawk roller coaster with Sydney Kate and Shelby. This year Blue Hawk received a new name, a revamp of the restraint system, and was painted from red to blue. The ride used to be called Ninja and it sure did kick your butt like a ninja would! Prior to riding the ride during this visit it was ranked as the worst coaster I had ridden out of 190+ coasters if that tells you how bad the ride was. Today it was at least a much better ride. While it is still not a great ride, in my opinion, it is definitely one I can tolerate now.

Blue Hawk credit: rcdb.com Randy Dewberry

I have to give a shout-out to Sydney Kate here. This was her first time in a big amusement park like this as well as her first time riding big roller coasters and she did an incredible job. It was really like she had never not ridden rides before. She rode everything and never acted very nervous in any situation. She also seemed to enjoy riding the coasters and rides that we did ride. Good job Sydney-Kate for going with the flow and enjoying yourself on our trip. I will also give a shout-out to our group. All of the girls did very well and we had no issues throughout the day.

These water misters were a nice way to cool down

We met back up with Ashley, Bri, and Kaitlyn and took a ride on the iconic Great American Scream Machine wooden roller coaster. I mean seriously this ride is super underrated in my opinion. It is such a fun roller coaster and delivers great air time and speed throughout the entire ride. Everyone in our group seemed to enjoy it.

Great American Scream Machine credit: rcdb.com Rik Engelen

After back to back rides, with hardly any wait, we decided now would be a good time to grab lunch. I cannot remember what everyone ordered but it was enough to get everyone fed for the rest of our time in the park. I was able to score a free refill on my $4 32oz soda (yes I know highway robbery), thanks to my charm (wink), for free. I don’t remember the person's name but Thank-you Six Flags Employee for hooking me up with a free refill on my non-refillable soda.

Random pic of Goliath because it's Awesome

We spent the next hour or so in the Hurricane Harbor water park. We spent some of the time in the giant wave pool and the rest of the time in the huge tree-house-bucket-dumping-water structure. It is named Paradise Island. All of the water slides outside of the wave pool had decent waits so we skipped them and opted for the tree house water slides in Paradise Island. The kids had a blast going down the smaller waterslides off of the tree house structure.

Hurricane Harbor credit: yeahletsgo.com

Thanks to Six Flags screw up with the free tickets that we used they gave us three free exit passes for one ride of our choice to be used throughout the day. Ashley used them to take Shelby and Sydney Kate on the Superman flying roller coaster. I am personally not a fan of these types of coasters so I am glad Ashley was willing to ride with them. I am pretty sure they all had a good time or they did not say otherwise.

Superman Ultimate Flight credit: rcdb.com Rik Engelen

While Ashley, Shelby, and Sydney Kate were undoubtedly skipping a 45 minute or more line on Superman, since Superman is incapable of having a line anywhere under 45 minutes due to terrible capacity, I enjoyed back to back rides on Great American Scream Machine with Bri and Kaitlyn (holy long sentence Batman). I swear even if there were 100 people in this Six Flags park about 80 of them would be standing in line for Superman. No joke.

'MERICA!

Bri is just like her Dad when it comes to wooden coasters. She loves them! I was a little worried they might scare her but nope they did not seem to faze her at all. I think she got in about 7 rides each between Great American Scream Machine and Georgia Cyclone both of which are pretty intense wooden roller coasters. She never complained and only wanted to keep riding them. Good job Bri! 

Bri and Kaitlyn enjoy roller coasters

We made our way over to Gotham City to see what Batman was doing. Apparently he was saving the city from that guy we call Joker because the Joker coaster was broken down. Dang you Batman! That’s ok though because we got an incredible absolutely NO LINE ride on Batman the Ride roller coaster! I had never, and I mean never, seen Batman the Ride with zero line. It was a photo OP that sadly I missed though. We only waited for a train because we wanted to ride in the front car. If we had wanted, we literally could have gotten 10 rides in a row on this glorious coaster in under an hour most likely. I was not going to do that to Shelby and Sydney-Kate though (haha). We settled for the one front row ride because it was epic. I am pretty sure it blew Sydney-Kate and Shelby’s minds as well.

Batman the Ride credit: rcdb.com Rik Engelen

From Batman the Ride we walked over to the Mindbender roller coaster and enjoyed back to back rides on it. This ride is an absolute classic. It has no over the shoulder harness, it loops, it drops, it is smooth as silk, it has air time, it drops past a huge waterfall, it takes you into the trees, and through a tunnel. One of the best coasters out there in my opinion. Bri really loved this coaster and still calls it the loop de loop coaster. I did get a picture of the line for Mindbender and the line was non-existent. We won on this day for sure.

Mind Bender credit: rcdb.com Rik Engelen

NO LINES!

It was at this time that a storm passed through the area so all the rides closed down. Luckily the delay did not last that long (maybe 30 or so minutes). We walked up to Goliath and got in what normally would have been a five to 10-minute line but had to wait while they cycled trains after the storm passed until they gave an all clear. Great coaster as always and my favorite B&M hyper model. The downward helix is so much fun and the following hills to close out the ride deliver great air time.

Goliath in all its Glory

We knew our time at the park was coming to a close because we had planned to leave by 6pm so we could get back to Birmingham around 8pm. We had to walk right past the Georgia Scorcher coaster because they still had not got it running yet from the rain delay. We made our way over to Georgia Cyclone and took one last ride before we left. Georgia Cyclone is yet another underrated coaster in my opinion. It is a compact wooden coaster that delivers an out of control experience and considerable amounts of decent air time. It could be a little smoother but I like to say if you are riding a wooden roller coaster toughen up! I will say this, that Bri and Kaitlyn rode this coaster multiple times and had no problem with it.  

I am enjoying this visit

Our day at Six Flags over Georgia was done and I am happy to report that it was one of the best days I have ever had there. Seriously, it was an awesome day! I lucked out in my thinking because it was a Monday and a Holiday that the park would not be crowded and it was not at all crowded. Not even a little bit. I think I will possibly try visiting the park again on a 4^th of July in the future.

The group is sad to leave

I would say we were in the park from around 10:30am until about 5:30pm. We were able to get 18 rides on many different attractions while taking water breaks, eating lunch, stopping at the water park, entering a merchandise shop, and waiting out a rain delay. That is about three rides in the park per hour which is really phenomenal numbers while not power riding rides. It was a joy to watch the kids have a great time and get to be at Six Flags over Georgia again. Hopefully we will get to do it again in the future. 

I give this trip a big thumbs up!

The Pros:

Park was not crowded
One of the best days I have ever spent at the park

We rode 18 rides that I counted (Kaitlyn, Bri, and Ashley rode more)

We waited no more than 15 minutes on any one ride

I got a surprise free refill from a nice Six Flags Employee

Bri loving the major roller coasters

Sydney Kate handling big time roller coaster well

Everyone getting along

No Lines (yes I know I am repeating myself but it is that good)

Hotel was great

The Cons:

       

Free Ticket Fiasco

Ashley getting park security called on her (yes this happened)

HOT! (But we knew this being that it was July)

Shelby getting sick after we left the park

Not getting to ride Georgia Scorcher (rain delay issue)

Not getting to ride Dare Devil Dive (this is no surprise though)

Wish I had taken more pictures

These girls were great and had so much fun

Cool Pano of the Entrance Plaza

HELIX!

COASTERS!

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