Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Valleyfair!
I had been to Valleyfair! (yes, like Jeopardy!, the name includes an exclamation point) before, so I was there mainly to get some new credits since my last visit. I was on a tight schedule so it was basically once around the park then out (as a result of this, there are no pics from this day, either). I started out with Steel Venom. It's near the front of the park near Challenge Park. On my last visit many years ago, I recall Challenge Park being in the parking lot, a separate entity from the park itself. It is now gated within the park, making for a rather unshaded awkward peninsular stretch of midway. Steel Venom, being a shuttle coaster, can only run one train max, so I wanted to get it out of the way. Turned out to be a good call because I got on fairly quickly and checked it off the list. I was also pleasantly surprised to find I not only fit in the train, but could do so with very minimal assistance.
After a considerable walk, I decided to check off their Mouse coaster next. These things are also usually capacity nightmares and with a mostly unshaded queue on a very warm day, I didn't want to have to deal with it for long. This installation had a bit more oomph than I was expecting, but rest assured that when the brakes hit, they worked just fine. :/
Renegade was the main attraction, representing the second of four new wood coasters on this trip. I took the time to ride twice (once in front, once in back). Now I grant you, these were early-in-the-day rides without the benefit of warmup time, but I have to say, I don't really see much in this ride. It may not quite be the "nothing" coaster that Saunders makes it out to be, but I do agree with him that it's probably not a "destination" woodie for anyone. If the GCI way of building coasters is your thing, get thee to Missouri instead (but more on that in a future report). I thought there were some pleasant Kentucky Rumbler-esque moments to the ride, but there was nothing remarkable about it. It's kind of like when movie critics think a film isn't severely flawed, but has nothing particularly noteworthy to it either--just bland, you know. One thing I will say is that the ride has a nasty vibration to it that I was not expecting. This is a GCI coaster that's only three or four years old, running GCI trains no less, and it's already getting rough? You've got to be kidding me. This isn't a ride that tries to pack a lot in like Thunderhead, it should stay smooth as glass. Given Cedar Fair's track record, it kinda makes me fear what Prowler will ride like in a few years.
I remember actually liking Excalibur on my last visit, but I had no desire (or time) to walk the rest of the way to the very back of the park, so I skipped it. I did work in a ride on High Roller. Still really enjoy the trains, but what's up with the brake halfway through? It really put me in the mindset of the Hersheypark Comet in terms of "huge potential wasted by a mid-course brake."
My last ride at Valleyfair! was on Wild Thing. I rode near the back when it was new so I tried near the front this time. The layout is really uninspired with a turnaround that wanders far too much to be entertaining. And once again, a mid-course brake is killing a ride. There's a nice series of bunny hops at the end of the ride that would be really fun, but the train's speed gets trimmed so much that it's just a frustrating return to the station.
Park operations were midling--nothing spectacular, but nothing piss-poor either (though single train op and limited seat selection on High Roller was more than a little irksome). Being located outside Minneapolis and being as unremarkable a park as it is, I suspect it will be another very long stretch before I return to Valleyfair! Of course, a third woodie by Gravity Group or a second hyper as good as Phantom's Revenge or Behemoth could change that, but I'm not holding my breath.
After a considerable walk, I decided to check off their Mouse coaster next. These things are also usually capacity nightmares and with a mostly unshaded queue on a very warm day, I didn't want to have to deal with it for long. This installation had a bit more oomph than I was expecting, but rest assured that when the brakes hit, they worked just fine. :/
Renegade was the main attraction, representing the second of four new wood coasters on this trip. I took the time to ride twice (once in front, once in back). Now I grant you, these were early-in-the-day rides without the benefit of warmup time, but I have to say, I don't really see much in this ride. It may not quite be the "nothing" coaster that Saunders makes it out to be, but I do agree with him that it's probably not a "destination" woodie for anyone. If the GCI way of building coasters is your thing, get thee to Missouri instead (but more on that in a future report). I thought there were some pleasant Kentucky Rumbler-esque moments to the ride, but there was nothing remarkable about it. It's kind of like when movie critics think a film isn't severely flawed, but has nothing particularly noteworthy to it either--just bland, you know. One thing I will say is that the ride has a nasty vibration to it that I was not expecting. This is a GCI coaster that's only three or four years old, running GCI trains no less, and it's already getting rough? You've got to be kidding me. This isn't a ride that tries to pack a lot in like Thunderhead, it should stay smooth as glass. Given Cedar Fair's track record, it kinda makes me fear what Prowler will ride like in a few years.
I remember actually liking Excalibur on my last visit, but I had no desire (or time) to walk the rest of the way to the very back of the park, so I skipped it. I did work in a ride on High Roller. Still really enjoy the trains, but what's up with the brake halfway through? It really put me in the mindset of the Hersheypark Comet in terms of "huge potential wasted by a mid-course brake."
My last ride at Valleyfair! was on Wild Thing. I rode near the back when it was new so I tried near the front this time. The layout is really uninspired with a turnaround that wanders far too much to be entertaining. And once again, a mid-course brake is killing a ride. There's a nice series of bunny hops at the end of the ride that would be really fun, but the train's speed gets trimmed so much that it's just a frustrating return to the station.
Park operations were midling--nothing spectacular, but nothing piss-poor either (though single train op and limited seat selection on High Roller was more than a little irksome). Being located outside Minneapolis and being as unremarkable a park as it is, I suspect it will be another very long stretch before I return to Valleyfair! Of course, a third woodie by Gravity Group or a second hyper as good as Phantom's Revenge or Behemoth could change that, but I'm not holding my breath.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Timber Falls Adventure Park
After my big adventure at Little Amerricka, I had one more coaster stop ahead of me before making a run for dinner and my hotel. That stop would be Timber Falls Adventure Park in the Wisconsin Dells. Many a coaster fan would wonder why I didn't also hit Mt. Olympus. The reason is simple...they are expensive, they have no late gate (or other discernable) discount, they have no new wood coaster credits, and I'd only have an hour or two max to spend there. Couple all these things with the fact that I preferred Avalanche at Timber Falls to Hades at Mt. Olympus and the fact Timber Falls is much more reasonably priced, and you have a no-brainer.
As a couple of my pictures will serve to verify, Timber Falls pulled a fast one on me. With no notice posted on their web site, they decided to limit wristbands to five rides max on the coaster. I was not happy, and felt especially obligated to get some value out of my wristband by riding the flume for the first time and by taking advantage of their Skyscraper discount.
The five-ride limit on the coaster (which used to be named Avalanche, but is now supposedly called Hellcat despite the fact that I don't recall seeing any signs in the park refering to it as Hellcat) turned out not to be so bad after all, as the ride has deteriorated since my last visit. It had always been an aggressive ride, but now it has reached a point that it's just plain rough in spots.
The decline of this coaster has gone so far as to change its nature. I considered it a superior back seat ride when it was new. I also thought every seat on the (very short) train had something of value to offer at that time. Now, it is a much better front seat ride and riding the middle car borders on worthless.
There's still some great air on the ride, but she just ain't what she used to be and it will be reflected in my rankings accordingly.
The flume turned out to be rather interesting. It was much longer than I expected and, as I recall, would be an excellent "date ride."
This brings us to Skyscraper, I had ridden this one before, along with the one that used to be at Dorney and the one that used be on International Drive in Florida. It is an intense ride. The sensation of the wind rushing by you is seldom seen on other amusement rides (Skycoasters do it a bit on the initial drop, as do Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and Kingda Ka at Great Adventure on the initial launch). It was an extra $10 (normally $20 without a wristband), but I just had to do it again. If you view my pics (this batch being located at http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061909%20Part%202/?), you might be able to see that the passenger cars on each end of the arm are on an axel and, thus, are able to rotate. Rotate they do, often in such a way that you think the ride is going to put you at the bottom of its rotation facing the ground. Riders have a nice, snug, five-point seat belt-style safety harness to keep them in the ride. You certainly won't FEEL secure on it, but you will come back safe every time (at least I have, and I imagine that I must be testing the strength-rating of the belts a bit :) ). I also took some video of this and if I can figure out how to post it, I will. Let me get all the pics and text done first, then I'll worry about video. :)
Before I wrap this up, I must put a plug in for Ted's Pizza in Menomonie, WI. It was not only the best meal I had on this trip, it's one of the best I've had in my life! So impressed was I with this place that I actually told the chef how great his product is--not something I do on a regular basis. So yeah, if you ever find yourself within an hour drive of Menomonie, WI, make the trip to Ted's. I didn't regret it, and I don't think you will either.
As a couple of my pictures will serve to verify, Timber Falls pulled a fast one on me. With no notice posted on their web site, they decided to limit wristbands to five rides max on the coaster. I was not happy, and felt especially obligated to get some value out of my wristband by riding the flume for the first time and by taking advantage of their Skyscraper discount.
The five-ride limit on the coaster (which used to be named Avalanche, but is now supposedly called Hellcat despite the fact that I don't recall seeing any signs in the park refering to it as Hellcat) turned out not to be so bad after all, as the ride has deteriorated since my last visit. It had always been an aggressive ride, but now it has reached a point that it's just plain rough in spots.
The decline of this coaster has gone so far as to change its nature. I considered it a superior back seat ride when it was new. I also thought every seat on the (very short) train had something of value to offer at that time. Now, it is a much better front seat ride and riding the middle car borders on worthless.
There's still some great air on the ride, but she just ain't what she used to be and it will be reflected in my rankings accordingly.
The flume turned out to be rather interesting. It was much longer than I expected and, as I recall, would be an excellent "date ride."
This brings us to Skyscraper, I had ridden this one before, along with the one that used to be at Dorney and the one that used be on International Drive in Florida. It is an intense ride. The sensation of the wind rushing by you is seldom seen on other amusement rides (Skycoasters do it a bit on the initial drop, as do Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and Kingda Ka at Great Adventure on the initial launch). It was an extra $10 (normally $20 without a wristband), but I just had to do it again. If you view my pics (this batch being located at http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061909%20Part%202/?), you might be able to see that the passenger cars on each end of the arm are on an axel and, thus, are able to rotate. Rotate they do, often in such a way that you think the ride is going to put you at the bottom of its rotation facing the ground. Riders have a nice, snug, five-point seat belt-style safety harness to keep them in the ride. You certainly won't FEEL secure on it, but you will come back safe every time (at least I have, and I imagine that I must be testing the strength-rating of the belts a bit :) ). I also took some video of this and if I can figure out how to post it, I will. Let me get all the pics and text done first, then I'll worry about video. :)
Before I wrap this up, I must put a plug in for Ted's Pizza in Menomonie, WI. It was not only the best meal I had on this trip, it's one of the best I've had in my life! So impressed was I with this place that I actually told the chef how great his product is--not something I do on a regular basis. So yeah, if you ever find yourself within an hour drive of Menomonie, WI, make the trip to Ted's. I didn't regret it, and I don't think you will either.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Little Amerricka
As I write this, the trip is over, but I'm going to try to get all my pictures and ramblings posted anyways. 6/19 did not go as planned. There was some very nasty rain on my drive, which started in Kalamazoo, MI and got harrowing in Chicagoland. I drove through downpours the likes of which I have not seen in a long time. Put it like this...I drove straight through an area that was under a tornado watch by the National Weather Service. Now, I've always wanted to see a tornado, but with the intensity of the rain, I was happy to settle for just being able to see (and not crash into) the cars in front of me on the highway.
I had several stops planned in the Chicago area, all of which had to be nixed due to lack of time. Turns out I did not get to say goodbye to Kiddieland (a small park with a small wood coaster closing at the end of this season after decades of service to their community), but I did make it there previously. Shame that I couldn't squeeze it in, though.
I decided to make the push for Marshall, WI and Little Amerricka. The park's name is a pun on it's founder's name, Lee Merrick. Its coaster is pretty much the same as the one I would have taken another spin on at Kiddieland, with two important differences: I personally had not ridden this one before and this one looks like it'll keep on operating for a while longer. I arrived to find the skies had cleared and that the park was empty. I mean really empty. I mean closed due to earlier bad weather empty. :( I had been trying to call the park all day to make sure they were still open and kept getting busy signals. This actually helped to save my ass....
I got there, parked, and started walking around trying to find out what was going on. I came upon two people a short walk into the park. One was a man standing and the other was a woman sitting in her car idling in the middle of the midway. The man was a person who had brought his whole extended family from Indiana and was looking forward to giving them a fun time at the park. The woman turned out to be the wife of the individual who designed/built the park for Mr. Merrick--one of the "higher-ups" in it's day-to-day operations, indeed.
She explained that the bad rain I had experienced passed through their area as well and it sent guests heading for the hills. A park that small can't afford to keep employees around when there are no guests in the park, so they called it a day. The man explained his situation and disppointment to her and then I chimed in about my situation. I was so desperate to be able to check this ride off my list, and only wanted to ride it and move on. This brings me to a bit of a digression....
One of my goals in coastering is to someday be able to say that I've ridden every operating wood coaster in North America. I created a list of those coasters I need to ride in order to meet this goal. It looks like this:
"Wood Coasters Needed
United States
1. Boardwalk Bullet Kemah Boardwalk Wood Sit Down Operating 8/31/2007
2. Evel Knievel Six Flags St. Louis Wood Sit Down Operating 6/20/2008
3. Renegade Valleyfair! Wood Sit Down Operating 5/12/2007
4. Meteor Little Amerricka Wood Sit Down Operating 8/8/2007
5. Prowler Worlds of Fun Wood Sit Down Operating 2009
6. Terminator Salvation: The Coaster Six Flags Magic Mountain Wood Sit Down Operating 2009
A. Flying Turns Knoebels Amusement Park & Resort Wood Bobsled Under Construction 2009
B. Zippin Pippin Libertyland Wood Sit Down SBNO 2006
C. Mega Zeph Six Flags New Orleans Wood Sit Down SBNO 8/2005
D. unknown Quassy Wood Sit Down Under Construction 2010
*Son Of Beast Kings Island Wood Sit Down Operating 7/4/2007
Canada
7. Monstre La Ronde Wood Sit Down Operating 7/20/1985
8. Tree Topper Upper Clements Park Wood Sit Down Operating 1989
Mexico
9. Montaña Rusa La Feria Chapultepec Magico Wood Sit Down Operating 1964
10. Medusa Six Flags Mexico Wood Sit Down Operating 6/2/2000
*Technically not needed, but when last ridden, it was radically different."
The numbered coasters are coasters that are operating that I have not ridden. Coasters represented by a letter are either under construction and will have to be added to the list once open, or are not operating but have a good chance of operating again and will have to be added to the list in the event that that happens. The ride denoted with an asterisk is explained within.
I once achieved the goal of having ridden every operating wood coaster in the U.S. It lasted from October 2006 after having ridden El Toro (Great Adventure, NJ) and ended in May of 2007 when Renegade opened. Then the money started getting tight and new woodies started opening far enough away that I couldn't get to them. This trip represented an opportunity to check four more off the list. Had I missed Meteor, it would have been a pain and nuisance to plan to return to that part of the country within the next few years.
I explained to the woman that I had attempted to call to make sure the park was open and could not get through. She checked the phone and found that, sure enough, it had not been placed on the hook correctly. She informed me and the man from Indiana that we were lucky. A man who knows how to run the coaster is still on the premises and she was going to get him to fire it up for us. I was so impressed (and more than a little relieved) by this, that I gave the woman $10 as a tip/thank you/attempt to give the park some small revenue.
After he did a quick inspection, turned on the lift hill, and sent an empty train to make sure it was still safe after the rain, he had us get on. I asked if I could take my camera on (with the woman "in charge" looking on) and he said it wasn't a problem. In light of this, I chose the front seat so I could get some photos. He gave us three consecutive circuits. The fruits of this ride/photo session (as well as some shots I took from the ground beforehand) can be found here: http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061909/ .
When we were done, the woman in charge came back with a bag of blue cotton candy (which I never ate and now sits in my cupboard as a crumpled up lump of blue sugar...and wouldn't you know it, I know someone who would've loved this little perk, but she happened to be 1000 miles or so away at the time, so there's not much I could have done about it) and an out-of-print Meteor shirt in my size that will not be made again. She wanted to thank me for being willing to give the park some money. I'd say I got far more than my $10 worth! If you're reading, thank you Little Amerricka for being such nice folks and for giving me this fun little story to tell.
I had several stops planned in the Chicago area, all of which had to be nixed due to lack of time. Turns out I did not get to say goodbye to Kiddieland (a small park with a small wood coaster closing at the end of this season after decades of service to their community), but I did make it there previously. Shame that I couldn't squeeze it in, though.
I decided to make the push for Marshall, WI and Little Amerricka. The park's name is a pun on it's founder's name, Lee Merrick. Its coaster is pretty much the same as the one I would have taken another spin on at Kiddieland, with two important differences: I personally had not ridden this one before and this one looks like it'll keep on operating for a while longer. I arrived to find the skies had cleared and that the park was empty. I mean really empty. I mean closed due to earlier bad weather empty. :( I had been trying to call the park all day to make sure they were still open and kept getting busy signals. This actually helped to save my ass....
I got there, parked, and started walking around trying to find out what was going on. I came upon two people a short walk into the park. One was a man standing and the other was a woman sitting in her car idling in the middle of the midway. The man was a person who had brought his whole extended family from Indiana and was looking forward to giving them a fun time at the park. The woman turned out to be the wife of the individual who designed/built the park for Mr. Merrick--one of the "higher-ups" in it's day-to-day operations, indeed.
She explained that the bad rain I had experienced passed through their area as well and it sent guests heading for the hills. A park that small can't afford to keep employees around when there are no guests in the park, so they called it a day. The man explained his situation and disppointment to her and then I chimed in about my situation. I was so desperate to be able to check this ride off my list, and only wanted to ride it and move on. This brings me to a bit of a digression....
One of my goals in coastering is to someday be able to say that I've ridden every operating wood coaster in North America. I created a list of those coasters I need to ride in order to meet this goal. It looks like this:
"Wood Coasters Needed
United States
1. Boardwalk Bullet Kemah Boardwalk Wood Sit Down Operating 8/31/2007
2. Evel Knievel Six Flags St. Louis Wood Sit Down Operating 6/20/2008
3. Renegade Valleyfair! Wood Sit Down Operating 5/12/2007
4. Meteor Little Amerricka Wood Sit Down Operating 8/8/2007
5. Prowler Worlds of Fun Wood Sit Down Operating 2009
6. Terminator Salvation: The Coaster Six Flags Magic Mountain Wood Sit Down Operating 2009
A. Flying Turns Knoebels Amusement Park & Resort Wood Bobsled Under Construction 2009
B. Zippin Pippin Libertyland Wood Sit Down SBNO 2006
C. Mega Zeph Six Flags New Orleans Wood Sit Down SBNO 8/2005
D. unknown Quassy Wood Sit Down Under Construction 2010
*Son Of Beast Kings Island Wood Sit Down Operating 7/4/2007
Canada
7. Monstre La Ronde Wood Sit Down Operating 7/20/1985
8. Tree Topper Upper Clements Park Wood Sit Down Operating 1989
Mexico
9. Montaña Rusa La Feria Chapultepec Magico Wood Sit Down Operating 1964
10. Medusa Six Flags Mexico Wood Sit Down Operating 6/2/2000
*Technically not needed, but when last ridden, it was radically different."
The numbered coasters are coasters that are operating that I have not ridden. Coasters represented by a letter are either under construction and will have to be added to the list once open, or are not operating but have a good chance of operating again and will have to be added to the list in the event that that happens. The ride denoted with an asterisk is explained within.
I once achieved the goal of having ridden every operating wood coaster in the U.S. It lasted from October 2006 after having ridden El Toro (Great Adventure, NJ) and ended in May of 2007 when Renegade opened. Then the money started getting tight and new woodies started opening far enough away that I couldn't get to them. This trip represented an opportunity to check four more off the list. Had I missed Meteor, it would have been a pain and nuisance to plan to return to that part of the country within the next few years.
I explained to the woman that I had attempted to call to make sure the park was open and could not get through. She checked the phone and found that, sure enough, it had not been placed on the hook correctly. She informed me and the man from Indiana that we were lucky. A man who knows how to run the coaster is still on the premises and she was going to get him to fire it up for us. I was so impressed (and more than a little relieved) by this, that I gave the woman $10 as a tip/thank you/attempt to give the park some small revenue.
After he did a quick inspection, turned on the lift hill, and sent an empty train to make sure it was still safe after the rain, he had us get on. I asked if I could take my camera on (with the woman "in charge" looking on) and he said it wasn't a problem. In light of this, I chose the front seat so I could get some photos. He gave us three consecutive circuits. The fruits of this ride/photo session (as well as some shots I took from the ground beforehand) can be found here: http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061909/ .
When we were done, the woman in charge came back with a bag of blue cotton candy (which I never ate and now sits in my cupboard as a crumpled up lump of blue sugar...and wouldn't you know it, I know someone who would've loved this little perk, but she happened to be 1000 miles or so away at the time, so there's not much I could have done about it) and an out-of-print Meteor shirt in my size that will not be made again. She wanted to thank me for being willing to give the park some money. I'd say I got far more than my $10 worth! If you're reading, thank you Little Amerricka for being such nice folks and for giving me this fun little story to tell.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wild Zone Adventures
On my way west for the evening after day two of Canada's Wonderland, I had an opportunity to stop at a small indoor family entertainment center in The-middle-of-nowhere, Canada called Wild Zone Adventures. It has a small kiddie coaster which I just managed to catch before the rides closed for the evening. For the obsessive among you, here are some pics: http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061809%20Part%202/
Canada's Wonderland
The same day I visited Seabreeze, I made my way across the border into Canada. I arrived at Canada's Wonderland (outside Toronto) about 90 minutes before closing. It was raining. It had been raining for a while, in a fashion that was not insignificant. I fully expected to arrive and find the park closed. Much to my delight, that wasn't the case. I found that the park's signature attraction, Behemoth, was running (with two trains and a liberal re-ride policy, no less). So, I risked making myself sick from the rain by taking advantage of the light crowds and riding this coaster to the hilt. 10 water-logged circuits later, I found myself confident that I now have a new steelie in my top 5. Two more on my return the next day only served to cement my fondness for this wonderful coaster. I didn't get many pics from Canada's Wonderland, but I just had to stop in the parking lot on the way out and grab about two dozen shots of this ride (and I must say, I LOVE the color-scheme). Was it worth getting rained on? I think so, but you be the judge: http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061809/
Friday, June 19, 2009
Time to write is slim and none. I do finally have the first batch of photos ready for viewing, though. These are from Wednesday's first stop, Seabreeze. Seabreeze is a small amusement park north of Rochester, NY. They don't have a lot, but they put a lot of effort into taking care of their "old-time" park, and it shows. My pics from this visit can be viewed here: http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/harrycalder/061709/ Enjoy!
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