silver2005

Fast Lane Plus acquired. Rougarou came out of left field to jump to my top 5 steel coasters.

Great Ron Toomer's coat hangers, Magnum is so, so, so, good. CCMR is a lot more fun than I remember. Gatekeeper is awesome-tastic. Also, TTD roll back #1 attempt- failed.

Today's weather looks fantastic. Tomorrow's has drastically improved with early morning showers in the forecast and a significantly smaller chance after 9 am. Though, that rainy forecast may make tomorrow quite dead. Also, rain soaked Blue Streak. Additionally, Dragster roll back ride attempt #1 today.

Also keep breathing. Slow, deep breaths to keep yourself relaxed, before and during the ride. People watch, look at how people can enjoy the ride and know you can do so as well. It took me a while to get on Drop Tower as well. I will ride the tallest coasters like TTD no problem, but I've had a love/hate relationship with free fall rides. I'll be riding the upwards launch tower of CP's Power Tower for the first time this week, which freaks me out a bit, but I know how to allow myself to do so psychologically. And yes, you will have a HUGE adrenaline rush afterwards. It'll start to build up during the ride as well, its just your body's natural response to fear. Slow breathing will help to compensate for that.

From the moment I got to Port Clinton, it's been an incredibly relaxing day, more than made up for the stressful drive here. Had a fantastic steak dinner at a place called Crosswinds just east of town with an impressive server who was on her first day (enough for me to drop a 30% tip). Had some ice cream by the lake afterwards, and now relaxing in my room. Getting a good nights sleep before 2 days at the Point.

The outside stairs that lead to the 2nd floor of the hotel where my room is has hundreds of mayflies perched in the shade. That's about all I've seen so far.

Made it to Port Clinton, but managed to drive through mountains of Michigan, jerks, construction, and Michigan to get here. Toledo was awful. Relaxing on Lake Erie today, then two days at the Point of Cedar. I also have yet to see a single mayfly. The only travel snafu left is navigating from CP back to the hotel. I tend to get lost in Sandusky finding OH route 2. EDIT: Tomorrow will be the Fast Lane day. Thursday will be a more laid back day including MF and Valravn night ERT (hopefully the weather cooperates for that).

At MIA, the spiels kind of feel programmed. The operators still talk on them, but they insert the instructions within certain procedures during off loading and loading. They had to go over certain parts of the instruction before even opening the gate and locking the restraints. It was good in that they kept something consistent going, but bad in that it made the loading procedure longer, especially in the case of Mad Mouse. Shivering Timbers' crew was quite on the ball about it, but the rides that had less of a line didn't move along so well. Just out of curiosity, do some states/countries require spiels about certain safety aspects before/during the loading and off loading procedure?

Sheesh, Google Maps is taking me through all the major Michigan cities in this trip. Went through Grand Rapids (which has crap roads) to get to Muskegon and will go through Lansing, Ann Arbor, and skirting Detroit en route to Port Clinton. 4 hours and all the Michigan lie between me and CP.

^That doesn't account for air and friction resistance plus its not a 90 degree drop.

^Just make sure if you're at either end of the park that you don't have the urge to ride something on the opposite end, or, if you do, the train is your friend. There is kind of a void between the entrance side of rides and the stuff out by T-hawk and the water park. Sea Dragon (the swinging ship, impossible to miss) is probably the flat I'd suggest the most as it really gets you high in the air and there is some decent weightlessness, something Viking Fury can't do. Also, get at least one ride on Timbers in the front seat.

Clear and 72 degrees up here.

MIA today- Mad Mouse- 20 minutes Wolverine Wildcat- 10 minutes Corkscrew and Shivering Timbers- 5 minutes All others- walk on

Final thoughts on Michigan's Adventure- I thought it was an okay park. Its great for taking your time. Its a very beautiful and clean park as well. There's lots of landscaping everywhere including under Thunderhawk and in a few stations (notably Shivering Timbers and Thunderhawk). Shivering Timbers and Wolverine Wildcat were worth the trip up here. The staff is great sans a few of the ride crews, but with how slow the park is, I kinda don't blame them. Final ride tally- One time rides- Sea Dragon (which has moments where it swings on its own without use of the wheels, very nice), Flying Trapeze, Adventure Falls, Grand Rapids (those 2 get you extremely wet), Timbertown Railway (nice for getting to and from the woodies and T-hawk) Logger's Run- 2 Corkscrew- 3 Thunderhawk- 3 Wolverine Wildcat- 5 Shivering Timbers- 10 Final Coaster Reviews- Corkscrew- Its a short but fun coaster. It might be the quietest Arrow looping coaster I've been on. Quite a beauty as well in its alternating yellow and orange with teal supports. I'm hoping KI's next big steel coaster is those sort of colors. Its quite quick as well as it zips through the corkscrews pretty fast. Lots of early Ron Toomer transitions of course being it's as old as Beast. I also like the entrance sign/structures under the corkscrew. Very retro looking station as well (lots of buildings were of a retro look). Thunderhawk- I definitely took note of the design improvements over T3 as it flowed from element to element much better. The long trains made it have similar pacing to T3 though in that it pulsed in picking up and losing speed, mostly on the rollover and the sidewinder. Very intense ride as well. The front and back do bang your head more, one of the only rides I'd probably prefer in the middle. Mad Mouse- Its a wild mouse coaster, pretty straight forward, though, there was an interesting bit on the final turn where it took a banked turn right, straightened out, then banked right again. It was kind of a neat sequence for a mouse. Very slow loading procedure though. My longest wait by far at 20 minutes. Even Wolverine Wildcat with 1 train operation (it only has 1) with a 2 cycle wait wasn't quite as long. Wolverine Wildcat- I feel its a tad underrated, but not by much. Decent air, though its ruined in parts because the track is warped to the point where its adding random jack hammering in places. its not a consistent thing through the bits between turnarounds (the later turns did bounce around a bit), but one spot in particular ruined what looked to be a nice double dip. I like the first set of bunny hops though with a bit of a swaying motion with the turns in between. Not a favorite, but solid and fun overall. A surprise for me to be sure. Shivering Timbers- This is the best coaster there by far. CCI delivers tremendous airtime as usual. The laterals in the turn around and helix were also great, though, It almost felt too straight forward of a ride, just out, back, helix, end. The best drops were the first 3 hills and that snaking dive off of the turn around, which then keeps going down a straight angle for a nice sense of acceleration after what was an excellent swooping drop. There were some rough spots on a few hills that didn't produce flowing drops where it straightened the track as it drops (similar to Magnum), but wasn't bad enough to be a detriment to the ride. This one is top 10 material for me.

They could make the drop off lot bigger since the old parking entrances aren't there anymore.

The mayfly in question met my forehead as TTD was just starting to curve upwards from the launch, so it's not as if I'm saying mayfly to the face at 120 mph just because I was on TTD, the train was actually going that speed (possibly more if the mayfly was flying towards me). If I can't find a FL purchase point at the Soak City entrance, I'll just cruise through morning ERT first then find a place that sells them. I'm not expecting big crowds either day. Getting FL is purely for splurging purposes. I may wait to see how big the crowds are before I get it, so I may in fact not get it at all. At least there's a Platinum discount at CP. As for MIA today, I probably won't stay until close. Also opted out of going to the water park in favor of a little photo spree. The day I'm not Fast Laning at CP will have a bit of photography as well, including many of RMC Streak.

^Not helping....at all. My face is toast on TTD....and don't say anything about riding near the back. I got that mayfly to the forehead in the 2nd to last car.

Weather for tomorrow and Wednesday look great. I can't find a single consistency in the forecast about Thursday though. I've seen it range through practically everything. Whichever day has better weather in Sandusky is the day I'm Fast Laning. BTW, is there a place near the Soak City entrance that sells Fast Lane?

After a recent ride at MIA, this is the better Timbers, but not by much.

MIA during all 90 minutes I was there- all the walk ons. Except Timbers. 2 cycle wait there.

Spent about 90 minutes at the park just to get the coaster run down. Shivering Timbers- #75 in the books. Early opinions- Thunderhawk is pretty intense, but not as bad as I thought it could have been Corkscrew- Fun but short Wolverine Wildcat- Good forces, but a bit of jack hammering on the turns, decent air Shivering Timbers- Excellent airtime and laterals, but they feel a bit separated, like it can't have both at the same time. Definitely getting 10+ rides on it. I may do the water park at MIA given how small it is. Glad I brought swimwear. Also- Why isn't there a path between Thunderhawk and Timbers? Also, also, MIA is a beautiful park. Very pleasing aesthetically.

Made it to my hotel in Michigan. Grand Rapids was a pain to go through and I got lucky in guessing which lane I needed to be in. Oh, and I found out about a Hartland Winery while driving through Indiana. I also need to double check the routes Google Maps takes me as I went through a few farm roads while going between highways in NW Ohio and NE Indiana. Gonna spend a few hours in MIA before grabbing dinner after the park closes. May focus on photos a bit. Need to make sure to hit Timbers 4th as it will be #75 for me. The dinner location is right on Lake Michigan as well.

My day tomorrow- 6:30 AM- Wake up, double/triple check everything 7:30 AM- Breakfast 8 AM- On the road Approx. 3-4 PM- Arrive at Muskegon (1 or 2 stops/driving breaks planned) 4:30-5:30 PM- Either take in a few hours at MIA or get a nice dinner (depends on energy level and weather) I have found a few nice dining options in Muskegon including a few nice places along Lake Michigan. I have a few bits of nicer clothes for roaming around Muskegon and Port Clinton. I'm also hoping for a spot of rain on Monday, just enough to soak Wolverine Wildcat and Shivering Timbers.

Me, on the road, 8 am, Sunday. I'm hoping to get up to Muskegon by 3-4 pm and grab a few hours at MIA that day before a full day on Monday. Either that or take a visit to Lake Michigan. #greatlakeert

I forgot to mention something about Flight of Fear that occurred on my last visit. I got a ride where the brakes on the MCBR didn't even engage and the 2nd half was absolutely incredible. I'm not sure its a consistent occurrence, but was a great experience none-the-less.