silver2005

Muskegon, Michigan's Adventure PRT The drive up was rainy at first, but dried up after I got past Dayton. I need to comb through Google Maps from now on because it took me on unpainted farm roads between highways in northern Ohio and Indiana. Drove around Muskegon on when I got there including a 90 minute visit to Michigan's Adventure to get the 4 bigger coasters in. Spent some time on Lake Michigan and ate at a place called Handsome Henry's for dinner. Had some great pizza there. Recommend it highly if any of you are in the area. Day 2 was more devoted to Michigan's Adventure. Got there at park opening, which, they let people in about 20 minutes early. Got some shots of motionless Corkscrew before the park opened. They don't have a lot of space opened before the actual opening, just the immediate area around Corkscrew. Did Mad Mouse first due to it having the longest wait I had and then meandered around and rode the other 4 coasters multiple times as well as a few flats and water rides. Overall, it's a great little park for taking your time with the light crowds and Shivering Timbers, Wolverine Wildcat and Corkscrew have high re-rideability. I already posted my reviews of the coasters. For their other rides, Adventure Falls and Grand Rapids are solid for getting riders wet, and Logger's Run is a nice flume, similar in style to KCKC minus the turntable. Flying Trapeze was alright, and Sea Dragon was a fun swinging ship, with moments where the wheels stop pushing it and it just swings on gravity alone. The train is a great way of going back and forth between Thunderhawk and Timbers since there is kind of a void between the two. The main park is mostly by the front gate on one side, and the water park, Thunderhawk, and the 2 bigger water rides are clear across the park. Shivering Timbers became my 75th coaster I've ridden and left the park sitting at 76. Service was decent sans a few times where the Wildcat crew got bored, but not much of a problem. All the coasters except Mouse and Timbers were walk on all day. I left about 2 hours before park close, spent some time at Lake Michigan again and ate at The Station Grill. Good burgers, but a tad over priced. Weather was perfect, but a bit too cool for a dip in Lake Michigan. Temps in the upper 60s and low 70s the days I was there and quite windy along the beach.

Not having English as their first language isn't enough for me to go along with that. They did things beyond talking that made up for it.

^I completely disagree.

But KI sure can meet CP's standards being that they are in the same chain. CP's ride ops blow KI's out of the water. I would put CCMR's or CP's Scrambler's crew up against Banshee's anytime, any day. Heck, MIA, CF's smallest, most neglected park, is closer to CP standards in ride operators and their relation to guests than KI's currently do, and they still do quips and banter with guests. They mix in professionalism and efficiency much better.

I will have an epic PTR soon. Today was even more epic than my last KI trip if that's even possible. EDIT: I may do 4 separate posts to cover everything (one for each day at the parks, 1 for the CP ride reviews). Otherwise, it'll be an incredibly long post (yes, photos will be included). I'm also armed with TONS of photos from this trip for the off season photo contest (which, I am going to go to KI specifically for photography plus Kennywood later this summer). I spent 2 hours of day 2 at CP doing nothing but photography. Hope you guys are ready for extra competition.

^If you want to meet up, I'll be doing Magnum near park close. Also, TTD, Power Tower, Sky Ride, and WindSeeker have been plagued by high winds.

To give you an idea of how the crowds are at CP today, I just rode all the adult coasters including 2 on both Gemini and Gatekeeper in less than 2 hours. The free FLP I got from yesterday's power outage has been near useless.

Glad I brought extra clothes for the water rides. Also, the rain was short, but it's even more humid.

It is absolutely dreadfully muggy here at the Point. Supposed to be 91 on top of that.

CP on rain lockdown.

Good news- it's slightly less crowded than yesterday. Bad news- it's a lot more humid with some rain drops.

^The way I saw it, there are 2 entrances, right where the queue rails start, one for FL, one for non-FL. The FL has the center one for itself and the line that goes to the upwards launch side. The non-FL entrance only leads to the downwards side. I'll have a camera on me today and I'll show you what I mean.

CP's spiels are on par with KI's. Ugh. Well, its more of a grey area. They do give instructions, but it differs ride op to ride op at CP. They do mutli-task better in that they still load rides efficiently, even the not so hot rides with the GP. CCMR's crew would give Banshee's a run for their money, I kid you not, and they have to manually lock and unlock trains. MIA's was the opposite, with slow riding times (sans Timbers) but straight forward spiels, not becoming to unnecessary in what they were saying.

^They switch it over to VR after 5 pm.

The waits today were pretty moderate. The biggest I saw was 45 minutes for TTD, Valravn, and Maverick. Iron Dragon had a long line all day too for some reason. Magnum had short lines, but long waits due to 2 train operation. I went with FLP due to the fact that many of the bigger coasters in the front of the park had steady 20-30 minute waits all day. There were a LOT of people there regardless, probably because it was the first day of summer.

^To put that in perspective, here's what happened tonight. Between 8 and 8:30, there was a power outage which took out every coaster sans CCMR and only a handful of flats. The only 'big' flat up was Skyhawk. malem got me to walk up to guest services where I was issued a voucher for FLP for tomorrow. Gonna grab my traditional Magnum night ride before night ERT for MF and Valravn. The aforementioned CCMR night ride didn't happen, they closed early. Had a great day prior though. Just some notes from today- - Power Tower has a dumb FL system. You can't access the upwards launch towers from the normal entrance. You have to climb over the rails to access those towers (unless I missed something) - Rougarou was the surprise gem of the trip. Changing it to floorless was a great change after all. Like, near top 5 steel coaster for me good. - Got a MF front seat ride after the group in front of me as I was in the 2nd row had a walk of shame, it was my first front seat ride and it delivered in spades - TTD roll back attempt #1- failure - Raptor and Magnum are so, so, so gooood - love that Raptor and Rougarou both still have that old school B&M roar - Blue Streak, Iron Dragon and Gemini are so fun, CCMR is more fun than I remember - New coaster credit early reviews- Gatekeeper- awesome, just what I expected from a bigger version of Thunderbird, for wing coasters- bigger is better, Valravn- decent but not quite what I was expecting, not enough of a weightless feeling on the 2 vert. drops, it is MASSIVE in person Taking extra clothes for tomorrow to hit the water rides. Also missing a few flats. Also going to skip morning ERT since I get it on the tail end.

Got a FLP voucher for tomorrow due to the outage, off for a CCMR night ride.

There are only a handful of flats running, all coasters and a few big flats such as MaXair are down. EDIT: malem has informed me that it's a power outage.

Almost everything at the Point just shut down at nearly the same time.

It's been a pretty steady day here in Sandusky. All the popular coasters with 15-20 minute waits. Even the coasters up front still have medium-esque waits. Probably due to the fact that it's the first natural day of summer. Glad I went with Fast Lane.

Just had the best run of luck on Millennium Force. Had a short wait for the second seat, then a guy in the front seat had a walk of shame, and the attendants let me up front while the train was unlocked.

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.