violakat03

Michigan's Adventure it is, then.

Michigan's Adventure doesn't appear to have a carousel, according to the North American carousel census (from the National Carousel Association: http://nca-usa.org/census/census-INAC.html). It also appears that Gilroy Gardens doesn't have one. WOF only has a metal carousel, they could use a hand-carved wood. I fully believe any quality amusement park should have a classic wood or modern wood carousel. There are some parks I want to visit specifically to ride their carousels, especially the few remaining brass ring carousels such as at Knoebels and Fun Spot.

We are not wealthy in the slightest, but we got a gold flash pass at SFOG. It was definitely worth it and I think we will probably factor it into any future distant amusement park visits when we are planning out the costs. We went on a Monday in July and waits were averaging 45 minutes to an hour. The flash pass cut them down to 5 to 10 minutes, so we were able to ride all the coasters we wanted to within a few hours.

Because Cedar Fair loves trim brakes.

If The Beast is a she .... I think she's having some gender identity problems!!

That's why I put it in quotes. The only thing exciting about it is that they had to manually release the restraints. Which was intriguingly difficult on Volcano. It involved a large power cord and a mobile generator. Took them about 15 minutes after getting maintenance on site to have us out.

Yes, there is definitely a better roar to it! It's really starting to sound like a true B&M now.

I've noticed The Beast has WAY TOO MANY LIGHTS on at night. There are two in the turns after the second tunnel (before the 2nd lift hill) and a very bright one in the helix that reduces the effect of it. The Beast is amazing when it's pitch black. PLEASE TURN THEM OFF. kthx.

It's very, very rare. I've only been stuck on a coaster once, on The Beast in the late 90s, I believe in 1997. We were stuck in the final pre-station brakes for about an hour and a half. I've gotten a 'station evac' three times, where the coaster broke down and they had to release the seats manually while the train I was on was in the station either returning from a ride or waiting to be dispatched, two of which were this year (Raptor and Volcano), and the rest of the trains were evacuated from where they were at the time of the breakdown. On Volcano, the other train was in the unload station (it's like FOF), and on Raptor, one train was on pre-station brakes, and one was on the MCBR.

It was synchronized with the video. If you've ever watched the video, it's where the one guy (was it Mr. Christopher? Can't remember now) plugs something into the spaceship and it sends the whole scene into this weird time warp and then there's a power surge and the screen goes dark. The entire room used to go dark at the exact same time and usually resulted in some genuine screams from the unsuspecting queuers. It's the end of the video, because after a few seconds of darkness, the lights were slowly raised as the screens showed what looked like a computer system rebooting.

Apparently one of the cars broke on it, because after I got off it, they were working on a car for a little while. Yeah, when we got there, Raven was a full queue, Legend was about 30 minutes. We went and rode Voyage twice, came back and Legend was 5-10 minutes but Raven was still long. We did some other stuff, came back, and Raven was a complete walk-on.

Nope, they still show that part. It's just that the cameras are aimed at parts that are normally empty, right around the base of the two 'towers' inside the queue. I've seen it several times this season and go "oh noes, empty queues!" I miss the blackout.

I was kind of thinking that too. Plus the cost seemed a little high to be an ACE event with no coaster! I'll probably go next year.

Which would be "mirrorlization" according to my friend Josh.

On the topic of the giant bananas (which I also find hilarious - I almost want to win one because they're hilarious), someone put one in the loose article bin on SOB on one of my rare rides on it. The ride op on the mic started singing "It's peanut butter jelly time!" I was laughing so hard.

I've seen a basketball (and celebrated), and a flip flop. I just sat there thinking "that has to suck to walk around with one shoe."

I'm surprised. Usually the photo people don't care. I saw a photo from Vortex where the kid had stuck his arms in between the shoulder restraint and was leaning completely out of it - basically he'd made it into a lap bar. I pointed it out to the photo people and they just shrugged. Didn't even block it.

Well, based on the visit we just took on Monday, I'd hate to see the park go. I think I could see Six Flags selling it as I doubt it's very profitable for them. It was not very busy, and I noticed that all the food stands and gift shops were empty. However, it did seem to have a good local draw. I noticed that several people had actually ridden their bikes there, which is something I've never seen at a park before (they even have a bike rack out front), so that's a big sign that it's popular with the people near the park. On the flip side of the idea of selling it, I could see them trying to restore and expand it. The park was nothing like I'd always heard and had been expecting (this is true of both my visits there this year) - the employees are VERY friendly (not quite on par with Holiday World, but definitely on par with Kings Island), the park is incredibly clean (better than KI), the ride ops were being efficient and enthusiastic, and it was overall a very pleasant park experience. The impression that I took away was that the park has turned around from everything I'd always heard in the past. Maye they're just trying to increase attendance to it and shake the bad reputation the park has, and when they do that, they'll be able to reopen a section of the park. So, my final thoughts: I could see Six Flags either trying to recreate their local image and slightly expand or just 'restore' an area, or recreating their image so that they can sell the park for a decent price.

That's definitely different. I wouldn't mind riding one once just to try it, as much as I hate Vekomas.

Pft. His 'skates' were basically the same as a coaster's wheels. Including upstops! I want to see him try that on normal skates.

What about Girl? scouts? ... That's what I was wondering. I'm a Girl Scout.

Were your glasses prescription glasses or sunglasses? They are supposed to hold prescription glasses (it's the only thing you can leave in the station besides flip flops).

Chang only has one train. Not sure why. Thunder Run also only has one train because for some reason the pre-station block brakes aren't long enough to stop the train without it entering the station. Talk about a design flaw. I still loved it though! If you go again, try Greezed Lightnin' in the back seat. You want to talk about feeling like you're going to fall out!!

None of the Cedar Fair 'legacy' parks (Cedar Point, Worlds of Fun, Knott's, etc) have metal detectors. They are a leftover from Paramount. They haven't had security issues without them and probably see no need to continue to pay personnel to run them. Security is paid significantly higher than the other entry-level positions such as merch and rides. The detectors were off the past two times I was there, and they had one security guard for each three waving people through and doing occasional random bag checks (which they do at Cedar Point on occasion). You can tell when they are off because there are no lights at all on the entrance side. If they are on, everyone will light it up, but the amount you light it up is what sets it off. I think they were set to beep at 7 or 8. Things like keys, belt buckles, jewelry, etc will register as a 2 or 3. You can see the numbers across the top, and the sides will light up increasingly higher with each increased number. They will beep when they reach whatever 'critical' number has been set. Interestingly, my keys and BlackBerry have never set of KI's detectors. My old Razr did about every 3rd time. My camera sets it off every single time. However, at Six Flags America, my keys set it off and my camera didn't!

I know the trams stopped somewhere between 2003 and 2008. I know, real helpful, right?! In between those years I only went to the park twice, once in 04 and once in 05, and I can't remember if the trams were running or not.