Rustbucket Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 My latest business trip took me to Madison, Wisconsin. Of course, I had to take an advantage of this and visit Wisconsin Dells. Unfortunately, I had less than 3 hours to spend at the park. Mt. Olympus is the park I chose because of coasters. I wanted to ride 5 coasters including Opa which is a spinning wild mouse ride. I got to the park rather late but the parking lot was not very crowded so that I was quite hopeful. No parking fee? Great! I purchased online ticket for $30.00 but without any parking charge, it felt better for my 150 minutes of coaster rides. As I entered the park, it was quite nice to see 3 wooden coasters right next to each other. Another interesting thing was that everyone had to go through a gift shop to go to the rides. The park was slightly hilly. 3 of the coasters were located on the slopes and made a full use of the terrain. The first coaster was the nearest to the entrance. #187 ZEUS - This CCI coaster reminded me of Boulder Dash except it was not as intense. Basically, there were two decent size hills and many bunny hills. There were some intense air time on some of the bunny hills. The third hill had a rather rough spot. This coaster was quite enjoyable but seemed to be getting rough. I rode this five times. (8/10) #188 Hades - I believe this was the first TGG coaster ever built. My favorite wooden coaster is the Voyage, and this one had some similarities to the Voyage. The drop out of the station was somewhat like Son of Beast. This coaster had three small but enjoyable drops before the lift hill. After the hill, there was a large stretch of twisting track including 90 degree turn through a tunnel. After emerging from the tunnel, a hill caused the train to come to near stop. This hill is the turn around and back to the tunnel. The track was parallel to oncoming side. Again, the track was quite twisting and turning. There was no 90 degree turn coming back. After coming out of the tunnel, there was another hill that brought the train to near stop before dropping below the loading station. At this point, there was a banked turn that caused the train to jack knife. This was a very rough spot. The rest of the ride was a semihelix and the drop to the station. I will say that I was somewhat disappointed with Hades. Maybe, I was expecting another Voyage. Frankly, I think Ghostrider or Boulder Dash was far better than this coaster. I hope that the rough spot can be fixed. Still, this was a good ride. I rode this 4 times including a night ride. (9/10) #189 Cyclops - This CCI surprised me for the air time. This looked more like a junior coaster and did not expect this much of a air time. Again, this coaster is getting rougher. (7/10) #190 Pegasus - This wooden coaster was another junior looking coaster but had some decent airtime. Cyclops was definitely more intense and had more airtime. Still, this was a decent coaster. (6/10) #191 Opa - I went to indoor part of the park and rode this one. A spinning wild mouse seems to be getting more popular. I will say this. This one did not impress me. (4/10). Overall, the park was clean and quite enjoyable. I am not sure if I will go out of my way to visit here though. All four coasters were very good, however. To my surprise, 2 hours were plenty of time to enjoy all the the coasters. All the wooden coasters were one train operations. Also, all the coaster operators were quite slow in checking seat belts and lap bars. I wanted to ride Hades some more but the park closed down the ride queue at 9:45 pm for some reason. There were not many people waiting for the ride. I decided to call it a day and headed back to my hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. Next stop is Canada's Wonderland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kevin Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 4 Wooden coasters? Sounds fun to me. If I'm ever over there, I want to go to Extreme World. They've got a lot of Slingshot and Skyflyer type rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedarPointer Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Extreme World also has a freefall drop- literally! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touchdown Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 From this ex-Wisconsites opinion you made the wrong choice, should have gone a few blocks more and frequented Noah's Ark instead. Sure it doesnt have a coaster (a Go Gator is not a coaster in my opinion,) but its cleaner, better run and the largest water park in America and home to the longest water coaster in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Not to mention that Avalanche, one of my favorite coasters, lives over at Timber Falls Adventure Golf. Never mind that, to have only 150 minutes, I think Rustbelt made the right choice, and the same one I would have made under those circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touchdown Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I dont know, Ive visited both halfs of that park before they merged (Family Land and Big Chief) and was thoroughly disappointed with the staff, and maintenance. Not only that, but their admission price is in my opinion really high for what they offer ($30 is their starlight ticket.) Didnt see the 3 hours part, but if I only had three hours in the Dells my choices would have been more along the lines of taking a Ducks cruise followed by a meal at Pizza Pub, or if I was with someone a mini golf game and a ride on Avalanche at Timber Falls (followed by a meal at Pizza Pub.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 A meal? The Mexican place behind Avalanche is really, really good...if it is still there. One of the best I have ever been to anywhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touchdown Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Discovered the Pizza Pub on our first trip to the Dells, Chicago Style Pizza and not only that the best Chicago Pizza outside of Chicago. Havent needed to look for another place to eat since (we always did day trips with a picnic lunch.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjkjkj Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 From this ex-Wisconsites opinion you made the wrong choice, should have gone a few blocks more and frequented Noah's Ark instead. Sure it doesnt have a coaster (a Go Gator is not a coaster in my opinion,) but its cleaner, better run and the largest water park in America and home to the longest water coaster in the world. We went to Bay of Dreams many years ago. It's a HUGE indoor waterpark next to Noah's Ark. It was awesome there. I actually remember seeing Mt. Olympus from a restaraunt we were eating at near there, it looked like a cool park from the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kevin Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Extreme World also has a freefall drop- literally! I saw that on Travel Channel, and it looked awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkiboy Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I was goign to post a big PTR of my trip but I havent had time to get around it but I will share some pics I took of Hades and the Tunnel Tour I got to take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkiboy Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 http://img190.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=dsc00816ieh.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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