Michigan's Adventure 7/27, mobile TR

[violakat03]

Yet another mobile trip report from the BlackBerry (or the KatBerry, as Jackson calls it) as I won't be home for a few more days.

On Monday, my husband and I found ourselves in Grand Rapids MI with most of the evening to spare. Muskegon is only an hour away so I declared it time for Shivering Timbers and away we went!

We arrived at the park around 7 pm. I knew the park closed at 9 so I wanted to hit my "must rides" first. It was overcast and threatening rain, so I was hoping for somewhat short lines. Unfortunately I didn't get my wish, at least not really.

The park is seriously in the middle of nowhere. We were driving down a residential street and our GPS was telling us to turn in 500 yards, and I still saw nothing. Finally, a sign directed is to turn right for parking. As soon as we cleared the trees on that corner, tada, there it was! Shivering Timbers absolutely dominates this park, and is one of 2 coasters you can see from the street (the other is Mad Mouse). There is a long pond in the parking lot that allows beautiful reflections of the coaster's hills. It is definitely one of the most picturesque coasters and park skylines i've ever seen.

As we headed to the front gate, we handed over our Platinum Passes only to be directed to a ticket window. Apparently none of the other park's passes scan correctly there because they have a different system so they give you a complimentary ticket to get you in.

After grabbing a park map, we headed for the big mass of wood to our right. I peeked at the variety of flat rides available, sadly knowing I wouldn't have time for any of them. As we walked, I finally got glimpses of the other coasters. There is a lake in the middle of the park, making a very definite divide between the front and back areas. I spotted an Arrow corkscrew, another smaller woodie, and, across the lake was a Vekoma SLC. But my main focus was that big hunk of CCI. We got to the entrance to find the queue full!! Luckily, there are no switchbacks. A full queue was about equivalent to The Beast when down to the end of the ramp where you split front or back, without any of the stations switchbacks open. It was only a 30 minute wait.

My husband and I chose front seat of the rear car, as I've come to really appreciate the difference in air time the rear of the train can give you. Heading up the chain, the excitement was building.

Going to the first drop, I thought vaguely to myself "that's it?" this sentiment got stronger through the entire ride. Where I was expecting massive air time, we barely touched the up stops. There was no ejector air anywhere, and only minimal floater. Don't get me wrong, it was still an amazing ride. But having ridden coasters such as Voyage, Legend, Raven and Thunder Run less than a week ago, I was expecting more, and more forceful, air. Especially as it's a CCI, the same designers behind Legend and Raven, which have great ejector and floater air and are older. However, the double helix at the end was pretty wicked. Instead of a "stacked" helix like Beast and Son of Beast where you go around it at one level, change elevation and go around at a lower or higher level, it was a sort of warped track. On the outsides of the helix the track crossed itself vertically. I'll have to track down a picture to explain it. It was very neat and made for a very different sensation than i'm used to in a double helix.

After Shivering Timbers we went to the next woodie, since I love wood coasters and wanted to get all 3 available credits if at all possible. Wolverine Wildcat had a pretty long line and only 1 train so we opted to skip it and come back. Instead, we got in line for Corkscrew. Guess what kind of coaster it was? That's right, an Arrow corkscrew! I'm a closet Arrow lover so if I only got one steel credit at the park, I wanted to be Corkscrew. Also on one train operation, we waited about 20 minutes for it. It was a typical Arrow corkscrew, but it was nice to go through a corkscrew element at a speed other than "painfully slow" like Vortex or Flight of Fear.

From there we headed back to Wildcat, for which the line had dramatically reduced. 15 minutes later we were buckled in. This was a rather unexpectedly fun ride. The one thing I didn't like was that the only tunnel on the coaster was on the curve between the station and the lift hill. What was the point in that?! The air time was actually on par with the air on Shivering Timbers. No ejector but some floater here and there. Just overall a fun woodie.

We were down to 30 minutes before park close, meaning time for only 1 more coaster. I had the choice of a junior woodie, a junior steel, a Vekoma SLC and an Arrow wild mouse. The wild mouse closed early, so it was eliminated, I hate Vekoma SLCs and love woodies, so the choice was obvious. To Zach's Zoomers we went!

A 15 minute wait later, and we were under those wonderful single position lap bars with nice and loose seatbelts as they're one per row. My husband and I say separately so I got to enjoy sliding side to side on each of the turns.

I'm sad to say, but Zach's Zoomers replaced Fairly Odd Coaster as my favorite junior coaster. ZZ was just... Better! Plus, there were no random trim brakes!

At this point, everything was closing down as it was about 10 till. We headed off to the shops where my husband finally found a coaster/pirate shirt. He's been wanting one for a while but the only other place he'd found one was Worlds of Fun. It was a discontinued design so they only had it in medium and he left there disappointed. However, MA had one he liked and was in his size, so he now has a "Coaster Hunter" shirt and is very happy. I got a Shivering Timbers shirt that says "I <3 wood coasters" really big on the back. An appropriate statement for me and a good companion for my KI shirt that says "I'd rather ride a woodie" on the back

After our shopping was finished, it was time to say goodbye. While I wish I'd gotten to ride Mad Mouse only because I've never ridden an Arrow wild mouse before, I was content with what I was able to do in such a short time.

If i'm ever in the area again, I will definitely visit the park again, and I recommend the same to anyone else!

[DaveStroem]

Glad you had fun at MA, we were thinking of heading there as part of our Chicago trip but opted for Indiana Beach instead.

From the reports that I have seen, I don't think this park is worthy of a long drive (6 hours). So I doubt we will be getting there this year.

[The Interpreter]

And I am very glad to know it's not just me with Shivering Timbers....

Nice to look at,

beautiful to behold

But as for the ride

It gets old.

[House]

We went here on Saturday, and it was not what I was expecting. We were hoping to spend the day at the water park, but it was cloudy windy and cold. So we hit up Thunderhawk which was ok. It was trimmed way too much, which took a lot of fun out of it. Then we hit up Shivering Timbers. This was a fun coaster but only about as good as Gemini imo. I went on Gemini twice Friday and it was smooth and lots of fun with it being retracked.

At this point it started raining so we decided to head out. This park was not what I was expecting though, did not feel like I was in a Cedar Fair park at all. I think I might just expect more because of Kings Island and Cedar Point. I dont know but I don't plan on going back to this place.

[maverick2007]

How do you guys think ST compares with any of the woodies at CP or KI. I am headed to MA soon and would like to know some other rides to compare it with.

[violakat03]

Shivering Timbers did not make my top ten wood coasters. Beast, Racer and Blue Streak all did. It wasn't a bad coaster, it just wasn't as good as I was hoping it'd be. The airtime was sadly lacking, though at least the ride was quite smooth.

[The Interpreter]

I am not a Shivering Timbers fan. Never have been. I think Fairly Odd Coaster is better. And yes, I am serious.

[violakat03]

A very cool follow up on my trip. I put in a good GR for two of the girls in one of the merchandise locations that really went out of their way for my husband and I. Yesterday, I got a letter from Michigan's Adventure. I opened it up to find a very kind thank you letter, assuring me that the good word had been passed on to their supervisor and thanking me for pointing out that they were doing a good job. It was hand-signed by the VP of Park Operations.

I've put in a LOT of good GRs at Cedar Fair parks, and this is the first time I've ever gotten a response from one. That was really cool and I'm glad they took it so very seriously!

[House]

Respond back to the letter and tell them to work on the landscaping in that park. lol

[Rustbucket]

Shivering Timbers is a good wooden coaster but nothing special. I know there are some fans out there swear that ST is one of the top wooden coaster but not me. Decent air time in the back. Some ejector in the front. Also, the helix is nowhere near as intense as Ghostrider. Maybe, I expected too much after hearing so much good things from people. I have been on ST about 15 times in three separate trips.