Trip to Kings Island, Holiday World, 6FStL, Worlds of Fun, Adventureland, Valleyfair, Nick. Universe, Wis. Dells, Bay Beach, and Michigan's Adventure

[kblanken]

Kings Island, Holiday World, 6FStL, Worlds of Fun, Adventureland, Valleyfair, Nickelodeon Universe, Wis. Dells, Bay Beach, and Michigan's Adventure.

Hello, I just returned from a vacation where I visited several parks throughout the midwest.

-Saturday morning: I Started at Kings Island for the last half of Diamondback ERT. Then the usual Saturday crowds came in, so I headed to the exit. On the way out I saw that the Starbucks was included in Funperks, so I got a banana bread and a coffee with raspberry syrup. Earned 1 free game play, which now that I am at level 2, I have won one of these with each purchase. On the way out, I think I passed more people than I would the rest of the week combined(not including watermarks).

-Saturday afternoon: Yay, I have an empty Pepsi can in my car for Holiday World, but no Splashin' Safari. Sometimes I like water parks and rides, but the wet side was too crowded for me to enjoy. Pilgrim's Plunge was my only wet ride, and it soaked me enough to last the whole week, a few seconds later than I expected it to.

The dry side was as fun as it always is, and my rides on the Legend this time made a new favorite, with the others not too far behind. The Voyage was smoother, but something about it seemed less exciting now.

I didn't get to ride Sparkler, although I can't remember why not, as it was open. Also, the food I had at the Plymouth Cafe was the first time I enjoyed eating in there. I ate roasted chicken with mac+cheese and the green vegetables.

Sunday morning: Too early to visit the 6F, I went by the zoo and hung out at the huge turtle statues at Turtle Park. When I arrived off of exit 261 on I-44, parking was $18 for regular, and $20 for premium. I went with the regular, and the ticket agent asked if I was sure I didn't want to pay $2 to upgrade. I said no, that I enjoy walking. The premium parking would have saved about thirty feet, so not a big difference.

Not very crowded, and most people look to be headed to the water side.

At the security check there were three rows to choose from to go through the metal detectors, two for those with bags, and one for those without a bag. They didn't check the bags as you walk through those, that was not until you were beyond. The actual bag check was about fifteen feet past the metal detectors, through an open area of pavement where anyone could easily take a metal object out of the bag and stick it in their pocket without anyone noticing.

Inside the park, it was rather clean, and wasn't too bad at all. I rode ezeerF .rM, and it was really almost no different than the regular version, the view at the top of the spike was better. Evel Kneivel wasn't as fun as I remembered it from last year, maybe due to the trains being less than half full, or maybe because the ferris wheel wasn't lit up like a pumpkin at halloween. Still my favorite ride in that park.

There were no lines for anything, so I was able to get through quick. Fortunately, I left before I needed to eat anything.

Next was Worlds of Fun. Prowler was good, and Patriot was too. They had sprinklers on Timber Wolf to keep the riders from falling asleep.

I had some pizza from the Pizzo Pizza stand. It was a long rectangle shaped piece, with a cut running down the middle similar to how Vermont and New hampshire are split. The top of the pizza was ok, but I wouldn't be surprised if the crust is the same stuff lunchables pizza are made from.

Saw a large amount of windmills in Iowa. Nowhere near as many as between Indianapolis and Chicago, but still fun to watch.

Adventureland is a nice smaller park. Has real themes, and some fun rides. New this year they have a new Wave Pool and a magic show, which reminded me of Kings Island a bit. The guy running Outlaw kept telling us it was hands-free Tuesday, and to keep our hands up the whole ride.

The train they have was disappointing to me. They have it set up in the front, exactly like Disneyland does, but this one is more of a kids train.

Valleyfair: Renegade was a little disappointing, maybe just because I have ridden too many of the superb GCI coasters and was expecting too much.

I thought High Roller was awesome, and ended up riding it about twenty times in a row to end the night, without leaving the station. If they got rid of the stop signs on the turns, it would be one of my favorite anywhere.

Wild Thing started out awesome, but the last half was not so great. The rest of the rides were just ok.

Nickelodeon Universe was a fun little place. Some of the names were really similar to the names that K.I. has in the kids area. The had a new ride themed to the Ninja Turtles. It was similar to a paratrooper ride, but you could roll around and around if you were good at spinning. In the mall, I had a nice sandwich and a crepe.

I started heading back to Ohio, and went through Wisconsin. For those that don't care about water parks, Mt. Olympus was complete junk. It is unfortunate, because they have a bunch of wooden coasters that should totally rock. Cyclops in the back row was really the only fun part about the place.

I stopped at Timber falls and rode the coaster there too. First S&S wooden coaster I have been on, it was good. The operator had to wait about five minutes between rides, he said it needed to cool down because of the heat.

On the way to Green Bay, i passed by the town of Neenah, which I recognized from seeing the Neenah Foundrey name on so many metal things and sewer grates around different cities. I was hoping to see a huge factory or something like that, but didn't see anything.

At Bay Beach, they just put in the Zippin Pippin. The park is small, and is a pay per ticket ride, with the coaster costing a dollar to ride. This is both Elvis and my favorite roller coaster now. On the way out I bought a shirt, which was only about ten dollars. I was confused and expected it to be way more. I rode Zippin Pippin several times, and found the back seat to be the best. I wouldn't be surprised if Elvis didn't die the way they said he did, but instead rode without the bar down, and was ejected hundreds of miles away.

I left and headed south, hoping to take a ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, but they were sold out of car tickets, so I had to drive.

Because of that, I got to eat at the Mars Cheese Castle, a fun little cheese place at an interstate exit. The grilled cheese sandwich was good, but not like Beecher's in Seattle or anything.

I got to Michigan's Adventure with about an hour and a half before they close. Shivering Timbers was good. The mouse had a brake before every turn, so it felt like I was on an antique car ride or something just as tame. Despite the inspiration for Wolverine Wildcat, it wasn't very fun, and I think i even preferred the junior wooden coaster. Thunderhawk is a headbanger, and Corkscrew was ok considering how short the track is.

There were very few people there. Other than the locals, I would imagine that most people from Michigan don't go here, as they would have to actually get out of the left lane on the highway to get here.

On the way back, I ate at Big John's Steak and Onion. It was tasty.

I made it into Ohio, and got to the Ohio tourist info center. I haven't been able to get in one for about five years, as they always seem to be closed when I come back to Ohio or go passed one. There were no Kings Island brochures in there. I got an updated map of Ohio, this one folds with the long side of the panels vertical, instead of what they had been the last few times. I also see that they updated highway 73 near Wilmington to fully controlled access highway, which caught me by surprise the last time I drove a different way to Kings Island.

I got back to Columbus, and found that half the city is without power, and thousands of trees are scattered everywhere. I think I picked the right week to take my vacation.

[The Interpreter]

Thanks for the incredible report. I must get back to Iowa soon. I absolutely adore the Hopkins steel coaster there.

[thekidd33]

Sounds like a very fun week, thanks for sharing!

[jcgoble3]

Wow! You visited a lot of parks in a short time! Hope you had fun!

Of all the coasters you rode on this trip, what are your top five?

[standbyme]

Wow! That's quite a trip...I would need a vacation AFTER it!

[kblanken]

Of all the coasters you rode on this trip, what are your top five?

I don't think I can give a top five.

. Zippin Pippin, Diamondback and The Legend would be the top three, with alphabetically all the GCI rides, High Roller, Raven, Shivering Timbers and The Voyage in the next row behind them.

[KIfan1980]

Lots of driving and riding in that Trip Report - thanks for sharing. I also agree that Zippin Pippin is a bice ride - it packs quite the punch for a small coaster.