The Great Lake Escape and Steel City Adventures- silver2005's Kennywood, CP and MIA TR

[electricsun]

You really won't need ERT at MIA. I think I only waited a few trains/cycles for most rides. And if I remember correctly, most of the coasters were running 1 train. I would bazaars a guess that the wild mouse ride will be your longest wait of the day. It is a fun one but takes forever to load.

[silver2005]

I kinda knew that MIA wouldn't have it.

One thing I might be doing on the tail end of the trip is a Fast Lane day at KI on the Saturday after I get back, June 24th (there's a day between that and when I actually get back from Sandusky).  It's the only Saturday I have off and its KI's first midnight close, so if anyone wants to splurge with me, I'd be up for a meet up.  I'm deciding between that and July 4th (still need to find out if I'm off on the 4th or not).  

With the Fast Lane Plus Platinum upgrade that I've now been made aware of (get normal Fast Lane, get bumped up to Plus with a Platinum Pass), I'm definitely doing a Fast Lane day at CP now.  

[silver2005]

Just over 10 days away!

Still  deciding on a route between Cincy and Muskegon though. 

[electricsun]

I'm pretty sure my map sent me up 23/75 all the way up into MI, and then it had me take a wide berth to the west to avoid Detroit. The drive was really easy and not like the previous crazy stacked Detroit traffic I've experienced. 

[silver2005]

Something I'm considering is doing ride reviews of everything, even stuff I've been on before.  I want to see how my tastes have changed.  That and I want a reason to write stuff.  

[silver2005]

Here are the route options Google Maps is giving me from shortest to longest-

1- I-74 to Indianapolis, take US-31 up through Indiana which merges with I-196 for a short time in Michigan, however, once I'm ultimately on US-31, its a straight shot to Muskegon- 5 h 40 m

2- I-75 up to US-33 (just south of Lima), get on I-469 and I-69 around Ft. Wayne, do some zig-zaging through MI to Muskegon- 5 h 53 m

3. I-75 up to Toledo, get on US-23 up through Ann Arbor (takes me somewhat close to Detroit), take I-96 to Muskegon- 6 h

Part of me wants to do option 1 just to do a new route and I've never been through Indy before, though, if my drive to Santa Claus last year was any indication, Indiana is pretty sparse outside major population centers.  This route would take me along Lake Michigan as well which sounds pleasant. 

Option 2 would be the next likely as I'm more familiar with I-75.  I hear Dayton is finally done with their never ending construction of I-75.    

That's probably my biggest dilemma concerning travel for this.  I'm well aware of how to avoid the Ohio Turnpike concerning the trip from Muskegon to Sandusky and then back to Cincy.  

[King Ding Dong]

Spend some time on the various state transportation sites to find out about construction.  Even simple resurfacing can be a pain.   I got nabbed yesterday going up to CP. Route 4 was closed in Attica and although there was a detour there it was incomplete because it did not direct back north so I had to pull over and just guess at it.  

[silver2005]

^Just checked out my routes, and they have small inklings of construction, but nothing major.  I chose option 2 to go up I-75 and zig-zag through Indiana and Michigan.  

All that's left now is to hope that the weather is nice next week.  Muskegon looks promising, but Sandusky is shaky.  

[silver2005]

Muskegon's weather has been looking more solidly good, aka, no rain since I've been checking it daily.  Sandusky's, for the days I'm going, has been going back and forth between rain, scattered showers, and just all out rain.  

[silver2005]

Me, on the road, 8 am, Sunday.  

I'm hoping to get up to Muskegon by 3-4 pm and grab a few hours at MIA that day before a full day on Monday.  Either that or take a visit to Lake Michigan. 

#greatlakeert

[King Ding Dong]

Temps are looking mild next week at CP, almost to mild for a waterpark visit for us.  

[pianoman]

I hope you have a good time at MiA. I have yet to visit that park. I thought about going up a few weeks ago, but they were apparently having issues with rides the first few weeks. Thunderhawk was closed as of a few weeks ago, but hopefully it will be open when you visit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[silver2005]

My day tomorrow-

6:30 AM- Wake up, double/triple check everything

7:30 AM- Breakfast

8 AM- On the road

Approx. 3-4 PM- Arrive at Muskegon (1 or 2 stops/driving breaks planned)

4:30-5:30 PM- Either take in a few hours at MIA or get a nice dinner (depends on energy level and weather)

I have found a few nice dining options in Muskegon including a few nice places along Lake Michigan.  I have a few bits of nicer clothes for roaming around Muskegon and Port Clinton. 

I'm also hoping for a spot of rain on Monday, just enough to soak Wolverine Wildcat and Shivering Timbers. 

 

[silver2005]

Made it to my hotel in Michigan.  Grand Rapids was a pain to go through and I got lucky in guessing which lane I needed to be in.  

Oh, and I found out about a Hartland Winery while driving through Indiana.  I also need to double check the routes Google Maps takes me as I went through a few farm roads while going between highways in NW Ohio and NE Indiana. 

Gonna spend a few hours in MIA before grabbing dinner after the park closes.  May focus on photos a bit.  Need to make sure to hit Timbers 4th as it will be #75 for me.  

The dinner location is right on Lake Michigan as well.

[silver2005]

Spent about 90 minutes at the park just to get the coaster run down.  Shivering Timbers- #75 in the books. 

Early opinions-

Thunderhawk is pretty intense, but not as bad as I thought it could have been

Corkscrew- Fun but short

Wolverine Wildcat- Good forces, but a bit of jack hammering on the turns, decent air

Shivering Timbers- Excellent airtime and laterals, but they feel a bit separated, like it can't have both at the same time.  Definitely getting 10+ rides on it.

I may do the water park at MIA given how small it is.  Glad I brought swimwear. 

Also- Why isn't there a path between Thunderhawk and Timbers?  

Also, also, MIA is a beautiful park.  Very pleasing aesthetically.  

[silver2005]

Weather for tomorrow and Wednesday look great.  I can't find a single consistency in the forecast about Thursday though.  I've seen it range through practically everything.  

Whichever day has better weather in Sandusky is the day I'm Fast Laning.

BTW, is there a place near the Soak City entrance that sells Fast Lane?

[King Ding Dong]

OMG the mayfly swarms show up on Doppler radar.  Hopefully they start dying off by Wednesday.   

I have heard you can buy the FL at the resort entrance ticket window.  

 

[silver2005]

^Not helping....at all. 

My face is toast on TTD....and don't say anything about riding near the back.  I got that mayfly to the forehead in the 2nd to last car.  

 

[malem]

For what it's worth, I've smashed mayflies with my face via roller coaster and have yet to suffer a cut.

At night, I'd look down and shield my face with my hands.

[King Ding Dong]

You could always pick up a Johnny Space Commander Mask by The Irwin Mainway Toy Co.  

That abc13 report and others on Pointbuzz indicate the swarms are coming out after park close so I wouldn't worry about it to much.

[silver2005]

6 hours ago, malem said:

For what it's worth, I've smashed mayflies with my face via roller coaster and have yet to suffer a cut.

At night, I'd look down and shield my face with my hands.

The mayfly in question met my forehead as TTD was just starting to curve upwards from the launch, so it's not as if I'm saying mayfly to the face at 120 mph just because I was on TTD, the train was actually going that speed (possibly more if the mayfly was flying towards me).

If I can't find a FL purchase point at the Soak City entrance, I'll just cruise through morning ERT first then find a place that sells them.  I'm not expecting big crowds either day.  Getting FL is purely for splurging purposes.  I may wait to see how big the crowds are before I get it, so I may in fact not get it at all.  At least there's a Platinum discount at CP.  

As for MIA today, I probably won't stay until close.  Also opted out of going to the water park in favor of a little photo spree.  The day I'm not Fast Laning at CP will have a bit of photography as well, including many of RMC Streak. 

[silver2005]

Final thoughts on Michigan's Adventure-

I thought it was an okay park.  Its great for taking your time.  Its a very beautiful and clean park as well.  There's lots of landscaping everywhere including under Thunderhawk and in a few stations (notably Shivering Timbers and Thunderhawk).  Shivering Timbers and Wolverine Wildcat were worth the trip up here.  The staff is great sans a few of the ride crews, but with how slow the park is, I kinda don't blame them.  

Final ride tally-

One time rides- Sea Dragon (which has moments where it swings on its own without use of the wheels, very nice), Flying Trapeze, Adventure Falls, Grand Rapids (those 2 get you extremely wet), Timbertown Railway (nice for getting to and from the woodies and T-hawk)

Logger's Run- 2

Corkscrew- 3

Thunderhawk- 3

Wolverine Wildcat- 5 

Shivering Timbers- 10

Final Coaster Reviews-

Corkscrew- Its a short but fun coaster.  It might be the quietest Arrow looping coaster I've been on.  Quite a beauty as well in its alternating yellow and orange with teal supports.  I'm hoping KI's next big steel coaster is those sort of colors.  Its quite quick as well as it zips through the corkscrews pretty fast. Lots of early Ron Toomer transitions of course being it's as old as Beast.  I also like the entrance sign/structures under the corkscrew.  Very retro looking station as well (lots of buildings were of a retro look).  

Thunderhawk- I definitely took note of the design improvements over T3 as it flowed from element to element much better.  The long trains made it have similar pacing to T3 though in that it pulsed in picking up and losing speed, mostly on the rollover and the sidewinder.  Very intense ride as well.  The front and back do bang your head more, one of the only rides I'd probably prefer in the middle.

Mad Mouse- Its a wild mouse coaster, pretty straight forward, though, there was an interesting bit on the final turn where it took a banked turn right, straightened out, then banked right again.  It was kind of a neat sequence for a mouse.  Very slow loading procedure though.  My longest wait by far at 20 minutes.  Even Wolverine Wildcat with 1 train operation (it only has 1) with a 2 cycle wait wasn't quite as long.

Wolverine Wildcat- I feel its a tad underrated, but not by much. Decent air, though its ruined in parts because the track is warped to the point where its adding random jack hammering in places.  its not a consistent thing through the bits between turnarounds (the later turns did bounce around a bit), but one spot in particular ruined what looked to be a nice double dip. I like the first set of bunny hops though with a bit of a swaying motion with the turns in between.  Not a favorite, but solid and fun overall.  A surprise for me to be sure.

Shivering Timbers- This is the best coaster there by far.  CCI delivers tremendous airtime as usual.  The laterals in the turn around and helix were also great, though, It almost felt too straight forward of a ride, just out, back, helix, end.  The best drops were the first 3 hills and that snaking dive off of the turn around, which then keeps going down a straight angle for a nice sense of acceleration after what was an excellent swooping drop.  There were some rough spots on a few hills that didn't produce flowing drops where it straightened the track as it drops (similar to Magnum), but wasn't bad enough to be a detriment to the ride.  This one is top 10 material for me.  

 

[Creed Bratton]

30 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Final thoughts on Michigan's Adventure-

I thought it was an okay park.  Its great for taking your time.  Its a very beautiful and clean park as well.  There's lots of landscaping everywhere including under Thunderhawk and in a few stations (notably Shivering Timbers and Thunderhawk).  Shivering Timbers and Wolverine Wildcat were worth the trip up here.  The staff is great sans a few of the ride crews, but with how slow the park is, I kinda don't blame them.  

Final ride tally-

One time rides- Sea Dragon (which has moments where it swings on its own without use of the wheels, very nice), Flying Trapeze, Adventure Falls, Grand Rapids (those 2 get you extremely wet), Timbertown Railway (nice for getting to and from the woodies and T-hawk)

Logger's Run- 2

Corkscrew- 3

Thunderhawk- 3

Wolverine Wildcat- 5 

Shivering Timbers- 10

Final Coaster Reviews-

Corkscrew- Its a short but fun coaster.  It might be the quietest Arrow looping coaster I've been on.  Quite a beauty as well in its alternating yellow and orange with teal supports.  I'm hoping KI's next big steel coaster is those sort of colors.  Its quite quick as well as it zips through the corkscrews pretty fast. Lots of early Ron Toomer transitions of course being it's as old as Beast.  I also like the entrance sign/structures under the corkscrew.  Very retro looking station as well (lots of buildings were of a retro look).  

Thunderhawk- I definitely took note of the design improvements over T3 as it flowed from element to element much better.  The long trains made it have similar pacing to T3 though in that it pulsed in picking up and losing speed, mostly on the rollover and the sidewinder.  Very intense ride as well.  The front and back do bang your head more, one of the only rides I'd probably prefer in the middle.

Mad Mouse- Its a wild mouse coaster, pretty straight forward, though, there was an interesting bit on the final turn where it took a banked turn right, straightened out, then banked right again.  It was kind of a neat sequence for a mouse.  Very slow loading procedure though.  My longest wait by far at 20 minutes.  Even Wolverine Wildcat with 1 train operation (it only has 1) with a 2 cycle wait wasn't quite as long.

Wolverine Wildcat- I feel its a tad underrated, but not by much. Decent air, though its ruined in parts because the track is warped to the point where its adding random jack hammering in places.  its not a consistent thing through the bits between turnarounds (the later turns did bounce around a bit), but one spot in particular ruined what looked to be a nice double dip. I like the first set of bunny hops though with a bit of a swaying motion with the turns in between.  Not a favorite, but solid and fun overall.  A surprise for me to be sure.

Shivering Timbers- This is the best coaster there by far.  CCI delivers tremendous airtime as usual.  The laterals in the turn around and helix were also great, though, It almost felt too straight forward of a ride, just out, back, helix, end.  The best drops were the first 3 hills and that snaking dive off of the turn around, which then keeps going down a straight angle for a nice sense of acceleration after what was an excellent swooping drop.  There were some rough spots on a few hills that didn't produce flowing drops where it straightened the track as it drops (similar to Magnum), but wasn't bad enough to be a detriment to the ride.  This one is top 10 material for me.  

 

Thanks for your reviews! I'm looking forward to getting these credits this weekend.

[silver2005]

^Just make sure if you're at either end of the park that you don't have the urge to ride something on the opposite end, or, if you do, the train is your friend.  There is kind of a void between the entrance side of rides and the stuff out by T-hawk and the water park.  Sea Dragon (the swinging ship, impossible to miss) is probably the flat I'd suggest the most as it really gets you high in the air and there is some decent weightlessness, something Viking Fury can't do.  Also, get at least one ride on Timbers in the front seat.  

[silver2005]

Sheesh, Google Maps is taking me through all the major Michigan cities in this trip.  Went through Grand Rapids (which has crap roads) to get to Muskegon and will go through Lansing, Ann Arbor, and skirting Detroit en route to Port Clinton.  4 hours and all the Michigan lie between me and CP.  

[King Ding Dong]

Weather is looking fantastic for Wednesday, high of 77.  Thursday I have seen reports as high as 90 with chance of late afternoon/evening rain.  

Also I read (I think on Pointbuzz) that the Soak City/CPS Parking lot is not opening until 9:30 this year.  Makes sense as CPS ERT is not until 10:30 and there is less space now for non-preferred parking.  You could still try it, but build in some extra time in case they funnel you back out to the main lot.   With the new configuration parking back there does not save as much walking as it used to, unless of course you want to start at the back of the park.  If you are forced to the front lot consider Malem's strategy of hoofing it to the Marina gate to start closer to VAL/MF.  

[silver2005]

Made it to Port Clinton, but managed to drive through mountains of Michigan, jerks, construction, and Michigan to get here. Toledo was awful.  

Relaxing on Lake Erie today, then two days at the Point of Cedar.  

I also have yet to see a single mayfly. 

The only travel snafu left is navigating from CP back to the hotel.  I tend to get lost in Sandusky finding OH route 2.  

EDIT: Tomorrow will be the Fast Lane day.  Thursday will be a more laid back day including MF and Valravn night ERT (hopefully the weather cooperates for that). 

[King Ding Dong]

The route I would take is once off the causeway take an immediate right on 1st St. (before you hit Breakers Express, Thirsty Pony and such) that turns into E Monroe at a slight bend (Sail Inn), follow that until you hit Columbus Ave., take left for 1 block, then slight right on Route 4, it takes you straight to Route 2.  I would come in that way as well, just ignore all the signs pointing you in a different direction to CP.  

[silver2005]

The outside stairs that lead to the 2nd floor of the hotel where my room is has hundreds of mayflies perched in the shade.  That's about all I've seen so far.  

 

[silver2005]

From the moment I got to Port Clinton, it's been an incredibly relaxing day, more than made up for the stressful drive here.  Had a fantastic steak dinner at a place called Crosswinds just east of town with an impressive server who was on her first day (enough for me to drop a 30% tip).  Had some ice cream by the lake afterwards, and now relaxing in my room.  Getting a good nights sleep before 2 days at the Point.