Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

[silver2005]

So after a year getting back on my feet from various life setbacks, I can finally get a trip planned for this summer.  This go around I'm planning on a mid west trip involving Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great America and Cedar Point whilst visiting Chicago and Cleveland for the first time.  I was initially planning to catch a Reds game in either Cleveland or Chicago, but they're in Cleveland a little before the time frame I want this trip and aren't even in Chicago through June or July.  I'm planning on Holiday World as well (likely 2 days to get Splashin' Safari in), but that'll likely be a separate trip (might squeeze in KK on the way there as well).  I'm still pondering whether to do 1 or 2 days for CP.

As for planning, I am pretty set with Cleveland as I have a lot of college friends in the area to help me with that, but I could use any Chicago tips (particularly good pizza spots).  It'll be a 2 day stay there, one for exploring downtown and one for SFGAm.  SFGAm and IB tips are also welcome, especially trying to do the former in one day. 

[johnjniehaus]

On 2/15/2025 at 4:59 PM, silver2005 said:

SFGAm and IB tips are also welcome, especially trying to do the former in one day

In my experience with Six Flags Great America, the park can be really packed! If you do not want to purchase a fast pass, you will need to arrive before the park opens to rope drop maxXforce otherwise forget it. Then immediately head to the left as most people go up the right side of the park towards raging bull and whizzer. 

 

As for Indiana Beach, I don't have any advice except for have fun! Some rides won't open right away but give them time and they will probably open later in the afternoon. 

[silver2005]

Flash Pass is definitely part of the plan for SFGAm. 

[silver2005]

Here is a tentative itinerary in terms of days of the week as I'm trying to work this around my community band schedule this summer.  I'm trying to only miss one band rehearsal (on Wednesdays) and hit the parks I want on weekdays.   I will have Fast Lane/Flash Pass for the respective parks that have them.   This also has some weather flexibility built in as well.   I will also be doing a different lodging plan for the Ohio part as I want a break from staying in Port Clinton.  Likely staying between Sandusky and Cleveland this time around.

Tuesday- Leave for Indiana Beach and visit

Wednesday- Travel to Chicago, possible half day visit to SFGAm

Thursday- SFGAm

Friday- Downtown Chicago exploration

Saturday- Travel to Sandusky/Cleveland

Sunday- Downtown Cleveland exploration

Monday and Tuesday- Cedar Point

For HW and KK, I'm likely doing KK on the way to Santa Claus on a Sunday and doing HW on a Monday and Tuesday (one day for the water park).

[Diamondback_Is_King]

@silver2005- Do you think Siren's Curse will be open when you visit?

[silver2005]

1 minute ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

@silver2005- Do you think Siren's Curse will be open when you visit?

Considering I'll be going mid-July, I hope so.  I have more hopes for that than TT2 at least. 

[silver2005]

I have a question about using my pass at SFGAm.  I know the add ons like the meal plan and all season FL won't work, but do I still get discounts on food, merch, and/or parking?  Also, could someone explain the difference between Fast Lane and Flash Pass?

[silver2005]

So one of the ideas I had going into the Chicago portion of this trip was to try and catch the Reds while they'd be there, but unfortunately, they won't be there in July.  There is a Red Sox series the days I'm there, so I might go and see a game at Wrigley.

Though, I now appreciate the seat pricing of the Reds now- $64 for nosebleeds at Wrigley. 

[silver2005]

I think I finally have the full itinerary of vacations done.

Holiday World- June 21-24, plan is to stay in Owensboro and explore the first evening and do HW for 2 days to get in Splashin' Safari.

IB/SFGAm/CP- July 15-23

July 15- Go up to Monticello and visit Indiana Beach

July 16- Monticello to Chicago, likely half day at SFGAm

July 17-18- One day SFGAm, one day Chicago, favoring the better weather day for SFGAm, may do Chicago Cubs game as the Red Sox are in town, will be using Flash Pass Unlimited for the full day at SFGAm

July 19- Chicago to Cleveland- entirely a travel day due to the 7 hour drive

July 20- Explore Cleveland, R&R HOF

July 21-22- Cedar Point

July 23- Back to Cincy

Also somewhere in there will be a day trip to Kentucky Kingdom.  

[silver2005]

Got everything booked finally.  

For the HW portion, I'm staying in Dale, IN as that's where I stayed last time and its more simple than staying in Owensboro.  The plan is to leave on June 28th, explore Owensboro the first day and have 2 days at HW. 

For Chicago and Cleveland, I'm halfway between those cities and the respective parks (SFGAm and CP).  I just need to familiarize with Chicago to be able to stay off the toll roads.  For Cleveland I should be able to wing it.   

Itinerary- Leave and do Indiana Beach on July 15th, go to Chicago on the 16th-19th.  Possibly do SFGAm the day I go there and do a full day there and one for Chicago exploration.  The 19th is a travel day to Cleveland, mainly for the time change adjustment if needed, might visit Port Clinton, at the very least something on Lake Erie that day (not staying in Port Clinton).  Then explore Cleveland on the 20th and CP the 21st and 22nd.  

Just waiting until the week of my trip to scout weather to get my FLU for SFGAm (only getting it for the 1 full day I go) and the R&RHOF ticket.  All parts of the trips are somewhat flexible in terms of dealing with weather. 

silver2005, knocking furiously on wood to not repeat Raven's and Legend's lengthy closures during his last non-HWN visit. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Best of luck for your trip! If you're planning to spend any time in the Loop/downtown Chicago, I would recommend looking into using their metro system. It's not as scary as some make public transit sound, and will let you explore without a car for a little bit. Not sitting in traffic would be a definite plus side. Disclaimer: I've never been in June/July so that might be different from when I was there, and it's your trip so do what you'd like. 

Edited May 26 by Losantiville Mining Co.
fixed a statement

[silver2005]

I'm mostly doing just a sight seeing venture for Chicago and Cleveland.  Of the big cities I've been to, the stuff I mostly want to touch on in Chicago are closer together than, say, NYC, DC or Boston (3 other big cities I've been to).  My bigger issue with Chicago is staying off of toll roads and just getting familiar with those routes.   I'm staying close to US 41, which runs between Chicago and Gurnee and is the non-toll way compared to using I-94.  I'm slightly closer to SFGAm than Chicago, but its still a sub-hour drive for me to both.  

My 2 new parks for me this trip are Indiana Beach and SFGAm.   I'm not seeing the best food options for the later.  

I'm also crossing my fingers on TT2 and Siren's Curse being open when I do CP.   The only other iffy coaster is Maxx Force at SFGAm, I feel pretty confident their new dive coaster will be open.  SFGAm might be 2 days, the day I go from Indiana Beach to Chicago I may go the half day after I get there, and then the full day.  I'm only getting Flash Pass Unlimited for the full day I go.   

[johnjniehaus]

Have fun! Give us a full report! 

[silver2005]

Just out of curiosity, what is the bug situation like in Santa Claus?   Is it just KI that has the cicada problem?

[silver2005]

So I head to Holiday World next weekend, and I'm starting to see iffy weather for both days I'm going (Sunday and Monday).  I might be able to get in some good riding early and may have to blitz the water park on whichever day looks better, but the evenings look iffy for night riding. 

There is also a strong possibility I'll be at KI on the 4th including Soak City.

[silver2005]

So for all you guys who like to venture to Holiday World and don't mind a 40 minute detour, look up Moonlite BBQ in Owensboro, KY.  Highly, highly recommended.  Owensboro also has a nice riverfront park as well to check out.

Unfortunately, I'm hearing rain and possible thunderstorms both tomorrow and Monday.  I'm going to wing it concerning Splashin Safari, but I am prepared to abort on the water park if need be.  

 

[silver2005]

So far so good on weather.  A bit humid, but only a brief shower early. 

Voyage and Legend are running GREAT!

Raven is the problem child.  Rough in spots before the turnaround and really needs TLC in the finale.

Good Gravy was pretty fun, liked the theming.

Thunderbird is running really intense today, in a good way.

Didn't manage to ride Cheetah Chase as it doesn't allow single riders.  Wildebeest and Mammoth were great, albeit Mammoth is a bit violent (still good).

 

[silver2005]

So while it hasn't rained, it's been brutally hot and humid.  The combination of that, HW's hilly layout and blacktop, and the intense ride line up is kicking my butt.

[silver2005]

So Voyage is running so well that is has dethroned Twister as my new #1 wood coaster. It is amazing in the back.

[silver2005]

So the rain turned out to not happen, but it's supposed to be more humid than yesterday.  Getting a later start today, probably getting to HW between 12 and 1.   Probably skipping Raven due to its roughness.

The problem spot is out of the wide turn in the finale, there's a vicious pot hole before entering the brakes.  The entire finale needs retracking and also the bit between the 2nd hill and the lake turnaround.  

[silver2005]

I changed my mind.  I'm chilling at the hotel today.  Its too humid for me and I did everything I wanted to yesterday.  

[Diamondback_Is_King]

4 hours ago, silver2005 said:

So the rain turned out to not happen, but it's supposed to be more humid than yesterday.  Getting a later start today, probably getting to HW between 12 and 1.   Probably skipping Raven due to its roughness.

The problem spot is out of the wide turn in the finale, there's a vicious pot hole before entering the brakes.  The entire finale needs retracking and also the bit between the 2nd hill and the lake turnaround.  

I noticed the same pot hole that you did. I swear it's more than a pot hole, it might be a boulder just sitting there on the track...it hurts real bad

[IndyGuy4KI]

The first drop retrack is great. Now the rest needs done.

[silver2005]

So I guess I can do my TR now that I'm pretty much done.

Left for Dale, IN Saturday afternoon.  Its only a 3 hour drive for me so I could sleep in and leave in the afternoon as the plan was to hit up Owensboro in the evening.  Ate at Moonlite BBQ which have ribs that don't need sauce, and the sauce they have is incredibly good, kind of a sweet and sour tangy and tender thing going on.   The peanut butter pie is also great.   Hung out on the riverfront park for a few hours including fountain ERT with coordinated sprayers and a short random concert which they do every Saturday in the summer.   Owensboro is a pretty nice town to check out during a HW venture, kind of a slice of life kind of vibe and very scenic.   

Sunday was HW.  Got there at opening.  Got a bit of a conflicting start as Raven was down (was told it would be down all day from the operators but it did open by the time I finished SS), and Voyage was only running 1 train (which they apparently add the 2nd around noon-ish).   I did Voyage, T-Bird and Good Gravy before doing Splashin' Safari.   

I was under the impression there would be rain later as in the morning, there was a cell developing around St Louis so I figured I had a window until 1 pm to do SS (spoilers- the rain completely dissipated by the time it hit Illinois, the only rain I got was a small shower that lasted less than a minute while riding T-Bird).   Got in Wildebeest, Mammoth, the mat racer, the lazy river and a little bit in one of the wave pools before leaving.  I couldn't ride Cheetah Chase as they don't pair up single riders for some reason.  Need to get back during HWN to remedy that.  After SS, I went back to towards the front and did Legend (avoided it as EVERYONE was going to it with Raven down early), Raven, and Frightful Falls.  Waits until that point, HW and SS rides included, was 15 minutes tops.  Ate pizza at the Marketplace.  Spent a LOT of time in there to get out of the heat and humidity.  It was pretty brutal all day.  The water in SS wasn't all that cool.  The combination of the heat, hilly layout with all the blacktop, and the intensity of the ride line up wore me out kind of quick.  I took my time through the last few hours.  After that it was just going through and re-riding stuff, eventually including Liberty Launch in there as well.   After lunch, all 3 woodies were walk on (including Voyage going back to 2 trains and Raven and Legend running 2 and often only filling 1, likely due to protein spills, Raven actually dropped to 1 train later in the day). 

Ride counts-

Voyage- 8 including LROTN

Legend- 6

Raven -3

T-bird- 2

All else- 1

Staffing was kind of a mixed bag based on department.  Staffing that wasn't rides were all great per usual.  Ride ops were all over the place.  The 3 woodies' ops in particular had some horrible dispatch times.  I get it was very slow, but I also don't enjoy sitting on the brake run for, at times, multiple minutes at a time.   Voyage was easily the best of the 3 but still sus.  Good Gravy was incredibly efficient without feeling like they had to rush people and T-Bird was pretty good (T-bird also went down to 1 train close to its early closure for the drone show but the ops made up for it).  

I feel I have to re-do ride reviews for HW with the kinds of cycles the woodies go through where they do a re-track , they eventually go bad, and the cycle continues.  I've actually decided to re-think how I rank my entire wooden coaster list because woodies go through that all the time, so I'm putting more of an emphasis on recency bias in terms of my wooden coaster rankings, which, if you've read earlier, I have a new #1 wooden coaster.

Voyage- Good googly moogly this thing is running FANTASTICLY!   For a giant woodie as relentless as it is, I have to give the HW maintenance crews massive kudos for keeping this monster running as good as it is.  I eventually figured it would eventually go the SOB route with the size and the history with giant wooden coasters getting too rough over time, but HW is proving me wrong.   It is extremely comfortable, which makes its wicked intense course so enjoyable.  It has a few moments of ejector air on par with Maverick in spots, particularly in the back (first drop, the drop off the MCBR, and the small hill between tunnels on the out-route before the spaghetti bowl).  The one slightly rough bit was the s-curve hill over the lift, but other than that, its running about as perfect as it can get.  The 2nd half, even with the MCBR on but isn't biting as hard, gives me trim-less vibes.  Most of my rides were in 6-1, it's absolutely wild in the back.

Legend- Also running very comfortably, the only rough bit is the drop before the ascent into the far turnaround.  Has great airtime for what it is (the 2 camelbacks before the helix and every drop after the helix) and it pours on the lateral G's in the helix. 

Raven- This was the problem child.  Aside from the first drop, all the other good parts need some extensive TLC.  After the tunnel, the lateral curve on the 2nd hill and the following drop before the lake turn jackhammered a bit.  The lake turn has signs of problems as it was kind of rumbly but still tolerable.  The few bits before drop 5 were nice, but then it gets a temper tantrum.  I'd say the rough part begins about halfway on drop 5, the following s-curves and the wide turn start to get worse, then you hit a mind-numbing pothole.  If anyone here has been in a car accident and know the kind of whiplash you get from a more jarring hit, that's what the pothole feels like.  It's close to unrideable.  I tried a few more rides to see if riding in different spots made a difference, but each re-ride made it worse, which pains me to say as peak Raven is great.  I'd say about half the ride needs a re-track. 

Good Gravy- My lone new credit this venture.  I like it about on par with KI's version.  It has better theming, though I think it's a tad over-the-top but it adds its own charm admittedly.  Has a more interesting layout than KI's especially with the path interaction, and I think I like the reversing spike better as there is a decent bit of weightlessness that KI's doesn't have with its double-up spike and is surprisingly steep for a family ride.   I am giving this the nod over KI's overall. 

Thunderbird- This was unexpectedly running quite intense the day I went.  The quickness of the acceleration took me by surprise this time around and it was hauling pretty fast through the layout.   Had quite a few more positive G moments compared to my previous rides.   It is in dire need of a re-paint soon though.  I got a bit of a race with Voyage on one of my rides.     

[silver2005]

I know it's early, but I'm seeing rain and possibly storms for my days in Monticello and Chicago...

[silver2005]

So the weather flipped for Monticello and Chicago next week, looks to be absolutely gorgeous weather now.

[silver2005]

Personal milestones for this next trip-

Potential new coasters- 24 (6 wood, 18 steel)

First portable Schwarzkopf Looper- All American Triple Loop 

First S&S El Loco- Steel Hawg

First spiral lift coaster- Whizzer

The original inverted coaster- Batman: The Ride

My first CI Cyclone clone- Viper

Largest racing coaster (sort of, I know it doesn't race)- American Eagle

First tilt coaster- Siren's Curse

Most highly anticipated new steel coaster- Raging Bull

Most highly anticipated new wood coaster- Viper

 

[silver2005]

The way things look, weather looks good for Tuesday for IB.  I'm leaving Cincy at 6 am EDT, so if my calculations are correct, I'll be in Monticello a bit early, depends on Indy traffic.  

In Chicago, it's supposed to rain Thursday so I'll be downtown that day and Friday looks like great weather for SFGAm.  I know Chicago flooded recently but from what I've seen, the streets effects have since improved.   I think I've got things figured out for tackling visiting downtown.   

I will be getting to my 175th coaster in SFGAm if all goes to plan, and I'm likely making Whizzer that coaster.

Can't see the Cleveland portion quite yet but I'm liking the temps from what I can see.  I'm really hoping to ride Siren a few times to get a feel for the tilt on different parts of the train.  TT2 I'm making a beeline to if I see it open at all.  

[IndyGuy4KI]

Have a great trip Silver!

[silver2005]

Today didn't start good as I hit a closed I-65 north of Indianapolis due to a semi fire and had to take a 40 mile back roads detour. The park feels like a real life RCT park with the layout and weird ride, queue and RR placements.  Great setting by the lake.  Operations leave a lot to be desired.

Early coaster reviews-

Lost Coaster- fun and quirky, especially backwards 

Cyclone- smooth with lots of laterals, no banked turns

Tigrr- probably one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden of that size

Hurricane- very meh, gradual floater air, a bit too much jackhammering

Cornball- perfect small size CCI

Steel Hawg- good layout and elements, hate the restraints

Triple Loop is closed with several cranes and parts of another Schwarzkopf looper behind it including loop pieces