I'm not new to Coasterbuzz, but for some reason I couldn't pull up my old account and so I decided to... never mind... on with the TR...
I arrived to MIA around 10:30 AM after the 2 hour drive from South Bend. I went to the park today to hang out with Matt and Kara, but obviously the ride I was looking forward to most was Shivering Timbers.
Any visit to MIA is off to a bad start when you find out that Timbers is down mechanical. Sure there are other rides at MIA but nothing I would normally drive 2 hours for. Having a season pass, I decided to wait for ST to open, as I really had no desire to ride anything else. It took an hour for the ride to get going, but by the time it had, Matt had shown up and we got the first train of the day, front row. After that ride, I remembered why I love ST so much. However...
Several consecutive rides later, I realized that the ride is running much more rough than I remember from past years, especially in the second row of each car. There was a lot of shuffling, jackhammering, and one section of track right after the turnaround was just plain brutal. If anyone else has been to the park this year, I'm curious if I just had a bad day, or if it really is rattling around a lot more.
Despite the roughness, the ride was flying today. I was suprised with the cooler weather, but it was running much faster than I remember. The airtime was great, and the laterals on the turnaround and helix were fantastic.
After turning most of my insides to mush, we decided to hit a few other rides. I had never rode the Flying Star at MIA so we hit that next. I love the Flying Star at Indiana Beach, and this one was very fun as well, except for the coating on the seats, its like sandpaper, and on a ride designed for lateral G's, it can be pretty uncomfortable.
By this time I was hungry, and Kara was getting off work, so we took a break, had some lunch and met up with her. We took another spin on Timbers (front row luckily) then rode the newly renovated Timbertown Railway back to Grand Rapids.
Being that it was only 65 today, I didn't feel like getting soaked, but I must say that I was quite impressed with the look of the ride. The theming is nice, and the ride looks pretty fun. We did take advantage of the 25c water cannons, and drenched a passing raft... I think later in the season, those will be a big hit.
After that, we circled the park and hit all the other rides worth riding, and then called it a day. We headed to Fricanos for some pizza, and then I hit the road back.
Overall it was a pretty good day. The weather was cooler, but not too hot, and plenty of sun, and the crowds were very light (despite the Scouting Outing)... We rode for just over 4 hours and here were the ride counts for the day:
Shivering Timbers - 8
Falling Star - 2
Wolverine Wildcat (Very Rough!)
Mad Mouse
Little Drummer Boy
Corkscrew
Sea Dragon
Timbertown Railway
Josh M.
Magnum - 330 / Timbers - 46 / Maverick - 70 / Voyage - 5
http://www.coastercounter.com/StormFreak