MIA Opening - We have been Cedar Fair-ized *PICS*
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On the drive out it turned from beautiful May weather to rain, but nevertheless, I was full of adrenaline. I couldn’t stop myself from running to the gate once I got there. After scanning my pass a few times unsuccessfully, they pointed me to the season pass office….I should have known. You see, every year for the past 4 years my pass hasn’t worked in some way or another, it’s a jinx. So much so that when the season pass people see me they tend to run away in fear. Anyway, that only took a couple of seconds to get straightened out, and it was good seeing the admissions people.
The rain was coming down pretty hard, and the midways were soaked…but that didn’t keep me from running to my baby. I knew that things had changed, but I didn’t care. It was like my body was set on auto-drive to just get to timbers and not even look at anything else. Anyway, I walked swiftly up the ramp and smelled that familiar smell of wet birch pieces…you guys know what I’m talking about :). The station was empty, as expected, and I hopped right in my seat. To my dismay, the seatbelts in this particular row had been shortened. By the time we dispatched it was pretty much pouring, and, to sum it up, this was probably the worst ride I’ve had on Timbers in my life. The short belts, the empty train, and the rain so unbearably hard that I couldn’t keep my eyes open made my ride pretty unknowable. By the time we got off the rain had ceased, and I began the jog around back into the line. I felt at home, I hadn’t had any of those 6 million dollar improvements phase me..yet. I was exiting and WHAM it hit me. I was so totally lost that I thought I would break down right that second. You see, they took out the exit that I’ve walked through for 4 years, and had people pretty much spill out right into the new train area. This is when the new season pretty much hit me. The train was there, the engineer calling for passengers. Construction in this area was massive…they were still pouring concrete to finish off this new section of midway.
For the next two hours all I did was ride Timbers. I didn’t care about everything right then, and I just wanted to play catch up with my coaster. I can say that without a doubt it is running the best it has in a pretty long time. Yeah, it could be because it rained and THEN they greased the track, but you never know :). The crew was super-friendly. The op today was actually my neighbor who lives two houses down…I had no idea he was working there. One new assistant and one familiar face. However, I was not impressed with everything in the timbers station today. One train op (typical), yet the blue train is still in maintenance. Their loading time was SOOO slow I wanted to hop out and give them a hand! Another thing…spiels. They have some new safety spiel that totally upset me. I told Joe that they needed to have the stats, and I did my example flawlessly, but they said “we no longer do that here.” Now its something like “Welcome riders to shivering timbers. People with back or neck injuries are not recommended to ride. Only two riders per seat, and if you are a single rider you have to sit in the furthest seat from you. Photography is prohibited.” I mean, it was so bad that I think I’ll bring headphones next time ;).
On that first jog back into the queue I noticed that we had officially been cedar fair-ized. One word: signs. I stepped dead in my tracks to see the new safety signs in place all over the park.
Okay, so after that initial two hours I decided I needed those nachos I’ve craved all off-season, and I wanted to take a look at everything too. I ran into so many people that knew me, it was incredible. Truth be told, I didn’t know a good majority of them…I don’t know if my name got spread around, or what...but I was greeted by my first name all day long. Ran into Mrs. Jourden-Mark a few times, it’s good to see her around the park again. So after my nachos I took a walk around the park. I first passed the swings and the Trabant. My first thought was, “since when do we have trees?” The new landscaping looks great, it’s a huge change from our bare cement we have. Eventually I passed the bumper cars, I was surprised they got it done in time. There was a pretty long line for this attraction…I had done them at CP, and I didn’t want to take time out of the few hours I was there to ride. I walked past the front entrance and over to the new Snoopy Boutique. With the ST exit situation aside, this was the most shocking thing all day. It was then official that we are Cedar Fair; Snoopy stuff as far as the eye can see. The cutest aspect of this boutique was the show area. There was some fake grass for carpeting and logs to sit on. I can see kids having a great time here. Somehow, the Big Dipper gift shot has transformed into a candy store and is connected to the snoopy botique…someone thought this through.
Got a solo ride on Zoomer, and got sat in awe that Be Bop may actually open this week. The infamous “bridge” looks nice, and it looks like a decent ride. Ripcord was closed to the public, but employees and media got to ride today. The water park area was roped-off, along with the skycoaster and hydroblaster…so, I headed back to Corky. Remember those mysterious pieces I saw in the offseason? They are now a multi-colored archway for Corkscrew. Once I took note of the station, I was practically running up the ramp. The outside I had seen…yellow, with some rainbow accents. The inside, however…was really intense. I don’t know what color I’d call it, maybe a cyan, was painted on the inside and they replaced the lights with blue florocent ones. They had some music playing…it was really funky. I think the term “Save the Station” has come true..I really like it. I had been under the impression that the corky trains would be painted, but they received new fiberglass all together. They’re hot rod red with an orange stripe. I REALLY think our Corkscrew is one of a kind now…it’s a completely different experience. The new paint had Corky running very nicely. The two Go Kart tracks are placed kind of around ‘Screw, and I had to ponder how they made that work. What I came up with is that they extended more into the water to make room for the Jr. Go Karts.
I walked down the main midway, taking note of the new fence that has been installed everywhere imaginable, as well as the landscaping. I seriously felt like I was walking around a different park. I came to a hault infront of Wildcat. As many of you may know, I am not, nor have ever been a fan of this coaster. All in all, its been at the very bottom of my wooden coaster list for years…even below SFGAdv’s Rolling Thunder and SFWOA’s Wolf Bobs. The thing I don’t get is that it’s the same as Phenoix at Knobles…they are clones of eachother! Yet, our version tends to be a major disappointment while theirs lives in infamy. Anyway, I continued to the entrance to discover they had put TONS of new fencing here. It really is more of a queue now, big improvement. I know that they had retracked parts of Wildcat, but I was still not looking forward to it. We dispatched, made our way through the tunnel, and proceeded up the lift. The Wildcat lift provided me with a great view of all of the new attractions: the railroad, skycoaster, go karts, and hydroblaster. All in all, I’ll admit Wildcat was running great…for what it is ;). It goes a lot faster, and the section that they completely redid was as smooth as glass. Maybe I’ll ride it more than twice this season J.
Back to Timbers I went to finish up the afternoon. All in all, I got 20 great welcome-home laps. There is still a ton of construction over there…the onride booth is being constructed. There is no sign on the ride of where the photos will be, but one can see the monitor hook-ups in the booth.
I walked over to the gift shop and took a stroll down by Mad Mouse to discover that we now have an “Old-Fashioned Photo” booth where guest services once existed. There is a lot of new merchandise in the gift shop, along with some new Timbers clothing :).
I am not disappointed in anything in the least bit, but I do have a lot to get used to. I am still kind of unsure about everything, but I felt a different feeling of “home” while there. The park itself reminds me more of a CF park than my local amusement park. There were many, many instances throughout the day that reminded me of Cedar Point and Valleyfair….and Cedar Fair officials were on tours all over the place the entire day. I really, truly commend CF for the huge improvements. I honestly have no idea how they managed to pull it all off, its just remarkable.
I know I’ve probably missed some improvements…you really should go to check it out for yourself! Thanks to everyone who has taken interest in my home park, I think its awesome that so many people care about that little, out in the middle of nowhere park. I hope to a good portion of you here this summer!
I know, you've all been waiting for...PICS!
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shiveringtimberschick2/lst?.dir=/MIA+Opening!&.view=t
Here’s to a new season!
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Kara (car-uh)
423 Laps
"Are you sure you don't work here?"
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Brad Sherman
Don't.....look.....back! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Model coasters and rides
I thought the same thing about the bumper cars color scheme, it's a a bit different. They ride better than the station looks.
Corkscrew has a nic new entrance and I like the color scheme except for the yellow.
The race park is cool, can't wait to try em out.
Hopefully Ripcord is open next time I go, haven't rode one since I rode the one at MGM.
I'd also agree on the rain part started to rain fairly hard when my friend and I were about half way up the lift, we new it was going to hurt, and it did.
BTW, I noticed my picture...I kinda figured I might have got in the way and I ate one of those funnel cakes after that picture was taken.
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“If you give a enthusiast a footer.......He’ll want a coaster!!!"
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*** This post was edited by Goku2216 on 5/23/2002. ***
I'm looking foward to seing the new Cedar Fair park. I will be at Timbers Fest.
STChick, what do the employees uniforms look like? Do they were uniforms? Let's hope in 2003 they will get some type of hyper ;).
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Valleyfair Security 2002! 8Years working at Valleyfair ! SRM Holiday World, Coastermainia CP, Kings Island June 9th, Timbers Fest. May31st-June10th 8Days and counting !
*** This post was edited by The Beast on 5/24/2002. ***
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Hey man. Wanna buy some weed? Crack? Freepass on Millennium Force? I got the hook up...
Wow... what a difference a year makes. Dare I say that I'm blown away at the changes. I knew the potential was there, but wow.
I don't know if I'll ever be used to seeing my Dogem's there. All I'm left with is an empty Area 51(TM).
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
These changes sound awesome, but I am still glad I got to visit last year, because I got to see the park pre-transformation. I'm sure I'll be back to see the changes one of these years. It was nice to experience that park when it felt like a little independent park and seeing Corkscrew's original station in all its musty glory. Sounds like CF did a great job, though.
Ride Timbers a few times for me, Kara, until I can get back!
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I get the feeling there's a conspiracy over at King's Island to remove anything that has "K" or "C" in its initials.
Did they fill in those watery areas neat Falling Star? Looks like it.
Wow! I'm also glad I got to MIA last year, specifically to ride Timbers and see the park before CF made it's changes. It really helps make one appreciate all the good that can come from CF taking over...well, except for the Snoopy thing.
So...let me get my bearings straight....The Go Karts are between Corkscrew and the Sea Dragon? Is the sidewalk area that leads to the Log Ride/Timbers, etc widened at all? I remember is was pretty crammed when we were there last year.
Corkscrew looks fabulous with the new paintjob and arches.
I ended up switching my coasterclub event from Timbersfest to Coasterbuzz con (my son had an event to attend the weekend of Timbersfest), so I'm not sure when I'll get back to MIA, but it looks like I'll be pleased when I do.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
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"He's blazin' away like the stars in the universe.." A. Vega + M. Rev "Ghostrider"
Someday there will be something here.
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“If you give a enthusiast a footer.......He’ll want a coaster!!!"
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John Peck, I was thinking that they were just painted, but I asked if they were new fiberglass and the op said yes...he could be wrong though. And as for the Falling Star area...I honestly don't remember, I'll check it out tomorrow, though!
CPLady, you are correct on the adult go karts in that location. The Jr. Karts are located in a new area by the mini golf (across from Be Bop Blvd.). And, unfortunately, the main midway has not been widened.
Chris, they've always been different lengths, but specifically the ones in my row (first row of back car) were shortened drastically. I consider myself pretty skinny, and the seemed ridiculously short. Many of the other belts I noticed a huge lengthening in...like rows 2 and 3.
On the subject of padding...all of the wooden coaster cars ST, ZZ, WW) seemed to have been outfitted with new padding for the first time in a few seasons. However, the seats are still coming out of Timbers in the back row; when will they learn?
To reiterate again, the changes really are to a great extent. I have no idea how they pulled it off in time. Something I didn't mention were the new signs in the coaster stations...we have the "Do not disturb the operator" signs now, as well as "Not responsible for lost/stolen articles." Coaster-wise we're good except they need to get the Blue train out and get the new logos on all of the trains.
I'll get laps for you all ;)
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Kara (car-uh)
423 Laps
"Are you sure you don't work here?"
I noticed the padding coming out also and the divider slid over on the way back from the turn-around.
St Chick you just going Saturday?
I might be going Sunday or Monday depending on if I work or not.
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“If you give a enthusiast a footer.......He’ll want a coaster!!!"
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*** This post was edited by Goku2216 on 5/24/2002. ***
[edit: for some reason my sig keeps getting messed up...]
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Kara (car-uh)
423 Laps
"Are you sure you don't work here?"
*** This post was edited by ST chick on 5/24/2002. ***
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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
I completely relate to what you were saying about the smell: throughout SFGAdv, the smell is relatively normal and what not, but with the Nitro queue and exit placed conspicuously on either side of the Funnel Cake Company...OH MY GOD. It's odor-ific!
It must be awfully weird to feel unfamiliar in your home park, but any improvements are precisely that! Glad to hear you're quickly making up for lost time, and as usual, another stellar TR.
Makes me more and more wanna get out there... :)
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Nitro Dave -- 69 Laps ---------- Track Record: 41 and counting...
"Na na na na na na na na...BAT-CLAW!!!"
106 FUNNY THINGS IN CANADA: #4 - Corporate sign: "Canadian Erectors, Limited"
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“If you give a enthusiast a footer.......He’ll want a coaster!!!"
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“If you give a enthusiast a footer.......He’ll want a coaster!!!"
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