Michigan Adventures.

I went to MA on a Sunday last month with my husband. When the park opened, everyone went running for Shivering Timbers. We just walked instead, and we still got on the second train out! Then we went around and rode it again right away, and there was still no wait. We ended up waiting maybe 15 minutes each for Wolverine Wildcat (which I liked) and Mad Mouse later in the day, and we walked onto Zach's Zoomer (lots of fun) and Corkscrew. In fact, when Corkscrew came back to the station, no one was waiting at all; they were going to let us go out again, but we insisted that they let us off! All the flat rides were walk-ons; we got to ride Sea Dragon (a swinging ship) twice in a row without getting off. We were the only people on Trabant when we rode it. It was great to go to a park with such small lines. We had a blast.

The park definitely needs some improvement, though. I think the Corkscrew should be removed. Aside from the ghastly station, the ride itself is not very fun. The only other Corkscrew I have been on is the one at Cedar Point, and on that one, the corkscrew element was really smooth and fun because you go through it at a decent speed. MA's Corkscrew goes very slowly through the corkscrew, which causes serious whacking of your shoulders against the restraints. All the other coasters should be left as is. (Well, I don't know about Big Dipper. I didn't actually even see that one.)

As everyone has already said, the park could use some nice flowers and landscaping. It really needs shade, too; the glare from all the concrete gave me serious eyestrain by the end of the day. Also, something needs to be done about the log flume. It's not landscaped at all and looks really depressing.

Well that enterance plaza looked fairly new. I beleive that the big dipper came the same time the new enterance came sence it's station carrys on with the arcitecure. Also more rides needed name signs I had to look at the map for a lot of the ride names. I can also see A a lot of rides over the lake.

-------------
Cameron Willis
Dr. Doolittle 2: "So young, so angry. Damn that rap music!"

Think about this... With MA being so close to their crown jewel,CP, they won't to do anything extravagant to cannibalize their own market. They will however want to draw away from the SF market in Chicago. Don't expect to see record breakers, just improvements and landscaping. The park, I believe, was bought in order to halt the Six Flags march on CP territory. When SF bought Geauga there were rumbles of worry within CF. When it was rumored that MA was willing to sell, CF couldn't let SF encroach on their prize market anymore. If anything, this purchase was a way to increase the reach of the CP market, while purchasing a very profitable park in the process.

MA I guess is my home park. Although I consider CP my home park also but MA is an hour away. I have been there 3 or 4 times this year. I have asked management, ride ops and yes the Lemon Chill guy! ;) The concensus information I have been told is that MA was getting a hyper coaster next year and that CP is going to go through with this deal. I think you are going to see a hyper next year at MA. It is going to be located at the back of the park which sees little to no traffic currently. It is going to stretch accross the vacant land in the back much like ST does except it will be on the other side of the vacant land from ST. After that I think CF is just going to go with general renovations for a LONG time before adding any type of major attraction. I dont know this for a fact but based on the newspaper article at the time of the purchase and what staff at MA have been saying I would say it is a good bet. So heres to hoping the hyper story is true (which I think it is) and that it is a great hyper because I dont think MA will be seeing another coaster for a long time after that.

I don't think they need a new entrance plaza. The one they have seemed utterly sufficient, and it's only a few years old anyway.

-------------
Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com

They just need to ditch that bomb shelter, er, I mean, "station" for Corkscrew. A few more trees would be good to, especially along the long straight sidewalks.

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"

Yeah. The lack of trees, I think, is what really screams "County Fair" to everyone.

It needs a lot, but that just means it has a lot of potential. I'd like to see how that place looks ten years from now.

-------------
Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com

I got my ACE news yesterday, And it said they have planned a hypercoaster for next year.

Being a fan of MA, I've learned to be patient when waiting for new rides. For a while, they were adding new stuff each year. Coasters howerever, have been slow. However, ST still feels new to me. I hope that MA will continue to improve with each new year, even in little ways. Here's to expanding MA's tree count.

MA checklist... trees, lot of them... new Corkscrew station... new logo.... get rid of Auusie lion... CP french fry outlet... walkway behind Wolverine Wildcat to other side of park.... some type of elevated observation attraction (a sky lift or a Space Spiral kind of thing)... bring back the train (I remember visiting Deer Park Funland and riding the train)... still more trees...

wow... I forgot about the train. I think I'd rather see a space shot/turbo drop attraction than an observation platform. As small as MA is the Gondola wheel does fine. Maybe, instead of french fries, let's bring in some northern michigan cuisine, i.e. pasties!

They need better signs for their coasters. Zach's Zoomer and Corkscrew have really easy to miss and ugly signs.

Space shot/turbo would be cool, too. But I'd never get my mother on one of those!

I love the Corkscrew station! It is an eyesore, but original! CPTwister hit it right on the money. I can imagine a hyper going back there. On the new 2001 maps, it says that a train ride is coming soon, in the back, near the huge flume ride. I believe future expansion may be going that way.

-------------
CDNSN

If I'm not mistaken all Cedar Fair have S&S turbo and space shot rides in spite of Michigans Adventure is this right?

-------------
CEDAR POINT AMERICAS "ROCK N ROLLERCOAST!"
*** This post was edited by VIPER on 7/24/2001. ***

Some of the parks only have one or the other. Knotts only has turbo drop I think. Cedar Point has both as most of us all know.

How much land does the park own? Specifically, is the land to the left of ST and behind the circus tent owned by the park? If so, it seems that there are a ton of possibilities for future ride installations and expansion.

The best moves for the park as it is would be additional landscaping, a reorganization of the existing attractions into a more cohesive layout, and a more diverse offering of food/concessions.
I'm sure Cedar Fair will take all of these into consideration, and this park will become a real winner.

Chris, the area you mentioned is indeed owned by Michigan's Adventure. I'm not sure if Jourden sold all his land to Cedar Fair or just part of it, but prior to the CF sale he owned quite a bit of land in MA's area, including across the road to the south of the park. I kind of recall reading somewhere that he actually owns/owned land stretching over to US 31, but that I'm not certain of -- so don't put much faith in that bit of info, I guess! *** This post was edited by slithernoggin on 7/24/2001. ***

They should build a hotel right on the grounds and call it Hotel Adventure. An idea for the years to come, but they should keep adding changes every with at least a couple flat rides and landscaping if they don't get a new coaster.

The Jourdens were planning to build a campground, a motel, and a gas station/convenience store in the near future, pre-sale, that is. It would be interesting to compare, say, what their 5-year plan was to what Cedar Fair might be looking at in the near future. *** This post was edited by slithernoggin on 7/24/2001. ***