Michigan's Adventure: 08/21, I should have brought my swimtrunks.

Decided to make a small car trip up to Muskegon from the Chicago area. I have never been to this park and Mapquest said its roughly a 4 hour drive.

Got there in in about 3 hours 45 mins and pulled into the lot to pay the 7 buck parking.

I knew this park was small and didn't have alot but it was smaller then I even imagined.

They let people into the front part of the park before the 11 am opening but stopped people at 2 locations from proceeding further.

During that time I just browsed the Snoopy Boutique and looked at all the overpriced, kids don't really care about, Peanuts merchandise in the store.

Once 11 am hit, the stampede of people was on. I hit all the coasters at opening and I am glad I did.

By 12 noon, every coaster had a significant line. People praise CP for fast moving lines and efficient ops but that wasn't the case at this CF park.

Most of the ops just went through the motions and had no personality at all. I guess CF just concentrates on CP to have the outgoing ops.

The parking lot wasn't even half full but the park just seemed packed. Even Corkscrew had it's queue line completely full.

Shivering Timbers was an excellent ride. Great huge hills with airtime, decent laterals, and the trick track was smooth and fun. Puts Villian to shame as far as CCI's are concerned.

Completed the ride portion of the park in about an hour and a half. Wanted to re-ride coasters but as said above, the lines were long and they weren't moving very fast.

Walked around the waterpark portion of the park and started kicking myself for no bringing the trunks.

Bought a bland burger at the Coasters restaurant and headed out to check out the lakefront of Muskegon.

This isn't a park I will visit again unless I am in the area. It's clean and maintained well but the operations are not that great in the rides department.

Thanks for reading,,,,,,,

Yeah, I've never been to Mich. Adv. before. Mostly because nothing at the park made me say "I really wanna go there!" I mean Shivering Timbers seems good but still, theres plenty of good wooden coasters out there. After reading your review, everthing I was thinking about the park has been confirmed. Small, CF-run (which isnt bad, but its not Kennywood-run either), and not much else to do unless you visit the waterpark. Good review, you were honest, and helped me confirm that I will never go out of my way to visit this park. Thanks!!

I think you must have hit this on a bad day. I have been many times and have never had a day of long lines, except on a weekend. I dont go right at opening, so I havent experienced that "run of the bulls" at opening. I usually get there by noon, and am able to enjoy all the rides I want, without rushing around trying to get it all in. Usually get done with what I want by 3-4pm. Now when I get over to the waterpark, now that's where I've always seen lines. I think most the people in West Michigan, go there for the waterpark. In fact, I would think most over there think of Michigan's Adventure as a waterpark, with some neat rides and coasters.

A side note: Anyone that's been to MA, do you get sick of the canned Michigan Adventure music? "......two parks for the price of one!" argh! LOL

Bad day might be right. I figured hitting it on a Monday would be near dead conditions.

Alot of kids and teenagers that day. I guess they don't go back to school until the last week of August or early September. People wanted to get their amusement park fix before they hit the books. :)

You are so spot on about that music at the entrance. I was sitting there drinking my water and heard that music spiel over and over. God, that is so annoying.

"Michigan's Adventure! A whoooooole morning of fun!"

(Kara's going to kill for that...)

*** Edited 8/24/2006 4:52:50 PM UTC by Michael Darling***

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I guess they don't go back to school until the last week of August or early September.

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MI has a new law on the books this year; we cannot start before Labor Day.

Brian, Is that true?

I really think it should be national law!

There is no reason for the 10 -1/2 month school year. If they need a certain amount of hours then they should just add a half hour to every schoolday.

It's BS parks are closing mid august IMHO.

Chitown, I've been there twice, The second time was for Timbersfest and neither time was very busy. Guess you just caught one of them days.

One or two of the ops that used to be on Shivering Timbers was as good or better than the Knoebels Phoenix op in getting people hyped up for a ride. I guess he became a auctioneer as only Auctioneers talk that fast :)

Chuck, who also figures if you'd of waited till about 3pm the waterpark would have the most patrons and the reg park would be dead like Dorney and HW.

Yes, it is. Ann Arbor is starting three days later than "normal", and is reclaiming those days by removing two scattered in-service days, and lengthening the school day by a few minutes.

Well I think thats great for all kinds of buisness and not just amusement parks.

Seems every other week some of the schools around cincy are off thurs and fri for in service B.S and then they get a week for thansgiving, Two for christmas and a week for easter.

We've had this discussion somewhere on here before but several areas are hurting from shorter seasons.

Chuck

Here in Florida they started School on August 7! :( This will change next year thanks to a lady named Sherry Sturner. She noticed over the last few years that the School Year was starting earlier each year, and she started a Grass-Roots Movement called SAVE OUR SUMMERS. Earlier this year they succeeded in getting a law passed that prohibited the start of the school year until at least 2 weeks before Labor Day. There have been other such Groups across the Nation, I believe Florida became the 16th State to pass a law regulating the start of the School Year. Personally I all for these laws. The only thing starting the school year has done is take a toll on the Tourism and Vacation Industry, which has seen its business fall off in August. (The schools were getting out as early as a week before Memorial Day, but business did NOT pick up there!) *** Edited 8/24/2006 7:29:59 PM UTC by Borntocoast***

Since Michigan has a huge tourist industry, the clamor for switching back to after labor day starts for schools became even more insistent when the weaker economy appeared here a couple of years ago.

I would imagine adding that extra week of vacation for the kiddies might have had something to do with the long lines at the park...but as mentioned above, those lines drop off dramatically after 2 pm when the guests head into the waterpark, which is really a gem.

On the other hand, hearing of crowds and long lines at the park is heartening. Hopefully attendance is increasing to the point we'll see more attractions added to MiA in the coming years. Personally, in the four years I've made visits to the park, I have yet to go to find lines longer than 15 minutes in mid day. In fact, the longest lines I've seen were generally at Timbersfest (which I missed this year).

To be fair, schools have been pressured into starting earlier by high-stakes standardized tests. Test dates are usually mandated by the state, but start dates are not. Clearly, if district X can start a week before district Y, that gives them a competitive advantage in prepping the kiddos for the test.

There have been several studies that have concluded that the best thing one can do pedagogically is move to a year-round schedule with shorter vacations interspersed throughout the year, to avoid some of the backsliding that happens in the 10 weeks of summer.

Generally, however, there is too much political pressure against such a move, and districts only do this to make more efficient use of over-subscribed classroom space. In this model, the school building is nearly always open, but only, say, 3/4 of the kids are in school in any one time. Everyone has three weeks on, followed by one week off, but the "weeks off" are rotated amongst all of the students. The only exceptions are the major holidays, which everyone gets off.

And, for what it's worth, some districts aren't getting an extra week of vacation---instead, they are going later into June. In Michigan, that's not so bad, because the first half of June is often not yet warm enough for, say, a dip in the lake.

^^Actually, I'm leaning towards supporting year round schooling. I believe it is in the best academic interest of the kids. However, I'm torn because of all the other activities that we grew up doing in the summers; camps and such. But whenever I see large bunches of kids just hanging out...not playing as that would be constructive..but just standing around for hours, I become more resolute that they should be in school. As my mom used to say "An idle mind is a playground for the devil" (do you wanna get funky with me, do you wanna?).

My sister-in-law recently went back to "traditional" school after several years of year-round school. Now she complains about the semesters being too long. I think the shorter, but more frequent, breaks can be refreshing.
lata, jeremy
-a Peter Brown fan

You think starting later is good? We started on like the 14th but get out may 29th....

Anyway our district/state (That's Mishawaka/South Bend Indiana) wants to gradually move to Year Round Schooling lol

Year Round Schooling wouldn't work too welll in the Northern States. Who would want to go to Cedar Point in the Middle of February? As I mentioned before, even in Warm-Weather States such as Florida, the only thing Year-Round Schools and /or a Longer School year has done is to HURT the Tourism Industry (This includes Amusement Parks folks!)

Lets put this into perspective. You own an Amusement Park. You make 75 % of your entire income during June, July and August. Then the Government decides to extend the School Year from 180 Days to 200 Days. Since you have 5 days each week you lose FOUR WEEKS of Income! Thats 25% of your income. It would be the same as all of us being told that you woulkd now be unemployed for THREE MONTHS EVARY YEAR! You lose 1/4 of your income, yet the cost of living remains the same! Sorry folks, the benefits do not surpass the costs! :(

Getting back on subject, I found Michigan's Adventure to be a nice, quick getaway..... I too would not return unless I was specifically in the area for something, but the visit was worth it alone for Shivering Timbers. I agree with Chitown that it's a great coaster.... but what's with the comparison to Villain? Those two coasters aren't even in the same league (I'm assuming just because they're both CCI warrants the comparison, but that would be the ONLY reason).

One peculiar thing I noticed, like Chitown did, was the EXTREMELY long line for Corkscrew. Also, I noted a peculiar sense of excitement from the people in line for that ride. I thought, boy, these people are REALLY starved for entertainment up here. It was like being in a really bad timewarp from 1970. Oh well, at least they were happy with what they had!

I also agree that the workers at this small park all appeared rather drone-like..... But in their defense, the job really looks terribly repetitive; and what's fun about dealing with people who incessantly want to sit on the silver handrails and bounce basketballs while in line? But that's ANOTHER topic. *** Edited 8/26/2006 9:17:47 PM UTC by ophthodoc***

Just a comment about people thinking of Michigan's Adventure as a waterpark with neat rides. I live in Michigan, and I can tell you that most people don't think of Michigan's adventure being a water park or and amusement park. It's just Michigan's Adventure.

Just like Mackinaw Island is only known by it's name, not by what it has to offer, or that it is a histoic place, with old buildings, an old historic hotel, with lots of people riding around on horses or Bikes. It's just Mackinaw Island.

In fact if you ask most people in Michigan what Shivering Timbers is. Some might be able to tell you...but most will ask you what the heck you're talking about. but, if you ask them what Michigan's Adventure is...they may say...oh that's that place over in Muskegon with all the rides.

As for visiting the park, most people in Michigan go to the park whenever they have time. A day off, the weekend, it's the same as hitting the beach. Which is why any day during the summer can be packed...or, totally dead. Saturdays are just aweful. But, I have been to the park on a tuesday...and it's just as busy.

I have been at the park on a saturday, when there was hardly anyone there...so it depends on who wants to go...and when.

Another comment about the recorded music at MA. I agree that the MA theme song playing at the park entrance is pretty annoying. But, there is another recording in the park that beats it hands down!

The recording for the new Grand Rapids ride makes you want to find the speakers and smash them with a hammer! I can only compare this to Cedar Points safety recordings on their rides.

For example, on Mantis at Cedar Point you might hear 15 minutes of music, safety lecture, then 15 minutes of music. Not at MA!! It's...Welcome to Grand Rapids, saftey lecture, Welcome to Grand Rapids, saftey lecture, welcome to Grand Rapids...and on..and on until you want to start mocking it like a 12 year old girl!! Or a drunken parrot.....Welcome to grand Rapids....Bawkkk!!!...Bawwkkkk!! Please kill me now!! Bawkkk!!!Bawkkk!!

I listened to that recording for over an hour!!!

Just putting in my two cents of hostilty. *** Edited 8/27/2006 2:15:05 AM UTC by Timber-Rider*** *** Edited 8/27/2006 2:20:59 AM UTC by Timber-Rider***

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Borntocoast said:
Year Round Schooling wouldn't work too welll in the Northern States. Who would want to go to Cedar Point in the Middle of February?

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Somebody tell me this is sarcasm.