Michigan's Adventure 8/19

My wife and I had a choice to visit either Cedar Point or Michigan's Adventure during our visit to southeast Michigan, and since we will likely be at CP next June for Coaster Con, we selected MIAdv instead for our very first visit. It turned out to be quite a nice park with reasonable prices and some outstanding wood coaster rides. The operating hours were shortened to a 7 pm close, which was unfortunate because attendance was pretty decent for this Tuesday with the weather being warm (85-90 degrees) and plenty of sunshine.

With the massive Shivering Timbers towering as we approached the parking lot ($6 to park), we made sure to go there for our first ride of the day.

Shivering Timbers (10/10)

Wait time 30-45 min.

Our first ride in the second row was a little bumpy but the next ride in the front row was noticeably smoother. Floater airtime was amazing on both the out and return trips, with several 3-4 second intervals of negative g's especially over the taller hills. Great speed was carried through the finishing descending/ascending helix with no noticable brakes until the end of the ride. The "trick track" element on the return didn't really enhance an already outstanding ride by much, but it was a unique touch. We finished the day with two more rides on this superb coaster, with front row remaining the favorite.

Wolverine Wildcat (8/10)
Wait time: about 30 minutes

Quite a nice ride in the second row of the train which had 3 rows of seats per car. The tunnel start was fun even though it was not as fast as the opening tunnel on the Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz. The rest of the ride was smooth with good mix of airtime and laterals, a rare double-up to double down sequence that I hadn't seen before on many coasters. and no noticeable braking until the end. We only got 1 ride on this

Lunch was in order after riding the Wildcat and we were pleased to see prices of common menu items such as hamburgers still below $5. (California theme parks: take note of this!). We decided to walk to the Family Grill near the water park and enjoyed a moderately priced BBQ chicken meal.

After walking back to the car to get our water park gear and reload on sunblock, we continued our coaster hopping but had to skip the Mad Mouse due to time constraints and wanting to try the water park.

Corkscrew (5/10)
Wait time 10-15 min.

This first-generation steel coaster with inversions was an OK ride to me but nothing new since I rode the Silverwood version of this same ride. The MIAdv version seemed to be a big smoother. A historic ride back in the 1970s but too short for our standards today.

Zach's Zoomer (6/10)
Wait time 5-10 minutes

A nice little coaster with the ACE Coaster Classic elements. Not much thrills or airtime for adults but a good starter ride for kids. Good laterals for such a small ride.

Big Dipper (4/10)
Wait time 5 minutes

The smallest coaster at MIAdv, with not much new to offer. Low speed but with tight and jerky turns. We may have made the mistake of riding together in the same row on the advice of the ride operator, which was a tight squeeze. It was difficult to avoid making unwanted elbow or shoulder to head contact with each other in the final turn. The ride comprised of three circuits.

With time passing 4:30 and the water park closing at 6 PM, an hour before the rest of the park closed, we went to the water park which was pretty well packed due to the warm weather. The size of the water park was pretty impressive with three wave pools, and more than 20 water slides of varied type. To have this water park included in base admission price (only $23 regular, or $21 with AAA card) was quite a value.
We had only the time to ride 3 slides in addition to some wave pool time and a circuit around the lazy river. The speed slide with the triple dip was quite a thrill with airtime(!), also one of the green body slides with the top half enclosed was fast and fun, and the large tube slide was one of the longest I've been on. The only drawback to this large tube slide is the impact with the water was sudden and temporarily painful as my wife and I bonked our knees against each other. We left with the crowd at 6 pm but fortunately the fear of long lines for locker deposit return was abated as several employees outside the booth were making the key for money exchange.

With less than an hour to go, we still saw a slow moving line at Mad Mouse, so we headed back for Shivering Timbers, which we just made it in line about 5 minutes before the chain was placed across the entrance. After another outstanding front row airtime experience, we spotted an empty row in the middle, slightly toward the back and had another very good ride. Although it was not as smooth as the front, we were happy to have finished our day at MIAdv's signature coaster, and look forward to return visits with more time in the water park and additional rides on Timbers and Wolverine Wildcat.
*** This post was edited by Reno Rail Rider 9/2/2003 1:23:40 AM ***

Glad you had fun.

BTW, closing weekend. Woot!

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Guess who's back... MIA JON!

I still can't believe that this park is pulling 30 minute wait times for anything! Maybe it is because I go early in the season, but I never see people in the park!

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"No, it offends me as a comedian."

My first and only visit to Mia I found to be pleasant, yet I can't really imagine myself going back unless I am "passing through" or the park builds something worth going back to. There is a lot of potential and obviously plenty of room to expand in the next few years.

I visited on a Saturday in early June and the park was DEAD! I didn't have a chance to check out the water park but I am assuming that is where the *crowd* was. I was suprised at how small the park was.

All the coasters, including Timbers, was less than a 2 minute wait. :-)

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!