Michigan's Adventure brief visit (5/23/05)

I stopped by the park today to renew my season pass, and found that opening day had already snuck up on me (last Saturday). Turned out to be a nice little bonus for what I had expected to be only a long drive for the pass.

I arrived at 3:15, spent 5 minutes processing my pass, and the park closed at 4:00, but the park was almost completely deserted. There were a few buses in the lot, but they were already starting to clear out.

Shivering Timbers
Timbers is running great, despite the early season, empty trains, and only around 70 degrees. Due to the vacant park, I snagged 5 rides, alternating blue & green trains. Wish I could figure out if there really is a difference between them... some days I could swear there is, and then other days like today they seemed identical.

Looks like they may have retracked the helix a bit on the outside rail. It didn't seem to make a difference speed-wise, but the helix was nice and smooth (but still as powerful) throughout.

Today was pretty windy, starting from the north at 3:00 and swinging to a westerly wind by 4:00. Funny how a strong wind like that can make a great coaster *feel* even better.

Arghh... what is it about Cedar Fair & re-rides. My last 3 rides were on empty trains, arriving back at an empty station. But could they just dispatch me again? Noooo... walk around the path, watch them dispatch the empty train while I'm walking up the queue, arrive in an empty station, and then unbuckle the seatbelt from the next empty train. Now isn't that much more efficient? ;)

Wolverine Wildcat
Wolverine Wildcat's station has changed a bit... the queue was pushed back to the edge of the station (instead of entering and snaking across the back wall), and she sports airgates now. Looks like the ops won't have to manually let people into the station, and riders will be able to choose their seats, just like in Timbers' station. I like the changes, although part of me hates the cold efficiency. Only a small part. :)

The Wildcat itself ran well. Maybe it was the cloudy skies, but the tunnel was completely dark. She still could use a few extra feet on the first drop, but she keeps her speed well, perhaps slightly better than last year.

All in all, WW seemed about the same... until we hit the ending brakes! If I remember other years right, the train would stop almost far enough back to allow another train in the station, then lurch foot by foot forward until it finally arrived in the station. Not so this year! It flew into the station and stopped just a little short of its final resting place. Makes the ending a little more memorable :)

New stuff for this year:
*I didn't really get a chance to check out the new Funnel since Timbers kept calling my name, but it looks like it's almost ready (only visible construction was a crane in the area).

*There's a new food stall - Sundae at the Races - across from the arcade.

*All restrooms were renovated this year.

Overall rides in 40 minutes:
Shivering Timbers - 5
Wolverine Wildcat - 1

Just one more reason to love MiA! *** Edited 5/24/2005 12:25:43 AM UTC by Strijder***