Michigan's Adventure Future Plans

Hey all!

Wow, what a busy, fun, and exciting summer. I'm really glad to see that there's still interest in Michigan's Adventure on the boards, and that some of the posters here have, in a sense, taken over my position as the MIA frequent updater..or something ;).

How can I put this? Things are different now. I don't want to sound like a stuck-up Pointer, but after working at CP for 3 months and then returning to my little home park in Muskegon...I realize how far the park really has to go because now I know how things should be run operations-wise. My last visit was...interesting, to say the least. What happenned?

We timed Timbers at a full 3 minutes and 2 seconds; this ride used to be/is supposed to run at 2 and a half! The difference, to me, was extremely noticeable in the return run. I'm hoping it was just a bad day, but from what the operators have told me..that seems to be the norm :(.

I won't go on. It's still Michigan's Adventure, the park with a lot of potential. I feel you guys, it hurts me that nothing is really being done yet either, but I assure you it will happen. Cedar Fair is a great company and its really just a matter of time before we start to see things take off. The honest best thing you can do is get there...and tell your friends to get there. It's all about the numbers guys...once attendance goes up we should be in good shape.

We should all do a Timbers 50 or 75 or something closing weekend :)

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~Kara (car-uh)
Super/'Screw Crew '03
1038 Laps on Timbers
Races for the Sky: 12

This is all about politics. They won't expand until they get water and sewer hookups. However they declined paying 1.5M to help pay for the hookups. I just see it as dangling a candy bar in front of a 4 year old. 'We won't expand to help your economy unless you give us water and sewer either free or at our price'.
This should be interesting. Too bad we are the ones to lose in this holding pattern.

Overall it will be a huge benifit in the long run. I understand why CF is being tight in this economy. It's all about numbers- attendance and $$ spent per guest = profitability.
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Blue People fly sideways when it rains...

Welcome back Kara! We missed your perky updates :)

Yea, but you have to spend money to make money.

I have talked to many people that have been to ma, and they all say the same thing...."its too small of a park" and 'theres not enought to do".

As far as adding lights in the park.....why? If you get to the park in the middle of the day, you can still hit every ride and attraction before the sun goes down. What this park needs is an expansion of its midway before it gets lights.

I am from the detroit area, and it is not worth the 3 hour drive to michigan adventure because simply put.......its not worth the drive...yet.

I did visit the park earler this year because I was comming from the chicago area back to detroit, and I spent the day there, and had a good time. But untill they get more attractions I will drive to cp or sfo and even ki.

I hope cf reads these bourds

Welcome back, Kara!

I still don't have an answer about Timbers. Why would so much time be added to the ride?

A) Lack of maintenance. NO WAY! CF is NOT going to cut corners on THAT.

B) It has been somehow slowed down, on purpose. This seems more likely. There are probably a number of ways this could be done, without adding trims. Why do this? Less maintenance of the ride? I don't know. Maybe some of you Coaster geeks know more about the why.

C) You really did hit it on a bad day. Unlikely. I don't think anyone knows this ride better than ST chick. And the current ride ops said that the time was "the norm".

I think that the ride has been slowed down on purpose. I just don't know for WHAT purpose. Any ideas or thoughts?

EDIT PS: I'm there for a Timbersfest weekend! I've spent more money in the park this year than I ever have. Why stop now? ;) (when they need it the most)

MrScott

*** This post was edited by scott taylor 8/26/2003 5:58:04 PM ***

Interesting that here have been no replies to this...

OK, so take MIA out of it. How do you slow a 2 and a half minute coaster's trip down by a half a minute? Without adding trims?

It must be tougher than I thought.

MrScott

A) Lack of maintenance. NO WAY! CF is NOT going to cut corners on THAT.

Right...they just ad trims.

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2004 Coaster Calendar now available. 13 Coasters in 12 months! Order in advance and save. Quantities are limited! See S&D Greetings for details.

I don't *think* that his has been done. I would have noticed it and so would have Kara.

Trims are NOT present.

It's something else.

MrScott

Hmmm, I noticed this too (just went to the park yesterday, a zoo again). It is MUCH slower on the return line. Could we be seeing the effects of OLD AGE already?????

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101 Laps - A Timbers Wannabe

Wild guess: A thicker, life-extending lube on the axles and wheel assemblies?

I didn't mean to infer trims were added to Timbers. I meant that CF does like to trim it's coasters.

mOOSH

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2004 Coaster Calendar now available. 13 Coasters in 12 months! Order in advance and save. Quantities are limited! See S&D Greetings for details.

I haven't been around here too long, but everyone always talks about Kara and Michigan's Adventure in the same breath. What is her affiliation with the park? Just curious since Michigan's Adventure is my home park.

Also, about ST being 30 seconds slower these days... I was on it recently, and maybe it's slower, but it was still great! Then again, I have nowhere near the level of coaster experience that most of you have. It didn't seem slow to me though.

Kara owns Shivering Timbers and rents it to Michigan's Adventure.

MrScott

;) That is outstanding Scott! I wondered when the secret was going to get out. Kara, can you please speed up Timbers at least for this weekend? ;)

Thanks!

Travis
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Blue People fly sideways when it rains...

The whole problem is that ST gets overgreased from time to time. Too much of that thick stuff slows it down. A couple summers ago they overgreased it so much that it got stuck out at the end by the woods. They had to take the train apart to get it back to the station. Ask one of the maintenence guys if you see them around.

First off, to answer ERR's question regarding Kara, what's with Kara and MiAdv is that its not only her home park, its her home. Her house is like 15 minutes from it. Thus, she usually keeps us well updated on the state of the park. Her signature on here should speak for itself, with 1038 laps on ST.

What MiAdvFan says about overgreasing intrigues me. Its definitely possible, as overfilling engine oil can have damaging effects. Maybe they're paranoid about not using enough and simply take it too far?
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"The moose says you're closed, I say you're open!" - Clark W. Griswold
Proud member of the Walley World Park Security

ERR,

Hi. I'm Kara. I grew up with Michigan's Adventure and have been a season pass holder there for who knows how long now. Through riding Timbers and visiting the park alot, I feel like I've acquired a lot of knowledge about the park and the way it operates. Before all these other West Michigan buzzers were active on the boards I was the only poor enthusiast soul stuck out in Western Michigan...so I did what I could and kind of took on the role of the enthusiast spokesperson for the park.

Regardless, I really truly love the place and Timbers...I even got my senior pictures with it (see info). Now I'm at MSU (hey, according to your email you're here too) pursuing working in the Public Relations department at the park. We'll see how it all works out, but if you need to know anything about MIA or ST, I'm the chick to ask!

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~Kara (car-uh)
Super/'Screw Crew '03
1038 Laps on Timbers
Races for the Sky: 12

And I'm the talk at work with 45 laps this year. NOW you know who Kara is. 1038. WOW!

MrScott

Thanks everyone for filling me in, and thanks for introducing yourself, Kara. 1038 is a LOT of laps! How do you keep from losing count? Also, I just graduated from MSU, so that's why my email is what it is. Hope you like it there so far!

And Scott, you've got my laps doubled this year. I think I have about 22 or so.

Granted, before this summer I had only ridden Shivering Timbers about 3 or 4 times (and probably all of those were back in '98), but it is a lot of fun to me. I can't remember what it was like back in '98 too well. Maybe it's just my lack of experience which makes me like it so much. I've only ridden somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 different coasters. But now that my interese level has increased, who knows what I'll do in the future. Whether it's next year, or some other time in the future, I still can't wait to see what coaster Michigan's Adventure gets next!

Maybe it's a little late to add my input on a possible new ride, but I think they will get an impulse. We will see shortly.

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It's still me, here from the beginning back in 1999. Add 1500+ posts to the number I have in the info section if you care about such things.