Saturday at MA: Skipping, Caffeine, Bunnies, and Almost Passing Out

It's time for trip report! I have been to Michigan Adventures many times this year and have made trip reports for the ones where interesting things happened. This is one of them.

Anyways, this was a new thought that popped into my head after the great experience today,

"I don't always go to theme parks on Saturdays, but when I do, I prefer Michigan's Adventure."

The reason for this is that unlike Cedar Point, Michigan Adventure is do-able on a Saturday.

Really, I was worried about the crowds because of Timber-Rider's experiences. It was also perfect weather; it was hot and cloudless. There were a lot of people in the park, for the parking was almost a legit mid-timbers. The funny thing was that the two major roller coasters had short waits. Shivering Timber's line rarely was more than 15 minutes, and Thunderhawk's was rarely more than 10. Then again, the two major water rides had rediculous waits. Funnel of Fear rarely got below 1.5 hours, and Grand Rapids rarely got below 1 hour. The water park was packed, so I rode no water slides.

Obviously, I was first in the Shivering Timber's station to start the day. The journey there was new territory. The worker dropping the invisible rope said these words before letting us in:

"No running is allowed at Michigan's Adventure. Walking is appriciated, but skipping and hopping through the park is allowed. Stay hydrated and enjoy your day at Michigan's Adventures."

I usually speed walk, and workers yell at me because it has the same look, form, and speed as running. This time, I decided to skip. So I skipped like a seven year old through a flowered pasture at the beginning, and then I saw competition. That's weird. Then I speed skipped faster than my sprinting that I normally did was. No worker yelled at me. I have two theories to this:

1. They had reconized me, and knew I wouldn't stop.

2. Michigan's Adventure thinks speed skipping is seriously less dangerous than running, and they have no problem with.

You can choose which one of those two you think is the truth.

The beginning of the day was all about skipping: I skipped to Shivering Timbers, I skipped Logger's Run, and I skipped Wolverine Wildcat. Those two had rediculous lines.

The rest of the day was filled with five hours of park time, a medium amount of rides, a lot of spilled Pepsi, and too much Mio Energy. I will explain these things, but I will do it in list format.

Happy Moments :-)

~Shivering Timbers had a first drop as smooth as glass and had a lot of air time. I got 4 rides on it.

~I got to ride the bunny on the merry-go-round.

~I won a race in the Be-Bop-Bolevard. They were actually running two tracks! That never happens on the usual slow days I visit the park.

~I rode Grand Rapids before the line got long.

~Chicken strips and fries!

~Ride ops at Thunderhawk were better than normal.

~I named my bunny Rodger!

~When asking for water at a food stand, twice I was given a big cup instead of a little one. It was hot, so MA was being kind.

Sad Moments :-(

~Final helix on Shivering Timbers was shaky.

~Way too much caffeine. My Mio Energy is a caffeinated concentrate that you squirt in water to give it flavor and caffeine to it. I usually use it to wake up in the morning, but I should drink it in moderation. I put it in a water bottle, which requires two squirts, or 120 mg of caffeine. That's like three cans of pop. This time I put more than normal and drank it too quickly. I was bouncing off the walls and couldn't stop talking. I think my family was annoyed. Anyways, I had a big crash later in the day. This and the very hot weather led to me almost passing out. I still love Mio Energy, though! It's not as good as pop, though. Pibb Extra is the super extra awesome stuff.

~My mother is a Pepsi lover. She downs 2-4 cans a day, and always sneaks 1 or 2 into the park. Well, some 5 year old kid tripped over her first one, which was in a cup, and it spilled. She then poured the next one in the cup, and it apparently now had a hole in it. I feel bad because she couldn't enjoy the park as much as she could've because she was lacking her favorite drink.

That's about it. It was a good day, and I am now a coasterbuzz 1 year veteran as of yesterday or today. I tried to stay under a 3 post a day average for the year, and I was more like a 2.25 post per day person for the year. I love achieving goals, and Shivering Timbers, and sprinting, and bunnies!

I'd say the lines you saw were fairly typical of a summer Saturday at the park. Timbers and Firehawk are typically not too long. The big water slides get very long lines. Timbers can get a moderate line near the end of the day, as everyone leaves the water park.

I usually speed walk, and workers yell at me because it has the same look, form, and speed as running. This time, I decided to skip. So I skipped like a seven year old through a flowered pasture at the beginning, and then I saw competition. That's weird. Then I speed skipped faster than my sprinting that I normally did was.

That is the funniest trip report that I can recall ever reading. You should consider writing comedy as a career.

And congrats on being here a year. Good job keeping the post count down. I think that I will try and do the same.

I don't want to be a writer when I grow up because though I am good at writing essays and puns, I hate reading. A career in english would be 4 years of torture in college.

I think you found a loophole with the speed skip. If I was an employee, that'd be too funny and clever to yell at. The use of Mio Energy explains a lot about you. I'm glad you had a fun day at the park. Take note, Timber-Rider.

Sounds like you had a day.

And where are your parents? Along, I know. But shouldn't they be monitoring your online activity and your beverage consumption?

Wait a minute... I see your mom's a Pepsi addict. Never mind...

I can imagine that the park must have been packed yesterday, and the heat must have been terrible. I never go to MA on a Saturday when it is hot. The water park is just too crowded, and you can't do much there, other than wait in line all day. Though a dip in the wave pools is possible, though they can also get too crowded when it is hot, and the lazy river is jammed full of people.

As for Be Bop, I was thinking you must be mistaken at first, then I recalled that they do have a second track, that they mainly route off broken down cars. But, I would hardly call it a race, as the cars pretty much move on their own. I thought it kind of sucked, compared to Mutley's Putt Putts, which was a far superior ride. On par to the antique cars at cedar point.

Yeah. both times that I went, both Loggers Run, and the Wildcat had huge lines. But, they were both way down by the end of the day, while Timbers line just got longer. Also, I will not go on Grand Rapids if the line is over 30 minutes. In the sun, it's just horrible. Also, when I rode Adventure falls, they were only running one boat, which can make the line very long.

My last two visits were very nice. Glad to see that they have that cup deal now. I have a couple friends that want to go back to the park, and since I have my season pass, I might be able to get some deals for them as well, on food and stuff. But, not sure if I want to go back. Maybe.

As for Shivering Timbers. The re-tracking of the helix, did nothing g to take away the roughness there. If anything they should retrack the swoop turn and the trick track. Other wise the rest of the ride isn't horrible. Though where it is bad, it's really bad. Though still not in the Mean Streak ruin area. But, hurts like hell at points. But, it seems to depend on the weather.

I have skipped through the park too. Usually like to skip through the queue on ST when there is no wait.

On a side note. My friends are returning from a trip to Colorado, which will bring them by 3 different parks on their way home. They were right by Elitch Gardens, and didn't stop!! That would be high on my priority list! They also passed Great America, coming down through Minnesota. So, they could stop in Chicago. They said they had fun. Yippy skippy.

Timber-rider, I mentioned that the lines weren't bad for Thunderhawk and Shivering Timbers at all, and after 2 o'clock everything non water ride had under a 15 minute wait. I don't see how that's a lot of waiting. I did, however, ride very few water rides. Those things were all full queued. Funnel of Fear had what looked like a 45 minute wait just to get a tube. Then the full one hour stairs after that wait.

Also, don't disrespect Shivering Timbers! If you ride it anywhere near the back and on the ride side, it's not very rough. I said it was shaky, but I will add that it wasn't umbearable. It was fun, fun, fun!

RCMAC, I don't consume very much Mio Energy. I just do when I'm feeling tired. I was planning on having some because I never wake up before 10:00 am except on Sundays. If I do wake up before 10, I'm usually tired. This time I wasn't tired, but decided to drink Mio anyways. Bad choice.

Teenagers need their rest. Go to bed earlier. We can all see how late you're up.

It's summer!! Why not stay up late and sleep in? Also, how can you tell I'm up so late?

It's called a time stamp, young feller. The time you post is noted on every one. I thought your analytical mind would have figured that out.

Or were you simply missing your "sarcasm tags?"

Sorry to jump in, RCMAC.

I was forgetting the sarcasm tag, oops. I woke up early today, as you see 8:00 am. I have to do a community sevice project. I got my Mio in my hand!

Tyler Boes said:
I got my Mio in my hand!

Wait, you got your what?.....Nevermind....

My family and I were at MI on Sunday. This was our fourth visit to the park this year and was by far the busiest. Par for course, the ride side of the park had short lines while the water park was packed.

Just a few things about the trip.

1) I was at the ATM right by customer service and a man was explain how they just waited an hour for the Mad Mouse so he wanted to get his whole family fast passes. I'm not sure why it took so long for him to get on Mad Mouse but the lines in the dry side were super short considering the amount of people in the park. Assuming he spent a lot of time on the dry side, I can only imagine that as the day went on he realized what a waste of money it was. I'm all for fast passes. Have even bought them for a visit to CP earlier this year, but I've never been to MA when I've though the FP would have been worth it. To each their own though. I certainly hope he and his family had a great time in the park.

2) The new beer garden is super slow. Very few people stopping in for a cold one, HOWEVER, they had a portable/moveable beer cart in the water park which was fairly busy considering it cost 8.00 for a 16 oz. beer. The worker at the stand told me that they are going to be putting in a permanent "bar" in the water park next year and you will not be restricted as to where you can drink it in the park.

I too enjoyed the skipping narration, and I probably would have been amused to see some high school kid skipping through the park. I'm surprised they encouraged that though.

Tyler Boes said:

I hate reading.

You don't say...

Tyler. When I said waiting in line all day, I was referring to the water park. If you go on Funnel of fear, Mineshaft, and The other raft slide, you can easily eat up 3 hours of your day, with just 1 trip on each. Doing the rest of the slides, with lines down to the end of the stairs, you can eat up another 2 hours. I went to ride Mineshaft, a while back, and they actually had a queue for it, with a wait of over an hour and half. Screw that!

If MA had conveyers for their bigger water rides, things would run a lot smoother, and not having to carry those big bulky rafts, would make it a lot nicer. When I was last there, they had closed the tube slide that spills into the lazy river, and are now making everyone use red tubes to ride those slides. I wonder what is going on with that?

And Banshee72, I have been at the park when Mad mouse had a crazy line. A full queue, with spillout going all the way back to the corkscrew. I'm guessing that would have been well over an hour. I went back when people were just at the end of the queue, and the wait was 50 minutes. Not worth it. I would not waste my money on fastlane for it either.

Wolverine Wildcat has one of the worst lines in the park, which can be over 2 hours, if the queue is full, and spilled out into the café area. Grand Rapids would be next with over a two hour wait. I have also seen ST with a full Queue, but that wait was only 45 minutes.

Though those wait times go down substantially, depending on what time of the day you ride. Most everyone is at the water park, during mid day, so the lines on the ride side go down to less than a half hour, to a walk on for almost everything. Though when the water park closes, the lines get busy, but not horrible. And, it depends on how busy it is.

As for the beer thing. That sucks. I hope they will at least keep people from drinking their beers in the Queue. I don't want to smell beer breath all day. So, much for having a beer garden. What's the point?