Seeking advice on first Wisconsin Dells trip.

I understand the lure of SFGAM but imho the two coasters at the Dells beats the twelve in Chicago. Especially if you end up with two tickets to MO, you may just find yourself not wanting to leave. If so, don't! Seems like many a TR have described SFGAM a let-down after spending the day prior riding Avalanche and/or Hades.

Mark

I was at The Dells on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and accidentally ran into Incidentalist on The Hades platform. The crowds seemed pretty mild and I spend about 5 hours at Mt Olympus until the ran started coming down in buckets. I decided to get out of the rain by going into an attraction called Top Secret. Don't do it, it would have been more productive to just sit in my car. It was $12 for a half hour walk-through. When the rain stopped after 90 minutes we went back to Mt. Olympus for a couple more hours. Even if you don't like go-karts you have to try Medusa Drop for the double down hill with airtime.

Then I headed to Avalanche for about 15 rides in about 70 minutes. I agree it would be tough to spend more then 3 hours there with the limited rides.

Then I decided to be a coaster whore and head to Riverview Park since they had a $8.95 nighttime special. A galaxi coaster, two kiddie coasters, half dozen flats, 2 go kart tracks. A decent price if you do everything or want coaster credits.

I thoroughly enjoyed SFGAm and could have spent two days there even without utilizing the waterpark.

*** Edited 7/4/2005 4:12:53 PM UTC by larrygator***

Just went yesterday, the park was packed but a lot of people were at the water park.

Expect longer lines for the go carts then the coasters. However, they run all the go carts so that is 36-48 people every couple minutes going.

Hades was a blast, the tunnel is the freakiest thing, I think it just beat out Cyclops for my #1 woodie.

If you are 18, it is a must you ride Cyclops in the back, although the back seat on Hades almost delivered as much air time. It was running mad skills yesterday.

Timber Falls easily done in a couple hours unless you really get attached to Avalanche or you love mini-golf. They have 5 courses at Pirates Cove.

Other attractions include Noah's Ark (just added Black Anaconda), the Duck tours (a definite must do), Jet boat tours, avoid the Top Secret attraction next door to Mt Olympus.

Also, in between Mt Olympus and Timber Falls is Riverview Park which has the Galaxy roller coaster, I loved it as it reminded me so much of a coaster that we had in Iowa that is now in California.

There is lots to do in the Dells so you won't be bored, that is for sure.

If you are in the area you should definately stop by Little A-Merrick-A. It's not too far out of Madison and I actually did it during the storm that larrygator mentioned.

They don't have much but it has a great atmosphere and the more business they get, the sooner they will be able to build that Jr. woodie.

You could easily hit Little A-Merrick-A on your drive from the Dells to O'Hare, just leave yourself an hour to 1.5 hours. It's so small that riding everything once will hardly take any time at all.

Would you guys say that Avalanche and the coasters at Mt. Olympus are generally walk-ons, or have station waits? I am considering taking the three hour drive up to the Dells from the 11th-12th of July, just curious. Thanks.

Everything should be a walk on or station wait except Hades. Don't know what the wait times are now, but earlier in the year they were in the 30-45 minute range.

Yesterday wasn't too bad, I think we waited maybe 1/2 tops for Hades the other coasters were almost walk ons, just depended on where you want to sit at. The go karts were a longer wait. Just depends on the weather as you will get a lot of people coming from the waterside of the park.

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Marko said:
I understand the lure of SFGAM but imho the two coasters at the Dells beats the twelve in Chicago. Especially if you end up with two tickets to MO, you may just find yourself not wanting to leave. If so, don't! Seems like many a TR have described SFGAM a let-down after spending the day prior riding Avalanche and/or Hades.

Mark

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Well, the Six Flags part is not set in stone. It's just that I haven't been there since 1992 (the year Batman opened) and they have added quite a bit since then. But, if I find myself with a 2 day pass to Mt. Olympus I may just end up doing that Sunday and possibly Little A-Merrick-A on the way back to O'Hare instead of SFGA. I'll just play Sunday by ear. My main objective is to get as many rides on Hades (and Avalanche) as possible. If I didn't get my fill Saturday, then I'll continue on through Sunday.

Many thanks for all the help!

you guys are missing out on quite a bit if you skip SFGAm...Deja Vu is running everyday this year, and the park is being maintained extremely well so far this season. Raging Bull is running 3 trains everyday, and no coasters ever run less than two. Plus Huricane Harbor takes a lot of the crowds away from the coaster lines.

I have been going to the Dells since I was 5 years old and have gotten to know the Dells and surrounding areas pretty well. For swampfoxer if you are only going to have a day or two to spend in the dells you can easily hit both Mt. Olympus and Timberfalls. An all day pass is only $20 at T.F. and you get half off the price to ride there skyscraper ride which I highly recommend if you are a thrill seeker like me! Avalache is a short ride that packs a great punch and you can almost always walk right on to it, if not just be allowed to stay on in the same seat and reride it. A word of advise don't buy individual tickets to ride Avalanche, and their log flume, or to play their mini golf you are much better off just purchasing an all day wrist band. Don't I repeat do not go to Top Secret next to Mt. Olympus. It is not worth what you pay to go through it. Some friends and I are going July 9,10 and are staying at the Paradise Hotel and Suites, which is right across the street from Mt. Olympus for only $85 a night which was the cheapest I could find and they only require a one night stay where as many others require 2 nights especially as these hotels start to fill up, so book now don't wait! Downtown has a lot of your typical tourist type shops, with t-shirts and candy stores and just different things to do. The boat tours are fun but last any where from 1/2 an hour to 1 1/2+. Noah's Ark is a lot of fun as well. How ever if you should go don't waste your time by going on Noah's Incredible Adventures. Its a dry indoor kiddy ride that is made to look like the Ark, not worth waiting for. The rest of the park is just a lot of fun! There is really no bad areas in or around the dells everything is fairly safe and people are very decent/friendly especially if you are decent to them. If you need help finding your way around there are plent of resouces/people that will assist you. Hope this helps you in planning your trip and hope you have a great time!

I've been to Mt.Olympus theme park last monday and I have some great advices for you :

1. Stay at Park Plaza Baraboo (really great hotel , really cheap check rates on kayak.com or travelocity). It was really nice, clean, quiet, there's a pool and a breakfast. It's less than 10minutes away from Mt.Olympus and it's really worth it. I've been than more 50 different hotels in my life and trust me, it's the best value I ever paid.

2.When at Mt.Olympus, no need to arrive really early, unless you want to ride the water coaster if you want to, it's such a waste of time and it sucks. The line was more than 30min with about 30 people in front of us. It's so slow you won't believe it ! Btw, where are the lateral g's that one guy was talking about ???
It was so slow that our log made a stop a the bottom of the lift, we had to manually push our log with hour hands to make it to the lift... worst ride ever !

3.Ride the go carts first if you don't want to wait in line too long in the afternoon, the cycle can take up to 10min to the start to the end.

4. OMG ! Hades is some awesome woodie coaster...... the speed is unbelieveble, it must be the faster woodie on the planet... and smoothness is unbelievable ! Airtime is insane, you have to ride Hades a least every seat ! It's my new favorite coaster, Millenium Force at cedar point is boring compare to Hades ! Ride it in the first row, you won't be deceived ! GO HADES GO ! Btw, the wait for the first row never exceeded 10 minutes (on a monday).

5. The only free water fountain I found is between the restrooms and the robo coaster... anywhere you have to buy to drink !

6. Have fun ! maybe there's not any theming at all but ko carts and coaster, what a great mix !

Oh I'm forgetting... Cyclops airtime on the last seat (screw that if you're not 18 years old, YOU HAVE TO DO IT)... I've never seen such long-lasting airtime in a coaster... THE EJECTOR RIDE ! that should be the name of that ride... DO IT !

And Zeus... ouch it hurts but the first seat is not that bad.... great coaster ! *** Edited 7/5/2005 2:33:16 AM UTC by RoOfIrE***