Timbersfest 2005

It was overcast and cool, a surprise considering the weather forecast from the day before indicated it would be sunny and in the low 70's. If it hit 70 at all, I would have been surprised. It likely accounted for the low crowds, but also meant lots of riding with little to no wait.

There have been some more improvements in the park, namely the restrooms. All have been remodeled and include automatic faucets and flushing toilets, and the Excelerator hand dryers. Some of the pond areas have been cleaned up and new lighted fountains installed, and more landscaping has been done to really pretty the park up.

Our first ride of the day was Wolverine Wildcat. They must have done some serious work on this coaster. Normally, Summers/Dinn coasters have a tendency to be a bit rough, and Wolverine Wildcat has always had some rough spots. Instead, it was a much smoother ride than in the past, and we'd find ourselves gravitating back to WC several times during the day.

Our second ride was Shivering Timbers. After a couple of rides, we determined the blue train was running much better than the green which was shimmying and provided a rougher ride. The airtime was still there, but I knew our night time rides would be even better.

We picked our way around the park, riding Tilt-a-whirl twice since the first ride didn't provide enough stomach turning spinning, Trabant, the Falling Star, Scrambler and then the Mad Mouse and Corkscrew.

Having gotten our initial ride buzzes, we wandered toward the back of the park and, for the heck of it, went into the water park area to check it out as neither of us had actually gone into the area before.

I was surprised to see people in the water park considering the overcast conditions and cool weather.

Funnel Of Fear can be seen from the midway...towering over it, in fact. After checking out the wave pool near the entrance (one of three) we wandered further in to see what else was available. While walking past the Big Squirt, TheRealCP, who had assumed water sprayed from the top of the contraption, pushed one of the buttons in an attempt to get me wet. Instead, she was rudely surprised to have water squirt out in a huge, strong stream right into her hip.

After checking the other two wave pools and and a few of the water slides, I decided to head back to the car to retrieve the camera. Seeing Kara on the way out to the car, I asked about Kristen, Jeff and Matt as we hadn't seen them yet. All she said was "there was a little accident on the way" and then she said she had to go and ran off. TheRealCP and I looked at each other and hoped everything was okay for Kristen and Jeff.

We retrieved the camera, and since it was late afternoon, we took advantage of the the slowly emptying parking lot and moved the car a bit closer to the entrance. Not that we were parked very far away. I took a couple pictures of Shivering Timbers from outside the park, including a closeup of the return just before the helix.

Once we got back into the park, I suggested we ride the Big Dipper primarily because TheRealCP hadn't been on it yet, and so I could get a couple of good pictures.

We went next to Zach's Zoomer and I was pleased to see a much nicer sign than they had before. It's hard to get a good picture of this small wooden coaster, although I got a decent shot next to BeBop Boulevard and another of the train on the home stretch into the station.

The ride ops in the station were bubbly and talkative, unlike the ride ops on Falling Star and the Mad Mouse.

BeBop Boulevard is fun, if only because of the 1950's music. I snapped a pic of TheRealCP as she was coming back into the station. I love the expression on her face and think it will be a great icon for her more "quirky" moods.

We rode the Carousel and then went back to the water park so I could snap some more pictures. TheRealCP tried to talk me into riding the Hydro Blaster. I laughed and told her I wasn't exactly in the mood to get wet. Maybe if it was warmer I'd have considered it. But I told her she could ride, and I'd get a picture of her sliding through the exit of the tube. I'm glad I didn't ride after I saw how soaked her backside got!

We wandered back toward the front of the park where I caught several seagulls perched on the railing near the lake, all the while saying "mine, mine, mine, mine" and cracking TheRealCP up.

We rode the Dodgems, Wolverine Wildcat, Timbers and Thunder Run, and the Train...pretty much passing time until dinner at 6:45 pm.

Dinner in the picnic pavilion was burgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken, served up with beans and pasta salad, a brownie and ice cream. We sat with bholcomb and his girlfriend, and while eating Camille and Kara asked questions and gave away the Timbers t-shirts from last year...the ones for Timbersfest 2004 that were printed minus the Timbersfest information by mistake.

One of the questions was who visited the park before Camille did in 1968. I visited in 1964 when it was still Deer Park, although I didn't recall the Beanstalk that was at the front. I do recall the Carousel, and plan to go through some of mom's old photos to see if I can find any pictures from the visit. Anyway, by being the only person who had visited the park prior to 1968, I won a t-shirt.

ERT began immediately after dinner for both Wolverine Wildcat and Shivering Timbers. We took a couple rides on Timbers before bholcomb approached us to say the ride ops on Wolverine Wildcat were giving fly throughs...basically letting the train run through the station for a second ride. That sounded like fun. We were fortunate enough that after our first rides, including the fly through, no one was waiting for our seats. We ended up with 6 rides (and three fly throughs) in a row without having to get out of the train. How cool is that?

We also connected with Kristen, Jeff and Matt. Their "little" accident sounded pretty scary, but the fact they were able to get the car repaired and make it to Timbersfest in time for the ERT was pretty lucky.

We rode Timbers a few more times, then took a break for some free pepsi and chips. That's when Kristen and Jeff let us know that potato chips are dangerous to your health. We all ate 'em anyway!

Having been up early, both TheRealCP and I were running on batteries, so after a couple more Timbers rides, I took a brief break to capture a couple pictures at dusk, including one of Wolverine Wildcat.

As soon as the sun set and they turned off the lights, we took a few more rides on a dark, flying Timbers to end our day, said goodbye to Kristen, Jeff, Matt and Kara and made our way back to TheRealCP's friends place.

If anyone is interested in seeing some of the 50 odd pictures I took, check out the trip reports link on my website (in my signature below).

Wow, your not the only one who says Mine, Mine Mine about the seagulls :)

On our 2002 TF visit the blue train was far better than the green one. Other than that, How was ST running? Delevering on the return trip and helix as I remembered my 2002 TF?

IM glad WW is finally running good. My first visit in 2001 the damn thing was almost unrideable and it was better in places for TF 2002.

Hopefully like Ragin Wolf Bobs they will run as good as they can for a long time to come.

Chuck, thanking you for your TR.

Timbers ran better as the evening wore on (as it usually does) and that helix gets downright scary with the speed in which the trains move through it. I always suggest to first timers they ride Timbers once in the morning (they will not be impressed) and then re-ride it in the evening after it's been running all day. There is a huge difference.

But overall, I think some of the speed I was used to (especially the 2003 trip after it rained) was missing on the early part of the track.

Maybe maintenance spent more time working on WW this year instead of Timbers, because all of the normal rough spots on WW were gone. i.e. the track after the first and third turnarounds. Before, there was no way I could ride WW 6 times without getting off, so to me it was a major improvement.

A few random thoughts:

Wolverine Wildcat: I recently visited Michigan's Adventure for the first time. After hearing the horror stories about how rough this coaster was, I sat down, strapped myself in and prepared for the worst. Was I surprised. Granted, the back seat was rough... but the front seat was great. It's a wooden coaster for crying out loud... they are "rough" by nature. I can't compare it to the past (like I said, this was my first visit) but the way it is running now (at least in the front seat), it is really a fun coaster. Actually, there is a little part of me that thinks this is the best of the two big wood coasters there (after a few rides on ST I was thinking "More of the same?")

Raging Wolf Bobs: "Hopefully like Ragin Wolf Bobs they will run as good as they can for a long time to come." Like with Michigan's Adventure, I made my first visit to Geauga Lake recently. All I will say is that Raging Wolf Bobs would run a whole lot better with out those fiber glass Gerstlauer trains. Put some PTC's on that thing! (Oh well... at least Gerstlauer's are better than Morgans). Of course, those Gerstlauers on RWB are not as bad as those on Villian. Four rides on that thing and my bones had all they could take.

The dinner was good, and I had good company. :D Good to see you again.

How long would you say the waits were during the day? I may be going to MiA sometime in July. Thanks.

Less than a train or two, at least when I was there.

It's usually pretty dead on the weekdays. You will wait an hour for everything on a Weekend.
*** Edited 6/29/2005 4:37:09 PM UTC by bholcomb***

Weekdays are generally best. On the other hand, if it's a really nice, warm day, many people will spend the afternoon hours in the waterpark which is included with admissioin, and well worth giving a try.

Weekdays in the middle of the day around 2-4 is almost always the shortest you will find if its a nice day out. Most of the guests are in the water park at that time, and Timbers normally has the shortest waits of the day at that point.

I'm always the odd one.

We were there on June 19th (a Sunday) and there was absolutley no wait for ST for much of the day.

This Photo was taken as we left around 5pm or 6pm - I'm seeing just 5 people in the whole train. I don't think I got a single photo of a full train the entire day.