Hey my fellow “Michigan’s Adventure Family,” Sorry it took me so long, but here’s my REAL opening day report.The first thing you need to know about Michigan’s Adventure is that the forecast for the day was rain, rain, and even more rain. Getting a let wouldn’t kill me though. The long drive was worth the first seven hours of my “CoasterSeason 2002.” The second thing you need to know is that Michigan’s Adventure was purchased by Cedar Fair last year, so we knew change was ahead. The third thing, you can see Shivering Timbers from the whole park, so it’s very intimidating if you haven’t ridden it. The first thing I saw as we entered the parking lot was the new sign, spouting the new logo. Many flags made me think that Six Flags, which just wasn’t going to happen, had bought us. Oh well. Shivering Timbers, “Kara’s” wooden roller coaster, was a sight for sore eyes. Seen as though I’d never ridden Shivering Timbers, the whole ride looked like a giant mass of wood, which it is. Everything imaginable could be seen from the parking lot, Corkscrew (I call it Corky2), Giant Gondola Wheel, RipCord, Mad Mouse, painted stuff, new stuff, EVERYTHING! Giant Gondola Wheel still had the old logo, and I didn’t see Mad Mouse or Corkscrew running. From the look of the parking lot, the day wasn’t going to be very busy. As we walked into the Season Pass/Group Sales office, five media groups walked in. Is it just me, or are we suddenly popular? The new entrance throws the whole new color scheme together. I guess I shouldn’t say “new” entrance, because it’s only been painted. The Snoopy Boutique and costumed Snoopy just inside the gate told me we were officially a Cedar Fair park. You can just walk past the costumed Snoopy standing nearby. If you don’t know already, I hate that mutt. Some dirt and a fence where the green building was by Zach’s Zoomer. Zoomer is now much easier to access. Zach’s Zoomer was-no kidding- giving a faster ride. At least the chain was going faster, because as soon as we left the drop, I actually got airtime in the front seat. Down the exit to Be-Bop Blvd., which was still not done. “The Bridge” was up, and they had that blasted sign in the middle of the midway. I almost ran into it. There were some guys doing something on Be-Bop though… With Corkscrew ahead, the park had officially changed. Ever since they took down the wooden entrance sign, we knew our oldest coaster had changed forever. The entrance is now made up of three arches, one orange, one green/teal, and one yellow. The turnstiles look the same. The station has been painted yellow, and has a rainbow color going up the entrance path to “the basement.” “The basement,” as it is informally called, is the green/teal color inside, with fluorescent blue lights. As I got in the red train-which has a yellow stripe BTW- I heard a funny noise. As we left the station, I knew that noise was rain. This is probably the second worst ride at Michigan’s Adventure in the rain. Shivering Timbers still holds #1 there. Horrible way to start off the day! We ducked inside the Corner Store and had a look around while the rain cleared. Lots of stuff still had the old logo. Once the rain cleared, we rode the new Dodgems. I’d ridden them at Cedar Point before, but the yellow and red building was just too convincing. As I waited in line, I realized we didn’t get to many cars, and they were actually the Dodgems2 cars. I also watched a guy pull off the steering wheel, and try to put it back on! The Airplanes and Elephants are sitting next to each other now, on the Mad Mouse midway. I walked past everything right to the Mouse, which was currently empty. From the ride, I counted 32 cars in the parking lot, and four buses. A ride on the Scrambler after that gave the second start to a great day. On my way to Falling Star, RipCord gave its first run. WOW! Everybody stopped and watched as it swung back and forth. Some even clapped when it was over. On Falling Star, I noticed that they need to refurbish the seats, because the sticky stuff is coming up. Trabant and Tilt-A-Whirl (once my favorite rides) only got one ride out of me today. They both look the same, but Flying Trapeze got painted. When they took out the motor, they must’ve put a new one in, because it ran much smoother. Thunderbolt, as I said before, didn’t get much popularity. I had a correct guess though (and so did some others); they do say “Scream so the people on Timbers can hear you!” The ride-op said the “radio” wasn’t working, but Kara says it’s not a radio. Thunderbolt uses Chaos’ old turnstile. Back to eat, then more rides. On to Wolverine Wildcat, which gave a much smoother ride this year. The twister section is probably most affected. The double down still throws you out of your seat, and some argue that the ride is quite boring. The ride is still on my Top 10 Wooden Coaster list. Lots of work by the Wolverine Wildcat stand, cement being poured, and lots of dirt. Timbertown Railway was basically a waste of money I noticed, because it only makes a loop. It had only about ten people all day. Nice station for it though! Logger’s Run was stuck A LOT today. When I was on it, I was THE ONLY ONE on the ride. What’s next? You can probably guess. This is also my first ride on Timbers ever! And I can say, it instantly shot to #1 on my “ALL TIME SUPREME COASTER LIST” instantly. I love the drops, and the up, down, up, down, jazz track, airtime, THE BEST RIDE EVER! 4 laps on the coaster, and looking forward to 100+ by the end of the season. Some other Cedar Fair changes included new scenery and fencing everywhere, an “Old-Time Photo Gallery” on the Mad Mouse midway, Electric Lemonade, Dippin’ Dots, and a caricature stand by the Corner Store. We’ve even gotten our own “Michigan’s Adventure Race Park,” which surrounds Corky2. The Boardwalk Arcade was painted purple and green, but everything was blocked off past that. All in all, a great day at our “family’s” park. See everybody this summer. Hope everyone makes one visit, and if you can’t, skip Cedar Point for it! Jon14 Laps“Sorry, I’m busy ridding Timbers. Please leave a message once you have 250+ laps.”
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Take it from a Michigan's Adventure fan, our park kicks butt!!!
