Wild Adventures - 3/18/04 - Or "I can't believe...."

Wild Adventures - 3/18/04

or...

"I can't believe my 350th coaster was a freaking Boomerang"

I was down in GA visitng my significant other, and she suggested we check out WA about 4 hours south near the Florida Border.

We left at 6:00 and got there at 9:45 (gotta love how every car on 85/75 does 85mph :)

First Impressions: The park has a great theme even in the ticket booths. I also have to give the park credit for making wonderful, large ticket booths, each with it's own shaded queue. I bet they can move a lot of people easily through those. After buying the tickets, I was impressed seeing their list of upcoming concerts (which are free if you bring a lawnchair, or they sell reserved seats) Journey, Styx, CLint Black, Clay Aiken, etc. At least 30 big name acts, pretty much one every Saturday.....more impressive than just about any other park out there....and they're all free!

It took a while for all the rides/shops/food outlets to open so we wandered around for a while and got the first ride of the day on Hangman, their Vekoma SLC, and there wasn't another soul in sight.

Hangman: It was the best, smoothest SLC I've ever been on (even though I chose not to re-ride :)

Boomerang: My 15th or so Boomerang....what can I say other than them make me a little physically sick and I dislike them :)

Cheetah: Layout and coaster design 8/10...really great. Upkeep: 1 out of 10 :( BOOOOOOOOO! It's not even three years old and it's almost unridable. OUCH. The G-trains made it even worse. I bet if completely retracked and with PTCs it would be a great, world-class coaster.

Ant Farm Express: Vekoma rollerskaters are good fun, and the best product in the Vekoma line :)

Bug Out: Maurer Sohne wild mouse. These are good fun....I really enjoyed it! I prefer Mack mice, but it was great!

Fiesta Express: A mini-mini-mini mouse :) This thing is CUTE. It only goes what, 5mph? But I bet the kids love it.

Gold Rush: A Chance family coaster....they're pretty fun. Not much to say about them.

Swamp Thing: A Vekoma suspended coaster just like PKI's Runaway Reptar. I was looking forward to riding this, but was disappoint to see it down for work :(

Tiger Terror: A Wisdom Rides family coaster. These things are fun, but BUMPY.

The rest of the park:

The park has some wonderful animal attractions. We saw a WONDERFUL tiger show that was very impressive. We also did a train ride that took you past different habitats like elephants, giraffes, zebras, etc., and they are expanding it to include more animal habitats. Very impressive for a small park! There are also some nice looking flats, shows, and attractions. What a cool place!

In the end (I had to leave early, I felt bad and ended up in the hospital the next day) I ended up breaking 350 coasters (Yes, I'm a credit whore!), and really enjoying the park. I look forward to going back!

"...she suggested we check out WA about 4 hours south near the Florida Border."

It must be love if she's suggesting it ;)

mOOSH [single again]

I knew I could never find an enthusiast girlfriend/spouse, so I'm lucky I got one that puts up with it so well :)

Were the staff real dopey? They were when I went a week or two before you.

A strange concept indeed: A Vekoma hang-and-bang that is smoother than a CCI woodie. I was SHOCKED.

What do you expect with those horrific trains?

Well, I've been ok decent (not great) woodies with G-trains, but this was just TERRIBLE trackwork.

Grant:The ride ops were very nice when I was there. The food merchants and others, well, many of them seemed a few fried short of a Happy Meal :)

I personally don't find G-Trains uncomfortable, but they just seem to track horribly. And Luckily I discovered myself (no one told me about this) that wheel seats are about five times rougher than non wheel. For Example Front Seat of Villain, very smooth for a wooden, I would honestly say that my front seat rides on villain were as smooth as the Holiday woodies. But in the back it was rougher than GhostRider, I do hate those trains, but I do love Villain. Sedar Fair take note, get PTC's and don't add brakes anywhere.

To me (all tracking issues aside) I think the trains need padding, all over. PTCs have such nice padding on the butt area (and the seatbelts don't bruise you either!)