Pt 2: Michigan's Adventure's Timberfest 2000
Photo courtesy of Midwest Coaster Central
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Julie, Geoff, Cindy and I woke up later than expected on Saturday
morning (next time *I'll* set the alarm clock!), and we got off to a
much later start than expected. For some reason, Julie decided to
wait until the last minute before getting the oil changed in her car.
Then she wanted to go to Walgreens. Sigh. Then she went shopping for
lingerie, bought groceries, did her laundry and had her hair done.
After that she mowed the lawn, wrote a novel and baked a cherry pie.
FINALLY we were ready to leave for Michigan's Adventure! But not
before stopping off at Krispy Kreme for breakfast! Now there's a stop
I don't mind making!!! Geoff brought his hand held TurboGraphX player with him, and Cindy and I played a great pinball game called Devil's Crush! We must have played that game for two straight hours. It was sad watching Cindy struggle to score, game after game. It was pathetic really, so being the nice guy that I am, I graciously conceeded a game or two her way. But we both know who's got the supple wrists in this competition. We arrived at Michigan's Adventure shortly after 2 pm. Neither Julie nor Geoff had been here before, and once the trees parted and Shivering Timbers was laid out before her, Julie yelled "OH MY GOD!" Ha ha! Everybody does that! Michigan's Adventure looks SO much better than it did two years ago! There is grass growing where there once was sand and dirt, and landscaping is actually starting to show itself! I also liked the new entrance, and the addition of the Mad Mouse and Giga Dipper are excellent additions to the park! We arrived at the registration desk, where a nice woman named Kris recognized my name and said she read RRC. She handed us our registration materials and a Shivering Timbers t-shirt, and then a bit of confusion ensued regarding the next day's attendance. Apparently they did not make up tickets for the next day's admission, and we were told to check in at the ticket booth if we planned to stay for Sunday (which we did). The ticket booth guy said to go back to the registration desk, and the registration desk said go back and tell the ticket booth guy to bite me. Finally the ticket booth guy came out and he and Kris engaged in fisticuffs and hand to hand mortal combat. Kris overturned the registration table, scattering all the registration materials to the wind, and from this point on, all name tags were written by hand. We went into the shirt shop, where I purchased another Shivering Timbers t-shirt and later a festive looking Shivering Timbers hat that complimented my ensemble perfectly. I must be color coordinated! Then we were off to see the star of our show, Shivering Timbers!!!! We held out for the front. This would be my first time riding in two years, and I must say, Shivering Timbers has lost *nothing*!!! In fact, it's gained! The third drop now has a wicked airtime that slams you back down in your seat once you hit the bottom, and both the third and fourth hills have ejected airtime! In addition, the return run now has a more thrilling wildness to it than it did two years ago! For one thing, the trick track now has a WHAM! BAM! pull that it did not have earlier, and there is so much more airtime on every single hill. Even "Rampy" is a popper! And the helix is so much more violent - not rough, just violent! And from the backseat, my GOD! As we neared the end of the helix, Cindy screamed out "there goes the puddin!" We rode Shivering Timbers for just a few rides before it was time for the barbeque. Hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad and ice cream were served for lunch. Locoboy taught me a really cool trick by putting baked beans on his hot dog! Beanie weenie hot dogs!!! Yay!! It was great seeing several long distance RRCers again - Robert Regan (so sorry I didn't get to talk to you), Locoboy, David Hamburger, Sean and Ivan, and others. I thought it was pretty funny, David Hamburger wanted a blessing from "the Pope" before taking his inaugural ride. And I knew Ted Ansley would make it. I think coaster events are more fun when he's around. It was especially great seeing happy Kip Ross again, who showed up with Sean "I Hate SFNE" Flaharty! Kip has a whole new look, sporting a neon green tongue ring! I would *never* do that! Gone are the other vestiges of his self-mutilations, but he is still the same old Kip, and I had so much fun getting to ride with him. One time after we were slammed into our seats following the third hill he screamed "Oh my ovaries!" We then started screaming out various body parts that we may or may not have (I don't even know what mammaries are but I was concerned for them). During ERT we pulled into the station and Kip started *screaming* "Ricky Martin! Ricky Martin! Ricky Martin!" It was very gay and very funny! After lunch, most of the attendees went to the walkback. I have no camera, and no desire to stand under a coaster when I could be riding one, so I went off with Cindy, Kip and Phillip Reuss to add two new coasters to my count and to keep Phillip on track to make Shivering Timbers his 100th coaster! First we rode the Giga Dipper (it's actually called the Big Dipper, but who's to say if 300 ft. is the only criteria for giga status!). Ahhh, what a fun ride! Kip actually screamed - he has a lot of nerve! - and we got a reride! Then we rode the mad mouse. Kip screamed on this one, too, but I think he was seriously surprised! Cindy and I threw our arms out at every turn! While this isn't the wildest or maddest of mad mice, it is very fun, and it's not braked to death like Valleyfair! has done with theirs. I think both the mouse and dipper are perfect additions to this park. I would also like to say something about the employees at Michigans Adventure. WOW! Holiday World, you've got competition! I can't count the number of times employees walked by and greeted me, or began chatting me up as I walked into their store or waited to board a ride. In addition to the Shivering Timbers crew, the Chaos guy, Zach's Zoomer guy, Mad Mouse guy and shirt shop (in front) girl were incredibly friendly. All of them went beyond the requisite "hello" and were genuinely nice to talk to. But all of the employees I encountered at Michigan's Adventure were nice, ALL OF THEM. Then it was back to Shivering Timbers where Phillip Reuss would claim his 100th coaster and we would stay for the rest of the night and all through ERT. During the walkback I rode with David Hamburger and apparently some people thought they recognized my screaming. Why I would be screaming I have no idea. Anyway, Scott Short got an awesome picture of me and David riding in the front seat! Thanks Scott! ERT. Ahhh, glorious ERT!!! THANK YOU Michigan's Adventure for holding this event! It was so much fun! Three hours of non-stop riding. But wait! After the walkback Sean Flaharty tells me I need to stay for the big announcement. It seems ERT has been cut back to only an hour, from 7-8 pm. Apparently the park could not get permission to ride the coaster after dark. Uh huh. Sean and I have been friends for too long now. I found a friend in the fourth seat, thanks to a a shorter wait and longer seat belt!!! The airtime was every bit as extreme as in the front, though I did enjoy riding every single seat. The backseat is just WICKED!! I really loved the backseat, but there is just no way I could marathon on it! It's too wild, and what a pleasure it is to be able to say Shivering Timbers is too wild! The ride ops were so awesome ("sooooo awesome!" as Cindy would say in her best valley girl accent) and Roger was just as nice as he could be. I'm assuming he's not the owner, but the owner's son, and if that's the case, I think we can all be excited about the future for Michigan's Adventure. The attitudes here are SO distinctly un-Six Flags, such a lack of theme park mentality. I rode with one or two clicks on my lap bar all night long, and the smorgasborg of airtime (or "buckets of airtime" as Spatch said while dispatching a ride) was something a coaster enthusiast only dreams of. I got to ride with lots of people - Cindy, Julie, Geoff, Chris Lucht, Spatch, Clay (Chaos rocks!), David Hamburger, Sean and Kip. Spatch named all of the hills on Shivering Timbers. I also had two people come up and introduce themselves - one was Susan Tucker, who purchased the last copy of Coastered! that I had. And the other was Wolff, who I had been noticing all evening, but didn't know he posted to RRC! I still don't know your name Wolff, but it was nice talking to you! There were some pretty wierd conversations going on during ERT. "It's so Gerstlauer" takes on a whole new meaning now. And David Hamburger set my ears on fire with an extremely graphic and LOUD conversation about a "bracelet" he once wore. Oh my, we are a diverse group, aren't we? The weirdest part of the night began when the lead ride op manning the microphone suddenly said "Poodles" into the microphone.
"Where's Poodles?" OH MY GOD. "Anybody seen Poodles?" "Enjoy your ride on Poodles." OH MY GOD. "Welcome back Poodles,how was your ride?" (laughter from everyone in the station) "Please unbuckle your seatbelts, lift up your lap bar and exit to your left, and thank you for riding Poodles!"
My favorite ride of the night was my next to last ride. Julie and I rode in front. It was dark, there were no lights on in the parking lot and none anywhere near the coaster, and we leaned forward, as far out over the coaster as we could, put our arms out like Superman, and flew the track. This is SO MUCH FUN, particularly when you get the kind of airtime you get on Shivering Timbers! It just dumps you even further out over your seat, to the point where you feel like you're guiding the train! It was one of the best rides I've ever had! We closed out the night at Pizza Hut. There were almost 30 of us, and we invaded the place ten minutes before closing. Fortunately they were very gracious and set up two huge tables seating fourteen each, so the conversations and laughter were free flowing and constant the entire time we were there. I had a wonderful time and as tired as I was, I did not want that evening to end! I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this day, and equally so the following day. The crowd was significantly smaller, in fact we had less than a full train of enthusiasts that I knew of - myself, Cindy, Julie, Geoff, Chris Lucht, Spatch, Locoboy and later Scott Schaffer and Andrew Hartman showed up! I also got to meet two very nice guys from Chicago - Jim Melby and his friend, Keith. All of us had so much fun. We rode Shivering Timbers nearly non-stop. The ride was a walk on and two trains were running, and there was an hour and a half to two hour stretch where the ride ops didn't make us walk all the way around - instead we exited to the *right*, went to the back of the train and came back up the other side of the gates. This allowed everyone to ride the front if they wanted! Jay and Angie were so cool to us on this day! Both Chris and Spatch had to leave before the day was over, but they both logged plenty of rides, and I'm quite sure Spatch, along with Locoboy, David Hamburger and several other first-timers, have a new number one! Ted Ansley cracked me up when looked at me and said "Boulder what?" He's right. Boulder Dash is truly incredible, but let's face it, Shivering Timbers broke the mold. We stayed at Michigan's Adventure until they kicked us out. When we got back to Julie and Geoff's house in Chicago, Julie played a ...... she played...... a.....a.....(gulp)....a tape for us. It's..... it's called The Shaggs, and after hearing My Pal Foot Foot (FOOT FOOT) I don't think I'll ever look at music quite the same way again. In fact I don't think I'll ever *be* the same again, period. I think it's changed me. In fact I think it's even damaged me. Here is the URL if you'd like to hear what is without a doubt the worst band in the history of the world: And with that, my wonderfully weird weekend came to a close. Thanks so much to Julie and Geoff for everything, you guys are soooo awesome! I really got my fill of Shivering Timbers, and I have to say I got a very different impression of Michigan's Adventure with this visit. While the park has a long way to go with respect to landscaping and making the place more attractive, they have clearly won the battle in guest relations. Every employee and every ride was enjoyable, and I can't think of many other parks I would be more anxious to return to. Before this event, it was Shivering Timbers that won the hearts of enthusiasts. Now, its Michigan's Adventure. "Poodles"
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Email: MarkinArk@earthlink.net
