Michigan's Adventure Trip

Just this last Saturday I took my yearly trip to MIA. We always meet up with some of our friends from Muskegon and go. The last few years, it has been a drag, but this was by far the worst.

We arrive at the park with our pre-purchased tickets. They made us park in the lot on the side. I don't understand why they don't just fill the closest parking spots first.

We entered the park and headed for Shivering Timbers. The ride ops were fairly efficient at that ride. After riding 3 times, we headed over to eat lunch, and rode the Dogems. I was very disappointed at the ride op there. They have one person operating the ride and it takes 2 years for them to check all the cars.

Then we rode the swings and I left my clip unbuckled to purposely test the op. It looked like he had a hangover. And guess what? He didn't even notice I had it undone.

After that, we went over to Mad Mouse. With all the blocks they have on the track, they should be able to run 4 cars at a time. They were barely running 2 at a time, and the stack waiting time was way longer than the ride itself.

After that, we hit the water park. The lines are too long at that place. It wasn't even fun. We decided to go for a quick ride on the Corkscrew. I noticed for the first time that it does not have a transfer track. They could have used 1 more op at that ride. They had 1 guy doing the restraint pedals and checking to see if the restraints were locked. Loading was very slow.

After that, we took a ride on Wolverine Wildcat. What a waste of time. I had to yell at the op to release the lap bars so we could pull them down. The guy was just sitting there staring into space. What a sad ride that thing is too. The most amusing thing was reading the little plate saying the year it was built and that it was built by Dinn.

So, after this, we return to ST. The ride ops were pathetic. They usually let the train in the station go once the other one hits the helix. These ops were so slow, the trains were stacking and the one would sit on the blocks for about 1 minute.

I was fed up, and we decided to leave at 5:30.

GIVE THAT PLACE A NEW RIDE!

AGREE THEY NEDD TO DO SOMETHIGN ABOUT THAT PLACE IT SUCKS

i was there on saturday to the ride ops should be at McD's fliping burgers there slow they looked like they were stone they suck the one on wolvering wildcats were slow i dont know if they even had a clue on what was going on the lady on the scrambler look like she just got done smoking some pot it took her 10 minutes for us to get on shut the gates and start the ride there were only 5 cars with people in it thats just wrong corksrew ride ops dont even check heights on kids there was a gurl that was about 4 inches below the hieght requirment and they still let her on just wroing

Could you please you punctuation, michcope. It'd help the reader out a lot. And I have to agree, going to CP then going over to MA is a huge adjustment.

-S. Eagle

I am the assistant team leader of the Shivering Timbers crew. I apreciate your input, but you could have put it in a nicer way. I will talk to my crew on Saturday about it and fix these situations becasue I know exactly who was operating when you rode. Sorry that you had a bad trip to MIA, and hopefully it will be better next time..

Be careful when speaking for Cedar Fair (MiAdv), Mr Coast. You need to be authorized to do so or risk termination. I don't believe you said anything wrong in your above post, but just be careful in the future.

It's a touchy world today.

MrScott

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MichiganRollerCoast said:
I am the assistant team leader of the Shivering Timbers crew. I apreciate your input, but you could have put it in a nicer way. I will talk to my crew on Saturday about it and fix these situations becasue I know exactly who was operating when you rode. Sorry that you had a bad trip to MIA, and hopefully it will be better next time..

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Well, I do remember the two people who were checking lap bars, but I don't remember the person doing the controls. One of the lap bar guys had on black and pink shoes (I found it odd), and the other was relly skinny...

The reason I was really mad is because it has gotten worse over the last two years. If you can, you should talk to the guy running flying trapese in the morning... he really did look like he had a hangover. And I was being honest about him missing my unclipped clips.

the person on flying trapese could have been anyone. That ride is one of six rides on that crew, and the operators rotate about every hour, so unless you the name of the person or can describe him, nobody is going to be able to know exactly who your talking about.
ANd no offense but if you keep ahving such a bad time at MIA, why do you keep going instead of just going so you can complain about it later. *** Edited 9/13/2004 12:13:53 PM UTC by Intaminman***

I've been going all summer and I've never had any problems. The reason they park it that way is so that as cars come in on a Saturday morning (especially when it will be hot) they push everything to the side lot an fill in from there. If you start in the middle it would just cause a mess.
Mad Mouse is just horrible at stacking, but I've noticed it depends more on the riders than the ops. If the riders are morons and don't know how to get in the car they ops can't make it go faster. When we got to the end yesterday, we were 4th in line on the side blocks. We were up to second before the next car came in, but because the people getting on apparently couldn't figure out what they were doing , the stack was up to like 5 before they finally cycled the blocks.
I was a little peeved with the go carts people yesterday too. Both me and my fiancee got the buy one get one free as season pass holders. When we got on, one op said "Just cut them both". The other two vetoed him because "someone else might get in line" and God forbid we make them wait so that we could do both of ours at once. So we did our ten laps, with my fiancee sitting in a wet seat. We finished, and still noone in line. Then we had to get out, move to new cars, get in and buckle up again. Well, she got stuck with a super slow cart that vibrated so much her hands hurt when we got off. Needless to say thats the last time we'll be riding the carts, I didn't mind too much, but she hated it.
Oh yeah, when we got off there still wasn't anyone in line, and I don't remember seeing anyone in the little while we were there.
It also would have been nice to know we could save 25% at the stores, they didn't tell us until after we had bought a couple shirts. A couple signs would have been nice.

Dont blame the ops. The one op was just fallowing the parks policy. It would have been much much easier on them to allow you to do both races it once, and make the other people wait, but thats against park policy. Yeah SOME ride Ops do break the policy multiple times, because there to lazy to enforce the rules and its easier on them, or they just dont care what would happen if they got cought, or there just to stupid to understand the policy. You bought 2 races, not a double race, and most likley youd be complainging if you got in line and had to wait an extra long time, because it was easier on the Ops and the people ridding to just let them ride again. Also ride ops CANT PREDICT THE FUTURE. they cant no, exactly when and when not someones going to get into a line.
I do agree that when the park is empty they should allow people to just stay on rides, but thats not how the policy is, and its the same at almost every major Amusement park in the country. The ride Ops dont make the policy they just inforce it. So when one employee corrects another employee to try and inforce the policy hes just doing what he gets paid to do.
YOu are correct about the stacking on most rides, its normally guests that cause it not employees, cause when cars stack it makes it just harder on them. If you ask me, management should take a couple of the cars on mad mouse off, that way they wouldnt stack as bad

I understand why they did it, but why not when our first 10 laps came to an end did they not throw on the red light, have us stop, ask us if we'd like to keep going for our next 10 and then let us stay in the cars and keep going? Wouldn't that have been better than making us get up and into new cars? YES. Although it also would have been nice if they had wiped out the seat in my fiancees car, it was covered in water. Its also not so much a matter of taking cars off, it runs fine with the number they have, but that people to pay freaking attention to the ops when they tell them to get their lazy butt into the mouse.
I also think they should open the water park with the same rules as during the rest of the summer. Above 70 (or 75, I can't remember) and it will open. I don't know if they empty everything when it closes from full time operation at Labor Day or what, but it would have been nice to go to yesterday with temps in the low 80's even on the lake shore.

Also, does anyone know why Timbers only had 1 train? Blue was on the transfer yesterday and though it wasn't a horrible wait for the ride, it would have been nice to not have to wait hardly at all.

Timbers was only running one train yesturday because there were so few people ridding the ride, that if two trains were on, they would normally be half or less than half empt, ad the ride operates better and easier, and faster, with one full train then with two half empty trains. Its like that at most parks. Why have two trains if you dont need them, because even with the one train the wait was still only like 5 minutes at the most.

As for go-carts, and every other ride in the park, and most rides at most parks. When a ride is over, no matter how long the line is or how many ride you paid for. YOu have to EXIT the ride and walk around, thats the rule, and the park policy for every single ride at the park. Also its probably hard to tell when a car is wet, so if you would have ASKed I'm sure they would have had no problem whiping it off for her, but you have to ASK. If they dont kow they cant help, they have more important things to pay attention to.

AS for the waterpark, running it in the post season would be a waste of money, because not enough people come to the park, and very comonly it is not above the needed temperture to open it. BONUS weekends have been and always will be just the amusement park, as I believ it is for most parks. THe water park is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Yeah it would have been nice, but a huge huge waste of money for the park, caus they would have to pay all the life gaurs, food people, and park service people, and there would be more employees then guests, which quals loss of money.

I've seen deader days and seen both trains running on Timbers, and besides, even though the wait wasn't long and I didn't mind a whole lot, when you're waiting for the one train to go, and you see another train sitting there why not run it. Most of the season they've been hitting their intervals pretty well so it shouldn't have been a problem.
Also, its hard to ask them to wipe the seat off when you've already sat in it and your butt is soaked. It didn't look like they had a whole lot to do as all three were just standing around talking before we go in line, every so often telling people to go to Rocky Point to buy the wristbands. The more important thing for them to do would have been checking the cars to make sure they're dry.

I know the cost is generally prohibitive to run the waterpark during these last few weekends, HOWEVER that doesnt' mean it couldn't be if they could draw a big enough crowd. With how warm it was this past weekend, I'm sure there are quite a few people who would have gone out there had the water park been open. Waterparks are hit and miss in September, but if its in the high 80's people would love to find a way to cool off.

I was there yesterday, and ST was only running one train. Kettle Corn was closed as was the fries stand. Looked like they were running with minimal staff.

Nice weather and I got in 9 laps on Timbers. That will have to do until next spring...it's closing weekend at MiAdv. :(

MrScott

I was, unfortunately, home this weekend for the church festival where I grew up. Its was an awfully expensive trip though as my Dad wasn't running a booth this year, so I had to actually pay for all my food and beer. It was fun, and I got to see friends that I haven't seen in a while.

Of course ST was only running one train, there was nobody there, and after almost every time the train loaded the station would be empty. Its just wastefull to have two trains when you barley have enough people riding to fill one train. However ST was running great on sunday, and its sad to think I wont get to ride it till next year. However, getting the last two trains of the season sure was nice, considering the second one i got front seat. I guess Ill just have to wait till next year. *** Edited 9/20/2004 1:55:31 PM UTC by RockingRollerFarm***

I am a season parking pass holder to MIAdv. I live about 1.5 hours from there. Every trip I have taken there, the crews have been really nice and the managment staff is right there to help you, if you need help. Granted, they dont need the "numbers" to push people through the ride. As long as I am safe on the ride, that is all I care. You are supposed to go to these parks to relax and have fun. That is what should matter, not how fast they buckle you in.

Is the Cedar Point Season Pass good at Michigan's Adventure? I thought at one time the Cedar Fair parks were recipricol with each other.

Yes, a CP Season Pass will get you into MiAdv...as will a MiAdv Pass get you into CP. Parking is a whole different story.

MrScott