Stricker's Grove July 4th

LoCoSuMo · #1 07-04-2003, 08:56 PM

I got to Stricker's Grove about 11:00 AM after driving 3 hours through what was surprisingly little traffic only to find out it woudn't open till 3:00. After this I wondered what the heck I would do for 4 hours. I realized it was only 3 hours due to time zones and me ad my mom went to a couple stores (which there were few of) to pass the time. We ended up coming back an hour early to wait for the park to open. I bought my POP wristband for $12.50 and I was entertained by a lady who was really pissed about the hose being left in the kiddy boat ride. Once she started it up,water went everywhere. Then the gates opened and I proceeded to the star attraction: The Tornado.

Tornado: I got on the first train because throughout the day you could either get on the same train next time or you would have to wait one time. My first few rides I was getting On-ride footage so I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to the ride. It was a little rough in some areas and had a lack of airtime on most, but whe your in te back car, the fourth large drop you get slammed to the top of the bar. The airtime on this coaster isn't elongated airtime that most rides have, it is just a real quick pop and your back in your seat. Very easy to ride over and over. Overall my rating would be a 6/10.

Teddy Bear: After Tornado I proceeded to Teddy Bear. It is a kiddy coaster but still kindof fun non-the-less. No airtime, but the turn over the station was somewhat neat I guess. Once again, virtually no line. Overall rating 4/10 (Highest I will give for a Kiddy coaster is a 5)

Then I tried some of there flat rides which included the usual Scrambler, Tilt-a-Whirl, etc. It was kindof neat to get on-ride flat ride footage since SG has no camera policy. They had an old school Big Eli Ferris Wheel which was pretty cool surrounded by trees. For those with kids, they had a mini Turtle ride and a mini Whip. If any of you go, I would highly suggest the train ride. It is kindof long for a park its size and is also pretty fast, especially when your facing backwards in the last seat.

The park on the whole had many rude ride ops. I won't go into specifics, but just trust me. Tornado wasn't a top 25 coaster but since you could ride it over and over all day and since it was still pretty fun, I say it should get an honorable mention. It's also really nice that it's under the canopy of a bunch of trees to help cool down a hot July day. It may not be entirely worth 3 hour drive back and forth, but it is still partially worth it. My rating of Stricker's Grove: 5/10.

James · #2 07-04-2003, 09:16 PM

sounds fun..but why were the ops mean?

LoCoSuMo · #3 07-04-2003, 09:42 PM

They just did alot of little things that piss you off. Spitting in the middle o the midway right in front of people, one kid hit a girl's arm when checking the lapbars which I know she could have put her hands up, but he didn't say sorry or anything. Some would just talk to other workers and not pay any attention to their ride. Just mainly an overall inpression of a "I'm not going to even act happy because I don't want to be here" kind of attitude.

Here's the first part of Tornado, my digital camera on take 30 seconds so I will make the second part and one of the Teddy Bear. *Note* the Tornado isn't really that fast, it's the onlyway I could make the gif without going too slow because of the abundance of layers.

LoCoSuMo · #4 07-04-2003, 10:12 PM

Here's the second part.

LoCoSuMo · #5 07-04-2003, 10:22 PM

And here's Teddy Bear.