So I went up to Michigan for a family reunion and it was pretty cool (We got to fly Midwest-all leather, wide seats). The best part was that my family is from Muskegon, so of course I went to MiA. I had never been before, so of course once we got into the park at 11:15 (the park opens at 11), I sprinted to Shivering Timbers.

Shivering Timbers-1998-CCI

I ran into the near-empty station and headed towards the mid-back (5-1). The train was dispatched, and away we went. I was expecting some monster airtime, but during the whole ride, all I got was mild floater air (if any air at all). Besides the ending helix, the ride was not all it is hyped up to be-still my Number 1 woodie though.

The second time I decided to ride in the front and waited maybe 10 minutes for the front. This time, I experienced the Shivering Timbers that is the number 2 coaster on earth. The first drop was unnerving but airless. The second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth hills had the most ejector airtime of any ride I have ever ridden. I counted a solid 18.6 seconds of airtime on those five hills alone. The train roared into the turnaround and banked up into the "MCBR" section.

Now comes the only bad part on this ride, the drop off the turnaround. The train angles slightly downward and banks to the left. Suddenly, the train levels out very quickly, smashing your kneecaps together. The pullout of this drop is also too quick, and it leads into a bunny hop with massive air. Next is a double up with huge air on both parts in the front. Then then trick track is at the base of the double up. The ride then goes through the structure into another bunny hill, but this one isn't parabolic-it provides a pop of air and then angles downward awkwardly. The next hop is the same, but in reverse. After those two weird hops, the ride hits a low hop, followed by a high hop, both with massive air. Your picture is taken, and then the train surges into the helix, which later on in the day had some wicked lateral and positive forces.

Overall, I logged 13 rides on ST over the day, with 3 in the front and 2 in the back. The rest were in 1-2 or 6-1 or somewhere near those seats. The back has monster air down the hills later in the day, but it can be quite rough.

Your best bet would be to enter the station and move towards the front. A lot of the time row 1-2 would be a walk-on because there were so many people waiting for the front and no one saw that 1-2 was empty.

Shivering Timbers

Pros:
-Massive air in the front and back
-Super long with great speed and pacing
-Awesomer ending helix
-Trick-track

Cons:
-Drop & pullout off "MCBR" section
-2 Goofy angular bunny hops
-Needs some retracking on the base of the first few hills, maybe the helix, and maybe the turnaround.
-Needs reprofiling to provide more airtime and smoothness on the "MCBR" drop and more airtime angular bunny hills (Hire GG)
-Really annoying speil that is replayed on a loop every minute or so with the MiA song

These cons are really minor things though, they'd only really affect the ride in the very back (which is currently not re-rideable, too rough), I'd still give the ride a 10 of 10.

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After my first 3 rides on ST, I made my way to Flying Trapeze, their swings ride. It had no undulating motion (not a Wave Swinger) and the seats were too close together.

Flying Trapeze- 3/10

I then went over to their Falling Star and walked-on to it. The single ride-op looked really bored; I think my cousins and I were the first riders of the day at 12:15. It had some nice airtime and lateral gs, but nothing too extreme.

Falling Star- 5/10

Yay, time for a the first Arrow of the day! Mad Mouse is an Arrow Mad Mouse that is run terribly. It runs 9 of 10 trains and constantly stacks 3 to 5 of them on the final brake run. The ride had 2 operators, one in the booth and one on the platform, making this a horrible wait of 45 minutes. Nice switchbacks, but everything else was too heavily braked (including a few switchbacks). I'd take Ricochet over this any day, although it did have a funky S-curve thing at the end that I liked.

Mad Mouse- 5.5/10

Next was the other Arrow coaster in the park, the aptly named Crapscrew....errrr......Corkscrew. I knew this ride was going to suck, but I had to add it to my coaster count, so there you have it. After a 15 minute wait, I got on in the rear car, front row. Aside from the decent first drop, this ride was nothing but pain. I am glad the old Arrow Corkers are so short, because they really hurt.

Corkscrew- 3/10

After that, I wanted to ride Zach's Zoomer, so I walked over and rode in the back seat. Although I had to slide my legs sideways, the ride actually had 4 spots of air and was significantly better than Corkscrew or Mad Mouse.

Zach's Zoomer- 6.5/10

By this time, it was around 2 and I was starving, so I went over by the waterpark and ate at the pizza place (I had coupons, yay). The person serving me had to add up $3.50 (normal price of one pizza) + $1.75 (Half-off second pizza), but it took her 7 minutes because the cash register broke. I told her the correct price, but she wasn't sure and had to call a manager , not to mention that my three counsins had all just gotten the exact same meal. Some people amaze me with their stupidity.

After lunch I went over to Big Dipper to get my 75th coaster! Originally it would have been ST, but I couldn't wait to ride it. Big Dipper is the standard Chance-Morgan kiddie coaster, you get two laps on it, but I like the coaster @ SFoG better (airtime in the back, w00t!). It's better than Corkscrew.

Big Dipper- 3.5/10

We then went over to the bumper cars, which has too many cars for the small area and the ride is too short. I like the biggest one at CP the best out of the ones I've been on. Sweet techno music.

Dodgems- 4.5/10

After this we went over to Wolverine Wildcat, which had an enormous wait. Unfortunately, it only runs one 24 passenger train (I think the brakes before the station aren't strong enough for a two train operation). The line was 30 min. and I only got one ride on this, but it was great! I rode in the back car, row 2. There was some nice air on the first four hills. The double-up/double-down combo really didn't work well, the ride was going too slow. All in all this was a great ride.

Wolverine Wildcat- 8/10

After that, I rode Shivering Timbers 9 times and then headed over to the waterpark for 40 minutes until it closed. I rode Funnel of Fear and two of the three Snake Pit Slides.

Funnel of Fear was the park's new for 2005 Proslide Tornado. Even though Whitewater has one, I hadn't been on it, so this was a first. Our tube only had 3 people in it, and the combined weight was less than 400 lbs., so we barely went up the funnel at all. The best part of the slide was the drop into the funnel, but the actual funnnel was weak.

Funnel of Fear- 7/10

Snake Pit was a tower with three black tube slides. One went down into the splash pool after a double down, the middle one did a helix and dropped inot the pool, and the far one went around a few turns and a few helixes and glided into the pool. I went on the double down one and the longest one (last person on it too). The short one had a nice drop, but the long one was terrible-there were holes in the tube, so it wasn't pitch black. Generally, the water and air temp. were cold, so these slides weren't too great.

Snake Pit- 6/10 as a whole tower

After this it was 7:00 and everyone in my party was tired and hungry. I, on the other hand, was ready to ride ST for 2 hours straight. Unfortunately, I lost that battle, so I got one more ride on ST in the very front at about 7:30. I didn't buy the on-ride picture, because my two cousins in the row behind me flashed the camera (they're guys) and my cousin next to me acted like a dragon (Starsky and Hutch). Overall, I had a great day, even though I missed opening and left 1.5 hours early. ST is an incredible ride, and well worht the price of admission alone. The waterpark is great, as well as Wolverine Wildcat. I'd recommend staying in those two corners of the park: The WW/ST corner and the Waterpark/Ripcord corner. Also, take a spin in the back of Zach's Zoomer if you can fit, it's a great kiddie coaster.

Michigan's Adventure:

8/10

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