Michigan’s Adventure Trip Report

Last weekend I had the opportunity to make my first visit to Michigan’s Adventure. Not knowing exactly what to expect or how crowds would be, I went into the day with the goal to at least ride the park’s seven coasters and check out the water park.

Our day began around 11:30, right after the park opened. The first thing I noticed about Michigan’s Adventure was how small it is compared to other Cedar Fair parks; you could easily get from one side of the park to the other in under 10 minutes if you wanted to. It was nice to be at a park where I did not feel rushed to get everything accomplished in one day.

As we made our way into the park, we passed by Mad Mouse and decided to grab a ride on Wolverine Wildcat first. Even though the line was very short, the wait time ended up being about 25 minutes due to the fact that this coaster has only ever had one train. Despite being 27 years old, Wolverine Wildcat was very smooth, a good intermediate coaster for young ones.

Up next was a coaster I have been anticipating a ride on for some time: Shivering Timbers. After hearing mixed reviews on the quality of the ride, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with my experience. Timbers is a non-stop, fast paced ride from first drop to the brake run. I love coasters that seem to go on for a lot longer than the typical ride. Shivering Timbers has several moments that leave you thinking the ride is about over and then it goes into even more elements.

One of my favorite parts of the ride is a section on the way back to the station where there is some trick track. You don’t see that too often on wooden coasters. Shivering Timbers is as fun to look at as it is to ride; from the parking lot you can get a great view of the long out-and-back layout.

We then took the train to the back of the park where Thunderhawk lives. This Vekoma inverted coaster was relocated from Geauga Lake in 2008. I actually had the chance to ride this coaster before it was moved, so it was very cool to be able to ride it again at a different park. Based on what I remember, it was much smoother this go around and did not live up to its “hang and bang” nickname.

Heading back toward the front of the park now, we stopped to ride kiddie coasters Zach’s Zoomer and the Big Dipper. I somehow managed to squeeze into both rides, only damaging my knees slightly in the process.

Our longest wait for the day came on Mad Mouse, at 45 minutes. This coaster is just your typical non-spinning wild mouse, but still very fun.

So with six coasters down and only one to go, we decided to change and hop over to the water park. Michigan’s Adventure has a great water park with over 16 water slides, a kiddie area and wave pool. It had been several years since I had been to a water park so it was refreshing to hit the slides again. While we were still wet from the water park, we rode Grand Rapids, a white water rafting ride and Logger’s Run, an exceptionally long log flume ride.

miadventure.com

At this point it was well into the evening and I met up with fellow Coaster101 writer, Larry, who works at the park. We grabbed one last ride on Shivering Timbers in the best seat (green train, second to last row) and made sure to ride the last coaster on my list, Corkscrew.

Michigan’s Adventure sometimes get a bad rap as not being up to par with its sister parks, but I would say that it fits perfectly into the chain. It is a park fit for families and thrill seekers alike, and it is not too large to be daunting to first time visitors. All of their coasters were well taken care of and enjoyable to ride, even Corkscrew. I do think that the park could use one more coaster, maybe a B&M hyper to help round out their line-up. Overall, we had a great day at the park and I hope to get back up their again sometime.

Who else has been to Michigan’s Adventure? What’s your favorite coaster?