On Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 9:13:27 AM UTC-4, sharondbond wrote:
We did a vacation in Wisconsin this year and made it a point to hit the 3 parks in the southern part of the state. We didn't realize we were going to hit them all in 1 day.
First we did a night in Chicago to go to a comedy club (Comedy Clubhouse, improv by One Group Mind, they were fantastic!) Then we went to Milwaukee for 1 night so Ben could meet up with some VR chat friends IRL, then we went to Sprecher Brewery. Then
did 2 nights in Baileys Harbor in Door County. After that, we headed for the Dells, early on Sunday morning.
First, a little trip to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay to ride the Zippin' Pippin. Otherwise known as Elvis' favorite. We chose to go there to get the credit but also because it has no parking fee and no admission fee, so we could swing by, ride
ZP a couple of times, and then leave. Which we did but on our way out we donated our unused ride tickets to a family. We bought too many because we didn't realize that Ben would not fit in the ZP seats. Matt and I barely fit but were able to squeeze in.
ZP is a fun little coaster, and I have the bruise from the extreme air time hill near the end. We loved the view from the lift hill, and then as you go out along the edge of the bay. It seemed to be running well with no problems that we could see. On the
first ride, we were in the front seats and out along the course are what look to be seats for the new ride, which I think is supposed to a taller replacement for the Bay Beast. Everything was running, so the closures earlier this summer are over.
Then we drove to Little Amerricka and rode everything there until they closed at 5pm (Sunday hours). We loved this park and its collection of rides. And again, no parking or admission fee, so it didn't matter how long we would be able to stay that day.
First we rode the Mad Mouse. It was great, running very well, with 3 mice on the track. We each did separate cars. I went first, then was able to get pictures of Matt and Ben as they were heading in to the station. After experiencing the awful
restrictive trains on Rollo Coaster at Idlewild earlier this summer, I was laughing at having no restraints at all. Just sit down and ride.
Then we did the monorail, with the no-nonsense operator. We were going to try to put all 3 of us in 1 car, but then didn't think that would work, so we tried to split up into 3 cars. But she insisted that we could do it, and when we questioned it she
said "I'm operating this ride!" and she was able to get me and Matt in one car and Ben in the next. Nice little ride with a good view of the park.
Next up was the Swiss Toboggan. I had to ride this one because it's the exact same model as my very first roller coaster at the Ohio State Fair, sometime around 1970 or maybe 1971. That time I rode with my Mom, and that one was rocket ship themed. I
barely fit now - my head was grateful for the padding on the ceiling. On the way up, I said out loud that
this ride was for her. She's in a retirement community, still living independently at age 92. But no way could she ever ride another coaster. The ride down in the spiral was fun, but the little dips at the end really, really made my head grateful for
the padding.
Next was The Meteor with another fantastic operator. He had a lot of fun, having each group practice putting our hands in the air but not out to the sides, then hands in the air again. Then wanted us to shout out loud before releasing us to ride. It's
another fun little coaster. He was letting each group get 3 circuits, but only if you shouted loud enough after the 2nd circuit to go "One more time!" He was also a master at working the brake levers.
Then we headed back to the Go Kart track. I wasn't going to ride, and was planning on just recording Ben and Matt's kart battle. But then the ride session before them needed 1 more person, so I jumped at the chance. They got to watch me destroy the
competition in what was probably the fastest kart. Matt was first in line, so he grabbed it when it was their turn. Ben was almost able to catch up but needed about 2 more laps to really have a chance.
We realized that we didn't have time to do mini-golf, and we wanted to ride the train, so headed there next. After taking a walk though the haunted house. I'm pretty sure that one part of the floor is supposed to move up and down. The train is probably
the best park train we've been on. Long track, and the animals were out that day because the weather
was relatively cool. After the train, Matt and I went and did the Little Dipper, which is fun but very jerky. So we got all the coaster credits. We wanted to ride the parachute ride, but there's a weight limit of 200 pounds, so Matt and Ben were out. I
probably could have ridden it, but we decided to just get going down to the Dells.
We were staying at the Mt. Olympus Resorts, so parking and park entry was included. But we got stuck in building 39 for our hotel room. That's the main check-in building. Our room was not far from that lobby. We found that it actually has a nice
swimming pool. But the view from the window in our room was into the banquet center. After having a view of Lake Michigan for 2 nights, this just sucked. At least we weren't looking at the back of the Burger King. But it's actually kind of weird to not
have a window that looks outside.
After dinner the park was still open for another hour, so we went and did Zeus and Cyclops. We loved Zeus but not Cyclops. Zeus is a little rough, but it's got that great out and back section. Cyclops was just rough. They closed the line for Hades
about 30 minutes before park close, and both Zeus and Cyclops were closed by the time we were done with Cyclops.
Day 2 Monday
We headed for the water park first, so we could ride Medusa's Slidewheel. We had to split up because the 3 of us were over the 705 lb raft limit. I put the 2 mechanical engineers in 1 raft and then rode with a dad and his kid. We could hear them
engineeringly analyze the ride from our raft. This thing is incredible. Tons of fun and just insane. Also very disorienting - you cannot tell really where you are on your first ride. Matt and Ben ended up riding it another 2 times that day. I hung out in
the Serpent's Pool waiting for them the 2nd ride. The rest of the indoor waterpark is closed right now for renovation, as is the indoor theme park.
After that we did the Triton's Rage raft ride, which sloshes you back and forth. And at the weight of our raft, it was really sloshing us back and forth. Then Matt and Ben wanted to do the mat racers, Triton's Challenge. While they were on it, I
checked out the Poseidon's Rage wave pool, and kept my mouth shut about what it was like.
After the race, Matt needed to use the restroom and Ben and I headed into PR. Ben had no clue. He said that he thought it would be like the old wave pool at Kings Island. I kept my mouth shut and just said I was heading to the shallow end. He should
have figured out that something was up from that. So he's at the rope, hanging out. Then all of a sudden, a 9 foot wall of water is heading for him. Then I made him swear to secrecy for his dad. Matt came back from the restroom and I just basically
forced him to go up and be by Ben, so he did so grumpily. Then this 9 foot wall of water comes at him. He was no longer grumpy that I wouldn't let him tell me about the shops.
We spent most of the rest of afternoon doing various things in the waterpark, then cleaned up and switched parking lots. Then we went back down into the waterpark to have gyros for late lunch/early dinner. No one wanted to ride The Manticore swing ride,
so we went over to the Titan's Go Karts. Unfortunately Ben didn't fit. Matt was able to wrap his left leg around the steering column but Ben couldn't do that. Sucks to be 6'5" with long shins. If he did it one way he could reach the brake but not the
gas, and if he did it another way he could reach the gas but not the brake. So we skipped all the other kart tracks except the Trojan Horse. I was disappointed that they no longer do the upper structure but it was still a fun track.
Then we rode Pegasus, the ride that I called a wild mouse wrapped in a wooden coaster. It was rough, much rougher than Cyclops. We had to take a couple of minutes just sitting down after that one. Then we stoked up our courage and headed for Hades 360.
Ben chose not to try it, because he was afraid he wouldn't fit in the train (I think he would have fit), and he hates rough coasters. He hung out at the entrance gate, sometimes watching it but mostly just sitting and chilling.
Hades was our longest wait of the day except for the Slidewheel. I was amazed at just how many rides there have only 1 operator, but Hades had 2. The restraint system is something I've not encountered before. I would have liked to have more in the
center - I wasn't sure exactly how to grab onto the padded arm that curves down. It was rough but not as rough to me as Cyclops and Pegasus. To me, it was just more intense. The speed was incredible and you got thrown around a lot just because it was
going so fast through all the elements. The tunnels were not as rough as I was imagining they were going to be, although we were thrown around a lot in the dark. The 360 spiral was actually pretty smooth. So like Lightning Rod and The Voyage, this is one
that I may ride again, but it has to be my last coaster of the day.
We hooked back up with Ben, headed out of the park, and played a round of Pirate's Cove mini-golf, then called it a day. We had a 9.5 hour drive back on Tuesday but first we were lured in by the ambiance of the Paul Bunyon Cook Shanty breakfast (do not
climb on Babe the blue ox)
Sharon
Awesome report! I’ve only been to that area once, for the ACE event in 2009. Would love to get back someday. Obviously I’ve never been to Bay Beach. Little A-Merrik-A is such a gem of a park.
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