Author Topic: Photo TR: Midwest Part 3, SFKK!! (Read 6453 times)

Bubba Z · « **on:** June 23, 2006, 01:54:03 AM »

After much debate where to go, Rob and I finally decide to go to Beech Bend, Holiday World, SFKK, Indiana Beach and SFGA, Instead of the Dells. The only slight problem was we already booked our flight to Midway airport in Chicago. This made the drive to Beech Bend a little long, but it worked out since we would do SFGA on our last day.

We landed at Midway around 11pm. We grabbed the rental, luggage and some McDonald's and headed for Bowling Green. I didn?t quite make it as we stopped at a motel 6 around 5 am. Took a 3 hour nap and back in the car by 8 so we could make the 10 o?clock opening and the first park of the trip.

Day 1, Beech Bend and 4 credits.

We arrive an hour early to check out Rumbler.

We than headed back out for Breakfast. Once back at the park we bought our wristbands with the other 29 people who decide to show up on this cloudy day. The park is rather small and easy to navigate. It?s set up Almost like a carnival, maybe even a Clementon Park, William's grove type of mixture. Let?s just say the park map isn?t necessary.

Ok, so after all that we head straight to reason why we were here,

Since no one else seemed to follow us, we rode front row on an empty train. The ride itself was pretty good. Plenty of twisted track with two stations fly bys and plenty of airtime. I still think Thunderhead is a little better and would give KR a solid 7/8. In total we rode 6 times thru-out the day.

Other credits of the day included a Dragon

This had the craziest lift hill ever. The angle of the track with the slow incline felt like I was going to fall out at any minute, lucky for me it only ran two consecutive laps and not three.

The next coaster was the wild mouse.

Our first lap was a little slow and disappointing. Things would change as Ross put us in the most insane car on the track. I have never been so disoriented after a ride than this one, that it took about 30 seconds to finally regroup and realize where I was.

Last but not least the Pinfari looping Star.

This seemed to be the elusive credit as it was down for most of the morning. I wasn?t sure if I was happy it was down, or sad I would miss out on the credit. Well sure enough they got it running and I received the usually head banging, Knee scrapping and spine adjusting credit. If that wasn?t enough torture, they also over shot the unloading platform making me sit through the pain even more.

Eventually the pain went away while we took one more final lap of the park to do the one click drop tower

and the not so scary dark ride.

Scat 2 looked too much for me especially after doing the wild mouse.

The log flume was an option, but I really didn?t want to be wet while driving to Holiday World. Total park time 2hours and 15 Minutes.

2 hours later we found ourselves at Holiday world. Part two continues tomorrow night.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #1 on:** June 23, 2006, 12:34:01 PM »

Awesome pics. Can't wait to see the stuff from the other parks.

Those Pinfari Looping stars are fun aren't they???

Just imagine going on one in the Philippines and your not sure about their maintenance policies.

Robert T Ackerman · « **Reply #2 on:** June 23, 2006, 12:37:59 PM »

^ LOL Gregg!

I'm honestly not too sure of BB's policies either...

Good stuff so far Bubba... I'll have my report up sometime soon, with some pics.

ChuckR · « **Reply #3 on:** June 23, 2006, 01:08:35 PM »

Ugh I hate you guys. Oh well, I am doing this same trip in the last week of July.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #4 on:** June 23, 2006, 02:09:45 PM »

^^ But at least you know that this country does require some kind of maintenance ... I honestly had no idea if/when or if those rides EVER get checked.

All I can remember going up that hill was ... "If I die on a Filipino roller coaster I will be really upset".

Bubba Z · « **Reply #5 on:** June 24, 2006, 12:03:29 AM »

Yeah, it's three more great wooden coaster credits!

Raven was the first coaster of the day.

Next coaster was Frightful Falls, Ok so this is really the lift hill for Legend.

But the real reason we came was for the free soda or was it for Voyage!!

Holiday world part two of day one.

After finding a spot near the front of a busy parking lot, we bought our tickets.

Never being here, I was happy to finally ride Raven, legend and of course Voyage. Along the way to the park Rob told me don?t be over excited about the coasters. He said they were good, but he didn?t want me to be let down after the all the hype these coasters get.

We made a quick stroll pass Santa and down the ramp to Raven.

Along the way we grab a free drink and checked out some of the park. After that we walked thru the house and into Raven?s station. We waited three trains for the last row. Although it was a quick ride I really enjoyed the tunnel, the turn around by the lake and the next drop that followed.

My next new credit would be Legend.

This turned out to be one of my favorites on the trip. I thought the First drop was good,

The helix was even better. And of course the drop going under the waterslide was really out of control.

After this we headed for more free soda and took the downhill walk towards Voyage.

The lift hill as seen through the station window.

Once inside the station we decided on the last row of course. Once leaving the station we climb up the very slow lift hill (well compared to El Toro everything is slow) Cresting at the very top we slowly drop over. The first drop, along with the second hill was nothing compared to El Toro, very slow and had me saying ?That?s it?, but once we made it through the first tunnel and back near the turnaround it was a whole different story. It seemed to pick up massive speed through this part heading into the first 90 degrees. The track is also bent the wrong way going into one of the turns which was a really odd feeling. You hit another tunnel and into the brake run getting set up for my favorite part, the triple down. The first two hills are great, but the third seems to drop you down another 60ft with a huge head chopper to go along with it. After this you weave back and forth under the main two drops hitting two more 90 degrees sections of track. When we got to the on ride photo, I thought the train would slow down but it never did it just got faster. The ride travels pass two more tunnels and then turns into the brake run were I finally caught my breathe.

exclusive shot, this is the first time ever that someone has posted this picture!!!

Heading back to towards the station

We rode 12 more times with the last three rides being consecutive. I?ve now ridden both El Toro and Voyage 12 times and here is my conclusion about the two.

El Toro has the better drop and second hill, while Voyage has everything else.

During the course of the day we also rode, Gobblers getaway.

Think Scooby Doo but with turkey callers, and the log flume. The tunnel was the best part because the drop kind of left us dry.

We also took a walk through the kiddy section to check out Howler but I passed.

No flyers as well. We would wait for IB, but they did look nice.

The park in general was nice. The water park looked fun, free drinks and their wooden coaster collection is very good !!

Well, that concludes day one of our trip. Here are the winners Voyage#1 followed by legend, Kentuckty rumbler, Raven, Wild mouse, Dragon and looping star.

We take one last look at Voyage and head over to Santa's lodge.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2006, 11:54:02 PM »

Bubba ... that was a VERY diplomatic statement in not really comparing Toro and Voyage.

Come on ... as one of probably very few people (so far) that has ridden both ... which one is better?

Bubba Z · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2006, 12:05:33 AM »

OK Gregg, since you're the only one really reading this ....Voyage is the better Coaster, but EL Toro still has the most insane drop.

If I had the choice of riding either tomorrow I would pick Voyage.

GADVwow · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2006, 06:49:27 AM »

And since someone else here has ridden both....let me say this. For me, El Toro is by far the better coaster, FOR ME. I love the speedy lift, the incredible first drop, the sustained ejector air time and especially the crossover hill at Rolling Thunder.

That being said, Voyage does have by far the better finale. And there is no "breather" section on Voyage like there is before the crossover hill on El Toro. And if you like PTC trains to the almost exclusion of everything else, you'll be a Voyage partisan.

That all being said, if I had a choice of riding either for dozens of times in a day or only just once, either way, I'd pick El Toro every time.

It's a well rounded, fantastic wooden roller coaster.

The real test, and I hope to find out for myself, is what each will ride like five years from now. . .

overlord · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2006, 09:25:49 AM »

Good Trip reports guys. All this traveling makes me wanna go to. Good reviews on the Voyage. I'll have to get out there to ride it one day.

WadeJ · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2006, 09:46:28 AM »

Ha, 90 views - I'd say people are reading this LOL

I'm loving it so far but was waiting until the entire thing is posted before responding

But so far, I'm loving it

PcMan · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2006, 10:33:59 AM »

Looks good
I will find out the end of next month but it looks like the Voyage is hard to beat.

Bubba Z · « **Reply #12 on:** June 26, 2006, 12:23:30 PM »

^^ Ok Thanks Wade! I will continue the rest of my trip, sorry for the delay.

After a great sleep at Santa?s lodge we headed for SFKK.

For some reason I was really excited to get to this park. Not sure if it was from seeing the coaster?s from the road or actually visiting another six flags. My excitement started to dwindle as they only opened two gates to the park. We waited and waited and waited until we finally made it through and over to the mouse.

It was ok not the greatest, but it did provide some views of the park.

Since Greezed Lighting was closed we walked over the bridge to the other side of the park.

At this point we headed over to Chang; the B&M stand up.
16 Signature shots, look at it move so gracefully.

We beat most of the crowd as it was a second train wait for the front. I really liked this better than Mantis, not sure why but I did.I also never remember ever going through an incline loop on Mantis but found them to be really fun.

We only rode once and headed for T2.

T2 was not fun at. Even though it had new wheels and sounded very smooth and quite, it wasn?t at all. I would place this SLC right behind Mind Easer at SFA for being the worst ever. I was happy to get off and head over to ride some more wooden coasters.

Now in line for Thunder Run we waited another two trains for the front. I could only see the lift and the first drop and was really interested seeing what else was behind the trees. The track was well oiled and the layout provided some pops of air. We rode again in the back, but it wasn?t as enjoyable.

Did I metion it goes pretty fast down the drop

After this it was a quick walk through ewok village

Pass the carousel

Rode the Rollerskater and headed off to the Shoot the chutes to cool down.

While riding this we (I) apparently broke the lap bar, but the ride-op said ?No, no it happens all the time and we were safe? I guess when the boat slams into the bottom and you toss 250 lbs (plus what ever Rob weighs) against the restraint anything is possible.

Now completely soaked, we walked through the western themed area to twisted twins. It had fun moments like the drop, but most of the time it felt like I was in a subway car around those turns. (If anyone has taken Patco to Philly, it was like taking that first turn underground entering Camden) Here is a picture of the G trains

That completed the coaster part, so it was off to the rapids ride.

This would be the first Penguins rapids I?ve been on. I really liked the themeing inside the tunnels. The part I didn?t like so much was that our boat never drained. This turned the raft into a kiddy pool by the time we made it back to the station. It sounds kind of gross when you think about all those feet in the water through out the day.

Ok, anyway, we walked the rest of the park heading back towards the front to do the drop tower. It reminded me of the one at SFA but without the electrical tape holding it together. Great ride as always. After this I headed to Guest relations for my free poster size map and left the park in less than 2 hours.

I found the park to be Nice, Plenty of flat rides, good size Water Park, solid wooden coaster, B&M stand up. What they need to do is focus on having more gates open in the morning. Hire the best landscaper and install Kentucky blue grass underneath every ride and get rid of the 2 foot tall weeds. Other than that the park has a lot of potential. Next stop Indiana Beach and Six flags Great America.

random shots

Houston or Kentucky

cool little carousel

Cedar point or SFKK

WDW or SFKK

Rob never did buy me anything

Two rides Ill miss at SFGADV

Thanks again for reading.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #13 on:** June 26, 2006, 04:02:15 PM »

Awesome TR.

The park looks decent, looking forward to seeing HW and SFKK in October.

WadeJ · « **Reply #14 on:** June 26, 2006, 04:04:27 PM »

Was anybody there? Half of those pictures look like the park is empty! Or perhaps their enterprise doesn't work either

Deadman · « **Reply #15 on:** June 26, 2006, 05:26:46 PM »

KK looks like a really nice park, as do the rest. I still need to hit up all those midwest parks.

GADVwow · « **Reply #16 on:** June 26, 2006, 07:19:42 PM »

Just be aware that your season pass is NOT good during the Kentucky State Fair...the park becomes part of the midway for the state fair.

Thunder Run is truly one of the best woods in the country. It only has one train, though; and lines can get insane on that thing.

Oddly, it originally had a transfer track, but former management TOOK IT OUT!

ChuckR · « **Reply #17 on:** June 26, 2006, 11:40:49 PM »

I will be heading to SFKK on July 25th!

Bubba Z · « **Reply #18 on:** June 27, 2006, 08:46:42 AM »

Wade , the only part of the park that was busy was the front gate, but once inside it was truly dead. I found myself rushing to get the park done so we had more time at Indiana beach. Rob kept telling me to slow down because we could finish the park in three hours at a slow pace, which in this case turned out to be true.

I also liked the 5 dollar parking price!!

PcMan · « **Reply #19 on:** June 27, 2006, 09:53:17 AM »

Sounds Good.
I guess being used to GrtAdv other smaller out of the way parks should be less crowded. But I'm sure SFGA was crowed .
How about the crowds at the other parks ?
I'm working on pretty much the same trip
I got my Laptop with GPS,Street Atlas 2006 and Cell Internet for laptop.
you can get in Holiday world for $23 if you have a ACE card

I also have a handheld GPS unit that shows actual speed in MPH I keep forgetting to take it on Coasters to see the REAL SPEED. I keep it in my truck .I use it when I ski to see the lift speed and my downhill speed(I topped 60mph in Stratton Vt.) .It's a Garmin VIsta.
I wonder what KK and others real speed are.

Bubba Z · « **Reply #20 on:** June 27, 2006, 10:28:40 AM »

The parks are really easy to get. You stay on Interstate 65 most of the trip and then 64 to holiday World. When travelling from HW to IB Take exit 178 to 43N to 421.
You'll find out how easy it is.

Lines at the park
SFKK -dead
HW -gets somewhat busy after the water park closes
IB - 4-11 session seemed slow , multiple rides on everything
BB- 29 other people
SFGA- cloudy day, slow, two three trains wait. V2 and Dejavu will of course get lines, but weren't bad the day we went. Get to the park early as always.

You will also receive half off at IB if you show them your ACE card.

PcMan · « **Reply #21 on:** June 27, 2006, 12:02:05 PM »

yep
most all I-65 and I-64 and Green River Pkwy
doing 6 parks(less then $60) in 4 days almost all set

how's Midway a mad house ?

Robert T Ackerman · « **Reply #22 on:** June 28, 2006, 01:34:21 AM »

Midway was fine, its just the roads getting there that will give you problems... give yourself some extra time, like ATLEAST an hour extra to get there, and leave an hour early from IB because there really is no way around Chicago traffic... send me a PM if you have any questions about this trip you and Chuck are doing since Joe and I did the same one, it will be very easy for me to help you out and make sure you dont make any traveling mistakes..

Nitro1118 · « **Reply #23 on:** June 30, 2006, 03:41:03 PM »

Nice TR! Great pics!

I'm doing a midwest trip in August, from the 6th-14th, flying into Louisville, flying out of Chicago. I plan on doing HW/IB/SFGAm. It is a possibility that we will visit SFKK for a few hours once we land (arriving at like 8am, we can probably be at SFKK by 10am, do that for few hours, then drive on out to Santa Claus, where we would do that the next day).

Quick question: How large is HW (to say LC?Dorney?etc...)? And would one day there be more than enough?

Cyclonic · « **Reply #24 on:** June 30, 2006, 11:25:32 PM »

HW is small, on par with Lake Compounce. If you plan to do the waterpark, which is excellent, plan to spend the whole day. If not, it sould only take a few hours. Their coasters are excellent, but the flats are meh, and the theming is awful.

Latest 20 Shouts

Current Weather

SIX Stock

Author Topic: Photo TR: Midwest Part 3, SFKK!! (Read 6453 times)