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Chadster's Vacation Adventures: Final Edition!


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If you weren't following me live, you probably missed the foto below, but thats ok, I forgive. I also posted a few more in the Silver Dollar City thread. If you don't want to miss me semi-live this week check out my special Facebook for when I'm on the go!

 

I'll be back here in a few weeks with more amazing content including a visit where JoJo and I met up with the big man at the Azoosment park, we were pleasantly surprised by what's going on there!

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Coming up this Monday, I have a special treat for everyone - Behind the scenes of the Big Mike Roadshow at the Azoosment Park! Find out all of secrets and hard work that goes into the popular production including the ducky game. Get Excited!

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Looks like I'm back for a few weeks and to celebrate we start with a special "behind the scenes" episode of 'The Big Mike Roadshow'

 

I had rearranged a departure date for my upper Mid-America trip to be able to meet up with Big Mike and Megan at Santa's Village Azoosment Park just outside Chicago. JoJo met me at my hotel and off we went hitting just about every Memorial Day parade in town setting us back about 5 minutes from the targeted arrival time.

 

So after getting a hard time for being late, in we went were Kurtis (G$ Kurt) immediately yelled out for Big Mike recognizing the bright shirt. Kurtis really did seem to be everywhere and gave us the low down on the park. The firetruck and motorized cars were new for this year and they have future expansion plans. I wouldn't count on the water park re-opening as after years of neglect while the park was closed it would be an expensive venture, but do expect that great things could be coming to that area soon.

 

The park itself is clean and vibrant, the staff were all friendly, and the zoo adds that little something the park needs to keep the kids entertained, and most importantly, in the park. Santa, as mentioned in Big Mike's report, has been at the park for the last 25+ years playing Santa (when the park was closed he was at Holiday World) and is full of park history as well as history of all the Santa themed parks. For instance he told us the park was a duplicate of another one in NY but not originally owned by the same person.

 

Bottom line guys, the park is waaaaaay better than the horror stories I've read before it closed. The new team is dedicated to making the park a success and fits the families with small children niche that very few regions have. So if you have younger children you should without a doubt take them to the Azoosment Park, you won't be disappointed.

 

And now, I present, Behind the Scenes of the Big Mike Roadshow!

 

P.S. If you want to see my entire photo collection on this park Click.

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And here we are just a tad late, kinda like this PTR ;)

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On the way to back to the credit (hey we aren't stupid, we didn't want to encounter long lines!) we stopped off to pet a turtle.

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Big Mike always gets ride sign photos, just in case Larry might need them.

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The Big Mike Roadshow uses two cameras just in case one malfunctions.

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And this is what everyone was taking foto's of.

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Whores.

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Wait, nope, the whore is in the front seat...well maybe the back seat too, you decide and let us know.

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The roadshow getting on ride foto's

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Hey Guys, How is Your Ride?

 

Kurtis operated the ride personally for us! #Likeaboss Well, actually he is one, hmmm need to come up with something for that, maybe #likeapeasant ?

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This is what it looks like if you sit in the front seat, the back of a head.

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So it was time to move on and hide some ducks. There was a duck somewhere between here...

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...and here. Did you find it?

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Oink.

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All of the employees were telling us we HAD to ride the firetruck and the motorized cars, both new for this year. Little did they know what they had just done. Afterall, we are CTPR members ;)

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Ahem.

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This is the POV of that famous pose. Looked familiar to me in many aspects.

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After "the pose" Big Mike demo'd the proper way to handle your hose.

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Then it was off to the fire, running code complete with lights and sirens which helped clear the way to roll up on our target! Oh did I mention we had the attraction to our selves? ;)

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Using proper hose handling techniques as shown in the video, I helped the team to put out the FIRE!

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This is where video was being shot! Look ma, I'm on T.V. On second thought, you might not want to...

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After the fire was out we still had enough for a second round of water fighting.

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Admission to Azoosment Park: 16.95; Ride on Firetruck: Free; Look of our ride attendants face: Priceless.

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Still not sure about this...

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New for this year, motorized cars! They did a top notch job on this attraction.

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Might get wet on this ride?

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Off on their voyage.

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Oh crap, firetruck, now we know why we might get wet...

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Taking pictures for the PTR: #likeaboss.

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Alert! Nut Allergies ahead!

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Spider scene.

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the "I really don't want my own spider scene" scene.

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We got to feed the mini horse courtesy of Megan. Dude knew when she pulled out the quarter that he was about to get fed.

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Feeding time!

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I like turtles.

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Next it was time for a sleigh ride.

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Smile for the birdie!

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and here are the birdies!

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Megan wanted to slide, like really bad, so why not. Only problem was the kid behind her was getting a little upset it took her so long to slide down!

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Red Herring time! Did you spot the pink ducky?

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They also have this cool bird thingy where the birds are not afraid of you.

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Why? Because you can feed them! We all got treated to nuts attached to sticks. As you can see, the birds would fly right to you!

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I Triple Dog Dared him.

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Before we left, Jo had to try out the Angry Birds game. She chose her Angry bird and launched him into the TNT, but sadly it didn't explode :(

 

All in all we had a funtastic time at the Azoosment park. Thanks to Kurtis and the entire management team for taking time to talk to us about the parks history and where they hope to take the park in the future!

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As part of my Mid America Adventure I made a stop by Indiana Beach to check out the park just in case it closes I had high hopes going into the day and was pumped up to visit the park as it's my "type" of park. Unfortunately my visit fell a tad short of my expectations as I felt it was missing that Morey's Piers feel I was expecting. Operations were also slow on my visit with Cornball dispatching about once every 8 minutes.

 

But not all was a total disappointment, the YoYo is VERY good and I got my first ever VALLEY while riding a coaster! Would I visit again, sure, I'd give it another try, after all, I really wanted to fall in love with the park, it just for some reason didn't happen.

 

So lets move on and see some photos shall we? But wait, not enough photos for you? Click your mouse here.

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And we have arrived! Actually I guess it should be I have arrived as there is no "we" anymore.

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Anyway I arrived just as the park gates were opened as heavy rain was forecast for the afternoon.

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Pretty sure it's supposed to have water in it.

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First up, the Galaxy. Note: Beepers are not allowed on this ride, however loose object appear to be allowed...

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Looks safe.

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Hi tech ride control system looks safe.

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Ride car looks....safe. I honestly thought I was going to die as the entire way up the lift the car was bouncing, thumping, and vibrating. I braced for my life but surprisingly it smoothed out, whew.

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Next I thought I'd try the scrambler, but was denied because I was a single rider. They claim the ride manufacture says single riders are not allowed...WTF?!?! So after declining a ride with 12 year old girls (for obvious reasons) I moved on to the next best thing.

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The Flying Bobs. I actually liked this ride a lot as they ran it bobs out. Get it, bobs out, ha ha.

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Ummm, looks safe?

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Car 1: "OMG, what IS that?"

Car 2 Girl: "I can't believe you"

Car 2 Boy: "It wasn't me I swear!"

Car 3: Dammit! Quit busting ass!

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After not being open when the park opened, I ran over to the Lost Coaster, where I was able to find it.

 

Apparently trains go in the cave and are supposed to come out the other side.

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To do that, they go up the hydro lift which was actually one the best parts of the ride as I had no clue what held the thing in place on the way up.

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Our train went in...

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But we didn't come out! We VALLEYED in the tunnel!!!

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Holy Crap we are really stuck in here! They had a mechanic waiting on the train when it rounding the corner inside the cave to try and give it a push but no go!

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Can I get out this way! We actually begged for an evac but we didn't get it. Reinforcements were sent in and they pushed the train up the incline and over the hill....off we went, only to valley again!!

 

So what was up? The wheels were over lubed, too thick and caused the bearings to not turn freely. Yeah, I'd hated to have been that guy.

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So after the totally awesome valley, it was off to try this out.

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State law says you have to be 54" to ride.

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From the platform I found this mess.

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And then turned around to see this mess.

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OMFG WE ARE GOING TO DIE!

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Double train!

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Your obligatory carousel shot.

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Noted.

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Acceptable amount of wetness. Probably the shortest flume outside of the one at Frontier City that I've been on.

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After getting wet, I went to check out Steel Hawg, interesting ride, that's for sure, pretty fun too.

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Must have a NERD SHOT!

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Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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Yuuuup! Best. Yo Yo. EVAR!

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Nice speed on the Himalaya. Looks like they took the background from a Reverchon and painted over which is too bad as those had some quality artwork.

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Oh yeah, the Falling Star was sort of SBNO

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Can't forget about the 10 foot gap in the restraining mechanism drop tower! Not bad at all.

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On the way out I found this "Featured on Food Network" Taco Stand. Not exactly believing them I looked it up on my phone to find it was featured in about a 30 second block as the best taco...on the boardwalk maybe. I tried it, it was ok. Cheese whiz, pre-cut and bagged lettuce, standard taco meat, nothing amazing, but it was cheap.

 

And with that, I walk on to my next Adventure. Any guesses as to where that will be?!?!

Edited by chadster
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I've been to this park twice, and my first visit in 2000 was so much better than my second visit a few years ago. It just doesn't seem like the new owners care as much about the park as the old ones did. Lots of closed rides, pokey operations, and a real lack of energy compared to the first time I visited. I still ahd fun, but the place just seemed kind of "off". It still has one of the best locations for a park ever, and I hope it stays open for quite some time.

 

dt

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I've been to this park twice, and my first visit in 2000 was so much better than my second visit a few years ago. It just doesn't seem like the new owners care as much about the park as the old ones did. Lots of closed rides, pokey operations, and a real lack of energy compared to the first time I visited. I still ahd fun, but the place just seemed kind of "off". It still has one of the best locations for a park ever, and I hope it stays open for quite some time.

 

dt

 

Quoted for truth as I couldn't have summed it up any better. It's a shame as like you said, the parks is in a great location, is full of potential, and close to hundreds of thousands of potential patrons.

 

Hmm, are you going north or south next?

 

I'm thinking....North

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Those IB photos are depressing. The park looks like a ghetto carnival, minus any sense of reckless fun. Just plain run down... One step from abandoned; lifeless. I realize the weather was poor during your visit.

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In that case, I will say you are off to Six Flags Great America.

 

Good guess, but not quite yet.

 

Those IB photos are depressing. The park looks like a ghetto carnival, minus any sense of reckless fun. Just plain run down... One step from abandoned; lifeless. I realize the weather was poor during your visit.

 

Yeah, those were my thoughts. Funny thing. I walk up to the ticket booth that says open. Inside the lady is all confused and asks "Can I help you?" Um yeah, I'd like a ticket. "Oh, well, um, I'm groups sales and getting ready for 400-500 students, but let me try to get you one" She did, it took her a minute, and was nice and all but if you are going to open a ticket booth just for groups hang a sign that says groups only. The best part, they really thought 500 students in the park was going to be madness...you hardly noticed.

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When I was there with TPR in 2010, I noted a sign warning operators to stay out of the mountiain and not cross the tracks when Lost Coaster was in operation--only to see a technician walk into the mountain after the train had dispatched. But at Indiana Beach, somehow, it just made sense.

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Oh lost coaster... only been to IB one time and it was like the evil trick my group planned on me... made me sit backwards I had no idea what this ride was... OMG!!!! I've never laughed so hard while simultaneously being scared for my life. I can't wait to visit and and make a first time friend of mine ride backwards.

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Great PTR, I have yet to make it up there this year. As everyone else has said, it's sad to see how the park has gone so downhill. My first visit was in 08' and I loved it! Everything was running great, it was a vibrant place full of energy, and it had more of a nostalgic boardwalk feel to it rather than a ghetto carnival.

 

To me it seems like everyone involved with the park stopped caring. I could have sworn Indiana Beach announced that the Yo-Yo was going to be relocated back to it's famous over-the-water spot? Yet it is still in the parking lot. And even worst, Falling Star is still in pieces like it was last year... I really hope this park gets it shit together, but if not I guess its only a better reason as to why Indianapolis should have it's own theme park.

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I'm disappointed to see Indiana Beach look like this. I had a blast at that park during the 2007 Midwest Trip because the atmosphere seemed very lively, well-kept, and there was Fascination.

 

Now it's just depressing to look at. Thanks for the update, at least your visit was interesting with the valley.

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