Robert Forto

coasters

ACE Preservation Conference: Michigan’s Adventure

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The second and third days of the American Coaster Enthusiasts preservation conference was to be held at Michigan’s Adventure. After a quick photo of the group on the bridge at Indiana Beach, most of must jumped into our cars and headed some 200 miles north to the shores of Lake Michigan.

As I was driving I had thoughts of the old 1980s movie, The Cannonball Run staring Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, and Dom DeLuise. Here was 80 or so of us trying to get to the next park before the night time ERT. We coaster geeks are a rambunctious bunch!

I arrived at the motel in time to drop my bags and headed to the park. When I first arrived I was awe-struck. Here was this massive coaster with what looked like ten dips! I have never seen anything like it. That was going to be my first coaster in the park. My first ride was the ferris wheel to get a lay of the land. It took forever to get on but the view was worth it.

I headed over to the massive woodie that I saw coming in. It was Shivering Timbers. I waited for about a half hour before it was my turn in line as I waited for the front car. I have been on about 350 coasters in the last three years and my goodness this was one that I will never forget! It literally took my breath away. It was a constant up and down, up and down and it felt like we were flying. I know now what people are talking about when they say this is one of the best woodies in the world.

I still had a couple hours to kill before the ERT so I jumped on another woodie, The Wolverine Wildcat. I would later find out this coaster has an interesting story. It opened in 1988 and really put this park on the map. It was such an important opening that one of the daughters of the family that owned the park back then, was forced to skip her own college graduation because of the coaster’s reveal.

I also rode Zach’s Zoomer which happens to be named after that same daughter’s eldest son. It was a fun little woodie and hardly no wait to get on. I jumped on corkscrew and the big dipper in the kiddie section of the park. Since I had ridden four coasters in less than two hours I decided to skip the ERT and just grab my free ice cream cone on the way out just as it was getting dark.

Sunday morning I arrived early and in time for ERT. I jumped on the Mad Mouse after the requisite group photo in front of Shivering Timbers. It looked like most of the group had made it north in time for the day’s activities. We were alone in the park so I headed over to Thunder Hawk and waited in the shade for it to open at 11. I was the first, and only one on when it opened. It was fun to have a front row seat on a train all of your own.

Our picnic lunch was fun. We had pulled pork, hot dogs and cookies while the daughter that missed her own graduation back in the day–remember her, who is now the vice president, talked about how the park came to be and a few questions from the group.

This was only my second ACE event with my first being last year’s preservation conference in Alabama and Georgia. The only reason why I was able to make this one was because it was held right after our trip in the Northeast. I like the ACE events and it is fun to talk to members who you chat with on social media. I look forward to the next one and hope my wife, Michele can come too.

Lastly, I want to thank ACE for all that they do and of course the host parks. It is awesome that they are keeping these older coasters alive for all of us to enjoy. I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!

 

ACE Preservation Conference: Indiana Beach

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It has been quite the summer! The Rock n Roller Coaster Tour across America has taken me from Orlando to the Northeast to middle America and I find myself at my second American Coaster Enthusiasts Preservation Conference. This year we are at Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana and Michigan’s Adventure on the Great Lakes.

Michele and I parted ways in Boston. She had to fly home to attend our business and I flew to Chicago for this leg of the tour. It was a slow slog down I-65 to the middle of nowhere Indiana. I checked into my motel at the Pine View Resort that was in the middle of a corn field. I arrived a day and a half early and didn’t venture too far from the motel. I worked on my Master’s courses by the pool and enjoyed leisurely dinners at the local family restaurant. The first night I had a huge three course chicken dinner that only cost $8.95 and could have easily cost 40 bucks back home.

Friday morning was the first day of the conference at Indiana Beach. Who would have known that all of this fun was only 0.6 miles from my little motel! It changes your perspective a little bit when you don’t venture too far from where you are. Its like driving down the interstate and puling off and setting for a Big Mac when at the next exit is the most amazing burger shop in the world that you missed out on.

I checked in and grabbed my name tags and tickets and headed into the park. It is a cool little spot where a lot of it is built on piers that jut out into the lake. We had the day to ourselves with the first formal event being a walk through of one of the rides later in the day. I walked the boardwalk and grabbed a Pronto Pup. Its a corn dog for those of you who don’t know…

I jumped on a cool coaster called Steel hog first. It was fun! It sort of a mash up of a mouse and a corkscrew. It was the first time I have ever ridden one like that. The restraints were interesting. The sort of squish you in like a vise.

Next up was a couple woodies. The premier coaster in the park is the Hoosier Hurricane which is by far the longest and juts out over the lake in a few spots. It is fast but a bit rough. Next was the Cornball Express. It was a lot of fun too.

I didn’t know what to expect when I was in line for an older steel coaster called, Tiger. By the looks on the peoples faces that went ahead of me and the warning by the ride attendant to hold on and brace for the sharp right turns, I knew I was in for a treat. That first right turn caused a cracked rib on the same spot as always. It is never going to heal if I keep this crap up!

The rest of the afternoon I spent people watching along the boardwalk and riding things like the dark ride, the sky ride, the scrambler the little train, and more. I was surprised at how fun Frankenstein’s Castle was! I haven’t been in a walk through haunted house in a long time and this was a good one. It was huge!

The last coaster I rode before we met up for dinner as a group was the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. It was a fun one! It has this little elevator that takes you up to the top and then is a mess of twists and turns through a “mountain”. The cars are a super tight fit for four people but it was a quick coaster and everyone was laughing in our car.

Dinner was late. They forgot to make the burgers and by the sounds of it from the grumblings of my fellow coaster geeks, we were hungry! We finished off the meal with a cake commemorating the 40th anniversary of ACE and we got ready for our night runs durning ERT.

It was a fun first day of the conference. I met up with several friends that I met last year at the conference in Alabama/Georgia. It was cool to see them again.

Tomorrow we finish up here and drive north to our next stop at Michigan’s Adventure!

Up Next: Michigan’s Adventure 

Coasters to date on the tour: 24

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Rock n Roller 18: Story Land

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There is a little park in the middle of New Hampshire that has been around for a very long time. It is Story Land. When we spent the week at The Christmas Farm Inn just up the road we had no idea that there was a theme park in the area.

This was a paradise for a little kid. Heck big kids for that matter. As we waited in a long line for the park to open at ten, there was a constant buzz brewing with kids hyped up on sugar, plenty of moms wearing, well, Mom Jeans, and dads with fannypacks, sleeveless shirts, sandals with socks, and bluetooth headsets in their ears. It was the middle of summer in New Hampshire and it was pretty warm but that does not give you carte blanche to dress like a dork.

Hopefully Michele and I will get a pass on our outfits since we were wearing match-y same color blue shirts. We didn’t do this intentionally. If you have ever been to a theme park you know what I am talking about. You will often see a busload of snot-nosed pre-teens wearing blaze-orange t-shirts. What do they think, its hunting season?

As we worked our way up to the front of the line we came across a grandpa that was scalping tickets to the park. His story claimed that he bought extras. Isn’t that what they all say?

We made it inside and the kids around us went wild, running in every direction. Moms and dads were screaming for little Johnny and Julie but the kids didn’t mind and paid them no attention. I guess that is why they have a little booth that issues honest-to-goodness driver’s licenses for little kids, not only gives them access to the rides but also to use–and I am speculating here–if they are pulled over by the park patrol for running at breakneck speeds.

The park is laid out in different sections like all of the fairytales. You have Mother Goose, Cinderella’s castle where you can have tea, the Three Little Pigs with three little pigs in their little brick, straw and stick houses. We also had Little Miss Muffet where you could sit on her tuffet–oh behave!

Just a side note, did you know that Disney has a racket on their characters portrayed in other theme parks? Cinderella wasn’t allowed to have blonde hair here at Story Land so the kiddos had to settle for a dark haired vixen. We were a long way from Walt’s lair up here in the Green Mountains but the Mouse still rules with an iron-fisted white glove. It’s true look it up…

There were two coasters in the park. The first one was the Polar Coaster. It is really a kiddie coaster but it has a few thrills.

The second was much more fun! It was Roar-O-Saurus. It was designed and built by the coaster company The Gravity Group for Story Land’s unique natural setting, it is the only wooden roller coaster of its kind in northern New England. Roar is the major component of Story Land’s new dinosaur themed section. What kid doesn’t love dinosaurs right?

The wood coaster takes just 12 passengers led by Story Land’s newest member, ‘Rory” the little Dino with a big roar! It was built in 2014 with a track length of 1,242 feet and a lift height of 40 feet. It does have some amazing airtime for a kiddie woodie with 12 spots. Michele loved this one and it is in her Top five woodies right now.

After the coasters and walking around the park we headed over to the log flume. We always wait until last to ride the water rides. Who in the heck wants to walk around in wet clothes? Bamboo Chutes was very well themed with some impressive asian-insprired landscaping. It was your typical up and down flume but like always I got wet!

We were out of the park by two with a thunderstorm threatening above. I am glad we found this little park and added a couple coasters to our credits that we probably would have missed if we hadn’t stayed at the Inn. I encourage all of you to check out the woodie. It is a fun one that I am sure you will enjoy!

 

Rock n Roller 18: Coney Island and Impounded Rental Cars

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Another red-eye from Alaska and Michele and I were stumbling on our feet as we unloaded from the plane at JFK in New York. Neither one of us had slept a wink on the long flight over and we knew it was going to be a very long day. Little did we know we would rack up almost 500 bucks in parking tickets, have our rental car impounded and drive through the city like a maniac going from one borough to the other.

We were due to have breakfast with our friend Mannie in Manhattan at eight and we decided on a little diner. The food wasn’t too bad and it was fun to catch up but the service was terrible. I guess this is how they do it in the Big Apple. We chatted with our friend for about an hour and he gave us a bottle of wine that he had been promising us since his visit to Alaska the previous spring.

After we said our good byes we headed to Lower Manhattan to see the Freedom Tower and pay our respects at the 9/11 memorial. We found a parking spot after driving around the block a few times and jumped out of the rental car. The memorial was awe-inspiring and the area around it was very serene even after all of these years. If you are in New York this is a must visit place.

As we were heading back to the car, still punch drunk from the flight we went inside Target to find a bathroom. When we walked outside we saw two of New York’s finest parking cops walking away after putting a boot on our car. Michele ran up to have a few choice words and they pointed to a sign near our car that said “parking for city council.” What?! First it was a Saturday, second why would the city council get a choice spot at a local Target store and third the dang sign was misleading. It had little arrows that said you can not park from here to here and we thought we were, there!

The cop handed us the ticket and told us we had two hours to pay the fine or it would be impounded and we checked the address on Google Maps. It was some 70 blocks away. Michele ran over to a hot dog cart and grabbed a cabbie who was scarfing down his lunch and said she needed a ride quick to the impound lot.

We jumped in the cab and headed uptown. We surely were getting the full New York experience as it wasn’t even lunch time.

Michele had asked the cabbie to wait and as we walked away we saw him drive off. Just great! We went inside and paid our ticket. Since it was a rental we weren’t sure if they were going to accept it since the ticket said only the registered owner could pay the fine and must show proof of insurance. They accepted it and we walked outside ready to flag down another cab and just at the moment like Superman swooping down from the sky here was our friend, the cabbie that said he would wait!

We made it back to the car about an hour after this ordeal began and waited for the cops to come and take the boot off the front wheel.

What a morning.

We rev’d up the car and headed over to Brooklyn to Coney Island. The stupid Google Maps took us way out of the way and we had to back track a couple dozen blocks to find the spot. From this point forward we will use an app called Waze. I love that little app now. We drove around for what seemed like forever and finally found a spot near the boardwalk. Michele said “I dont know if you should park here.” I said, “what do you mean, this is fine” and jumped out of the car.

We walked up and down the boardwalk, looked in a few shops and headed over to Cyclone. Besides breakfast with Mannie, this was the only reason we were in the city. We paid our ten bucks each and we were able to ride in the front car! The ride was awesome as always.

Did you know:

Coney Island History Comes Alive on the Cyclone Roller Coaster!

The Mother of American roller coaster culture and the “Big Momma” of Coney Island, the Cyclone tops everyone’s list of things to do in New York City. Get ready to shake, rattle, rumble and roll over 2,640 feet of track featuring 12 drops and 27 elevation changes that still has the stuff to take your breath away.

You slowly rise to panoramic heights and grip the bar tight as you go over the ledge on an exhilarating 85-foot, 60-degree plunge at speeds of 60 mph. It’s an all-time classic amusement park ride that’s kept coaster lovers coming back since the Cyclone roller coaster first debuted on June 26, 1927.

After the ride on Cyclone we grabbed lunch at Nathans and headed back to the car. As we approached we could see a little orange paper under the wiper. Another ticket. What?! 90 bucks this time. I couldn’t believe it. Michele just shrugged her shoulders.

I was so ready to get out of the city and it wasn’t even 3pm. We jumped on the freeway and headed north. We drove for over six hours upstate on our way to Six Flags Great Escape. What a freaking day. I keep telling myself its not worth the hundred bucks we save flying the red eye flights. Heck no its not. We racked up 500 bucks in tickets because we couldn’t think straight after a freaking sleepless night.

Rock n Roller 17: Where you Going Purty Boy?

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Waking up to a very cool morning in Montana with frost on the windshield, we knew we had a long drive towards Denver. We headed down through Idaho and into Wyoming and up and over the very steep pass into the ski resort town of Jackson Hole. As we were on our way down the pass the air conditioning stopped working and we noticed a smell like something was burning. We limped into the airport rental car lot for Enterprise and walked inside. It was a beautiful little airport where the rich and famous fly in to ski. It took forever to get another rental car but not much hassle. I love Enterprise. I have used them almost exclusively for years and they always provide us with good service, nice cars and not too bad of a rate. My rabid readers will remember our Rock n Roller 16 tour when we rented a truck in Denver and drove all the way to Maine, then on to Texas and back up to Denver–a whopping 7,000 miles for just 850 bucks.

We headed into town and looked for a place to eat. We settled on a little cowboy themed bar that was located around the town square. If you have ever been to Jackson you will know they have this huge arch made out of elk antlers that is now a go-to selfie spot. We haven’t been to this neck of the woods for more than 15 years when we were up this way for a sled dog race in West Yellowstone. The little bar/restaurant was really cool inside and we each had a burger and Michele had a stiff drink. None for me, I still had 7 hours or more of driving. We walked around the little shops in town and bought a couple t-shirts before jumping back into the car to head toward Rock Springs.

In Rock Springs…oh do I have stories from my youth about this little place…we grabbed gas and took a turn that would change the course of the trip. Within a few miles we were off the highway and on a dirt road for the next hundred plus miles. It was honest-to-goodness scary. I am a Stephen King fan and I have read enough stories about what happens on roads like this. You know what I mean, “you gotta purty mouth” type place. If you haven’t read the King story, Big Driver, you should.

Anyway, at some point I woke Michele up from her slumber, again, and told her to stay awake until we get back on a “normal road”. Why? I don’t know, I guess so she can witness our own kidnapping or at the very least a breakdown in a front-wheel-drive rental car on a potholed road that felt like you were driving over a cheese grater. We literally did not see a single person for hours on that road. It was absolutely beautiful though with all the red-stone mountains as the sun set.

After about three hours of white knuckling we finally hit pavement again and arrived in the little town of Craig, Colorado. I have only been here one time. It was years ago when I drove all the way up here from our place in Bailey with a pack of sled dogs to get neutered by an old country vet that knew a thing or two about mushin’. I actually got to help him with the surgeries that we performed in his kitchen.

We grabbed gas, looked for a place to eat and passed on the fast food. The next couple hours were in the dark on the winding roads through the mountains. Our goal was to make it most of the way to Denver but it was getting late and we didn’t have a room for the night. Michele, being my awesome co-pilot and navigator jumped on our favorite app, Booking.com and found us an inexpensive room in Rifle right along the interstate.

It was almost 11 pm when we pulled into Sonic. The local kids were hanging out doing what teenagers do–that delicate dance of I hope you like me, but I am too shy or insecure to tell you to your face. They were all wearing their hats with that little bit of hair sticking out the front on purpose, skinny jeans, and all had iPhones that they probably didn’t have to work for to pay the bill. We people watched while we munched on our burgers and were back at the room and asleep before midnight.

Tomorrow we would drive six or so hours to Denver with a stop that was supposed to be a highlight of this years coaster tour but it wouldn’t come to be. Stay tuned…

Up Next: Lakeside and Elitch Gardens 

Coasters to date on the tour: 28

Do you like what you are reading? Want to see more? use the hashtag #rocknroller17 on social media and you can see pics on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and our daily trials and tribulations on Facebook.