Louisville KY - Kentucky Kingdom - Holiday World
Kansas City MO - Worlds of
Fun - Silver Dollar City
Milwaukee WS - Six Flags Great America
Eat-A-Pita
- Bonito Michoacan - Chips & Dips
Lou Malanti's - La Casa De Alberto
Sunday
May 24th - Saturday May 30th 2015
Click each picture to make it bigger, then back to return here.
Preface - Visited 5 parks in one week checking off
9 coasters on my bucket list, which is found here.
Top USA Steel Coaster List
Day 1 - Sunday May 24th 2015. Here I am blasting off from FLL heading to Lousiville KY.
After arriving, I picked up my rental car, a Jeep
Patriot, and headed out to Kentucky Kingdom. Here I rode a
roller coaster called Lightning Run. 100 feet tall, 2500 feet
length, 55Mph. This was coaster #1 I checked off my bucket
list.
http://www.kentuckykingdom.com/
A few more pictures of Lightning Run, a Drop Tower, and Thunder Run.
Pictures taken from the top of a ferris wheel. Kentucky Kingdom also includes a water park with admission. Many people were hanging out at the wave pool, buying slushie drinks since it was 80 degrees.
After visiting Kentucky Kingdom, I headed out to
Eat-A-Pita, a Mediterranean restaurant. When I go on trips, I
search out Mediterranean and Mexican restaurants on Trip Advisor and Yelp before
arriving. Pictured is a Falafel plate with a salad.
Tasted really great, was exactly what I wanted.
Eat-A-Pita
On the way to my hotel, I stopped at Whole Foods to buy some pasta and a water bottle. There are really no food places near Holiday World, so buying cold veggie pasta was the idea. This actually worked great, I kept the pasta cold by bringing gallon zip lock bags, filling them with ice, and wrapping everything in a towel like a cooler.
This is the La Quinta Louisville Exposition and Airport
hotel. Clean hotel, but rather expensive at $94 a night.
The higher cost is because it's located next to Kentucky Kingdom, the exposition
center, and the airport. They have a free shuttle to the airport,
but it only runs from 05:30am - 10:30pm. To save
money, stay at a location farther away.
http://www.laquintalouisvilleairportexpo.com/
Day 2 - Monday May 25th 2015, Memorial Day. I drove about 1.5 hours and arrived at Holiday World. My father and I had come here in May of 2006 where I rode The Voyage, now I was back.
This is why I came here, to ride Thunderbird, the #2
coaster I checked off my bucket list. 140 feet tall, 3035 feet
length, 60 Mph. The coaster is launched from 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.
My first ride was in the front right seat, great ride. The launch is
fast, powerful, and fun. The coaster keeps the speed through
the entire ride. Holiday world also has a water park
included with admission. I went back to the car, ate some
pasta, and grabbed a bag with a towel and bathing suit. I changed in
a locker room in the water park, and went on 2 water coasters, Wildebeast and
Mammoth.
http://www.holidayworld.com/
Here's a few pictures of The Voyage. Unfortunately, this ride is rough and needs a make over by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). The coaster practically stops just before the triple down. Maybe Santa will bring them an RMC make over, because my back hurt after riding and I only went one time.
Day 3 - Tuesday May 26th 2015. I flew to Kansas City MO on SouthWest at 6am. I picked up a Nissan Versa rental car, and headed out to Worlds Of Fun. Here I rode a coaster called Patriot, the #3 coaster I checked off my bucket list. 149 feet tall, 3081 feet length, 60 mph. I also rode a coaster named Mamba, the #4 coaster I checked off my list. 205 feet tall, 5600 feet length, 75 mph.
After visiting Worlds of Fun, I headed out to Bonito
Michoacan, a highly rated Mexican restaurant. I had Chile
Relenno and an order of veggie Avacado tacos. This item is not on
the menu, but if you ask, they'll make it for you. For vegetarians,
Avacado is like the meat in tacos. Not pictured is a spicy mole
sauce they have at a salsa station. How did it taste?
Amazing.
http://www.bonitomichoacankck.com/
I checked into the Best Western Kansas City Airport.
The rate at this hotel was $75 a night, and I had an internet gift card for $35
off which they honored. This hotel has a free shuttle to
the airport. This hotel deserves special recognition.
On the 2nd day, I returned my car early to save a day on the rental.
I told the front desk I was returning the car, and they sent the shuttle driver
at the same time. After I returned my car, the shuttle was waiting
for me in the garage. This hotel is very clean, a
step up from the La Quinta, however they don't allow pets at most locations.
That's why we stay at La Quinta when traveling with our lab Destiny.
But if I'm traveling alone in the future, I'll check out Best Western Plus.
Best Western KCI
Day 4 - Wednesday May 27th 2015. I drove 3 hours to
Silver Dollar City. My farther and I had visited in August of 2005, now I
was back.
http://www.silverdollarcity.com/
Picutres of Outlaw Run, the #5 coaster I checked off my bucket list. 107 feet tall, 2937 feet length, 68 mph. This coaster is made by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and features an 81 degree drop, over banked turns and a double heart line roll to end the ride. I rode the other coasters at Silver Dollar City and headed out.
I drove 3 hours back to the Kansas City area, and visited
Chips and Dip, a Mediterranean restaurant. Here I ordered a falafel
pita, with fries and spicy schug sauce to go.
http://www.chipsanddipskc.com/
Day 5 - Thursday May 28th 2015. I checked out of the Best Western KCI, took the shuttle to the airport, and flew to Milwaulkee WI arriving around noon. I picked up a Chevy Spark rental car, and drove to Six Flags Great America.
This is coaster #6 I checked off my bucket list, called Whizzer. 70 feet tall, 3100 feet length, 42 mph.
This is Superman Ultimate Flight, the #7 coaster I checked off my bucket list. 106 feet tall, 2798 feet length, 51 mph.
This is Goliath, the #8 coaster I checked off my bucket list. 165 feet tall, 180 feet drop at 85 degrees, 3100 feet length, 72 mph. The coaster is classified as wood, and sets a speed record of 72 mph, along with the 180 foot drop. Even though it is classified as wood, it still has the same topper track found on other RMC coasters. Great ride, this coaster does manuevers no other coasters do.
A couple more shots of Goliath (the most popular ride in the park). Wait time was one hour, but I used the single rider line and waited about 30 minutes. There were many school groups attending, they traveled from all over to visit.
This is X-Flight, the #9 coaster I checked off my bucket
list. This is a B&M wing rider. 120 feet
tall, 3000 feet length, 55 mph. After riding this, I had
checked off all the coasters that I needed to almost complete my bucket list.
At that moment, I only needed to ride coasters at two other parks, Six Flags New
England, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
This is Raging Bull. 202 feet tall,
5057 length, 73 mph. I had ridden this coaster back in 2000, now I
was back, still a great ride after all these years.
Wait times with all the
school groups there were as follows.
Whizzer 15 minutes
Superman 45
minutes
V2 45 minutes
Batman 30 minutes
Goliath 60 minutes
X-Flight
45 minutes
Raging Bull 30 minutes
Dark Night 45 minutes
After a great visit to Six Flags Great America, I headed
out to Lou Malnati's for salad and a pizza. This is a carry out or
delivery only location (Gurnie IL), there are no tables inside. I ordered a
Malanti salad which has a bunch of veggies. I also ordered a
small "The Lou" deep dish pizza, which has spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and 3
cheeses. What did it taste like? Good, I had
seen the history of this pizza place on the Travel Channel shows, and wanted to
try it.
http://www.loumalnatis.com/grayslake-gurnee
Next I checked in the La Quinta Pleasant Prairie WI, This hotel is near the state line of WI and IL. I wanted to stay in WI, not giving any money to IL This hotel is dated and needs an upgrade, so I won't post the web link. The good news, is the hotel was $71 plus taxes and not more. I survived one night in this hotel checking out in the morning, then moving on. The carpets were worn, the furniture was old, everything was worn out except the bed and flat screen TV. The good part of this hotel, is the ice machine filters had been changed, so I had clean ice for drinking water. But this was definately a dive hotel, not up to the usual La Quinta standards.
Day 6 - Friday May 29th 2015. I returned to Six Flags Great America early in the morning. There were workers putting new plants in the sign out front. I took pictures of a Go Fresh Cafe that sells healthy food. Yes, it's expensive, but better than the stuff most people eat at parks. I didn't eat here, but took pictures.
This is the line waiting to enter the queue of Goliath. The line streatched through the bridge and past it, and this was 15 minutes before the park would officially open at 10:30am. After waiting until 10:45am, the ride opened and the first group went out. I rode in row 2, then happened to get an exit re-ride in row 3 when no one was waiting in that row. After this, I went on a few other rides, then headed out as more school groups arrived. I was parked out at this point, and the school groups didn't make things any better.
Here I am visiting Casa De Alberto, the #1 Mexican
restaurant in Milwaukee. I ordered avacado tostadas, which are not
on the menu, but if you ask, they'll make it. This dish was only $9,
they have great prices. Once again, Avacado is like meat to
vegetarians.
Casa De Alberto Review
I checked into the La Quinta Milwaukee Airport (MKE).
This is a much better hotel, up to the La Quinta Standards, $71 plus taxes.
I returned the rental car, taking the shuttle back to the hotel room.
La Quinta Milwaukee
Airport
Day 7 - Saturday May 30th 2015. I checked out of the La Quinta, took the shuttle to the airport, and flew home from MKE to FLL non stop on Southwest. Plane left on time, the flight left at 09:30am, was 2 hours and 50 minutes with a time change. Landed at FLL at 01:15pm, thanks Southwest.
Conclusion: Great trip checking off 9 coasters from my list, 6 states, 6 major cities, 5 plane rides, 4 hotel rooms, 3 rental cars. Which coasters did I like the best? The RMC coasters of Outlaw run at Silver Dollar City, and Goliath at Six Flags Great America. RMC coasters have new design elements that no other coasters have. Thunderbird at Holiday Word was also fun because of the launched start. Visiting the parks just after Memorial Day was a good idea, except for Six Flags Great America with all the school groups. Maybe going in early June would be a better idea after the kids are out of school and not attending as groups. Depends on where the parks are located. Crowds were light at all the other parks.
End of Report. Thanks for reading.
Email me at skiguy777@bellsouth.net.