Timber Falls Adventure Park & Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park, Wisconsin Dells, WI

Total Timber Tour Blog Day 7

Last night we arrived into Wisconsin Dells about 7pm and had a quick couple of goes on Hades before the park closed for the evening. We then had our evening meal with a view to riding another coaster (Avalanche) before that park closed at 10pm; however they closed the coaster early, so we missed out. Adrian then stayed up to 1.30am for a live interview on the BBC Radio Derby Breakfast Show.

A nice relaxing day in ‘The Dells’ today and our first Denny’s breakfast of the trip! Weather was nice and sunny and a very agreeable 78 degrees, with no humidity. There are two coaster parks here, Mount Olympus and Timber Falls Adventure Park. Mount Olympus has 4 wooden coasters but today they were only operating 2½ of them. Hades opened after lunch, Zeus ran all day, Pegasus had half the train roped off and Cyclops was having track work.

We first rode Zeus 9 years ago and it was a very agreeable ride then. Unfortunately, it’s now been relegated to a front-seat only ride, with the rest of the train bouncing along for the whole ride – headache tablets at the ready!

Hades was SMOKIN’….. no – it really was smoking! Smoke bellowing off the lift chain between cars three and four. Maintenance guys were made aware but did not seem over bothered! The European Coaster Club came here in June and reported a similar problem, but for them the ride was shut down.

All in all Mount Olympus is a very relaxed park, but we do have concerns about the lack of fencing around the rides. It wouldn’t be difficult just to walk into the coaster area – an accident waiting to happen?

Later in the afternoon a short hop down the road for a ride on Avalanche. We had planned to stay here an hour or so and have a non-stop ride session, but the park had different ideas – they have limited their ‘unlimited ride pass’ to five coaster rides???????. A ride on the ‘all left turns’ Avalanche winds you up so much, all you want to do is turn right when driving away from the Dells. Just as well Ian had to turn right onto the interstate then!

One question we often get asked is “What’s your favourite coaster?” It’s very difficult to answer. For the last two years Hades has been Adrian’s number one. Indeed, the first ride in the dark will remain as one of his best coaster moments. However, the ride has become a little juddery in the second part, diluting the overall ride experience. The tunnel and first turnaround still remain stunning. That’s why it’s a near impossible question to answer. Is it the coaster that is good, or the memory of a particular ride? Also, the same wooden coaster can have good and bad days – not always due to just maintenance issues either.

4 hour drive north-west into Minnesota and the “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis and St. Paul, to our hotel just to the south in Bloomington, MN for 2 nights.

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