Dixie Diversions


Or,


Riding Coasters in the American Southeast

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COPYRIGHTED by Alex Rigsby and/or Rendell Bird



by: Rendell Bird of Lafayette, LA; and, Alex Rigsby of Houston TX.

Dates: July 24th - 30th 2004

Parks: Dixie Landin', Carousel Gardens, Waterville USA, Miracle Strip, Wild Adventures, Six Flags over Georgia, Lake Winnepesaukah, and Visionland

Miles Traveled: Approximately 2,000



Day One: July 24th
Blue Bayou (Waterpark) and Dixie Landin' (Amusement Park) / Baton Rouge
The remains of Pontchartrain Beach / New Orleans

Our trip got off to an ill-omened start when we reached the eastern-most exit of I-10 in Baton Rouge and found traffic had backed-up onto the Interstate trying to get to the water/amusement park complex. Apparently, a rock band named "Switchfoot" was holding a free concert on the ground of the park - and the people were arriving in droves to see them. Alex and I were forced to park about 3/4th of a mile down the road since the parking lot of BB/DL was completely full. In a way it was kinda nice since we managed to snag a SHADY SPOT in front of a Baptist Church. Then we walked along the shoulder-free & sidewalk-less city street back to the park(s). We soon encountered queues the size of which I've never seen at the quaint little home-spun park. We stood in the broiling sun for nearly a full hour merely trying to buy tickets to gain admission to the park. Fortunately for us, people were there for the concert and/or the waterpark - precious few attendees were actually riding-the-rides.

We took a quick spin on "Guilbeau's Galaxi" (Italian S.D.C.) and "Ragin' Cajun" (Vekoma first-generation Boomerang with Arrow rolling stock). I wanted to demonstrate my digital camera to Alex but sweat had poured down my arms to such an extent that the case actually was covered with POOLS of it. We decided he could see it later.

We left Dixie Landin' as soon as we could and headed for City Park in New Orleans - home of Carousel Gardens with its LiveOak Ladybug. Unfortunately, they stop selling tickets at 5:30pm before their 6pm closing. So, with an hour to kill until we due for the night's lodgings, Alex and I decided to try to find the remains of New Orleans' long-gone Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park. After a quick search we found the only remaining parts of the original park : the small "landmark lighthouse" that marked the begining of the park, and the station-house for their Ragin' Cajun (Arrow Loop&Corkscrew). We walked approximately 1/2 mile thru knee-high black-topped Beg-A-Ride weeds to find the abandoned station house covered in graffiti and left to rot. The scene was sad enough to bring a sniffle out of any coaster fanatic. Plus, our legs were physically BLACK from the knees down. We spent the night at a coworker of Alex's in the Uptown District of New Orleans in their $1million dollar home. That's one of my favorite eccentricities of New Orleans : Many places are rather nondescript on the outside but disguise interiors that nearly defy description. After a restful night, we were off to...


Day Two : July 25th
The Cemetaries of Metairie (Metairie LA)
Carousel Gardens (New Orleans)
Magic Golf-Biloxi Beach Park (Biloxi MS)
Waterville USA (Gulf Shores AL)
and The Race Track (Gulf Shores AL)



Day Two got off to a slow start. It took over two hours to add my name to the car-rental agreement. This way, Alex *and* I could drive the car. So, since we were late leaving New Orleans we decided to simply wait the extra hour before Carousel Gardens' opening (at noon) by taking a quick spin thru the nearby cemetaries.

Graveyards in the "New Orleans area" are different from most other graveyards in the USA since the entire New Orleans area is below sea level - so people have to "buried" above ground. It didn't take long after the founding of the city before the monied-clans of the different families began an informal feud over which could build the most ornate sepulchre. Many of the mausoleums are in the form of marble churches, but some of based on more fanciful creations (e.g. Greek temples, Egyptian pyramids, etc).

After the quick visit, we were off to...

Carousel Gardens - looks almost gloomy under the interlocking branches of the Liveoak trees.

(A.K.A. - Home of the Eerily Silent [sans-music] Carousel)

We each bought enough tickets to take two spins on the Liveoak Ladybug (Zierer Tivoli). Its a "figure eight kiddie coaster" but the ride is rendered fascinating by the mere fact that it wraps completely around two huge liveoak trees. We took our two quick spins and we were out of there... ...and on our way to Biloxi.

Magic Golf

The 2000 issue of "Guide to Ride" said that there was a park in Biloxi, Mississippi. I, myself, vaguely remembered seeing it in one of my previous trips but had never stopped to actually see if there was much to the teeny tiny park. We got there at about 2pm and asked for two tickets to ride their "Super Coaster". The coaster appeared to be the exact same model/design the "High Speed Thrill Coaster" at Knoebels in Pennsylvania and the "Little Coaster" at Joyland in Lubbock, TX. Anyone may ride the High Speed Thrill Coaster - but only children are allowed to ride the Super Coaster at Magic Golf. After getting our money back (since we had specifically asked for the tickets to ride the coaster), we were soon on our way to Gulf Shores, AL.

Apparently, I was fascinated by the home-made "stunts" on their putt-putt golf course because I took a photograph of one particularly eye-catching stunt.

Waterville USA

Waterville USA is a waterpark, go-kart track, and video-game center with one outstanding feature : A 95 foot tall CCI out-n-back coaster, The Cannonball Run. We bought enough tickets for two quick spins - rode it - and then walked around it taking photographs. Soon we were on the road for the nearby Family Race Track. The CannonBall Run's mid-course turnaround clearly needs some retracking due to the intense shuffling. Overall, though, CannonBall Run was quite fun and laced with a bit of airtime.

While I have often seen pictures of the multi-level wooden tracked go-kart tracks in far-flung places, someone has built one in Gulf Shores. Since neither of us had ever ridden/driven such a thing, we decided we simply HAD to try it. Alex, unfortunately, got the slowest go-kart on the face of creation; whereas, I had the fastest one. We were barely around the first turn when I passed Alex - and before our five minute time-limit was over, I had lapped my way through over half the crowd. But to be fair, the track was well-worn. The parts of the wooden track that were protected from the sun/rain were glass smooth. The parts that were exposed to the elements were ungodly rough. Since such things don't bother me much - I actually GAINED speed on those sections rather than slowing down in an attempt to not rattle the brainpan. Its not difficult to pass people who are actively mashing their brake-pedals into the floorboards.

We were soon on the road to Panama City (185 miles to the east) but only managed to drive as far as Pensacola before seeking a hotel for the night. This was our first hotel stay during the trip. We statyed at a Comfort Inn that had free wireless internet access which Alex managed to get to work despite the front desk's lack of knowledge. Thank goodness for the free version of Zone Alarm.


Day Three : July 26th
Ponce de Leon State Park (Florida)
Miracle Strip Amusement Park (Panama City Beach FL)



The only REAL rain storm of the entire trip happened during the morning drive down the coast to Panama City Beach [a separate "town" from Panama City]. After blinding lightning and torrential downpours we soon arrived in the parking lot of Miracle Strip Amusement Park. Since the park didn't open until 6pm we decided we needed to find something else to do while we waited. I convinced Alex that he might enjoy seeing one of Florida's rightfully famous "Crystal Rivers". The nearest one to Miracle Strip is/was Ponce de Leon Springs State Park. 45 minutes after leaving the parking lot of Miracle Strip, we were parked at the springs. One can read factoids about "Crystal Rivers" with their 99.998% pure water spewing up out of the limestone substrata at a constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 Celsius), but until you step out of the 90+F humidity-drenched air and INTO that freakin' cold water, you don't really grasp the exact nature of what 68F degree water can do to your body ["Shrinkage" is not descriptive ENOUGH]. :-) Metal canoes have to be bailed periodically because of the condensation forming on the INSIDES of the metal hull (NOT to say they allow boating at Ponce de Leon Springs). After a cool refreshing dip, we were soon on our way back to Miracle Strip - to visit the place one last time before it closes its doors forever.

Miracle Strip is obviously a labor-of-love on the part of someone. Most of its buildings have elaborate themeing not often seen outside of the big corporate theme parks. But it's here - as well as the first roller coaster I ever rode : The Starliner. I last rode the Starliner back in the early 90's when ACE had an event there. It was running very lackluster that day. This day - it was running like gangbusters and producing smile-inducing airtime on nearly every hill. Alex and I had an absolute blast riding it. After a spin on nearly every other ride there ( Dante's Inferno, the flume ride, the car ride, etc) The electric cars that run along a metal guide were particularly good and traversed over half the length of the park. The cars looked liked 1950s-era convertibles and even played music through speakers located somewhere inside the car from a fictitious radio station ("Miracle Strip Radio", if I remember correctly.) This park will be sorely missed.

Before the day came completely to an end we made it to Marianna, FL, where we stayed at our 2nd Comfort Inn of the trip.



Day Four : July 27th
Wild Adventures (Valdosta GA)




The next day started with the long drive to Valdosta. Utilizing some quick map-reading and itinerary-adjustments we were on the backroads that cut between the ChristmasTree Farms of north Florida and the peanut farms of south Georgia. And in the middle of nowhere pops-up Wild Adventures:

Possible other names for Wild Adventures



This park has a feel somewhere between "big corporate themer" and "small hometown park". Its very much like Busch Gardens Tampa on a MUCH smaller and MUCH lower scale of investment. The food at the park was decent. Alex had never had Brunswick Stew and he seemed to like it. And, yes, it seems almost bizarro to put a theme park of this size here. Quite literally we were driving through very rural areas and could have sworn we heard banjos strumming... then suddenly, across a field we see a Vekoma SLC standing in all its bright orange-ish "glory".

Alex and I, being equal oppurtunity CoasterCreditCravers, immediately headed for the nearest coaster : Ant Farm Express. Being a kiddie coaster (Vekoma Roller Skater) we chalked-up the credit, and headed for the next coaster -- which was, again, a kiddie coaster. Soon we discovered that FIVE of the park's NINE coasters were kiddie coasters. The pictured coaster is called "Swamp Thing" and is the only Vekoma Suspended kiddie coaster we had ever seen. It was fun!

We rode ALL of the coasters which were running. Only one coaster was not running, a kiddie coaster called "Gold Rush". There were two highlights to the day:

1) The Hangman - a standard Vekoma SLC - was running smoother than nearly any SLC I've ever experienced. [Howard Gilolly - try to get down to Valdosta as soon as you can for a not-awful ride on an SLC].

2) Cheetah - A steel-supported wooden coaster - was MUCH better than I had been led to believe. Indeed, if it had been running ANY other rolling stock besides Gerstlauers, I would probably have placed it in my Top Twenty. As it was - the incessant jackhammering gave me a headache that only food and coffee could abate. Still, we rode it many times in our few hours there.

Downsides: The park is sorely lacking shade. Also, their ride policy must be the most extreme either of us have ever seen. You can't carry anything on the ride. Indeed, their official policy is that you can't even take your own car keys. Car keys?! (to be fair, we saw a similar sign at SFoG the next day, but it was still very strange). We were delighted that our clothes didn't suddenly shred and fly off our bodies as this park would almost have you believe is likely to be the case.

We made it to Tifton, GA, where we spent another night at a Comfort Inn. We were happy to see that their breakfast wasn't just another 'continental', although this was easily the worst hotel of our trip (no towels, broken coffee pot, etc).


Day Five : July 28th
Six Flags Over Georgia (Atlanta GA)



Other Possible Names for Six Flags Over Georgia


"Buses, buses, everywhere - and all the paths were fraught;
Buses, buses, everywhere - so we rented a Q-bot."
--With sincere apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I've been visiting SFoG for many years. Indeed, I consider the park my "home park" since it was the park we visited nearly every year when I was teenager. But I have *NEVER* seen such crowds as I did on Wednesday, July 28th, 2004. Alex and I only had six-or-seven hours to enjoy the entire park, and since the line for nearly every coaster was over 90 minutes, we decided the only method to attempt to ride all the coasters was to get a "Gold Q-Bot". A regular Q-bot tells you when to come back and join the short-line for the ride after waiting outside the line for almost as long as it takes to go through the normal line. Clearly you can go do other things while waiting, but a Gold Q-bot lets you jump (nearly immediately) to the head of the line. Feeling like a hypocrite, for having ranted against all manner of corporate-sanctioned money-grubbing GLORIFIED LINE-JUMPING, I assented to renting the gold Q-bot.

Superman: Ultimate Flight had a 90 minute normal wait but we waited less than 10 minutes to get into the Fast Lane queue. I'm not proud of what Alex and I did - but we were forced. We had driven nearly 1000 miles; and if we wanted to ride more than three coasters, we had to circumvent the queues. After spending nearly an hour in the sweltering sun, and paying MORE than the price of admission, we had our Q-bot in hand. First, we rode the Georgia Cyclone. It is a coaster I remember fondly from its opening back in 1990. Today it is a far cry from the coaster I rode back then. This one has potholes at the bottom of nearly every hill; trains where 1/3rd of the seats are roped-off because of malfunctioning restraints, and a ride-crew who didn't seem to care if anybody got to ride or not. Another disappointment was Delay-ja Vu - which wasn't running. That would be the end of the disappointments though. Most of the rest of the rides were running as well as could be expected.



SFoG is a beautiful park but nearly impossible to photograph - BOTH for the same reason : the profusion of HUGE TREES. After taking some rather disappointing photographs we left.
We grabbed a bite to eat at a Krystal Burger and then we were on our way to Chattanooga, or actually, Rossville, GA.


Day Six : July 29th
Lake Winnepesaukah (Rossville GA)
Lookout Mountain (AL, GA, and TN)
Fort Payne AL
Visionland (Bessemer AL)



After spending a restful night at a rather rundown Howard Johnson's we were on our way to Lake Winnepesaukah (Win-nee-pah-SOAK-kuh). We arrived within minutes of the park's opening but already the lines were long trying to get into the park. Apparently in an effort to be affordable and flexible, the different ticket-combinations made for a bewildering array of choices. Each set of parents were forced to spend about 4-to-5 minutes, apiece, trying to find the most economical method of entry. After waiting nearly 45 minutes, we entered the park. First, we rode the train around the park in order to get a feel for the park's layout and discovered the park has a back entrance by the Cannon Ball and far fewer cars in its parking lot. Our first coaster of the day was their Wacky Worm. After this kiddie coaster, we moved on to more substantive fare: their haunted house named "The Castle". After a cute ride on it we moved on to the bigger thrill rides, namely Wild Lightnin' (An L&T Wild Mouse) and their Fly-O-Plane. Wild Lightnin' was running with severe laterals; and the Fly-O-Plane turned out to be a uncontrollable and uncomfortable delicately balanced ride. While we were both happy to have gotten a chance to ride the Fly-O-Plane, neither of us will hunger for a chance at a second go-round.

Soon, we were on the coaster that drew us to the Chattanooga area : The Cannon Ball. It's a compact yet air-time-filled John Allen/PTC creation. Many rides later, we were on our way to...

Lookout Mountain - a "stitched" view

We didn't have time to visit any of the kitschy "famous" Lookout Mountain attractions (e.g., Rock City, Ruby Falls, The Incline Railway, etc). Being flatlanders we were impressed with its 2,300 crown overlooking the valley below. We settled for a quick drive up the mountain, we stopped to take some photographs, and then we were on our way to Bessemer, AL. But first we had to find some food along the way so we stopped in...

Fort Payne, Alabama - The Sock Capital of the World

In the past I have driven from Chattanooga to Birmingham a few times. Therefore, I knew that our restaurant options were going to be rather limited along that stretch of highway. We opted to stop at Fort Payne since I had managed to find a decent meal there seven years ago on a previous trip. We had good luck and bad luck there. Good Luck -> Fort Payne now considers itself to be "The Sock Capital of the Wold" with a sign proudly proclaiming that fact. Bad Luck -> The restaurant I knew was long gone, but near it was a Mexican restaurant owned by real Mexicans.

After a few quick pictures, we were back on the road to...

Visionland

Since the last time I visited (in 1998) they've added an entire waterpark; and due to financial difficulties, they've split the park into two distinct sections : Splash Beach and Magic Adventures. Since we were visiting to ride Rampage, off we went to the Magic Adventures section of the park. There seemed to plenty of fun rides to ride, and the park was brightly colored and attractively laid-out; yet, we couldn't quite shake the feeling that *something* was just ... MISSING ... from the park. We couldn't decide if the problem was the the lack of festive music playing throughout the park, or the remains of the dead-rides who's carcasses were strewn about the park. I don't think I've ever seen a park-scene as depressing as the rotting empty flume ride with its barren concrete troughs and its lift-hill disassembled in storage behind Rampage's lifthill. The forgotten sun-bleached "logs" parked hither-n-yon along the way were among the most mournful things I've ever seen.

Rampage is a CCI twister and it sits mighty on the hilltop. Firmly planting itself in my Top Five, Rampage continues to deliver a wild, fun, fast, ride without being brutal. Obviously, CCIs with PTCs *can* withstand the 'test of time' with some tender-loving-care and upkeep. Alex rated it his New Number Two; and I still have it firmly in my Top Five.


Day Seven : ...the long drive home...


I drove 200 miles, and then Alex drove 330 miles (to get back to Houston - taking the wheel after lunch) but our trip around the American Southeast had finally come to an end. It was with moist eyes that I hugged Alex one final time before he drove away.

In summation, I guess I should say that we had a VERY good time, but DEEP SUMMER in the DEEP SOUTH can be brutal - even for those us who choose to live down here. It was often 93F (34C) during the times when we were forced to visit the parks. It would have been great to visit after sunset, but that option was not possible for us. Nor was there an option to visit at some other time of the year since parks like Miracle Strip have rather abbreviated operating seasons. Indeed, by the time this Webpage gets created, their summer season will be finished and they will switch to opening only on weekends. And soon thereafter, they will be gone forever.

ALL of the parks we visited were FUN despite the heat and (sometimes) crowds. Certainly crowds are to be expected during the middle of summer. Still, even the most fun endeavor can become a lackluster experience without the accompaniment of a good friend. Alex and I spent six solid days together, and we never ran out of jokes to tell, stories to spin, anecdotes to relate, and coasters to review. I'd like to publicly thank Alex for his patience and his infectious sense of humor. He is a true friend and a great CoasterBuddy!

I'd better stop before I get too maudlin,
:Rendell