Michigan’s Adventure – Time to Shiver

Patrick Wagner — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 18:58:47 +0000

For the last few years I have been trying to figure out a way to make it out to Michigan’s Adventure. Shivering Timbers has long intrigued me and to be honest, smaller parks always turn out to be more enjoyable than I expect going in. My idea has always been to visit this park along with Cedar Point or maybe even Six Flags Great America (SFGAm). My issue was always when to do it and needing the time off to make it happen.

Well, here in 2025 I finally made it happen and not only does it come with visits to SFGAm, but it some other parks I’ve had on my bucket list for years now too. This was the first major stop of our road trip and just like always, this park turned out to be so much fun. I was pleasantly surprised after hearing some of the mixed opinions of the park. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and can make them based on their own experiences. I’m just glad my experiences had me walking out of this park with a smile on my face and wishing we had gotten there earlier to have had more time for these great rides.

A Wolverine & Hawk Amongst Timbers

If you asked me to tell you what the park’s Big 3 rides are I would say Wolverine Wildcat, Thunderhawk, and obviously, Shivering Timbers. Before going into this park I had no idea if any of these coasters would be enjoyable, but based on our one visit, they most certainly were. Jen had some mixed feelings about Shivering Timbers, but I loved my two rides. Let me get into all three of these rides here.

Wolverine Wildcat

Having heard that this ride featured trackwork from several companies and also hearing it called a blander version of Knoebel’s Phoenix by some, I had no idea what to expect. I surely heard some track squeaking as the train ahead of us did its thing though. I thought, “This might hurt.” To my surprise, not only did it not hurt, it was the smoother of the two major woodies at the park.

First off, let me just say that the view from this ride is amazing. Being right next to the lake looks great on-ride and off. This coaster is quite photogenic, which you will see in the gallery at this conclusion of this report. I shot a bunch of photos from across the lake of Wolverine Wildcat and Thunderhawk. What a view!

As for the ride, aside from some of the squeaking, this coaster ran great. We rode in both the front and back and both felt great. We weren’t beat up on either ride. We also had some good airtime pops in the front as well as the back. In the front we had them going over the hills and in the back, dropping off of them. I recommend riding both.

Thunderhawk

Okay, this was easily the biggest surprise of the park to me. It is actually one of the biggest surprises of this entire trip. We saved Thunderhawk for last just in case we were left with your typical SLC headache. This coaster, while looking great with its bright red paint scheme does run with the older trains. Yes, that means the thick over the shoulder restraints everyone hates. Well, everyone except for me (I think). I used to hate them too, but got used to riding with them on Six Flags America’s (SFA) Mind Eraser to the point that ride was quite enjoyable to me. Don’t burn me at the stake. I promise you I’m not a demon.

Well, this ride, which we rode in the back, was even better than Mind Eraser. I didn’t bang my head at all and the trains didn’t have that SLC train shimmy to them. Both Jen and I got off the ride like, “Wow!” Either we lucked out, or this ride rides better than all of its hated cousins. It’s currently my favorite SLC as I haven’t gotten to ride Great Nor’Easter at Morey’s Piers since its re-tracking and new trains due to it being closed when I visited.

Shivering Timbers

Now for the biggest reason I’ve always wanted to visit this park – Shivering Timbers. I’ve heard so many great things about this ride’s airtime moments, which there are a lot with its layout. I have also heard, however, that the ride can run rough. “Can” being the key word there. I’ve heard others say it runs great. I had no idea what to expect.

Our first of two rides came toward the back. There was no one waiting for the row when we made it to the station, so we elected to go right on to the next train.

Of our two rides, this one had a bit more bite to it. Most of the ride ran smooth for me, but I certainly noticed some roughness down at the base of most drops. And if you haven’t seen Shivering Timbers’ layout, it has a bunch of drops both out and back. I could tell Jen wasn’t enjoying the ride, but overall I did. I just didn’t love it like I had hoped.

Later in the day we returned for another ride. This time I wanted to wait for the front row. I figured this would be an overall smoother experience. Jen decided to go ahead and ride it again too, although I don’t think she was looking forward to it much, if at all.

As we completed the outward portion of the ride, I was happy to find that we weren’t experiencing the same roughness at the base of the drops. I found the ride to be so much better. We were still getting a bunch of airtime in the front too.

When we began our return portion of the ride, the same held true for the most part, with only one noticeable rough spot. This second ride was amazing, at least for me. Jen did find it better, but this isn’t a ride she’s fond of. She’s not the biggest wooden coaster fan to begin with, so your opinions may differ.

Final Ride Counts

Corkscrew (1)
Flying Trapeze (1: Jen)
Grand Rapids (1)
Logger’s Run (1)
Mad Mouse (1)
Shivering Timbers (2)
Thunderbolt (1: Jen)
Thunderhawk (1)
Wolverine Wildcat (2)
Woodstock Express (1)
Zach’s Zoomer (1)

Enjoyed the Park More than I Expected

Although I only talked about what I deem to be Michigan’s Adventure’s Big 3 coasters above, we had a great time riding everything else too. Mad Mouse was a little annoying, but that was mostly due to it’s weird operations. Corkscrew, Grand Rapids, Logger’s Run, Zach’s Zoomer, and the smaller flat rides and coasters were quite enjoyable.

Could this park use a new coaster? Sure! What park wouldn’t benefit from something like that? I’d love to see the park get a new addition, or maybe even get a relocated coaster from SFA here after it closes. I’m not sure if anything will survive the park’s closure, but a place like Michigan’s Adventure would be a nice home if it were to happen.

Speaking of the closure of SFA, visiting Michigan’s Adventure, along with Worlds of Fun and Six Flags St. Louis (SFSL) with Sam earlier this year were all important to me because I am genuinely worried about the new Six Flags company closing more parks. This is also why Valleyfair is part of this trip too, which will be featured in an upcoming trip report. I’m not a fan of this merger thus far and it has me wanting to visit all of these parks just in case. If you live by a smaller park in this chain, be sure to visit them and support them.

Michigan's Adventure Photo Gallery - June 30, 2025

If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.

CREW MANIFEST

The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:

Patrick

CAG

New Credit(s): Woodstock Express, Zach's Zoomer, Corkscrew, Mad Mouse, Wolverine Wildcat, Shivering Timbers, Thunderhawk

Jen

Admiral