TR: Stricker's Grove - 6/12/11
Trip Report: Stricker's Grove
Ross, OH
June 12, 2011
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One of our parish's annual traditions is the Parish Picnic
each Father's Day. For the last several years, this event has been held at Stricker's Grove. Stricker's Grove being mainly a small private amusement park in Ross, Ohio
that specializes in group outings. Also, since the park has been
discovered, the few times a year it is open to public have been steadily
getting more crowded.
I typically invite Rideman down to share the picnic and rides with me. It's
usually a family outing, but with Mom not feeling well, Rideman
and I headed out the park alone. True to form, Stricker's
runs two ride sessions with a meal break in the middle. Rideman
indicated he would be down for the later session. So around 3:30 he collects
me, and we head to the park. It was actually a wise move that we avoided the
early ride session, as that also meant we avoided the storm that went through
the area.
Oh wait, I spoke too
soon, just as we turned onto I-74, the rains started picking up again. Is this
really a wise move? We continued to the park. The first thing we noticed before
we even got to the park is a swinging pirate ship sitting next to the Tornado
that neither of us remembered being there. This will need some investigation.
The rain stopped just long enough for us to park, get
through the front gate, use restrooms, and get some free beverages. I took the
time to sign up to deal blackjack at the Parish Festival in July, and then we
realized we got there just as the rides were closing for the break.
We positioned
ourselves in the line to enter the big reception hall building for dinner, and
at that point the line extended back to the picnic grove. Not long after the doors
opened, the rains came back, which greatly shrank the line as some people
ducked into the picnic shelter to wait for a break in the action to dash into
the building, and also as the crew inside the building rerouted the queue so
people could wait inside.
The meal was the
usual, burgers, bratts, hot dogs and roast corn
provided by the park, served with a pot luck buffet of side dishes and desserts
provided by parishioners. We enjoyed dinner, and lo and behold when the rides
reopened, the rain was gone for the day!
As I alluded to
earlier, first a walk of the midway was in order. It looks like the arcade
building replaced the garage doors with real glass doors, and at first things
looked normal. On the left hand side of the midway, it started off with the
carousel, jumping jumbos, train, Big Eli Ferris Wheel, Tip Top, and Scrambler.
On the ride were some midway games, then a big shelterhouse
filled with little kids rides (boats, cars, and
rockets), the Kiddie Turtle, Kiddie Whip and Teddy Bear coaster.
It was the back
half of the midway where some serious rearranging took place. The helicopter
ride is gone, and in its place the Tilt A Whirl has
been moved fro its spot on the right next to the
Tornado, to a spot on the left between the Scrambler and the former spot of the
Flying Skooters. The Tilt has a slightly larger
footprint than the helicopter ride it replaced, but that is okay, because the
new Pirate ride fills in the spot the Flying Skooters
vacated, and runs in back of the Tilt.
The new pirate ride
is clearly not ready, as it is missing a loading platform amongst other things.
Turning my attention to the right hand side, the Electric Rainbow (Super Round
Up) has moved to the spot the Tilt vacated, and that leaves one more spot,
which is where the Flying Skooters took up the place
the Electric Rainbow was, which means the Skooters
kind of went back to their original location.
We headed right for
the Tornado, and with they very small crowd it would
be a walk on all day if you were not picky about seat selection, Most of the
day was spent riding the Tornado, and the good news is the ride no longer
squeals like crazy going around the curves, so it looks as if the ride has
received some off season care, the not as good news is whatever care they gave
it has seemed to correct the "mistake". The double down on the third
pass through the structure still provides some airtime, but it much gentler
than it was in the past. In short the brief bursts of violent airtime seem to
be gone.
I was glad to see
the ride had gotten some care, as I had some concern about the park the last
year or so. Our other favorite ride is the Flying Skooters,
which is a consistent performer. It's a ride where you feel like you are doing
everything right, and should get that snap and violent tub action, but you
don't.
When we weren't
riding those two rides, we took a tour of the midway. Electric Raibow got a nice new pad next to Tornado, and they even
restored the back gate, so it flush loads. This at a time when most parks are blocking off the back gate.
I do wonder if it will ever get its scenery panels back. The ride got some new
scenery panels the year Pugh operate LeSourdsville
Lake. Stricker's bought the ride soon after but never
put the scenery panels in that fit between the spokes of the wheel. Now they
have moved the ride, but the panels are still not installed. They even moved
the scenery panels and put them underneath the ride in the place they were in
the former location.
Teddy Bear gave its
consistent ride, and Tilt gave a slightly above average ride. We didn't bother
with Tip Top or Scrambler. Their Scrambler never gets up to anything even
approaching proper running speed, and Tip Top is not that interesting. It is a
classic case of an old ride that people raved about on RRC about 15 years ago,
until operators started running them again, then you figured out why they faded
away in the first place.
Our Ferris Wheel ride exhibited the usual interesting balancing the
park has used, as in they never seem to get it. The train ride is sometimes
interesting to take, and this year was no exception. There is a schism afoot
with the Hamilton County Fair. It hit all new levels this year when the 4H
decide to pull out of the fair, and run its own fair out at Stricker's
Grove. While we rode the train ride, we could see work going on for the
construction going on to convert the big athletic field in back of the
reception hall into a fairgrounds.
Rideman was also interested in the Jumping Jumbos ride, beause
it was opeerating only 4 of its 6 sweeps, not only
that the other 2 sweeps were completely removed from the ride. And they were
right next to each other. He verified the ride did have a State operating
permit displayed.
We also learned
that the pirate ride was purchased as a fixer upper, and they hope to have it
ready by 2012, and that by now LeSourdsville Lake has
pretty much sold off or demolished every ride.
With that, we left
the park to go get some Diamonback rides to close out
the night.