VIP Tour 6-23-11

[Porkchop23]

Went on the VIP Tour yesterday. Here's the lowdown:

We live 3 hours from the park so we stayed at a hotel the night before and the night after. We took the Metra downtown and walked around. Had some great pizza at Uno's and took a look up Marylin Monroe's skirt. We decided to head back on the 9:35 train to get a good nights sleep. We didn't get back to Waukegan until 1:00 a.m. due to a fatal accident on the tracks near Winetka by the train before us. Thank God for iPhones with Netflix. We finally get to bed around 2:00 a.m.

Got up at 7:30, and looked outside. Thick overcast clouds and rain. I turn on the news and see that the Dan Ryan is flooded and other areas are underwater. The weather radar shows a massive storm cloud coming in directly over Gurnee. I'm thinking "Great, it hasn't rained on Saturday in 2 months and today is the day it's going to downpour all day. We discussed canceling the park but decided none of us could really afford to miss another day of work and hotel costs again, so we're just going to have to go with it.

Our guide called around 9:30 to finalize any plans. I told her I was concerned about the weather and she assured me that it wasn't going to be a problem. She said by noon everything was going to be blown over the park and we were going to have a great day. I thought she was nuts, but I appreciated her optimism. She was completely right. Except for a little bit of drizzle on the ride over, it didn't rain again for the rest of the day.

We came into the Washington St. gate at 9:45 a.m. The gate attendant was already expecting us and directed us to the nearest parking space by guest services. We went to the window and I gave her my name said we were on the VIP Tour. The attendant said, "Yes, you are" and about 10 seconds later our new best friend arrived to greet us. For the sake of privacy, I'll call her "Jill" for the rest of the review. Jill shook our hands and welcomed us to the park. We took a quick trip through security and we were on our way.

Rides: We rode everything we wanted to without wait. Jill took us up the exit lane right to the gate. We bypassed some of the lane by taking "employee only" stair ways. People were giving us odd looks when we were coming out of these areas. Jill put my bookbag and any of our drinks, hats, glasses..etc.. up by the ride op station. We didn't have to worry about anyone taking our stuff. Because we were on the "Ultimate" VIP Tour, we didn't have to go on a different ride before we could ride again. We would ride the front row first and then ride the back row. It went like that all day. That was pretty sweet. We didn't hear much grumbling, only a couple of times from people that had to wait. How do I put this....the ones that complained, you could tell from looking that they most likely complained about being victims of all kinds of social unjust all their lives. We exercised our head of the line privilege on the Bull quite a bit, but honestly, I think we rode the go-karts the most. We were having a blast. Karts 9, 10, and 5 are the fastest ones there. Surprisingly, we never rode Iron Wolf. None of us wanted to.

Waterpark: Our tour included a cabana and a surf lesson on the surf simulator. Around 12:30 we went over to Hurricane Harbor and changed into our swimsuits. Our cabana was waiting there with towels and a refrigerator full of soda and water. We signed some waivers and went to the surf simulator. The kid giving the lesson was very good. He told us how to get on, where to place our feet, what to do..etc. After about 5 attempts, I finally was able to stand up on the board for more than 2 seconds. The key is not to think about it. It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. We had our lunch in the cabana, and then changed back into our street clothes. The VIP Tour doesn't get front of the line in the waterpark, so we didn't want to waste time.

Food: We ate and drank whatever we wanted. That was a sweet perk.It got hot during the afternoon, and we were never thirsty. We always had cold soda and lemonade in our hands.

Games: I have never been good at carnival games. Because we had unlimited access, I decided to try ones I would never spend money on. Somehow, I managed to win the game that you have to knock the stacked blocks completely off the platform with a baseball...not once, but TWICE in a row. I can't hit the broadside of a barn with a baseball. It wasn't rigged, nobody helped, it wasn't because we were VIP. They weren't allowed to "let" us win, we had to do it on our own. The key is to hurl the ball as hard as you can toward the bottom block. If you hit it hard enough, you'll cause the platform to vibrate just enough for all the blocks to come off. I won a huge Abominable Snowman and a black Superman electric guitar. (The guitar actually works. I picked up a small used amp this morning and tried it out. I have no idea how to play it, but I guess I'll learn.) We played a lot of games and walked out with a lot of stuff. I was getting concerned with how we were going to get it all in my car. All of us, including Jill were carrying multiple stuffed animals, plus an electric guitar back to her office. One of the office ladies said, "Did you leave anything for anyone else to win?"

We had a great time. We all decided we would do it again next year if the pricing and the package remains the same. It was great having that kind of unlimited access to the park. We never really got tired because we weren't out roasting in the sun all day. Jill really did a great job of making sure we were happy and didn't want for anything.

[tribar]

So what else did you ride expect RB and the go carts

[Porkchop23]

So what else did you ride expect RB and the go carts

Except for Iron Wolf, we rode all the coasters multiple times. I didn't bother keeping track. It was neat going from the red train to the blue train on AE just by moving a chain, instead of walking all the way around. None of us really care about flat rides. We did ride King Chaos. We did the Dare Devil Dive a few times too.

One other thing that happened: I read in that other VIP review how that group gave out exit line passes to uniformed military members. I wanted to do the same thing and Jill thought it was a great idea. The problem was, we didn't see any the entire day. I did see a little girl stop her family and run to pick up a stuffed Tweety Bird that another lady had dropped. She picked it up and ran it back to the lady and gave it back to her. I had Jill give her and her entire family exit line passes. Her dad was real proud of her.

[Ilovthevu']

I went the same weekend, and I just want to say that Revolution was closed, but Superman was back open. Also, the topic I think is really 7/23/11 not 6/23. V2's also open just in case no one knew that. I honestly didn't have such a great time on the weekend. The Triple Play guy was so slow it was ridiculous - made me miss the train, and than even after the train left, they roped off the station. Than, at night Batman the Ride was 1 minute 40 dispatches. For Iron Wolf, I almost lost my hat because that's the only ride in the park hey you can't wear it on your wrist. You can wear it on your elbow with ONE snap, and it was just a miserable ride. Not worrying about the ride, but losing my hat holding it against the seat. Give me a break really? I can go on V2, Whizzer, Batman the Ride, Condor, Triple Play, Dark Knight, Demon, a waterslide, and wear it on my wrist (and NOT lose it) but nope for Iron Wolf. With the hat wearing, it's always ONE ride at the park. It's never the whole park. When it stopped wearing them before, it was a stinking Demon employee. Now, it's Iron Wolf people. Really, they must be newbies or something. I just don't get it.

People lose hats when they hold onto them only, or especially when they wear them on their head. If you put it on your wrist, it doesn't come off unless you force it off! Does anyone not get that? The stupid parade had a ton of people and I had to walk around the front entrance just to get to the other side. It was a bad day - more bad towards night than day to tell you the truth.

[rb1]

Somebody needs a VIP treatment. Anyways back to the topic. Did you win an IPAD or XBox 360 from the claw machine or are the games only limited to only places they allow you to go? That would've so nice to bring home one of those. Glad you had a great time except for Ihearthevu maybe next time youll have a fun trip its almost August so crowds wont be as bad cause the kiddies r going back 2 school.