2/22/09 TR of Northern IL Family Fun Centers

[monsterfan99]

A small TR here. I decided that my fiancee and I should hit all 3 of the family fun centers last Sunday to cure to off season blues. Also wanted to check the 3 coasters off my list of IL coaster. Sorry no pictures due to my internet being slow (I also need someone to Pm me with how to post them if possible.)

Our first stop was the Go Bananas in Harwood Heights, IL. It is not exactly the easiest place to find, which seems to be a running theme with all 3 places, while driving. Now I had never been to a family fun center before (none were in the Springfield, IL area until a couple years ago) so I had no clue what expect. My first impression of the place was the amount of teen/young adult couples there with no kids. Didn't seem like a date place. The again, I'm 24 and drove 45 minutes to ride a kiddie coaster. We got our tickets and headed for the ride. The ride surprised me in I had no clue the rides went more then one circuit. The employees there were very nice to us and understood why we were there once we told them. The place is somewhere I could recommend to anyone that has a kid.

Safari Land was our next stop. Our Tomtom had no clue how to get to the place and had us driving circles around it. Once there we noticed the animals outside and how nice of a touch they are. We went inside and went to get our tickets. This is where the problems with this place start. We stood there for a good 10 minutes while the 2 employees counted money and talked. Never once did they even turn to see if there was anyone in line (5 families were behind us) and did not apologize for the wait. We bought the wrist band for $20.00 (after getting asked why we were even there) and went off to the coaster. After our once ride on it, we decided to rent a locker. Well, the stupid thing would not work right (quarters would not drop down.) From there, the place blamed us and said "we offer no refunds on anything" and we had to pay another dollar. Next was a stop to the Tilt-a-Whril. Here, we were originally told adults were not allowed on without kids, to which we had to argue a good 2 minutes to even get on the ride. We then decided to hit the VR machine, to which we noticed it had a small out of order sign on it. The sign was hidden behind a plant and in the color of dark purple. We were upset to say the least and went to complain. We were told bluntly "no refunds" and the guy then said next. We then tried to hit the Monkey Jump and told there was a max height, which was no listed on the web-site there. After that, it was our 2nd ride on the coaster and we left. Overall, the place needs to learn what customer service is. The employees were awful (saw families treated the same way on the VR machine being down) and we will never go there again.

After this we hit our last stop, the Go Bananas in Arlington Heights, IL. The place was a complete 180 from Safari Land. We went in to buy our tickets. While waiting for the receipt, the woman behind the counter said "let us know if you are not 100% satisfied." We hit the coaster, which amazingly ran for 8 laps in one ride. After that we got a couple of bucks in tokens to mess around with. When we went to turn in our tokens, the same woman that sold us our tickets waited on us. She asked if we had a good time and were satisfied with the place, to which we said yes. On the way out, we also saw a sign that said if not 100% satisfied, refund available. It is nice to know they put the customer 1st and do everything they can to make the visit outstanding.

Overall, the day was fine. The two Go Bananas places were great little fun centers. The Safari Land is a place that feels like it ran by the worst kind of carnies. I'm now down to 2 kiddie coasters left and I've 100% the state (and I feel like a huge nerd saying that.) Not a bad way for 2 people in their mid 20's to kill an afternoon and help those off-season blues.

[Coaster Justin]

Yeah, I've been to those 3 places. They're Cool. I wonder if Six Flags Would Make Stuff like this Themed to Thomas the Tank Engine.

When I went to The 2 Go Banana's in 08, An Employee from 1 ride went to the Coaster when they saw me in line for it. Did that happen when you went there.

[monsterfan99]

Yeah, I've been to those 3 places. They're Cool. I wonder if Six Flags Would Make Stuff like this Themed to Thomas the Tank Engine.

When I went to The 2 Go Banana's in 08, An Employee from 1 ride went to the Coaster when they saw me in line for it. Did that happen when you went there.

The one in Harwood Heights, IL was that way with everything but the coaster. Safari Land was like that despite having someone at the Monkey Jump the whole time (it never ran the 45 minutes we were there.) The other Go Bananas had someone there the whole time at each attraction.

[Ilovthevu']

So, they only let you go on the Tilt-A-Whirl once? To, me that Tilt-A-Whirl didn't seem so forceful, but this was maybe 2 years ago going on it. I was thinking of going on either one of those coasters, and it's not for a credit. Believe it or not, I really liked the Dragon coaster that used to be at Santa's Village. A ride like that was also at Dorney Park, and I couldn't get enough of that either. Were these rides almost the same as what you rode?

http://rcdb.com/ig649.htm
http://rcdb.com/ig1438.htm

[monsterfan99]

So, they only let you go on the Tilt-A-Whirl once? To, me that Tilt-A-Whirl didn't seem so forceful, but this was maybe 2 years ago going on it. I was thinking of going on either one of those coasters, and it's not for a credit. Believe it or not, I really liked the Dragon coaster that used to be at Santa's Village. A ride like that was also at Dorney Park, and I couldn't get enough of that either. Were these rides almost the same as what you rode?

http://rcdb.com/ig649.htm
http://rcdb.com/ig1438.htm

Same style coaster as the Go Bananas in Arlington Heights, but different one. The one at Safari Land only had a single spiral. Plus the people who made the coasters are Miler and Wisdom. I did not know the ride was sent to Carnival Thrillz, might have to hit that up when at Nick Universe.

The Tilt-a-Whirl had no force at all. I rode twice (once with the fiancee) and only made 1 forceful spin both rides. The one at Kiddieland was spinning like nuts by myself and this one couldn't do it with 2 people. I probably could have rode more, but was pissed at the place. It was also annoying that they wrote on the wrist band when boarding each time. I have no clue why they did that but the place also has no clue how to run itself.

My advice to anyone is don't waste you time on Safari Land. The prices are high for what you get. Only reason I went was because I just starting becoming a coaster nerd and wanted the credit (same with the two Go Bananas, but they were at least fun) plus to cure the off season blues. On top of that, I plan to move away from here in 2011 and didn't want to miss the places. Save your money and go to Kiddieland that is 8 miles away.

[Chitown]

Wow, that is a shame you had a bad experience at Safari Land.

Before I moved to Florida, I used to frequent that place quite a bit and had a good time.

If you go during the week, the wristband is supposed to include a couple games of bowling. It seems the employees there have turned for the worse.

Give it a try again and enjoy the other options there like bowling and the games. How come you didn't do the bumper cars?

Them telling you that you need a kid on Tilt A Whirl is either a mistake by the employee or they changed their policy on it.

[FParker185]

Yeah, though it's been a few years since I was at Safari Land, it was always at least an ok place. When I was there, though you had to use the re loadable card, you could get just enough $$ to ride the coaster and not have to get a wristband. Also I rode the tilt a whirl there, myself and another coaster enthusiast and we had no problems. Used to go over there after NoCoaster Con and get a few rides. It's sorta sad to hear the place has gone downhill since then. While I found it to be nothing spectacular, it wasn't a bad place. Good for a quick coaster fix even if it was a Wisdom extended Dragon Wagon.

[monsterfan99]

Wow, that is a shame you had a bad experience at Safari Land.

Before I moved to Florida, I used to frequent that place quite a bit and had a good time.

If you go during the week, the wristband is supposed to include a couple games of bowling. It seems the employees there have turned for the worse.

Give it a try again and enjoy the other options there like bowling and the games. How come you didn't do the bumper cars?

Them telling you that you need a kid on Tilt A Whirl is either a mistake by the employee or they changed their policy on it.

Well, we did do the bumper cars. The problem was the 2nd group of kids they let on. Both were below the min and could not have weighted more then 50 pounds. A girl from the first group hit her and she almost flew off the vehicle. We were scared to hurt the little girl, so we didn't hit here. We were also blocked in by 5 non-moving cars, so we could not get away from her.

Maybe we hit the place on a bad day, I don't know. However, we have no plans to return. We had no plans to return to any of the 3 places, but the staff at the two Go Bananas impressed us so much that we might return.