Trip Report: Arnolds Park - 7/26/2016

About a month-and-a-half ago, while I was on my way down to visit the family, I decided to make a slight detour into the Okoboji, Iowa area and visit Arnolds Park for the first time. Despite living not too far from this park for a few years, I never actually bothered to visit it until this past July, but I'm glad I finally decided to give it a try. The park's only major coaster is The Legend, a wooden coaster that was built in 1930 (currently the 13th oldest coaster in the world) and designed by John Miller. A few years ago, it was retracked by GCI, and while I obviously never rode it before the retrack, it looks like it has definitely help the ride because it was one of the smoothest wooden coasters I've been on. I enjoyed the ride itself very much, the buzz-bars allowed for a lot of nice floater air, especially in the back seat. In addition to The Legend, Arnolds Park features a decent collection of small flat rides and kiddie rides, a go-kart track, boat rides on the lake, as well as a museum. The park had a nice old-school vibe, friendly employees, and a great setting along Lake Okoboji. Overall, I had a good time at Arnolds Park, and while I wouldn't say it's worth going out of your way for, if you ever happen to be in the area, it's a good place to spend a few hours.

Onto the pictures...

Arnolds Park has a very nice entrance.

First glimpse at The Legend.

The line to get a wristband/tickets.

Ready to go.

Heading into the park.

First ride of the day.

Creepy.

Heading up the lift hill...

...to The Point of No Return.

Up next was the park's log flume, Boji Falls Log Ride. Didn't get very wet, but the final drop was fun.

The more I ride log flumes, the more I like them.

Rode Roll-o-Plane, which was just plain weird.

Their Tilt-a-Whirl runs a pretty crazy program. Lasted for a while and pulled some relatively strong Gs.

Time for some more rides on The Legend.

Hard to see it, but the text on the fire extinguisher reads "Big Scary Legendary Roller Coaster"

Advertising on the train? Must be a Six Flags park.

View of their carousel from the station.

Lake Okoboji.

View of Legend from outside the park.

Park was very clean for its size.

Kiddie Coaster: What a creative name for a kiddie coaster.

One operator at The Legend does everything (check wristbands, check restraints, and control panel), and he did a fairly good job.

Rode it 11 times due to nonexistent lines.

Thanks for a fun few hours, Arnolds Park!

Nice report! I've been meaning to get to this park for a while, but have never made the drive down to Lake Okoboji (Being north of the metro makes that a pretty long drive). I'm glad to see that they retracked Legend and are still operating their log flume! I remember hearing that Legend had gotten pretty rough, and log flumes keep disappearing unfortunately.

We were there around the same time period, and I agree with this assessment. Legend was very smooth, and of course we rode it in the middle row of the three-bench PTCs. The middle row of the back car actually got some good air on the second drop (which is steeper than the first, so it's the most forceful part of this ride).

Ah, roll-o-plane! I've missed that ride since the one at Lagoon folded in half many years ago. They're weird rides for sure, but I loved it when I was younger.

It's a pity I didn't get to visit this park while I was in Iowa ( I went to Adventureland instead ) because I didn't know it existed. Nice TR report.

Great report! I'm absolutely loving the park's entrance and when I looked quick I actually thought it was the Legend coaster itself. Sad thing is that I only noticed because of the 2 car train and not the track ending.

Not sure when I'll ever find myself in that part of Iowa, but the Legend sounds like a great classic wooden coaster.

Despite its smallness and location, this park has always been on my must-visit list, yet I've never seen a close look on it that I can recall. I'm glad Legend is riding well, and the park looks absolutely adorable.

Great report! I'm absolutely loving the park's entrance and when I looked quick I actually thought it was the Legend coaster itself. Sad thing is that I only noticed because of the 2 car train and not the track ending.

Oh wow, good catch. I was going to say that I love the look of Legend's "non-ad" train.

I also missed that this is a slightly older report, but that's perfectly cool.

^ I was going to think that they'd actually extended the coaster, looping it up and over

entrance into the parking lot! Ha ha to me.

Did you get a chance to go into their crazy Fun House? One of your shots just shows

a corner of it. Thought I would ask. It was fun, when I was there, decades ago.

EDIT: Oops. I just realized how old this thread is, too. Silly me.

The Tipsy House!

It was fun, when I was there, decades ago.