VF15

That picture from grsupercity was just a joke, although I do agree with him that the waterpark could use some more love. The new additions this year brought Soak City up to an acceptable level, but it's still one of the worst waterparks in the chain.

According to the park's Facebook page, Busch Gardens Tampa will be closed today due to severe weather. That stinks.

Updated list (in no particular order): -El Toro -Tatsu -Leviathan -All RMCs -Montu -Kumba -Fury 325 -Expedition GeForce -Intimidator 305 -Balder -Any Intamin Mega-Lite -Boulder Dash -Phoenix -The Voyage

^ Valleyfair has not announced that Excalibur will be removed. I'm sure they're just going along with the rumor. Excalibur might not end up getting removed this year anyway since we don't know when/if the plans will get approved.

Yesterday while waiting in line for Tornado at Adventureland: "Anyone thinking Final Destination here?"

Tornado at Adventureland.

Earlier today during my trip to the Des Moines area, I decided to pay my first visit to the local amusement park, Adventureland. It's a small family park located in Altoona, Iowa that has some fun rides, friendly employees, and a very nice atmosphere that exceed my expectations. Adventureland has a nice charm that is hard to find in most parks nowadays. For the most part, the park is clean and good looking despite being a little dated. The Main Street section of the park especially looks nice. The park's employees were very friendly. They always had a good attitude, and they were making an effort to fill all available seats on the rides. It was also nice that food prices here weren't that ridiculous here compared to other places. The rides were a lot of fun, with Tornado and Outlaw being the park's best. Adventureland isn't perfect though. There is a graffiti problem in most of the queues, and the coasters can only run one train at a time, however I very much enjoyed my time here, and I'm looking forward to coming back next summer to ride Monster, the park's new for 2016 Gerstlauer Infinity coaster. I will reserve final judgement until riding, but I think Monster will end up being the park's new best ride. Overall, I think Adventureland is an underrated park that I would recommend visiting if you're ever in Iowa. My thoughts on Adventureland's coasters from worst to best: -Underground: This just barely counts as a coaster in my book since it is more of a dark ride. No real thrilling moments. It does have some okay theming, although the storyline is a bit confusing and hard to understand. More for families than thrill seekers. 3.5/10 -Dragon: It wasn't quite as bad as I'd been led to believe, but it was still a rough ride despite riding defensively. I will give it credit for having some decent forces though. 4/10 -Outlaw: This was my first experience with CCI and I walked away satisfied. Nice first drop, fairly intense, very good laterals, and several pops of floater air. A little rough in spots, but nothing bad. 7/10 -Tornado: The biggest surprise of the day, Tornado has tons of floater air in addition to nice positive-Gs and good laterals in the turnaround. It's better than most other out-and-back woodies I've been on, and I'm a little surprised it doesn't get more attention. 7.5/10 Now onto the photos... The drive to Adventureland features some of the most amazing landscapes in the world... Arriving at the park. Pretty small entrance. The train station at the front of the park. The Main Street area. Park map. Walking down the street. Our first ride of the day was Tornado. Pulling out of the station. Cornfields and coasters in the same picture. Only in Iowa... About to experience some nice airtime. Tornado's station has no air gates. Entrance to the Outlaw Gulch section of the park. Up next was Outlaw. Alright, let's get this over with. Semi-decent loops. Manufactured by Hopkins Death Machines, Inc. Took a ride on the Inverter. Nerd shot. The last turn before the brakes. Noted. Outlaw train speeding by. Pretty fun first drop. Yep, it was a fun ride. The train going by the Inverter. One last ride on Tornado before heading out. Dragon's victims in the figure-8. Adventureland's Log Ride, which will be removed after Labor Day weekend to make way for Monster. That's it for my trip report. Thanks for reading! Space Shot. I didn't ride it, but everyone else seemed to like it. Tornado and Dragon. Took another lap on Outlaw after grabbing a bite to eat. About to enter the station. Creepy animatronic. The Underground was up next.

I believe you can also get $7 off a wristband if you buy it on the NU website instead of at the park.

Valleyfair is having it's first ever Coaster Campout on September 12th and 13th. According to the website, for $200, you get to camp in the park for one night, plus you'll get ERT after the park closes on Saturday and before it opens on Sunday. I won't be able to make it due to other obligations, but if anyone else here goes, have fun! https://www.valleyfair.com/events/things-to-do/special-events/Coaster-Campout-7-28-15-31

I would love to have an RMC at Valleyfair. Will it happen? Probably not .

It sounds like it's a Chance Revolution. Definitely looking forward to riding this next time I'm at Nickelodeon Universe since I'm a fan of these frisbee-style rides.

I'm not a big Haunt fan, but that looks quite impressive (at least by Valleyfair standards).

I don't plan on visiting the water park because I'll only be able to stay at the park for a few hours and I'd rather ride the coasters. Is Dragon really as bad as people say it is? If so, then I might end up skipping it because it's not worth it to get a huge headache.

I posted a picture of Vortex and The Beast at Kings Island on my Instagram account, and someone commented: "Son of Beast is better but the carts flew off the track."

^ As nice as an on-site hotel would be, Cedar Fair unfortunately doesn't invest that kind of money in Valleyfair. Cedar Point and Knotts Berry Farm are the only parks in the chain that have on-site hotels (correct me if I'm wrong), and if CF is going to build more of them, I think they'd do it at a larger park like Carowinds or Canada's Wonderland.

I agree, all of these #savethunderroad comments are getting ridiculous. I can understand that people are sad to see Thunder Road go, but attacking the park for being a business trying to make money is just absurd.

^ So they could potentially be going three straight years with no new additions to the park? That stinks.

I will be visiting Adventureland for the first time on Saturday. Does anyone know how crowded it will be? I know it's a Saturday, but since Adventureland is a smaller park, I'm not sure what to expect. Any other tips for conquering the park?

Wild Thing - Valleyfair

True. The person below me has been on TPR for more than a year.

Both have Arrow looping coasters. Adventureland (Iowa) and Knotts Berry Farm?

I don't think High Roller is going anywhere soon. It's a pretty popular ride (usually has a decent line on most days), and they've been retracking parts of it over the past few years. Plus, High Roller has a relatively small footprint that they probably can't do much with. All signs point to Excalibur being the coaster on the chopping block.

Crowds probably won't be too bad on the days you'd be here since the Minnesota State Fair will be going on, plus some schools will be back in session. Ride Mad Mouse first since it's a low-capacity ride. After that, you should be able to ride everything once with plenty of rerides within a few hours.