allenhuffman

YouTube “Roller Coaster” - AT&T cell, via ProXPN VPN. Logged in.

I haven't been in the park since July so I don't know what the August crowds are doing right now, but if you don't get a quick reply here, drop by my Facebook group and folks who were there this past weekend can probably answer that.

The Iowa Cafe fried chicken on Main Street is still some of the best I've had. This year, the BBQ baked beans are enhanced (made at the hotel restaurant) as it BBQ back in River City. Lots of new menu additions this year. You can ask for a 1-piece meal (not on the menu) and save money, too. If you want to get ahead with food on a stick, the huge 1/4" bacon in the Iowa Farm area (huge pig) is tasty (but pricey) - but compared to the state fair, everything will seem cheap . You can also get other fried foods (fried Oreos, pickles, etc.) in the Alpine Village area just across from the Giant Sky Wheel. (Used to just be corn dogs before Main Street burnt down and was rebuilt several years back.) If the water park is open, there is a full back back there for an adult beverage. The only special food there that isn't in the park is Dole Whip, I think. If you drink non-domestic beer, and plan to have more than one drink all day, buy the refill mug. The mug (filled) + refill is cheaper than 2 beers.

July is peak season for the park. The parking lot gets so full they park folks on the grass and in the RV/campground. But, when dropping by last week on the weekend, lines were short! (No wait at Baloon Race, a few people at Galleon, only one zig-zag then the ramp at The Monster, etc.)... The water park holds up to 5000 people so that can suck up quite a few on the busy hot days, apparently.

Greetings. Does anyone here know where the Maliboomer S&S Space Shot ended up after it was removed from DCA?

According to parking folks, the busiest days seem to happen in July. Here is an example from one year ago: CyI8rudJ6aI Labor Day Weekend is when the park goes to weekend-only operation. I don't recall crowds being huge. If you are there in the morning, as the gates open, you can get to the Monster with no wait, and then hit the others.

Adventureland has been experimenting with "rope drops" lately, allowing guests to wait on Main Street starting an hour before the 10 a.m. opening. I went out early a few weeks ago to check this out (they seem to do it on some Saturday and Sundays) and wrote up a report: http://adventureland.parkhopping.com/2017/07/04/adventurelands-early-morning-rope-drop/ Previously, they would let people in to the front area, in front of the train station, with the garage doors closed until 10 a.m. This new approach is much nicer. The carousel and G-Force and arcade open, and they put out a special food cart serving stuff like milk and cereal. I have not seen this mentioned anywhere on their website, so I'm not sure how anyone would know they are doing this.

I know little about coasters, but my understanding was it was sort of a hybrid. This was the first one of its kind in this hemisphere. From correspondence with the park: "It’s a hybrid of the Euro-Fighter and a more custom coaster type."

The 1998 dinosaur as the Sinclair gas company logo, as they were a sponsor of the park for many years. We were discussing the new dinosaurs on "The Monster" in my Facebook group, wondering if they were just "monsters" since Jurassic Park, Godzilla, etc are considered "monster" movies. But The Monster is a goblin, apparently, and not an ancient lizard. The someone posted and said the park had these Dinos in storage for years and just decided to set them up here. They've been doing a bunch of plussing lately. They added six speakers and a subwoofer to the BUMPER CARS and it plays driving themed songs while you ride. They also upgraded many ground speakers last year, and added or fixed audio at the Galleon rocking pirate ship with sea shanties and a pirate themed safety spiel... lots of stuff going on lately.

It's a step up from the previous dinosaur that was put in the park in 1998... Dinosaur in 1998

So ... dinosaurs at The Monster... http://themeparks.disneyfans.com/photos/Adventureland/Adventureland2017/NewFor2017/MonsterDinos/index.shtml Because... Adventureland. Looks like a triceratops or something, and maybe a velociraptor.

If anyone is planning a visit to the park, let me know and if I can, I'll meet you there and treat you to a cold bevrage, and show you some do the park's history if you care.

Mid week shouldn't be bad at all, but the traffic patterns have changed a bit since The Monster was added. Still, way better now than in July when they get so busy they park folks outside of the parking entrance and in the RV park.

Apparently, a dinosaur (maybe more than one) has been spotted within the tracks of The Monster today. A member of my Facebook group posted a photo showing it. I guess monsters are being added to The Monster!

The Inverter was running early this season, but has been down the past month or so. A poster in my Facebook group said it was "officially" gone, after speaking with a mechanic working on it. We shall see...

It's always great to read positive comments about my little home park. The Monster's capacity should be pretty high. It is able to dispatch 8 riders every 58 seconds, though that may be slower this season. They had to slow down the lift hill a bit last year, and I am not sure what that did to the capacity. (The park called it 500 per hour in opening articles.) I spent a ton of time watching that ride last year (recording different angels for a multi-cam YouTube video I posted), and capacity was the same with two or three cars -- the only slowdown is when folks can't load/unload as fast. Did you get to see the light show at night? The Monster has an epic light show. It, Space Shot, Storm Chaser and the Giant Sky Wheel all have fancy RGB LED lights on them. Monster infopage: http://adventureland.parkhopping.com/wiki/index.php/Monster

Raging River re-opened yesterday (June 13). New air gates have been installed, and foot switches are there for ride operators to stand on before the rafts will delploy. It still only loads one raft at a time. I have not seen it myself, but will check it out this weekend. Some report there used to be more waterfalls, so I'm trying to find someone who knows the ride to tell us if they have fixed any. Meanwhile, tons of minor updates at the park continue. Every week there are updated signs and other things added. The Iowa Beer & Wine Shop added a wine tap! There's a 42 ounce Hurricane glass in the water park (with $20 refills on mixed drinks). And non-drinky updates too. They are really putting a bunch of effort in to the park lately. I've been posting weekday updates on my ParkHopping site - about the new mascot costume (made in Canada, eh), the new circus, corn dog variations now served in the parks, new puppet show, etc. Not enough hours in the day to keep up with it all.

At Iowa's Adventureland, I rarely ride anything... mostly people watch, eat, drink and take photos. But, I'd have to say the Sky Ride (ski lift) since I bet I ride that more times in the year than anything else. I've always loved how it goes through the trees (all trimmed out around it) and when they added The Monster coaster last year, it now goes through the coaster. And it's amazing at night, especially with all the new light additions the park has recently made. Adventureland Sky Ride through The Monster at night.

The Inverter has been down my last few visits, and the Raging River raft ride has not opened yet this season. It is supposedly getting updates so it will require multiple workers to activate foot switches before it can deploy, like most/all modern rides now seem to have. I visited Knott's Berry Farm, Disneyland, and Disney California Adventure a few weeks ago, and it seems pretty much anything that moves in California has systems like this.

Drop by the Adventureland topic after your visit and let us know what you thought. Lots of park updates this year, with new menu items, repainting of things, and general upkeep: http://adventureland.parkhopping.com

The water park opened up this weekend, and we also found a new drink stand for this year. It had a good selection of canned beverages, with many not sold in the main park (like Not Your Father's Iced Tea, which I hadn't seen yet). And three types of shots. I think the success of Oktoberfest is spreading in to the rest of the park

I've added a second part to the "what's new" article, and added photos of the items mentioned: http://adventureland.parkhopping.com But, since it came up, here is a side picture of the bacon on a stick... displayed on top of bacon popcorn... and being sold out of a giant pig named Petunia. New bacon on a stick.

Three new chefs were brought in, so some of the changes we noticed include: * Burrito bowl * Hard shell tacos (previously just soft shell) * Greek salads (surprisingly good; if they were in a real bowl they'd fit right in at Applebees) * Baklava (made by the park) * Gyros now have falafel (and more ingredients) * Baked beans now made there with meat/bacon * 1/4 pound bacon on a stick * Bacon bacon popcorn * Cotton candy window on Main Street showing them make it in the park * Fried fish sandwich (Outlaw Gulch) * New sub sandwich menu (and they have hot dogs there now, which is what the old location offered) Alcohol offerings are improved, with Abita Bar turning in to Corona Cantina. It now has four (?) types of frozen drinks (Pina Colada, Mango, Strawberry, Margarita) that are virgin. Kids can have those, or you can have liquor added (they had two types of rum, vodka, Jack Daniels and several others). They have a new refill cups for the frozen alcohol drinks (24 ounces, basically a tad less than the ICEE one from last year and the same amount as the beer mugs). At ICEE Mix It Up, they can now add the same alcohols to those drinks, though the machines weren't making ICEEs very well today so it didn't really work out. Beyond painting and new awnings and such, there are various new signs in the park, more security cameras, and stuff is still being done. "Wet Paint" signs under the train station tunnels, for instance, showing they had been doing work since last weekend. They also added rails at the Chicken Shack giving customers more of a line to follow to get food. Lots of stuff going on. I assume the park got a nice attendance bump from The Monster last year, and the success of Oktoberfest contributed to further expanding the adult beverage choices. It should be a fun year of eating and drinking through the menus! Strange. We've made two visits and have yet to ride anything . . .

Wow. Lots of upgrades this year. New paint. New signs. More menu options (the park added three new chefs) including food and things like home made BBQ sauce being done at the Spectators bar at Adventureland Inn. New alcohol offerings as well, and a big covered tent in front of the Iowa Beer and Wine place. I have to add photos, but I have posted some of the changes I noticed during a brief visit last Sunday: http://adventureland.parkhopping.com/2017/05/16/new-for-2017/

It did not open either day due to cold temperatures, wind and rain.