cal1br3tto Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 ^Wow. That's a tragedy first and foremost (and from glancing at reports, it sounds like guests witnessed it), but also unfortunate and unexpected after such positive updates from the park. Sorry to hear the news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureJack Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 So sad to hear. All of the employees are so kind at Adventureland and many are out of retirement. Rest in Peace. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/06/13/adventureland-employee-who-died-retired-postal-worker/85825194/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 The park is staffed mostly by very young kids, and retired folks who are traveling around in their RVs and "work camping" at the park while living at the Adventureland campground next door. Last week I met two that have YouTube channels where they post videos about life in an RV. One of them posted a video commenting on this accident and mentioned at the time they hadn't been told about it by the park (same comments in a Facebook group for the work campers). I can imagine it is a shocking thing to everyone there and they probably have nothing in the books on how to handle something like this. (I can't think of anything like this in the past 21 years I've lived here.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 2015March 3rd, 2015 - new family coaster could be in the future July 8th, 2015 - The Monster, from Gerstlauer, is announced Hindsite is always fun. It's hilarious how wrong the rumor of a "family coaster" was, just a few months later Looking back, I do remember years ago (10 or so?) there was rumors of Adventureland getting a "mega" coaster of some kind. I guess eventually we sorta kinda got that this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 KLE continues to work on The Monster lighting. They said they have made adjustments to the ground lighting so the track lighting will be more visible. I will go out this Saturday to record it again... This is starting to feel like work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Sometime in the past week, they installed the shade over The Monster queue area. They also moved the temporary ropes under that area to make a zig-zag queue. At the exit, they took down the fencing and build a concrete pad and are now building the ride photo shop. I was told by an employee last week that the park forgot about designing that building in. I was skeptical of this, but now that I see they had to undo construction they just completed 2-3 weeks ago for this building, I guess it was true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureJack Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Oh gosh, how do you forget that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomPoster32 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 (edited) So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Edited June 29, 2016 by PhantomPoster32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeboy Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 I'll be visiting the park in about a week. Is there any place that offers a discount coupon for admission? Or is it just cheapest to get a ticket online? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomPoster32 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 I'll be visiting the park in about a week. Is there any place that offers a discount coupon for admission? Or is it just cheapest to get a ticket online? I've been told that Taco Johns, Caseys and Hyvee in Iowa have coupons You can also use promo code HV2016TX to get $2 off online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeboy Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 ^Thanks, anyone know how much the coupon takes off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo von Sol Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 ^Thanks, anyone know how much the coupon takes off? Use this, http://www.adventurelandpark.com/funclub/ . I used it when I went last week and it worked. Only takes $2 off. Nothing else is more than $2 and I've looked. It's the best that you can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) I'll be visiting the park in about a week. Is there any place that offers a discount coupon for admission? Or is it just cheapest to get a ticket online? Do you have any connections in Iowa? Many businesses get discounts for employees. Also, season pass holders can get tickets at a discount. I can't seem to find the link, but that might be the easiest. One of us might be able to help you out there. EDIT: Found it (via web search; couldn't find the link on the site directly for some reason). Pass holders can get $7 off. EDIT 2: Removed reference to my work ticket discounts in case we aren't supposed to talk about it. PM me Edited June 30, 2016 by allenhuffman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomPoster32 Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? It appeared to be the chain itself only in reverse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestThemeParks Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? It appeared to be the chain itself only in reverse. You would think if they could get the chain going backwards they could just make it go normally instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestThemeParks Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? It appeared to be the chain itself only in reverse. You would think if they could get the chain going backwards they could just make it go normally instead. EDIT: someone can delete one of these posts, didn't mean to do it twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwegian coasterfan Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 So yesterday I finally got to the park and rode the Monster. It was awesome, but that's not the point of this post. While I was inline for a final ride around 5pm, I got to witness a cart get stuck on the lift. Ever since these vertical lifts first appeared I had always wondered what happens next and I got to see firsthand my answer. The train stopped about 3/4ths of the way up and it stayed there for a few minutes. Then they did an announcement to the guests on the train that they were going to lower the cart back down. Sure enough, slowly but surely the train was lowered back down to the bottom of the lift where they manually opened the restraints one at a time and escorted the guests back into the station. They then cleared the station and queue line of all guests and the ride was down for awhile so that the problem could be fixed (I don't know how long because I didn't stick around long enough to find out). Thanks for sharing this! I either read about this process, or someone told me about it in the park, and wondered if it was true. What lowered it? I noticed there was a cable running parallel to the lift hill and wondered if that was part of it? It appeared to be the chain itself only in reverse. You would think if they could get the chain going backwards they could just make it go normally instead. I think they release the brakes on the lift motor so that gravity lower the train back down. That`s why they have the magnetic fins on the lift, to bring the train slowly back down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingRCT3 Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 The cables next to the lift are for the maintenance elevator. As for the evacuation, now that they have magnetic fins instead of anti roll-backs, they can reverse the chain (or let it go "loose") to make the train go backward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 EDIT: someone can delete one of these posts, didn't mean to do it twice. That happened to me, too. I am not sure what I did. I think I am out of practice with message boards (thank you, Facebook). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Oh gosh, how do you forget that? Well, this may just be another rumor. They had the booth open yesterday: http://themeparks.disneyfans.com/photos/Adventureland/Adventureland2016/NewFor2016/MonsterPhotos/index.shtml And the outside vendor that handles it (he's been in the park ever since it opened, and also has a place inside Mall of America) said they had planned it from day one, but hadn't had time to work on it. It still seems surprising they would put up the permanent fence only to have to redo it and move it a few weeks later, but hey, that's classier than leaving orange snow fencing up for a few weeks with all the crowds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeboy Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Now that The Monster has settled in for a bit, what have been the average wait times for it? And has it been operating fairly reliably? Does it have a Single Rider line? Does any ride at Adventureland have one, for that matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCI Wooden Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 So, I'm visiting the park in a couple weeks, and I'm wondering what the best way to ride Dragon in order to not be in loads of pain during and after the ride. I've heard so many bad things about the ride, I just have to ask if there is anyway to improve the experience (Or I might just skip it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Now that The Monster has settled in for a bit, what have been the average wait times for it? And has it been operating fairly reliably? Does it have a Single Rider line? Does any ride at Adventureland have one, for that matter? I have been many times, but usually don't arrive until later in the afternoon. I have never seen the shade area full, so I think it's still never exceeding 20-25 minutes. Even on Saturday of the July 4th weekend, when they had extended the queue area at the ticket booths (beyond the big metal queue they installed this year). I expect it may still have peak periods, but I have yet to see anything. Even opening day we never waited more than 25 minutes or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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