Adventureland (Iowa) Discussion Thread

[Ed Farmer]

Where is the outrage? They will certainly have bad PR, this is not new technology, they are certain to lose money, I've canceled my trip, what an atrocity to prevent us from riding.

 

 

 

Did I miss anything?

Yeah, something about it never opening or whatever.

[PhantomPoster32]

Where is the outrage? They will certainly have bad PR, this is not new technology, they are certain to lose money, I've canceled my trip, what an atrocity to prevent us from riding.

 

Did I miss anything?

 

Yeah, you missed being funny and/or effective use of sarcasm.

Don't quit your day job.

 

The outrage is not present because this ride opened on time and has been reliable thus far

[allenhuffman]

The Monster is down at least thru Friday now as parts are machined and delivered. I'm heading out there this evening to see what they are doing.

[chadster]

Where is the outrage? They will certainly have bad PR, this is not new technology, they are certain to lose money, I've canceled my trip, what an atrocity to prevent us from riding.

 

Did I miss anything?

 

Yeah, you missed being funny and/or effective use of sarcasm.

Don't quit your day job.

 

The outrage is not present because this ride opened on time and has been reliable thus far

 

1. It was sarcasm, something that you don't know anything about.

2. You have certainly proven to have the all knowing, never wrong, being a dick that no one can stand thing down pat.

[edgeboy]

I was there on Monday. Seeing as I traveled from Los Angeles, I guess I just missed the big closing. In fact, it may have happened while I was there.

 

First off, at park opening, Monster wasn't open. Looked like they were still putting up the barbed wire. Was told to return at about noon. As mentioned earlier in the thread, this was not the first time they did this, and it's a bit hard to understand why they wouldn't have their newest ride up and running at park opening for something that could easily be done outside public hours. That was frustrating.

 

It did open indeed not long after noon, and the queue was completely full, and spilling outside a bit. I do wish they managed some sort of single rider line... lots of wasted seats. They did ask for single riders at the station, but having a dedicated line would help out a lot.

 

I got in one ride (liked it, lots of unusual hang time!). Did the rest of the park, hoping to return to it for another ride. That's when it was closed, at about 3pm, though I believe some people said it closed about an hour before that. At the time, Storm Chaser & the Space Shot were also down, leading me to think it was weather/wind related. I ended up leaving the park at about 3:30, so I never found out. But based on what I'm hearing now, perhaps that was it!

 

I did stay across the street at the Quality Inn & Suites. While not amazing, the room I had actually wasn't that bad. It was updated, clean and maintained. Parts of the hotel itself could use maintenance, but I've definitely stayed in worse. The price is definitely right, and you can easily walk to the park, saving you the parking fee if that's of importance to you.

[allenhuffman]

Hopefully I am allowed to share this... The Monster is the first installation over here, and they have found some differences in the climate in Iowa that are causing extra wear on some rollers used in the lift hill. (No issues with the coaster itself or the cars.) There is an Iowa production facility that is machining new parts from material more suitable to our climate. They are making it a priority task so the park is hopeful of a quick re-opening.

 

UPDATE: Amusingly, local media (TV, radio, newspaper) is reporting based on the Facebook/website post and none of them seem to have bothered to contact the park (or if they did, the park did not give them any details). The newspaper says:

 

That short shutdown has been extended indefinitely

 

INDEFINITELY! OH NO! But the park's information (including what they quote) only says:

 

there is a possibility it may be closed a bit beyond that date

 

So I guess a possibility of "a bit beyond that day" is indefinite. Yay, headlines!

 

www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/2016/07/12/adventurelands-new-9-million-ride-closed-maintenance/87005372/

[AdventureJack]

Check out this great trip report by Apollo von Sol.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72149

[Vonni]

I'm looking forward to my visit the last week of July! Going on a week day should allow enough time to enjoy both the Theme Park, and the Water Park, correct?

[MrFurious]

I'm looking forward to my visit the last week of July! Going on a week day should allow enough time to enjoy both the Theme Park, and the Water Park, correct?

 

Absolutely, yes.

[PhantomPoster32]

As long as you avoid Aug 11-21 you'll be fine. Never go during the Fair. The place gets packed.

[allenhuffman]

The Monster was operating on Saturday again. Signs at the front gate still said it was down, since they were still expecting to have to pause operation now and then to make software adjustments.

 

The park was PACKED on Saturday, with cars on the grass and even being parked in the hotel and RV campground areas. They said this weekend and next weekend are the busiest all year. When I finally set up my new Adventureland info pages I will have to see about a crowd calendar with information like this.

 

It was insane! But, still short lines at many of the rides, especially later in the evening.

[Vonni]

^ I really hope Monster will be operable on my visit

[allenhuffman]

^ I really hope Monster will be operable on my visit

 

It was operating again as of Saturday, July 16. The parts were installed, but they expected to have to stop it for a bit to tweak the control system settings. I don't know if they even had to do that at all that day (they had not by late afternoon).

[AdventureJack]

Wanted to just post a trip report about my visit on Wednesday the 13th. Sorry but no pictures. You're gonna have to read.

 

I picked my cousins up on the 9th from the train station and brought them to my hometown in southwest Iowa. They're from Chicago and rode Amtrak to central Iowa. I brought them home to visit my sisters and parents for a couple days and that's when we started planning a trip to the park. We choise Wednesday. Right in the middle of the week. I was thinking small crowds, little to no lines, walk on rides!!!

 

Neither one of them had ever been to Adventureland so I was excited to show off my home park. That was a big reason I was so exited to go, the other being Monster. Still they were super pumped to go too, but because they had a Six Flags in their backyard I wanted everything to go perfectly when we arrived... and then the night before I looked at the park's facebook page and saw that the ride would be closed through the end of the week.

 

I was beyond pissed not because it was closed, but because it it had been working fine the whole summer and out of ALL the damn weeks the ride chose to need maintenance it picked this one. I informed my cousins about the news and although they were bummed we all still wanted to go.

 

On the way there one of my cousins stated that all he could fathom when he imagined the park was a big county fair. I just smiled and kept driving.

 

We got in around 11 (park opens at 10) and once we entered the park one of my cousins pulled out his phone and informed us that there were a bunch of gyms and pokestops. This gave us an even greater experience throughout the day since all of my cousins and I had downloaded the Pokemon Go game only days before.

 

We headed for Space Shot first and got a couple good rides in. (Personally love S & S and honestly think their rides are underrated)

 

After that we hit Storm Chaser. My older cousin (20) looked up at the spinning ride while we were in line and boasted about how slow and easy the ride looked from down on the ground. Completely different story when we were finally up in the air. He loved it and I could scene some fear in him too

 

Then we took on Tornado. Now, I have recently heard a lot of complaints for this ride. About how it's getting old and rickety and just not an overall good ride experience anymore, but I'll tell you what, when we were coming back from the last turn I thought to myself "This baby is working better than ever." It was the favorite coaster of the day.

 

We started towards the back of the park when the rain came in. It poured for almost an hour and it was coming town HARD. One of my cousins recommended for us to get some shelter and see the magic show and that was fun. The show was only 20 minutes but once it was over we played on our phones (thank you Pokemon Go) and then worked our way to the Dragon.

 

The rain was slowly stopping while we were waiting in line... probably the longest line of the day for us... about 10 minutes. I wasn't super exited to ride for reasons I don't need to type, but once we got on and rode it wasn't actually that bad. I know I'll be the minority on this but if you keep your head back and are aware of the bunny hills of death towards the beginning, the ride is actually really fun. I know more than half of the people on here would love to see it ripped out of the ground though.

 

After the Dragon we headed to Outlaw Gulch where we rode my one of my favorite woodies (usually this one beats out Tornado for me but it was a close second for this visit). We then rode some flats, got some food and headed to the water park.

 

When we got into Adventure Bay it was 80 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Like a brand new day compared to when it was raining only 3 hours earlier. Gotta love Iowa weather.

 

The cousins loved the slides, especially the mat racers. We got about 10 races in. It was a very fun experience to race four of your closest family members down some speed slides. Something I had never done, I highly recommend it. Then we hit the wave pool, changed back into our cloths and hit the dry side of the park once more.

 

Another thing I noted on this trip is that the park has A LOT of games as well as rides. I mean there are 3 HUGE gaming areas in the park. We played games throughout the day and because my family is very competitive and doesn't give up, we finally won a giant Charmander. Thought it was appropriate for the theme of the day.

 

The only bad part of the day was that the Monster wasn't open and I know that it would have been the biggest highlight by far. It's tough when you walk into the chicken shack to get lunch and ask the two teens working the register what their favorite ride is at the park, only to hear them reply "MONSTER!" at the same exact time...

 

Overall my family from the big city loved the park. The whole car ride back they went on and on about how easy and fast it was to get onto rides. My older cousin stated that at Six Flags they would sometimes only get in four rides the whole day because of waits. They loved the small park charm but said that the rides were 1st class. I think the water park was a big one for them as we ended up talking about those races all night long. And even though it was horrible at first that the Monster was closed, I found myself not caring as the day went on because we were having such a fun time without it. Plus I offered to the group that we could come back next year and ride it. Guess it gives us an excuse to visit the park again!

 

I highly recommend taking your family and friends to Adventureland. Even if your home park is considered bigger and better. I invite you to come check it out, and have your already very low expectations crushed

A photo of the family. From left to right Bobby (cousin), Me, Grace (sister), Kristen (cousin), Jason (cousin)

[Vonni]

Does Adventureland have designated smoking areas? I didn't see it on their website.

[allenhuffman]

Does Adventureland have designated smoking areas? I didn't see it on their website.

 

Not that I have seen. I see people leaving the front gate to go smoke outside of the ticket area. I'd drop them a note from the Contact Us form on the website to be sure, though.

 

Adventureland was actually pro-active with making the park smoke-free. They put up signs a year or so before the "Iowa Smokefree Air Act" was passed as a law. They were inside the train station tunnels and said something like "Try a smoke-free day at Adventureland."

 

Hmm, looks like the park started calling itself a "smoke free" park in 2008:

 

[SFOG1991]

^That's very interesting. I've never heard of a completely smoke free park. Usually they have designated areas so people don't just smoke where ever they want.

 

My college became smoke free this year and now people just smoke anywhere they want because of it, which is frustrating when they don't at least try to find a spot away from others.

 

I'm not one to talk as I am a light smoker but if I want to smoke in a public place I make sure I am alone or in a place that allows it. I doubt the average Iowa smoker is that courteous though.

 

(Also, note to other smokers, STOP throwing cigarette butts on the ground. They are plastic and not biodegradable and are just as much litter as anything else)

[jynx242]

If I recall correctly, when I visited Adventureland with TPR in 2010 I had to leave the park to go smoke. Really didn't bother me too much and I probably smoked less that day than I would have otherwise .

 

I'll add that this is really a GREAT little park and we all had an awesome time there - and this was before Monster. The ride-ops and employees were super-friendly and they ran insane programs on the Flats.

[allenhuffman]

I'll add that this is really a GREAT little park and we all had an awesome time there - and this was before Monster. The ride-ops and employees were super-friendly and they ran insane programs on the Flats.

 

This can work in reverse, too. I cannot do spinny rides any more (unless they are short) and once I realized the ride op was controlling certain rides, I knew those were off my list. I can barely ride a few there because I know the ride cycle is short enough I won't get sick. But, on a slow evening last week, I asked a work camper running one of them about how he times it. He said there is a kitchen timer, basically, he uses, but can go longer or shorter. He said he'd always stop it if he thought someone was having problems.

 

No one was in line, and he let us ride with my understanding he would stop it if I raised my arms. I made it through just fine - the first time I've ridden that thing in almost twenty years. It gives me hope I may finally get to ride some of the newer spinny rides they have I have been afraid to try

[allenhuffman]

Oh, wow. I just realized I linked to "Theme Park Review" back when it was a GeoCities free web page, like my Adventureland page was! I wondered if it could possibly be the same "Theme Park Revier" and looked it up in the Web archive:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/19990202153507/www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/9002/hmoon25.htm

 

Wow! For what it's worth, I had my first free website at GeoPages (before it was called GeoCities) and put up some Adventureland info. At the time, me and some guy named Mike were the only two references to the park I could find online. Here is a mirror of my old site:

 

alsplace.os9al.com/advland.html

 

What a small world!

[Vonni]

I had my first visit to the park this past Monday. This is one of the most beautiful parks I've ever visited! I loved its charm. Its a shame corporate parks cant be on the same par esthetically. Now for the rides:

 

Outlaw: I loved Outlaw! It had quite a bit of airtime, and I didn't find it to be rough at all.

 

Dragon: OMG awful! So awful! Definitely needs to be replaced!

 

Tornado: OMG awful! This is one of the roughest woodies I've ever been on! I liked that its a classic, and that it has buzz bars, but the ride is terrible! It would have been great had it not been so rough.

 

The Underground: I know this coaster gets a lot of flack, but I loved it! I thought it was great fun! Sure, a drop would have been great, but it is awesome for what it is, and very unique.

 

Monster: OMG! I knew it was going to be pretty wild, but it really took me by surprise! It is crazy intense! This was my first vertical lift hill coaster that I had been on. I was uneasy about that aspect. It turned out to be a sensation I didn't care for, but not something that would keep me from riding other coasters with vertical lift hills. I felt like I was standing on my head. That drop though! Wow! The whole ride from drop to brakes is out of control! Such a smooth coaster too! The hang time is intense! This is definitely a hit! Wow!

 

I don't ride flat rides, but I was very impressed by the collection! That was probably the most flat rides at any park I've been to so kudos. I did do the sky way. It is fun and offers fantastic views, but I was nervous due to my fear of heights. The train is awesome! I loved that little train lol! I rode the Ferris Wheel unwillingly. Made me queasy, and again, I'm afraid of heights.

 

All I did in the water park was the lazy river. I was pretty underwhelmed by the water park as a whole though. It really needs at least one more slide complex.

 

I really enjoyed Adventureland! I was really impressed by how beautiful it was! I really recommend a trip to this park! Well worth it!

[allenhuffman]

The Underground: I know this coaster gets a lot of flack, but I loved it! I thought it was great fun! Sure, a drop would have been great, but it is awesome for what it is, and very unique.

...

I don't ride flat rides, but I was very impressed by the collection! That was probably the most flat rides at any park I've been to so kudos. I did do the sky way. It is fun and offers fantastic views, but I was nervous due to my fear of heights. The train is awesome! I loved that little train lol! I rode the Ferris Wheel unwillingly. Made me queasy, and again, I'm afraid of heights.

 

I am glad you enjoyed visiting my home park. I am a fan of dark rides, so The Underground is my favorite thing in the park. It was really in bad shape when I last visited in 2010, but they have refurbished it since then so it's much better than it had been.

 

The park has been doing nothing but building spinny rides I cannot ride, so I was glad to see The Monster added this year. There have been rides that have come and gone without me ever riding them because I don't do spinny any more

 

I came from "big" parks (grew up with two Six Flags parks in Texas) so Adventureland was just so quaint and tiny to me, but it had a fun feel to it. Kinda how Kennywood in PA feels to me -- you can feel the Mom-and-Pop history of the park.

 

On my Facebook group, there have been many posts about the early years of the park and it seems to have a fascinating history. Hopefully some day someone will put together a book about it.

[AdventureJack]

Outlaw: I loved Outlaw! It had quite a bit of airtime, and I didn't find it to be rough at all.

 

The Underground: I know this coaster gets a lot of flack, but I loved it! I thought it was great fun! Sure, a drop would have been great, but it is awesome for what it is, and very unique.!

 

I agree with all of these statements.

Glad you enjoyed the park. It's no Six Flags like Allen said but it's definitely something everyone needs to experience.

Still haven't been on Monster so thanks for rubbing it in but from all of these reviews I know it's going to be fantastic.

[Vonni]

^ It really is awesome! I think it would make for a great addition to any park!

[allenhuffman]

And the changes continue...

 

Cookies & Cream (new for 2016) has added outdoor seating (umbrella tables) in front of it. They built the shop with two serving lines, but workers there don't know of any time they've had enough demand to run both sides. They say people don't seem to notice it (as if those pink/white stripes wouldn't be enough to get attention). The tables may be helping. Later in the day, they were all full and there was a line out the door.

 

Iowa Beer & Wine Shop has been serving root beer floats all year, but they have never been on the menus. You can get a local craft root beer float, or a Not Your Fathers Root Beer alcohol float. They finally printed special menu forms that show this, and also mention several other combinations (I had no idea there was a Not Your Fathers Cream Soda).

 

Anita Bar's menu boards are now live -- two TVs. They show some kind of "beer with frozen topper" drinks, but the worker there didn't think they had the stuff to make them yet. (I don't think he was sure what they were supposed to be.)

 

Lots of other minor things, too... For instance, in Outlaw Gulch, the new food location (which used to be next door) now has a permanent themed counter for the condiments. Originally it was just some table with a checkerboard picnic table type cloth over it, but now it's some different table -- maybe something they built custom in their wood shop.

 

The Ben Ulin magic show had been running just the black light "Glow" show plus one speaking Magic show to fill all six slots, but they have a second speaking show in the mix now. I enjoyed it -- it had two routines I'd never seen him do (either very old routines, or things he's introduced in the past five seasons when I wasn't attending). This gives three different shows there, to go with the three different Brad Weston juggling shows.

 

Speaking of acts ... The Royal Hanneford Circus rotates acts so the three times I've seen the last show of the day they had at least one act swapped out. I finally got to see the motorcycle cage act last week - that may still be my favorite since you just don't see something like that anywhere else.

 

Sidewinder was down for about a week, but it started running last week. Lady Luck was down for repairs this weekend, but may be back by now. The Giant Sky Wheel was down this past weekend, too. I think everything else was operating.

 

The Monster has maintained huge lines down the fence (spilling out of the zig-zag queue and ramp). We have been timing rides to figure out hourly capacity and at some point I want to count and get an estimate of how many people that queue holds so we can know how long to expect the wait to be when it's at the ramp, queue building, or down the fence line. Someone posted on my Facebook group that they waited 1 hour 20 minutes and added that it was totally worth it

 

More to come...