allenhuffman Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 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/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 That's great! We went last year and had zero complaints about food and beer selections. To hear they're amping it up is pretty exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 That's great! We went last year and had zero complaints about food and beer selections. To hear they're amping it up is pretty exciting. 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 . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonni Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 This is all fantastic to hear! Adventureland really is a special place. I really hope to get back soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 That's great! We went last year and had zero complaints about food and beer selections. To hear they're amping it up is pretty exciting. 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 . . . 1/4 pound bacon on a stick? Sounds so bad, but delicious at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 1/4 pound bacon on a stick? Sounds so bad, but delicious at the same time. That is Iowa right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steely Dan Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 ^ There is no place in the universe that loves, enjoys, and celebrates all things pig more fully than the great state of Iowa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited May 29, 2017 by allenhuffman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 That's great! We went last year and had zero complaints about food and beer selections. To hear they're amping it up is pretty exciting. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 Cool! You know if the updates will allow them to load more than 1 boat at a time? It looked like the station was built to handle more than that, but they don't use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Cool! You know if the updates will allow them to load more than 1 boat at a time? It looked like the station was built to handle more than that, but they don't use it. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 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. Nice! I thought for sure that they were about to retire that ride after all the trouble with those things lately and general running costs. I'm sure their insurance costs have risen quite a bit just for that ride. Now we just have to wonder what will happen with the Inverter. When was the last time it operated again? That's a decent chunk of space there. Personally, if I could add anything to this park it would be a kiddie coaster. There are several good kids rides here, but they are surprisingly spread out and unfocused. You kind of expect a dedicated kids area somewhere these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Now we just have to wonder what will happen with the Inverter. When was the last time it operated again? That's a decent chunk of space there. Personally, if I could add anything to this park it would be a kiddie coaster. There are several good kids rides here, but they are surprisingly spread out and unfocused. You kind of expect a dedicated kids area somewhere these days. 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 I'll be visiting Adventureland on Tuesday for the first time since the addition of Monster. How busy should I expect the park to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I'll be visiting Adventureland on Tuesday for the first time since the addition of Monster. How busy should I expect the park to be? 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 (edited) Had a great time at Adventureland today thanks to low crowds, nice weather, friendly employees, and fun rides. Monster was an awesome ride that exceeded my expectations. It has a great first drop, good forces, nice airtime & laterals, and some crazy hangtime. It'll probably crack my top 25 and it's definitely a fantastic addition to the park. Also, props to the Monster crew for their fast dispatch times, I saw them stack only two or three times the entire day. Edited June 21, 2017 by VF15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 ^ Wow! That first shot is amazing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToNC Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 ^ That's some top notch theming right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 ^That's some top notch theming right there. It's a step up from the previous dinosaur that was put in the park in 1998... Dinosaur in 1998 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 This random dinosaur theming is my new favorite thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenhuffman Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 This random dinosaur theming is my new favorite thing. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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