coasterferg Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 (edited) My friend and I decided to make a quick spontaneous road trip to Lake Okoboji, Iowa and to Arnolds Park so I could college my Legend credit. The park was small but was very nicely landscaped and a good collection of rides for its size. All in all it was a great day. This is your cast for today’s Photo TR, Lanae and I. This is what we saw during 90% of the 3 hour drive. YEssssss…we made it! I see my credit #129!!! Here is the park map. What’s this??? Is there a bonus credit here that I didn’t know about??? OO!! I wonder if this is a modified Scrambler? The best part is you can see they used to put a piece of tape over it with the correct spelling. First up is the Legend. If you sit in the last seat you get some AWESOME air time on the last two bunny hops. Lanae and I were not prepared and we were thrown around…I loved it. Next up is the Rock-O-Plane. Not gonna lie, I am a master of this ride. This ride came to my small hometown carnival in Nebraska every summer and after riding it multiple times for about 10 summers I can make the car do whatever I want, such as make it continually spin and keep it upside down all the way around, as Lanae found out. If you ask nicely maybe I’ll treat you to a ride sometime *wink wink* So Lanae is a huge Tilt-a-Whirl fan, but sadly a storm swept through the park a couple of days ago and a tree fell on the ride. Bummer. In the same vein, I am a huge Octopus fan, but a tree fell on it too (and yes, I know it’s a Spider). You notice there’s an arm missing its two tubs. I was excited because I have never ridden a Roll-O-Plane. One of these came to my town when I was 4 but I was too small to ride. This ride was awesome, but is very painful if you ride with someone and you take the door side of the car. Your partner is pretty much smashed against you for 80% of the ride. There was this shack called the “bug house” and we went because Lanae is an entomologist and we wanted to see the bugs. The shack ended up being this ghetto ride that was pretty much a porch swing inside a psychedelically painted room that spins while the seats swing…it was weird…. This park was very nostalgic for me. All the small capacity simple rides are the types of rides that you see in the small carnivals that I grew up with in rural Nebraska. The scrambler and Eyerly ride collection brought back many memories. I cannot pass up an opportunity to get Scrambled! Oops, I mean Scrabbled… Remember that bonus toboggan looking coaster? Well it is actually a play area with a slide. FALSE ADVERTISING, Arnolds Park! Next we tried the Log Flume, which had an interesting theme… That theme being “junkyard.” This is what you see on the log ride. Back for a couple more rides on the Legend, which was awesome good for its small size. If you are wondering where the Pedobear is hiding, he’s hanging out in Northern Iowa. These bunny hops were great. Thank you Arnolds Park! So on the drive home, we noticed one of the small towns was having its county fair! So of course we stopped. AND THEY HAVE AN OCTOPUS! We didn’t ride the Rock-O-Planes though. AND A TILT-A-WHIRL!! It had to have been divine intervention that Lanae and I got to ride the two rides that were broken at Arnolds Park. We only rode each once, but we got nice long rides because no one was in line. The people were all at the tractor pull. A sign of the type of quality you will see a rural county fair carnival. A splendid end to an awesome day. Thanks for reading. Edited July 29, 2010 by coasterferg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Cool trip report of a little visited park. I've always heard that the Legend is a really thrilling ride in the backseat due to the ejector air that it gives. If I remember correctly from an old review on Theme Park Critic, doesn't one of the air-time hills come darn close to a tree branch overhead? As for that carnival, it looks better than several of the ones that come around my way. I'd dream of having a carnival with a Rock-O-Plane or a Monster. Instead we have two carnivals. One has a bunch of kiddie rides (a giant slide is the biggest attraction) and the other has a Chance Zipper and almost nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Did you ever find out what this was, and if so, did you ride it? It looks like a Chance Toboggan to me, though exaggerated on the map. Looks like you two had a good time. Thanks for the report. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Thanks, always enjoy reading about the small parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterferg Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 There is a big tree inside the turnaround after the first drop. When you drop out of the turnaround there are some really close branches that make good head choppers. The treasure island was a tall play structure for kids...not a roller coaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLY Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Did you ever find out what this was, and if so, did you ride it? Arnolds had a Toboggan up until 1998. Outdated map? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 I rode a Toboggan at the L.A. County Fair once. Note I said, "once." Arnold's looks like a nice place to take a family. I'm guessing they have a picnic area there or close to there? Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Yeah, I'd be a bit mad still about missing a credit. I guess it was just cheaper for the park to just rename an attraction instead of getting a whole new map. I mean, I can kind of see the resemblance. A Chance torture trap and a kids playground are one and the same in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrillride93 Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Cool trip report of a little visited park. I've always heard that the Legend is a really thrilling ride in the backseat due to the ejector air that it gives. If I remember correctly from an old review on Theme Park Critic, doesn't one of the air-time hills come darn close to a tree branch overhead? As for that carnival, it looks better than several of the ones that come around my way. I'd dream of having a carnival with a Rock-O-Plane or a Monster. Instead we have two carnivals. One has a bunch of kiddie rides (a giant slide is the biggest attraction) and the other has a Chance Zipper and almost nothing else. you gotta keep your eyes open there was a carnival in whitman in june that had a rock o plane this year. And if your talking about the weymouth carnival in the high school parking lot the freak out is pretty fun to. Also next year if you want to ride big rides you should hit the brockton fair. It has the kmg tango kmg speed zamperla power surge larson fireball etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midgetman82 Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 There was this shack called the “bug house” and we went because Lanae is an entomologist and we wanted to see the bugs. The shack ended up being this ghetto ride that was pretty much a porch swing inside a psychedelically painted room that spins while the seats swing…it was weird…. Ghetto Hex ride?! That looks like a nice, small little park. Great TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mike Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 There is also a kids credit here which the operators wont let you ride, but if you go look for the park manager Scott and tell him you are into coasters and an enthusist, he will let you ride it! Peace, Big Mike Ka-Ching! #699! Thanks Scott! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCForce Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I *love* this park. I visited for the first time in '08. It reminds me quite a bit of Joyland in Wichita. It's hardly ever crowded that I'm aware of. It's right on the Lake Okoboji, which is so clear you can see to the bottom in the shallow parts. It's in a beautiful location. The Legend is so underrated and just screams nostalgia. Powerful airtime on the last few hills. Also has a short "low flat" (flat straight section between hill's 3 and 4 (think of the former Sky Streak at Boblo, but a much shorter version). My thought is they may have removed a very small bunny hill at some point and time. I think a short tunnel would be a nice touch there now. I also love the single position lapbars on the PTC's. The park has some great flat rides too. I normally don't ride miniature railways, but the train was older, but in what appeared to be mint condition. The cars actually look like cousins of NAD coaster cars on the train. The staff was great too. It reeks of nostalgia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterferg Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 ^Big Mike, I did notice the kiddy credit and I actually looked at your old trip report before I went to Arnolds Park and read how you found the park operator. Unfortunately I'm still kind of a chicken when I comes to credit whoring. Also, we went on a beautiful Saturday and there were actually quite a few kids in line for the kiddy coaster all day long so I was afraid to ask... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
championdan14 Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Great TR, looks like a nice little park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delan Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Nice pics....and nice arms coasterferg!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts