Adventureland Iowa photo trip report

So we decided to check out Adventureland in Iowa this past week. I have been wanting to check out this park for some time now. The drive to the park has to go down as one of the most boring drives I have ever had to do. They have corn and more corn. Nothing much to see while driving. Once we arrived at the park, we had a hard time finding the parking lot due to the lack of signage. After driving a mile past the park and getting turned around, we finally found the entrance.

The park looks like they were trying to look like Disneyland when they built it. It also looks like it is stuck in the 80's. But beyond that, we enjoyed the park and had a great time. The crowds were light and the weather was perfect. We were able to hit all the coasters several times(once on the dragon was enough).

The new attraction this year was storm chaser. There must not have been any storms in the area because the ride was not operating. The ride looks very nice and towers over the park. The rest of the park is very well landscaped and kept up. I have to say that the employees were all beyond friendly and helpful. The food selection was decent and so were the prices.

My favorite attraction in the park has to be the tornado coaster. A close second would be the underground just because it's so uniqe. I thought the underground had a waterfall in it? Either it is no longer there, or was not operating at the time.

Onto the pictures.....

Look at all the scenery there is to look at in Iowa

They do have the biggest truck stop though.

They have this as well.....

We made it!

This is the main entrance

Hmmmm....I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like I have been here before.

Here, you enter a place....

Instead of posters of attractions, Adventureland has signs from 2008

This was the view as soon as we were in the park.

The first ride in the park is the ferris wheel

And hidden away inside the arcade was the g force ride.

Our first ride was the chair lift

From the chair lift, you can get a great look at the parks log flume ride

You actually get pretty close to it

The lay of the land

Inside the saloon where the magic show is held.

Our first coaster was the dragon

But first you must go up these ramps

A look at the station and train

The ride starts out with a bunny hop over the water before reaching the lift hill

Here is the lift

The ride has two loops

And yes.....they are painful

The rest of the ride consists of this figure 8 track

At the exit of the ride, they have these silly fun house mirrors

Up next is the outlaw coaster

What line?

This must be an outlaw

This is the track just before the lift

The first curved drop

It was a fun ride, but herd to get a good shot of the layout

Right next to outlaw, was this fun little water ride

Next, we were able to check out the circus show

Inside the tent

The show was great, and recommend checking it out

Some of the theaming in the park

The underground coaster/ dark ride

Glad that the park was not buisy

Inside the loading area

They also have some pretty advanced animatronics

Inside the station

Here is a shot of the seats

The parks new attraction is storm chaser

Not sure what this is for.

The entrance to my favorate coaster in the park

Inside the station

This ride has lots of hills

The coaster still has skid breaks and buzz bars

The park had some awsome looking buildings

This will look really nice in a few years

The park has plenty of spinny rides

The parks train ride

There was a lot of Disney in this park

Train controls

Lets take a look at a few of the Disney touches inside adventureland

Just missing the castle

Just like at Disneyland, they have a stage that rises out of the ground

The park had some decent prices on food

Found some interesting items for sale in the gift shop

A view of the gift shops in the front of the park.

More pictures coming soon.

Great TR, thanks for posting. I'll be visiting this park for the first time next month.

That's looking like a nice little park ! Thanks for the pics!

BTW, what did you think of the indoor woodie ? I've always been curious to hear about that ride (pretty much all I knew about the park until reading your TR )

That's looking like a nice little park ! Thanks for the pics!

 

BTW, what did you think of the indoor woodie ? I've always been curious to hear about that ride (pretty much all I knew about the park until reading your TR )

It was more like a dark ride rather than a coaster. The ride has a few scenes that go with the storyline that the freaky animatronic tells you about in the loading platform.

It's nice the see the rebuilt Main Street, was very empty looking with it missing during my visit a few years ago.

Yea, the main street area looked great.

The metal thing in the middle of Storm Chaser is to keep the cables from slamming the tower. It rests on top of the gondola when it reaches it.

The metal thing in the middle of Storm Chaser is to keep the cables from slamming the tower. It rests on top of the gondola when it reaches it.

Thanks for that info.

I don't recall seeing this on the other windseekers.

Thank you so much for posting these photos. Adventureland has long been a park that has been close to the top of my list of parks to visit due to the fact that it's rare to see a park the size of Adventureland still being an independently owned property.

Some rides look better in smaller sizes and I think Storm Chaser looks better than its larger cousins at the CF parks.

I went in 08 and it was an OK park. I'd take Underground over SFGAm's Dark Knight any day of the week.

Thank you so much for posting these photos. Adventureland has long been a park that has been close to the top of my list of parks to visit due to the fact that it's rare to see a park the size of Adventureland still being an independently owned property.

 

Some rides look better in smaller sizes and I think Storm Chaser looks better than its larger cousins at the CF parks.

I have to say that the park was bigger that I expected it to be.

Outlaw and Tornado are good coasters, and the Underground just has to be experienced.

Tornado is a under rated coaster.

A few more pictures....

The rattler

They have a decent waterpark

It seemed quite popular with the locals

One last look at the water park

This is what the outside of the underground looks like

The teacup ride

A shot of the underground that is very dark.(and yes, I asked if I could use my camera)

The inverters large station. The ride itself is behind the trees

The entrance to the train station

The animal show

Here are a few of the animals in the show

Yet another area that looks like Disneyland

Now this was awsome

A look at the dragon getting ready to crest the hill. I believe that this ride was a hopkins built coaster

You can rent this gazebo for your next outing

The park is very well maintained and very clean

Tea cups station

A few random park shots

I love that the rides here have shaded q lines

The parks drop tower

We took the tunnel on the train

A not so good shot of the bumper cars

Yep....even more Disney

The parks games area

One last look at the back midway

The parks merry go round at the front of the park

One last look at the park

Outlaw and Tornado are good coasters, and the Underground just has to be experienced.

Didn't the underground have a waterfall at one point?

^I don't recall.

This park looks awesome. Another small independent park that's slowly growing to be pretty large. I never realize the extent of their Disney "influence". I always new they had a similar entrance, but I'm surprised they have the stage that pops out of the ground as well.

It's unfortunate that they chose to get a Mondial Windseeker instead of the Funtime counterpart. I hope they don't have as many problems as the rest of the mondial rides.

I'm really thinking I'll have to try to hit this park up next year. It's just far enough that I'd have to make a fairly major trip out to see it and probably combine some other parks with it as well.

How was the ride experience on Strom Chaser?

Great photos! Sometimes I forget about this independent park in a state almost nobody talks about. They also seem to have a decent ride selection.

However, I'm just gonna be honest, Dragon looks awful. Not just the faded away paint, but the ride itself just looks rough and unattractive. Maybe one day we'll see a decent replacement (but of course, I haven't ridden it, so my judgement probably doesn't matter).

How was the ride experience on Strom Chaser?

It was closed when I was there.

Great trip report. Didnt think much of it until now. It was much bigger and nicer than I expected. I might acutely have to check this place out now. Also looks like it has some great rides and coasters.

I was surprised as well.

I just wish they had a good steel coaster, I think it would really boost the park.

^A good steel coaster would help. Dragon is pretty bad.

Yea, the dragon was brutal.

You should of called up no fun Thad to hang out...he couldn't stop talking about his local park on the Scandi trip.