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Adventureland (Iowa) Discussion Thread


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I thought Monster was an Infinity coaster? That's looks Euro-fighters. Infinity have at least four cars.

 

I know little about coasters, but my understanding was it was sort of a hybrid. This was the first one of its kind in this hemisphere. From correspondence with the park:

 

"It’s a hybrid of the Euro-Fighter and a more custom coaster type."

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  • 3 weeks later...

Adventureland has been experimenting with "rope drops" lately, allowing guests to wait on Main Street starting an hour before the 10 a.m. opening. I went out early a few weeks ago to check this out (they seem to do it on some Saturday and Sundays) and wrote up a report:

 

http://adventureland.parkhopping.com/2017/07/04/adventurelands-early-morning-rope-drop/

 

Previously, they would let people in to the front area, in front of the train station, with the garage doors closed until 10 a.m. This new approach is much nicer. The carousel and G-Force and arcade open, and they put out a special food cart serving stuff like milk and cereal.

 

I have not seen this mentioned anywhere on their website, so I'm not sure how anyone would know they are doing this.

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I'll be visiting this park for the first time over Labor Day weekend. How crazy do you guys expect crowds to be? Does this park get really busy? What coasters have the worst waits? Thanks for your help

 

According to parking folks, the busiest days seem to happen in July. Here is an example from one year ago:

 

 

CyI8rudJ6aI

 

Labor Day Weekend is when the park goes to weekend-only operation. I don't recall crowds being huge.

 

If you are there in the morning, as the gates open, you can get to the Monster with no wait, and then hit the others.

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Adventureland has been experimenting with "rope drops" lately, allowing guests to wait on Main Street starting an hour before the 10 a.m. opening. I went out early a few weeks ago to check this out (they seem to do it on some Saturday and Sundays) and wrote up a report:

 

http://adventureland.parkhopping.com/2017/07/04/adventurelands-early-morning-rope-drop/

 

Previously, they would let people in to the front area, in front of the train station, with the garage doors closed until 10 a.m. This new approach is much nicer. The carousel and G-Force and arcade open, and they put out a special food cart serving stuff like milk and cereal.

 

I have not seen this mentioned anywhere on their website, so I'm not sure how anyone would know they are doing this.

 

 

Oh I really like this! That is a much more welcoming approach!

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I'm in the early stages of planning a 2018 visit to the park where I would drive down Friday and spend the night, spend Saturday in the park, and drive back Sunday to Minneapolis. Would I be likely to hit all the (non-waterpark) must-dos on a June or July Saturday?

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I'm in the early stages of planning a 2018 visit to the park where I would drive down Friday and spend the night, spend Saturday in the park, and drive back Sunday to Minneapolis. Would I be likely to hit all the (non-waterpark) must-dos on a June or July Saturday?

 

Yeah, you should. Even if you wait an hour for each, there's only 5-6 of 'em.

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Good thing about this park during those months is that the water park is going to be way more popular than the dry side during the hot part of the day. Should be some easy riding for a few hours at least. Plus they have long hours during summer. I went the first week of June this year and had no problems getting my fill of everything. I'd love to try the water park out as well eventually though.

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I'm in the early stages of planning a 2018 visit to the park where I would drive down Friday and spend the night, spend Saturday in the park, and drive back Sunday to Minneapolis. Would I be likely to hit all the (non-waterpark) must-dos on a June or July Saturday?

 

 

I went on a Saturday last July and I was able to do everything I wanted to. The longest wait was for Monster and I think that was about 30 minutes.

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July is peak season for the park. The parking lot gets so full they park folks on the grass and in the RV/campground. But, when dropping by last week on the weekend, lines were short! (No wait at Baloon Race, a few people at Galleon, only one zig-zag then the ramp at The Monster, etc.)... The water park holds up to 5000 people so that can suck up quite a few on the busy hot days, apparently.

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A friend and I are planning a day at Adventureland on Monday 8/14. I've only been once... in 1990! It will be nice to see how things have changed.

 

I'm especially looking forward to Tornado, which I rode in 1990 of course. It's one of the last Bill Cobb coasters still running with good (buzz bar!) PTC trains. I like varied pacing more now that I did back then... so I'm sure I'll love it.

 

Anywhere special we should eat in the park? Short waits for pop and food I hope!? We're planning on spending the whole day.

 

We're also bopping in the Iowa State Fair Sunday night for a bit, to mostly hang and eat some high-fat food. I messaged the Fair on facebook; they sent me a link with the rides this year and there is not much. But I LOVE sky rides and old mills are fun, too.

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Anywhere special we should eat in the park? Short waits for pop and food I hope!? We're planning on spending the whole day.

 

The Iowa Cafe fried chicken on Main Street is still some of the best I've had. This year, the BBQ baked beans are enhanced (made at the hotel restaurant) as it BBQ back in River City. Lots of new menu additions this year. You can ask for a 1-piece meal (not on the menu) and save money, too.

 

If you want to get ahead with food on a stick, the huge 1/4" bacon in the Iowa Farm area (huge pig) is tasty (but pricey) - but compared to the state fair, everything will seem cheap . You can also get other fried foods (fried Oreos, pickles, etc.) in the Alpine Village area just across from the Giant Sky Wheel. (Used to just be corn dogs before Main Street burnt down and was rebuilt several years back.)

 

If the water park is open, there is a full back back there for an adult beverage. The only special food there that isn't in the park is Dole Whip, I think.

 

If you drink non-domestic beer, and plan to have more than one drink all day, buy the refill mug. The mug (filled) + refill is cheaper than 2 beers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thinking about making a stop in this upcoming Sunday because....reasons. If I don't arrive at opening (don't ask me to, I literally cannot if I even go), what should I expect to wait to ride Monster?

 

I haven't been in the park since July so I don't know what the August crowds are doing right now, but if you don't get a quick reply here, drop by my Facebook group and folks who were there this past weekend can probably answer that.

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I was there on Sunday and it's such a cute little park. Monster is really fun and thrilling. Got on it twice because it was quite busy at least for the size of that park I believe.

 

Even the woodies were fun, a bit "rough" but still enjoyable.

 

Water park is small as heck, but I enjoyed it too, got on the speed slides like 3 times each with no wait and did all the tube slides in like 10 minutes.

 

Monster at night is gorgeous, The Underground was neat, but I probably wouldn't waste time on it unless it was walk on.

15de2c302ea1df0e5201.thumb.jpeg.1d4f97bf5544202502c40d052e36494d.jpeg

Night photo of Monster

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Water park is small as heck, but I enjoyed it too, got on the speed slides like 3 times each with no wait and did all the tube slides in like 10 minutes.

 

^ I feel like the water park could use another expansion. As popular as it is, there really aren't as many slides as you would expect.

 

I agree. Plans for 2018?

Edited by AdventureJack
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

You'd think...

If I recall, Monster was announced in July of 2015?? I think Storm Chaser was later into the summer of 2013.

So... Hopefully soon

 

A small change that I just noticed is that Adventureland updated their website. Looks like they're really trying to rebrand that they're a resort, with a hotel as well as a theme park. The previous site was MUCH better than the original (if anyone remembers that mess), but it never felt super user friendly and they didn't update it as much as I thought they could. This one looks slick. My graphic design friend tells me that the internet is moving (and has been for a while now) towards minimalism and a smoother top down format.

 

https://www.adventurelandresort.com/

Edited by AdventureJack
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I like the new site. I was super impressed with this park when we visited last year. I only wanted to stop there so we didn't have to drive all the way from the Ozarks to Duluth in one go. I'm glad we went; it's way better than it appears on paper. Really fun atmosphere, great employees, great food. The whole day was just very relaxing, which is a rarity these days with megaparks too big to do everything in one day. I'd go back again for sure if I were going that way.

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Adventureland just announced a new kiddie area for 2018. It will be called Bernie's Barnyard. They said it will be located behind Storm Chaser and the new area will have a new arcade, a playground, and two new kiddie rides. I think that is the perfect addition for Adventureland because they have a lot of thrilling flat rides and big coasters (they may not seem huge to the average coaster enthusiast but they look huge to children), but they lack in small rides for just the kids. They didn't specify what the two kiddie rides will be, but I hope that one of them is a kiddie coaster like one of those Zamperla ones. And if one of those rides isn't a kiddie coaster, then I hope they get one next year or the year after.

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