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Splash Adventure (Alabama Adventure) Discussion Thread


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Well, they stoled our ONLY boomerang, that I never got to ride, so I guess i'll never get that credit

 

BTW, when i say "stoled" i mean brought, as Wonderland Sydney was the sister park of Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia

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  • 2 years later...

Alabama Adventure has been sold to Oklahoma based Adrenaline Family Entertainment (owners of Clementon Park). Here is the press release:

 

BESSEMER, Ala., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Adrenaline Family Entertainment, Inc. announced today the acquisition of Alabama Adventure in Bessemer, Alabama. Adrenaline Family Entertainment is a theme park operating company made up of former seasoned senior Six Flags Inc. executives and majority owned by Angelo, Gordon & Co., an alternative investment management firm with more than $18 billion of assets under management. The acquisition is expected to be completed on May 15, 2008.

 

Adrenaline Family Entertainment's CEO, Hue Eichelberger, was previously an Executive Vice President at Six Flags responsible for overseeing that company's operations in the eastern half of North America. Eichelberger commented, "The acquisition of Alabama Adventure was based on the quality of the Park, the impressive turnaround under the seller's ownership, the strength of the greater Birmingham market and the potential for significant growth." Alabama Adventure is the second Park purchased by Adrenaline in the past year and fits its business model of acquiring and operating high quality entertainment venues in strong regional markets.

 

The seller, Southland Entertainment, LLC, acquired the park in 2003 and has since invested substantial capital, including new rides and attractions. Southland will now turn its attention and resources to the development of the adjacent 157 acre parcel for which preliminary development plans include a hotel/indoor waterpark project, a possible RV park project and other commercial and retail development. Southland President, Kent Lemasters, stated, "Our decision to sell the Park was based not only on our desire to develop the real estate around the park, but it was also important for us to sell to someone who has the resources and experience to expand the park."

 

Adrenaline Family Entertainment's resources, operating experience and capital investment plan are expected to contribute to an improved park experience. Eichelberger, the Company's CEO, said, "We are committed to delivering top quality family entertainment to our visitors and are excited to show the people of the great state of Alabama what we can do."

 

Alabama Adventure is currently open weekends and will begin fulltime operation May 22nd.

 

Adrenaline Family Entertainment, Inc.

CONTACT: Brian McDuff, +1-205-481-4750 ext. 230, for Adrenaline Family

Entertainment, Inc.

 

Published May. 15, 2008

Copyright © 2008 SYS-CON Media. All Rights Reserved.

 

http://new.yachtchartersmagazine.com/read/568727.htm

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I'm glad to hear this and hope that the park doesn't get put on the back burner while the resort/shopping stuff is emphasized.

 

Read about some of this stuff on Birmingham's city website. Happy about the indoor water park. Splash Beach (AA's water park side) has grown steadily the past few years. Hoping to try it out this summer.

 

Hello new owners! Good to see you. Can ya fix Wild River Gorge so you get wet? It just ain't happenin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

. . . and I am pleased to report that the park looks great and every ride was operating. The new owners are already making a strong emphasis on cleanliness and friendliness. The park was packed out, but it appeared everyone was having a blast even in the heat. I will post more in my trip report, including a nugget of things to come. Stay tuned . . .

 

BTW, I need to contact as many people who are a fan of the park as possible for a meeting this summer. Thanks in advance!!!

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  • 1 year later...

As many of you know Alabama Adventure, home of the CCI creation Rampage, was purchased by new owners mid way through last season. You probably also know the park has not always received the greatest reviews from coaster enthusiasts (see here) for many different reason, many because of things the park did to itself. Well 2009 has brought many changes to the park! Some will be viewed as good, some might consider the changes bad. Place me in the former category. IMO, the park looks and is being run as best as it ever has. Lots of things have been done this season and I would like to document some of these changes for you, as well as giving you TPRers that might be visiting the park for the first time on the Deep South Trip a little preview if you will.

 

Please note these photos have been taken over the course of the entire season, some during the day, some at night, and some in between. I am going to try and post them in an order that will make sense of it so they won't exactly be in chronological order. Enjoy!

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If you have ever visited the park before you know there is a large rock by Marvel Mania. The story goes when they were building the park they were having lots of trouble removing it so they decided to leave it as landscaping. Well this yer the park gave it a "story" so to speak. Meet the "Weather Rock."

 

 

Well that does it for major updates so far. I'll post some general park photos from this year later! Thanks for reading!

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All of the rides also received new height sticks at their entrances/lines. Here is the one for Rampage.

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The blue train also had all of its lapbars recovered orange (last year half were black and half were orange). And yes, the park does run both trains when needed!

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The chasis of the red train was painted gray this year...and all lap bars were recovered with orange foam (they ere all black last year).

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And finally, here are some of the changes at Rampage, starting with one of its new safety signs.

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This change actually happened last year, but the park added higher seats and thicker lap foam on the harnesses. This allowed the park to drop the height restriction from 52" to 48". I hear there could be another change to the ride soon though...we'll see ;)

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The logs on Cahaba Falls also were repainted (again) this year and had hand rails added

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"Auburn" boat in action.

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"Alabama" boat in action.

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...the other half feature an "Auburn" paint scheme (PS...36-0...)

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The boats on Wild River Gorge also received a new paint scheme. Half feature an "Alabama" scheme...

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...and new number decals!

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It also has new logo decals...

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Scrambler also received a new paint scheme!

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The park almost doubled the smoking areas in the park. They are clearly marked with red lines and red benches. Here is the one by Rampage. There were 8 areas on opening day.

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Just realized I forgot to post a pic of the new guest conduct signs...

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Unfortunately, the park also had to add a TON of these signs as well after last summer's events at SFOG.

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All of the rides also received new safety signs. Here is the one for Zoomerang.

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The train also received some new safety signs (so did many other rider including the Mind SpinNer. Yes, the park renamed Mind Spinder Mind Spinner!)

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...and yes even more park logo decals!

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It also has a new ride logo on the front...

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Zoomerang's train also received a new paint job!

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...as well as park logos on the train.

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...numbered ride units...

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The train received a logo...

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Marvel Mania also received a new paint scheme!

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Another thing the park did was repaint many of the trash cans (teal, orange, green, etc.) and add park logos to them to help the park look cleaner.

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UpSurge! THROUGH THE TREES!

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Then over a small hill and through a water curtain into the splash pool.

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After some turns you drop down then up into a partial half pipe...

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UpSurge! is a Boomerango from White Water West.

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One change some might view as "bad" was the removal of the sand beach at the wave pool. This was done because you have to walk through that area to get to UpSurge! This is all that remains of the beach.

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The big change this season is the new water slide UpSurge!

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Here is the "new" fountain testing after close one night. The park is continuing to fine tune things so it might be a little while before it looks "perfect."

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What's this? It appears the park has replaced it's interactive fountain with a "new" fountain (seen here simply testing the pump)

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...and two were painted green with purple trim. Some nice new signs like this one here for The Veronicas have been placed throughout the park advertising the concert series

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Two of the ticket booths were painted purple with green trim....

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The front gate area has received some fresh paint this season and some nice new signs informing guests of the park's rules.

Edited by larrygator
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Upsurge looks so much fun! I'd love to get one of those up at Kings Island, and I'm not even a waterpark enthusiast....Anyways, the improvements look great. As someone who works at a small, outclassed park, I appreciate all of the not-so-well known parks

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The park looks beautiful. I'm guessing the drop tower is getting a new program? Anyway, I love what AFE is doing with Clementon Park in the North and Alabama Adventure in the south.

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If I chose to take my first visit on say, a weekday in early July, would park operations accommodate a successful visit?

 

Could I get 5-10 rides on Rampage, 2 on Zoomerang, one on all the other big rides and maybe 2 rides on Upsurge?

 

You could easily do all that. The only "iffy" one would be UpSurge. Even on weekdays the line is usually all the way down the tower since it's the new attraction and has been really popular with guests.

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Glad to see all the improvements and great coverage here. Got a kick out of the Alabama and Auburn Rapids boats, although you'd think they'd replace the headrests from where the Soul Glo people sat. Oh well, the new management is trying to brighten the place up. Kudos to them.

 

Hope to make it down there in a few weeks to have a look. Until then, again, great job in highlighting the good things.

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