Midwestern Parks Advice?

Planning a trip to Worlds of Fun in early season mainly because, one, I've never been and two, because they have season passes for only $59.00 each.  Can you advise me on what not to miss while at this park.  Also going to Adventureland and Valleyfair.  Any advice on these parks and lodging would be appreciated.  May go to Arnold's Park, not sure.  Anyhow the season pass will allow us several trips, up to CP and MA.

I can only help you with Adventureland but what I can tell you its a nice little park.  Their two woodies are great.  They pack a good punch for their size.  The Outlaw is a good CCI that looks like a GCI since Mike Boodley designed it before he left to start GCI.  Also the Tornado their out and back woodie is nice and smooth.  They just retracked some of it last year and its flying with great airtime.  The Dragon is nothing spectacular.  Don't miss the Underground its a dark ride by CCI pretty good for such a small park on a budget.  Also they are adding a new water ride this year.  Adventureland is a great park and I hope you like flat rides because they have a ton.  Sorry if this is a little long but I hope you enjoy your stop at Adventureland.
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Mike
Favorite Wood: Viper at SFGAM, Shivering Timbers
Favorie Steel: Magnum and Raging Bull

everything you would ever need to know about the parks can be found at www.themeparksonline.org  It has lodging information, as well as what exactly is in the park, what certain eateries offer, etc.  I know for a fact that the WOF and Adventureland ones are extensive because I helped out on them so enjoy. :)
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S W :) :) S H
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GO HUSKERS!

I give Valleyfair a try they do have a good number of flat rides. Power Tower alone is one of the favorites along with Wild Thing. When are you going? If you are planning to go to Valleyfair may I recomend you dont go at the end of May during the school event days they do draw if I remember 15,000 to 16,000 kids. Go during the week in June, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays are usualy the slowest not bad for lines as for lodging check out bestlodging.com they have all the information you need its a good source to use.
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If you built it they will come!

*** This post was edited by The Beast on 1/28/2002. ***

Worlds of Fun has 2 awesome coasters, Mamba & Timber Wolf. Timber Wolf is one of my favorite woodies, and packs tons of airtime. Of course, the back seat is the best. Mamba is also excellent...lot's of air, a great helix, and again, the back seat is best.

I recommend avoiding Adventureland unless you have kids with you. It's a nice enough park as far as atmosphere and service go, but is severly lacking in the thrill department. The Outlaw is the only really good thrill ride that they have. A nice little CCI, that is quite fun, although small. In my opinion, 1 good coaster is not worth $24 admission, but if you have kids with you, or non-coaster loving friends, then it is worth a visit.

Valleyfair is a great park too. They have a little better coaster selection than Worlds of Fun, but overall, they are similar parks (both CF properties). Wild Thing is VF's Morgan Hyper...similar to Mamba, but with an extra large drop (3 main drops, rather than 2). The airtime on Wild Thing is great, especially the 2nd drop. The rear seat is the best. They also have a Power Tower S&S Turbo Drop / Space Shot. This is one of the taller S&S models. Not quite as high as the one at CP, but pretty close. Power Tower and Wild Thing are the 2 best rides, but they also have an Arrow Corkscrew, an Arrow Mine Train (more like a single track Gemini than the traditional mine trains), and a small woodie (High Roller) which are all worth riding, even if they are less than spectacular.

A CF season pass is a good investment. I bought one last year, and used it just as much as my Six Flags pass. Don't forget you can use it at Cedar Point too, which of course makes these parks (although great), look like carnivals.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
Visit: http://www.dynamicgroove.com

Worlds of Fun: 2 great coasters [MAMBA &Timberwolf], 2 great flat rides [Thunderhawk(Topspin) & Detonator(S&S 1st gen space shot)] and a great river rapids ride [Fury of the Nile]

Adventureland: 2 great woodies [Outlaw & Tornado], Unusual CCI dark ride "scenic railway" [The Underground], a S&S Space Shot [Space Shot] and lots of flats.  Not just a kiddie park like stated above.

Valleyfair: 1 good coaster [Wild Thing] and a Space Shot/Turbo Drop Combo tower [Power Tower], other than that, not much.

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S W :) :) S H
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GO HUSKERS!

Hey Swoosh,

The themeparksonline.org sight has the best individual park pages I've ever seen on the net.  WoF and Adventureland pages are fantastic.  I looked around the sight and was disappointed that many of the parks havn't been completed.  I hope that this can happen.  This sight began as a WoF sight, right?  I wasn't put off by the "kiddie park" description of Adventureland.  I am probably most excited about this park for this trip because it mostly resembles a traditional park.  Whats your advice on a side trip to Arnold's Park.  I notice that there is no quick way to get there from Des Moines with secondary roads.  Is it worth the detour if you are strapped for time?  Remember, I really love traditional parks and I know the Arnold's would probably fit the bill for me.

DAC

Being that WOF is my hometown park, I know just about everything there is to know. Mamba is flat out the best and one of the most underrated coasters in the world. The Timberwolf is fairly rough but still is a good solid woodie with nice floating airtime. If the brake isn't on, then, it isn't one of my favorite woodies. Orient Express is a pretty intense Arrow looper, but is also very rough in sports. The Boomerang is exactly what it's name states. Detanator is an awesome ride and Thunderhawk will also be good. WOF doesn't have the greatest water rides. Viking Voyager is a very weak log ride and Monsoon is a pretty week shoot the chutes ride. The theming in the park isn't bad, but has gotten worse in recent years. The best theming on a ride is probably the river raft ride Fury of the Nile. Bottom line, is that Mamba and Timberwolf are worth the admission price.  
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The Roller Coaster Collection:
With A New Poll and More Stuff Coming Soon:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/rollercoaster2/index.html

I meant that Orient Express was rough in spots. Not sports. Haha.
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The Roller Coaster Collection:
With A New Poll and More Stuff Coming Soon:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/rollercoaster2/index.html

rough in sports...wear your headgear!...
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Off-season coaster blues got you down, stop by the 'buzz and turn your frown upside-down...
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

DAC,

Well understand that themeparksonline.org is still in "BETA" version.  We haven't gotten to all the parks that we have wanted too.  Since we like to go into so much depth on each park, gaining that insight takes time.  So please be patient, we're trying our best :)  With a staff of 8 people (I think) now, we should progress a little faster than we have. 

Now as for Arnold's Park.  They have an old coaster called "The Legend (note it had the name first) and a flume ride called Boji Falls (I think).  The rest of the park features rides like you would find at the fair.  They have a fun house and steam boat ride on the lake.  It's a nice little park, but like you said, there is not a direct route to it.

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S W :) :) S H
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GO HUSKERS!