Sidewinder at Adventureland

lol, Lost Coaster is not for everyone. It put a silly smile on my face but I saw some getting off really pissed. That is one you either love or hate.

Wow, I thought the new Revolution at SFGAm tested my stomach...This one makes that look tame.

This park is only 90 minutes away for me. I don't visit as often as I should but I'll be paying a visit soon.

Raven makes a point, Adventureland right now is lacking a major coaster to keep its name out there among coaster enthusiasts. I think Tornado is a blast to ride, but is very tempermental to weather, and will either give you tons of air time, or will be no more exciting then the Sunday drive to Adventureland. Outlaw is an awesome woodie, I might be a local, but Outlaw is easily in my top 10 for woodies, it has some very exicting drops, and lots of twists and turns. I don't know how you could not like the Outlaw, but everyone has different tastes. Personally I've noticed the last few years Adventureland has been saving space behind TOrnado for expansion, hopefully Kratz and the rest of the owners are planning something big in the next year or 2, because after taking away Flitzer and sending Super Screamer to Pharoahs Kingdom, they are lacking in coasters, and could use a nice original steel coaster to get their name back out there.

Dragon was awesome when it was first built, but what, abotu 20 years or more have passed, and this looper is incredibly tame, compared to the ones being built nowadays. Only thing Dragon has going for it is it is very unique, and not just another Vekoma or Arrow off the shelf coaster, it was a great design by Hopkins.

Lost Coaster might be weird, but Underground is the same way in that you either will love the ride, or completely hate it. Personally I think it is dull, but should have been built as a runaway mine train ride, and not a cheesy ghetto Disney dark ride.

Sidewinder looks awesome ,can't wait to ride it, Adventureland sure knows how to pick the coolest flat rides, and the fact they themed it perfectly made it even cooler.

cwsr, very soon I will be getting some hosting space for a website I am working on that is theme park related in a few weeks. If you are still looking for hosting space in a couple weeks, I'll let you know and see if I can hook you up. Your pictures are excellent, great quality! You had me frothing at the mouth as I am looking forward to making my first rip to Adventureland in a couple weeks, and am dying to go.

Flitzer and Super Screamer, my first 2 coasters, man that brings back memories Dan. Yeah it would be nice to add a big coaster and I think they have the room for it. Could you imagine CF buying it? You would have 4 parks within 6-8 hours of each other to enjoy. A guy can dream can't he?

The park does not need a big coaster. It would be okay, but they need a *great* coaster. I really don't think it is that hard to do if you know what you are doing. By the way, I did not say I did not like Outlaw. I think it is a very nice family coaster, but it is not thrilling. It is definately worthy to be a part of a coaster line up, but it cannot stand on its own.

"Adventureland right now is lacking a major coaster to keep its name out there among coaster enthusiasts"

Definitley. Because enthusiasts are the ones you want to think of when planning any long-term investments.

Adam

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coasterdude318 said:
Why not? You're only five hours away.

(For the record, Madison to Altoona is also five hours).

-Nate

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Just read you're own quote. I haven't even been to SFGAm, althought that problem will be solved in a few weeks.

What about my quote? I'm missing "you're" point.

-Nate

Well, SFGAm is much better than Adventureland (no that is not debatable), and GAm is much closer. What I was saying was that it seems unlikely for me to drive 5 hours for a few mediocre coasters and a miniature version of Delelrium. Defend it all you want, but there are other places that I would go to multiple times before I would ever consider Adventureland.

It is good that you have that English teacher quality. Keep up the good work. "You're" doing a great job.

I, too, prefer SFGAm to Adventureland but they're (should I say "their" here to make you happy?) in completely different leagues. I was only responding to the fact that you said, "It does look quite fun. Its a shame I will probably never get to go to this place." Well, if you really want to go, it's very possible. Five hours is really not that long to drive.

-Nate

Word, SFGam has the win for best coasters, obviously, but as far as variety of rides (although Six Flags will have 5 new rides in the next few months completed), and a better maintained and family friendly park, Adventureland has them beat in those aspects. Plus SFGAM is owned by a company on the brink of bankruptcy, and Adventureland is bringing in the big bucks as a locally owned park. Now that Kratz (owner of Adventureland) hasn't felt the pressure of Six Flags in recent years, the park is doing great, and probably will stay locally owned for years to come. Although I see Cedar Fair someday trying to buy it out if it ever has any financial trouble, which it probably never will since the park has a huge fan base in the Midwest, young and old.

Also, Raven, Outlaw is normally a pretty wild coaster, not sure if you got a sucky ride or what, but I don't ever see too many people dissapointed by that ride. Of course you went on a cold weekend, so the rides may not have yet been up to speed.

And I agree, they need a great coaster, but these days all the manufacturers are building clones or hypers, so it is slim pickings. I'd like to see Chance Morgan build a hyper similar to Wild Thing at Valleyfair, only add a couple more elements to it to set it apart from others. Either that, or they need to hire Gertsauler or Arrow (I probably hacked the name, but its early in the morning and I ain';t looknig it up!), to build a quality steel custom coaster.

Again, I'm glad to hear so much enthusiasm about my home park. And to those of you who'd rather visit CP or SFGAm for the upteenth time instead of giving Adventureland a shot, maybe you'll see the light some day. :-) How you don't get tired of going to the same parks and trying something new just boggles my mind.

Anyway, regarding the Dragon, it opened in 1990, so it's no where near 20 years old.

And I must reaffirm what Dan said. The Outlaw IS normally a wild ride. It is nothing close to a family coaster. No family coaster has vicious laterals and airtime unless it's at Knoebels. Next time, visit on a hot, summer day and get some night rides; you won't be disappointed. :-)

Every season, I keep hoping that Adventureland will bring back Der Flitzer (They've brought back rides before, so I wouldn't be surprised).It was about the most popular ride in the park and they replaced it with a slow, boring ferris wheel. Does anyone know if they scrapped it or did it get relocated again? This was my favorite ride as a kid. I can live without the Super Screaner, but really miss Der Flitzer. One of these days, I have to make it back to Jersey and get my Flitzer fix.

I would be very disappointed if Adventureland installed a Morgan hyper. I'm sorry, but count me among the many that dislike them (at least the layouts thus far). I'd much rather get an Intamin. Heck, clone Goliath and I won't complain....much. For years now, I have dreamed of a Shivering Timbers 2 along the river that runs between the park and the campground. A Scrwarz Shuttle looper would fit there quite nicely as well. My other dream for Adventureland is to have an inverted over the lake, replacing Dragon. Based on past expenditures, I can't imagine Adventureland could ever afford a B&M or Intamin, but maybe Krantz has a surprise in store for us int he future. If I ever were to strike it rich, I would buy my home park some great coasters.

Hoping for good weather this Saturday, so I can get some decent ride son the woodies in Altoona.

Adventureland's Flitzer was moved to several parks before arriving at a German park in 2000, where it still operates today. See www.rcdb.com for more information.

If Adventureland were going to buy a coaster in the next few years, I think either a Vekoma Invertigo, a Maurer spinning coaster, or another wooden coaster would be a good addition. Another small looping coaster wouldn't be a bad choice either, but affordable rides like that are fairly hard to come by these days unless a used one can be found.

-Nate

I loved the Flitzer, the themeing of going through the mountains was so cool as a kid. I will agree with Dan that the Ferris Wheel is boring. No Super Screamer Dan, cmon, that was a classic coaster too.

Inverted over the lake, now that would be a cool coaster to have.

I agree, the costs for coasters now have become outrageous, mostly thanks to Cedar Fair and Six Flags trying to always one up each other, they created so much new technology, and have spent every penny they have, and it has put the independent parks a bit behind, which is why you see woodies sprout up eveyrwhere because they are usually cheaper. Magic Springs got a nice Vekoma clone, but it was at a discount rate according to Screamscape. Maybe Adventureland can find a good deal too.

I was a fan of Morgan's Wild Thing, until they neutered it to slow it down a bit.

Super Screamer and Flitzer were great coasters that provided some decent thrills in small packages. Why Super Screamer was sold off when there is so much room in the park for it I'll never know, but I miss it.

Manufactures don’t just build clones and hypers. They build what you order. I don’t know why some people think you need to build a hyper or an expensive B&M to have a great ride. Just go to the Gravity Group and tell them you want a ride that will not allow anyone to take a breath till the end and they will give you something far better than any B&M for a lot less money. If they want steel, a custom Intamin mini-hyper would be awesome. They don’t have to compete with the SF and CF for size. They just have to get a *great* ride and it is not that hard. Adventureland does not have anything that I would want to ride more than 2-3 times in a row, and I really don’t think there is any excuse for that. If you are going to own a park, you need to take the time to learn what makes a ride great. It seems that some parks just want a ride so they select the type and look for the best deal. They neglect the actual experience and end up with something that does not inspire returns. In my opinion, that is just wasting money no matter how cheap your Vekoma clone (or whatever) was.

There's "no excuse" for having a ride you don't want to ride a few times in a row? How about the fact that Adventureland most likely is not catering its rides to your demographic? How about that's because their rides are built for families to enjoy?

Additionally, just because you call up a manufacturer and say you want a "good" ride doesn't mean you're going to get a "good" ride. Sometimes rides are just duds. Sometimes people like different rides than other people. But do you really think Adventureland asked for their coasters to be boring/unexciting/forceless/or whatever else you consider them to be?

-Nate

I think they unintentionally asked for lame rides by trying to appeal to the family demographic. I think there is a misnomer out there that you have to have tame rides to appeal to families. Sure rides like TTD are not family coasters, but rides like Raven and Legend are great for families but are not what you normally get when you ask for a family ride. You are right that there are few duds out there, but that is the exception. Tornado may be somewhat of a dud, but my guess is that is more of a maintenance issue. Hoosier Hurricane is a classic dud, but I can see that the park was trying to have a great ride by building it. I don’t see that effort at Adventureland.

How do you know what they asked for when they built Outlaw? How do you know Tornado's "problem" is related to maintenance? I thought it was fine.

The only "problem" with Adventureland is that it isn't the thrill park you desire. So...go somewhere else.

-Nate