Associated parks:
None
We awoke tuesday morning still hearing the carousel music from the park and decided we needed some supplies. Right in back of the park/casino/racetrack is a super Wal mart so we got fixed up and headed for the park.
After paying our parking we noticed we could have easily walked from the campground to the entrance. Oh well it wasn't your corprate fare $3.00 for parking.
We get to the entrance and you can't see the park! All you see is the backside of a train station and ocationally a CP Huntington train going one way or the other. Just like Kennywood you enter thru one of two tunnels.
Exiting the tunnel we see a gorgeous recreation of a small mid american town with a Dentzel Carousel in the middle of town square. This was a class act if I ever seen it and the only thing mildly dissapointing about it was that the carousel music we had heard all night was being piped in over speakers and not a real carousel organ. Oh well, Still nice none the less.
We make a quick left and descover lots of flatrides, A giant wheel, Chance Inverter, Mixer, Crazy Daisey and many other flats lie waiting in the left side of the park. We head back towards the coasters that are at the back of the park and come first upon The Dragon steel hopkins looper. I decide lets skip it. I need wood! Looking left we see OUTLAW GULCH, So I said that must be the place.
Outlaw: FIrst I want to say that this thing looks like that with a modification of the lifthill and first turn that the whole coaster could fit in sombodys backyard. It's not tall, Its not big but dose have a neat twisted layout. Our first ride was backseat and I found the same thing as I did on GWAZI. A very annoying shuffle/bumping that I don't much care for. The layout was nice and fast with a couple slight pops of airtime in the mix but I found it was almost Identical to the ride Gwazi gives only smaller but not less thrilling. Riding in a front seat of a car I found the shuffle/bump a little less annoying and came to like Outlaw a bunch. Just more proof that bigger isn't always better.
Sawmill Splash is right next to Outlaw and although we didn't ride it is basically a river raft ride kinda like Zoombabwe/Rushing River that you don't have to be in swim gear to ride. Anyhow, Well done.
Next stop was Dragon. This was my first O.D. Hopkins coaster and the only other one I know of is Desert Storm. There are like three bunny hops before the lift and if this was any indication my prediction was PAIN as we got our heads rattled about three times before the lifthill! Surprise! No more bangin and two tight verticle loops followed by a fast helix made this a pretty nice small steel coaster.
Tornado: My second Bill Cobb coaster and this thing is nowhere near as wicked as Riverside Cyclone. It is however a fun out and back that at points has good speed followed by shallow drops. Good ride and I was surprised to see the coaster have two trains. One was parked.
Underground: Wow, That was different! Have you ever ridden a PTC jr. coaster and the part before the lifthill is about 5mph and smooth? Well this whole coaster/darkride is like that (It even has the same track as a PTC jr.) The ride is a twisty constant speed darkride with differnt effects and sceens in the mix including the colapsing mine shaft. I enjoyed this ride and chalk it up as well done and something differnt. Oh BTW, Watch out for BIG BAD BOB! I seen him and he's scary.
Other notes of Adventureland. We didnt ride either the log flume or the river rapids but both looked good. We did ride the skyride and I must say this must be the first time I have ever been on a skyride that basically has tunnels through real trees! It was really cool if ya ask me.
After hearing that the Union Pacific Challenger 3965 Steam Locomotive was going to be just 30 miles north of Adventurland that morning on the news, Me and Rob decided that we would leave adventureland about 3 and go up and see it. Before we left we ate at a diner inside the park near the front in the town area. Great food here and homade too and reasonably priced.
I really liked adventureland. Me and Rob could have easily spent the rest of the day there and enjoyed it. They have alot to do for a small park. The coasters are good and it is nicely landscaped and shaded. We also love Steam trains and at 3pm we made our way up to Marshalltown to catch the arrival.
4pm. Well I miss understood the arrival time for the start of shuttle busses time to be 4pm. The arrival time was to be 5:30pm so we basically jipped ourselves out of another great hour at Adventurland. It was nice however to see all the volenteers ect set up in the UP yard waiting for the train. About 5pm this place was jumpin with people and everyone had cameras or video equiptment waiting for the worlds largest operating Steam Locomotive to arrive.
5:20 pm and I hear a steam whistle. Out with the camera and a long wait as they bring this thing into the spur at a dead crawl. I understand that the train itself runs track speeds out on the mainline but with hundreds of people around and a historic piece of equiptment on a old rails spur, They were taking no chances. 2mph max. It was neat to see two sets of 6 driving wheels operate on a steam engine. The 3985 is a articulated locomotive which means the front driving wheels and rear driving wheels operate separate from each other. The designation is a 4-6-6-4 which is 4 steering wheels, A set of six drivers with thier own cylinders and rods. Another set of six drivers with its own equiptment and 4 trailing wheels to support the firebox weight all in one engine. Basically two locomotives under one boiler and firebox.
We basically did this side trip because you don't see steam engines run around Cincinnati anywhere anymore. CSX has banned all steam from its lines and NS quit their steam program about 8 years ago. Anyhow it was nice to see this and corprate sponsored too by the Union Pacific out there. This is becomming rarer and rarer as insurance rates have trippled since 9/11 and another long time steam operator in St. Louis just called it quits after 20 years of doing trips.
Charles Nungester, Who enjoyed Adventurland and wish he had had more time.
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Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193
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One possitive to 1 train operation: no stacking! ( we hope)
"Next stop was Dragon. This was my first O.D. Hopkins coaster and the only other one I know of is Desert Storm. There are like three bunny hops before the lift and if this was any indication my prediction was PAIN as we got our heads rattled about three times before the lifthill! Surprise! No more bangin and two tight verticle loops followed by a fast helix made this a pretty nice small steel coaster."
Todd: He did ride the Dragon!
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Off to CP in August, Hopefully off to two other parks in July though!! YEA!!!! :-D It will be a good summer!
Questions:
smles@ilstu.edu
*** This post was edited by SaxPlayer on 7/2/2002. ***
*** This post was edited by SaxPlayer on 7/2/2002. ***
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