I had a great day at Adventureland in Des Moines. I do have some safety concerns and questions about the park that I could use some help and expertise with. I will address these issues in the Trip Report.
The crowds were minimal with 5-10 minute waits on most coasters. This was first time to the park and I was surprised at the decent wooden coasters they have here. The Tornado and Outlaw I think are somewhat underated.
First ride of the day was the Space Shot. First ones on the ride. No wait. Its the usual S&S Space Shot.
Next was the Dragon. Heres where my questions and concerns are. I was on the first train out and we had to wait about a minute for them "to glue the wheel back on" It was one of the upstop wheels on the right side of the train. I guess theres nothing the matter with glueing wheels. I dont know but thats not my biggest concern. I rode the last car front seat. Which is now 6.1. Why did they take the seventh car off the train? I saw a wheel on the 5th car back left was cracked all the way to the metal. It went around the whole wheel and was about a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch wide. I alerted the ride op and the mechanic was right there in the station and he just took one look at it and said "Oh well just let it fall off" I am sorry but first off that wasn't the right thing to say. But I shut my mouth and said no more because well no 60 year old mechanic is gonna take a tip from a 16 year old. I was just trying to be nice and alert them. I was wondering what everybody else thinks of the wheel situation. Should it be replaced? I rode the dragon 5 times and kept on eye on the wheel to see how it was holding up. I think its needs to be replaced. Also the tread or polyurethane (SP) was very thin on the coaster wheels for this early in the season. Also I tried to get a photo of wheel but I couldn't becuase the ride op was kinda of mad at me for pointing it out and well I took a quick snap and it didn't turn out.
After the dragon incident I headed over to the Outlaw. Wow this thing has some kick for such a small coaster. As has been said before this is more of a GCI than a CCI because of Mike Boodley. It packs a good punch for 65 feet tall woodie. It has good ejector airtime with great laterals and turns. I rode it five times four times in a row without getting off.
After that I hit the Tornado. Holy Cow they call this a family coaster in the Guide to Ride by ACE. This season they retracked the first and second drops. It pretty smooth and produces a good mix of floater and ejector airtime. The only downtime on this coaster is the second hill. It somewhat flat not round so it doesn't produce much air. I rode it four times with one ride in the 1.3. One heck of a ride. Also the 3rd car lifts up when engaging the lift hill kinda of cool. Alot of upstop smacking from the airtime. Another underated woodie I think.
I then hit the Underground. Rode it once just for the count and well its decent for dark ride but not much of coaster. I waited about 15 minutes for that.
I rode various other things through out the day. I had a great day at the park and will return very soon hopefully. Please feel free to comment on what you think about the wheel incident on the Dragon. Also I am sorry if there are any spelling errors its been another long day with over 4 hours of driving to get to and from the park. I hope you enjoy the trip report.
