They are 100% not done. Adventureland has been a major catalyst for the Midwest coaster war. Lost Island, Six Flags Great America, Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and soon Indiana Beach have all contributed.
As someone from Iowa, I appreciate you giving this park some recognition. Lost Island is gonna become a theme park/water park hybrid in the near future as well.
Some local you tubers called, Iowa theme park enthusiasts did a podcast with the Adventureland CEO. They asked if monster would always be the best coaster at the park and he said no.
@@AirtimeThrills We are getting 10 new flat rides for next year most of them kiddie rides which we did not have many of. One is a brand new lighthouse ride and decent swing ride that goes in a circle but also tilts..
@@AirtimeThrills They cleared out a huge portion of land where Falling Star used to be, and teased a 2023 attraction on this year's park map. I think we're going to be getting something epic.
True, I never expected Adventureland to get one especially since the model isn't exactly relevant either but that would be the perfect addition just from this park's standpoint. Power launch and a tall top hat. A weaker launch coaster with inversions would be ok too but you already have an inversion machine in Monster.
I visited here for my first time back in September of 2019. One of the first things I noticed was how clean the park was. The grass, trees, etc were also so neatly trimmed. I'm usually not one to care about that, but this place really blew me away for it's tidy appearance. It seemed that the operations were excellent as well, and the employees were all very friendly. Monster is my favorite ride there hands down. None of their other rides hold a candle to it. It is also the ride that first made me interested in visiting the park. I found the Phoenix to be fun, but just a little underwhelming, but still an excellent family addition to the park. It market my first ride on a Mauer coaster I actually sort of enjoyed Tornado, but probably because I rode it after hearing several bad reviews. I'm sure it was a case of what I like to call "reverse hype". I really enjoyed the first drop. It just seemed like it lasted a little longer than most 80' coasters. It really surprsied me. The rest of the ride felt compact and wasn't too remarkable. Outlaw didn't seem to be anything special, but it was still fun. I was glad I got to ride the Dragon before it was shut down. At first, I was dreading it after hearing all the horror stories. Turned out to be not near as rough as I thought would be, and I liked it. It was decent for what it was. The Underground seemed to be a little bit funner than the POVs showed. I thought it would be almost pintless to ride it, but I still wanted the credit. For one, it provided a much-appreciated air-conditioned break to an otherwise hot day. Also, I had no idea we'd be quirt with water. The ride is fairly flat, but is just a tad more vigerous than the POVs will show. This is a nice ride if you want to take a break. I was a bit dissappointed when I heard that Dragon Slayer was goign to be a S&S free spin. As if we don't already have those nearby. And why go smaller than the others? The midwest is in dire need of a RMC single rail and I wished that Adventureland would have went that route instead. Especially since none of the other parks in the midwest seem to be intersted in getting a single-rail anytime soon. Kentucky Kingdom cancelled theirs and I've given up on South Dakota and Six Flags St. Louis getting one. Let's just keep buiding those up along the coastlines, I guess. Anyway, before I sound like I'm just complaining, I still think the free spin was a good addition for the general public who live nearby, and I'm stil hopeful they may pick an RMC raptor in the near future to go where the rest of the Dragon plot is. And to RMC Tornado would be awesome! If they can do that in addition to getting a Raptor, they'd suddenly have 3 top tier coasters. And once they got there, they could have GCI or Gravity Group re-profile the Outlaw and turn it into more of an airtime machine. That would make them into a very good smaller park for years to gome.
My home park is Canobie Lake, which has a well-kept 1930s woodie and a small Eurofighter, and that's about it for coasters. But it's a charming park, well worth a visit. (And there's a lot else within a day's drive.)
My thoughts on my visit to Adventureland: First of all I noticed most of the staff were very nice although lots of the gp were annoying and rude for example I heard constant arguments and I saw a lady shove her little kid, anyways that’s not really the park’s fault so I’m not going to judge it on that. Now for the coasters, I came in really excited for the underground thinking it would be a really fun dark ride but the theming quality felt cheap and I even saw light seeping through cracks in the wood making it clear it wasn’t really underground and the coaster itself was super boring so I have The Underground ranked in 6th, next up we have Tornado which I heard was bad and it really was. At the bottom of every hill my back slammed forward giving it a weird uncomfortable bend as well as having no airtime, this coaster needs to be rmc’d or removed since it takes up the most land and is a horrible coaster which is why I rank it #5 next we have Pheonix which barely was better than I expected but it was a fun family ride with some honestly pretty good stomach drops, nothing special but a fun overall ride ranking in 4th. Next we have Dragon Slayer and I thought it would be worse than joker clones due to size but oh boy I was wrong. This is by far my new favorite 4D free spin. I got so much flipping but not in a painful way to where I got some great floater and even a small bit of ejector airtime. Overall a great free spin and I nearly put it in 2nd but it still does rank as #3. Next we have outlaw which was a very mediocre ride. The first half had some great laterals and decent airtime but it got slow in the second half and the second half really did nothing for me. Overall a pretty mediocre woodie and not much else to say other than it’s #2. Finally we have the coaster everyone knew would be in first, it’s monster. I had high expectation for this coaster as I am a pretty big fan a other gerstlauer a bit this somehow manage to exceed my already high expectations. This coaster was just so graceful as you are either feel the quick speed at the bottom of the elements or getting great floater from the inversions, this ride just has a very graceful fear that I love, only complaint is the lap bar starts to staple you as the ride goes on and it really hurt my thighs which is why this barely misses my top 5 hitting my #6 overall credits out of 70 at the time being. Now for the atmosphere, it was nice, it just felt a bit all over the place as the park was themed differently in different areas but not in a way where they really blend well. My biggest complaint about the park as a whole is the food. I might of had the worst burger ever in my life. Every bite I bit into a ton of gristle and the cheese tasted old and the pickle juice was runny drenching the bread and the fries were super cold. Anyways overall I think this was a great small park and I really did have an overall great time here so I think it’s definitely worth the trip out of you’re in the area
Outlaw is great....for 1993. This paved the way for twister layouts from GCI. Was also my 300th coaster. Also, Monster is awesome. So is Adventureland expensive, or are chain parks cheap? I was there the week after the accident, the park was slow and a lot of people were stunned. I never felt safety was skippd and the staff friendly.
I really don't think $50 for daily admission is that bad..it's not like when I went to Idlewild and they wanted something like 50 or 60 bucks I forgot what it was exactly
5:35 I rode Undertow at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (my home park) a week ago. I got in going backwards and noticed the chain going off of the track like it does in this shot. Nice.
I've lived in the Des Moines metro since 2012 and the $50 admission has kept me from visiting even once in all that time. Even with monster, outlaw, a new free spin and a decent Maurer spinner, it really only seems worth going for their oktoberfest event, when tickets are only sold to those 21 and older and a good chunk of those guests are so preoccupied with drinking as to let me ride Monster several times with a minimal wait.
Adventureland has been my home park since I moved to Des Moines in 2015. Considering I wasn't expecting anything like it when I moved out here, I was happy to see I at least had a home park. Monster by far is the best ride there and it's probably one of my favorite Infinity coaster. I'll keep going and supporting the park with hopes they continue expanding. It has a lot of potential. I would love to see a raptor, a mini hyper, or a launch coaster like an Intamin or a smaller Mack multi-launch. Big pipe dream would be to RMC Tornado.
If they are looking for cheap ways to get thrilling rides, RMC tornado may be a thing. It would be a simple out and back layout but ejector hills, stalls, and rolls...it's be pretty sweet
personaly i have been to adventure land a couple of times in the past which i am going in like a week or 2 i am not sure but I have always loved the tornado and it used to be my favurite and it still is but it could use some fixing because i have felt the entire ride shaking while i was on it while still getting a bit of back pain from the carts them self but I will say that it will continue to be one of my favurite rides here thank you for seeing the park and noticing it :)
Adventureland is a very nice park and has only been getting better. I live equidistant from Adventureland and Worlds of Fun. 10 years ago I would've picked WOF over Adventureland 9 times out of 10. Now, it's the complete opposite. Yes, they only have one great coaster, but they've done a great job of creating a clean, nicely landscaped, friendly experience. From my visits, I noticed that most of the major ride operators were older adults, not kids, which adds to the comfort a bit. And if you like flat rides, especially classic ones, this park is for you. Like you said they went about 20 years without adding a coaster so in that time they added tons of flat rides, hence that "carnival" type section of the park you mentioned. It's very nice, relaxing, comfortable park that is anchored by an amazing coaster in Monster. And it's awesome that they are expanding so much after being dormant for about two decades.
I worked in the rides department there for a number of years in the 70's & 80's, so this park holds a special place in my heart. I would love to see the Tornado get some attention before they consider adding another coaster. A RMC makeover sounds like a great idea to me.
As you rightly mentioned, the park will definitely receive scrutiny. I'm not touching this place after the accident this year unless serious changes happen. According to the state order, Adventureland's management violated safety standards because the park: -Used parts that hadn't been approved by the manufacturer to replace the weirs that guide rafts, and did not do associated engineering work. -Used Flex Seal, a product marketed primarily through TV infomercials, rather than approved patches, to fix leaks in rafts' flotation bladders. A state report said the Jaramillo raft after the incident had a deflated bladder, and a state report said it had been repaired earlier in the day. -Didn't test rafts following repairs. -Didn't adequately document repairs. -Didn't provide continuous, direct supervision of riders. -Failed to update the ride's evacuation plan when the park's layout changed. -Used "deficient" forms for daily inspections. -Conducted inadequate training for employees on ride operation and evacuation. I don't trust them. Family business or not, they are responsible for human lives. They'll have to earn back my trust. Like you said, the park has great potential, and I'd love to visit Iowa. But I cannot in good conscience support this place.
Good review but regarding their plat pass can you compare it to other companies? I want to know how YOU would rate it like you asked us. A comparison vid like that would be awesome!
It really doesn't compare to the others since you're talking about 1 park versus a chain of parks, and twice the price...but a free night at the hotel (valued at at least $100 I'm sure) access to their pool, icees and popcorn isn't something the other chains give away with their top memberships...so I'd say the benefits don't add up to the price and it doesn't even come that close.
i love adventure land! i honestly thought that it was some funky lil hodunk theme park (i’m from iowa and never really been to any other ones) and i kinda figured that noone knew it even existed besides people in iowa
Been there a few times and it's worth the trip from Illinois to visit the park. Price isn't bad and what some parks are missing that Adventureland has is family rides from the past and not crazy over coasters. I respect this park alot.
Grew up 2 hours away so it's my home park. It's different but for what we got I think it's great. If you want more it's not much father for St. Louis or Chitown. But for a nice day in the Iowa sun, it's a great spot. Idk about the past few years but the staff used to be mainly elderly that had some camping deal with the park, and were always friendly. It's small park so operations can be odd, but I've seen sketchier operation near the Wisconsin area, and some other places. Idk if Outlaw has a second train, but I haven't seen Tornado run the second train since like 2008, they just switch them out at the end of the season. Sorry, long winded, but, local groups shoot for Tornado to get the RMC treatment, there shots of retracking but I think it needs a reprofile. Not RMC, but that second hill kills every bit of momentum of the ride. Also I think a Chance Hyper GTX should be in the mix for a new ride. One of those two should fill the airtime void in the park. (I know monster, it's mostly hangtime though).
I live about 2 hours away and I guess this would have to be considered my home park until next year. For most Iowans, I don't think they are aware of what's out there and this is considered big time. A 2 hour drive means no need for overnight accommodations. Looking forward to Lost Island as it will be across town. I really like what they're doing. Still, a 5 hour drive to Great America and you're at one of the best thrill parks in the nation.
“Disneyland of Iowa?” More like the “Disneyland of the Midwest.” Keep in mind, I’m moving to Greene County, which is much closer to this park. Where we previously lived was too far away from any park…until Lost Island came along. Now, we are closer to Des Moines - and yes, this means A-Land as well!
Adventureland is my home park. I bought a Silver pass in 2021 and bought a Platinum pass for 2022. The platium pass does get you access to the other Palace Entertainment parks this year, like Kennywood. I'm hoping that the safety issues raised by the Raging River accident are behind Advetureland, due to the new ownership of the park. I'm unsure if it'll open in 2022, if it does it'll be probably late in the season. The state had a huge list of requirements that had to be met before re-opening the ride. Maybe the Platinum pass is overpriced, but if you go there every weekend like I typically do the priority parking is really nice and not a benefit you can just buy for the day. They don't sell priority parking to day ticket holders. Also Platinum pass gets you two free tickets on each of the season pass holder days (which is the two days of opening weekend, and Memorial Day). You can bring in a lot of friends, especially if you have others who also have Gold or Platinum passes.
7:50 The way you handled this perspective on how the park should handle the July incident/death on the river ride was FAR less immature and cancel-culturey than another popular ride-RUclipsr whose 'Crazy' opinion was to boycott the 'Theme Park' altogether. Nicely handled, Airtime Thrills, bravo!
Thanks, though I think he has done a lot more research on it than I have and may have a stronger opinion than me for that reason. I read a couple articles and wouldn't want to flame them too much based on 2nd hand reporting
@@AirtimeThrills Makes sense. He does a ton of research for his projects just as you do, and I will still watch his work also. No hate here, just appreciated the outlook on the topic :)
as a kid that goes to adventureland frequently, I can tell you that the line to underground is only long because the building is air conditioned lol. I hate how boring it is but me and my friends go on it for a break haha
I feel like this park could be a potential candidate for a Zamperla Double Heart coaster. Their newer coasters have been considerably smoother and better, and this new model of theirs looks like a convincingly good take on the compact triple launched coasters in the vein of Skyrocket IIs. Anyways, the park as is looks cute, and Monster seems to be a great ride!
Granted I didn't expect much, and I *know* it's a small coaster, but The Underground might be the most disappointed I've ever felt on a coaster. That, and also Jack Rabbit at SeaBreeze. The Underground was so slow and scenic for most of the ride that I thought there would be some kind of a finale or surprise thrill moment at the end. But there just... wasn't. There was nothing of interest besides the wacky hard to follow theming.
I have never been here, but if I pretend that I had, they would have to add an incredible coaster for me to come back. To be honest, the park already looks like something I would only do if I were passing through the area. Like, if I do a coaster road trip someday, then I could totally fit it in between two other destinations. Or, if this were my home park, I'd be happy to buy a lower tier season pass. But I live almost 1000 miles from there, and their current line-up just doesn't impress me enough.
I was also there for the first time last July. Unfortunately my visit didn't go that well. I had too much Pizza Ranch the night before and got extremely nauseous so I didn't ride The Monster, Dragon Slayer or Rocket. I am definitely going back soon because of unfinished business but I think I'll wait a year or two for them to add another new addition.
Another thing to mention is that the food at Adventureland is extremely varied and above average and extremely well priced compared to other theme park food.
I live a couple hours away and the price of the admission for my family of 5, keeps us from going. I guess growing up with Adventureland I enjoy Outlaw and Tornado lol. Nostalgic I guess. I live close to waterloo so I'm excited for Lost Island in the summer.
Yup. This is my childhood park! I don't live too far from it but still a good 2 hours. But when I heard the dragon was being scraped it was sad to hear but what made me mad was what replaced it. They could have just made a new layout and just give it and upgrade but the dragon Slayer doesn't give any excitement. Just whiplash. It felt like a down grade. And the dragon was Super old and bumpy.
A park with spotty maintenance (not even talking about the fatality) has no business running an Intamin hydraulic launch coaster. Besides, their (soon to be) biggest competition in-state will have Kanonen.
I’d like to go here some day but for now it’s going to have to wait until this park takes safety as serious as any other park. There have been way too many accidents here and even deaths. Management needs to gets its act together.
Adventureland Iowa’s Entrance at 0:36 is way simpler to Disneyland’s Entrance at 0:39, despite they have the same train station at the top of the hill.
The rides been getting really nice. But they just got bought out (the river rapid drama got real serious). I honestly do hate it when family businesses get bought out, but in this case, they really deserve it. And not just because of the rapid incident
As a Minnesotan what is a better park? Valley fair or adventureland? Des Moines is only a 3 hour drive from where I live so I'd be down to go there sometime
We moved from California to Iowa. I can't see spending magic mountain money for not even close to a magic mountain experience. That's one reason we haven't even attempted to visit this park. We want magic mountain level coasters. I think the closest to that is going to cedar point but that will have to be a planned vacation due to the distance.
@@AirtimeThrills very true. We have no interest in six flags st Louis. But we let our passes go when we moved here. We used to live 20 minutes from discovery Kingdom and we were there several times a week and we did magic mountain for Christmas. It's been 2 years since we've been on a coaster! It's so not ok!
I get dragon wasn’t a favorite at the park put seriously they could have kept it and still put the free spin in and of all things to replace it with they had to buy a six flags ride 😭
The Disney drop is a bit much, but considering the price for a platinum pass it makes sense. As for how to make the park better: move it to another state? I know that sounds rude, but in a place like Iowa I'm not sure how big of an investment can be made without losing too much money. But, hey, they have a free-spin that isn't yellow or green, so that's a thing.
I mean they've had more investments in the last 5 years than most lower tier Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks in major cities so I think they're doing fine besides the death.
Unless the Des Moines area grows a lot, maybe they go for cheap options. Lucky for them, there's a LOT of great cheap options, and lucky for us, they seem to want to keep building.
@@AirtimeThrills: That's pretty much what I was thinking. I'd like to see something like Switchback. Wouldn't cost that much and could be a great addition. The uniqueness of such a ride, too, could be a good draw for people out of state.
I'm pretty excited about Adventureland's future. In 2022 they're adding 9 new flat rides, and removing 3 flat rides that are pretty mediocre. Underground really needs an overhaul. It's not aged well at all.
Compared to other independent amusement parks that offer the same amount of rides and theming, Adventureland’s season pass is absolutely not worth the money
They are 100% not done. Adventureland has been a major catalyst for the Midwest coaster war. Lost Island, Six Flags Great America, Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and soon Indiana Beach have all contributed.
And yet there's still Michigan's Adventure...
MA, Valleyfair, Nickelodeon Universe, Mt. Olympus, WoF, SFSL, and Bay Beach haven't fueled it in awhile
As someone from Iowa, I appreciate you giving this park some recognition.
Lost Island is gonna become a theme park/water park hybrid in the near future as well.
The disneyland of iowa.
That's not too hard to beat.
Lost Island: *hold my beer*
@@idigcoasters That’s more like the islands of adventure of Iowa
“I think they got 3 new coasters since this video started” Absolutely hilarious. Great video!
Best thing is that when i come home, i get to see an airtime thrills video.
That Energylandia joke was PREMIUM, dude. hahahaha
Some local you tubers called, Iowa theme park enthusiasts did a podcast with the Adventureland CEO. They asked if monster would always be the best coaster at the park and he said no.
Haha I would expect him to say that no matter what
@@AirtimeThrills We are getting 10 new flat rides for next year most of them kiddie rides which we did not have many of. One is a brand new lighthouse ride and decent swing ride that goes in a circle but also tilts..
@@AirtimeThrills They cleared out a huge portion of land where Falling Star used to be, and teased a 2023 attraction on this year's park map. I think we're going to be getting something epic.
Haha that Energylandia scene :D
Lucky for me Energylandia is my home park so I visit it quite often every year :D
I’m jealous, can’t wait to visit energylandia
I was going to say that there's actually an Intamin Accelerator model going to Lost Island in Waterloo, Iowa.
True, I never expected Adventureland to get one especially since the model isn't exactly relevant either but that would be the perfect addition just from this park's standpoint. Power launch and a tall top hat. A weaker launch coaster with inversions would be ok too but you already have an inversion machine in Monster.
@@AirtimeThrills or maybe they could rmc outlaw
I visited here for my first time back in September of 2019. One of the first things I noticed was how clean the park was. The grass, trees, etc were also so neatly trimmed. I'm usually not one to care about that, but this place really blew me away for it's tidy appearance. It seemed that the operations were excellent as well, and the employees were all very friendly.
Monster is my favorite ride there hands down. None of their other rides hold a candle to it. It is also the ride that first made me interested in visiting the park.
I found the Phoenix to be fun, but just a little underwhelming, but still an excellent family addition to the park. It market my first ride on a Mauer coaster
I actually sort of enjoyed Tornado, but probably because I rode it after hearing several bad reviews. I'm sure it was a case of what I like to call "reverse hype". I really enjoyed the first drop. It just seemed like it lasted a little longer than most 80' coasters. It really surprsied me. The rest of the ride felt compact and wasn't too remarkable.
Outlaw didn't seem to be anything special, but it was still fun.
I was glad I got to ride the Dragon before it was shut down. At first, I was dreading it after hearing all the horror stories. Turned out to be not near as rough as I thought would be, and I liked it. It was decent for what it was.
The Underground seemed to be a little bit funner than the POVs showed. I thought it would be almost pintless to ride it, but I still wanted the credit. For one, it provided a much-appreciated air-conditioned break to an otherwise hot day. Also, I had no idea we'd be quirt with water. The ride is fairly flat, but is just a tad more vigerous than the POVs will show. This is a nice ride if you want to take a break.
I was a bit dissappointed when I heard that Dragon Slayer was goign to be a S&S free spin. As if we don't already have those nearby. And why go smaller than the others? The midwest is in dire need of a RMC single rail and I wished that Adventureland would have went that route instead. Especially since none of the other parks in the midwest seem to be intersted in getting a single-rail anytime soon. Kentucky Kingdom cancelled theirs and I've given up on South Dakota and Six Flags St. Louis getting one. Let's just keep buiding those up along the coastlines, I guess. Anyway, before I sound like I'm just complaining, I still think the free spin was a good addition for the general public who live nearby, and I'm stil hopeful they may pick an RMC raptor in the near future to go where the rest of the Dragon plot is.
And to RMC Tornado would be awesome! If they can do that in addition to getting a Raptor, they'd suddenly have 3 top tier coasters. And once they got there, they could have GCI or Gravity Group re-profile the Outlaw and turn it into more of an airtime machine. That would make them into a very good smaller park for years to gome.
"It would be a little rough having this as your home park"
I mean, I exist, and I don't mind at all.
My former home park was Six Flags America with the abominable mind Eraser. But my current home park has the second best coaster, Skyrush
My home park is Canobie Lake, which has a well-kept 1930s woodie and a small Eurofighter, and that's about it for coasters. But it's a charming park, well worth a visit. (And there's a lot else within a day's drive.)
My thoughts on my visit to Adventureland: First of all I noticed most of the staff were very nice although lots of the gp were annoying and rude for example I heard constant arguments and I saw a lady shove her little kid, anyways that’s not really the park’s fault so I’m not going to judge it on that. Now for the coasters, I came in really excited for the underground thinking it would be a really fun dark ride but the theming quality felt cheap and I even saw light seeping through cracks in the wood making it clear it wasn’t really underground and the coaster itself was super boring so I have The Underground ranked in 6th, next up we have Tornado which I heard was bad and it really was. At the bottom of every hill my back slammed forward giving it a weird uncomfortable bend as well as having no airtime, this coaster needs to be rmc’d or removed since it takes up the most land and is a horrible coaster which is why I rank it #5 next we have Pheonix which barely was better than I expected but it was a fun family ride with some honestly pretty good stomach drops, nothing special but a fun overall ride ranking in 4th. Next we have Dragon Slayer and I thought it would be worse than joker clones due to size but oh boy I was wrong. This is by far my new favorite 4D free spin. I got so much flipping but not in a painful way to where I got some great floater and even a small bit of ejector airtime. Overall a great free spin and I nearly put it in 2nd but it still does rank as #3. Next we have outlaw which was a very mediocre ride. The first half had some great laterals and decent airtime but it got slow in the second half and the second half really did nothing for me. Overall a pretty mediocre woodie and not much else to say other than it’s #2. Finally we have the coaster everyone knew would be in first, it’s monster. I had high expectation for this coaster as I am a pretty big fan a other gerstlauer a bit this somehow manage to exceed my already high expectations. This coaster was just so graceful as you are either feel the quick speed at the bottom of the elements or getting great floater from the inversions, this ride just has a very graceful fear that I love, only complaint is the lap bar starts to staple you as the ride goes on and it really hurt my thighs which is why this barely misses my top 5 hitting my #6 overall credits out of 70 at the time being. Now for the atmosphere, it was nice, it just felt a bit all over the place as the park was themed differently in different areas but not in a way where they really blend well. My biggest complaint about the park as a whole is the food. I might of had the worst burger ever in my life. Every bite I bit into a ton of gristle and the cheese tasted old and the pickle juice was runny drenching the bread and the fries were super cold. Anyways overall I think this was a great small park and I really did have an overall great time here so I think it’s definitely worth the trip out of you’re in the area
Outlaw is great....for 1993. This paved the way for twister layouts from GCI. Was also my 300th coaster. Also, Monster is awesome.
So is Adventureland expensive, or are chain parks cheap?
I was there the week after the accident, the park was slow and a lot of people were stunned. I never felt safety was skippd and the staff friendly.
I really don't think $50 for daily admission is that bad..it's not like when I went to Idlewild and they wanted something like 50 or 60 bucks I forgot what it was exactly
Thanks for the dinner reminder
5:35 I rode Undertow at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (my home park) a week ago. I got in going backwards and noticed the chain going off of the track like it does in this shot. Nice.
I've lived in the Des Moines metro since 2012 and the $50 admission has kept me from visiting even once in all that time. Even with monster, outlaw, a new free spin and a decent Maurer spinner, it really only seems worth going for their oktoberfest event, when tickets are only sold to those 21 and older and a good chunk of those guests are so preoccupied with drinking as to let me ride Monster several times with a minimal wait.
I guess you could call it a *MONSTER* of a price for a season pass
At least it's not a genie
I saw the prices on that pass and thought it was whack... glad you made this video haha
Heyyyy, you made it!
Adventureland has been my home park since I moved to Des Moines in 2015. Considering I wasn't expecting anything like it when I moved out here, I was happy to see I at least had a home park. Monster by far is the best ride there and it's probably one of my favorite Infinity coaster. I'll keep going and supporting the park with hopes they continue expanding. It has a lot of potential. I would love to see a raptor, a mini hyper, or a launch coaster like an Intamin or a smaller Mack multi-launch. Big pipe dream would be to RMC Tornado.
If they are looking for cheap ways to get thrilling rides, RMC tornado may be a thing. It would be a simple out and back layout but ejector hills, stalls, and rolls...it's be pretty sweet
This is my hometown park and I really enjoy coming hear.
personaly i have been to adventure land a couple of times in the past which i am going in like a week or 2 i am not sure but I have always loved the tornado and it used to be my favurite and it still is but it could use some fixing because i have felt the entire ride shaking while i was on it while still getting a bit of back pain from the carts them self but I will say that it will continue to be one of my favurite rides here thank you for seeing the park and noticing it :)
Adventureland is a very nice park and has only been getting better. I live equidistant from Adventureland and Worlds of Fun. 10 years ago I would've picked WOF over Adventureland 9 times out of 10. Now, it's the complete opposite. Yes, they only have one great coaster, but they've done a great job of creating a clean, nicely landscaped, friendly experience. From my visits, I noticed that most of the major ride operators were older adults, not kids, which adds to the comfort a bit. And if you like flat rides, especially classic ones, this park is for you. Like you said they went about 20 years without adding a coaster so in that time they added tons of flat rides, hence that "carnival" type section of the park you mentioned. It's very nice, relaxing, comfortable park that is anchored by an amazing coaster in Monster. And it's awesome that they are expanding so much after being dormant for about two decades.
I worked in the rides department there for a number of years in the 70's & 80's, so this park holds a special place in my heart. I would love to see the Tornado get some attention before they consider adding another coaster. A RMC makeover sounds like a great idea to me.
As you rightly mentioned, the park will definitely receive scrutiny. I'm not touching this place after the accident this year unless serious changes happen.
According to the state order, Adventureland's management violated safety standards because the park:
-Used parts that hadn't been approved by the manufacturer to replace the weirs that guide rafts, and did not do associated engineering work.
-Used Flex Seal, a product marketed primarily through TV infomercials, rather than approved patches, to fix leaks in rafts' flotation bladders. A state report said the Jaramillo raft after the incident had a deflated bladder, and a state report said it had been repaired earlier in the day.
-Didn't test rafts following repairs.
-Didn't adequately document repairs.
-Didn't provide continuous, direct supervision of riders.
-Failed to update the ride's evacuation plan when the park's layout changed.
-Used "deficient" forms for daily inspections.
-Conducted inadequate training for employees on ride operation and evacuation.
I don't trust them. Family business or not, they are responsible for human lives. They'll have to earn back my trust. Like you said, the park has great potential, and I'd love to visit Iowa. But I cannot in good conscience support this place.
Save the money for lost Island in Waterloo.
@SavegerAlexPlays yeah cause you live in Iowa and have nothing to compare it to.
@SavegerAlexPlays are you high? Cedar Point is right there. Why go to the sketchy family owned one.
Yep you're the one I was talking about in terms of boycotting the park and i understand it given what I've read about it
@SavegerAlexPlays then stop buying from them. Seems pretty simple.
Good review but regarding their plat pass can you compare it to other companies? I want to know how YOU would rate it like you asked us. A comparison vid like that would be awesome!
It really doesn't compare to the others since you're talking about 1 park versus a chain of parks, and twice the price...but a free night at the hotel (valued at at least $100 I'm sure) access to their pool, icees and popcorn isn't something the other chains give away with their top memberships...so I'd say the benefits don't add up to the price and it doesn't even come that close.
i lived in iowa decades ago, crazy to see how they changed so much. i would only come back just for nostalgia
i love adventure land! i honestly thought that it was some funky lil hodunk theme park (i’m from iowa and never really been to any other ones) and i kinda figured that noone knew it even existed besides people in iowa
Been there a few times and it's worth the trip from Illinois to visit the park. Price isn't bad and what some parks are missing that Adventureland has is family rides from the past and not crazy over coasters. I respect this park alot.
Grew up 2 hours away so it's my home park. It's different but for what we got I think it's great. If you want more it's not much father for St. Louis or Chitown. But for a nice day in the Iowa sun, it's a great spot.
Idk about the past few years but the staff used to be mainly elderly that had some camping deal with the park, and were always friendly. It's small park so operations can be odd, but I've seen sketchier operation near the Wisconsin area, and some other places.
Idk if Outlaw has a second train, but I haven't seen Tornado run the second train since like 2008, they just switch them out at the end of the season.
Sorry, long winded, but, local groups shoot for Tornado to get the RMC treatment, there shots of retracking but I think it needs a reprofile. Not RMC, but that second hill kills every bit of momentum of the ride.
Also I think a Chance Hyper GTX should be in the mix for a new ride. One of those two should fill the airtime void in the park. (I know monster, it's mostly hangtime though).
I live about 2 hours away and I guess this would have to be considered my home park until next year. For most Iowans, I don't think they are aware of what's out there and this is considered big time. A 2 hour drive means no need for overnight accommodations. Looking forward to Lost Island as it will be across town. I really like what they're doing. Still, a 5 hour drive to Great America and you're at one of the best thrill parks in the nation.
“Disneyland of Iowa?” More like the “Disneyland of the Midwest.” Keep in mind, I’m moving to Greene County, which is much closer to this park. Where we previously lived was too far away from any park…until Lost Island came along. Now, we are closer to Des Moines - and yes, this means A-Land as well!
So apparently the park was just sold to Palace (Kennywood) out of the blue
New coaster war between the Iowa Missouri area will be fun to watch
Adventureland is my home park. I bought a Silver pass in 2021 and bought a Platinum pass for 2022. The platium pass does get you access to the other Palace Entertainment parks this year, like Kennywood.
I'm hoping that the safety issues raised by the Raging River accident are behind Advetureland, due to the new ownership of the park. I'm unsure if it'll open in 2022, if it does it'll be probably late in the season. The state had a huge list of requirements that had to be met before re-opening the ride.
Maybe the Platinum pass is overpriced, but if you go there every weekend like I typically do the priority parking is really nice and not a benefit you can just buy for the day. They don't sell priority parking to day ticket holders. Also Platinum pass gets you two free tickets on each of the season pass holder days (which is the two days of opening weekend, and Memorial Day). You can bring in a lot of friends, especially if you have others who also have Gold or Platinum passes.
Seems like a nice park. I think there’s a big future for this park. The Midwest is loaded and Adventureland looks to be loading up for the fight
7:50 The way you handled this perspective on how the park should handle the July incident/death on the river ride was FAR less immature and cancel-culturey than another popular ride-RUclipsr whose 'Crazy' opinion was to boycott the 'Theme Park' altogether. Nicely handled, Airtime Thrills, bravo!
Thanks, though I think he has done a lot more research on it than I have and may have a stronger opinion than me for that reason. I read a couple articles and wouldn't want to flame them too much based on 2nd hand reporting
@@AirtimeThrills Makes sense. He does a ton of research for his projects just as you do, and I will still watch his work also. No hate here, just appreciated the outlook on the topic :)
Great joke about Energylandia. Laught it
This park is my childhood, it's so nostalgic
as a kid that goes to adventureland frequently, I can tell you that the line to underground is only long because the building is air conditioned lol. I hate how boring it is but me and my friends go on it for a break haha
I feel like this park could be a potential candidate for a Zamperla Double Heart coaster. Their newer coasters have been considerably smoother and better, and this new model of theirs looks like a convincingly good take on the compact triple launched coasters in the vein of Skyrocket IIs.
Anyways, the park as is looks cute, and Monster seems to be a great ride!
Yayy new video
Take all the ride suggestions you said and have them add all of them and then rmc one of the woodies
Hand me down B&M perhaps Vortex from Carowinds 😂😂😂😂
Big Bucket List Park, and so close....
Dragon slayer on the crazier side can flip up to 6 times
Granted I didn't expect much, and I *know* it's a small coaster, but The Underground might be the most disappointed I've ever felt on a coaster. That, and also Jack Rabbit at SeaBreeze. The Underground was so slow and scenic for most of the ride that I thought there would be some kind of a finale or surprise thrill moment at the end. But there just... wasn't. There was nothing of interest besides the wacky hard to follow theming.
I have never been here, but if I pretend that I had, they would have to add an incredible coaster for me to come back. To be honest, the park already looks like something I would only do if I were passing through the area. Like, if I do a coaster road trip someday, then I could totally fit it in between two other destinations. Or, if this were my home park, I'd be happy to buy a lower tier season pass. But I live almost 1000 miles from there, and their current line-up just doesn't impress me enough.
I was also there for the first time last July. Unfortunately my visit didn't go that well. I had too much Pizza Ranch the night before and got extremely nauseous so I didn't ride The Monster, Dragon Slayer or Rocket. I am definitely going back soon because of unfinished business but I think I'll wait a year or two for them to add another new addition.
I don’t think he knows outlaw and tornado only have one train
That's usually the case...wasn't sure though
Lost Island will make them have to compete now.
Doesn't that technically mean La Ronde is the Disneyland of Quebec (especially when you remember Walt did consult on the project before his death)?
I guess it would be. Poor Canada
Underground used to have a lot more too it. Its at most 50% running. It used to spray water at ya n nice spot to get cooled off from the heat.
Another thing to mention is that the food at Adventureland is extremely varied and above average and extremely well priced compared to other theme park food.
wonder what you thought of Arnolds park. will have to wait and see.
I live a couple hours away and the price of the admission for my family of 5, keeps us from going. I guess growing up with Adventureland I enjoy Outlaw and Tornado lol. Nostalgic I guess. I live close to waterloo so I'm excited for Lost Island in the summer.
Yeah for 5 people that's a steep price to pay
@@AirtimeThrills yes!!! You can usually find coupons but its still steep!
This video has a LOT of funny quips lmaoo also 140 FOR THE LEAST EXPENSIVE SEASON PASS!!! Ouch 🤕
True, with $50 admission that's not too crazy but still, we're talking about 1 park here not a chain so that hurts a little.
I like that they are getting some competition in Waterloo
this is my homework and for 2022 they retracked the first hill and hasn't been running with trims. It is actually good now.
Zamperla double heart for Adventureland? Sounds perfect if I'm being honest.
Anything small footprint would work here
$400 for that lineup haha. Don't think intamin even makes the accelerator model anymore?
First and love your videos can you rank the best coaster from six flags Discovery Kingdom
So ... a wooden coaster with buzz bars, and a coaster named "Phoenix". I like when the wooden coaster with buzz bars IS named "Phoenix". :)
They just mixed and matched wrong
*Lost Island be like: bro what the heck?!*
Yup. This is my childhood park! I don't live too far from it but still a good 2 hours. But when I heard the dragon was being scraped it was sad to hear but what made me mad was what replaced it. They could have just made a new layout and just give it and upgrade but the dragon Slayer doesn't give any excitement. Just whiplash. It felt like a down grade. And the dragon was Super old and bumpy.
Love this park. It's 6 hours from me
I would love to see a Chance hyper GTX like lightning run to be added into dragon's land
Thought: Adventureland should RMC Tornado. Not too expensive, star attraction.
I love this park also quick update it was bought by another company and planning to add more coasters and lots of rides
I remember this place and Glenwood Caverns were boycotted
silver dollar city was amazing btw line was only long for time traveler
Isn't it great that Outlaw Run is always empty because of its location? I always see Powder Keg with a decent line too, Wildfire can get long at times
yeah, powder keg can be bad if its one train ops and thankfully we went pretty early so wildfire wasnt bad neither was powder keg
A park with spotty maintenance (not even talking about the fatality) has no business running an Intamin hydraulic launch coaster. Besides, their (soon to be) biggest competition in-state will have Kanonen.
I'm reluctant to buy a cedar fair platinum pass even though it gets me benefits I want, yet they are charging double that for a platinum pass here?
yep, $400 for a platinum pass. I might go back next year as monster is really good. And its a 5hr drive for me
Not too many people know but eventually I was designed by Disney the original owners asked Disney to help design a park for them
Dinner time
Intamin like you said.... May be too pricey for them BUT a premier rides launch could work? No?
5:51 It could also be a S&S launch coaster, Chance Hyper GTX, or an Intamin Hot Racer.
How great would a Hyper GTX be here honestly...
By the time I’m making this comment (8 hours after the video was published) Energylandia will have already beaten SFMM for most coasters in the world.
"Is this the happiest place on Earth?"
Nope ... it's Iowa.
Field of Dreams FTW
I live in Iowa 😂 in a small town near altoona
I’d like to go here some day but for now it’s going to have to wait until this park takes safety as serious as any other park. There have been way too many accidents here and even deaths. Management needs to gets its act together.
Adventureland Iowa’s Entrance at 0:36 is way simpler to Disneyland’s Entrance at 0:39, despite they have the same train station at the top of the hill.
I don’t think a intamen Excelerator would work cause lost island opening up in 2022 will have one
6:22 packer fans catching strays
For airtime on tornado just loosen the seat belt and go on the 11th row.
The rides been getting really nice. But they just got bought out (the river rapid drama got real serious). I honestly do hate it when family businesses get bought out, but in this case, they really deserve it. And not just because of the rapid incident
As a Minnesotan what is a better park? Valley fair or adventureland? Des Moines is only a 3 hour drive from where I live so I'd be down to go there sometime
We moved from California to Iowa. I can't see spending magic mountain money for not even close to a magic mountain experience. That's one reason we haven't even attempted to visit this park. We want magic mountain level coasters. I think the closest to that is going to cedar point but that will have to be a planned vacation due to the distance.
Yeah the closest MAJOR park to Iowa is probably Six Flags Great America
@@AirtimeThrills very true. We have no interest in six flags st Louis. But we let our passes go when we moved here. We used to live 20 minutes from discovery Kingdom and we were there several times a week and we did magic mountain for Christmas. It's been 2 years since we've been on a coaster! It's so not ok!
I like monster but when I rode it, it hurt my back so you know how to minimize it
6.5 coasters if we count whats left of dragon
I love the video name lmao
We go to the IOWA
I get dragon wasn’t a favorite at the park put seriously they could have kept it and still put the free spin in and of all things to replace it with they had to buy a six flags ride 😭
$400? Damn. I wonder if Monster is worth that.
is monster smooth? or is it rough like hangtime
What is that first wooden coaster in your intro?
Next time you go just make sure to not ride the water rides
The Disney drop is a bit much, but considering the price for a platinum pass it makes sense. As for how to make the park better: move it to another state? I know that sounds rude, but in a place like Iowa I'm not sure how big of an investment can be made without losing too much money.
But, hey, they have a free-spin that isn't yellow or green, so that's a thing.
I mean they've had more investments in the last 5 years than most lower tier Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks in major cities so I think they're doing fine besides the death.
Unless the Des Moines area grows a lot, maybe they go for cheap options. Lucky for them, there's a LOT of great cheap options, and lucky for us, they seem to want to keep building.
@@AirtimeThrills: That's pretty much what I was thinking. I'd like to see something like Switchback. Wouldn't cost that much and could be a great addition. The uniqueness of such a ride, too, could be a good draw for people out of state.
I'm pretty excited about Adventureland's future. In 2022 they're adding 9 new flat rides, and removing 3 flat rides that are pretty mediocre.
Underground really needs an overhaul. It's not aged well at all.
Compared to other independent amusement parks that offer the same amount of rides and theming, Adventureland’s season pass is absolutely not worth the money