Author Topic: Adventureland  (Read 3173 times)

shavethewhales

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Adventureland
« on: June 09, 2017, 08:49:53 PM »
I finally made it to Adventureland last weekend. As a coaster enthusiast and specifically an enthusiast of classic parks and rides, I really fell in love with the place. I did a full photo TR on TPR that I'm too lazy to try to duplicate here: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74915&sid=3de792723cd01d9373fe08c3303f42c5

In short, Adventureland has no theming at all per se, but it is a classic amusement park with a really nice selection of rides and some peculiar old-school operations. There are no station gates in a couple of the coaster stations which is super odd in 2017. They also don't give a flip about loose articles and in some cases even tell riders to take their backpacks and such with them on the coasters.

I love the classic Tornado wooden coaster, and the Underground is really unique and notable too as it is basically a wooden coaster that is entirely enclosed within a full circuit tunnel. They have massive new modern looping coaster called Monster that really steps them up in the coaster world. After Mystery Mine, I think it might be the best ride of it's particular "type".

It's definitely a very different experience than SDC, but if you are looking for a quality amusement park experience I suggest driving past Kansas City and hitting this place up. I stopped by Worlds Of Fun on this trip as well, and I just wasn't impressed at all. WOF still has some nice coasters, but seeing Adventureland right after it really drove home to me how important all the little details are in creating a fulfilling experience.

Swoosh

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2017, 09:12:35 PM »
Couple of comments...

1. Adventureland does have a few themed sections.  The most obvious are Outlaw Gulch and County Fair.  They also used to have an Alpine section which is why they have some weird alpine themed looking buildings around the Ferris Wheel including the Skyway station and Der Flinger. 

2. It's hard to compare a corporate park like WOF to a family park like Adventureland. I think it's safe to say WOF is having a bad year.  Corporate made a horrible decision firing Frank Wilburn last October.  What you see now is a "yessir" that was brought in from KI that doesn't get the KC market.  Ticks me off that Phil Bender is allowing this crap as he was the GM at WOF for a long while, but he's gotten too big for his britches the past few years.   
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sirwillow

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2017, 09:18:52 PM »
I think it's safe to say WOF is having a bad year.  Corporate made a horrible decision firing Frank Wilburn last October.  What you see now is a "yessir" that was brought in from KI that doesn't get the KC market.  Ticks me off that Phil Bender is allowing this crap as he was the GM at WOF for a long while, but he's gotten too big for his britches the past few years.

You've got me curious/ worried about WoF now. We're finally going to get our first visit to the park this July over a couple of days.  What's going on wrong with it?

And how far from WoF is Adventureland?
This is a stick up!  Get it? Stick.... Nevermind, it's a train robbery.  I want everyone to get your hands up and act scared.

shavethewhales

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2017, 01:10:17 PM »
^Operations at WOF are bad this year. Slow and inefficient ride dispatches, horrible food service, rides are down all the time, etc... Adventure land is about three hours north.

JJH

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2017, 09:07:11 PM »
Is the park as clean as it looks in your photos?

Swoosh

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2017, 09:14:59 PM »
Oh yeah. Adventureland is extremely clean.  The only park that rivals is Holiday World
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shavethewhales

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Re: Adventureland
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2017, 10:10:41 PM »
I can't recall seeing a single piece of trash or anything gross while I was there. Now that I think about it, I didn't appreciate that aspect enough! The age and attitude of the staff at this park really keeps things humming along nicely in all respects. SDC and HW share a lot of that aspect.