Howdy, ya’ll. Some of you may know that I am from Houston, Texas. My appreciation for amusement/theme parks started when my parents took me to Astroworld as a child in the early 1970s. We also made trips to the original Six Flags Over Texas near Dallas, as well as big family vacations to Disneyland and Walt Disney World (back when all Walt Disney World had was the original Magic Kingdom park!).
Side Note: You probably have heard of Six Flags. They own a ton of regional amusement parks. But did you know most didn’t start out as Six Flags? My original park home park, Astroworld, was originally an independent park and became “Six Flags Astroworld” later. Many of the Six Flags parks started out as something else when they first opened.
But do you know why they are called Six Flags? That comes from the original Six Flags Over Texas which was named after six countries that at one time owned the Texas land area and flew their flag over it: Spain, France, Mexico, The Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and United States. The different areas of the park were all themed to one of these flags. Six Flags had a Mexico section with Mexican-themed rides (the Mexican Hat Dance was like Adventureland’s Lady Luck, except it looked like a giant Mexican hat).
Hmmm, I just looked at a map of Six Flags Over Texas and noticed that The Confederacy section of the park (from it’s opening in 1961) is today referred to as Old South.
But I digress…
Anyway, I thought today I would ask this simple question:
Where can you find this bit of Texas inside Adventureland?
Adventureland opens at 10 a.m. If you’ve never shown up early, you may not realize they open the parking lot and ticket booths a bit earlier. This allows folks to purchase tickets so they are ready to enter when the park opens.
The park then begins letting folks in to wait in the area in front of the train station. The two train tunnels in to the park have garage doors that remain closed until the park opens. At 10 a.m., the tunnel doors open and guests make a mad dash down Main Street to the rides.
If you have never seen this, here is what it looked like the day The Monster opened in 2016:
Some Disney parks do something similar, but they go a bit further and allow guests to hang out on their Main Street before the rest of the park opens At Disneyland in California, for example, they often open an hour early so guests can shop and/or get breakfast on Main Street. Disney’s Main Street is one long path with the only access to the rest of the park at the end where the “hub” is in front of the castle. (This would basically be where the bridge is at the end of Adventureland’s Main Street.)
Disney will have a rope across the end of Main Street and hold guests there until official opening. A few minutes before that time, an announcement and music plays, welcoming guests to the park. The rope is dropped* and the dash to attractions begins.
Thus, the term rope drop.
*Actually, pulled to the side, but maybe it was just dropped in early years before lawyers and careless visitors took over the world. I guess “rope being pulled to one side” doesn’t have the same ring to it…
Sometime this season, Adventureland started opening their Main Street early on certain weekend mornings. A few shops would be open as well as the arcade, giving visitors a much nicer place to wait than in front of garage doors.
While the Iowa Cafe does not open until 11 a.m., a food cart is brought out with with snacks and drinks (including some breakfasty items you normally won’t find in the park).
Here is how it looked on Saturday, July 1, 2017.
Upon arrival around 9:30, they were parking folks in the back corner Lot 2:
Adventureland Parking Lots.
On busy days, they seem to load the far away lots first so don’t expect to always get a closer spot if you show up early 😉
Parking in the far back lot at 9:30 a.m.
The ticket booth line can normally be quite packed on a busy day, but this morning there were no lines there at all.
Look, ma! No lines!
Once inside the park, they had a yellow plastic chain blocking off access to the left walkway near the Giant Sky Wheel.
Chain blocking access to Alphine Village.
In the middle of Main Street there was a food cart set up. It offered bottled drinks drinks (including milk, chocolate milk, and Sunny D) and some food items (such as breakfast cereal). It also had various sundries for sale such as sun screen.
Breakfast-ish food item cart.
At the end of Main Street was another chain.
The end of Main Street chained off.
The Main Street Arcade was open to give folks something to do while they waited. Normally, the G-Force ride would also be operating, but it was down for repairs this morning.
Since the arcade also has access to the Bavaria/Alpine Village side, they had the garage doors closed. This was the first time I’d ever seen these closed, since they are always open during normal park hours.
Alpine Village garage doors inside the Arcade.
To entertain crowds, world record holder (and juggler) Brad Weston made an early appearance on his stilts. Normally he appears between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., but on these early entry days, he sometimes comes out sooner.
Brad Weston!
As it got closer to 10 a.m., the crowd levels increased. I didn’t go back to check on the Giant Sky Wheel side, but the end of Main Street crowds filled up a good portion of the end of the street.
Early morning crowds on July 1, 2017.
At 10 a.m., the chains were removed and folks rushed to the rides.
This is a great thing for the park. It was a much more pleasant experience waiting Main Street with the carousel music playing and some treats available. It is unfortunate that there is no real breakfast, but perhaps in the future the park can cultivate an “early opening” crowd and offer something. It certainly seems like a great way to make guests happy, and make an extra buck from a captive audience.
In the meantime, you can always get coffee and donuts over in River City…
Coffee and Donuts in River City.
As far as I know, the park has not made any announcement about these early openings on their website or Facebook page, but somehow folks seem to know about it. Be sure to check it out if you get a chance.
In a previous article, I asked if anyone knew where you could still find a reference to the Royal Hanneford Circus inside the park:
Royal Hanneford reference somewhere in the park in 2017. (Photo taken on 6/20/2017.)
This was from a sign you pass on Dragon Island going to Outlaw Gulch:
On Dragon Island, you could find this sign referencing Royal Hanneford Circus
Since the first article was posted, the reference has since been removed:
Farewell, Royal Hanneford! (Taken 7/1/2017)
So today’s question is … where else can you find remnants of Royal Hanneford Circus? There are still a few out there . . . but maybe not where/what you think 😉
On Saturday, July 1, 2017, the Tornado was closed:
Tornado closed on 7/1/2017.
At first, I thought this was because it was too windy. I have been told they close the ride on windy days because too much wind can keep the coaster from making it one of the hills. Later I found out that the coaster had been down for awhile.
Also during the day, G-Force was still being worked on:
G-Force repairs on 7/1/2017.
Later in the day, folks posted in the Facebook Group that both of these rides have returned to operation. Huzzah!
The Underground also was down for awhile during the day, but I was told this was because Bad Bob had finally blown up the mine shaft. The ride would be resuming as soon as they got the rubble out of the way 😉
The Underground, closed.
If you are planning a visit to the park for a specific ride, be sure to contact them first before driving out. Otherwise, you can check on the sign at the front entrance – it clearly lists any ride not operating that day:
In the Facebook group, Joey Hayes reports that work is being done on the G-Force ride today. He submitted this photo:
G-Force being worked on, 6/30/2017. (Photo by Joey Hayes.)
According to a member of park management, it sounds like this is just routine maintenance that needs to be done every eight years or so.
G-Force was added to the park in 1997. It was originally located outside where the Scrambler currently sits. After the side of Main Street burnt down in 2010, the park rebuilt it and moved the G-Force indoors. You can read more about it on the Adventurelandians Wiki:
Adventureland has announced that this year’s July 4th fireworks will begin at approximately 9:40 p.m. on July 4, 2017 (weather permitting).
I’ve seen the fireworks a number of times over the years, and it’s always a nice show – usually larger than what the various local communities can offer. In past years, when Adventureland held it’s fireworks on the same night that nearby Prairie Meadows did their’s, they seemed to coordinate. Adventureland’s show would go, then as soon as it was over, the casino would begin it’s show — allowing guests in the park a two-for-one show just by facing a different direction 🙂
Here is the nearly 25-minute show from 2016, which included speakers set up all along the River City/Boulevard area to play patriotic music:
The fireworks are launched from near the Raging River loading area. During the day, you can see it from the line:
Fireworks launch area in 2006.
The best viewing area is in River City, though you should be able to see theme from any area not obstructed by buildings or trees. The music, however, can only be heard from the Boulevard/River City area.
In 2016, the park also added new colorful LED lights to the Monster roller coaster and Space Shot. The crew at KCL Engineering that did the installs also created special July 4th light shows:
Neat, eh?
To give you an idea at how much more the park does these days, here is the show from 2009:
And here it is from 2008:
I wasn’t able to visit the park from 2010-2015, so I have no recordings of those years. I don’t know when the park added music to the show. I may have some earlier fireworks recordings on tape somewhere (I took my first digital camcorder to the park in 1999), but I have never posted them. Maybe I’ll have some even older fireworks videos to share next year…
Adventureland is owned and operated by the Krantz family. You can regularly find the Krantz siblings, Mike (CEO), Matt, Molly (Director of Advertising) and John (President), roaming the park.
Resort president John Krantz can also be found behind a piano at various locations around Des Moines. He performs jazz music. We recently had the pleasure to listen to him perform with Bryan Schumacker and special guest Brooke Peters at Louie’s Wine Dive.
Jack Krantz performing at Louie’s Wine Dive on June 25, 2017.
If you have an interest in live jazz, check out his website and make an effort to go hear him perform: http://www.johnkrantzmusic.com/
In a previous article, I mentioned the conversion from Royal Hanneford Circus to the new Adventureland Circus, and noted that even the opening show guides still listed the old circus:
2017 handout circus ad.
There does seem to be one Royal Hanneford remnant still in the park…
Royal Hanneford reference somewhere in the park in 2017.
Do you know where this is? Answer in the comments 🙂
As noted earlier this week by Dee and Anna on the Facebook group, two dinosaurs have appeared on the grounds of The Monster roller coaster. They are very difficult to see from ground level.
You can see this velociraptor (?) near the corner of Chicken Shack:
Velociraptor (?) at The Monster.
Seeing it behind the barbed wire seems very Jurassic Park-ish.
If you go down a bit further, you can catch a glimpse of this triceratops (?):
Triceratops (?) at The Monster.
To get a better look, Dee and Anna took photos from the nearby Storm Chaser:
(Photo by Dee and Anna.)
The Sky Ride is probably an easier way to see them, so that’s what we tried. Traveling from the County Fair station, you can see them as soon as you get near The Monster.
Dinosaurs at The Monster, as seen from the Sky Ride.
Here’s a closer look.
Hello, dino.
And he has a friend…
Hello, other dino.
He’s ready for his close-up.
Marvelous!
Coming from the other direction, or by doing a technique called “turning around,” you can see his better side.
Is this your good side?Yep. It’s a dinosaur alright.
Here’s a look at both of them.
Twice the prehistoric fun.
A friend of mine, Kevin, who works with magician Ben Ulin posted that he heard these dinosaurs were in storage at the park for awhile, and they just decided to set them out.
The Monster zooms by…
Very neat.
What other surprises are lurking in the park this year?
