Underground
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| Information on this site is unofficial. It is compiled by fans of Adventureland amusement park in Altoona, Iowa (near Des Moines). There may be inaccuracies and omissions. For official Adventureland information, visit the official website. |
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This page was last updated on 04/22/2024. Total Pages: 317. Total Files: 327.
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| Name | Underground |
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| Category | Family Ride |
| Type | Dark Ride |
| Park Area | INFO NEEDED |
| First Year | 1996 |
| Riders | INFO NEEDED |
| Dispatch Rate | INFO NEEDED |
| Ride Duration | INFO NEEDED |
| About the Ride Info Box | |
Underground is a family dark ride that uses a slow-moving wooden roller coaster track. It opened in 1996. It was built on top of the former Aquatheatre.
After waiting through a mostly covered outside line, guests go up a ramp where they wait at a door. A worker will open the door and let a group in to the pre-show room. The long room has double doors along the left and railings separating each one. This is lining them up for the roller coaster car on the other side.
At the end of the room is a short wall with a miner character standing in a mine shaft behind it. The lights will go out and a spotlight will illuminate the miner and he will start telling the story of the ride.
After the pre-show, the doors open and guests go in to the loading area. The miner will be heard again over speakers before the ride begins.
The slow moving ride goes through scenes representing an old mine. There are a number of show scenes featuring limited animatronics of miners, as well as some moving props. There is also water/mist effects, lights and fog.
Apparently, the coaster car used in the ride is the only remaining car of that model in use in the United States.
Over the years, many effects in the ride stopped working. Around mid-2010s, some updates were done to lighting, sound, and some additional scene decorations (mostly spider webs, red rope light, and a strobe light skeleton).
The Underground was closed in 2023, with announcements that it would be upgraded and re-opened the following year.
In 2024, the ride is receiving a major update for the park’s 50th anniversary. Updates are being done by the folks behind The Slaughterhouse haunted attraction.
Show Scenes
Many effects broke over the years, and some changes were made in the early 2010s (spider webs, etc.). This is based on a 1999 video recording.
- Preshow
- Load area spiel
- (Newer) Hallway of spider webs and red rope lights
- Tunnel with flickering lanterns, wind and mist
- Two miners with pick axes (on left)
- Man with mule lowered down to dynamite plunger, man with fingers in ears (on right)
- (Newer) Strobe light skeleton
- Moving mine walls with explosion
- Man holding on to wall next to crate of gold (on left)
- Lift hill with train headlight and sounds
- (Newer) Hallway of spider webs and red rope lights
- Man leaning out of hole in wall holding lantern (on right)
- Moving skeleton projection (Good the Bad and the Ugly music)
- Waterfall with gold (on left)
- Second lift hill (walls moving)
- Gunslinger pepper’s ghost illusion (on right)
- Laughing skeleton with dynamite on pile of gold (on left)
- Moving walls
- Unload
- Exit spiel
Script
Preshow
Well howdy there and welcome to the Underground here at Adventureland. You know, it wasn’t long ago when coal mines zigged zagged underground throughout the state. Fact is, Adventureland was built right over the top of one of the most notorious caverns to ever be dug out under Iowa soil.
Now at one time, this here Underground was the hideout for some of the most wanted outlaws and bank robbers ever to roam the territory. That is, until Sheriff Sam got plum fed up with it.
You see the story goes, that when a large shipment of gold was robbed by Bad Bob and his gang, Sheriff Sam and his posse were just a waitin’ for ‘em. And when them scoundrels headed to the Underground, Sheriff Sam proceeded to dynamite every entrance, exit and opening to the mine he could find. And that was the end of the Underground, and the end of Bad Bob.
Well at least we think it was. You see, back then the mine shafts were so badly damaged that nobody ever dared go in and look for Bad Bob or the gold.
Recently however, workers here at Adventureland have been trying to shore up the old mine shaft but it’s been plenty difficult. There’s been quite a few cave ins, and the main tunnel is awful unstable.
Now if you choose to go in and look for the gold, well you’re more than welcome. But now watch out for falling rock and timbers, and most of all watch out for Bad Bob.
Good luck to ya’ll. You(?) be careful.
You ain’t afraid of the dark now, are ya?
Load Area (before ride dispatch)
Well now that ya’ll are aboard, I need to warn ya about a couple more things.Keep you gol durned hands and arms inside the car at all times and don’t go touchin’ nothin’ ‘cause I’ll be a watchin’, and you’ll be in a heap of trouble with people here at Adventureland.
Now go have fun(?). Go on. Go on. Get goin’. (?)
Exit
Thank ya’ll for helpin’ look for Sherif Sam’s lost gold. Looks like Bad Bob blowed up the mine shaft again, but we’ll be diggin’ away. So come back and take a look again some day. Adios, partner.
Trivia
But before you ride...
This is the only attraction at Adventureland with a preshow. It is also the only ride to feature simple animatronics, though the park previously had the animatronic Daniel and the Dixie Diggers on Main Street, and still has P.T. Barnaby at the Palace Theater.
Go away. Until later...
During the first few years of operation, a sign at the entrance read "From this point it is a 60 minute wait to ride this ride. We suggest you return later when the line is shorter."
A miner in speech...
The voice of the animated miner is XXXX. He was featured in TV commercials for The Underground, and is also drawn as a cartoon character at the entrance of the Outlaw.
Photos
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Underground "come back later" sign in 1996.
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Underground trees in 1997.
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Underground "come back later" sign in 2005.
External Links
- Theme Park Review Interview with CCI - Wayback Machine archive of an interview with CCI, creator of The Outlaw and The Underground.
- Closure article
- Re-opening article