Adventureland Iowa

It has been quite a while since I have been to a brand new park. Spontaneously yesterday I decided to drive the 9 hour round trip to the park to try it out, and satisfy the coaster blues! Coasters in order of how I rode them, with overall credit number and score out of 10.

179 – Dragon Slayer

This was my third freespin, and first “mini” model. I think the two different sides having different numbers of spin brakes was genius, and I wish more parks did it. With only two cars, it definitely didn’t have a fast moving line, but the line was short enough where that wasn’t a big deal. We did the “Knight”, or more intense side, and it was great! Lots of flipping, especially when you throw your weight into the spin fins. I saw many people getting 6 or 7 flips consecutively on the final set of spin fins. Pretty crazy, and the short ride meant that it wasn’t nauseating! 7/10, Freespins are definitely growing on me.

180 – Tornado

Buzz bars! Got assigned to the middle of the train and it was very “meh”. Without a racing element, like some late 70s and early 80s woodies, this ride just kind of did nothing interesting. And it was quite bumpy, but not super painful with the restraints and well padded trains. Had a cool view of all of the Dragon footers though. Felt very similar to Hoosier Hurricane. 4/10

181 – Outlaw

It was fun to finally get on this historic coaster. It’s definitely in a weird spot, but the land and reveal of the coaster was good. The layout felt like a beta version of Hershey’s Wildcat. Definitely a more interesting layout than Tornado, but got assigned middle of the train again so didn’t feel any forces. More rough than Tornado, but more interesting, so it gets the slight edge. 4.5/10

182 – Phoenix

My second Maurer SC2000, the other being Laff Trakk at Hershey. The trains are a bit tight but sitting criss-cross is quite comfortable and the layout was smooth. Seemed to be pretty brutally trimmed, though they were all mag brakes. Car was far too balanced to get any good spinning in, but still an enjoyable experience. 5/10.

183 – Flying Viking

While the name doesn’t really make sense, the integrated ride is beautiful. The two rides are interwoven in a very pleasing way, while not being too cramped. Reusing the station for two rides as well is a genius move, and even with only one train, the capacity was decent with 20 seats. The ride itself was very good, surprisingly forceful and glass smooth. There was a slight vibration, as the wheel bogies don’t seem to be spring loaded, but it was more audible than anything. In a future iteration of this project, I hope they can add some sort of damper in there to make it perfect. The trains were incredibly well built, and felt very solid especially with what I am used to seeing out of Zamperla. A very solid family attraction that worked well at the park, and after seeing Tony’s Express under construction last year, it was nice to finally experience the layout! 6/10 (in terms of pure intensity, but 10/10 in achieving what they set out to do)

184 – Monster

This is a perfect ride. I have had a shaky (ba dum tss) relationship with Gerstlauer coasters before. My first was Smiler, which I waited 3 hours for, got put in the second row, and got my head absolutely smashed in. I enjoy their family spinning coasters, and though Rock Bottom Plunge was pretty great, but is held back by OTSRs and a useless second half. I had heard nothing but good things about this ride, but I was still a bit worried about the comfort of the ride. I sure did not have to be worried in the slightest! The restraints are my new second favorite restraints in existence. Incredibly comfortable lap bars, no seat belts, and no shin guards. They are honestly incredibly similar to B&M clamshells (which are my favorite restraints), and only lost out to those due to the metal handlebars on the Gerstlauer version being a bit less comfortable than the foam of B&Ms (I pinched my fingers on it on one of my rides). Beyond that, the trains look very unique, with the cartoony monster on the front, riding on faded green and gray track. A very nice looking ride, even without the fancy KCL light package that I unfortunately missed out on seeing. The layout in general is a masterful bowl of spaghetti, but also comfortable for the general rider. Vertical lift hills are great for these types of rides, since you get pulled out of your seat due to the reclined nature of the seats. Definitely recommend wearing sunglasses (WITH A STRAP!) though so you don’t get blinded. Unlike RBP, Monster chucks you over the lift hill without slowing down one bit. My favorite way to describe the drop is breathtaking, as in it will take your breath away. The fact that this thing is 133 ft tall, maxing out at 101°, and doesn’t have any sort of trimming feature makes this one of if not my favorite drop I have ever experienced. The airtime is extreme ejector, and hits you out of nowhere, yet is still comfortable on your thighs. The resultant valley was nice and forceful without being excessive; my best guess puts it at 3.5 Gs. Enough to make you feel it, but not enough to start losing vision. The next element was extremely wacky; it felt like a sideways banked tophat. It gave a great burst of ejector, along with very nice (but fleeting) views. The next element was the one I was looking forward to experiencing the most, the Finnish loop. The first half of the element definitely didn’t feel like an inversion, but felt like a noninverting dive loop. Nice floater up into the element, and an impossible-looking twist back down to ground level. Then you hit the stall loop, which was just magical. I don’t really enjoy hangtime in general, as it feels very forced to me. Goliath’s (SFGAm) stall just doesn’t do anything for me other than give good views. This loop though, was awesome. You go from solid positives, right into ejector hangtime. It felt a lot like Maxx Force’s dog tongue, just a lot more sustained. And, very comfortable. It felt like I was hanging there for an eternity. Then, you get smashed with more positives coming out of the element. Just wonderful. The next three elements were “just ok” for me, but that is fine by me. The beginning of the ride was coaster perfection, and a small break before the “what the fuck” finale was fine by me. First, theres this overbanked turnaround that only existed to turn you around. The airtime hill was a little too drawn out to feel any airtime, however the views in the front row were great piercing through the Finnish loop. Then, the immleman (one of my least favorite inversions in general) also did it’s job to turn the train around in a compact space. This was probably the most forceful valley of the ride, but it wasn’t gray-out inducing. Then, for the underdog champion of the ride, the trim brake. This thing hits HARD, but oh my gosh, what it does is incredible. The next element, which would normally be a sideways boring turn, turned into one of the craziest parts of the ride. You overbank to the right at the top of the turn before you start turning, leading to an incredible moment of lateral hangtime. Again, it feels like Maxx’s dog tongue, just far more sustained and forceful. Fantastic photo opportunity as well! By far the most surprising element on the ride. Finally, the ride ends off with a bang. This slow, heartline roll / corkscrew was taken at a glacial rate. It reminded me of the final roll on Twisted Timbers, where you feel like you hang upside-down for minutes before finally hitting the brake run. The ending feels so weird, that I feel like some Gerstlauer engineer was riding during testing and said “hey, lets bump this trim brake up a bit” and accidentally discovered one of the best finales in the world. Or, they are Einstein-level genius. Either way, what surprised me the most was how perfect this ride is. Every bit of the ride was wild, yet comfortable. Powerful, but calculated. And immaculately smooth, which was very much not expected. There was not a bad part on this ride. I wish there were exact clones of this ride spaced out in a 6 hour drive grid around the world, I could ride it all day. It may not feel “broken”, like the rides higher on my personal best list, but Monster is clearly a 10/10 ride, and my new #9 (of 184)

Draken Falls

This water ride was surprising to me! My most recent flume was the one an hour and a half east at Lost Island, which, while taller, has a very bland layout. I was expecting something similar here, but I was very wrong! Being integrated with Flying Viking, there was always something to look at, people to interact with, or signs to read. Plus, the layout is longer and more varied than you would expect given the compact nature. The two drops were thrilling, and got you pleasantly wet without completely drenching you. And the ride with its constantly moving station and plethora of boats, meant it had a very reasonable capacity! And that’s even with 3 boats not on the course, with a fourth cycling with no riders. Once the ride is fully deployed, it will be a people eating machine. 6/10 for thrills, 10/10 for execution

The park overall

This park surprised me with its beauty. There were a lot of trees and water, and where there wasn’t, they had flowers in planters! You can tell that Palace has been going section by section, updating and refurbishing things, and that they are not done. But overall the park was very clean and there were tons of great views of all of the attractions. There were a few large plots of dead space around the park, however I can definitely see a few more thrill or extreme flats and perhaps another coaster going in in the next 5 years to round things out well. Palace has definitely not been against removing old rides, like their chair lift, but they also seem to be refurbing a lot of rides too. Underground has been closed all year, with active work being done on the entrance. Their teacups and Modial Windseeker were closed as well, with boards explaining that they are old and problematic rides that just need a facelift. I have high hopes for what Palace can do with this park, and can’t wait to see how the park looks in 5 years!