The big for 2020 was when Adventureland post this on May 17, 2020 to their Facebook page:
Mary 17, 2020 Facebook teaser.
The image of a knight slaying a dragon immediately started speculation that something would be happening to the double-loop Dragon coaster.
Two days later, on May 19, the park posted an animated GIF that has the same image rotating in to view with the text “The Dragon Slayer” above it:
May 19, 2020 Facebook post.
Facebook group member Alec Rushford posted that SkyHigh Coasters LLC had reshared the teaser on their Facebook page, with Tag Gable following up with a post saying that they were the ones that did the build job on last year’s Phoenix roller coaster.
Also on May 19, local TV station KCCI posted an article that included drone footage of the Dragon being dismantled at the park:
That post was quickly removed from the page, but said a zoomed photo taken off property confirms this was actually happening.
As of this posting, it looks like the park will have two rides less for the 2020 season, with something new to replace the Dragon next year. Nothing has been announced about a replacement for the Splash Over (though some have speculated maybe it is just being disassembled to be refurbished and will return).
This might explain why there was a sharp spike in activity to this blog yesterday. The top search results that people are looking for when they end up here are “maps” and “season pass” information. Frankly, I’m surprised they can even find this site buried in all the hundreds of travel sites that have Adventureland entries.
Welcome, new visitors! Be sure to check out my Adventureland Wiki for some neat park history.
Recently several very old Adventureland post cards popped up on eBay that I had not seen before. One in particular showed “The Moat’ which was the original entrance to the ride area of the park. I knew that the location was the bridge at the end of Main Street, but I’d never seen a picture of what was there. I guess in my mind it was someone just taking tickets or something, but it was actually a ticket building of some sorts:
The Moat (entrance to the ride section of the park). Behind it: Der Flitzer. Back of post card for “The Moat.”
I believe that is the original bridge that was still in the park in 2017, but was rebuilt between the end-of-season and that year’s Oktoberfest. If you notice, there is fencing along the left of the photo, which would have kept visitors from going past the end of the Main Street buildings.
Also, middle right of the photo are the old one-way exit turnstiles like the park used to have at the entrance. That would have been where ride visitors would have exited back to Main Street.
Behind it appears to be Der Flitzer. That roller coaster (originally called Rallye Racers) sits about where the Splash Over is today. This clears up something I’ve wondered about.
The roller coaster was located in the “Alpine Village” section of the park and the Giant Skywheel (100′ tall Ferris Wheel) operates in its spot today.
– Roller Coaster Database entry for Der Flitzer
Apparently this is incorrect, since this post card shows it’s location further down, towards The Boulevard. Also, we found a photo of the Sky Ride that had the coater in the background, and the coaster in that picture matched the description of Rallye Racers. My wiki entry notes:
It was located somewhere around where Tea Cups is. This is based from seeing it in an old photo of the Sky Ride that was taken in 1975. It shows a coaster matching this description in the background. (Thanks to Johnathan C. for pointing this out.)
If Rallye Racers were there (down from the Tea Cups) and the post card shows Der Flitzer in the same location, then the notes about it being relocated may be incorrect.
Does anyone know if Rallye Racers was just rethemed and renamed in the same location to become Der Flitzer?
Adventureland has announced a new spinning coaster called Phoenix. It is from Maurer Rides in Germany, and will reside in the location formerly home to The Inverter. They are targeting a June 2019 opening.
The American Puppet Theater has asked for your vote in a poll conducted by Des Moines Parent website. (I have contributed content for them in the past, relating to local Halloween haunted house activities.) They would love it if you’d vote for them in the category of “Best Children’s Theater” or “Best Outdoor Entertainment”:
in the last week, two new shops have opened on Main Street. Airbrush Worx replaces the former Airbrush Avenue, and next door, The Gift Galleryreplaces Pine Valley Signs. I haven’t been to the park to check them out, and no details have been shared by Adventureland yet, so I don’t have much more to add.
The AdventureWiki has been updated with placeholder pages for these new retail locations:
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 😉
