Re: Corn, College, and Coasters- Days 0-1
Mods, please move to the Trip Report forum? Thanks.
Day 2- Monster Mayhem at Knock Off land
Me and family spent the night at the Adventureland Inn, which is right next to the park. Review: It's a decent hotel, it has 2 pools, an arcade, shop, Sports Bar, free shuttle to-fro the park, and has a nice lobby. However, it is quite pricey. If it was a bit bigger, the price would be reasonable. Anyway, what we all came to see:
Adventureland!
We arrived at the park around 9:45, and noticed how Disney it felt.
...then I realized it had a 'knock-off' Disneyland Mainstreet.
Something I noticed immediately was that EVERYONE was running like Usaim Bolt to a thing behind the trees...
MONSTER
I must say, the trains look a LOT better in person.
The lift towers over all but one ride in the area. Quite intimidating to locals.
The train is waiting for me!
My official review of Monster: This thing is fantastic. It is butter smooth, it whips you over the drop, the hangtime is bonkers, it flows together amazingly, and the stengel dive. Oh god the stengel dive. It is the ONLY time where a trim makes the ride better. It's taken so slow, and gives the best hangtime ever. It's not too fast, not too intense, not much airtime, but is just fun. Probably not going to crack my top 10, but God damn is this good. A beautiful fit into a park this size. Also, this turns magical at night. More on that later.
8/10
After getting a few laps on Monster, we rode the classic woodie Tornado.
It really wasn't anything special. It was fairly smooth, had a bit of air, and was in a nice location. Good for families. 6.5/10
Next, I rode Storm Chaser, the brand new RMC Iron Hor...
Oh...
It was pretty neat. Quite windy up there, which was both scary and fun. I still think I like Funtime's version more.
This food stand here was quite fab.
Some nice rides.
Monster is fab. <3
Next up was the indoor CCI 'coaster', The Underground.
Dear god, this makes Gobbler Getaway look good in terms of queue line animatronics. It sounded like a typewrighter. Expectations dropped.
...and it was alright. The animatronics were meh, had some useless water effects, and didn't really have a story. Not much of a coaster either. 4/10
Walked around a bit. I noticed how close the train runs to the path. Didn't ride tho.
Had pizza for lunch. The pic is of the Sub Sandwich place(obviously). I took it because it continued with the Knock off theme. It had the colors and everything!
Fed the carps a bit. It was a good time killer.
Next, we rode the Hopkins looper, Dragon.
DEAR GOD HELP. This piece of crap was terrible! Way too rough, far too short, and didn't have a good layout. 3/10
At least it's photogenic.
Played some games as well(which are all classic btw), and won a Knock Off Nemo and Dory and a grey penguin. Neato.
After that, we headed into Outlaw Gulch to ride the GCCI, Outlaw(as well as some other rides nearby). It was built by CCI, but was also designed by Mike Boodley, the man who went on to form GCI. You can definitely see both the CCI and the GCI in there. Very fast paced, some nice pops of airtime, and was quite intense. It's currently both my second favorite CCI(behind Raven) and GCI(behind Thunderhead). 7/10
Decided to head back to bae.
Yaaas pleeaase.
This ride gets better with each ride. <3
Goon shot for all those lift motor enthusiasts.
The magic dispensers.
Next up was Space Shot, the namesake ride.
It was a nice ride. Better than Holiday World's, but not quite to Dr Doom levels.
After that, I went on a flat ride spree, beginning with this mini Top Spin thing. After this, I have no children. Way too long of a cycle, too rough, and the gap between the restraint and your body is so great, it surprises me nobody has gone sterile. Absolutely atrocious.
Went on the really cool tea cups next. It was 2 different spinning plates where the cups swapped constantly. Very fun.
Then went on this thing. Never been on one, so I was quite excited. Unfortunately, it was massively disappointing. Again, too rough and lengthy. Not planning on riding one again.
The train looked neat.
Almost rode Tornado again before something arose. I noticed that the 10 foot footers have returned.
Rode the Chair Lift/ride. These beauties were on the station.
Lake with boats.
The park.
Ooh, this looks good.
The close proximity is really cool.
Ooh, what's this?
After lapping Monster, I rode G Force, the Huss Breakdance and their Falling Star. Both very fun and intense. The falling star was especially fun as it "dropped" instead of just going down. The breakdance slowed down ever so slightly then sped up again. Very fun flats.
Now is when the magic begins.
Here you can slightly see the lights.
Something really cool they do is that the lights follow the train along the track, starting as red, then fading blue.
Then THIS happens after the train finished the course. Pure bliss.
*Sexual noise*
The lift hill has a flashing red light as well.
This shot gets better as it gets darker.
The lights change constantly.
Got on the second to last train of the night with some really high energy teens. Because of the way the grouping worked, the group of 4 was split into 3 and 1, the 1 being named Will. Because we thought we were the last train of the night, we all 'rode for Will'. It was a very fun way to end the night.
As I said, the lights follow the train.
I had a fab day here. Shoutout to Jonny, the fellow enthusiast I met up with today who helped me marathon Monster If you're in the Des Moines area, go here.
