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TR: Adventureland (NY) 07/13/2022
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Surf Dance Chris
Jul 15, 2022, 11:28:31 AM7/15/22
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I visited Adventureland the other day. I met up with my friend Liz who I’ve known for many years. I bought my one day ticket online in advance, morning of. You can enter the park at anytime (the park was open 11am to 10pm that day). We both arrived around 3pm. No issues. You can show the ticket on your phone (or printout) at the admission window near the parks entrance, it gets scanned, and each guest is given an armband. Admission policy is the same as it was last year. For guests 25 and over, it costs less than for guests under 25. Buying online is about a $5 discount. I like the idea of it costing less for adults, which is not typical of how amusements are priced, even for parks geared less toward thrill rides. My ticket cost $33. They also offer a $20 admission option available at the park during the last hour of the day only. Now that the park is admission only (since last year 2021), it’s unclear to me why they still use armbands. Just inside the park is a bag check, which I’m guessing is where they visually check to be sure everyone has on an armband. Exiting the park and returning is permitted.
One of the first things we saw upon entering is the famous talking tree and owl animatronic from the park’s dark ride 1313 Cemetery Way, which ran from 1986 to 2009. It’s tucked away in a corner to the back right of the park’s current dark ride, Mystery Mansion. It would be nice if the tree animatronic was moved more toward the front of the ride, we almost missed it due to its current spot, which is in the corner and behind a tree. Glad to see it out, though.
We then walked through the park, the park is looking good, very clean and well kept as usual. Adventureland has always been one of the cleanest parks I’ve ever been to, rivaling only Hersheypark for cleanliness. Landscaping at the park looks great. There are also large colorful ceramic animals throughout the park, as well as relics of the park’s past, like old ride vehicles. The park has tables themed to different rides and many garbage cans also had wraps themed to different rides.
All the rides at the park were operating the day we were there, well staffed with plenty of employees at all the rides, games and food locations. Like I noticed last year, now that the park is admission only, employees at the rides especially seem less stressed, are very pleasant, enjoy their jobs and are interacting with guests. I’m glad the park has chosen to go with admission only, which gives the guest such a better and more relaxed in park experience than in years before this policy change. The park was not very busy the entire time we were there (I stayed all the way until park closing), which seems to be a trend at seasonal parks this season.
First ride of the day - FireBall! This is a Ride Engineering Switzerland manufacturered “Rollerball” model, the first of its type in North America. I believe there are two others elsewhere worldwide. Seeing this in person really changes the way that area of the park looks. It’s a perfect location for it. It’s toward the back of the park, between Wave Swings and NYC Race. FireBall stands up tall, is painted solid colors, has an awesome sign up top, and the digital flames above the station are great. You can also see the ride from Route 110 as you drive past the park. The ride plays a clip of Pitbull’s “FireBall” whenever a ride vehicle gets to about halfway up the vertical lift, a very nice feature (the clip is still running in my head today, though!). The ride itself is pretty fun. It features 3 free swinging ride vehicles (similar to a Zamperla Turbo Force), each holds 4 guests, 2 on each side back to back. If the party sizes are not equal, the front (facing Wave Swings) will be the row with the more guests. And, if riding alone in your row, you are placed toward the inside, closer to the track. The seats are very comfortable, and each seat utilizes a comfortable individual lap bar. Excellent design on the seats and lap bars. While going up the lift, guests are treated to a nice view of the back of the park next to Route 110 if in the front row, or a view toward the front of the park if riding in the back row. I rode twice in front with my friend, and twice toward the end of the night myself after she left. I prefer the back row, you get to see the ride itself and sign on the way up, and at the beginning of the ride. Just keep in mind you may be assigned a row based on party sizes. The gravity portion of the ride is unique as you roll across and down the track, brakes kicking in throughout the ride to cause the rocking. I think this ride is a great addition to the park and other guests seemed to enjoy it a lot. The ride looks especially good at night with its light package and digital flames.
The park’s Train was running well, with several small Alfie (park mascot) dolls to look for scattered throughout the ride. The train operators working there were both very enthusiastic. According to them, there are 26 Alfie dolls along the Train ride. We rode the Train twice, once in the afternoon and the other just around dusk. Alfie’s Rescue Boats we’re good as usual, but they seem a little slower than they had been in the past, though. Got 2 rides on that one, including one at night, just before park close. I rode the Pirate once (my friend opted out of that one). It was running a shorter cycle than usual, Adventureland’s is typically very long. With the ride up for sale, I wonder if it was my last ride on it ever. It’s the only ride other than the Train that is still there from my first visit to the park in the late 1980s. Turbulence was running only one train. No wait for our first ride in the afternoon, but waited 3 or 4 trains later on in the evening. This is always a good ride, but I do miss the Hurricane coaster that this replaced. We took one ride on the Rattlesnake Coaster, which still includes two times around still. Fun ride, but we still prefer the much more comfortable Ladybug themed trains the ride used to have. The track of this ride looks like it could use some fresh paint. Mystery Mansion, the park’s dark ride, seemed like some stunts were not operational, it seemed like there was more to see in previous year’s rides on it. New are drapes along the top track, presumably to keep light out of the ride. Seems a bit awkward rather than helping the ride out. We rode once during the day, and again around dusk. We noticed a large spider in place of one of the ride vehicles while in the station. We also rode Antique Cars twice, Sports Tower once, Ferris Wheel twice and Wave Swings once.
We did eat at the park. We both ordered the chicken sandwich, which I thought would be grilled but seemed fried to me. It came with fries and a small drink. Fries were good and fresh. I think I got new ones and my friend got older ones that had been sitting a bit though. These were purchased from the 3 Generations Food Court near the front of the park across from the Rattlesnake Coaster. We later in the evening came back for ice cream at the 3 Generations Sweet Shop next door, I got two scoops of Haagen-Dazs (I chose chocolate and mint chocolate chip), with one topping (I chose mini M&Ms). After visiting several seasonal theme parks recently where none of them offered scooped ice cream at all, it is nice that Adventureland offers this treat!
We checked out the souvenir store next to Turbulence. Park branded merchandise included a few shirt designs - FireBall, Rattlesnake, Tony’s Tavern, and Adventureland in general. The general Adventureland shirt would be better if the silhouette graphic was accurate to the rides/look of the park. I did purchase a FireBall shirt, which is black with a small FireBall logo on the front. They also sell patches for the park, of the same design they’ve offered for many years, and there was also Adventureland branded pillows for sale.
A few other random things to note about the park:
The large Pirate statue next to Adventure Falls, originally from the Treasure Island Mini Golf Course, needs a paint job. Hopefully the statue stays in the park if the Pirate Ship does get sold and leaves the park.
Now that the park is admission only, what will happen to main ticket booth next to the Sports Tower? Guessing it’ll be torn down at some point since this park needs all the space it can get. I was kind of surprised to see it still up and with most of its signage still up. Perhaps it’s being used for storage or something for now.
The park’s small Teacup ride now has a covering and painted along the top are images of rides of the past from the park. A nice detail!
The arcade doesn’t seem to be doing much business and was pretty empty as far as the amount of games offered. I’d like to see this space better utilized. Maybe a mini golf course, or put a few small kid rides in there. Or, turn the arcade into a retro video game arcade and have all ‘80s and early ‘90s games. The park’s one water fountain is in the arcade and the water was consistently cold both times I used it.
The park does accept cash for payment everywhere. Arcade games accept game cards purchased in the arcade. Good to see cash accepted when many parks are going cashless.
The park has lots of places to sit! Tables and benches are plentiful. Makes it easy to relax in the park.
Other than the Train, all the rides and games stayed open until exact park closing at 10pm, no closing early or playing closing music early. Good to see. Especially since they offer a $20 admission the last hour the park is open.
We had a great time at the park. It is the park’s 60th anniversary this year and they have a big cake set up just outside the arcade entrance to celebrate. My friend left about 30 minutes before park closing, I stayed til the end to get 2 additional rides on FireBall and a second ride on Alfie’s Rescue Boats. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future at this park, and it’ll be interesting to see what new rides they get as it continues to change from a pay per ride park to an admission park.
(This was also posted with photos to the Adventureland Fans Facebook group)
One of the first things we saw upon entering is the famous talking tree and owl animatronic from the park’s dark ride 1313 Cemetery Way, which ran from 1986 to 2009. It’s tucked away in a corner to the back right of the park’s current dark ride, Mystery Mansion. It would be nice if the tree animatronic was moved more toward the front of the ride, we almost missed it due to its current spot, which is in the corner and behind a tree. Glad to see it out, though.
We then walked through the park, the park is looking good, very clean and well kept as usual. Adventureland has always been one of the cleanest parks I’ve ever been to, rivaling only Hersheypark for cleanliness. Landscaping at the park looks great. There are also large colorful ceramic animals throughout the park, as well as relics of the park’s past, like old ride vehicles. The park has tables themed to different rides and many garbage cans also had wraps themed to different rides.
All the rides at the park were operating the day we were there, well staffed with plenty of employees at all the rides, games and food locations. Like I noticed last year, now that the park is admission only, employees at the rides especially seem less stressed, are very pleasant, enjoy their jobs and are interacting with guests. I’m glad the park has chosen to go with admission only, which gives the guest such a better and more relaxed in park experience than in years before this policy change. The park was not very busy the entire time we were there (I stayed all the way until park closing), which seems to be a trend at seasonal parks this season.
First ride of the day - FireBall! This is a Ride Engineering Switzerland manufacturered “Rollerball” model, the first of its type in North America. I believe there are two others elsewhere worldwide. Seeing this in person really changes the way that area of the park looks. It’s a perfect location for it. It’s toward the back of the park, between Wave Swings and NYC Race. FireBall stands up tall, is painted solid colors, has an awesome sign up top, and the digital flames above the station are great. You can also see the ride from Route 110 as you drive past the park. The ride plays a clip of Pitbull’s “FireBall” whenever a ride vehicle gets to about halfway up the vertical lift, a very nice feature (the clip is still running in my head today, though!). The ride itself is pretty fun. It features 3 free swinging ride vehicles (similar to a Zamperla Turbo Force), each holds 4 guests, 2 on each side back to back. If the party sizes are not equal, the front (facing Wave Swings) will be the row with the more guests. And, if riding alone in your row, you are placed toward the inside, closer to the track. The seats are very comfortable, and each seat utilizes a comfortable individual lap bar. Excellent design on the seats and lap bars. While going up the lift, guests are treated to a nice view of the back of the park next to Route 110 if in the front row, or a view toward the front of the park if riding in the back row. I rode twice in front with my friend, and twice toward the end of the night myself after she left. I prefer the back row, you get to see the ride itself and sign on the way up, and at the beginning of the ride. Just keep in mind you may be assigned a row based on party sizes. The gravity portion of the ride is unique as you roll across and down the track, brakes kicking in throughout the ride to cause the rocking. I think this ride is a great addition to the park and other guests seemed to enjoy it a lot. The ride looks especially good at night with its light package and digital flames.
The park’s Train was running well, with several small Alfie (park mascot) dolls to look for scattered throughout the ride. The train operators working there were both very enthusiastic. According to them, there are 26 Alfie dolls along the Train ride. We rode the Train twice, once in the afternoon and the other just around dusk. Alfie’s Rescue Boats we’re good as usual, but they seem a little slower than they had been in the past, though. Got 2 rides on that one, including one at night, just before park close. I rode the Pirate once (my friend opted out of that one). It was running a shorter cycle than usual, Adventureland’s is typically very long. With the ride up for sale, I wonder if it was my last ride on it ever. It’s the only ride other than the Train that is still there from my first visit to the park in the late 1980s. Turbulence was running only one train. No wait for our first ride in the afternoon, but waited 3 or 4 trains later on in the evening. This is always a good ride, but I do miss the Hurricane coaster that this replaced. We took one ride on the Rattlesnake Coaster, which still includes two times around still. Fun ride, but we still prefer the much more comfortable Ladybug themed trains the ride used to have. The track of this ride looks like it could use some fresh paint. Mystery Mansion, the park’s dark ride, seemed like some stunts were not operational, it seemed like there was more to see in previous year’s rides on it. New are drapes along the top track, presumably to keep light out of the ride. Seems a bit awkward rather than helping the ride out. We rode once during the day, and again around dusk. We noticed a large spider in place of one of the ride vehicles while in the station. We also rode Antique Cars twice, Sports Tower once, Ferris Wheel twice and Wave Swings once.
We did eat at the park. We both ordered the chicken sandwich, which I thought would be grilled but seemed fried to me. It came with fries and a small drink. Fries were good and fresh. I think I got new ones and my friend got older ones that had been sitting a bit though. These were purchased from the 3 Generations Food Court near the front of the park across from the Rattlesnake Coaster. We later in the evening came back for ice cream at the 3 Generations Sweet Shop next door, I got two scoops of Haagen-Dazs (I chose chocolate and mint chocolate chip), with one topping (I chose mini M&Ms). After visiting several seasonal theme parks recently where none of them offered scooped ice cream at all, it is nice that Adventureland offers this treat!
We checked out the souvenir store next to Turbulence. Park branded merchandise included a few shirt designs - FireBall, Rattlesnake, Tony’s Tavern, and Adventureland in general. The general Adventureland shirt would be better if the silhouette graphic was accurate to the rides/look of the park. I did purchase a FireBall shirt, which is black with a small FireBall logo on the front. They also sell patches for the park, of the same design they’ve offered for many years, and there was also Adventureland branded pillows for sale.
A few other random things to note about the park:
The large Pirate statue next to Adventure Falls, originally from the Treasure Island Mini Golf Course, needs a paint job. Hopefully the statue stays in the park if the Pirate Ship does get sold and leaves the park.
Now that the park is admission only, what will happen to main ticket booth next to the Sports Tower? Guessing it’ll be torn down at some point since this park needs all the space it can get. I was kind of surprised to see it still up and with most of its signage still up. Perhaps it’s being used for storage or something for now.
The park’s small Teacup ride now has a covering and painted along the top are images of rides of the past from the park. A nice detail!
The arcade doesn’t seem to be doing much business and was pretty empty as far as the amount of games offered. I’d like to see this space better utilized. Maybe a mini golf course, or put a few small kid rides in there. Or, turn the arcade into a retro video game arcade and have all ‘80s and early ‘90s games. The park’s one water fountain is in the arcade and the water was consistently cold both times I used it.
The park does accept cash for payment everywhere. Arcade games accept game cards purchased in the arcade. Good to see cash accepted when many parks are going cashless.
The park has lots of places to sit! Tables and benches are plentiful. Makes it easy to relax in the park.
Other than the Train, all the rides and games stayed open until exact park closing at 10pm, no closing early or playing closing music early. Good to see. Especially since they offer a $20 admission the last hour the park is open.
We had a great time at the park. It is the park’s 60th anniversary this year and they have a big cake set up just outside the arcade entrance to celebrate. My friend left about 30 minutes before park closing, I stayed til the end to get 2 additional rides on FireBall and a second ride on Alfie’s Rescue Boats. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future at this park, and it’ll be interesting to see what new rides they get as it continues to change from a pay per ride park to an admission park.
(This was also posted with photos to the Adventureland Fans Facebook group)
Heather Kendrick
Jul 15, 2022, 1:59:42 PM7/15/22
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Thanks for the report. Hoping to get to this park someday!
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Heather, the Carousel Rabbit
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Heather, the Carousel Rabbit
Surf Dance Chris
Jul 16, 2022, 10:09:15 AM7/16/22
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You’re welcome!
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