Hello from the road again everyone, and welcome back to the back end of this Live From the Road series! Just outside of Birmingham is a small park that used to be called Visionland, but since being bought by current owners Adrenaline Entertainment is called Alabama Adventure. This was our next stop on our three-park road trip, and it did not disappoint. When you pull into the parking lot you realize that this isn’t going to be a very full day with a large variety of rides, but what they do have are very fun. The park is still going through some renovation with the new ownership, as the previous owners, Southland, really didn’t take very good care of the park. But I’ll get more into current management and the park’s past after I talk about a few rides, mainly the wooden coaster, Rampage.

Built in 1998, Rampage is a great CCI coaster with lots of airtime and laterals. My friends, who have all been to Holiday World, say that the drop on Rampage is very similar to that of Legend. While I can’t really agree with that from experience, I can say that the first drop is great and has amazing airtime if you are riding in the back. If I had to compare the airtime on the first drop in the back, I would compare it to Gemini as both throw you out of your seat and keep you out until you start going up the next hill. The ride is deceptively long with a lot of good pops of airtime and some very strong turns. For a wooden coaster it really isn’t too rough, though there are two moments where it jackhammers pretty badly for a second. It also features a rather interesting and unique station re-entry after coming through the transfer block. Instead of just turning and going downhill into the station, it actually does a pretty deep curved dip similar to a B&M pre-drop on their stand ups, and then goes down a hill brake run into the station, similar to Mean Streak. The ride uses the terrain very effectively, with the first drop running down the hill adding probably a good 10 feet to the drop. Overall it is an outstanding coaster, and one that a lot of people have never ridden. With 18 laps on it, I think I can say with 100% confidence that it is my second favorite wooden roller coaster, right behind Thunderhead. The pacing on this ride is also great, as you really retain your speed very well.

The newest roller coaster in the park is Zoomerang, your typical Vekoma Boomerang coaster. I was very surprised that it was actually kind of enjoyable and not very rough. When you ride in the back you get hammered with some great positive Gs as you go through the loop and first half of the cobra roll backward, which I did not expect at all. Overall it wasn’t near as bad as what I normally hear about boomerangs, and I didn’t mind riding it three times without getting off at all. Next up was the parks tallest ride, an S&S Space Shot named Space Shot, of course. It wasn’t really anything special as far as tower rides go, although I am very spoiled with Power Tower at Cedar Point. However it is a wonderful ride for a small park like Alabama Adventure and adds more variety to the available thrill selection. The park also has a log flume, which is decently fun for its size, which I rode twice in a row. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the park was almost deserted and we were riding several rides multiple times without getting off. It was also the first day the park started daily operations for the general public. Alabama Adventure is also home to a very unique – and as far as I know one of a kind – Ferris Wheel where you can actually spin the cabins. It is actually really unnerving, as spinning around that high up without any kind of restraint is a thrilling thought. They also have a decent water park, which I did not get the chance to check out, although they had one of those new half pipe style waterslides, and it looked pretty fun.

Like I said earlier, Alabama Adventure has recently seen a change in ownership, and it has definitely been for the better. Current management and supervision is a mix of former Six Flags and Cedar Fair personnel, and it really shows throughout the park. The most notably Cedar Fair part of the park is its operations. In fact, the head and assistant manager of ride operations are both from Cedar Point and have done quite a bit over this past off-season to really boost the operations of the park, and they have succeeded in my opinion. As I mentioned, the park was formerly known as Visionland, and had gained a bit of a bad reputation in the area, but that reputation is being turned around very quickly by current management. They don’t have the kind of budget that some larger parks or even parks similar in size have for improvements, but they have done a lot with what they do have, and it shows. In fact, things are still being tweaked with while the park is open, and that is a very good thing. Back when the park first opened, the owner had a walkthrough attraction with animatronic dinosaurs. But after that season, the dinos were moved to the park’s “boneyard” and allowed to deteriorate to their current unusable state. I was lucky enough to be shown around the main boneyard behind their main offices and have some interesting pictures of the old animatronics that I think you will find interesting. Speaking of the boneyard, there is something I think many of you will recognize when it goes up at the park, but that is something to worry about later. Of course, RCPro will have something unique for you when the time comes.

The future of the park is actually looking very bright, and they have a lot of great ideas that I think will excite many of you. They are currently running a promotion for the month of May with free soft drinks around the park. If you are ever in the Birmingham area, set aside some time to go visit Alabama Adventure. It may not be a large park, but it is still fun. I am really excited and interested in the park’s future, and I will be sure to try and stay on top of any developments there. I also want to thank Chris and Mike for showing us around and giving us a great day at the park. I really look forward to coming back again.

Well that does it for the latest Live From the Road. The next park is Lake Winnepesaukah for their wooden coaster Cannonball. After that, the trip is done and I will be heading home. Thanks for reading, and as always I hope you have enjoyed it!