Alabama Adventure and Lake Winnepesaukah - July 18-19, 2009

Alabama Adventure, 74 photos HERE at Flickr.

Lake Winnepesaukah, 44 photos HERE.





There is only one reason I would ever go to the state of Alabama, and even that is really not enough. However, I had the chance to ride a great roller coaster and see people that I haven't seen in quite some time, so why not. In the early Saturday morning hours I hit the road toward Birmingham.



I was making great time until this about an hour and a half from the park. Hazmat crews out to clean up a mess and traffic backed up for a good ways.



Finally, I see Birmingham.



The final destination, Alabama Adventure, a small park near Birmingham. Lots of excitement on tap for this day with GAPers coming in for ERT on Rampage and some other fun.



First ride of the day, the massive Marvel Mania. "Why are there big people on this?"



Count it.



It's pretty well documented how extreme my hatred for boomerangs is. Got to do it, though.



Who is excited?!?!



Zoomerang actually isn't that terrible; still bad, but maybe the "best" boomerang I have been on.



They've got a pretty awesome S&S combo tower.



Here is the real reason for coming here (other than the people). Rampage.



Not riding this until later, though. Too long of a line, and we haungry.



Hey look it's the dumb little fountain that they bought from Cedar Point that everyone loves to talk about. I don't even remember this at Cedar Point.



It ain't Sunday, so we gonna get some food.



This place was really close to the park, and highly regarded by a lot of people. Being a North Carolina BBQ devotee, I was skeptical.



Pretty good, I guess, but a far cry from North Carolina BBQ ribs.



I'm melting your arm.



Back at the park. Their ferris wheel is actually kind of cool.



You can spin the cars.



They've got a water park here, too, but I never went to that area because I have no desire to see people from Alabama in swimsuits.



Finally, we ride Rampage. From 1998-2003 it was in the top 10 in the Mitch Hawker wood coaster poll, and still in the top 15 until 2007. I was excited to ride it, and the first ride was pretty good, but not outstanding. We were riding in the middle of the train, though, and it was still the middle of the day.



Over at the picnic pavilion, the event really gets rolling.



Trivia time!



You could win this boomerang wheel...



Or a danger sign...



Or this.. Wait, what did I win? Apparently I won an anti-rollback from Rampage. The best part was it looked like I was carrying around a gun in a plastic bag.



Next, our exclusive boneyard tour behind Rampage.



Nothing is as exciting as a bunch of old garbage and unused ride pieces sitting in a parking lot.



I'm still not quite sure I understand why there were tons of rotting dinosaur animatronics out there.



Cool, though, I guess?



Remembered to make sure I actually got my picture taken.



Did I mention how great the weather was this weekend? Mild and sunny.



Showing off the new official GAP gang sign on the Enterprise.



Almost forgot to mention we also had exclusive unlimited drinks wristbands all day.



Here is the wave swinger which we rode for about 5 minutes while the operator was distracted and appeared to forget the ride was running.



Night falling over Alabama Adventure.



Last ride before Rampage ERT, the absurdly slow carousel.



Good to see they are completely skimping on lights for the ferris wheel.



Rampage!



This ride was ridiculous Saturday night. The back seat has several terrifying moments of airtime, and while there were a number of rough spots, overall it was just awesome. Rampage is definitely among my favorite coasters now.



Everybody had a blast I think. The ERT ended at about the perfect time for me as I'm not sure I could have handled a single more ride. It was a great event and as always I've got to thank Tommy, Chris from Alabama Adventure, and anyone else who helped put it together.



Per GAP regulations, we finished the night at Cracker Barrel, complete with helpless and confused wait staff. Then it was time to say goodbye to everybody after what was all too short of a day together.



This trip was not over yet for me. On the long way back to Raleigh Sunday I stopped by Lake Winnepesaukah, or Lake Winnie for those of us who can't remember how to spell or pronounce the full name. Like Alabama Adventure, this was another park that has eluded me for years because it is somewhat close, but not close enough to justify a trip.



Here I am on my first ride of the day.



Yes, it is the Wacky Worm. Now, generally I do not ride the kiddie coasters like this unless I am with other people (like at Alabama Adventure), but I have to confess a bit of coaster nerdiness here. I am heading to New York soon, and if I rode all of the coasters on the trip, I knew it would set up the Coney Island Cyclone to be my 300th coaster. So, I figured what the hell... I went straight to the Wacky Worm and got my credit.



Next ride, Wild Lightnin', the wild mouse. Check out the creepy thing in the bottom right hand corner. More on that shortly.



Some pretty good lateral movement on this mouse, although it was a bit bumpy.



The highlight of Lake Winnie is Cannon Ball, a small John Allen woodie from 1967. As you can see here, it is "One of the finest wooden coasters in existence".



It is always interesting how the big major parks with all the money lose sight of their history so easily, and the small parks like this preserve it so well. Cannon Ball is everything there is to love in a coaster. It still sports its beautiful white paint, with skid brakes and a braking lever in the station. The trains have fixed position lap bars and no headrests. Swamp Fox in Myrtle Beach is a great comparison. This ride isn't quite as wild as Swamp Fox can be, but it is a lot of fun with some nice airtime. The kind of ride you could just spend all day on.



They have a great classic dark ride at Lake Winnie as well. It was really short, though, and I swear it seemed like there was an upper level that wasn't even used. What's the deal?



These rides are just too low capacity for any of them to remain at the bigger parks, but thankfully there are small parks like Lake Winnie around keeping them running.



Continuing this discussion of history and preservation, we come to the Boat Chute. There are very few of these mill chute water rides left, and this is in fact the oldest one in the United States, opening in 1927!



After climbing into one of the long boats, the ride starts with a ridiculously long pitch black tunnel, which spits out at the base of a lift hill beside a house which is apparently where the park owners live.



After climbing the lift, the car plunges down the hill...



And into Lake Winnie itself. I am fairly certain this is the only ride you'll find in the country that uses natural water like this, but I don't know that for sure.



The gift shop was selling models of the Cannon Ball trains for $25. If I had a little more disposable income I definitely would have been tempted to buy one.



There was a neat one room museum containing artifacts and articles from the park's history. The 84 year old park has been owned by the same family for its entire history. The owner of the park today is the granddaughter of the original owners. This helps explain the character of the park and the appreciation of its classic rides. When I think of my favorite parks, a great many of them are family owned and have more at stake than maximizing profit no matter what the cost.



The park had these hilarious trash cans everywhere, each with different faces and names. This one seemed particularly offensive.



There is one more unique element of Lake Winnie that I saved for last, because quite frankly... I was scared. This is the only Fly-O-Plane remaining in the United States. The Fly-O-Planes were made to train fighter pilots during World War II. After the war this one came to Lake Winnie in 1947.



It is the most evil contraption I have ever seen in an amusement park. You are locked into a cage with a steering wheel, and can tilt and spin your car at will. It is incredibly violent and throws you all over the place. The operator gave everyone some tips on how to get it doing lots of barrel rolls. I am proud to have survived it.



Before I left I had to take a few more rides on Cannon Ball. It rides like it was just built this year.



So, I will conclude this with a picture of one more awesome thing from Lake Winnie. This park is a bit out of the way, and doesn't really have a top tier ride, but it is one of the great traditional parks in the country, with a number of things you will not find anywhere else. I'm definitely glad I went.

Return Home
Content copyright Jonathan Hawkins