originally posted on 8/6/2021
All photos by Tom Nickerson. View full-sized image.
On a hot and humid 90-degree day, 17 ACEers made their way to heaven. No, not heaven, they made their way to Iowa. To a place where, “If you build it, they will come.” No, not a baseball field, but instead Adventureland Park in Altoona.
On Saturday, July 24, ACE North Central gathered at Adventureland Park. The day was filled with fun activities that proved that ACEers truly bond over the love of roller coasters. The first activity was a group photo and an informal ride takeover of the new-for-2021 Dragon Slayer. This ride surprised many of the attendees. Many of them had ridden a 4-D Free Spin before, but not many of them had ridden this smaller model. With its mild versus wild side, the informal takeover helped fuel many discussions. “Does the placement of the magnetic fins really determine the intensity?” “Does the smaller model give a better ride than its larger counterparts?” These and many more questions were asked by ACEers. Of course, since the answer was not always clear, the ACEers in attendance rode again and again.
Attendees enjoyed ERT on Adventureland’s new Dragon Slayer.
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Next on the schedule of events was a Skee-Ball tournament. Every attendee was given four rounds to play. The person with the highest score for a single game would win a prize. Dave Damminger was congratulated for his winning score of 280 points. What is particularly nice about Skee-Ball at Adventureland Park is that it is only costs a quarter a game. There are not too many places left where that much fun can be had for only a quarter.
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After the Skee-Ball tournament, the most important time of day was up next — lunch. All in attendance were given a meal voucher for either a burger or a hot dog, along with a side and a drink. During lunch, Regional Rep Tom Nickerson had a surprise for attendees. He revealed that The Lost Island Theme Park (new from the ground up) in Waterloo, Iowa, had invited ACE to visit the construction site in September and that a sign-up link was now live. As ACEers in attendance were the first to hear about it, they were the first allowed to sign up for this limited-capacity event.
After lunch, ACE attended the circus on site at Adventureland, which was new and improved this year. ACEers watched in awe at aerial feats, a contortionist and even four wheelers in a globe going almost 50 mph.
Circo de Luz was a popular show.
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View full-sized image.
The circus was the last scheduled activity for the day, but with the park being open until 10 p.m., there was still plenty of time for riding as a group or solo. ACEers could be seen around the park enjoying all that Adventureland had to offer, including more rides on Dragon Slayer to see if they could get the optimum spin. Many took popular nighttime rides on Monster, with its amazing light package. Overall, it was a great event, and everyone got as many rides as they wanted.
— Tom Nickerson, ACE North Central Regional Representative
@#$%&!
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