Sunday, April 19, 2009

Aerial Antics: Alabama Adventure & Splash Beach


This week we visit Alabama Adventure and Splash Beach water park, located in Bessemer, Alabama. The park opened in 1998 as VisionLand, but eventually filed for bankruptcy and was purchased only to be eventually sold again!

Confusing, I know, but what matters is that both parks are still open and operating so why don't we take a look at some of the sights?

Here we have the entrance area to the property, a main street style start for guests.

This ride, located way up on the side of a hill is Zoomerang. This Boomerang coaster was relocated to the park from Australia - look at the length of that walkway up to the station!

This is the park's rapids ride, aptly titled Wild River Gorge. It opened in 1999 but then closed for a couple years - not opening again until 2001. I love how it borders the side of the woods and has a hidden tunnel in the back.

Interesting look for a Space Shot, right? The park opened a dual Space Shot/Turbo Drop tower but during the park's restructuring the Turbo Drop was given back to the manufacturer and now operates at Lake Compounce! They should maybe get a cap piece for this one?

Rampage. A 1998 CCI built wooden roller coaster. Often compared to Megaphobia in the UK, the ride had some stellar reviews when it opened.

This is Splash Beach. They've added some new attractions to the water park in the past few years, making it much larger than it was at opening. How weird is that walkway under the wave pool that snakes around a straight path?

The park is also adding UpSurge! this summer to the water park, and combing both amusement and water parks into one general ticket after being separate for many years.

Here's a link to the images.


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