Working at a grocery store, getting a Saturday off during Covid-19 is a rarity for me, but somehow, it happened. With the prospect of a Saturday off, and absolutely no plans, I began to browse around and then I remembered, Alabama Adventure opens tomorrow! Having never visited the park before and wanting to get on a coaster, we bought tickets at 11:30 at night, and set out bright and early the next morning. The 4-hour drive passed uneventfully with a bunch of Coaster Radio episodes to keep us entertained. We arrived at the park around 10:45 passed through security with ease, and immediately ran into Dan Koch, one of the owners of the park. I had met him at an ACE event previously, and he greeted me like an old friend, offering an elbow bump in place of a handshake. We chatted for a minute, and he leads us over to the place where his mom Patricia Koch, the other owner, was video chatting into the grand reopening greeting all of the guests as they walked in. How cool! After that, my dad and I headed towards Rampage.
This coaster is in the back left of the park and on an insanely and impressive hill. This coaster is an underrated Gem and more people need to get there and ride it. The airtime is amazing, the turns provide quite a good amount of laterals, and the setting is fantastic. Social distancing was in place, however, they were looking out for all of us enthusiasts, and had the back and front rows open, still maintaining social distancing! Over the course of the day, I got 6 rides, 1 in front, 4 in back, and 1 in the middle. The ride does only have one train, so dispatches were meh, but the line was not bad so I can’t complain. At this point, we had had 3 rides on Rampage and decided to go get the other credit and ride some flats. The park doesn’t boast the most impressive collection, but everything I rode I had a ton of fun on. Since I am a photographer we decided to walk around and see if we could find some good angles of Rampage, we made our way into the water park, and once again, ran into Dan. We stood and watched the dive show (which was really good!) with him and chatted about the park. I explained to him that I do Twitter and Instagram, and asked him if he knew of any good angles of Rampage so I could take some pictures. He said he didn’t know of any, but said he might know someone who did. He radioed someone and about five minutes later Alex, the parks Social Media Manager and head of HR, pulled up and introduced himself. Next thing I know we were on his Golf Cart going on a behind the scenes Rampage tour!
Holy cow, the angles we got to see were insane and truly something special. He told us all about the history of the coaster and park and took us to some of his favorite spots. I truly have to take my hat off to the park and team for going above and beyond for me and my dad, offering us an experience we are sure to remember for a long time. After about an hour on our tour, Alex had to go do something else, so we said goodbye, and headed back into the park. We proceeded back to Rampage, which had built a line at this point. We spent most of the rest of our day riding Rampage and then had to head home because I sadly didn’t get Sunday off work.
Talking about Covid-19:
The park did a good job with precautions. Like I said, social distancing was present on all rides, as well as in ques. Employees that were in the public eye did have masks on, and sanitizing stations where present quite frequently.
To conclude, Alabama Adventure made a lasting impression on my first trip, going above and beyond to help my dad and I have an amazing day. While they may only have one coaster, I would more than gladly drive the four hours to visit the park again. You can view all of my Alabama Adventure pictures in the gallery found here.
