4th of July….Adventureland

July 10, 2016July 11, 2016w2bergen 2 Comments

The 4th was a beautiful weekend. The temps had cooled down to mid 80’s. We even brought our sweatshirts several days as the evenings were so cool. The park was open till 10pm on Fri. Sat. and Sun. Of course we have Fridays off together now. We went across the street to Prairie Meadows Casino and Race Track for lunch.

They had a great buffet with everything one could ever want. Salad and Dessert bars were to die for. lol. Yes all for only $21 for both of us. You could almost spent that at McDonalds. After we went up just one floor and checked out the casino.

Pretty typical of a casino. All the same machines and tables. It was decorated very colorful and all the bells were ringing of course. The one thing I don’t remember was the smell of Cigarettes. Must be smoke free. But I still seen the people gambling with their Oxygen tubes hooked up. Sad isn’t it, that’s all they have to do. SSI check comes in and off they go to gamble. We walked to the back and that’s where the big windows were that looked out over the Horse Race Track.

The water trucks were preparing the track for the weekend races. Their were lots of outside tables to the right and left of the picture and inside their were all the box seats. Seems like a lot for just a few minutes of racing. I guess I just have never appreciated horse racing.

We left deciding to come back again for the buffet……Excellent….and maybe spending $20 next time gambling. lol . Saturday and Sunday, we of course worked. Rich is working the Himalaya this week as the Operator this time. This gives him an enclosed area that has AC. How nice. I was up in the Alpine Arcade area.

These pictures are taken with my old camera, as we cannot take our phones in to work…..Bummer…..The quality of colors inside is ok, but outside in the evening, they are horrible. This is called Water Gun Fun. Its a squirt gun game. I worked this game all day.

This was my friend Carolina, (pronounced Catalina, like the dressing) who was my reliever during break. She is from Brazil, and is really a neat person to talk to with her accent. More about her later. The prizes are these cute little dragons.

Another picture of the Arcade area.

These girls are the Manager and Assist. Manager of Alpine for the nite. Very nice girls, both still in High School, but very good at what they do. Jordyn on the left and Morgan on the right. We can tell what our positions are by the striping on our shirts under the arms. Ours are a light blue. Now Morgan’s is more of a medium blue, which designates an Assistant Manager. Jordyn’s, if you could see hers, has a black insert. That is for managers. All areas have the same shirts so it is easy to tell what their position is. Then by reading their name tag, you can tell what area they are in, Games, Rides, Retail or Foods. All Company or important people…..lol…are dressed in Black shirts and Kaki colored slacks.

This is a picture of the Big Wheel…..So much prettier than this. In this picture the lights blended together, when their were really many different colors….That’s what the ole camera does. lol. But it is just beautiful at night. All the pretty colors of the rides as they go around and round. The sounds of the different rides and the laughter and voices of the kids. And theirs always the sound of the train whistle as they start their ride on the rails. At 9:30 pm Prairie Meadows had a fireworks display, but we couldn’t see anything because of the trees, but we sure could hear it. Beautiful sounds. The next night was the 4th of July. I worked in County Fair.

I worked the Goblets Game. This is a game of chance. You toss a whiffle ball in the rink. If it falls on white, you lose. Yellow gets you a small snake. Red is a medium and the center blue is a large. You can also trade up. 3 small makes a medium, 3 med. makes a large. Several guys came up and played and played. You can also buy a bucket of balls with a small prize in it.

After lots of laughter and money spent, these guys won and traded up to several large snakes. Notice the one kid has the snake head on top his head. They had won many other prizes. Now I am pretty sure that they had to have spent way over $100 to win all these stuffed animals. But they sure had a good time winning.

As the evening progressed I watched the Storm Chaser. It is so cool to be near it when it goes up. They leave their shoes and belongings on the ground as they will lose them.

This is the Storm Chaser as the sun set and darkness came. Such a beautiful site.

This camera doesn’t show of the true colors.

Once it reaches the top, it goes around faster and the swings swing way out.

Finally it came time for the Parks fireworks. They were set off on the other side of the park. We were allowed to walk up a ways to watch. We could only see the high ones, over the Monster. They were pretty.

The beautiful lights of the rides, the music playing in the different areas, and the laughter of the people made it a magical evening with the park closing at 10 pm. Now that our golf cart is here, it is so easy to go home. Rich parks it right at the Security gate. We meet each other there when the park closes and head home. That nite the traffic was horrible. The cops were directing traffic, which was stopped…….and we just drove off through the parking lot and sidewalks and over to the campground……it just takes minutes…..From now on the Park will be open from 11 am to 9 pm Sunday-Thursday and on Friday and Saturdays were open till 10 pm. So our nites are late now. We work all the Pm shifts. The park stays open until the last week of Aug. That week they will close on week days and only be open on weekends till the last of Sept. As long as we stay till then, we will be paid a bonus money per hour we worked. So it is worth it staying, especially as we still get free camping. Its really a nice package deal. More people are leaving every week, but they have their own issues. Some depts. have their own problems, some of them can’t take the heat. If you look at the whole deal, it is really a great seasonal job. Just imagine if you received a pay check and didn’t have to pay rent or electric. All we do is buy food. Meals at the Commissary are cheap also. Today we had Turkey, Dressing, Mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole. All for $2 with your drink. What a deal.

Stay tuned for my next blog…..We went and met friends last Friday and visited Rieman Gardens in Ames Iowa…..FABULOUS…..

Adventureland…Finally Settling In

June 24, 2016June 24, 2016w2bergen 6 Comments

We are finally settling in and getting use to the schedule. We are starting to tolerate the heat better, and enjoy the jobs. We both work 6 days a week on the afternoon shift. Mine starts at 3 and Rich starts at 2:40. Once or twice a week, I’m also assigned a morning shift also. That shift is 11 to 3. It still is not even 8 hours a day by the time you sign out for lunch. By next week we will start staying open till 9 during the week and 10 Pm. on weekends. I can pick up 11 to 3 shift anytime I want and Rich can go in and do morning relief for breaks. Were trying to work around 35 hours a week. Its not difficult to do that. A number of Workampers have quit and more to come. A lot of people just can’t handle it, and some are unhappy with the amount of hours they get. Some want less, some want more. Partly communication problem I think. I know Rich and I have no problem with our schedule. Before I go any further I want to make an

ANNOUNCEMENT

Congratulation to Ashley and Mat on the Arrival of Vivian Grace this morning.

Vivian weighed in at 7 lb. 8 oz. 20″ long.

Ashley is our niece. Her mom Connie is Rich’s youngest sister. If you read the blog just before we left home last month, Ashley had a Huge Wonderful Shower. They have both been waiting patiently I think…..lol….Connie called me a week ago and thought they were going in but…..NOPE…..Doesn’t happen that way. Ashley and Mat went in during the nite. Connie arrived around 3. Turned out little Vivian was breach and so they decided to do a C-Section. Several hours later little Vivian was born. Mat was blown away and so emotional with his new daughter. I can only imagine Connie. She is on Cloud Nine. This is the first grandchild for Connie and Brian, as well as Mats parents. We had a 9 way conversation on the cell this morning. I heard it pop….pop…pop…and wondered what was going on. I got up and found out that Ashley had just went in for her C-Section. So Congratulations to All. I’m sure their is such excitement going on at home right now. Their lives have all been changed for ever, now theirs a little baby in their lives. Little Vivian is now ready to be spoiled by all Grandmas and Grandpas…..lol…

This week Rich has been operating the Lady Luck.

Every week they are assigned a job for all week. This ride does not require an assistant. He also has a chair to sit on in the shade.

Last week he operated the Tilt A Whirl which also didn’t require an assistant. The week before he was an assistant on The Dragon. It is one of the big roller coasters in the park.

Before that he was the Chuck Wagon operator. It is a ride more for kids, but many adults rode it too.

He said some even almost to big to fit it….lol…In games, we have 3 areas that we work. Alpine, which is more Arcade games, County Fair, which is your old time fair or carnival games, and The Dragon. That area of course is by the Dragon Rollercoaster. We change games every day. We get a schedule by area for the week, but don’t know what game we get until we get to work. I am starting to have more fun now. My favorite games are games the kids always get PrizeThis of course is the Duck Pond game. Their are 45 ducks. One has a Black dot on the bottom for the big prize, one has a red and one has a blue for the medium. All other 42 has no dot but still win a small prize.

These are the prizes. The medium and small are square plush ducks in yellow, pink and blue. The little kids love them.

One boy came in with only $3 to play one game, and guess what he picked….The black dot duck. We were all just ecstatic…..Another favorite game is Bash a Bully….

You throw 4 leather bean bags at an open mouth and try to knock down 5 teeth.

This game is easy for some and hard for others. Its a cute game.

I worked this game yesterday. It is a game of luck. Throw a whiffle ball and hopes it lands in a colored Goblet. The name of the Game? Goblets of course. 1 ball is $2, 5 balls is $5, and a bucket of 12 balls with a small prize in it already is $10. This is just a few of the games I have worked so far. Each area is run by a manager and assistant managers. I am finding them all to be so nice. They are definitely company orientated also. They go by the rules that are required. So if you don’t tuck in your shirt your told, if you late you might be questioned. If your out of your area your told to get back. But all in all, if you do as the rules require, you will be fine. They are all easy to get along with. They also have kids working that are 14 and 15. Some of them do seem way to immature. Well see how long they last. I’ve heard that many of the kids leave after they have several checks. When your young, a few checks and you think your “Rich”….lol….Oh how I wish……So I think as time goes on we will probably be asked to do more hours. I’ve heard by the end of the season, they lose a lot of workers. But the park closes after the third week in August, during the week. The Iowa State Fair begins and it not far away. After that school begins and were only open weekends till the end of Sept. So actually, we only have a little less than 2 months. Its really not that long.

This is a nice cool area covered with screen. Plenty of benches to sit and rest….

Bridge to Raging River Ride

So an Update on the Accident: …….NOTHING……Nothing has been said or acknowledged. It is as if it never happened. We have heard via the grape vine, that the operator is being blamed. I also believe that the way the paper stated, it is true…..BUT……DID HE HAVE PROPER TRAINING…….I don’t think he should carry the whole blame……..Shouldn’t a switch be implemented for the assist person to push so the operator can then start the ride? I still think they should have held a meeting the next day to reinforce safety. What about the family. Many of the workers here wanted to send cards or condolences. We weren’t given an address or any means to communicate with the family. If I was Steve’s wife, it would have meant so much to me to read and hear from all the fellow workers. They were just here today……gone tomorrow….This was a Very Traumatic event in many peoples lives. The only thing we ever knew was what was printed in the paper………..Will We Ever Know Anymore Details?…..Probably Not…….

All I know is this is NOT the way to handle a situation of this serious nature. At Advantage Logistics, Sandy would have called a meeting immediately. Their would have been information given as how to help the family. Safety issues would have been discussed. A through investigation would have happened and we would have been advised. Ideas would be discussed as to how to not let this happen again. The family would have been a major concern to her and all of the employees. Fortunately, we never had a serious accident at our plant, but several had happened at plants out of state. That was the reaction that we received from our company…..Complete Openness…..A desire to help…

Silence creates rumors…..Rumors promotes finger pointing deserved or not…..Bottom line……Bitterness and Lawsuits…..

A Workamper Has Died at Adventureland

June 14, 2016March 28, 2020w2bergen 2 Comments

This has been a very sad week at Adventureland. I have given this a lot of consideration as to whether to write about this terrible accident. Death is something that is inevitable. At Eastgate Park in Texas, we have learned that it happens much more as everyone is a Senior. It is sad, but accepted as the ending of life. This is totally not expected by any means. We must learn something by this happening. It is a very sad time for this family, but let us all learn from this accident about safety.

I was working in an area called The Dragon. Early afternoon, suddenly a golf cart came flying through clearing the people franticly. Right behind was another golf cart. On the back was a stretcher with a man in our park uniform. He was very still. Out of his mouth was a blue tube and a man was straddling him, working on his neck. We later found out that he had fallen from the Raging River Ride down to the conveyor mechanism. We heard he had head injuries and his feet were very injured. For the next several days, nothing was heard. The Park Management has never acknowledged this. We did hear that the state came in for inspections, and found everything ok. The ride was again opened. OSHA of course is involved also. So I suppose their are legal reasons as to why their has been no acknowledgment. Sunday we seen this article in the DesMoines Register. Its a very sad way to find out. I have copied the article for all to read:

=====================================================

Steve Booher and his wife, Gladys, were enjoying retirement, traveling the country in their RV and visiting family and friends along the way.

Recently, the Oklahoma couple came to central Iowa, where the 68-year-old retired postal carrier took a summer job at Adventureland in Altoona.

“Steve was having a great time (at Adventureland),” Gladys Booher wrote on Facebook. “He loved watching the kids enjoying the rides.”

Then, on his sixth day on the job, tragedy struck, said his nephew Tim Overlin, of Des Moines.

Steve Booher was tending the amusement park’s Raging River ride when he fell on the conveyor belt June 7, fracturing his skull and suffering a major brain injury, his wife wrote. He was unresponsive and on life support until he died Saturday at Mercy Medical Center.

Polk County Medical Examiner Gregory Schmunk confirmed the accidental death was caused by a head injury.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is now investigating the incident.

Overlin said the family’s only knowledge of the accident stems from the limited amount of information in local media reports.

“It’s just a lot of grief and shock,” he said.

Witness recounts events

Zach Bauer was waiting in line to ride the Raging River on the afternoon of June 7 when he heard a commotion on the loading platform.

He didn’t see Booher fall, turning toward the scene as onlookers flocked to provide help.

At the time, the conveyor belt moving the rafts was in motion, said Bauer, a 22-year-old who lives in Des Moines. Several onlookers were yelling at the ride operator to stop the ride, he said.

“I know it wasn’t just a case of him slipping and falling without the ride moving,” he said. “I saw the ride take the man off his feet.”

The Raging River’s ride operator is housed in a booth above the loading platform. On the platform, other workers help riders in and out of the boats. Bauer said the ride operator came down from the booth and appeared confused, because he left the ride running.

Bauer has ridden the Raging River countless times; he held Adventureland season passes for several years. He said the workers on the platform generally give the go-ahead for the Raging River to begin.

“Usually when everybody was ready to go, they would give the guy the thumbs up, because he’s up above the ride,” he said. “I’m not sure what caused him to push the button.”

“Anybody who’s been on that ride knows that once that conveyor belt starts, it’s kind of a jerk. It starts really quick.”

Adventureland spokeswoman Molly Vincent did not respond to questions regarding Bauer’s account of the incident. She previously acknowledged the ride was in motion at the time of the accident.

Inspection cleared ride to continue

One day after Booher’s fatal fall, state officials inspected the water ride and deemed it safe and free of defects.

“We did our inspection and we found no adverse conditions as far as the ride was concerned,” said Jim Borwey, who oversees inspections of elevators, boilers and amusement parks for the Iowa Division of Labor.

State officials examine each amusement park ride before the beginning of the season, Borwey said. This spring, investigators found no major problems with the Raging River, which Adventureland classifies among its family rides.

Jens Nissen, administrator of Iowa’s OSHA program, said he could not release any details of his agency’s ongoing investigation into the accident.

The agency must report its findings within six months, he said, though he expects a quicker conclusion.

Altoona Police did not immediately respond to the accident, but are now investigating the case, said Sgt. David Tinker. Investigators do not believe there was any criminal act involved but are piecing together what happened.

“We’re still looking into it, seeing if some other medical issue would have caused this, caused him to fall,” Tinker said. “We’re not sure.”

A family man

Overlin described his uncle as a family man. Both he and his wife had previously been pastors.

“He was really low key but always positive and always happy,” he said. “He was just so in love with my aunt. He would do anything for her.”

A Des Moines funeral home cremated Booher’s remains.

His funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at the First Church of God in Pryor Okla.

====================================================

So my goal is NOT to try to pass judgement on whose fault this might be. Legally it will all be decided after all the investigations are complete. It could be the Mangement, the Operator, or even Steve himself. Or a combination of many things all happening at the wrong time. It sure does raise many questions for them to decide. We heard the operator was operating this ride for first time that day. So did he get adequate training? I do know Rich had orientation when we got here. He had safety movies to watch. Was their enough on the job training? Should their be a safety switch that the assist needs to push to allow the operator to engage the ride. So many questions for the authorities to answer. For years this ride has operated safely……..until that day.

Basically, we need to learn from this tragic accident that Safety is ….NOT A JOKE….We take things for granted. Just because we get by many times by doing things OUR WAY, it only takes once. One time and an accident may occur. It could injury you, your friends at work, or a terrible thought, your family member. It could haunt you the rest of your life, that something that only took a second to occur has destroyed someone else’s life. That’s a terrible burden to carry. Think about safety….It is something we can follow everyday, in our jobs, our cars, and at home. It is a part of life.

For all of my Advantage Logistics friends. Our wonderful Sandy Knott was the best thing the company ever had . She loved her job of Risk Control. She was always living, breathing and preaching safety. But it was heart felt. She cared about all of us. It was not about the paycheck, it was that she wanted us all to have a HAPPY, HEALTHY LIFE. That was her daily goal. She would laugh, and cry with us, what ever it took for her to help us make it through the day and stay safe. They lost a wonderful caring soul the day she quit. Thank You Sandy for everything you did for us, and everything you tried to do. I sure hope your Appreciated for all your worth at your new job.

So Today is Tue. One week ago Today, this poor man went to work for his 6th day at Adventureland. He never came home that day. He passed away Saturday and his services were held today in Oklahoma. How fast life can change in an instant. This should have never have happened, but it did.

So lets learn something from it and go forward.

The “Monster” is Now Running

June 12, 2016w2bergen 2 Comments

The new ride, “The Monster” is now open for business. It was opened a little over a week ago. The night before, they let the park employees ride it. Nope, NOT US…..but we watched. The next morning the local newscaster rode it solo, live on his newscast, with a Go Pro on his head. That was all I needed to see NO THANK YOU. We’ll stay on the ground. The Iowa Governor was their that afternoon also. They have installed some fabulous lights on it. They are continually changing colors. As the coaster fly’s by the tracks color changes again as if the coaster is a shooting star. Of coarse then you hear all the screaming coming from the car. lol.

Saturday, June 11, was our oldest grandson Camerons “18th” Birthday. He drove out with his friend and spent 2 days. He went to Adventureland of course, did some fishing at the pond here and grandpa took them out to eat at Bonanza Steak house in DesMoines while I was working. We had different days off, so it was impossible to do things together. I think they had a good time. I know he enjoyed the road trip of 4 hours, especially since he just traded his pick up for an Eclipse. That would be one of those models you fall in….then crawl back out…..

Happy “18th” Birthday Cameron

I didn’t get a good picture of him here but this is one of my favorites from last Christmas when they were down at South Padre Island for the holiday. We rented this jeep to ride on the beach…….So now he is “OFFICIALLY an ADULT”…..lol….Responsible for all his actions, Good or Bad…..lol….But at 18 you generally know it all right?….LIFE IS GOOD….

I’ll go back a bit with some pictures we took at our Workampers Chicken Dinner and Orientation.

This is the HR Director Gary Paredekooper. He took us all for a walking tour through part of the park before we opened full time.

We stopped at RATHSKELLAR Beer Gardens. They offer 21 varieties of imported German Import Beers. They also offer sodas and hamburgers, fries and other snacks. We were allowed to all have a beer.

We walked back to almost the Waterpark and seen the back part of the Tornado Rollercoaster.

This roller coaster is The Outlaw. After all that we went to back to the front to the Palace Theater. We were given a Nice Chicken dinner and Welcome speeches from the Owners and managers. They have hired over 300 Workampers this year. We have been given free camping and an hourly wage, plus bonus is we stay till the end of the year. Gary went to Arizona, Texas and Florida, last winter to recruit everyone. So we have people in the campground from all over. It is quite a group, and all so friendly. Some have been coming back for many years.

Here is Rich in his uniform on his way to work. We have been given 2 shirts, we supply kaki shorts or pants, black shoes with black belt, or white shoes with brown belt. We are also given a hat or visor, and of course a full length rain coat. We are out their RAIN OR SHINE….and we have already used the rain coats. We can only go into the park on week days on a day off to buy food or retail. Otherwise we cannot shop or ride rides, in our uniform on working days. We have a commissary for breaks with really cheap food. But how have we been coping? Well…..OUR FEET ARE SORE….standing for hours is really hard. crowds had been really light so not a lot of business at the games. We have to stay at our game at all times. I have worked the games now in all 3 areas, Alpine, Dragon and County Fair. I’ve worked Bingo, Can it, Bash a Bully, Guess your Age and Weight, Roller Bowler, Derby Downs, Sea Race, Goblet, and Smashing Plates…..that’s just a few….lol….We change every day. Now Rich works a ride for a week at a time. He has worked as an assist on Himalaya, and then Operator on Chuck Wagon and now operator on Tilt a Wirl. Starting tomorrow, he will be an assist on the rollercoaster The Dragon. The weather has been really hot the last several days. Mid 90’s with heat index over 100……..Last week I not only had achy feet, I started to ache all over and get a scratchy throat. Well it developed into what I will call the Iowa Crud. lol. It seems every state has the crud that seems to take you down for a while. My head was so full, I wondered how I would make it, I really was beginning to think it wouldn’t, but it has now broken and every day is better. I will survive. But guess what,…..I gave it to Rich….He is in the recliner resting up for our next shift this afternoon of 90 degree weather. I remember when we were first at the Gas pipeline last September and it was so hot, I thought we wouldn’t survive. Once you get accustomed and find out how, it really isn’t that bad. Then you begin to enjoy your surroundings……lol…Words of Wisdom…..Yesterday, I brought my water jug, filled it full of their ice they supply. Cameron showed me these Cool Wraps at Walmart. I bought a 2 pack, and I believe they will be the answer. Yesterday it felt so good to wrap my neck or just wipe my forehead with it.

“THANK YOU CAMERON” This is my Salvation…..lol….

If it dries, just poor more water on it and it soaks in. Great Product. They were a 2 pack for $8. Not bad at all. Yesterday, I worked from 3-10. I only had to rewet it twice. It was nice to have something cool and wet to wipe my face and neck. I worked the Duck Pond again, and we had more kids. That made it more enjoyable. It was a good evening, so I think I’m over the hump. Feeling better and maybe now I can start enjoys this gig a little more……Rich is just going to have to suffer the next few days also. My next day off is Thur, and his is Fri. After that we should have Fridays off together. Everything just seems to take time to work out…….

Just wanted to report on this poor momma duck. I had put her picture in the last blog. She is still sitting in the middle of her flower pot on Main Street. She has weathered several driving rain storms and all this high 90s heat with no shade or protection. I sure hope her eggs hatch soon. I have walked by her and she is panting. I’m sure she stays their from the time the park opens till it closes to protect her eggs. Kids are always walking by and talking to her and showing their friends. Apparently they don’t bother her.

Tomorrow, I will be able to see her again and see her progress….

Adventureland….We Are Here

May 27, 2016May 27, 2016w2bergen 2 Comments

We have arrived at Altoona Iowa to work our Summer Job at “Adventureland”. It is a really cool amusement park. I subscribed to an Emailed newsletter couple of years ago. It is called “Workers on Wheels”. It is emailed once or twice a week and is full of tips and jobs for workamping. Last December I was reading it, and this job was posted. It was close to home, only 4 hours, free campground, and hourly pay with bonus at the end of the season…..Why Not….Filled out the app online that nite. The next morning my phone rang. It was Gary from HR. We completed a 2 hour phone interview that afternoon, and with in several days all paperwork was mailed back and forth……..Now the fun begins…….We were able to pick our own areas. I chose Games, and Rich chose Rides. Now tell me, Who has never as a kid, had a dream to work in an Amusement park……

We arrived last week to settle in. Were trying to learn the routine, but as most places go, their is some confusion, but were all working through it. It has only been open on weekends this month, so we asked to take a walk through last Sunday as we have never been in the park before. So here is some of the things we seen.

This is the Space Shot…..Not for me…..lol. The Space Shot is a 235-foot (72 m) structure that towers over Adventureland launching riders up at 4.5 G’s and ending with a free fall of negative 1 G.

Storm Chaser……OMG…….way to high…. The Storm Chaser is a giant swing ride that takes you 260 feet off the ground and spins those brave enough to ride it around at 35 mph.

Raging River….Now I want to do this one. The water was a most beautiful blue….

We took a ride on the Aerial ride over the top of the park. This was a nice ride. On the way we went through the circles and loops of their brand new Thriller Ride. New for this Season. “The Monster” It is still under construction, opening the middle of June.

Rich heard today it costs 9 Million Dollars……Wow….on The Monster you will climb straight up a 133 foot lift hill then dropped at a 101 degree angle. At the bottom of the hill you will reach a top speed of 65 mph. The next element is a large Overbanked turn where you will be redirected into a Dive Loop that goes directly into an Omega Loop after which you will go into a sharp curve that will take you into an air time hill then and Immelmann loop. The car will then go into its last curve and it’s final inversion a Corkscrew (roller coaster element). The ride in total has 2,500 feet of track, five inversions and it will be the parks newest coaster in nearly twenty years. It is in the final stages of construction. They are testing the cars every nite. They load them with sand bags for weight and have to run each car at least 1500 times before they can even begin to certify it for safety. The are in the last stages of landscaping. Everyone is so excited, especially the management. We heard they will be running adds on the local radio for someone to Win the honor of the First rider on the “Monster”……

We crossed over a bridge and see some cute little ducky’s with their parents and lots of catfish and a few carp. People were feeding the fish.

The little train had just loaded and was taking off on its trip around the park. This is just a small sample of what we saw. We finally left exhausted from walking. We never made it to the back of the park. They have several more huge roller coasters, and Adventure Bay, that will be opening Saturday, Memorial Day weekend. It is a huge water park with large water slides, wave pool, Lazy River, and other things that we haven’t seen…………The next day I actually worked my first day. Would you believe I worked the Duck Pond…..lol….Pick up a duck and check the colored dot and see what you won. I did that from 11 am – 6 pm. I had a 30 minute lunch. It was a Monday and all the schools had come with their busses for field trips…..So many kids….They really had a lot of money too. Several of the kids spent $20 and $30 just at the duck pond. I always thought the Duck Pond was for the little kids. You wouldn’t believe the teenagers that were fascinated by picking up a duck…..lol….Now it was really easy but for lunch, I had to punch out right near the Duck Pond, but had to walk to the commissary on my lunch time, eat and walk back and then punch in again. All in 30 min. We are not allowed to take our lunch in the park or even buy food in the park. We have a commissary that has hot food or sandwiches and we have to go their for our lunch break. Well see how that goes.

The kids all had fun that day and were really very well mannered. One kid who was around 12 was leaning on my stand and I asked him. “Do you want to pick a Duck?…… No, I’m broke.”……. I said, ” well I bet you had a good time though”……. He said “I was, but I was standing in a line for a long time and was almost ready to get on and they closed it”……..”Really I said, Why”?……. “Some kid Pooped In it”…..hahah….I wanted to laugh, but he was so down cause he couldn’t understand why they closed the ride when he had stood in line and was ready to go….Poor Kid…..

So back to the campground I went at the end of my shift. Tired…..Hot…..

This is on the walk back to the campground. A small running creek divides the campground from the Park. This is the bridge to walk over. We also have Molly the Trolley that comes through the park picking up guests.

We aren’t aloud to ride it in uniform. It would sure make life easier.

Here is our campsite. Rather hard to see, but we have a picnic table and a tree. Luxurys we don’t have in Texas. Rich had his orientation finally yesterday. He will start as an assistant on the Himalayan. He’s working it all weekend. This ride requires 2 to run it.

This is a photo I copied from the internet. Its about the best one I could find of the Himalayan. The next day I was sitting out side and looked across the street.

A flock of geese were out walking.

Two came over by us looking for food. Rich through out some chips and they ate them. We also have a pond as you enter into the Campground, so between the creek, the pond and the water elements at the Park, their are really a lot of Geese and ducks all over. You can hear them as the fly over a lot. So today is Friday, the start of Memorial Day weekend. What has it been doing the last 2 nites…….RAIN……But that always happens on this weekend. At least one day. A motor home lost their awning the other nite, and also a Pop up camper came in the other nite across from us. They were up at 2 am as their awning blew up and over their little camper. Today the park will begin being open full force every day……The summer season has begun…..Oh Boy….Here comes all the people and kids this weekend……We are working every day this weekend…

……..Life in the Amusement Park Begins…….

………….''AND LET THE FUN BEGIN''……………..

Our Diaries of Daily Life and Travel

Adventureland

4th of July….Adventureland

Adventureland…Finally Settling In

A Workamper Has Died at Adventureland

Witness recounts events

Inspection cleared ride to continue

A family man

So lets learn something from it and go forward.

The “Monster” is Now Running

Adventureland….We Are Here

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Witness recounts events

Inspection cleared ride to continue

A family man

So lets learn something from it and go forward.

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