Rampage

It is no secret that I like wooden roller coasters. It just so happens that there is an awesome wooden roller coaster just miles from my house. That would be Rampage at Alabama Splash Adventure. It was nice, for once, to be able to drive just twenty minutes down the road to ride a great roller coaster. Usually I am driving at least a couple of hours to ride any roller coaster let alone a great one.

I love Rampage

As most of you probably know, I live in a suburb of Birmingham Alabama. My local park is Alabama Splash Adventure. Sadly, I do not go to the park as often as I should but when there is a coaster event like Rip Roaring Rampage I almost feel obligated to go. That was the case when the event was held on Saturday, May 28^th, 2016. It really is a great enthusiast event, quite possibly one of the best events of the year, so I am very happy that I went.

I'm here

ACE is the Place for Coaster Enthusiasts

It was an all-day event with the main portion of the extra activities that happened later in the day. I decided to get to the park later in the day and made it to Alabama Splash Adventure around 3:30 pm. I entered the park and took my time walking around and taking pictures of everything. It was the first time in a long time that I had actually been in the park during the day with the opportunity to see all of the changes that the Koch family (owners of the park) had done. I did attend the Rip Roaring Rampage event in the fall of 2014 (see previous blog post) but it was during the evening hours and I didn’t get to see the entire park at that time (other than a few select areas). 

New Pepsi Oasis

Front of the Park

Main Midway

New Restaurant

I have to hand it to the Koch family with this park. They have really done the best they can with what they have to work with. I won’t go into much detail about that here but when the Koch family bought the park in the spring of 2014 it was a mess. They had to do a lot of sprucing up as well as build a better image/reputation of the park. It is now almost three years later and they have really done that.

Pool of Waves

Fun!

Best Waterslide in the park

Kids Area

Water Ropes Course

The owners have added a few new kids rides, a huge Pepsi oasis stand, a new restaurant, added landscaping, and new water park infrastructure. Not to mention they spent a huge chunk of money to restore the Rampage wooden roller coaster to the best it has even been in its history. They have also brought back a family atmosphere that was severely lacking from the previous owners. Oh, and they added a lot of free perks like parking, soft drinks, and sunscreen. Who doesn’t like free stuff right?

Can you handle these heights?

It's the Jump Around

Cute Train Ride

Another Coaster Credit

BOATS!

FINE CHINA!

The enthusiast group began congregating outside of the Star Theater, where dinner would be, around 5:00pm. I just so happened to notice a familiar face before we went in for dinner too. It was none other than the Fury Guy aka Doug! This time we properly introduced ourselves and hung out throughout the event which was an added bonus. It is always nice to meet a friend when attending an enthusiast event solo.

Star Theater

Dinner was really good. It consisted of BBQ pork, baked beans, and potato salad. Then afterwards they gave everyone extremely delicious chocolate cake. During dinner the owner Dan Koch and his mother Pat Koch aka The General spoke to the group and gave everyone insight on the current state of the park as well as future projects. It was a nice touch. 

Good Southern BBQ

Yup, this was good!

Mrs. Koch sharing her wisdom

After dinner it was the moment everyone had waited for. It was time to marathon Rampage for three hours! As I stated before I had the privilege of attending this same event in the fall of 2014 and I gained a greater respect for the Rampage roller coaster then so I was even more so looking forward to riding the ride now.

Rampage Pano

Rampage Overview credit: Carl Ragan

Rampage was built in 1998 with 3500 feet of track, a 120-foot-tall lift hill, and reaching speeds of 56 mph. The first drop is one of the best you will experience on a traditional wooden coaster dropping 102 feet towards the left underneath one of the structures many hills. There is great air time off of the drop and then the proceeding hill delivers some ejector air time.

DROP!

Next up the coaster makes a sharp lateral turn to the left and then a sharp left again and plunges into another drop followed by another air time hill. Then there is the moment on the coaster labeled the “pardon me” turn where it jerks you to the right as you make a hard right turn back into the wooden structure. There are some serious laterals here. This part of the ride is quite fun as you travel through the wooden structure and then hit a nice sized drop into another forceful air time hill.

Pardon Me Turn

Cool moments like this on Rampage credit: Carl Ragan

Then there are two sharp right hand turns filled with lateral forces as you descend yet again into a small ejector air time hill. This hill might be my favorite on the ride because it kind of takes you by surprise as you go over it. It is small yet offers some really nice air time. Following the small hill, you are back into the wooden structure again as you make your way around into another special element. At this point, out of nowhere, there is a surprise drop with air time and then a right turn with an air time hill into the brakes. Then just when you think the ride is over you coast through another small turn and drop right, turn, and then drop back into the station. 

See that small hill on the right? AIRTIME

Phew! What a freaking ride man. Rampage is a great wooden coaster and ranks #8 for me on my list of traditional wooden coasters ridden. Doug, who only has 25 wooden coasters left to ride in the USA (which means he has ridden a ton of wooden coasters), has Rampage ranked at #6 on his list. Rampage offers up great amounts of air time and laterals that give you a non-stop out of control ride experience. Also, the ride is very smooth for a wooden roller coaster. I think these are the reasons why it is highly rated by coaster enthusiasts. There were people all the way from Canada at the event just because of Rampage. Doug came down from Ohio for his first rides on it as well. 

Rampage is a Great Coaster

Doug and I got 25 rides on Rampage during the ERT session. Most of those rides we didn’t even have to get out of the train. We just stayed in our seats and waited for re-rides. It was a good time. As the darkness rolled in the rides on Rampage got crazier and crazier. It was rides like this tonight that really stick with you for years to come. 

Ready to Ride

Happy to Ride

I am grateful to the Koch family for putting their money and time into Alabama Splash Adventure. They really want the park to be successful and I believe they have succeeded. Attendance was up 25% in 2016 so they are headed in the right direction. The only thing I wish for the park to get is a few more thrilling rides in the future. Dan Koch (the owner) has stated through social media and at park events that the park, for now, will focus on the family and that he does not anticipate big rides coming to the park for a few more years. While that somewhat disappoints me I understand why the big rides are not a priority right now.

Free Soda! I see Mnt Dew!

On our way out of the park everyone received a goodie bag with a plush Smurf and a free one-day admission ticket to come back to the park during the operating season. Since Doug knew he would not be able to make it back from Ohio he gave his ticket to me so that I could bring my family back to the park. Thanks Doug. The tickets were put to good use later in the season so be on the lookout for a blog post. Ride on and read on and Rampage on!

Great Event