New ride planned to tower over Adventureland in 2014

By: Alex Payne

A ride towering over 300 feet above the city of Altoona is expected to open next spring.

Adventureland amusement park announced on Friday, September 6 that they be adding the “Storm Chaser,” their largest ride since the Space Shot in 1999.

The Storm Chaser is a tower swinger called a Wind Seeker built by Mondial rides of the Netherlands.

Adventureland will be the first non-Cedar Fair owned amusement park to have a Mondial Wind Seeker.

Wind Seekers reach a speed of 30 miles-per-hour with a g-force of 1.5.

The three-minute ride takes riders spinning up the tower for a breath taking view of the Des Moines area.

There are 32 vehicles consisting of two seats each, allowing for 64 riders. The ride usually averages 960 riders per hour.

The Storm Chaser will be replacing one of the few original rides to the park, the Silly Silo.

“The Storm Chaser will be located where the Silly Silo is currently,” Adventureland spokeswoman Molly Vincent said.

The Silly Silo, not only one of the few original rides to the park; it is also one of the few Chance Rotor rides left in operation.

One of the only other Rotors left is the Finnish Fling, at Worlds of Fun, in Kansas City Mo.

Worlds of Fun, the closest major amusement park to Adventureland will be getting a Mondial Wind Seeker as well.

Worlds of Fun’s Wind Seeker will be called the Steel Hawk and will be a used version of the ride from their sister park in California, Knotts Berry Farms.

The Knotts Berry Farm ride will be moved due to California regulations after the ride stranded riders in the air for three hours once and an hour another time, twice in 2012.

The construction process at Adventureland will start soon according to Vincent.

“We expect to begin demolition of the old ride [Silly Silo] and the site within the next week or so,” Vincent said.

The ride will include the Iowa Farm area of the park, near the giant pig and near the famed Tornado roller coaster designed by William Cobb.

“[We] have a estimated completion date of early June 2014 for the new ride,” Vincent said.