The Disney World of Alabama
Lori August 9th, 2008
The Disney World of Alabama
Lori – TheBama.com Writer
On what had to be one of the hottest summer days, my Miamian uncle, young cousins and I decided to check out Alabama Adventure in Bessemer. I hadn’t been in at least 10 years when it was still Visionland, but I quickly remembered the lay of the land, since it hasn’t changed much. It impressed my eight-year-old cousin, who had never been to a water park before but kept forgetting we weren’t at Disney World.
Naturally, we started at Splash Beach Water Park to cool off. The Warrior River called to us first, where the idea is to slowly float down the “river” in an inter tube, but instead we had to swim, because there were approximately five tubes available without paying $7 to rent one. A park regular said there are usually plenty, but not even the lifeguards knew where all the others had disappeared to.
More disappointing was that two of the most exciting and scary looking water rides – Acapulco Drop and Splashdown – were closed. The wave pool was as hot as bathwater, overall uneventful and actually quite uncomfortable since we were all required to wear very tight life vests.
After we exhausted our three options at Splash Beach, we walked to Magic City U.S.A., the amusement park portion of Alabama Adventure, and rode a few rides pretty quickly, since not many others dared to venture that far from the water on such a scorching day.
As soon as we dried out, we were almost instantaneously wet again from sweat and went back to Splash Beach to find the delightful surprise that a few tubes were available for Warrior River, and thus our Alabama Adventure ended quite enjoyably.
Days early in the week are definitely the best time to go to avoid crowds, but beginning the second week of August, both sides of the park are open only on weekends.