On February 20th during the 2026 ACE Preservation T-Shirt Gala it was announced by Alex Ramsey of Alabama Adventure that the park would likely be reopening their wooden coaster Rampage during the summer of 2026! Alex is Alabama Adventure’s Human Resources, IT and Marketing Manager (he wears many hats) and was presenting during a night dedicated to wooden roller coaster preservation. The night also featured a screening of the documentary, “Save the Wooden Coaster”. The park will be doing a traditional retrack as the ride has been SBNO “for too long”. Things like Titan Track and RMC were considered, but were just too expensive at this time. There are still plans to do a more durable and permanent retrack (likely Titan Track), but this will come later and in steps over the next 5-6 years.

The park is hoping to start the retrack as soon as possible, focusing on 200 total feet at the bottom of the first drop and in the back of the coaster where the coaster tends to “beat itself up”. The ride is known for its laterals and doesn’t have highly banked turns, so it is more prone to certain kinds of wear. The trains have recently been refurbished and returned by PTC, a process they undergo every two years. The ride may also have a few elements slightly reprofiled, but nothing too crazy or even noticeable and more just to decrease wear and tear.

We’ve recently written about the high cost of maintaining wooden roller coasters with Rampage at Alabama Adventure as an example. In a video the park put out in 2024 Alex explained that the park was spending $500,000 a year to keep Rampage going. Alabama Adventure is a small family owned park and not part of a large corporate chain. It is owned by the Koch family whose extended relatives own Holiday World, so lots of wooden roller coaster love in that family tree. Rampage is a coaster that punches above its weight as none of the specs will blow you away, but the complete package makes it a top 5 wooden coaster for many enthusiasts.

Alabama Adventure has a fascinating history with more twists and turns than your average coaster. It was once known as VisionLand theme and water park and opened in 1998 along with Rampage. The park went bankrupt in 2002 and you the fast forward 12 years through several owners to the point where the Koch family takes ownership in 2014. At this point the “dry” side of the park is essentially shutdown with all the rides sold off (including a Vekoma Boomerang) with only Rampage remaining. The park immediately added several small rides in 2014 including a Wacky Worm Kiddie coaster and Rampage was restored and reopened in 2015. The last time Rampage was refurbished in 2014 there was a special event for ACE members, so maybe that will happen again? In 2022 the park introduced Cheddar Chase, a wild mouse roller coaster previously at Lake Winnepesaukah. With Rampage operating the park now had 3 coasters until 2023 when Rampage would go SBNO bringing us to present day.

During the event the use of Titan Track in the future was not officially announced. However Alex did say that it’s the group they’ve had the most discussion with as well as positive feedback about retrack ride experiences from coaster enthusiasts. The project has not yet been officially decided, but the park was very honest about its leanings. Titan track is engineered by Great Coasters International (GCI) in cooperation with Skyline Attractions GCI was gracious enough to share several images for this post of Titan Track installed on White Lightning at Fun Spot Orlando. The goal of Titan Track is to provide a smoother and more enjoyable ride experience rather than change the ride as the train moves seamlessly from traditional track to Titan Track and back to traditional track.

It’s great to hear Rampage will reopen and likely this summer! It was also refreshing to hear a park be so candid and honest about the financial struggles of maintaining a park and a ride like Rampage. It’s clear Alabama Adventure wants to keep the ride going in its current form so a whole new generation can experience it with their parents who rode it 25 years ago. Alex pointed out several times the best way you can support classic rides like this is to visit and when you visit buy nachos (or other items like a season pass) to help the park financially. It is also important to tell parks how much we love these rides as part of our theme park experience so they know the extra maintenance cost is worth it. If we all do a little bit to visit and help smaller parks like Alabama Adventure, rides like Rampage can be around for generations to come.