As I mentioned in the previous trip report for Miner Mike’s Adventure Town, I have come to love the “Parks Nearby” feature found on the Roller Coaster Database (RCDB). I have found a ton of small family entertainment centers to visit during travels between larger parks. How do you think I’ve managed to ride so many SBF Visa spinners? But I digress.
One of the other benefits of using the “Parks Nearby” feature has been the number of mountain coasters I’ve been able to find in different states. New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, and now Illinois have all provided me with mountain coaster credits that I might not have known about otherwise.
The Aerie Resort, which was a short detour for us out of Missouri, features the Aerie’s Alpine Coaster. It’s a fairly new ride opening in September 2022 and is the only mountain coaster in Illinois. But before we could ride it, we’d have to take a gondola from the ground level up to the top of the mountain. These aren’t Sam’s favorite things in the world, but it was the only way to the top of the mountain. And we did see something that made us so happy on the return trip back down, but more on that in at the end of this report.
Before Our Ride, Some, No, Lots of Drama
After we made it to the top of the mountain, we walked over to the station to purchase our ride tickets and sign our waivers. This is when things got super annoying. This has absolutely nothing to do with the ride, the resort staff, or their policies. It has everything to do with rude guests who think they’re more important than everyone else. I am going to describe this situation NOT to deter you from visiting the Aerie Resort. Quite the contrary. They were great. I’m mentioning this with the intent to telling you NOT to be like these people.
Less than a minute after walking into the station and trying to approach the waiver screens, we had to wait for an overly loud, overly obnoxious group of mid-20 to early-30 year old people. They were yelling, cursing, and one was even hitting something in her purse that was obviously marijuana based. They were all over the place and I looked at Sam and said we should wait back because I did not want to be behind this group out on the course. I figured they’d slow down, or do something stupid to cause us to either stop, or have a lousy experience. She agreed.
While waiting back, however, other groups began to come in, so we decided to go ahead and sign our waiver and go pay. At least there would be a few people between us and them. That’s when the next issue with them happened. They began arguing with the cashier because they wanted to ride two to a cart. The person behind the glass told them several times that there is a weight limit and two adults could not ride. Not to be rude, but I’m sure a couple of people in this group were also coming in just below the maximum weight for the ride by themselves. They would NOT give up, though. One of them pointed out a parent and child riding together an them being told no. Eventually they shut up and each bought their own tickets. Like, really?
And for the final chapter of this group’s drama. They, well, the women of this group, wanted to take their purses, bags, and vape on the ride with them. They were told no. This caused a whole bunch of drama. I was hoping security would have been called and they would be kicked off the ride. Enough was enough. Then race was brought into the whole situation and the group was just allowed to ride, loose articles and all. I felt so bad for the staff, mainly the woman dispatching riders. I apologized to her for having to deal with assholes like them and that we would be much easier. She smiled and agreed that some people just don’t care about safety.
Aerie's Alpine Coaster
Thankfully the group causing all the trouble did not screw up our rides. Both Sam and I were able to run this entire course at top speed. And with the copious amount of trees surrounding the track, it made it feel so fast. You would just see tree after tree fly by you. This reminded me of my rides on the two mountain coasters I rode in New York at Greek Peak Mountain and Holiday Valley Resorts. On all three of these coasters there is nothing around you out there other than Mother Nature. It certainly makes you feel alone out there. I can only imagine how dark it would be doing this at night too. Hopefully one day I’ll get the chance to experience it.
Aerie’s Alpine Coaster features its lift hill at the conclusion. Since you ride the gondola to the top of the mountain, the ride starts off at the highest point. The downhill portion does feel significantly longer than the slow lift back up though, so that is a huge plus. You don’t feel like you spend the majority of this ride on a lift because, well, you don’t. RCDB lists the downhill portion to be 3,010 ft. of the total 3,885 ft. of track. That leaves just a 875 ft. tall lift back to the station once done. Quite nice.
Final Ride Counts
Aerie’s Alpine Coaster (1)
Karma!
After finishing up our ride on Aerie’s Alpine Coaster, Sam and I decided to grab a bite to eat at the resort’s restaurant, The Terrace. We saw that same group come into the restaurant’s bar, but they didn’t stay long, thankfully. When we were done eating, however, we got to see them again. And what we saw couldn’t have been more fitting for a “great” group of people.
While Sam and I were taking the return trip back down the hill on the gondolas, we heard some loud, obnoxious voices we were all to familiar with at this point. We looked down and saw one of the women of the group, the same one who pulled the race card, yelling at two of the guys down on the ground. They were clearly looking for something down in the grass under the gondolas. She had dropped her phone! Hell yeah! That’s what you get. We hoped it shattered and was unusable. What comes around, goes around. Don’t be these people!
Again, none of these peoples’ behavior should reflect badly upon the Aerie Resort or their staff. They were super nice and the mountain coaster was a bunch of fun to ride. If you are in the area, spare some time and give it a try.
Aerie's Resort Photo Gallery - June 1, 2025
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CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Aerie's Alpine Coaster
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Aerie's Alpine Coaster