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Our 2017 Mega Coaster trip report.


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Was it originally intended to be located in the kids area? I'm not real knowledgeable on vallyfair history, but was it always located in a kids area? Also, I though I heard that this coaster was transplanted as well.

 

High Roller opened with the park in 1976 as a custom for Valleyfair coaster with buzzbars & no seat dividers. (That was changed last year). Kids areas were added around High Roller, so when the major Planet Snoopy expansion in 2009, it was retroactively added to Planet Snoopy. A similar coaster to High Roller operated at the Excelsior Amusement park, but was demolished with the park. VF's carousel did come from EAP, though.

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Was it originally intended to be located in the kids area? I'm not real knowledgeable on vallyfair history, but was it always located in a kids area? Also, I though I heard that this coaster was transplanted as well.

 

High Roller opened with the park in 1976 as a custom for Valleyfair coaster with buzzbars & no seat dividers. (That was changed last year). Kids areas were added around High Roller, so when the major Planet Snoopy expansion in 2009, it was retroactively added to Planet Snoopy. A similar coaster to High Roller operated at the Excelsior Amusement park, but was demolished with the park. VF's carousel did come from EAP, though.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I overheard some people at the park talking about the coaster, and they were saying it was relocated.

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Was it originally intended to be located in the kids area? I'm not real knowledgeable on vallyfair history, but was it always located in a kids area? Also, I though I heard that this coaster was transplanted as well.

 

As Captian Unknown mentioned, High Roller is an original roller coaster that was made in 1976 to open the park. It is still the biggest misconception repeated and told today by many locals that it was a relocated coaster as you heard on your visit. Valleyfair has pointed this out more than once on its Facebook page but a lot of people still say it is a relocated one. The reason for this is that the Excelsior Amusement Park that closed in 1973 had a similar white wood coaster called 'The Cyclone'. And with Valleyfair opening in 1976 many thought it was just relocated. Kind of amazing that 40 years later people still think this. Typical GP. And your assessment is correct, it is now heavily trimmed. It may be due to its age but I don't really know why. Back in the day when it was new the airtime on the bunny hills back to the station was great. Unfortunately, not anymore. Plus, when they removed the old trains with the buzz bars and bench seats last year they replaced them with the PTC trains and it lost a little bit of its soul. But families still enjoy it and it is still a good first 'big' coaster for newbies to get their feet wet on.

 

It was cool that you checked out the carousel, this actually DID come the from Excelsior Amusement Park after it was shut down and relocated to Valleyfair three years later. The carousel was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1925 and it has been restored over the last 3 years. It is a classic. Also you took a picture of the Ferris Wheel which supposedly has the only 6 seat cabin cars in North America.

 

It is fun to hear from others what they think of my home park and the pictures they take so thanks for sharing. Your assessment of the park is pretty dead on in my opinion. It is a slightly above average park with a 'corporate' feel but the staff and operations make it a good time. It is not a destination park but if you are near by you can stop in and definitely have a good time. Maybe a new modern steel coaster and a water park expansion can take the park from above average to good some day. Good to see you got to try Monster at Adventureland too, defintely a fun ride.

 

And I was just curious, how many times did you ride Renegade? It can give rough rides at times but it is usually the best ride in the park overall.

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Great report! Valleyfair is a park that I'll likely visit someday since the Mall of America is on my bucket list of places to visit.

 

Not a big fan of Corkscrew's new paint job. I remember it looking quite pretty with the royal blue paint job they used to have in my coaster books.

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Was it originally intended to be located in the kids area? I'm not real knowledgeable on vallyfair history, but was it always located in a kids area? Also, I though I heard that this coaster was transplanted as well.

 

As Captian Unknown mentioned, High Roller is an original roller coaster that was made in 1976 to open the park. It is still the biggest misconception repeated and told today by many locals that it was a relocated coaster as you heard on your visit. Valleyfair has pointed this out more than once on its Facebook page but a lot of people still say it is a relocated one. The reason for this is that the Excelsior Amusement Park that closed in 1973 had a similar white wood coaster called 'The Cyclone'. And with Valleyfair opening in 1976 many thought it was just relocated. Kind of amazing that 40 years later people still think this. Typical GP. And your assessment is correct, it is now heavily trimmed. It may be due to its age but I don't really know why. Back in the day when it was new the airtime on the bunny hills back to the station was great. Unfortunately, not anymore. Plus, when they removed the old trains with the buzz bars and bench seats last year they replaced them with the PTC trains and it lost a little bit of its soul. But families still enjoy it and it is still a good first 'big' coaster for newbies to get their feet wet on.

 

It was cool that you checked out the carousel, this actually DID come the from Excelsior Amusement Park after it was shut down and relocated to Valleyfair three years later. The carousel was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1925 and it has been restored over the last 3 years. It is a classic. Also you took a picture of the Ferris Wheel which supposedly has the only 6 seat cabin cars in North America.

 

It is fun to hear from others what they think of my home park and the pictures they take so thanks for sharing. Your assessment of the park is pretty dead on in my opinion. It is a slightly above average park with a 'corporate' feel but the staff and operations make it a good time. It is not a destination park but if you are near by you can stop in and definitely have a good time. Maybe a new modern steel coaster and a water park expansion can take the park from above average to good some day. Good to see you got to try Monster at Adventureland too, defintely a fun ride.

 

And I was just curious, how many times did you ride Renegade? It can give rough rides at times but it is usually the best ride in the park overall.

 

I actually only went on it once. I came off with a migraine, so I passed on giving it another chance. If there was some track work done on it, it would be a great ride.

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Today's update comes from a little, city owned park that is typically off the radar for most....Bay Beach park. The crown jewel of this park is it's only coaster the zippin pippen. This coaster was located in Tennessee years years ago, and when the park closed Bay beach purchased the coaster. What's so special about the zippin pippen to where they would move it all the way up to Green Bay you may ask....well, it was the kings favorite ride. He actually rented the ride out for himself and some friends, and rode the thing for hours. He lost his belt buckle on the coaster, and it was returned to him the next day. I guess Elvis wss a coaster nerd.

 

The rest if this park has a decent selection of flats and kiddy rides. Tickets were only 25 cents each, and it only took 4 tickets to ride the coaster. We only had a chance to spend 2 hours at this park, and could have spent much longer as it's just a fun place to be and it's cheap!

 

Onto the pictures...

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Here is the entrance to bay beach. Free parking, and free to get in. Think knobles

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I bought $10 worth of tickets, and we had some left after 2 hours. Heck of a deal.

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With tickets in hand, we headed right to the star attraction.

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Yep...

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Not only was this a historical coaster, but it was running like new.

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Rules...

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Station shot

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The coaster only runs 1 train, but does have a transfer track to add a 2nd.

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The coaster and the park is located right on the water.

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This park has several classic rides.

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Each ride had a history marker on it that tells you about the ride and where it came from.

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Bumper cars

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As you van see, the park was doing quite well.

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You can see the scrambler here. They also has a falling star ride that I failed to take a picture of.

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The scat is just an evil ride that I can never pass up. This one was running in insane mode.

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That's all from Bay beach. Next stop is Six Flags Great America.

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And they actually have decent ops so you'll actually enjoy your time there. Definitely better than worlds of fun.

I do agree that Worlds of Fun definitely has the worst employees of any park I've been to. They are super slow, they look angry all the time, and they spend half of the time standing around talking to each other.

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It is nice to see that you did a photo trip report for Bay Beach! You don't see a lot of them! Seems like such a wonderful park, I just wish it wasn't so far away, especially since they have that awesome little wooden roller coaster and also one of my favorite flat rides: Falling Star.

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It is nice to see that you did a photo trip report for Bay Beach! You don't see a lot of them! Seems like such a wonderful park, I just wish it wasn't so far away, especially since they have that awesome little wooden roller coaster and also one of my favorite flat rides: Falling Star.

 

Thank you.

The coaster may not be the biggest, but it sure was fun. I definitely recommend checking out this park if your ever in the green bay area.

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I'm envious of your Scat ride. The church fair I recently went to with my cousin had one of these, but rain in the forecast kept all rides closed that day. Only time I've ever seen one in person, so I was bummed I didn't get the chance to ride it.

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Scat is an insane ride. I think that Beech bend park in Kentucky has one that runs all season if that's closer to you.

 

The six flags great America update will be up in a day or two. I'm in an area with crappy service at the moment.

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OMG...that is the Chairplane that used to be at Midway Park (my "hometown" park)!

 

I used to love that ride as a kid - it seemed to run quite fast, although when it was here it had brightly painted red wooden chairs.

 

Great report!

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Great report! I don't think I had seen a full TR of Bay Beach before but it looks like a great little park focused on preserving history.

 

Beech Bend and Bay Beach are the only amusement parks I have seen the SCAT ride.

 

A traveling carnival in New England (Fiesta Shows) also has a scat.

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Ok...so let's get back at it.

 

Let's take a look at our stop at six flags great America.

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We made it

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This was the busiest park of our trip.

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The first ride we hit was the new joker ride.

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Crazy ride, but too short.

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Station shot

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It looks like the enterprise ride was removed, and they are replacing it with the river crawler.

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They were working on it while we were there

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They have a staging area with all the parts for the ride where the roads course used to be.

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They added a new kids ride area since I was there last. The kids loved this ride.

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Since we didn't get there till later in the day, there was not a lot of sunshine left.

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The park has a decent night time parade.

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On our way out of the park, the American eagle dominates.

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The next morning, after it taking us an hour to get thru parking and security, we made it into the park. Not only was the view great, but the weather was as well.

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Today's first ride was a special one. My son was tall enough for his first big coaster...the wizzer.

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He loved It! This was his second ride on it. We ended up riding it multiple times. Our home park is cedarpoint, and there is not much for him to ride there, so this was a treat.

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Station shot of this classic ride.

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This used to be one of my favorite rides...untill they trimmed it to death. Nine the less, it's still a great ride.

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Raging bull dominates the sky in the southwest territory.

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One of the things I like about six flags, is the attention to theaming.

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While in the southwest territory, I highly recommend checking out the mega nachos. These things are HUGE, and enough for 3 people. It's also an option on the meal plan.

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Another ride in the southwest territory is chabasco.

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This is the 3rd bfm dark ride of the trip. Not much of any difference between this one and the others. I think these are a great addition to the park.

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This ride was very popular.

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Next coaster is the American eagle.

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This coaster is huge! I could only imagine how long it takes to paint this thing.

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This is a racing coaster.

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Station shot.

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Looks like a antique car ride used to reside near the eagle.

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Lots more from Six Flags Great America coming soon.

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More pictures from our mega trip stop at six flags great America.

I am having an issue finding a big block of pictures I took, so I posted what I could right now.

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We started day 2 with another rude on raging bull.

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I'm glad we took the time to check out the EFX show. This show blew us away. Definitely one of the best theme park shows we have ever seen.

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This show was packed with special effects and lightning.

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Amazing show! I highly recommend checking it out.

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After the show, our family was invited up to check out some of the effects, and get our picture taken with the staff. I want to thank them if they are reading this.

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Back out into the park, we hit goliath. Very fun ride, bit a bit on the short side.

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This is one of the reasons I like six flags parks over cedar fair. Look at the theming.

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The line for superman was pretty long, and we have been on it several times before, so we skipped it this visit.

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Another fun ride. I kinda miss the pre show for this ride though.

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This Is a ride that I really enjoy, however my family does not.

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That's us!

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This wing coaster blows gatekeeper away.

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That's all from six flags. Next park is kokomos.

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