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Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread


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Preview night was a lot of fun. Only thing I’ll say is that the new brake on Steel Venom hurt my groin really bad. It felt like a vibrating hammer being shoved right into it. Maybe I was just sitting wrong because the old brake never did that. Anyways, I didn’t ride it again after that.

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Preview night was great, The weather wasn't that bad either. The park really looked nice from the off season improvements. One thing I saw on Power Tower this year Space shot wasn't even on the tower yet? Probably still getting some work done? Anyone know? Also something new on Power Tower you have to push down to open the restraints and I felt you were more snug on the seats this season. Rode High Roller saw the new track improvement and the new stage by Corkscrew looks really nice.

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^ I did some looking on county maps and they said that valleyfair pays taxes for this amount of land.

 

 

Perfect, appreciate that. I was there for my first time this past week and I was interested in knowing what the rumored water park expansion size might be.

 

I was surprised at how small the waterpark is. Very underwhelming.

 

Looks like at one point Cedar Fair was dropping coasters here every 6 years. Wonder if they will refocus on it in the 2020s.

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Looks like at one point Cedar Fair was dropping coasters here every 6 years. Wonder if they will refocus on it in the 2020s.

 

I doubt it. Ever since the 2007 Paramount acquisition that pace has been ground to a halt.

 

I was surprised at how small the waterpark is. Very underwhelming.

 

Very much so. Even though VF is not the smallest park in the chain it definitely has the smallest water park. The place fills up in the summer 20-30 minutes after opening. I think they are missing some big $$$ here and CF seems to think the same with the no brainer proposed and approved expansion. But the question is are they ever going to act on it? With that and more space now available where the Dino's will be leaving who knows what they are going to do next.

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If ground work had started to take place I'd say the water park expansion would be a great 2020 expansion, but given the lack of ground-work needed to redo that entire area... I doubt they'd just do that during the winter? Maybe they announce + begin work next spring when the water level drops?

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I agree, if 2020 was the year for the water park expansion we would have to see ground work begin in the back of the park fairly soon. Building a levee and the increase in ground height for the parking lot would involve a lot of earth moving that would take many months to complete. And Minnesota winters cut out Nov-March for most ground projects (think road construction). So they would have to have the new levee built and the roads/parking lot poured by October.

 

At this point I think a quiet 2020 and the beginning of construction on a coaster for 2021 in the dinos spot would be favored in Vegas. Seems like the army corp project has lost its life..

 

I still like the idea of an RMC Raptor in the old spot stretching from Riptide's old location to the midway stage. Capacity still seems sketchy with those, but if its working at Great America it would work at Valleyfair.

 

A Talon or Patriot sized invert also fits nice in the dinos spot. Dive coaster, wing coaster, Mack coasters seem to be more interesting lately. So many directions the park could go in ending our 12 year coaster drought! Can't wait for the letdown, haha! (Not complaining, I understand it's a business..don't bother with the whiny Valleyfair home park B.S. )

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a couple observations from my 3-4 weekend visits to the park this season:

 

*Food stands seem to be way understaffed. Always seems to be super long lines for any food stand and doesn't really matter what time of day. Could just be because it is early in the season yet or I hope..

*The games midway with Supercat has been a dead zone every visit. Seems people always head right when entering the park if they do not go down Route 76 first. That area really needs a Sky Rocket II or RMC Raptor to replace Riptide and then possibly rework the games area. What is the point of having all those games when nobody goes down that midway. If I'm noticing it, I know the park is noticing it and wouldn't be surprised if they address that area soon..

*(Turns off enthusiast mind set mode) Having a 4 year old that loves rides now, I appreciate the Planet Snoopy, Dinos Alive, and Barefoot Beach investments (2011-2015) so much more! The 11-12 year coaster drought is still unreal, but I understand the need to prioritize those projects even more now..(Alright back to enthusiast mind set mode..)

*Renegade is such an underrated ride from a national standpoint. Prowler seemed to get a ton of attention, while Renegade didn't. Both rides are at the same level in my opinion. At least Valleyfair snuck that coaster in before we entered Paramount investing mode..

*The combination of the old side of the water park and the new side just do not mesh well together. You enter and have two choices. Go to the left side to this modern wave pool, enormous side complex, and kids splash area. Or go right over this small bridge and enter the 1980s in this cramped area. If the water park expansion happens, I hope they reconfigure the old side and try to modernize it or have it flow into each other better. This may involve re-configuring the lazy river, but that shouldn't be hard as its just concrete.

 

Well that's my early season observations..be curious to see how others compare!

 

Also..

 

I personally do NOT think the army corp project is dead for the next year or the couple years after. It was first put up for public hearing in spring of 2015, then approved by the city council in the summer of 2017, so there was not enough time to get the project started for 2018 anyway. Then 2018 was super wet with flooding issues, so it very possibly could have been delayed for 2019 (hence nothing new this year). Hell, 2019 may not even have been soon enough to get everything lined up and an off year for 2019 was planned anyway since this is such a large project. Hopefully the recent flooding this year would not cause it to be delayed again for 2020 if that was the plan. Just my opinion, but I believe this project will still eventually happen.. *fingers crossed*

 

I also would find it very hard to believe that the Dinos area will sit empty for more than one season. Very curious what the next major investment year will focus on. I'd lean water park expansion vs. coaster just cause we have some form of proof for that. But the Dino's location is too valuable to leave empty for too many seasons. Hopefully we will see some type of construction activity here come August on either location.. *fingers double crossed*

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Apparently according to popular mechanics, the best roller coaster/thrill ride in MN is the Avatar Airbender at Nickelodeon Universe. What's everyone's thoughts?

 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/g28062751/best-roller-coaster-every-state/

 

This article better be a joke, or it is just really bad because in my opinion there are at least 4 or 5 coasters that are definitely better than the Avatar Airbender in MN. Also in the article it says that Wild Eagle at Dollywood is better than Lightning Rod, T3 at Kentucky Kingdom is better than Lightning Run and Storm Runner, (some people may find this one to be correct) and it also says that The Beast is the best coaster in Ohio, and finally my favorite mistake in the article is if you go to https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/g28062751/best-roller-coaster-every-state/?slide=47 or page 47, which is the coaster for Washington, it says the Wild Thing at Wild Waves Theme and Water Park, but instead of a picture of The Wild Thing in Washington, it shows the Wild Thing at Valleyfair, and the picture even says "Valleyfair" in the bottom right corner. I would really like to see the source list for this article, that is if there even is one

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Obviously this list isn’t very good but I don’t know... if someone walked up to me and told me that their favorite thrill ride in Minnesota was Avatar Airbender I could totally see it. Honestly if I were to ask Brit what her favorite ride in Minnesota was (besides Log Chute which isn’t a thrill ride so it wouldn’t be on this list) I would almost bet money that she would say Avatar Airbender. That ride is great.

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