Fidelity

Agreed. I think we went a week too early (14th-17th), and Top Thrill Dragster was up forroughly 20% of the visit. Maverick was prickly, too. I am not complaining because I was able to get multiple rides on both. However, the early season weather didn't allow for Maverick to be open for any of the early entry times, which was mildly disappointing. I will have to avoid Physics week next time, as Raptor was swamped the whole time we were there. Now is the sweet spot I am guessing. Oddly enough, I think Skyride might have had the most downtime while we were there, only opening on the last day.

Agreed. I think we went a week too early (14th-17th), and Top Thrill Dragster was up forroughly 20% of the visit. Maverick was prickly, too. I am not complaining because I was able to get multiple rides on both. However, the early season weather didn't allow for Maverick to be open for any of the early entry times, which was mildly disappointing. I will have to avoid Physics week next time, as Raptor was swamped the whole time we were there. Now is the sweet spot I am guessing. Oddly enough, I think Skyride might have had the most downtime while we were there, only opening on the last day.

The gate across from the marina was open on Monday morning. I am not sure why it may not have been open other days, but it was a life saver as it turned what would have been a 2+ hour wait (with 35 minutes to finish testing and empty the water dummies) into a 40 minute wait. Valravn is a diggable ride, but, if you are like me, invest in Fast Lane Plus or go on a drizzly Tuesday later in the month. If you don't mind the wait, they did well. Unfortunately, while I was there it didn't siphon off Maverick riders as lines were consistently over an hour because of those meddling Physics kids. I had never been to Cedar Point, but is Gatekeeper always a walk on? In four days, I only saw it once get well beyond the right side/left side fork in the queue.

To be fair, there was a bit of weather that day and much of the crowd descended upon Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. June 17th, 2015 @ 1:32 pm June 17th, 2015 @ 12:59 pm

The Fast Lane Plus Pass that day is at its cheapest, suggesting that the park does not expect to be too busy on that Monday. The park will get busier late morning through mid-afternoon with the Physics, Science, and Math week schools getting bused in. Outside of that window of time, I would expect, not guarantee, that the park will be pretty relaxed.

Quick question: I read somewhere that the SFNE early entry is two hours prior to park opening, which seems wrong. What is early entry actually like in terms of time/crowds in late April/early May? Also, I have seen conflicting reports about SRLs for Wicked Cyclone. I am going to assume they do not have one, but I am hoping I am wrong, because I have only gotten multiple rides on one [Outlaw Run] of the three RMC [iron Rattler and Goliath] coasters that I have been on. Thanks in advance for any info you might have.

Quick question for regulars to the park. I am shortly going to be one of those hayseed tourists the week after Christmas (my brother and his wife recently adopted a baby and live nearby). With Quick Unlimited, what would be a good estimate on number of roller coaster rides I could get in, provided my family is there from open to close with brief breaks for eating and gazing at some mammals?

Everything was one train, Wild Thing included. Mad Mouse and High Roller were the only lines. Even Renegade was a one train, two train max, wait. Hellside is open to walk through with nothing scary. Bloodshed was open. It was running its normal program.

So, on Friday night I went and will share some impressions. First, I went on only 5 of the 6 mazes, as we neglected to do Zombie High. We entered the park and turned right at Monster to go back to Humane Habitat. I was immediately annoyed by a shrill voice repeating into a megaphone, "Keep humans, human." I was okay once we bypassed her and the bus and the exhortations to not enter. We entered the shacks and it was not very disturbing. The continuity was lost by having the sixty feet between small buildings. Next, we went to London Terror, which I found much more entertaining. The bird costumes don't bother me much, but I will also admit I hold Eyes Wide Shut in high regard. There did seem to be a lack of actors at certain points, but still a huge step up from Humane Habitat. Next, we waited in our longest line for Mangler's Asylum. It was also pretty standard and I don't recall being spooked by this particular attraction. It seemed bent on gore and there was not much in the way of surprises inside. Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed was probably my favorite maze due to the entrance having an actor with personality, as well as some nice elements inside, including a burly butcher at the end chasewalking my wife at the end forty feet out of the building. Chateau was the biggest disappointment to me, due to the new building and the wait. I remember thinking it looked nice and new and I was able to focus on the details, because there wasn't much going on inside. Hellside Farm should have been the best attraction and it started out well with getting chased, but then there were hardly any actors inside. We did at least four turns at one point without being accosted. As to the linecutting, I had to stop two teenagers and ask them what they thought they were doing. They said fast pass. I said the fast pass lane is on the other side of the gate and they settled in behind me, which I still thought was bogus. There was an assault while I was there and there is something about the event that strikes me as off putting. At Hellside Farm, this jerk burped loudly in the face of the attendant and then started chesting up to him and saying this was all b.s. and not scary. It just seemed that there were a lot of peckerheads at the park that night, but maybe I went on a bad night.

^^I agree. Say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers greenlights the permit in early November, I don't think Valleyfair is going to delay a humongous infrastructure project for six-plus months in order for people to properly say goodbye to Excalibur. My guess is that they would do their damnedest to get the work finished before May 2016.

It has been so long since Renegade that I think it is only fair that Valleyfair! receive a $35+ million launched gigacoaster called Unhinged 330. Anything less is disrespectful.

^Let me tell you about a potential experience in one of the rooms. You could be next to a family, or families, that do not have the same sleep schedule as you. Rest assured that the walls are made of particle board or some other such material that encourages communal sound. Let's say that the people across from you enjoy the Disney Channel and it gets to be going onto 11:30 pm and, for some unknown reason [maybe an elderly person hard of hearing], they are blasting at unconscionable decibels. Then, as you are about to knock on the door to request that they cut the noise a bit, you hear one of the adults in the room threaten to "whoop the a**" of a young child in the room, because she doesn't listen. She is being calmed down by another adult, but I stopped mid-knock, because I had a feeling I could re-escalate the situation. You call the front desk and someone comes and knocks on the door. The sound is turned down a bit. The adults leave for a bit at about 12:00 pm. There is a nightclub called Club Wett across the street. I am not making this up. They return at 2:00ish and the sound gets cranked up again and the dancing commences. Just do me a favor, sleep in your car, grab a tent, find other lodging and pay the entrance fee to the park. Oh, and while you are at it, buy some Red Bulls for the two sleepy attendants sure to be dispatching the Hades 360 trains. I went last week and I timed out three train dispatches in 27 minutes. I got there at opening and Hades 360 ran its first train at 12:10, Zeus ran its first train at 11:40 and, unfortunately, I got on towards the front. The violence of Zeus after the turnaround was impressive.

Courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Yes, Excalibur would be demolished for the new parking lot (outlined in yellow). The new parking lot would occupy everything except for the station, part of the lift hill, and the brake run. The permitting process for an approximately 4.5 acre redevelopment can take up to a year, so word isn't likely to come before the end of the autumn. What remains to be seen is if Excalibur is destroyed in the offseason without giving people the option to ride it one last time. I, personally, think that it will be demolished without much fanfare, provided the permit is approved. It should be noted that I do not work for the Saint Paul District, nor do I work for Cedar Fair, so this is all pure speculation. I only point this out, because I seem to get the feeling that people read one thing in one post and within a day or two, reiterate the speculation as fact. The reason for my speculation has to do with there being no real purpose in keeping Excalibur around due to its low ridership, as well as the park's investment in the Soak City area. It is an economic decision, and a sound one at that.

Correct. And with the proposal to create a new parking lot in the back of the park that would include removing Excalibur nobody can even make a good guess or prediction about what comes next until that project is approved or denied. Just to add to that, it could be awhile before a final determination is made. According to the Army Corps of Engineers permitting process: Currently, timeframes for general permit decisions, those with impacts generally less than 0.5 acres are averaging 85 days. Timeframes for individual permit decisions, which include letters of permission, range from 4 months to more than a year, but are currently averaging around 8 months. If the permit was filed on, or around, April 10th, it seems that December would be a guess as to a determination date for the 4.52 acre proposal affecting the wetlands.

Not sure about tomorrow, but it ran two trains today until 2:30 pm without a problem. Moreover, Renegade was putting in some good work today. I was able to ride 4 times in about 45 minutes, although the park didn't seem too crazy today.