Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread

Do you guys think valleyfair could get winter fest this year?

Do you guys think valleyfair could get winter fest this year?

No. Unless it was a very short event - a few weekends in late November IF the weather cooperates. It gets too cold here. Us, Michigan's Adventure, and Dorney Park are unlikely to ever get Winter Fest. I doubt Cedar Point or Canada's Wonderland will get it either.

So do u guys honestly think that we'll get a mat racer or bowl slides with the waterpark expansion or will we just get the parking lot and new entrance?

Do you guys think valleyfair could get winter fest this year?

Probably not, because the average temperature in Minneapolis area is about 33 degrees in November. Compared to Kings Island in Mason, OH which has an average temperature of 45 degrees. That being said Valleyfair couldn't operate any major attractions because of the cold temperatures (by looking at Kings Island's Winterfest page I can't tell if this is the point or not). Also even though us Minnesotans fight off the cold I don't know if anyone would want to come out and do the stuff that they would offer.

So do u guys honestly think that we'll get a mat racer or bowl slides with the waterpark expansion or will we just get the parking lot and new entrance?

It's recommended at 45, but it usually shuts down at 30 or 35 according to an area supervisor.

If Ripcord goes down, Flying Eagles and now North Star also go down because their wind requirements are all quite similar, and its easier to make the call all at once. It's also once gusts hit the marker, not the average.

Does anyone have a pic of what the complex could look like?!

Does anyone have a pic of what the complex could look like?!

The standard for waterparks nowadays includes:

1) A matt racer slide (inexpensive, two persons can staff it, large capacity)

2) A tornado (visually awesome looking)

3) A family play area (another large capacity thing)

4) A body / tube slide complex.

Valleyfair has none of these. All of these are available (unless some have been spoken for) now that Wildwater Kingdom is closed. I'd suggest looking for pictures of these because Cedar Fair added them and Valleyfair could get one or more of them. They would all just about fit in the planned waterpark area without having to move Looping Starship or anything else. However they're apparently building a permanent queue for Raging Rapids. That makes no sense if they planned major modifications this year. The only think I see is the WIldwater slide complex can fit where the existing slides are, so they could do that as a fairly low cost mod before the big expansion in a few years when the parking lot is paid off.

Does anyone have a pic of what the complex could look like?!

One of the slide complexes would probably be similar to something at Cedar Point Shores or Carolina Harbour.

I don't see the one above as we already have four trapdoor slides.

Here's Wildwater Kingdom's. We could get this one or a similar new one.

Remember...geauga lake has a bunch of really nice slides just sitting there right now. Eventually, they will end up somewhere.

I would be satisfied if valleyfair got those water slide with the water park expansion. It would make soak city a completely better experience!

Do you guys think valleyfair could get winter fest this year?

 

No. Unless it was a very short event - a few weekends in late November IF the weather cooperates. It gets too cold here. Us, Michigan's Adventure, and Dorney Park are unlikely to ever get Winter Fest. I doubt Cedar Point or Canada's Wonderland will get it either.

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If a waterpark slide expansion comes with the new entrance plans, I wouldn't expect a large slide complex unless it came from Geauga Lake. Even then I could only see something like getting their tornado slide, it would be easy to advertise and attract a crowd since the only one anywhere around here is in Wisconsin Dells.

Once it does happen, I would think there would be two main attractions with the waterpark expansion.. some sort of slide complex and a 0-depth entry family attraction.

I think with the new Waterpark entrance, new amenities and food locations, that could make a pretty hefty price tag just with all that... probably close to $15 Million.

Not sure what will happen with the Geauga Lake slides, I once thought that they would be moved, but then Knotts destroyed their Tornado slide, so who knows.. all the GL stuff could be ripped down.

Some disappointing news to share with us Valleyfair fans.

I went to the B-52s concert tonight at the Minnesota Zoo and guess who was there?

Dave Frazier, former GM of Valleyfair. You may recall that he and VF parted ways earlier this year and he accepted a position at the zoo:

http://www.swnewsmedia.com/shakopee_valley_news/news/business/valleyfair-names-new-vice-president-and-general-manager/article_4a7503a8-1855-51ca-96ea-3c4bf25a8501.html

Before the concert started I spotted him, and his wife went into the bathroom and so I went up and chatted with him then (so as not to interrupt their evening together). I asked him as much as I could about Valleyfair before she reappeared.

Here's the information I was able to extract from him in no particular order:

* He mentioned that the brand study was completed and they found that the word "family" came up more often than any other study they did. So they think of Valleyfair more of a family park.

* He said as a result, Valleyfair will "never get a $50 million roller coaster like the other parks"

* He mentioned that the zoning approval at California's Great America immediately put CGA as a priority next in line for expansion and now any expansion at Valleyfair is on the back burner and much farther out.

* He said it seems that North Star is attracting new people to the park, so that's promising.

* He said he had his own vision for Valleyfair (didn't mention what it was) but said that there are 3 layers of management above him which made approval for anything difficult (Matt Ouimet, Rob Decker, and someone else), and they had their own vision. Maybe Frazier's vision was more family oriented than managements'?

* He said the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers plans at VF meant that they could patch up the area of the current parking lot that always gets flooded, and then re-route the service road around Excalibur. But he also said it wasn't a guarantee that Excalibur would be replaced with a parking lot, and instead they may just use that land for the water park expansion.

* It seems like the family oriented nature of the brand study meant that a water park expansion is a much higher priority than a new coaster, since water parks are more family friendly.

* So many more questions I didn't get to ask, like whether Dinos Alive would be replaced with a front gate coaster, whether High Roller would be RMC'd, why family means tame rides when I see little kids going on Steel Venom, etc.

So that's the info I was able to obtain. It seems CGA is a much higher priority than any Valleyfair expansion, and VF will always be considered a family park. Not exactly the best news for us coaster fans.

In the meantime, enjoy this documentary about Renegade being built!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKSV9tnRnkM

I thought I'd post this picture of what the slide tower (Thunder Falls) and Tornado slide (Liquid Lightning) from Geauga Lake would look like in the existing Soak City. Panic Falls, Giggle Run, and the Looping Starship would have to be removed to make room. Thunder Falls is 30 feet taller than Hurricane Falls so it shouldn't interfere with it, and the inner tube return belt for Liquid Lightning is tall enough that it shouldn't interfere with Barefoot Beach.

Again, this is mostly to understand the scale of the possible additions.

Soak City with Thunder Falls & Liquid Lightning

Some disappointing news to share with us Valleyfair fans.

 

I went to the B-52s concert tonight at the Minnesota Zoo and guess who was there?

 

Dave Frazier, former GM of Valleyfair. You may recall that he and VF parted ways earlier this year and he accepted a position at the zoo:

 

http://www.swnewsmedia.com/shakopee_valley_news/news/business/valleyfair-names-new-vice-president-and-general-manager/article_4a7503a8-1855-51ca-96ea-3c4bf25a8501.html

 

Before the concert started I spotted him, and his wife went into the bathroom and so I went up and chatted with him then (so as not to interrupt their evening together). I asked him as much as I could about Valleyfair before she reappeared.

 

Here's the information I was able to extract from him in no particular order:

 

* He mentioned that the brand study was completed and they found that the word "family" came up more often than any other study they did. So they think of Valleyfair more of a family park.

 

* He said as a result, Valleyfair will "never get a $50 million roller coaster like the other parks"

 

* He mentioned that the zoning approval at California's Great America immediately put CGA as a priority next in line for expansion and now any expansion at Valleyfair is on the back burner and much farther out.

 

* He said it seems that North Star is attracting new people to the park, so that's promising.

 

* He said he had his own vision for Valleyfair (didn't mention what it was) but said that there are 3 layers of management above him which made approval for anything difficult (Matt Ouimet, Rob Decker, and someone else), and they had their own vision. Maybe Frazier's vision was more family oriented than managements'?

 

* He said the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers plans at VF meant that they could patch up the area of the current parking lot that always gets flooded, and then re-route the service road around Excalibur. But he also said it wasn't a guarantee that Excalibur would be replaced with a parking lot, and instead they may just use that land for the water park expansion.

 

* It seems like the family oriented nature of the brand study meant that a water park expansion is a much higher priority than a new coaster, since water parks are more family friendly.

 

* So many more questions I didn't get to ask, like whether Dinos Alive would be replaced with a front gate coaster, whether High Roller would be RMC'd, why family means tame rides when I see little kids going on Steel Venom, etc.

 

So that's the info I was able to obtain. It seems CGA is a much higher priority than any Valleyfair expansion, and VF will always be considered a family park. Not exactly the best news for us coaster fans.

 

In the meantime, enjoy this documentary about Renegade being built!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKSV9tnRnkM

I feel like a wing or a invert could still be considered a "family" attraction, and North Star wasn't advertised a family attraction (in my opinion) but there's still a whole bunch of little kids that ride it. Also one thing to add, a invert or wing coming to VF would probably only cost so where between 20 and 30 million.

If there were to be new slides added, I think a huge candidate for where the slides can go is the family raft slide tower. The family raft slide tower has two sets of stairways, and one of those stairway sections can be used for slides with some work on the tower. With the new slides, the line for the family raft slide would never need two full sets of stairways to hold the line.

Kinda of a random question? But why don't you think North Star has a big entrance sign or anything? All other flat rides and all roller coasters have a nice entrance sign, why didn't North Star get one?

It wouldn't surprise me if money was the issue. But not all attractions have a fancy entrance sign/logo. All attractions have a safety regulations and requirements sign with the ride name. And if you remember, until mid-season last year, all Corkscrew had for a sign was this:

At the entrance to the queue. On the ground.

^ Yeah, and as a non-local, I found that sign quite confusing. With all the arrows, it appears to be directing you to the exit path just to the left.

Kinda of a random question? But why don't you think North Star has a big entrance sign or anything? All other flat rides and all roller coasters have a nice entrance sign, why didn't North Star get one?

I wondered that also. Northern Lights does not have one either. Of course CP got a sign with Pipe Scream but VF did not even though they were bought and installed in the same year. You think a big attraction like North Star would get one. Just another way CF likes to screw the smaller parks in the chain.

I rode North Star this morning I'm also kind of surprised that there isn't a sign anywhere.

Magnum didn't have an official sign until only a few years ago. Sometimes Cedar Fair doesn't budget it into the ride cost.