John Peck

I'm going to be 42, and where I can still handle rides quite well, I've grown to dislike rides with strong lateral forces, though... (like Hurricanes) BUT... what I have noticed, is that as a younger fella, I would want to ride and re-ride over again, but now, I'll ride something maybe twice or three times at most and want to move on to something else. My other limitation is my fat a$$, so I can't do some rides now that I was able to do when I was skinnier.

I mentioned this on Facebook, but at the bottom of the hill are two men in the "dugout". Take a look at the sheer size of the ride compared to them.

Yes, Great America has a height limit of 200, Discovery Kingdom is 150. I've seen parks do "updates" and from the looks of Valleyfair, they have gone well above this. There are things that need to be re-worked and I'm anxious to see what they do with the offerings and infrastructure going forward as they expand the waterpark and build that entrance.

The Beast PTC trains bounce and shuffle a bit on the track, but not enough to where replacing the trains or doing brake removal to the ride would benefit enough yet. That will not be cost-effective. If they get more guest complaints i can see them doing something, but I think the public likes it enough still.. even if it's a bit rough. KI has done great with their recent additions, but with 3.2 Million guests a year, I feel that they need two more really good people-suckers, and a few more flats.

The park is showing an opening of 10:00am for Sunday.... is that a set-in-stone time or do they open even earlier than that? I want to say I got into the park at 9:30 back in 2009, now granted, that was Labor Day weekend... we came down for final rides on BBW.

^ Thank you. We probably won't do much of the Hallow Scream stuff... we are mostly there to ride... if it gets busy, we'll try to get on what we can early. Are there any major rides shut down this late in the season? (besides water rides... it's looking to be 57 degrees) Also, I looked at the website... what is the cost on parking? Can you use a credit card there?

In response to the help thus far... - not sure if we will do the Haunts. If we do, which ones are best? (please no ones that are completely blacked-out—I broke my glasses at KI's "Blackout" by walking into a wall face-first.) - I like log flumes, but the wife doesn't... how wet do you get?

Planning a trip to the park this weekend (Friday and Saturday). I've only been twice in my life: 2000 and 2009. We have Platinum passes and the dining plan. What advice can you guys give me? Thanks!

Planning a trip to the park this weekend (Sunday). I've only been twice in my life: 2000 and 2009. What advice can you guys give me? Best place to eat? (we'll have lunch there, but probably not dinner). Any other great advice would be awesome.

I have to say it... KNIGHTBOAT™ - The RIDE I hope many of you get this reference

I liked the train, too, but I think it was eating their maintenance budget alive. Those trains are really costly.

I like this concept. Wishful thinking back to 1999 ... this would have been a great ride for Geauga Lake with sea world being across the way back then. Of course, this would be something great for The Sea Worlds, Six Flags Great adventure or any other park with a large section of water... even in Cedar Points lagoon.

Is that Rainer Looping coaster thing the same one from Santa's Village in Illinois?

^ sadly, with the haunt, you can get a rougher crowd. Kings Island has had those on saturday and friday nights during their Haunts.

Maggie is one of my babies. Yeah, the ejector air is pretty intense, but I love it.

Kind of a "meh" trip report. That park really needs a Boomerang. But seriously, beautiful work, and a great perspective of my home park.

My Two favorites: Herchell/Chance Skywheel and Venture Cobra 1980 Chance Skywheel, owned by Belle City Amusements. ©2012 John Peck 1970's Venture Cobra, (themed as Scorpion) owned by Belle City Amusements. ©2012 John Peck

I won't be. I think I have one of the better excuses on here, considering my distance away from the park!

It was closed by Kieren Burkes ego. Experts said: "Oh, you'll never close Astroworld"

I found Wild Thing to be a very fun, solid and exciting coaster. And I've been on some of the best-rated coasters in the country. The grass may appear greener on the other side, but you have a really great hypercoaster there. You people are lucky to have a great park like Valleyfair. Treasure it. Be glad it's always improving. I lost my Geauga Lake years ago, and I wish I could have it back.

The question is: Is how popular is Vortex? Matt always has said that guests vote with their feet, if the numbers are up, it's not going anywhere soon. (Same with Carowinds' Vortex) If it's (they are) not popular, then it might be wise to remove each for smaller parks, do the floorless conversion, and build new rides in their places. But in the end, I think CGA's will remain since it's so well fit into the limited space. Not sure about Carowinds, they have some impressive new rides going in, it might be time to relocate theirs and build another record breaker as Cedar Fair continues to grow the park with more expensive machines.

Flyers are actually something that the park will benefit from. What is Valleyfairs closest competitor? Nick U. Some family rides, and some thrill rides, but no flying scooter. What is another close park? Mt Olympus... a bunch of wood coasters, but no GCI twister. Valleyfair are building rides that no other park within 3 hours have. They are building a huge arsenal of mild family rides and they have a handful of true thrill rides on top of that, plus a high potential waterpark once they can expand it.

Great photos! I love to see VF through the eyes of a tourist. What did you think of the park overall? What was your favorite ride? My favorite coaster rides were Wild thing, Excalibur and High Roller in that order. I also enjoyed the Screaming Swing, though the cycle was about 2 swings shorter than CP's. Monster and Supercat were good, too and we also liked the Antique Cars, ferris wheel and Carousel. I've been to many parks, so I have experienced parks of all sizes, but parts of Valleyfair reminded me of Kennywood, whilst others reminded me of Six Flags over Georgia and other parts Hersheypark and a bit of Dorney Park—but I never felt the "Cedar Fair" brand was overkill, even though it's the oldest tied with CP. The biggest noticeable thing were all of the flags everywhere. Flags all over the place, even more than Cedar point. I posted a "Quick Bits" post a few pages back around the 31st of August, but let me re-copy my thoughts: - Liked Corkscrew much more than Cedar Points. Very good in the back. - Love the 70's infrastructure with the Super Cat and Carousel and the chandeliers in the shops and the entrance area - Loved, Love, Loved Excalibur... glad I was able to experience it... da-dada-daaaaa! - the dead ends at each end of the park became a bit annoying - Very sad to miss the train. It was down all day - Liked Wild thing and High Roller - Park didn't have the Cedar Fair feel as much, seemed more independent. - Very disappointed with park merchandise - No recycle bins (popping up at most cedar fair parks now)

Some pics from my late August Valleyfair trip (and first-ever time) Dammit! We made it! The #1 reason for the whole trip In all of its Ron Toomerest Glory Loved how this looked I'm into Ferris wheels, so I had to take some shots of the hub and mechanics Decent Corkscrew ride.. a lot better than Cedar points Hello Kitty The RIDE™ Loved how the Carousel Top moved... Never saw anything like this before. Old School Flat goodness Loved this.... great NAD trains Didn't wait long for this, but couldn't get the bar down enough... so no-go for me, but the wife rode it... and hated it. (she doesn't do well with wood coasters) Classic Eyerly Monster. (noticed green monster tubs backstage, from World of Fun) Hello Valleyfair! Another one to scratch off the bucket list. Liked this section, but I can see it redeveloped soon to help with the flow. Not sure why they ran this backwards Really enjoyed Wild Thing Loved the classic 70's (Six-Flags over Georgia-esq theming) Future Vekoma Boomerang site! (inserts evil laugh)

You're right. I missed the line below it. Remodel it is.