RCjunkie

Doubt the offer would be accepted but would be interesting to see what happens if it did. Would they take the best of both companies and make them both better? Or would one management philosophy dominate the other company? Personally with VF as my home park I may even welcome it. The park maybe could get cinnamon bread or some real investment from Herschend for a change. Maybe they would even bring back the Skipper and Dolly dolphin show from the 70's/80's. But the park could also be sold off to another buyer after the merger or even shut down so it would be interesting to say the least.

99.99% chance they will be just fine. I am sure they can replace all my visits with just one visit from a family to that thrilling Carnival Parade they had this year.

Correct. In the past I would at least buy a Gold Pass to support the park with visits if I did not have a Platinum pass because I was not visiting any other CF parks that year. But after this announcement of no real new attractions and no plans to visit any other CF parks next year there is just no reason for me to get exited or support the park like I did in the past with a pass purchase.

So absolutely zero reason to renew my current Platinum Pass or even get a Gold Pass just for VF next year.

Since Swishtime101 asked I checked the building permits for Valleyfair and they do have a new building permit valued at $30,000 for 'FOOTING & FOUNDATION ONLY - New shop addition on Maint Bldg' which is in the description. So it is an addition to the exiting maintenance shed and the foundation should be poured soon. Assuming more permits for the actual building show up later this month or next. ***WARNING: Queue up speculation of WHY would you need more maintenance space.......unless you're getting more ride(s)/attractions thread. *** It is interesting that in the first 30 years of the park they added 8 coasters (current) and 2 that are gone (Wild Rails and Mild Thing) along with the old Flume. But in the last 14 years since the Paramount acquisition investment for bigger projects like this has drastically declined. My question is CF using the smaller parks profit (MiA, VF, WOF, Dorney) to expand the bigger parks where there is bigger bang for the investment to pay off the Paramount debt? (this makes sense). Or did they adopt a new smaller park strategy at that time also regardless of debt? I hope it is the former because at least there then is hope they will get back to the small parks eventually. Like any business you have to spend money to make money and that means new big and exciting attractions at least once a decade or so to bring people in or get them to come back if you want growth in your revenue. I am old enough to remember when Silver Dollar City and Dollywood were small parks in the 80's like VF but then just kept building little by little with smart ride choices and look at them now.

^ Exactly. It used to be only ten years but after COVID has screwed up operating budgets and profits for the last two years, this is now how many MORE years VF has to wait for a new coaster. I was last there on July 11 and loading crews for all the coasters are down one to two people from normal but they were still doing a real solid job. Wild Thing was running with only 4 ride ops so as expected it was stacking before every launch but not too bad or long. They were doing the best they could with what they had. The Renegade crew was rocking it, got six laps in from opening in the first hour and 15 minutes with no re-rides.

Valleyfair is celebrating their 45th anniversary this year so they are publishing videos and articles on their social outlets looking back over the years. They added this video yesterday to their Twitter feed where they speak with their head of maintenance Tom Suel who has been there since the park opened. In it he talks about which park Wild Thing was originally supposed to go to, the construction of Wild Thing, Excalibur, Renegade and the old Flume ride. It has lots of old video footage from when the park opened and of all the rides mentioned including the Flume (porn for Coasterbill). They even have footage of the old dolphin shows and mascot Colonel Omp Pa Pa from when I was a kid. That Flume footage makes me want it back. If you are a fan of VF or like to hear the behind the scenes stories it is worth the view.

Valleyfair has finally announced they are taking reservations to visit the park with the guidelines also listed out. https://www.valleyfair.com/welcoming-you-back

A group here in the Twin Cities that uses drones to film just released a video for the Mall of America and it has a heavy presence of NU in the piece with some really cool shots and angles of the park so thought I would share. Let me know what you think. If you like that you can check out another one they did last month for a local bowling alley to get them some business during COVID. This one was done in ten takes and the directory said the hardest part was flying the drone in through the front door. All the people involved were in on the filming and if you listen closely you can hear them utter lines from the Big Lewboski. Enjoy.

When you look at those operating hours they are mighty sparse. Not open Mon-Wed and closing at 7 pm Thursdays, 8 pm for Friday's until the last week in July and then only 3 straight weeks of open time and back to the 'normal' schedule for the rest of the year after that. But it is better than last year, at least they will be open.

It looks that way, good find. If you go to the site www.christmasincolor.net you can already sign up to buy tickets for Valleyfair. They have 5 other places listed in the United States also. It starts the day after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Eve. Below is information from their website. *** Remember it is 1 Ticket Per Vehicle *** $30.00 per vehicle Sunday – Thursday from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day Time slots are sold for 30-minute increments. You can arrive anytime within the purchased 30 minute time period. Looks like I may actually make it into the park in 2020.

The update looks really good, thanks for all the efforts. The usability features that were added should make it a much better site, especially for mobile. Let's hope in 2021 more parks get to open so people have a reason to post and use the new features. Change is hard sometimes though. I like everything so far except I miss the old SharkTums avatar. Should have left that 'old school'.

^ Same here.

This is what has prevented me from visiting the park to ride Lighting Rod. I wish it was more consistent than 50/50 on any given day.

Thanks for the trip report and Orion review. Have not been since 2016 so now I have two new coasters to try out. Hoping they keep the Orion beer around for next year too. I have been to KI three times and have never rode that Boomerang. Why would I waste my time? Good to see you didn't either.