RCjunkie

^ Nobody (Except CF) will know until they make an announcement. At that time we will know how big and how fast this project will proceed. They could move the road, displace the wetlands this year and create the new employee parking lot without even touching Excalibur. Then in 2018 demolish Excalibur and add the new guest parking lot and entrance for 2019. Or they could do all that before next year. This is such a big project with a high cost so it could easily take two years. If they do it all for 2018 that is great news for the park and people who visit it. If they demolish Excalibur this year I am guessing they get all this done in 2018. If they don't demolish Excalibur then we know they will spread out all this work over two years.

Thanks for the confirmation! This is good news (except for those who like Excalibur). It looks like they are wasting no time and had the resources to do this project booked in advance and upon approval. If anyone can take pictures and post them please do, otherwise just keep us up to date when you feel it is warranted. The best view I can get of this is the top of Renegade's lift hill. I see no new work permits yet from the city of Shakopee but maybe the official approval of the project and that document serve as one and they do not have to apply for them at city level. Now it looks like we are just waiting for an announcement in July or August.

I don't think this has anything to do with the recently approved expansion. Choice Electrical has two approved city work permits currently open for Valleyfair. One is for work on a 'Security Shack' issued on 4/24 and the other was issued on 5/17 for '2017 Maintenance Permit'. Neither of those sound related to the approved expansion project or near the back of the park so they are probably just normal maintenance work for 2017. I don't get the 'Security Shack' one, are they building a new building? Or is there one near the this location where they are doing this digging? Again, I don't think this has anything to do with the proposed expansion but these are the types of reports that may help us guess ahead of time when an announcement will be made and about what so keep on posting and we can have some fun guessing/predicting.

Damn straight. This is the type of purist I can actually agree with.

^ Nice observation. Easily could be a predictor of construction happening back there soon.

Thanks for the update guys. The good news is all of those flags are in 'the right places' for the proposed changes so let's hope this big project at least gets started this year. Keep your eyes open. Excalibur has usually been pretty reliable, just not popular. So it is interesting to hear that it is breaking down much more than usual.

^ Nobody really knows and it is very hard to tell right now with so few signs or clues about what is going to happen. They have the approval to expand the park and add a second parking lot. When it will happen, how long it will take and what they will add is all pure speculation at this point. This is why I keep asking anyone if they have seen construction markings/flags or any heavy equipment to start moving/paving the new service road. The moving of the service road, moving wetlands and adding a parking lot is a big project alone that could easily take more than a year. Start throwing in a new attraction(s) and who knows how long this could take or how they space out all the work. This is why I am so curious about an announcement. It will give us an indication of how big and how fast all these proposed changes will happen.

^ If they add the proposed new parking lot they will install new toll booths for it. And you would like to think they would choose the new ones like at KI and Carowinds. Once they do that you would assume they would update the current ones at the same time. With the second parking lot you probably wouldn't have have to move the current booths either because you could send heavy traffic to two lots instead of just one. And yes, I would like to see them at VF because they speed up entry into the park for pass holders and online day pass/parking purchases. On a related note, has anyone seen any construction flags or markings at the park? I just checked the city permits for new construction or demolition and nothing has been issued to VF yet.

If you made me make a bet I would say were in for a 2018 opening like most people. But with all the progress that has been happening lately a Halloweekend may have a distance chance. They could announce it and plug 2018 season passes that include one Halloweekend visit in 2017 to try out the new beast in attempt to get some more sales if they could open it this fall.

^ That is pretty cool. Congratulations! I will make sure to wave and yell, "There goes Captain Unknown!" as you drive by. So now that you have achieved that dream is your next one to drive a Zamboni?

Thanks for sharing the knowledge. So it sounds like the screens and count down time are good tools to help check seats and train new employees to hit 50 second dispatch time goals and ‘keep trains rolling’. Maybe even help you and your team achieve the best operations for a ride in the park? Good luck hitting that 50 second goal in 2017. I rode it a half dozen times last year in early June and that crew consistently got us out in between 60-65 seconds EVERY time and I thought that was outstanding and pushing the limits. From those experiences I just assumed 60 seconds was the goal so 50 seconds seems a little fast and crazy. Good/fun to know. My experiences with Millennium Force though seem to be mostly affected by the person who controls the loading station entrance and not the rest of the crew, they are usually real good. If that person keeps the train car queue lines 2-3 deep then that seems to allow the rest of the crew to roll. Once it gets beyond that and that first row waiting line starts to spill over and mix with the 2nd and 3rd car lines this seems to confuse or irritate the GP and delay loading times no matter how good the rest of the crew is. Maybe that is only my experience though. Last year there was an employee from Jamaica (cannot remember his name) who ran a tight loading station so when he had that position during a ride we made sure to get right back in line again thanks to Fast Pass and take advantage of that.

If the crews are that good then why did they install countdown/loading screens?

I feel that those screens in the boarding station that track the loading times keeps them 'honest/motivated' and hence the 'rolling trains'. I wish all new coasters had that feature.

Renegade and High Roller not running on ' adult night'? Seriously? They really need to rethink that one, how foolish. If I would have found that out only after arriving at the park I would be a little upset too. Congratulations to the park for having a successful promotion beyond their expectations but it sounds like they really need to step up the execution of it if they blew such simple things like this.

At least there will be something new for you too SEE. Cannot argue with the rest of your logic if your close and passing by, an MF or Maverick ride never disappoint. But you don't have to lie to us.........we know your going for the Sky Ride.

Thanks for the report, the park is really growing and adding some nice additions. A couple more and it might be worth the long plane ride for me to get there so I can get my 'Formula Rossa Face!'. What I really want to comment about is the , "Oh yeah... We aren't talking about this!" track. But since your not talking I won't. Could you be plied with copious amounts of alcohol to talk? And since alcohol was just mentioned, do they offer it at the park or is that off limits?

Being your first visit and all hopefully it will still be around for you to take a few laps on. Good luck! IF this project is a go for 2018 Excalibur's days will be numbered as expected. With all that needs to be done with filling in wetlands, creating new wetland areas, road and parking lot construction, coaster demolishion plus any water park work you can't imagine it makes it past August 1st. My best guess is they announce Excalibur's RIP date after July 4th for sometime later that month if the project is on for 2018. I know nothing of course, but hopefully we see some work on the road and other things that would not imeadiately have any park impact sometime in June to give us a sign.

Could you describe the markings and where they where in the back in a little more detail?

$11.18 if you buy regular parking online, but I believe $15 at the park. Preferred parking online is 18.63, and I believe in between $20-$22 dollars at the park. It is now $17 and $22 for preferred this year when paying at the park so make sure to buy it online.

^ Excellent. Then check out Adventureland, better than Mount Olympus. I checked out Monster last year and it is a lot of fun. Going down this June to ride it again.

Valleyfair is always an option from SFGA also. Just a little farther than Adventureland. Both are better than Mount Olympus.

I would have to disagree. If they are going to go through all the expense and effort of adding a parking lot that big, I doubt they expect to fill the lot without adding any new attractions. It is not like the main lot is over flowing everyday. Plus in the original permit request this is how it reads: DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: Valleyfair is proposing to relocate a road that will be utilized by guests and staff and two proposed parking areas, one for guests and one for staff. The purpose for the road relocation and parking areas is to allow for expansion of the park attractions. http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Portals/57/docs/regulatory/MN-Standard/2014004059P.pdf What I do agree with you is that it will be a huge undertaking and probably one of the biggest capital investments the park has ever received. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to complete the moving of the road and the completion of the parking lot. Do they spread it out over a couple years for expense purposes? Do they add any attraction while doing that or do they wait until all that is done? The good news is that once they shutdown Excalibur they can begin any work they want for the road and parking lot since the work would not be near guests visiting the park.

They did not build a new building, they just remodeled an existing building by taking out the guest door where you used to be able enter the building and added about a dozen service windows to it to service guests. Then they 'boarded' up the old ticket booth's and put metal detectors in that area. This was a not heavy dollar investment and because of that could probably be removed or changed in the next few years....at least I hope. Thank you vf_fan1976 for finding this announcement. Been looking for a response for a while now with no success. Great news since CF usually replaces removed coasters from a park. And an expanded water park can only help with increasing revenue for the park too. Wonder what they will do with Thunder Canyon, incorporate into the expanded water park or keep it outside of it like it is now? Park regulars and employees, keep your eyes and ears open and let us know here as soon as there is something new to report. It might be time to start getting excited about the future of VF.

If we are lucky they will change it back. The last two years they had pop music for Renegade the first few weeks and then switched to country.

Replacing a 14 year old Intamin that runs great with a 27 year old Vekoma ? Possible? Yes. Probable? Highly doubtful and would be one of the stupidest idea's that CF could ever execute.