RCjunkie

Most people who ride Mean Streak hate it because it is a bad and painful ride. How can you not understand that? Just because you like it that doesn't change the ride for those people.

With a new light package it would fit in great over at Route 76. Not a stupid idea, just not probable because I don't think Ripcords space would be big enough to handle the queue and ride.

If you have never seen a full VF parking lot then you need to come on a Friday or Saturday then between June 15th and August 21th....provided it is a nice day.

^ I am on board with that plan, I like it. Except I think you will need to get rid of the Excalibur station also, it just probably will not work with a new coaster made by another manufacturer. CF was trying to sell one or all three of the parks (VF, CGA and WOF) only to relieve the debt they acquired when buying the Paramount parks right before the recession. Once they were able to finally refinance their debt they pretty much took them off the market because they could afford the payments on that debt and wouldn't want to remove any revenue streams if they did not have too which is the case now. Personally I hoping Herschend Family Entertainment (Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, etc.) was going to step and buy VF during that time. I like the way they manage their parks. But since they didn't I am glad they stayed with CF because they do have some nice parks which makes the platinum pass a great buy if your going to visit any of them beyond VF. And not that Six Flags would ever buy a park the size of VF I am glad they did not buy them either. Then again with SFGA only 5.5 hours away a SF season pass might have been a good buy too.

Now your statement is 'fixed'.

Went to VF today from 10:30 to 2:30 pm to check out the park. It was about 55 degrees when I got there and 65 and muggy when I left but it was still overcast as you will see in the pictures below. Met garyman6 out there for a couple hours and hit some coasters with him too. A few observations: - High Roller’s re-tracking turned out really nice. - The two big hills were redone and tightened up - The trim at the turn around and the one where you turn left back to the station were both turned down which is nice - Like ACES commented, all the work really smoothed out and improved the ride. - Renegade also had re-tracking work done in 5 new area’s. - The first area is after the horse shoe turn around, after the low hill when you take a right it starts there and goes until the left turn under the lift hill. - The second place is right after that turn going up the hill under the lift hill up until you take the left down the S turn. - The Third area is at the bottom of the S turn until you are about to go back under the lift hill again. - The fourth place in the turn you can see from the station. - The fifth is after the drive bye station hill to a little past the camera. - As with last years work it improves the ride even more. YEAH BABY! - Kudos to the VF maintenance crew for the work done on both woodies this year, a very nice job. - Wild Things’s lift hill is moving a little faster which is nice. It needed some work. - New wheels on all the cars made for a very smooth ride today. - The new water towers are impressive looking. - The slides change the look and feel of the entire corner….for the better obviously. - The slides are a great new reference point for people who don’t know the park because they can be seen from all over the park. - With the slides, the removed games island and the paving of the path by the new slides also changes the whole feel and look of that area of the park which everyone is going to really like it. - Both sides of the Extreme Swings were operating unlike the last two opening days which was nice. - More speakers were added to the park all over so the sound is fuller and reaches even more area’s now. - On FUN TV while waiting in line on High Roller we saw a POV video of Fury 325. While waiting in line for Cork Screw I we saw a POV of Cork Screw actually. I liked watching coaster POV’s while waiting to ride one. Yes, I am a coaster geek. - Just lots of new paint on buildings, railings, etc. You’ll notice it when you go. Interesting story. On my Steel Venom ride on the way headed to go back up the first spike for the 2nd time I felt the trims kick in (which they never do at that point) so I knew something was wrong. Sure enough due to that we only go about half way up the spike and rolled back to be completely stopped right after the bend in the track but before the train was back in the station. The reason they did that was some kid was leaning over the rail next to the launch both and he dropped a lamented card bigger than a license and it was flying around in the ride area from the wind of the the train as it went by so thankfully for safety they did stop the ride so no one got hit by it. Since it was not a complete ride cycle they let us do it over again. I have never been stopped on SV. And yes ACES I saw the Red/Green lights that are by the operator doors. Looks like an added safety feature to make sure the ride area is clear before launch by the crew who all have to hit the one in their corner. It was good to get in some rides. Here are pictures below of some of the new stuff for this year. The new water slides. Another slide shot. The stairs. A closer shot of the slides. Another angle from the Wild Thing loading station. The end run of one of the slides. A shot of the new shade are next to the new water slides. garmany6 gets the credit for calling this one. The new splash pad. Sorry, the park was not open and had to shoot through the fence. It looks a lot better in person than on the construction cam. The remodeled corner. The new gate in the same place at the corner. The other view of the remodeled corner. garyman6 striking a pose in the new High Roller entrance queue. Another shot of the remodeled High Roller queue. The touched up the old sign on all of the High Roller cars along with repainting the front and back 'High Roller' name on the cars. Looking out into the employee area that you can see from the High Roller queue. It looks like Monster cars. Either they have not been painted black yet or Monster is getting some new colored cars. The newly repainted cars and new logo for the Yellow train on Corkscrew. I have more pictures of Cork Screw but that is plenty for now. Just wanted everyone to be able to see some of the new things for 2015.

^ I was only there until 2;30 pm but Excalibur was still not running at that time. Thunder Canyon did not have any water in it. Last year they had Excalibur running. TC also had water in it and they were testing but it was not open. A little different this year.

It wasn't even running. Back of the park was closed. That was not the case last year.

^ If they don't update their blog about opening weekend I would be shocked. If you can't update during the opener when are you going to do it? I see they turned off the construction cam the day before opening just like last year. Anybody else wish VF had a everyday park camera(s) like CP, KI and other CF parks have? That being said, opening day and weekend have finally arrived! Is anybody on here going to the park tomorrow like me? I should also ask, is anybody working at the park tomorrow? And my last question is; what new things are you looking forward to checking out at the park this weekend? (Please post below). Personally I am excited to check out High Roller and see what work has been done on it (per GM Dave's Twitter feed) and how the ride is affected. The work done on Renegade last year really paid off in improving the overall ride so it will be interesting to see how they can improve HR's ride.

^ You are correct. The pictures below are from GM Dave's Twitter account to verify that. Top to the slide tower. The top on the tower.

Exactly! I didn't forget at all. I like to refer to those as the 'good old days'. 4 new coasters with Power Tower thrown in during that period, good times!!! I never complained during that time. I just want CF to get back to that strategy for VF and treat it like the other CF parks for investment like they used too (except MiA). The last 8 years have been seriously lacking compared to that time. Now, Camp Snoopy was no small investment at $11 million during the last 8 years and it turned out to be the best looking part of the park which is great but they HAD to do that. If not, Nickelodeon Universe would have ate VF's lunch for kiddie rides. VF had rides from the 70's that I rode as a kid which had not been touched in 35 years and they needed to do that just to make that part of the park modern and competitive. But when you compare the 11 years from 1996 - 2007 to the last 8 years CF's investment in VF has dropped off considerably and that is what I am complaining about.

I don't know if we like to complain but we do because the park has not received a new roller coaster or thirll ride (i.e. Power Tower; Xtreme Swings) in over 8 years. I also don't know if that gives us the right to complain but that is the longest time period since the park opened that it has not added something along those lines. Then you see an independent park like HW invest in Thunderbird at $22 million in the middle of nowhere Indiana and well......we complain like it or not. If VF fans got 2/3 of that for an investment into a new thrill ride at VF the complaining on this forum would mostly disappear I think. You ranked the CF parks in the following order in relation to Valleyfair investment: CP, CW, KI, Carowinds and Knotts. Then you have VF followed by DP, KD, WOF, CGA and MiA. That puts the park right in the middle which is average, I don't personally think average is 'looking really well' as you stated. Not bad but then again not good either, just average. I don't consider that a 'growth park' strategy as the CF board has indicated but we will see what happens in the next 3-5 years before I pass final judgement. The 'complaining' is not about the last 2 years, it is more about the last 5-8 years compared to other CF parks and what they have added. If you look at more than the last 2 years is when VF ranks very low and that is what is causing the 'complaining'. If VF added something like I-305 at KD which you list below VF for the last 2 years you would hear no complaining at all for a decade....maybe 2 decades at VF because we don't expect that kind of investment. It has been 8 years since the last new major thrill ride with no new announcements in sight. I think this is the reason we are 'complaining'. The park is due for something like this and until it gets a big thrilling attraction or coaster I would expect more of the same 'complaining'. Then again you may be right, after the park gets a new big attraction we might complain about getting another flat, dark ride or water park addition. That would be a nice problem to have. Time will tell.

^ Don't get too excited, remember this is Valleyfair. CF treats VF, MiA and CGA differently than their other parks. Don't expect as much as the other parks.

^ They have to make their profit somewhere. For food soda, popcorn and ice cream are your 3 biggest mark up items over cost.

The only park where you can still ride 5 Arrow Dynamics coasters is Cedar Point: Corkscrew, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Gemini, Iron Dragon and Magnum XL-200. Honorable mention for being able to ride 3 Arrow Dynamic Coasters UNDER 2500 feet long is Valleyfair with Corkscrew, Excalibur and Mad Mouse.

Don't if I like one over the other but I do like the different 'feel' of the ride you get from the backseat POV. I think it would be cool if you did a front and back POV of the same run, then synced the two views side by side in a split screen or a maybe a back and forth synced cut between the two views.

I have been a pass holder for the last 5 seasons and did not get an email either. I need to send them an email and ask them why. I will post once I find out why. You would think they would want ALL of their season pass holders to be invited.

They get a decent amount of school trips too during the weekdays of May so I doubt they would go to weekends only during that time.

From GM Dave's twitter account. New landscaping and paint for Soak City. If you look at the live webcam of the construction it looks like they are all done laying new grass too. Getting closer to complete. New landscaping in Soak City. Some new paint for the older part of Soak City too.

Since you have to sit in a certain row and lean forward or otherwise you experience a ridiculously rough ride does not make it a 'decent' ride to me. Even though that is the only way to ride it if you don't want it to feel like a leprechaun is trapped in the back of the seat you are sitting in kicking your lower back and kidneys out during the whole ride.

I'll believe it when I see it, until then it is all talk and speculation about being a 'growth' park. The water slide package looks nice and it is bigger than the past two slide packages put in at other CF parks so that gives me some hope. But on the other hand, even after putting in this slide package it is still the weakest water park in the CF chain. We will see what they put in for the next phase of the water park expansion and if they add a new coaster in the next 2-3 years. This will indicate if VF is truly a growth park as they claim it is.

What kind of Dippin' Dots have you been smoking?

It's called the "Dick Kinzel ratio" in the Cedar Fair manual. 6 trash cans for every shade canopy and 2 trash cans for every bench. But I have to admit, the park is pretty clean during operations.

Not too surprising. The park really has nothing to 'show off' or really exciting to see so why bother. This is what happens when CF keeps treating VF like the red headed step child of the family. I do like the updated CF site though.

This coaster gets sexier every time I see more pictures. Thanks for sharing!