RCjunkie

Glad you enjoyed yourself at my home park, always interesting to hear someone else's take on the place. You should move Renegade up in your rankings! This is an 'out of the way' park and not as many people ride it compared to other GCI's so it does not get all the love it deserves, it's a very solid ride. Renegade does seem to run better at night but VF did do a lot of retracking work on both High Roller and Renegade this last off season and it really payed off in ride quality. If your a credit whore too bad Excalibur was not open for you, you did not miss much as far as ride experience but it is a unique coaster and should be rode at least once by every enthusiast. Plus since you got to experience a little cold you will appreciate it more then when the local VF fans ride during the final weekend on November 1st and 2nd this year. Who knows how cold it will be then. And I agree with you, I do not know why deep fried cheese curds can only be found in MN and WI because they are just damn good. How can you go wrong with deep fried cheese?

Try pulling a garbage cart over it. Story of my life Never thought of that, you need to ask them to put a 4-wheel drive suspension on that cart because that parking lot it tough. It was better this year though than the year before for sure but that is not saying much.

I like that Alpine slide too, just have not been on it in about 13-14 years. Is it still a fun ride? Unfortunately that is just one big hill, not a mountain even though they do use a ski lift to get you to the top.

I like the idea, especially the color scheme but I would name it The Blizzard or Polar Vortex because Minnesota has no mountains. Of course if VF gets a coaster like that I really don't care what they call it.

This is fantastic news! Hopefully the new design of the walk path around that corner will improve traffic flow.

That is how I feel too after taking a guess and trying to read in between the lines. GM Frazier saying things have 'changed' means there was SOMETHING in place already for 2016 and now it has changed. And like you said it usually takes about 2 years for a coaster to be designed, planned and built so was it a maybe a coaster that he was talking about? Unfortunately I have no idea but it does not sound good. If it was good you think you would have said, "Plans have changed and your going to really like them!" or something to that effect but he didn't. Then again, he could just be playing it safe and not saying much due to his corporate bosses. 2016 being the 40th anniversary of the park would have been a nice time to add a new coaster since it will have been 9 years since the last one was built. The one question I have is when is the Dino's contract officially up? Translation: When can the park get rid of the attraction and put a coaster there? The only positive speculation I can muster is that there was a coaster on the way for 2016 but then they decided to delay it until the Dino contract was up (2017, 2018, 2019?) so they could put the new coaster up front and redesign the entrance of the park (supporting rumors from park employees this year) like they did with CP (Gatekeeper) and now CW (Fury 325).

Here is the latest shot from the VF construction web cam of the old corporate patio and Subway being demolished (at the top of the picture). It started this morning and they are really moving along. Guess they have too so they can have it all cleaned up (or at least clean enough to permit park visitors) by Friday for Haunt. The old patio and Subway making way for the water park expansion.

Any trip report with a reference to SCTV's "Monster Chiller Horror Theater" just adds an extra layer of greatness. Thanks again Chuck for another entertaining trip report.

Please do, it's Haunt season! I doubt people will get bored and if they do they can click on something else. Personally I think it would be great if you took pictures and posted them here, you seem to have a great passion for Haunt. Like most in this thread I like anything that has to do with VF. If you take/post more than 15-20 pictures and want talk about your trip in a little detail you may even want to create a separate VF Haunt trip report thread. I am sure other Haunt fans around the country would like to see what VF does for Haunt.

^ There is also a restroom right next to Chickie and Pete's on the Renegade side next to the smoking section in addition to the bathrooms actually inside Chickie and Pete's. They probably still need to replace the bathroom some place close but just not in that exact location. Gotta make that path better. And if they use pavers like in Camp Snoopy it should look great.

This is obviously not a Six Flags operation.

I just met garyman6 for the first time last weekend and had a good time and I am always up for meeting other theme park enthusiasts/'geeks'. And this goes for anyone on this thread, just send me a PM through this site or make a blanket post on here about a meet up at the park and I am there. It would be fun to get together and meet some of people behind the posts. Personally I think we should all try to meet up on the last Saturday or Sunday this year for sure just to say we rode coasters in November in Minnesota.

What? No manly pose or Gertrud? Nice report, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing the information from GM Frazier, it was fun to hit the park and meet you on Saturday. That is great news to hear about them removing the games island, patio and bathrooms for the waterpark expansion. If they put pavers in walking path there that will just look great. Also good news to hear that this probably isn't the only expansion for the waterpark over the next few years, happy they chose the slide package they did because it looks better than a Snake Pit like other CF parks. With this additional information I am much more appreciative of the expansion, especially with how they will redesign that walking path between the water park and Mad Mouse. Interesting how GM Dave says "plans have changed for 2016". Hopefully for the better compared to what plans they already had in place. And thanks to the others posting their Haunt experiences, it will help me plan when I go.

^^ They were running 2 trains when I rode it about 3:30 pm today. You think they would run two for Haunt with how busy it can get on a nice day like today.

As long as it is not Mean Streak or my very first time on a ride then hands up.

The new LED additions this year at Valleyfair for the refurbished Tilter, Scambler and Ferris Wheel all turned out pretty sweet and look great at night. I certainly like them. I am sure there is a saturation point that will turn me off at some point but I have not found it yet at any park.

^ My guess is that could easily happen this year, I give it a 50/50 chance. They are going to have this bright and shiney new water slide that will bring more attendance to the water park and probably some who have never been to the water park before so they will want to make a good impression in showing off their big new toy and rightfully so. And because of that why wouldn't you want to re-paint the old slides because they do need it? Has to be the cheapest thing they could do to freshen up the area in addition to the new slides. It does need to be done.

I wouldn't consider this as CF putting more money into the park, replacing a sign is more like the cost of doing business. Nobody is coming to the park for the sign out front. And VF will also be the last park in the CF chain to get one. That being said I will also miss this classic one of kind signs when I visit the park, it gave the park a little charm of its own. But since CF is taking that away to make VF more like other parks hopefully then they will do the same for the ride assortment going forward and make VF more like other CF parks (except MiA ).

Exactly, plus the VF maintenance crew keeps that Arrow running pretty well after all these years. If you want to talk about a ride being removed due to poor demand then we need to start talking about Excalibur.

I know I've seen that before but can't remember which coaster. It was on Banshee, right after the first drop because all B&M inverts have the loop as the first element after the lift hill and for the first time it did not and caught him off guard which made the comment.

^ Yes, the park stays open during that time. If you do go early being at the employee entrance to the park located in between the first aid station and High Roller's last turn at around 5:30 to 6 pm is fun because at that time all of the zombies/monsters/ghouls and ghosts that populate the Haunts all come out at once in a mass force before they disperse to all of their area's. Cool to see because there is still some daylight and is a nice kick off for the evening. Make sure to ride Wild Thing at night, it's fun to look over the park at the top of the lift hill and see half of it covered in fog and all the lights of the other rides. Plus on the bunny hills on the way back to the station the fog covers the bottom have of those hills so as you go over them you go 'in and out' of the fog as you go up and down.

That one is a classic. I am a CP 'fanboi' and loves me some Millenium Force too but the way he says it with such fervor, conviction, joy and spontaneity all at once at the end of the run really lets you know how good a coaster I305 really is.

American Eagle at SFGAm in '85. Had no idea it was an Intamin at the time but do now. It is the only wood Intamin I have been on but need to get on El Toro and try out a pre-fab. Love Intamin steel of course.

Not a Haunt fan but like to check out what parks do to decorate. I might have to start going to haunts because how can you go wrong with Naughty Nurses? Answer: You can't.