VF15

Tony Clark tweeted yesterday that Opening Day 2019 is 194 days away, putting it on Saturday, May 11, one week later than the past few years. That’s unfortunate that they had to push it back a little, but I can understand why considering some early season experiences I’ve read about on here.

Not entirely the same thing but I worked in rides throughout Haunt season and at the end of ride cycles I would sometimes say on the mic “enjoy your night here at ValleyScare! ” and occasionally some of the guests would get a decent scare out of the evil laughter. On another note, I’m sad to say I won’t be coming back next year as I’ll be moving out of state in the spring. Looking forward to having/exploring some new home parks but will miss all the good times I’ve have riding and working at Valleyfair.

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^ If you’re going straight to MOA from the airport, you could take the Blue Line light rail train to the mall, $2.50 per person and only takes 10 minutes or so to get there. Not sure about your hotel but a lot of hotels in that area offer free shuttles to/from MOA and/or the airport. Valleyfair is a bit isolated so you will have to take an Uber/Lyft/cab there.

I second all of RCjunkie's advice. I would ride Mad Mouse, North Star, and High Roller early on just to be safe, other than that it shouldn't take more than four hours to hit all the must-rides.

Granted, Kingda Ka will have a cable-snapping incident like Dragster did. I wish the news/media would stop sensationalizing minor ride breakdowns.

Looks like flooding could be a problem once again. I noticed that part of the employee lot was underwater on my way into work tonight. Couldn’t see anything in the main lot. Not a problem right now but if we get more rain in the next few days it could be an issue.

^ RipCord and The Wave usually close in late September for the rest of the season, but other than those and Excalibur/Thunder Canyon, every other ride in the park has always been running during Haunt season.

Where did you hear that Looping Starship won’t be open during Haunt? I don’t see anything about it on the park website.

Need some input, is BGW’s Christmas Town event worth a ~3 hour drive to get there? My family is moving to the Raleigh-Durham area fairly soon, and while I’m visiting them over Christmas I’m considering swinging by the park if there’s enough rides open and enough fun things to do.

Need some input from anyone who went last year, is Carowinds’ Winterfest event worth a ~3 hour drive to get there? My family is moving to the Raleigh-Durham area fairly soon, and while I’m visiting them over Christmas I’m considering swinging by the park if there’s enough rides open and enough fun things to do.

A few updates... California: California Screamin'/Incredicoaster Florida: Dragon Challenge (R.I.P) Illinois: Goliath Iowa: Monster Minnesota: Renegade Missouri: Prowler Nevada: El Loco North Carolina: Fury 325 Ohio: Steel Vengeance South Carolina: Afterburn Tennessee: Lightning Rod Virginia: Twisted Timbers

If anyone’s interested, Valleyfair has a new general manager as of last week, Raul Rehnborg, formerly the general manager at California’s Great America. Brad Marcy is going back to Carowinds. http://cpfoodblog.com/californias-great-america-names-manny-gonzalez-new-vice-president-and-general-manager/

Steel Venom yesterday.

Agree 100%. The complaining about ride names gets old fast. Personally, as long as it’s a fun ride, I couldn’t care less what they call it. Anyway, Canada’s Wonderland has been on my bucket list for a while, and with the addition of Yukon Striker, I just might have to put it on the itinerary for next year.

I’m leaning towards thinking it’ll be a general improvement year as well, though I wouldn’t completely rule out a new ride just yet. In late 2013, everyone thought VF wasn’t adding anything and then Route 76 came out of nowhere so there’s still a possibility.

Guests that walk too slowly through the park. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging running in the park because that’s against the rules, but far too often it takes me a long time to get where I’m going because people in front of me walk at a snail’s pace.

Sad to see another Enterprise bite the dust as they’re one of my favorite flat rides. Glad I got to ride this one two months ago. Just hoping that whatever replaces it is a worthy successor.

I was at Worlds of Fun on Sunday and Monday this week and had an enjoyable time. This was my second visit to the park (the first being in 2016) so it was my first visit with the new entrance gate/plaza, which looks very nice compared to the old one. Prowler was running a bit smoother that it was two years ago, but it was also less intense. Still the best ride in the park but it isn’t quite on the level it was. Mamba was running wonderfully in the first half of the ride, the helix made me partially grey-out a few times. Patriot is still an underrated invert in my opinion, it’s not as intense as Banshee or some of the older B&M inverts but it has some fun elements. Timber Wolf was running a lot better, especially thanks to the new turn that replaced the helix. The only real negative about the trip was that ride operations were fairly slow. Mamba had a good crew that usually avoided stacking but the rest of the ride crews usually took 3+ minutes to load the ride. On another note, with Cedar Point announcing the removal of their Enterprise (Witches Wheel), it makes me wonder how much longer Zulu has before it goes.

Monster at Adventureland earlier today.

^ There was a news article recently reporting that Cedar Fair’s overall attendance is slightly down so this might be a reflection of that. If anything, it seems like there have been a lot of Saturdays so far this year with less than ideal weather so that might have something to do with it.

Mamba at Worlds of Fun half an hour ago.

Interesting that some of you think Prowler is getting too rough. I just rode it twice and if anything it was slightly smoother than my rides on it two years ago.

Part of the reason I’m thinking about switching to CP next year is because I’m living in Valleyfair’s dorms right now, and I’ve heard rumors that starting next year, the dorms will be closed to Americans/for internationals only. As for my department, I’m planning on sticking with rides since that’s what I’m most comfortable and experienced with right now, though I am willing to switch to another department if I think it could lead to a better career opportunity. If it helps, I have occasionally helped out in a few other divisions at Valleyfair in the past, so I do know a little more that just rides.

I’m also considering working at Cedar Point next year and have a question as well, does anyone know what the pay rate for ride operators is? I’m making $12/hr. at Valleyfair right now, so I’ll probably be taking a pay cut if I end up doing it, but I’m hoping the experience of working at Cedar Point will make up for it.