Mdcastle

I'm assuming the reason they didn't for Route 76 was there were a lot of concrete slabs that didn't need to be replaced.

I've tried contacting several museums and none have even returned my emails, so it's looks like the sign will be scrap metal and glass shards.

It's not. They're using a telephoto lens which compresses distance.

Not sure if they're even available anymore,, but Vekoma > B&M The Superman rides are fun, but Nighthawk is easily in my top ten.

I'm not sure what stuff costs, but I'd say 1) Replace Excalibur with something people will actually walk to the back of the park for. 2) Tube slides, a racer, and a flowrider. 3) Fix the Thunder Canyon waterfalls and replace the asphalt between the entry plaza and Camp Snoopy with pavers. 4) Decent flats to fill in the empty space near Route 76, and replace the amphitheater, StupidCat, and Wheel of Misfortune. 5) Restore the existing sign and put it in Route 76 Bonus if you could fit a Windseeker or a watercoaster in.

That's one idea- they could have events that have a separate gate from the main park if they choose. But there's been no hints or rumors going around to that effect.

They're OK, it's worth my time to ride it once or twice when I'm at Noah's, but there's still a lot of missing Waterpark 101 components (like tube slides and racer slides) or more exciting things (like a water coaster or a flowrider) I'd rather see first. If they removed the old body slides they could put new body slides and tube slides on the new tower. A flowrider can go where Looping Starship is where passer-by can see it.

Because three different shops selling towels and swimming suits aren't enough...

I'm not so sure they're just not trying to cheap out and reduce wear and tear on their rides, but in practice what will happen is people will take their kids on it and complain anyway. There were how many warning signs on ExtraTERRORestrial Encounter at Magic Kingdom that it wasn't suitable for children, but they got so many complaints anyway that they didn't build any more of them and eventually shut it down.

It does take away some of the "magic" the long, empty stretch leading to Route 76, and then being right next to your car there or on the way to Steel Venom. And it's rather annoying how far you have to walk when you want to leave the park after riding Steel Venom. Some suggestions have been made about pulling back the whole entrance gate into the parking lot. But I don't see this happening, I don't imagine anyone is going to say "Got to check out that new entrance gate at Valleyfair!". I'm in the camp that I'd rather Valleyfair address some of the issues with boring parts and underutilized land inside the existing fence before they think about expanding out.

It used to be amusing to watch too when they had enough waterfalls working to actually get people wet. I'd like them to fix Thunder Canyon, but just as an observation they could save having to maintain a lot of area at the expense of two not very popular rides by just shutting down the park beyond Renegade.

Possibly they plan to heat the whole enclosure enough for the concrete to set properly.

Old Splash Pad- It's so small that if they don't need it for the new slides or hopefully rebuilding that bathhouse I'd be fine with "lawn chairs" or a sand volleyball court. Mat slides: they tend to be long and skinny, so they can't fit everywhere. My original thought was where the trapdoor slides are going now, or else behind the wave pool if they want to expand that direction.

Now we can start to guess what the next phases are going to be based on where they're digging? Seriously, the one glaring omission that every waterpark has is tube slides. As much as I like the existing body slides, I can see them redoing that area and building a new slide tower higher and farther back that integrates some tube slides. As a little bit of trivia, those traffic signals on the waterslides are older than the slides. That particular style was made from the early 1960s to the early 1970s, with the lens style dating them from earlier in that period. The Go-kart signals by contrast were current products when the track was built.

Anyone know if they plan to expand / build an additional / or remodel the old changing rooms? The new lockers were a welcome if pricey additions, but on busy days there can be a bit of a wait for the private stalls on the mens side, at any rate. Of course to knock on Mount Olympus again, they don't have any private changing stalls there, so that's one area Valleyfair is better at. At Mount Olympus I'll usually resort to changing in a gross toilet stall.

Can I laugh at how few people are using the "VIP parking"? Maybe they should offer it as a season pass upgrade?

If one's going in at Mount Olympus I'd ride it before the chairs start flying off.

I've emailed the Minot and Cleveland neon museums and neither have responded. If they could put it up as a backdrop for Route 66 they'd have spares for each transformer and section of tubing from the other side, and dim tubing wouldn't matter as much, but of course it won't happen. I'm not an electrician or tube bender but I have worked on neon signs before, so I get the difficulty of maintaining these things, and eventually the mercury / argon filled tubes get so dim you need to replace them at enormous expense (the letters themselves are neon filled and don't get dim). I mentioned it to a local neon shop when I had some tubes bent last summer, but they have no outdoor storage and don't do work on that sign, or know which shop does. There's also Pioneer Village, the place that took the Cottage View Drive-in sign and Porky's. I don't recall if I contacted them or not.

I agree that there's too much underutilized land inside the park to justify expansion. Also, Frazier may not want to give up any of the small coaster but nothing lasts forever and with Arrow out of business it may not even be possible to maintain Corkscrew and Excalibur forever. Sign was still there when I drove by last night.

If they're going to build a WIndseeker, I'd rather it be in the back of the park where it could be the big weenie to draw people back there, and might be able to be built higher. I like Riptide the way it is, and wish they'd turn the waterfalls back on in Thunder Canyon. Looping Starship was another ride that was fun but got wrecked (along with Thunder Canyon and SuperCat). The newer headrests make it hard to see anything except on either side of you.

Are there any really old park maps viewable online? I was on the rotor at Six Flags Great America before a lawsuit made them remove it. Where was the one at Valleyfair? Trapdoor slides- I've been on ones at Noah's (looping) and Six Flags St. Louis. It's hard to describe but you actually get the sensation of falling as opposed to riding a slide. I'm not sure why the concept took so long to spread from Wet n' Wild Orlando (maybe they had a patent?)

Anyone here been going long enough to remember the haunted house, the climbing castle, and the high dive show?

Supercat vs Riptide: My observation is the opposite, a lot of people are on Riptide (when it's not broken) on hot days and no-one is on SuperCat. Now if they'd restore is by putting the top back on... wonder if it just broke or there were issues with guest behavior. Games: Yes, now we have PlayStations and have figured out it's cheaper just to buy a stuffed bear if we want one. The profit is so high I don't see it going away entirely so maybe they could pick the best of the games from the current Midway area and the now closed Soak City area. I've never been on a hydromagnetic rocket slide, but I assume they're an evolution of the conveyor-belt slides like Black Anaconda, which is one of the best rides at Noah's.

They have fake neon now that's basically plastic tubing lit with LEDs. I don't like it because it's obviously not evenly lit, and not available in the classic red-orange color of clear neon-filled tubing. But real neon is expensive. It cost me a couple of hundred dollars the last time I had some neon tubing bent.

Maybe I haven't been looking in the right places for alcohol. It seems most of the stands that sell it were cheap mass market beer. After ripping all the old turn of the century style lights out and replacing them with boring generic parking lot style lights, I'm glad they're starting to bring back some different styles, like in Camp Snoopy, Route 76, and the front entrance.