Meghna

This x1000. always a walk on too. Gemini is just plain fun. Always a good time going around those curves giving high fives across the track. Not the best behavior from a ride op myself, but I can't imagine they care since there's no real armchoppers.

Believe me, as a Ride Op there's nothing that I want more than a shiny new major ride to work at, but y'all need to chill your butts if you're still on the "not going ever again because no coaster" train. VF is showing it's age in comparison to CP and they're trying to be smart about making any renovations/expansions be the best for the future. A new coaster coming around with the park in it's current state would be all sorts of problems. Fellow op, bless this.

Can we just put aside the whole "another year without a coaster" thing for a moment and appreciate the fact that we are even getting a ride? They didn't really announce it, but look at all the renovation work going on that is going to give the park a good feel next year.

I thought Renegade was running pretty smooth minus the last turn, last weekend. I thought that Enterprise received LED's last year, but I am not entirely sure. All I know is that I heard a couple people say that Enterprise looked really good at night, this year. I know one of the cars has LED lights, just cause it's super annoying compared to the yellow of the rest.

I thought daytime Haunt was only on Sundays. Saturday starts at 7.

I actually operated Supreme Scream at Knotts for awhile, which is nearly identical to Power Tower (same manufacturer, main difference being that all three towers are turbo drops instead of having a shot tower). I really enjoyed, it. It wasn't down very often, and guests rarely got sick on it. Like Meghna said about PT, you don't really get bored, and controls is nice. I personally enjoyed grouping for supreme, because unlike Power Tower, you have one grouper for all 3 towers, which can be more of a challenge to keep up with. If you like to work hard and enjoy working with guests, I'd recommend it. Just remember that, unless there is some process I'm unaware of, you don't get to choose what ride you work at. You can request to be cross-trained, but it's kinda based on need and how skilled you are/how fast you learn.

The dorms are open to everyone! Though they did fill up this year and they had to boot some people who lived too close and could just drive, I'm assuming you wont have that problem. As a ride op, I can answer! Power Tower is fun because you get to work with up to ten people at a time, even though it's only three positions. The layout of each tower makes each position unique, so you don't get too bored too quickly. It also has the biggest control booth, so it's fun to hang out in during down time and guests can't see in unless they try when riding... Though honestly, the best rides to work would be MRVR or Ripcord. MRVR is the chillest since you actually get to drive a train around, stand on the back, or stand by the crossing and throw/swing the gates. With the new Ampitheather next year, the usher position will come back into use which is a harder position, I hear. Ripcord is fun apparently because you can get site supervisor clearing, which involves a big written test and LOTS of studying. I trained someone who was studying for it, and they were carrying around a HUGE binder of stuff for it. It's also a slow location so you can hang out a lot and chat. SIngle operator rides can be a bore. Rides like Riptide, Steel Venom, and others that break down a lot can be frustrating. I've wanted to go up and kick Riptide back into proper position myself many a times. Coasters are fast paced and are generally amusing.

Mad Mouse is back in action! Sounds like the new panel has some interesting quirks.

Ah yes, thx. Edited.

A combo of low staffing and the fact that it's the biggest money earning time of the year. The highest attendance day was a haunt Satruday last year with the highest attendance number of the year in the park.

MRVR is now down to four coaches, instead of the usual five, making it pretty full when it gets busy. The fifth one is sitting just past south station, so if you ride you can see it. I also finished learning Engineer! Didn't get to use the whistle since a certain someone broke it taking off their sweatshirt. Riptides fountains have been adjusted so that they are on, but stay at the same level, so no wetness. Boo...

Also it would only be able to operate during the day, the Chateau exit is way too close to operate that thing safely with drunk people right on the other side of it.

What if they now just always had the trims off?

Great photos! I love to see VF through the eyes of a tourist. What did you think of the park overall? What was your favorite ride? My favorite coaster rides were Wild thing, Excalibur and High Roller in that order. I also enjoyed the Screaming Swing, though the cycle was about 2 swings shorter than CP's. Monster and Supercat were good, too and we also liked the Antique Cars, ferris wheel and Carousel. I've been to many parks, so I have experienced parks of all sizes, but parts of Valleyfair reminded me of Kennywood, whilst others reminded me of Six Flags over Georgia and other parts Hersheypark and a bit of Dorney Park—but I never felt the "Cedar Fair" brand was overkill, even though it's the oldest tied with CP. The biggest noticeable thing were all of the flags everywhere. Flags all over the place, even more than Cedar point. I posted a "Quick Bits" post a few pages back around the 31st of August, but let me re-copy my thoughts: - Liked Corkscrew much more than Cedar Points. Very good in the back. - Love the 70's infrastructure with the Super Cat and Carousel and the chandeliers in the shops and the entrance area - Loved, Love, Loved Excalibur... glad I was able to experience it... da-dada-daaaaa! - the dead ends at each end of the park became a bit annoying - Very sad to miss the train. It was down all day - Liked Wild thing and High Roller - Park didn't have the Cedar Fair feel as much, seemed more independent. - Very disappointed with park merchandise - No recycle bins (popping up at most cedar fair parks now) Yes, Xtreme Swing is indeed 2 swing shorter. Apparently people threw up too much or something like that? Also apparently they do set it to 9 swings (7 during normal operation) for associate nights. The train was supposed to be up this weekend, but I heard the front wheels are in North Carolina or something like that. Riptide was also down this weekend, but for maintenance (no idea what though). I got there Saturday morning and it was totally shut off, like you could walk through the freaking exit gate if you wanted to. Please don't. In other news, Mad Mouse and Wheel of Fortune, besides ExTC, are closed for the season. Mad Mouse is a butt in cold weather, let alone any weather besides no clouds and above 60 degrees.

They aren't doing it on purpose, coasters aren't businesses. It in no way benefits efficiency, if anything a decent line makes them go faster? (Wait, maybe they're doing one train to create a line to give the ops more motivation, yeah )

Hellside farm is moving to SC. If/when the train is back up it will run during the day for the hopefully for the haunt.

Yes this is the first year. No one was happy. Because budget. Because they don't think we do enough already, IDK. It does say in our job description "other miscellaneous jobs" or something like that. Valleyfair is one of the only (If not THE only) park where you had to be 18 to operate ANY rides position. However, they got special permission from the state to allow 16-17 y.o. to operate all but primary controls, including single operator rides. They wear the orange park services uniform, and then get the red uniform once they turn 18. They are titled "Ride Attendants" instead of "Ride Operators". So the pay levels go $9.25/attendants, $10.25/operators, $11.25/leads, and $11.75/supervisors with the pay raise this year.

Apparently there is a recorded down time from a while ago for Steel Venom to add a train. Not sure how that works. Also, my supervisor told me that before all of the safety checks were in place, they could load and clear a Wild Thing train before the previous one was even over the lift. They set capacity records for sure!

Valleyfair already has a HUSS Top Spin (RipTide), another one isn't necessary. If anything, Thunderhawk's removal means that RipTide might be on its way out sooner or later. The one we have isn't necessary, in my opinion. I have never seen a line for it. I really wouldn't mind seeing Riptide bite the dust. Behemoth and Leviathan are not the exact same ride. Yes, they are both B&M hypers, but the layouts aren't the same, or even similar. Not after they just reprogrammed it, no it's staying for a while. It doesn't break down every day now, except for the usual once-in-a-blue-moon faults you get on any ride (Motor contactors causing it to estop, a stupid seat fault, my butt hitting the platform estop, etc.) Anyways, the other day leaving the park I saw them putting two Excalibur cars onto a truck, but it didn't look very heavy duty, so don't know if that means anything. Driving by this morning I see that the Haunt ramps are gone from the amphitheater. Please tell me it's going away. PLEASE. And yes, I did indeed estop Riptide on accident with my butt once. Opps.

I remember seeing the cars still on the cradles during preseason for leadership training. They were there a couple days/weeks into the season but went away soon after. They still switch the transfer track every now and then apparently. Maybe they're just using some invisibility cover and pulling one on us all, ride ops included.