VF15 Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Most people have been thinking that 2015 will be the waterpark expansion, and then a new coaster will come in 2016. I've been thinking about this lately, and I think that while we will get the waterpark expansion next year, 2016 will be a year with just general improvements and no new coaster. I think that it will happen that way because Valleyfair has had years in the recent past with no new additions (2010, 2012), so based on that trend, the park might decide to just go with general improvements for 2016. Also, that would give VF another year to save capital to build a quality coaster rather than something cheap. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just trying to be realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 ^ That is totally realistic and would have to agree with you. Plus with VF it's best not to get your hopes too high with the way CF has treated and handled the park in the past. But what is giving me more optimism than usual for 2016 is that CF has stated they will be investing more in VF because it is one of their top 3 potential growth parks, it will be 9 years since the last coaster at VF and the park has never had that many years between a coaster or big thrill ride addition like Power Tower plus that 2016 will be the 40th anniversary year for the park. None of these reasons are concrete reasons for it to happen in 2016, it just gives me more optimism than years past for sure. The park easily could not see a new coaster until 2017 or beyond because it is not a CF flagship park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 VF just posted a link via their Twitter account with an article about the new food options at VF this year and they talk about the food truck for Route 76 and have supplied a picture. I have not done a thorough examination of new food offerings in the CF chain but I have not seen a food truck at any of their other parks. Is VF the first? Food article link: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2014/05/01/valleyfair-new-food-truck-chickies-auntie-annes.html New Food Truck at Valleyfair this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kidd Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Kings Island has one in Action Zone this year and I believe I read something about Cedar Point having one this year too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker27 Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Wow! That van looks AMAZING! I think KI just says something like "Feed your inner Beast!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 ^ That is totally realistic and would have to agree with you. Plus with VF it's best not to get your hopes too high with the way CF has treated and handled the park in the past. But what is giving me more optimism than usual for 2016 is that CF has stated they will be investing more in VF because it is one of their top 3 potential growth parks, it will be 9 years since the last coaster at VF and the park has never had that many years between a coaster or big thrill ride addition like Power Tower plus that 2016 will be the 40th anniversary year for the park. None of these reasons are concrete reasons for it to happen in 2016, it just gives me more optimism than years past for sure. The park easily could not see a new coaster until 2017 or beyond because it is not a CF flagship park. I agree. Even though it's not impossible for VF to get a new coaster in 2015 or 2016, the general direction of things leads me to believe that 2017 will be our year. Also, if 2016 does end up being a year of general improvements, then it might not be a bad idea for Valleyfair to have a 40th anniversary event similar to the one happening at Kings Diminion this year. It would be interesting for the park to bring back some stuff that it had in it's early days. I wouldn't know what those would be because I'm not that old, but it would be cool to see. Even though Route 76 is an addition with a nostalgia factor, a 40th anniversary event is still possible in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valleyfairfanatic Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Most people have been thinking that 2015 will be the waterpark expansion, and then a new coaster will come in 2016. I've been thinking about this lately, and I think that while we will get the waterpark expansion next year, 2016 will be a year with just general improvements and no new coaster. I think that it will happen that way because Valleyfair has had years in the recent past with no new additions (2010, 2012), so based on that trend, the park might decide to just go with general improvements for 2016. Also, that would give VF another year to save capital to build a quality coaster rather than something cheap. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just trying to be realistic. Exactly what I said back on Page 130 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Picture from VF's Facebook page of the new Ferris Wheel lights. It definitely looks much better than it used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valleyfairfanatic Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Wow, that looks fantastic, I can't wait to ride it this year, It will be interesting if the light packages and the rethemed rides will draw more attention and more riders, I might just have to ride scrambler and tilt a whirl. What do you guys think about northern lights? Do you think its good? Or do you think valley fair could have done with out it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 (edited) ^I've never ridden a Zamperla Disk'O coaster, but it looks fun for what it is. What I find interesting is that if you look at the Thrill Rides list on the Valleyfair website or the moblie app, Northern Lights is on that list and has a thrill rating of 4, and it looks more to me like a family ride. I'm usually on the side of "Don't judge it until you ride it", but if you ask me, I think that a 3 would be the most appropriate thril rating for this situation. Of course, that could change once I ride it. Edited May 4, 2014 by VF15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 ^I've never ridden a Zamperla Disk'O coaster, but it looks fun for what it is. What I find interesting is that if you look at the Thrill Rides list on the Valleyfair website or the moblie website, Northern Lights is on that list and has a thrill rating of 4, and it looks more to me like a family ride. That is funny because they have Renegade with a thrill rating of 4 also. I doubt Northern Lights will be as thrilling as Renegade. Even though I will probably only ride it once or twice a season I like that the park added a family flat ride. Plus, if they were going to bring back the Antique Auto's anyway it's nice to see they maxed out that space of the park by integrating NL in with the Auto's. Looking at the Platinum and Gold Pass benefits they had one big change this year: " Present your Gold or Platinum season pass at the front gate and receive early entry into the park starting at 9:30am through September 1! Gold & Platinum pass holders will be able to enjoy early access on rides in Route 76 such as, Scrambler, Tilter, Northern Lights, Antique Autos, Steel Venom, Enterprise and Carousel. Gold and Platinum season pass holders can also indulge at our All-New Auntie Anne's food location as well as Caribou Coffee." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 From Valleyfairzone's Twitter page, this is what remains of Hydroblaster. The plot of land it leaves is much bigger than I thought it would be. With an amount of land like this, I think that we might be in for a very cool Soak City expansion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valleyfairfanatic Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 They could put a very nice water slide there, I hope they could put in a drop panel slide or a looping one, that would actually make me want to go into soak city Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valleyfairfanatic Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 If you guys haven't noticed the webcam is back up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Wow! That van looks AMAZING! I think KI just says something like "Feed your inner Beast!" Here it is..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinsfan33 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 @GMVFDave what is going in Hydroblaster's spot? Dave Frazier @GMVFDave 1m @EBerger6 Landscaping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 @GMVFDave what is going in Hydroblaster's spot? Dave Frazier @GMVFDave 1m @EBerger6 Landscaping. I have a feeling that might just be temporary. If a new attraction is coming to that spot in the future, they're not going to tell us now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker27 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I guess I was correct then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Random question, but does anyone know why Valleyfair isn't opening this weekend? I've been seeing all the buzz about Cedar Point opening today, and from what I've seen over the past few years, Valleyfair usually opens on the same day as Cedar Point, but this year is an exception (correct me if I'm wrong). At first, I thought that being open the first weekend in November was supposed to make up for it, but since all the other Cedar Fair parks are open that weekend (minus Michigan's Adventure), I don't think it is. Next weekend needs to get here, pronto. I haven't been on a coaster since October, and I'm about to reach my breaking point. Speaking of closing weekend, it will be interesting to see if the weather holds out for it, because during that time of year in MN, the weather can be really unpredictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 ^ You are correct, Cedar Point has usually opened the same weekend as VF over the last 5 years. This year they opened a week earlier than usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Just checked the construction cam for Northern Lights and saw them testing it. They were also planting some more shrubs in from the the pine trees in the picture below. The LED lights on the side of Northern Lights are now finished too. This will be different from Pipe Scream at CP which they put side panels on to cover the track and had lights on the ground aimed at the ride to illuminate it. Nice to see some customization between the two for each park. With only one more week to go until opening it looks like all they need to do is lay sod in the area and drop the Antique Auto's on the track. Testing of Northern Lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Planning to go to Valleyfair this Saturday. I've never been on opening Saturday, so for those of you that have gone in the past, how busy will it be? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being near-empty midways and walk-ons, and 10 being so crowded it's not worth going anymore, I'm guessing it will be about a 3, but since I've never gone on opening Saturday, I'm not 100% sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 ^ It usually is about a 3 or less on opening day. And with the forecast only in the 60's it should stay that way. It is usually only season pass holders that show up on opening day because if you were paying for entry wouldn't you want to wait for a nicer day in June than one in May? And until school lets out crowds are lighter. I am planing on hitting the park Friday and Saturday to check out all the changes and get my ride on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valleyfairfanatic Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 ^ It usually is about a 3 or less on opening day. And with the forecast only in the 60's it should stay that way. It is usually only season pass holders that show up on opening day because if you were paying for entry wouldn't you want to wait for a nicer day in June than one in May? And until school lets out crowds are lighter. I am planing on hitting the park Friday and Saturday to check out all the changes and get my ride on. I'll be there also on those exact same days, I hope I can get my Club TPR membership in by then, I will always be wearing a TPR shirt when I go so you'll probably see me a few times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyman6 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 O.K. So yesterday I was able to have a visit with Dave Frazier, Valleyfair's GM. I was able to tour the park and it looks fantastic! I'm not kidding when I say it almost feels like a new park. There were numerous changes throughout the park! Route 76 will be the place that makes everyone say "Wow". Scrambler and Tilter look like brand new rides. Not only did they get new lights and paint but many mechanical upgrades as well such as new motors. Also, they build two new picnic point pavilions and have beefed up their corporate marking staff to keep this are filled during the summer. The cue line for Steel Venom is much shorter than before. Oh, the new cue line entertainment systems are really cool. They are not planning on using these as advertising but rather on entertainment while you wait. It will also have wait times and weather radar to keep you updated on incoming storms. Valleyfair also upgraded the parks sound system, they had it playing and it sounded awesome. There is much more to report but I don't want this post to be too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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