Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread

[coastersandhockey]

I had a theory that they hadn't announced anything yet because they were waiting to see which slides survived deconstruction from Six Flags America that they could move to Valleyfair but now that we see the complex up we know it's a brand new complex. Which makes their lack of announcement all the more puzzling. 

[Swishtime101]

Some recent aerials confirm the slide tower is completed and has a total of five slides— three tube and two parallel pursuits.

 

More intriguing, however, is the focus on the old starship plot of land. Appears to only be a small,  shallow lagoon with enough space behind it for modern kiddie slides and more cabanas. So much for the idea of a split rock lighthouse themed large scale bucket dump complex (perfectly matches the retheme but oh well). 

 

Anyone else have thoughts? I know this thread may as well be dead, but perhaps there are still some optimistic enthusiasts out there who bear the unfortunate reality of VF being their home park. 

[Mdcastle]

You can see what look to be pieces of kid's slides sitting down in the grass where the exit to Raging Rapids used to be, like they set them down their until the lagoon at the old Looping Starship is ready. A few other thoughts-

Looks like they may be making a new main entrance between the kiddie slide lagoon? and Barefoot Beach. This makes more sense why the'd put a pumphouse in what was formerly one of the prime locations right at the entrance to the waterpark- they might be planning to wall off the old entrance so the pumphouse is way in the back. 

The old-old kiddie splash station might be a good spot for a future addition of the big family dump bucket structure that we're still missing. 

[Swishtime101]

https://www.sixflags.com/blog/looking-forward-a-new-chapter-for-six-flags?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAb21jcAQWe4NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA81NjcwNjczNDMzNTI0MjcAAac0dCytdOw_FYtqRjDBVh0UdvTHFcs2AtSqV0CWnq_fcNlEt6Kejfae8AQkIQ_aem_fAAr-6B7Tgc978O9VbOILA

I have my thoughts on this, but for now I'll just drop this here...

[prozach626]

It's a theme park forum so it's probably appropriate and beneficial to the users to share it. This place is dead enough now without withholding posts.

[SharkTums]

I honestly found Valleyfair the most shocking park in the announcement.  It's an original Cedar FAIR park!!!  I realize SFStL is also, but that park has felt on the way out for years already!

[CaptainUnknown]

^To add to that, Valleyfair wasn't part of the parks originally trademarked by Enchanted Parks. And the park recently took out a $45M loan to use for CapEx. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that.

[RCjunkie]

This is probably best for VF. As scary as it can be for not knowing what will happen with the new owners, the old owners were doing next to nothing for their small parks.  Now they may get some attention and investment for a new coaster after 20 years.  We’ll see. 

[prozach626]

2 hours ago, RCjunkie said:

This is probably best for VF. As scary as it can be for not knowing what will happen with the new owners, the old owners were doing next to nothing for their small parks.  Now they may get some attention and investment for a new coaster after 20 years.  We’ll see. 

That seems to be the general consensus with the SFStl crowd, too.

[Swishtime101]

Some new news to me I thought I'd share...

https://amusementtoday.com/2026/03/enchanted-parks-selects-vantage-to-unify-systems-across-all-eight-parks-and-drive-guest-engagement/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQg68xjbGNrBCDq_GZkaWQWUC1tzyJYDeUDv0zvctIOLV2rpcJKIGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHr3yMxvYHXSPNV-sIYGWnZ4nYw3CoVNhSQ5Srg--uE9mKzE4hVab-kUF63dc_aem_h99s-qGc-QwOcZZnW0tSQg

[SoCalJasonland]

The concerning news to me is that it is EPR that is buying the parks.  I looked up what else they owned before the recent purchase: Pacific Park California, Magic Springs Arkansas, Wild Waves Washington, and Frontier City Oklahoma, and only Frontier City has added a coaster in the past two decades and it was a family Zamperla coaster.  I went by Wikipedia so I am not sure if I missed any other additions but most of there other parks on the list are waterparks.

If all you are getting is the same de-themed rides, loss of the meal pass, and having to buy and extra yearly pass for Enchanted Parks/EPR; then the people are coming out slightly better off than if the parks just closed.

I hope I am wrong and they invest something into some thrill rides but people expecting a great improvement haven't looked at the way other EPR parks have been run in the past.  Private money/equity buy outs haven't done that well for Vegas or fastfood, so I don't know what to expect with amusement parks except for profit optimization.

[AmyUD06]

13 minutes ago, SoCalJasonland said:

The concerning news to me is that it is EPR that is buying the parks.  I looked up what else they owned before the recent purchase: Pacific Park California, Magic Springs Arkansas, Wild Waves Washington, and Frontier City Oklahoma, and only Frontier City has added a coaster in the past two decades and it was a family Zamperla coaster.  I went by Wikipedia so I am not sure if I missed any other additions but most of there other parks on the list are waterparks.

If all you are getting is the same de-themed rides, loss of the meal pass, and having to buy and extra yearly pass for Enchanted Parks/EPR; then the people are coming out slightly better off than if the parks just closed.

I hope I am wrong and they invest something into some thrill rides but people expecting a great improvement haven't looked at the way other EPR parks have been run in the past.  Private money/equity buy outs haven't done that well for Vegas or fastfood, so I don't know what to expect with amusement parks except for profit optimization.

Would you prefer the parks that are going to be run by EnParks be closed all together?  Because that is the most likely alternative in a timeline where EnParks/EPR did not buy these parks.

[Swishtime101]

Here are some positive views.

From their Instagram themselves they have said, "Our focus is simple: Preserve what makes each park special. Support the incredible teams behind them. Continue serving the communities that have supported these parks for generations." 

Another quote pulled from an Amusement Today article, "Like I said, we have a 40-year lease. We’re committed long-term to these parks,” Harhi told AT. “We’re not going to walk away from that legacy. We’re really excited about building on the rich history of each park.” This came from an interview with James Hari, which I'll link down below. 

It would seem that if there is a problem with capital investments going forward, it will be on end of EPR, not at the end of Enchanted Parks. Enchanted seems to want to evolve as an amusement park operator, not just simply pick up another source of income. At the end of the day, I guess it's all up to the greed of EPR, and as long as they don't get so caught up in retained earnings or whatever the proper corporate financial term is, then these parks will arguably be better than they were under Six Flags/ Cedar Fair not getting anything of notice. 

Source: 

https://amusementtoday.com/2026/03/breaking-news-enchanted-parks-acquires-multiple-six-flags-properties/

[SoCalJasonland]

12 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

Would you prefer the parks that are going to be run by EnParks be closed all together?  Because that is the most likely alternative in a timeline where EnParks/EPR did not buy these parks.

I am fine with them staying open as I worked at Frontier City during high school, loved the charm of the smaller Six Flags/Premier Parks, and was happy that EPR kept them around even though the general public bitches about  Frontier City.   We did drive to SFOT when we wanted to go on real roller coasters though.

I have posted online before that people are lucky the parks are staying open and not receiving the SFA, CGA, SFWOA,/Geuga Lake, Astroworld, or SFNO, type of fate.  But many other people, mostly on Reddit, are acting like that isn't good enough and the new owners need to improve the parks because Six Flags and Cedar Fair neglected them or they will never visit the parks again.  

I am hoping people can be a little more grateful that the parks are still around and not a new housing development.  SF Magic Moutain would have been a housing development 20  years ago if the local California govenment hadn't have voted to deny a zoning change from entertaiment to residential.  CGA was not as lucky with Santa Clara.  Former SFNO is still a swamp that is still begging for $50 million to turn into a sports / fitness park.  Amusement Parks futures are not guaranteed.

 

 

[SoCalJasonland]

22 hours ago, Swishtime101 said:

 

It would seem that if there is a problem with capital investments going forward, it will be on end of EPR, not at the end of Enchanted Parks. Enchanted seems to want to evolve as an amusement park operator, not just simply pick up another source of income. At the end of the day, I guess it's all up to the greed of EPR, and as long as they don't get so caught up in retained earnings or whatever the proper corporate financial term is, then these parks will arguably be better than they were under Six Flags/ Cedar Fair not getting anything of notice. 

Source: 

https://amusementtoday.com/2026/03/breaking-news-enchanted-parks-acquires-multiple-six-flags-properties/

This could be the sole issue though.  I would imagine that capital improvements are a percentage of the parks' profits.  So if the park made $10 million on 1 million visitors then they might put 10%- 20% of that into park improvements or $1 to $2 million dollars.  

If 20% of the people quit going because of the loss of IPs, meal passes, or having to buy an extra Enchanted Parks pass each year and the park only makes $8 million that year then 10% to 20% of that is only $800,000 to $1,600,000 in improvements.  If more people stop going the next year then it can become a death spiral.  People keep waiting to visit until they get a new big coaster that never comes.  

It can become like when Southwest charges for lugagge or seat assignments.  That isn't all free money as less people will fly with them because benefits have been removed.  It is a delicate balance that can be disrupted.  They will go bankrupt if they buy eveyone a bunch of new coasters like Premier Parks did with Six Flags takeover but if they don't offer anything for the removed benefits, I can't see it going that well either.  I am hoping that they realize this before it is too late and many people just quit the chain.

My wish is that everyone is happy like when United Parks took over Seaworld chain and made everything better   No more complaints from the happy Busch and Seaworld customers.

[prozach626]

On 3/13/2026 at 1:13 PM, SoCalJasonland said:

people are coming out slightly better off than if the parks just closed.

For real though?

[SoCalJasonland]

22 hours ago, prozach626 said:

For real though?

I apologize for coming off as overly negative.  I just see what private money/equity did for the Vegas strip or Southwest and people complaining about price increases but no increase in quality yet people think it will save Six Flags or its ex-parks.  I hope I am wrong and the new management does better than Zimmerman or Bassoul.  I will wish for the best and not complain about it any longer.

[Swishtime101]

Well, this is interesting. I opened the app to look at the WP expansion again and they removed the additions. 

 

We now have a side by side comparison of what it used to look like and what it will look like now when the park opens. 

 

Note the old splash pad by the lazy river entrance is now a pool (adults only with a bar?). This was something previously not noted.

[Swishtime101]

On 2/17/2026 at 8:19 PM, Mdcastle said:

You can see what look to be pieces of kid's slides sitting down in the grass where the exit to Raging Rapids used to be, like they set them down their until the lagoon at the old Looping Starship is ready. A few other thoughts-

Looks like they may be making a new main entrance between the kiddie slide lagoon? and Barefoot Beach. This makes more sense why the'd put a pumphouse in what was formerly one of the prime locations right at the entrance to the waterpark- they might be planning to wall off the old entrance so the pumphouse is way in the back. 

The old-old kiddie splash station might be a good spot for a future addition of the big family dump bucket structure that we're still missing. 

Now, take what I say with a grain of salt, as I have no validity to my vision for the park, but having this updated water park is definitely a plus for the future of Valleyfair. People can say what they want about Enchanted's takeover, but from listening to the Coaster101 podcast recently, and seeing what Enchanted has been posting on their social media accounts, I don't see Valleyfair heading in a bad direction. 

 

As for the waterpark in its current state this year, having a quality tube slide complex has always been a need with VF's waterpark, and I think the one that they went with is on par with what the Dells offer in terms of capacity and layout. The kiddie lagoon and slides are an interesting choice (I would have picked more advanced kid slides like a mini tornado or boomerang wall slide), but there's no doubt that it will be a nice addition. The placement of what appears to be an adult swim pool with a bar attached over where the old kiddie splash pad was is another interesting choice. I would have placed it as an attachment to the stage and the beach bites quick service location. That way, you can listen to performers while enjoying a dip in a pool reserved for adults. But hey, I don't plan theme parks.

 

As for the expansion plans themselves, I think the updated pump house where the walking taco stand used to rest could help support a future dual slide/ raft complex where the current one resides. In my opinion, you level that entire elevated field, and build something vertical that has a few raft slides on the top and some body slides below. Maybe, if lucky, you could also fit a Matt Racer ride where the old entrance was (confirmed in a recent drive by that the new entrance will be over by Mad Mouse). As for the original Barefoot Beach, I think it should eventually be replaced with a large-scale kiddie slide tower with the large bucket on top. Theme it to the Lake Superior lighthouses you can find on the north shore, and have the light at the top spin every time the bucket is scheduled to tip.

 

Does anyone else have thoughts on the matter tho? I know we need a new coaster, but the significant change in the waterpark this year is at least a step in the right direction. All we can do now is continue showing up for Enchanted to prove VF's place in the chain, and explain in any surveys that they send out that we need a new decent-sized coaster (in a perfect world, it would also be in the front and act as a Gatekeeper-style ride). 

[budtbum]

I'm not sure it's an adult swim up bar as the "bar" seems small with no building nearby to supply it. Plus it would make a lot more sense for something like that to be near the music, like you said. 
Though I don't know what they want that pool to be...

But I do think upgrading the water park is the right move. Valleyfair can compete against the Mall of America being outdoors and only 15 miles away. It might even help to draw some visitors.

As much as I'd love to see a new coaster, I think the water park return on investment is the better short term move. 

I've often wondered if Valleyfair doesn't make as much money as other parks (size for size), or if money from Valleyfair helped subsidized other investments in the chain. Either way, that's Enchanted's management decision now. I'd guess they are likely pushing the edge of what they can invest in, just purchasing the parks to begin with. They'll probably need some revenue first, to then further improve the parks like they say they want to. 

Being on the outside looking in on what it says  the park is doing on paper is one thing. Being the owner on the ground who can see the nitty gritty of what is actually happing in real time, that is a whole different level of insight. They do have the advantage of seeing how it's actually running as is this summer. Given the financial setup, I question if they would make any big change (like a large coaster) in the first year after that. 

I don't run the park, but if I did, I would be more inclined to hold off a year or so if it makes it financially feasible to get a bigger ride later, than a smaller more generic one now.