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Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread


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If there were a coaster built, where would it have a good appeal. I know about the curb but is there any other spot?

Obviously putting it near the front would give it the best curb appeal, but if they can't, hopefully they can get something tall that can be seen from afar. When you approach the park on Highway 101 or 169, Wild Thing, Steel Venom, and Power Tower are the first rides you can see, and if another coaster was tall enough to be seen with those three, that could help to draw people in.

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Maybe a good tall ride could be a shortened, 250 ft tall Windseeker, in the middle of Wild Thing's turnaround or whatever that is (the empty spot).

 

Or a regular sized Windseeker...

 

Doubt it happens though, because of there notorious downtime.

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If there were a coaster built, where would it have a good appeal. I know about the curb but is there any other spot?

 

The best place would be the former picnic area and antique autos area. This is the area where we were supposed to get a coaster back in '06, but now dinos blocks that area. For fun I dropped Raptor over this area, when flipped it fits like a glove:

 

A smaller inverted, like Talon or Patriot, would fit in even better. Add a flat ride or two, new foods and games buildings, maybe a permanent haunt structure, and you've got yourself a neat new area. Access paths could come from where the Restroom is by Highroller's turnaround and somewhere in Planet Snoopy. Flooding could be a concern, but if wouldn't be hard to dyke it in.

 

Oh, and since there are a few out there who still doubt that VF will get a coaster in 2016 let more point out an important fact- 2016 is Valleyfair's 40th anniversary, a fact Dave Frasier is well aware of. If he could he'd build us a new coaster, but sadly the park doesn't have $30 million in cash laying around. So the art now is selling Matt Ouimet... and considering that King's Island's GM was so impressed by Dave and the VF staff when he visited last season that he invited Matt to visit, which Matt did (I left before I could hear the results of this visit), I think the odds are in our favor. Dave's a smart guy, and he's great at balancing big dreams and budget limitations- look how successful Picnic Point has been. A useless money-bleeding area has been transformed into a vibrant money pot. I don't think I'll ever encounter another person of Dave's rank who is so customer focused and detail attentive. Note how they added more seating to the Waterpark this year- Dave's wife pointed out that lack of seating was a problem, so he added more, even if it won't make them more money. We're on the right track guys, but it'll take a few years. "Growth Park" doesn't mean invest $100 million into a park. It means steady, focused improvements, year by year. No matter what happens remember this: We can trust Matt Ouimet, and We can trust Dave Frasier. I'm excited for the future, and I hope you are to!

 

[/rant]

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^

Well, Wild Thing cost $10 million, and Raptor cost $12 million, so something Raptor-esque here isn't totally unrealistic, but I agree that something like Talon is probably more likely. The reason I don't say it will be Patriot-esque is because Patriot is 149 ft tall, and GM Dave Frazier said that VF won't be getting a huge invert like Banshee. Even though 149 ft isn't huge, that's still relatively tall, whereas Talon's height is 135 ft. Also, I don't think VF's next coaster will be a clone of something else because according to garyman6, VF is pushing CF to give us something unique, which is great.

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Dont loose hope yet. Just because we didn't get a soak city expansion that wasn't "good enough" for some people, doesn't mean we won't get a coaster 2016. Im not saying it will be a B&M but I have a feeling they didn't go as large of a scale this year on soak city to put away money for the rumored "2016 coaster." Just a brief update: The haunt employee event is tonight so I will do a full review as soon as possible

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This is a bit off-topic, and it may have been discussed before, but who else would want to see a B&M floorless coaster come to Valleyfair.

 

I would love to see a floor less, even over an invert. And if VF got one as thrilling as Kraken I wouldn't complain for a decade.

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People may question me too but, I really lean everyday towards a Mack Rides launch coaster. I said this a bunch of pages back but I just wanted to restate it.

 

A Mack would be sweet, especially a launched one but they do run on the expensive side and CF has never purchased one yet and that is why I don't even contemplate one at VF. But if CF wants to make VF a test park for Mack like they did for GCI I say "Bring it on!" .

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Valleyfair Photo Trip Report - September 14, 2014

Went to Valleyfair today, and I felt like making a Photo TR out of it, so that's what this is.

 

Days at Valleyfair don't get much better than this. Crowds were pretty light, never waited very long for anything, the weather was perfect, and I got a bunch of laps in.

 

Ride Count

Renegade - 10

Wild Thing - 5

Steel Venom - 3

Excalibur - 3

Corkscrew - 2

High Roller - 1

Mad Mouse - 1

Power Tower (Blue) - 1

Xtreme Swing - 1

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Shakopee is a pretty boring town...

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Hydroblaster Hill, soon to be home to the new slide complex, which I'm really looking forward to.

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Finally took a ride on Mad Mouse for this season. Unfortunately, it wasn't very mad today.

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High Roller from afar. The trims were really strong today :(

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Hello, Renegade.

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FunTV in the Renegade queue. It can sometimes be annoying, but overall, I like it.

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A relatively empty Renegade station.

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Excalibur was, dare I say, running pretty good for it's last day before hibernation.

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The spot where the new splash pad will be going next year.

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Sounds like the old dining patio is probably getting demolished. A new SC entrance is probably going here.

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Corkscrew's loop, my favorite part of the ride.

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Lots of Haunt theming has been set up.

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It's always a good day to be at Valleyfair when the parking lot looks like this.

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Steel Venom twistiness.

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Wild Thing entering the boring part of the figure-8.

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Rides of Valleyfair's past.

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Hellside Farm.

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Ghost boat on the Wave.

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Finally took a ride on Power Tower. I chose the Space Shot side because it's more intense, and has a hint of airtime at the top.

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Took a ride on Extreme Swing. Why is it that this is the only ride at the park that shows the wait time?

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Two new shows are coming to Galaxy Theater for Haunt, but it never said what they were.

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Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed.

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Is it just me, or do you guys find Excalibur's ride ops bent on stapling you?

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Last day for Street Beat. It's always nice listening to these guys.

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Another relatively empty station. This is why today was a great day.

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A little fall foliage has started to show up on some trees. It should look great here in a few weeks.

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Wild Thing cresting the lift.

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Airtime!

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My Renegade lap count so far this season is 42. Looks like I'll make my goal of 50.

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Ended the day with Steel Venom. The train was flying through here.

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Thanks for a great day, Valleyfair!

 

That's it for my TR. If there's anything in here that's not that great, I'm open to constructive criticism.

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...except for this part of it.

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You only went on Xtreme Swing once? It's like one of the best rides in the park! Haha

 

Oh and Red Power Tower is definitely more intense than Blue IMO. Blue is great though because of the airtime and because the wait time is usually shorter.

 

Great pics though.

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^

The reason I think the Space Shot tower is more intense is because you go straight into the action faster, and I find it to be more forceful. But I do like the Turbo Drop towers too because you get a great view of the park and the Minnesota River Valley when you're waiting at the top.

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Hey, I just looked up this info. According to water slide data base, when Valleyfair's new 90' drop slides open in 2015 they will be tied for the 13th tallest waterslide in the world!!! If only we could stretch it a bit we could make the top 10! HaHa!

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^ As I have said before I think the slide complex they chose for VF is better and more thrilling than a Snake Pit like they have put at other CF parks and am glad it was the one they picked. But if your research is true it is just another example of CF going cheap on VF. Why not spend a few more $$$ and get into the top 10? Just ONCE spend a little and throw VF a bone and let the park have a decent something? Maybe CF will surprise everyone and actually spend some $$$ on the next coaster but not getting my hopes up.

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Hey, I just looked up this info. According to water slide data base, when Valleyfair's new 90' drop slides open in 2015 they will be tied for the 13th tallest waterslide in the world!!! If only we could stretch it a bit we could make the top 10! HaHa!

Garyman6, when you interview Mr. Frazier on the 27th, could you ask him how much the waterpark expansion cost? If you can get an answer, it will give us a better idea of whether this was a quality investment or an "on-the-cheap" addition. I'm reserving judgement until I know the facts because I currently know nothing about waterslide costs.

Edited by VF15
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So haunt night was great. Prepare for a long post. Lets start off with the scare zones. Bloodcreek cemetery improved ALOT! They definitely stepped it up this year. Clowns was also better too but I would have liked it to still be a maze. Dino slaughter was disappointing. It was only 5 scare actors dresses as cavemen that you could see coming from a mile away (even without the lights on) (there were no lights on in the park unlike regular haunt). Abnormal alley was just the same mild scare zone as it was last year. Now lets get on to mazes. Bloodshed was great this year, I think i counted 3 drop panels. They added a strobe light area I think. The best part was is that they had barely any lights on in the maze which made it a lot more scary and a lot more confusing. Asylum improved ALOT they added a new area that is like a wall of stuffed animals and there are a few good scares in there. They actually made a strobe mirror maze which has some great scares and adds a lot of chaos to the maze. Zombie High is way better this year, They took the akward maze from last year and really turned it into a great maze, the actors expessially used the space very well. Hellside has got a new kind of claustrophobic layout with a lot of ghillie suit people. I also noticed they put in a lot of dividers so you would be forced to split from who ever was in your group for a short period. They added a open area in the maze that has some fake scare crows and some who are actual people. Chateau was a lot worse then last year, Maybe it was because the lights were on in the maze but it was very predictable, not to mention extremely confusing. London terror down graded in its performance. Even with the new haunt building I don't think they can quite sell that act. It was kinda cheesy at times but very open. Wekilou is the same as last year, I was kind of disappointed with the ending, last year they had a strobe tunnel at the end but it has been removed (who knows they might set it up in time for haunt).

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I think at some point, haunt is about facing your fears, and should stay that way. Also, as someone who's worked in a haunted attraction before, it would be really frustrating to have to worry about which guests are to be scared and which are to be left alone. Guaranteeing guests that they will be fine if they have a glow stick on them would probably generate complaints along the lines of "My kid got scared anyways!".

 

A better alternative is just to walk through the areas during the day. Some kind of up charge behind-the-scenes, lights-on tour of a maze might be cool, and could also inform guests of the type of work that goes into creating these attractions.

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