Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread

[VF15]

Today is the most crowded day at Valleyfair I've seen in a while (lots of last day of school trips I assume). Believe it or not, Excalibur's line is actually using the switchbacks.

 

Earlier today, I took my first rides on Breakers Pipeline and Breakers Plunge, both of which were awesome but a little rough on the splashdown. I'll provide a more in-depth review later on.

Excalibur's relatively long line.

[Snowyowl1028]

Today is the most crowded day at Valleyfair I've seen in a while (lots of last day of school trips I assume). Believe it or not, Excalibur's line is actually using the switchbacks.

No way, thats Renegade on a slow day territory!

[RCjunkie]

Just checked the Shakopee city website to see if there were any new building permits for Valleyfair and there is one for a new Haunt building that was issued today. If you look at the valuation at the bottom of the form it has a value of $100,000. Things are looking very interesting for Valleyfair in the future. Tuesday's rumor/map and now this.

The building permit for VF that was issued today for a new Haunt building.

Edited June 4, 2015 by RCjunkie

[Snowyowl1028]

HAUNT building eventually used for dark ride???

[ariznglori]

At the waterpark preview night I talked to Dave Frazier about the project and I asked him about haunt and he said they are currently in the construction project of a permanent haunt structure that Haunt name removed will occupy and in it's old location there will be a this text has been removed and friends at school are saying there will be a new rollercoaster next year that is blue and loops I asked "Where'd you hear that" and they said youtube. And look at this picture;

It's pretty self explanitory

 

So this looks true! What else do you know?

[ariznglori]

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster. I'm from Sioux Falls, so Valleyfair is about the closest amusement to where I live, though I don't get there near as often as I would like.

It's sad to see that Excalibur is probably going goodbye. I wonder if it's actually possible to move Excalibur to a different location? But, based on what I've seen and read, it should open up a lot of possibilities. Especially if they're able to fill in the wetland area back there. Moving that service road is long overdue, that little tunnel was way too small. If they're actually able to fill in the wetland area by Excalibur and Thunder Canyon, maybe they could turn that area into a woodlands or river themed area making it a perfect area for a water monster dark ride.

Another coaster idea would be a coaster that has a station in the area behind High roller, but goes out over the main parking lot going over a redone tollbooth with the turn around in the area by the dorms.

Am I the only person who would like to see the train extended to reach other areas of the park?

 

No you're not. But first we need more park for the train to go through

[VF15]

Had a great day at Valleyfair today. It was quite crowded early in the day, but got better when most of the school groups left. Finally had a chance to ride the new water slides, and I thought they were awesome. Breakers Pipeline was my first experience with trapdoor waterslides, and I was impressed. The sensation of the floor dropping out from underneath is very interesting. Breakers Plunge was also very fun, I especially enjoyed the freefall sensation. My favorite was the trapdoor slide with the helix because that turn was quite intense. I would equate it's intensity to Steel Venom's 3rd launch through the station. The splashdowns on all of the slides were a bit rough on the back, although this roughness is water-induced and there is no headbanging. I personally think the walk to the top is worse than the roughness . Overall, they're great slides, and a good addition to the park.

 

Now for some pictures...

The entrance sign for the slides.

Shot of the whole slide tower.

Another shot.

The Barefoot Beach sign and the adjacent Minute Maid stand.

It looks a lot better in person than in pictures, and it's a good improvement over the other one.

Splash Station was fenced off...

...as was Panic Falls. Not sure if this means anything though.

Another first for me was walking through Dinosaurs Alive (only reason I did it was because of the long lines for everything else and it was free with my season pass). It wasn't a complete waste of time, but I'm still hoping that these Dinos are doomed soon.

Also thought it was interesting that there was a Millennium Force POV playing on FunTV. Until then I had only seen VF POVs being shown.

[VFVSGirl16]

It's been really fun having the Season Pass holders having so many previews this season. Here's the latest:

[CaptainUnknown]

Whoo, that was a busy day. I heard that there were 60 school buses in the parking lot at about 11 am--which is about when I started today. Today is the first time that we ran all 3 towers on Power Tower this year.

[Snowyowl1028]

What non VF povs have you all seen on FunTV? All I have seen is The Beast at KI

[ACES]

This hasn't been brought up yet but would they use The Bumper cars as the location for a new dark ride and is this the last week for school field trips I was there last Thursday they had the park open at 8:30am 4400 kids I'd like to visit a week with out schools there and get some decent ride time without all the school kids plus the park is opening up different areas of the park each month in May it was Steel Venom, Route 76, Tilt a Whirl, Scrambler and Enterprise personally I still think they should have that park open earlly for season pass holders? Are they going to do early rides on Wild Thing, love to see some on Extreme Swing and Power Tower plus Renegade? This month is planet snoopy, High Roller, Corkscrew, one more thing I've been noticing when there opening the park up for early rides some of the rides don't open close to 10:00am? They should have the rides tested open early ready to go? Thoughts?

Edited June 5, 2015 by ACES

[GCI Wooden]

^^Fury, Rebel Yell, Beast, and more that I can't think of at the moment.

[Snowyowl1028]

This hasn't been brought up yet but would they use The Bumper cars as the location for a new dark ride and is this the last week for school field trips I was there last Thursday they had the park open at 8:30am 4400 kids I'd like to visit a week with out schools there and get some decent ride time without all the school kids plus the park is opening up different areas of the park each month in May it was Steel Venom, Route 76, Tilt a Whirl, Scrambler and Enterprise personally I still think they should have that park open earlly for season pass holders? Are they going to do early rides on Wild Thing, love to see some on Extreme Swing and Power Tower plus Renegade? This month is planet snoopy, High Roller, Corkscrew, one more thing I've been noticing when there opening the park up for early rides some of the rides don't open close to 10:00am? They should have the rides tested open early ready to go? Thoughts?

It has been discussed a while ago, pretty much everyone thought the bumper car area would be to small for a dark ride.

[Propeller Factory]

So I live in Virginia, and i have no idea really what the Midwest is like, so can someone tell me how warm/cold it is there? I feel like it would be really cold to be riding water slides. But also it's June so idk.

[WolfmanfromSUFU]

So I live in Virginia, and i have no idea really what the Midwest is like, so can someone tell me how warm/cold it is there? I feel like it would be really cold to be riding water slides. But also it's June so idk.

 

Usually early June is warm enough for swimming and water rides, but the weather can vary quite a bit at times, though.

[ACES]

Here's the long range forecast from myfoxnine weather.

 

June 5th 77

June 6th 71

June 7th 79

June 8th 83

June 9th 81

June 10th 84 HUMID

June 12th 78 June 13th 78.

June 14th 82

June 17th 85 STRONG THUNDERSTORMS

June 20th 78

June 22nd through June 26 upper 80's

 

Long range forecast for July eight days upper 70's eight days low 80's.

 

We normally get eight to twelve 90 degree temperatures during the summer usually around the state fair time unless the jet stream pushes north and we get a heat wave but last summer wasn't that hot or humid winter it's cold.

[APunx176]

Had a great day at Valleyfair today. It was quite crowded early in the day, but got better when most of the school groups left. Finally had a chance to ride the new water slides, and I thought they were awesome. Breakers Pipeline was my first experience with trapdoor waterslides, and I was impressed. The sensation of the floor dropping out from underneath is very interesting. Breakers Plunge was also very fun, I especially enjoyed the freefall sensation. My favorite was the trapdoor slide with the helix because that turn was quite intense. I would equate it's intensity to Steel Venom's 3rd launch through the station. The splashdowns on all of the slides were a bit rough on the back, although this roughness is water-induced and there is no headbanging. I personally think the walk to the top is worse than the roughness . Overall, they're great slides, and a good addition to the park.

 

Now for some pictures...

 

Those look awesome! I really want to ride them. I'm going on Saturday though, so it'd be a little cold and it would probably be the only water attraction I'd hit. Is it still worth it?

[VF15]

^

When I rode the slides yesterday, it was about 66 degrees and overcast, but the water park has heated water, so I wasn't cold at all. I guess it depends on your tolerances for the weather, but I was perfectly comfortable wearing a swimsuit in that weather.

[ACES]

VF15

Does the entire water park have heated water if so I'm going to give it a try. When I rode Thunder Canyon and Rip Tide the water was cold I wish they would have heated water for both those rides, with the rumor for the back of the park I'd like to see Thunder Canyon as part of the water park expansion adding more water falls make it more of a theme ride. What is the heated water temperature normally at?

Make it part of the water park expansion.

[Propeller Factory]

Huh so in your guys opinions (people who live near the park/this weather) do you think that a waterpark is a good investment for a park like this if it's only used for such a short amount of time? That's also interesting that they use heated water. That must feel nice lol

[garyman6]

Water parks are huge right now even up north! Wisconsin Dell's has dominated this industry for many years. Check out Noah's Ark. It is a massive waterpark. What Valleyfair is doing with Soak City is very smart. Each summer 10's of thousands of people drive the 3 hours to the Dell's area. Why not build a waterpark that will temp them to stay closer to home? Add the rest of the park to the ticket and you have a winner! It is a short 4 to 5 month season but it brings in huge revenue for the park. Valleyfair is going to continue an aggressive Soak City expansion schedule and in doing so tap into a very hungry waterpark market in the north.

As for the park in general, the future is bright! Valleyfair now has a season that stretches from May to November. There are many new attractions headed our way im sure. Our next is most likely a new B&M.

[grsupercity]

The midwest can get extremely hot. 85 and humid in the midwest can seem hotter then 100 in the deserts of Arizona and Nevada. Waterparks are the main draw of most parks with a free waterpark.

[Mdcastle]

The waters heated to the point that it's still a bit of a shock going in (unless it's been baking in the sun all day), but you don't get chilled once you get used to it.

 

It should be noted that private pools aren't common in the area. With the short season the maintenance and expense are not worth it and it can actually be a liability when trying to sell a house. So you got to a lake, public pool, or Valleyfair. The area, and especially the suburbs, are car oriented, so there's actually some competition going on between municipal pools to add more and more amenities, so Valleyfair is trying to keep ahead of them to justify it's admission prices.

 

If they don't use the idea to have the path extend back to delineate the waterpark from the rest of the park, and build a new coaster in the yellow area, then it might make sense to do something with Thunder Canyon. If they rebuilt the sides to be a gentle slope maybe it can be Raging Rapids 2.0. My main problem is that brings the "cool down in your clothes" rides down to two (Riptide and The Wave), down from five when Hydroblaster and the Flume were up. The park probably should have less than five but more than two.

[ACES]

I was at the park this morning. I did High Roller four times in the front row till 10:00am. Now that planet snoopy is open this month for early rides going to be on High Roller for a while. They did have two train operation this morning they were expecting a very busy day with school graduation. I went to Renegade also had two train operation early in the morning did some nice ride time for a hour no wait yet. After Renegade I walked around the park Wild Thing que was almost full two train operation didn't surprised me adding a third train The Extreme Swing que line already a 1/2 hour wait full que Power Tower Turbo Drop was getting full and only one Turbo and Space a Shot was running?

 

Also I walked by the Panda Express notice three small red circles or dots its kind of by the curve see if anyone else notices I'm not sure if it's fresh? Probably going to be the second buys day of the season I will be at the park on Saturday. Also the yellow markings by the amphitheater to.

[dboor129]

Alright guys, i'll be at the park tomorrow trying out the new slides for the first time. What should I expect? Are the breakers plunge slides really painful? I won't be there til early afternoon so I'm really hoping the rain will hold out and the sun will stay out at least til 5 or 6!