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Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread


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Cool, those all sound like good places. Lions Tap is pretty cheap, too--good for after our Valleyfair day. 5-8 is pretty close to MoA, so that'd be good for that day. Both places in Duluth sound good, too. This is a real vacation, not just a coaster trip, so we're going to be in downtown St. Paul for a couple of those days. Anything near the museums that's good?

 

Definitely hit up Cossetta's for some pizza or pasta, a very solid Italian place just a few blocks from the mueseums so you can walk there. Patrick McGovern's is a block away also and is an Irish bar with good food too. If want some local Mexican about a mile away try La Cucharacha and get the enchiladas, their sauce is pretty good. Also in the same location is Dixie's that serves Louisianna and southern style food. None of these are chains so check out the locals for better flavor if you can.

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They've been doing security wanding at the front entrance for at least a week or so, it's probably here to stay. If they ever do give VF a new entrance gate/plaza, I assume they would probably would add metal detectors with it.

 

Just got back from CP and KI last week and they are wanding there before entry too. When I visited KI last in 2010 they had the metal detectors but now they are wanding also. For CP it was causing slow admission from the hotels on site for ERT in the morning and people were not happy. The front of the park had no delays even though they were wanding there also.

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Cool, those all sound like good places. Lions Tap is pretty cheap, too--good for after our Valleyfair day. 5-8 is pretty close to MoA, so that'd be good for that day. Both places in Duluth sound good, too. This is a real vacation, not just a coaster trip, so we're going to be in downtown St. Paul for a couple of those days. Anything near the museums that's good?

 

Definitely hit up Cossetta's for some pizza or pasta, a very solid Italian place just a few blocks from the mueseums so you can walk there. Patrick McGovern's is a block away also and is an Irish bar with good food too. If want some local Mexican about a mile away try La Cucharacha and get the enchiladas, their sauce is pretty good. Also in the same location is Dixie's that serves Louisianna and southern style food. None of these are chains so check out the locals for better flavor if you can.

Perfect, thanks so much! I'm always looking for good local, non-chain eats.

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Now that they're doing bag checks... Do they care if you bring in empty Naglene type water containers? I don't have a problem with drinking their water so I don't need to bring my own in, but I absolutely hate trying to sip out of a drinking fountain.

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For people who are going to or who have gone to cedar point/kings island did you fly or did you drive? I've been trying to plan a weekend getaway to one or both parks. I would like people to answer to live in the twin cities. If I flew and rent a car I wouldn't want to drive too far. Why can't there be a closer airport to Sandusky?!

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^

When I went to KI and CP last year, we drove 12 hours to Kings Island, then 12 hours back to MN from Cedar Point. Even though the drive is doable, I'd recommend flying there if possible, less tiring and you'll avoid the traffic in Chicagoland.

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I went to both Cedar Point and Kings island back in 2013. We drove from Western Minnesota to Cedar Point, and then to Kings island, and back to MN. We spent two days driving to Cedar Point, about 1/2 day drive from Sandusky to Cincinnati, and another 2 day drive from Cincinnati back to MN.

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For people who are going to or who have gone to cedar point/kings island did you fly or did you drive? I've been trying to plan a weekend getaway to one or both parks. I would like people to answer to live in the twin cities. If I flew and rent a car I wouldn't want to drive too far. Why can't there be a closer airport to Sandusky?!

 

I have done both. I drove last week (with 3 other people) and I have flown into Cleveland. Sandusky is only about 60-70 minutes from the Cleveland airport with 95% of it being one highway so it is an easy drive. It will take you about 3 1/2 hours to get from CP to KI. So if your only go to CP you will not be driving much at all. If you don't like driving then you should definitely fly because like VF15 said it takes about 11.5 to 12 hours to get to KI or CP from Minneapolis. I drove this time because I am tired of airport security lines and delays. Both ways have their advantages so go with what you prefer most. As long as you get there that is all that counts. My only suggestion is to get a Fast Lane Plus for CP, you will not regret it. You will get on many more rides (more fun) and have a more relaxing time. Valravn had a 90 minute wait and with Fast Pass we went on it 3 times in 25 minutes. For Maverick it was also a 75-90 minute wait and we never waited more than 15 minutes.

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RCJunkie

I'm going to Cedar Point and Kings Island at the end of July. Would you suggest to get to the park early around 8:00 am to avoid lines with wanding and bag checks?

 

As long as you enter at the front gate you should be fine. We arrived at 8;45 am both days and were in the park by ERT time at 9. They have multiple people wanding up front. We went back to Maverick first both days and people who stayed on site at Breakers were complaining that they only had one person doing wanding back there and they did not get into the park until 9;45 am and they were at the back gate at 9:00 am so that was not good. I did not actually see what was going with the back entrance but only heard from other park goers. My guess is it was a reaction to the Orlando shootings and we went to the park on the Monday and Tuesday right after the shooting. My guess is they suffered some 'growing pains' with this and imagine that they will improve the back admissions as they move forward. But keep in mind I went in June and you are going in July when there will be more people so 8:30 am might be a good time to be at the front gate.

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To be clear, the 12 hour trip I mentioned above does not include stops for gas, food, or a hotel stay, so a one-way drive to Cedar Point from the Twin Cities will take at least a day-and-a-half unless you want to drive through the night and skip the hotel.

 

On another note, it's been confirmed that Valleyfair's new waterslides will be featured on this summer's season of Extreme Waterparks on Travel Channel. Not sure when VF's episode will air though.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2016/06/21/valleyfair-breakers-plunge-extreme-waterslide.html

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I was riding Excalibur today with a friend and I got thrown to the side (like always) and I hit my funny bone so it kind of went limp and reached out sideways and I KID YOU NOT I TOUCHED A POLE WITH THE TIP OF MY MIDDLE FINGER, NOT EVEN TRYING! THIS IS NOT A JOKE AND OMG I WAS FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT. CALL ALL THE BS YOU WANT BUT I HIT THAT D*** POLE!

 

 

Go to about 2:08 and play in the slowest motion, you'll see it's very possible, lol.

 

It didn't hurt very bad, but the tip of my finger got bruised a tiny bit, LOL.

 

I'll still ride it bc I love Excali

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For people who are going to or who have gone to cedar point/kings island did you fly or did you drive? I've been trying to plan a weekend getaway to one or both parks. I would like people to answer to live in the twin cities. If I flew and rent a car I wouldn't want to drive too far. Why can't there be a closer airport to Sandusky?!

 

I have done both. I drove last week (with 3 other people) and I have flown into Cleveland. Sandusky is only about 60-70 minutes from the Cleveland airport with 95% of it being one highway so it is an easy drive. It will take you about 3 1/2 hours to get from CP to KI. So if your only go to CP you will not be driving much at all. If you don't like driving then you should definitely fly because like VF15 said it takes about 11.5 to 12 hours to get to KI or CP from Minneapolis. I drove this time because I am tired of airport security lines and delays. Both ways have their advantages so go with what you prefer most. As long as you get there that is all that counts. My only suggestion is to get a Fast Lane Plus for CP, you will not regret it. You will get on many more rides (more fun) and have a more relaxing time. Valravn had a 90 minute wait and with Fast Pass we went on it 3 times in 25 minutes. For Maverick it was also a 75-90 minute wait and we never waited more than 15 minutes.

 

I have been tinkering with the idea of flying from Chicago to Dayton, Ohio which is only about 40 minutes from Kings Island. As much as I'd love to do both parks, I've been to CP more and I haven't had the chance to ride Banshee yet. Been trying to find travel prices for under $200 round trip but no good luck yet.

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On topic of random travel, I had a voucher for flight credit from Southwest. So i'm doing a crazy coaster trip where I will be flying into Minnesota from Cleveland, attending Valleyfair (first time) and flying back the same day!

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On topic of random travel, I had a voucher for flight credit from Southwest. So i'm doing a crazy coaster trip where I will be flying into Minnesota from Cleveland, attending Valleyfair (first time) and flying back the same day!

 

Enjoy your visit to Valleyfair! Make sure you ride Renegade!

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In terms of getting to CP from Minnesota, a day drive plus some rides is doable but long. Back in 2007 we left at 6am from Edina, MN and drove mostly straight through. We got to CP with enough time to check into Breakers and get into the park for 2 rides on Millennium Force. I wouldn't recommend this type of extreme trip unless you have a couple days to spend at CP to recover!

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Today I checked out the new Valleyfair 40th anniversary exhibit at the Scott County Historical Society in downtown Shakopee and saw some neat old-school stuff.

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General overview of the exhibit.

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2001 park map.

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Exhibit brochure with pre-Corkscrew park map.

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Would not mind having this as a living room seat. ;)

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I miss the buzz bars.

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Colonel Oompahpah lives!

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1975 entrance gate concept art.

Edited by VF15
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That exhibit looks great! Nice to see that old High Roller train!

 

To be clear, the 12 hour trip I mentioned above does not include stops for gas, food, or a hotel stay, so a one-way drive to Cedar Point from the Twin Cities will take at least a day-and-a-half unless you want to drive through the night and skip the hotel.

I'm going to disagree with this. I just got back from this drive. We did it all in one day. we left around 7:00 A.M. and got to Sandusky area at around 8:45 P.M. Eastern. It can be done.

 

Leave early and assume it'll take you all day. It's a pretty easy drive (Essentially 1 road through Wisconsin, 1 road through Indiana/Ohio, but there is the disaster that is Chicago). As long as you can get through Chicago during a non-rush hour time, it works out pretty well.

 

Also, for the bag check/security thing, it takes no time at all. we used the marina entrance, and they actually wanded us and checked people's bags while we were waiting for the park to open (They went through the line, instead of you needing to stand in a line to go to them). I would still recommend getting to the park around 8:30, and walking over to the Marina entrance.

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That exhibit looks great! Nice to see that old High Roller train!

 

To be clear, the 12 hour trip I mentioned above does not include stops for gas, food, or a hotel stay, so a one-way drive to Cedar Point from the Twin Cities will take at least a day-and-a-half unless you want to drive through the night and skip the hotel.

I'm going to disagree with this. I just got back from this drive. We did it all in one day. we left around 7:00 A.M. and got to Sandusky area at around 8:45 P.M. Eastern. It can be done.

 

Leave early and assume it'll take you all day. It's a pretty easy drive (Essentially 1 road through Wisconsin, 1 road through Indiana/Ohio, but there is the disaster that is Chicago). As long as you can get through Chicago during a non-rush hour time, it works out pretty well.

 

Also, for the bag check/security thing, it takes no time at all. we used the marina entrance, and they actually wanded us and checked people's bags while we were waiting for the park to open (They went through the line, instead of you needing to stand in a line to go to them). I would still recommend getting to the park around 8:30, and walking over to the Marina entrance.

 

Agreed.

 

Last week we did the trip from Cedar Point to Sioux Falls, SD, which is farther than the Twin Cities. We left CP around 8:45 eastern and arrived in Sioux Falls around 10 pm CT. That's a very easy drive it's all I-80 for 12 hours, which practically bypasses Chicago completely, and then I-29 for about two hours.

 

To relate this back to VF, yes, it is very possible to drive from VF to CP in one day.

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I'm starting my east coast trip at the end of July 24 August 7th two weeks. I'm going to take I-35 W straight south then head on the Ohio turnpike head straight east non stop. I have done a Cedar Point trip each summer it's right about 12 hour drive. My plan is to work Saturday 23 rd get off work at 2:30 am in the morning sleep till 3:00 pm then go to Valleyfair see a few people then head out at 5:00 pm. I should get there around 4:00 am? I do have a hotel paid for an a room set up. I'm staying at Quality INN South Cedar Point nice thing it's only ten minutes from Cedar Point. Is Mean Streak closed rest of the season?

 

Does anyone have any old construction photos of Wild Thing in 1996 when it was being built?

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Just got back from Valleyfair and did Soak City and all. Unless you want to leave your stuff left behind, I can't recommend enough buying one of the orange key lockers located right outside of the park for 75 cents. They save you $14.25 from a small locker in Soak City. I just bring my phone and wallet with me in a waterproof case and put it in my swimsuit. Works great. You would want to get a re-admission stamp, though. Also, since the front of the gate is so close to the Wave, it gives you a chance to ride that as well.

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