CaptainUnknown Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 My biggest hope with Northstar is that they don't have a completely F'd up exit like Enterprise did. What was wrong with Enterprise's exit? ^ How so? I've never been to VF so I'm not familiar with the park. It was 2 exit gates, on either side of the control panel/booth. The paths merged behind the control booth and to a single exit gate. I don't understand what's wrong with that setup. It gets people out of the ride area quickly. I would guess he means how it exited back into the main park and nowhere near the entrance to the ride What PhantomPoster32 said. It was very inconvenient. Especially for re-rides or for those that wanted to go into Route 76 afterwards. Because why hit it on the way back when it's right there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCI Wooden Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 My biggest hope with Northstar is that they don't have a completely F'd up exit like Enterprise did. What was wrong with Enterprise's exit? ^ How so? I've never been to VF so I'm not familiar with the park. It was 2 exit gates, on either side of the control panel/booth. The paths merged behind the control booth and to a single exit gate. I don't understand what's wrong with that setup. It gets people out of the ride area quickly. I would guess he means how it exited back into the main park and nowhere near the entrance to the ride What PhantomPoster32 said. It was very inconvenient. Especially for re-rides or for those that wanted to go into Route 76 afterwards. Because why hit it on the way back when it's right there? Gotcha. That part is pretty strange. I don't spend much time back in Route 76 so this was actually a convenience (Maybe that's why they did it, to give people a shortcut back to the park, because I don't think anything existed down Route 76 for quite some time after Enterprise. Don't quote me on that, though.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdcastle Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 When they started the dead-end down to what is now Route 76 they built if over the old entrance path to Enterprise, that's why the weird layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZambeziZinger Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 When they started the dead-end down to what is now Route 76 they built if over the old entrance path to Enterprise, that's why the weird layout. When did that happen? Also was Challenge Park ever accessible from outside the park without park admission like Cedar Point's was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdcastle Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Challenge Park used to be completely separate from the rest of the park. Steel Venom is when they made the connection. There was a restroom building smack in the middle of what is now the path to Route 76, and Enterprises entrance was just to the right, next to the present exit. (And don't get me started about how much I liked Climbing Castle where the train station is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfBobs Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Visiting Valleyfair for the first time tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing what everyone complains about! I am looking forward to new credits however! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCI Wooden Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Visiting Valleyfair for the first time tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing what everyone complains about! I am looking forward to new credits however! I may have some home park bias but I actually think it's a pretty nice park, and most complaints are unwarranted (Like most enthusiast complaints). If you can, get some night rides on Renegade, I have to say this to everyone that goes because it is visibly faster at night. And Charlie Brown Wind-Up is interesting because it feels like you're going to slide out the back of the seat. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VFhauntblog Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I am also going to the park today. Do any of you guys want picture of the progress of Haunt Setup? They started setting up tuesday so there should be quite a bit setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainUnknown Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I retain my belief that the bumper cars building will become Valleyfair's Triotech dark ride. Galaxy Theater is currently the park's only indoor theater, and while it wasn't used all that often during the summer (most likely due to entertainment budget being used to rebuild ampitheatre/bring in All Wheels Extreme), it was used, and will be used for Haunt. It also appears to share a backstage area with Gazebo stage--which has extremely little. Asylum, the Maze that takes over bumper cars for haunt, will be a scare zone this year with the ride remaining open. The corkscrew crossover could use a good repaving and a new ride would be the perfect catalyst for such a thing. The main reason that bumper cars has been dismissed is due to the attraction's size. There is ample room surrounding the attraction to expand the building. See picture below Black: current building Red: space available behind the ride Blue: space available in front of the ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 As long as there's sufficient clearance, there's no liability. While I agree with you, I don't think insurance companies agree. Otherwise I think more parks would utilize the space inside the helixes and wide turns like they do at Cliff's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdcastle Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 So Bumper Cars is too important to shut down for the haunt, but unimportant enough to be replaced with a a dark ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 As long as there's sufficient clearance, there's no liability. While I agree with you, I don't think insurance companies agree. Otherwise I think more parks would utilize the space inside the helixes and wide turns like they do at Cliff's Yeah, they have a different definition of liability, namely, whether they will have to pay out. And they may have to pay out even if the park is not at fault, for a variety of factors. Theme park accidents do tend to make headlines, even when they're not serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VFhauntblog Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 So Bumper Cars is too important to shut down for the haunt, but unimportant enough to be replaced with a a dark ride? It being open this year has nothing to do with it being more important than haunt. They were just unable to put the haunt in there for other reasons. And I do believe they are still using bumper cars for something related to haunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfBobs Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Visiting Valleyfair for the first time tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing what everyone complains about! I am looking forward to new credits however! I may have some home park bias but I actually think it's a pretty nice park, and most complaints are unwarranted (Like most enthusiast complaints). If you can, get some night rides on Renegade, I have to say this to everyone that goes because it is visibly faster at night. And Charlie Brown Wind-Up is interesting because it feels like you're going to slide out the back of the seat. Have fun! Unfortunately my flight out of Minneapolis prevented me from getting any night rides as I had to leave the park by 4pm. As a first time visitor, visiting while the waterpark is closed for the season, I would say I really enjoy this park. It was fun with some good coasters. Renegade was by far the biggest surprise to me. Only because personally I am not very found of many GCI rides. So I guess I went in with low expectations. I was not expecting as much airtime as I got! I would be very happy if Valleyfair was my home park. I don't see what all the complaints are about honestly. I know most of us fanboys got spoiled in the late 90s and early 2000s coaster boom era, but I see good things happening at this park. North Star will be a solid addition and I think under Ouimet's leadership Valleyfair will grow and be perfect for its market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCI Wooden Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I would be very happy if Valleyfair was my home park. I don't see what all the complaints are about honestly. I know most of us fanboys got spoiled in the late 90s and early 2000s coaster boom era, but I see good things happening at this park. North Star will be a solid addition and I think under Ouimet's leadership Valleyfair will grow and be perfect for its market. Typically, if people are complaining about VF, it's just the constant "It's been 10 years since the last coaster, we need a new coaster NOW" rhetoric that's so common in the enthusiast works. This thread turns into the KD thread every once in a while with everyone reiterating that. People can't seem to realize that the park doesn't need to install a shiny new coaster every other season because it has an extremely loyal local fanbase (If people are considering going to an amusement park in MN, VF is their go-to. Nickelodeon doesn't really get discussed much). ValleyFair doesn't need to do much to get people to come back (Unlike, say, the PA parks, where you could have 3 parks within an hour and a half drive if you lived in the right spot. Those parks actually have competition, VF doesn't) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfBobs Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 You're preaching to the choir here. I worked through the Geauga Lake expansion and demise and I would hate to see it happen again. We were all very excited to see 5 coasters in 2 seasons. Unfortunately it took GL right out of its market and started to bleed cash as the attendance just didn't justify that sort of rapid growth. The norm in this industry for almost all parks is a new coaster every 10-15 years. There are outliers like SFMM, CP and some parks like Dollywood that are experiencing huge growth but even that will slow down. Even Point had a period of 6 years without a coaster between Maverick and Gatekeeper. Again, I think we all got spoiled by the coaster wars era, then the recession hit and things settled down and we are now back to the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 NorthStar parts have arrived! Photo from Valleyfair's Twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCI Wooden Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 ^I'm surprised to see that! They really aren't wasting any time at all! I wonder when we'll see North Star start to go vertical. It doesn't seem out of the question to think that we'll see it start going up by the end of the season, if parts are arriving already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboCharged Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 yes all is not lost for NU i heard some interesting things .... i will be posting in the NU thread .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCjunkie Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Took a couple shots Saturday of the North Star pieces that have arrived. North Star ride parts stored in the old Scrambler area. They found the right park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerColester Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I see on the website that Valleyfair is doing the Pre-K pass next year as well for 3-5 year olds. Kind of strange how Worlds of Fun teased that announcement, while Valleyfair just quietly put it up on their website. I think the Pre-K pass is a great idea and I'm glad Valleyfair is participating in it year 1. I assume this will be a chain-wide deal after this year.. Love the North Star webcam! There is a lot of prep work left as well as laying the foundation, but hopefully there is some vertical construction by the start of October. It is a great marketing strategy to have a new ride under construction while Valleyscare is going on. Especially one as tall as North Star. Should get a lot of people to remember to come back next season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 It's great that they have a webcam but why does Valleyfair insist on using these sh*t webcams when everyone else in the chain gets pixelcaster ones that appear to be 30 FPS? They did the same thing for the waterpark expansion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meghna Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I'd honestly prefer the current webcam because then I don't have to giant spiders crawling across the screen in 30fps, like what happened last year when I was watching the webcam for a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZambeziZinger Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I see on the website that Valleyfair is doing the Pre-K pass next year as well for 3-5 year olds. Kind of strange how Worlds of Fun teased that announcement, while Valleyfair just quietly put it up on their website. I think the Pre-K pass is a great idea and I'm glad Valleyfair is participating in it year 1. I assume this will be a chain-wide deal after this year.. Love the North Star webcam! There is a lot of prep work left as well as laying the foundation, but hopefully there is some vertical construction by the start of October. It is a great marketing strategy to have a new ride under construction while Valleyscare is going on. Especially one as tall as North Star. Should get a lot of people to remember to come back next season! Yeah it was strange that WOF teased it. I would imagine it will be a chain wide thing for next year. I would imagine FunPix will also be moving that way soon as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboCharged Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 on side note.. i wrote to funtime other day. asking if they are going to use the new lED light package they came out with. i was surprised with their response ... i posted the video.. im actually stoked about northstar now. this going to be sweet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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