Valleyfair (VF) Discussion Thread

[Vonni]

Are there good haunts in the Minneapolis area to fill the void? I'm not familiar with the area. 

[garyman6]

On 3/24/2022 at 11:16 AM, Vonni said:

Are there good haunts in the Minneapolis area to fill the void? I'm not familiar with the area. 

Yes, there are many but none come even close to what ValleyScare offered.  I'm sure they are all drooling at the thought of all those many thousands of Haunt goers that will be coming to their parks now that ValleyScare is no more.  They will be making record profits this year for sure.

[valleyfairfanatic]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:50 PM, valleyfairfanatic said:

I'd be interested to see where the future of the park goes personally. My time there is over, and I felt like towards the end they were putting more emphasis on entertainment and special events. Which is ironic considering it sounds like they cut haunt from the fall lineup in their most recent announcement for 2022. The company is well aware people want a coaster, its just a question of whether or not they are motivated to give us one. 

I hate being right. With that being said, I am wondering how long this lasts. Anyone who has been to valleyfair in the fall or has worked there knows that fall days/afternoons are some of the most dead times around attendance wise. I will be interested to see if shifting to this, but all day will make any remarkable difference compared to haunt attendance. Hopefully its a one off thing and they listen to the overwhelmingly negative responses to this decision. 

[garyman6]

18 hours ago, valleyfairfanatic said:

I hate being right. With that being said, I am wondering how long this lasts. Anyone who has been to valleyfair in the fall or has worked there knows that fall days/afternoons are some of the most dead times around attendance wise. I will be interested to see if shifting to this, but all day will make any remarkable difference compared to haunt attendance. Hopefully its a one off thing and they listen to the overwhelmingly negative responses to this decision. 

My guess is that Cedar Fair wants to perfect this new halloween event for families at VF and CGA, then roll it out to the rest of the parks but end it at 5 pm.  Close the park and then reopen at 7 pm for Haunt.  This event will probably draw an O.K. crowd for families during the daylight hours but I don't see the park being even remotely busy after 6 pm.  

[prozach626]

On 3/17/2022 at 6:26 AM, garyman6 said:

My prediction is that the park will be dead from 7 to 9 pm.

So basically the typical summer crowd?

[garyman6]

Well I was talking about late September through October.  The crowds that came out for Haunt were insane.  That won't happen with this new event but I'm hoping it's only a temporary thing and they bring back Haunt.

[Vonni]

It honestly just doesnt make any sense. I dont know the first thing about running an amusement park, but I just cant see cutting a halloween event being a good business move. Halloween (I'm talking adult halloween) only becomes more popular with each passing year. Haunted houses are always packed across the country. How was this remotely a good business decision? 

[budtbum]

Maybe some corporate decision was made about what they want their "brand" to be. 

Nothing else makes much sense for why they would stop the biggest show of the year. 

But even that is a stretch since all day Sunday and Saturday morning and afternoons were still little kid friendly. They are talking Friday and Saturday nights only, and only after the regular summer season is over- No water park etc. open... 

It will be interesting to see what the corporate board decides after they see the revenue numbers at the end of the year. 

[garyman6]

In other news, has anyone seen the tree clearing between Thunder Canyon and Excalibur?  It's pretty significant.  In the pic you can see that its a clear view now of Thunder Canyon's Pumping station, you could never see that before.  I also saw lots of activity around Excalibur and there were several wrapped items stored at the base of Excalibur on its west side.  I drove by Valleyfair yesterday, a big portion of the parking lot has been repaved, I saw some retaining wall work being done near Wild Things station and there was a Train that valleyed on Wild Thing.  A crew was doing some work on the first or second car.  It was interesting to see.  One last thing I saw was that one of the building behind Northern Lights and Antique cars is gone.  It used to be the building right next to the old bumper boats.  I think it was only being used for storage but it's interesting to see it gone.  Anyone know anything?

[garyman6]

I've added some google map perspective.  In the tree clearing image you can see what I believe is the scope of the tree clearing that I saw.  In the image of the missing building you can see the building that was removed and the space it frees up.  Plenty for a large new flat ride.  Anyway, I'd love to hear any speculation or ideas of what you think is going on.

[CP_RULES]

9 hours ago, garyman6 said:

 Anyway, I'd love to hear any speculation or ideas of what you think is going on.

Aquatrax. Shared pumping station with Thunder Canyon. Only thing that makes sense!

[WithLeast]

On 4/27/2022 at 9:28 AM, garyman6 said:

Anyway, I'd love to hear any speculation or ideas of what you think is going on.

I have a feeling that this just means the rumored/leaked(?) plans of replacing Excalibur with a parking lot for the water park might finally be happening. That would probably mean a water park expansion though. I am interested to see if there are going to be any marking or hints of something new when the park opens is a couple weeks

[samsam1029]

On 4/27/2022 at 9:28 AM, garyman6 said:

Anyway, I'd love to hear any speculation or ideas of what you think is going on.

Has the Wild Thing valleyed there in the past? Typically it’s zooming up until those dreaded trim breaks.

[samsam1029]

22 minutes ago, WithLeast said:

I have a feeling that this just means the rumored/leaked(?) plans of replacing Excalibur with a parking lot for the water park might finally be happening. That would probably mean a water park expansion though.

Man if Excalibur is leaving that’ll upset a lot of people who are already upset about Valleyscare. I personally have never gone to the waterpark nor do I know anyone who goes there for the waterpark.

[grsupercity]

11 hours ago, samsam1029 said:

Man if Excalibur is leaving that’ll upset a lot of people who are already upset about Valleyscare. I personally have never gone to the waterpark nor do I know anyone who goes there for the waterpark.

Valleyfair has the weakest waterpark in the chain. If they get it on par with the others in the chain you might be more tempted to visit it. I feel like this is gonna finally be the year some of these small parks get love.

[garyman6]

12 hours ago, samsam1029 said:

Has the Wild Thing valleyed there in the past? Typically it’s zooming up until those dreaded trim breaks.

Not to my knowledge.  Where they were working seems to point out a bad wheel assemble that caused a lot of drag.  There were no dummies in the train either so that would have contributed to the valley with less weight in the train.

[samsam1029]

16 hours ago, grsupercity said:

Valleyfair has the weakest waterpark in the chain. If they get it on par with the others in the chain you might be more tempted to visit it. I feel like this is gonna finally be the year some of these small parks get love.

The waterpark really shouldn’t be the priority. The park hasn’t received a new coaster since Renegade in 2007 and the last waterpark expansion was in 2015. So why would they do another waterpark expansion before giving this park a new coaster that they so desperately need (especially if the expansion means removing Excalibur)?

[coasterbill]

 

5 hours ago, samsam1029 said:

The waterpark really shouldn’t be the priority. The park hasn’t received a new coaster since Renegade in 2007 and the last waterpark expansion was in 2015. 

Their water park is awful and Mall of America is in the process of building one right down the road. 

Water parks make a ton of money and they’re going to be facing a ton of competition soon so they really need to bring it up to modern-day standards.

The theme park is facing no real competition of any kind.

I get it, I’d prefer it if they built a crazy new coaster instead but investing heavily in the water park is a much more sensible decision right now.

[Lightning Rod]

They normally sent out the first test cycle of the season on Wild Thing without water dummies to see if it can make it back to the station that’s normal to see how it runs it probably valleyed because there wasn’t enough weight on the train.

[samsam1029]

3 hours ago, coasterbill said:

investing heavily in the water park is a much more sensible decision right now.

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but the MoA project isn’t an outdoor waterpark, right? So they’re wanting to compete against a gigantic 400 million dollar waterpark that’s open all season long? I just don’t agree that another waterpark expansion is needed. I still don’t know anyone who goes to their waterpark after their 2015 waterpark expansion.
 

I’d feel bad for the person managing their Twitter if they have to announce the removal of Excalibur. She basically gets bombarded with people asking for the next coaster and obviously that news would upset people.

[coasterbill]

3 hours ago, samsam1029 said:

So they’re wanting to compete against a gigantic 400 million dollar waterpark that’s open all season long?

Right. I don't really understand what you're not understanding.

When faced with a decision between investing in something that has no meaningful competition of any kind or investing in something that has major competition on the way right down the street and is cheaper to invest in anyway, there's really not much to think about.

[boldikus]

2 hours ago, coasterbill said:

Right. I don't really understand what you're not understanding.

When faced with a decision between investing in something that has no meaningful competition of any kind or investing in something that has major competition on the way right down the street and is cheaper to invest in anyway, there's really not much to think about.

BuT ThEy ShOuLd BuILd A nEw RoLLiE CoAsTiE!!!.!.!! ItS WhAt tHe ThOoSiEs WaNt!!,,!!

[samsam1029]

5 hours ago, coasterbill said:

Right. I don't really understand what you're not understanding.

When faced with a decision between investing in something that has no meaningful competition of any kind or investing in something that has major competition on the way right down the street and is cheaper to invest in anyway, there's really not much to think about.

I do understand what you're saying, but I just think a little differently. 

I've lived here for the past 15 years and have been very frustrated that my hometown park never gets any investment from Cedar Fair. I've been riding the same rides since when I was in middle school getting my season pass. Now I hear we might finally get some of that sweet Cedar Fair $$$ and then I hear it's potentially being used for a waterpark - it's just disappointing. It was disappointing back in 2015 and it'll be disappointing again.

[garyman6]

19 hours ago, coasterbill said:

Right. I don't really understand what you're not understanding.

When faced with a decision between investing in something that has no meaningful competition of any kind or investing in something that has major competition on the way right down the street and is cheaper to invest in anyway, there's really not much to think about.

Well, I have to disagree that Valleyfair has no meaningful competition.  Adventureland just got bought by Herschend Family Entertainment so you know they are going to put a lot of money into that park to bring it up to their standards.  And, this year a brand new park in Waterloo, IA, Lost Island, will open.  How is this not competition?  I don't disagree with your waterpark assessment, but a 350K sq ft indoor waterpark is a different product then any outdoor waterpark.  In the summer, most people go to a waterpark to get SUN.  Can't do that indoors. 

Cedar Fair has to know that they really need to tackle both the dry park and the waterpark, and they don't have a decade to do it.  

BTW, Excalibur has it's train in the station and is ready to go for this season.  I'm hoping that they are re-evaluating the need to remove Excalibur and are working on a plan to expand the waterpark and keep Excalibur.

[boldikus]

14 hours ago, samsam1029 said:

I do understand what you're saying, but I just think a little differently. 

 

As long as you realize you're "thinking" about this the way an enthusiast would, not how a business would.