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Photo TR: Valleyfair Opening Day


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Headed out yesterday to Opening Day & I have to say that the park looks better than it has in years! Everything looked so clean and well cut. The new signs, painted buildings, and other various upgrades really stood out and made the park seem a lot more high end. Overall I was very impressed with all that has been added/modified.

 

Anyway, got there circa 8:30, they opened up the gates, then met up with r78, Neers, and VF7 (Couple members from Valleyfairzone) to play some blackjack. r78 took the winnings unfortunately in a last second all in move. Very intense stuff. The University of Minnesota Marching Band played the National Anthem and then the park opened up. We got in the park and went immediately to High Roller. High Roller + No Trims on the turnaround = DirtNasty. We then headed back to Renegade for a quick ride on that and I don't know what they did to it, but it hauled yesterday. Definitely better than last season. Can't wait to see it warm up!

 

We then headed over to Wild Thing, rode back seat on that, took the tunnel, etc. Great ride! After that we rode Power Tower which was half decent, then headed over to Ripcord to be the first fliers (for the GP at least) for the 2010 season. It was definitely a great flight = )

 

After Ripcord, headed over to say hi to a friend who was working foods, then went on Monster and Corkscrew (which was actually surprisingly smooth). Unfortunately after a fun day of strolling around the park, I had to go to Prom which definitely topped off a good day.

 

Overall it was a great day, beautiful weather, and a fantastic start to what should be a fun-filled season!

 

Also to see a before and after panorama of the main entrance, click down below.

 

Before and After.

 

Here are some of the photos I took. Thanks for reading!

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Playing some Blackjack before the park opened. Good stuff.

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The crowd waiting at the gate before opening. Not quite CP magnitude but still decent.

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Valleyfair Pizza is now Mama Chetta's Pizzeria. Mama Chetta supposedly was a foods manager or supervisor at Cedar Point who passed away after many years of service.

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DOMO!

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Eat Fresh for only $13.85! (No free refills)

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New signage for Stadium Grille.

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New Soak City sign.

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New show called Retro Rockit. Pretty cheesy but overall it was half good.

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Definitely couldn't pass up Ripcord. Staple of Area 1 for sureee.

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Rest in Peace at Michigan's Adventure Bumper Boats

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Here you see the Bumper Boats mechanical sign or somethin' like that.

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Steel Venom looking awfully . . . venomous?

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Here's a new informational sign thingy. Lookin' spiffy.

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Here's some nice concrete. *Some other lame CF joke here*

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Nice new signage out front in the Carousel Plaza.

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Here's what WOF fanboys specialize in. Yes, I did just go there.

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Corkscrew's nice new front car.

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"Before I leave brush my teeth and comb my hair back" - Ke$ha Fail brought to you by Retro Rockit.

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Quack Duck Pond

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Nice new entrance.

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So does Retro Rockit really sing the Ke$ha song with those lyrics?

 

Valleyfair always seems like one of those parks that gets overlooked from time to time, yet it seems to have a decent collection of coasters. Your TR makes it look like they really put a lot of work into sprucing things up for the season--everything looks so bright and colorful. I especially liked those before and after shots you included at the beginning. It's always nice to see a park work on sprucing up the little things like that; it goes a long way to making a difference in the overall feel of the place.

 

I definitely want to make it up to Minnesota some day (this actually would have been my home park had my dad chosen to transfer to Minneapolis when I was three, but the story goes that when my parents' realtor couldn't open the door of a house because it was frozen shut, my mom promptly put her foot down and squashed that idea fast!)

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So does Retro Rockit really sing the Ke$ha song with those lyrics?

Unfortunately, yes. There were also other variations too that made me do a facepalm.

 

Also, here are a few others that didn't turn out as well.

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Steel Venom

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Wild Thing/New Informational Sign

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Various Rides

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Corkscrew with the new Arrow/S&S tree brakes.

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New for 2010 - Tree: The Ride

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Freefallin'

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New Overhang Thingy for WT Photos

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Nice report, Matt!

 

I don't completely understand CF parks offering Subway. When I think of Subway in general, I don't think of a luxury brand. I think of cheap fast-food that doesn't take a lot to assemble. I think CF charging $13 for a footlong is absolutely ridiculous and is likely to lead to more dissatisfied customers than satisfied customers who are willing to pay extra for the brand. I'm sure we would all agree that food at most parks is expensive to begin with. It wouldn't surprise me to hear of people who are initially attracted to Subway, but then walk away and choose the less-expensive options. I don't know...hearing about a family of four that paid $50 to eat lunch at Subway sounds way worse to me than hearing about that same family paying $50 for burgers and fries. I think less-exposed brands such as Panda Express can get away with it because Panda Express isn't easily attainable (at least not in Minnesota). With Subway, you can find one just about anywhere. In fact, there is a Subway literally 5 minutes away from the park in downtown Shakopee.

 

I'm no expert on this matter...rather I am a student who hopes to work in the industry someday and simply doesn't understand this move. What do you all think?

 

Just about every marketing class I have attended in college has preached how it is imperative for a business to establish a loyal relationship with consumers during a time of economic crisis. I see this move as a turn-off and a step backwards toward achieving that goal.

 

It must be at least semi-successful though because Subway is offered at other CF parks as well....

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I've heard that the Subway at WoF has been very successful. In the afternoon's the line is out the door.

 

I think that people have slowly been trained to pay more at places like theme parks, baseball games, concerts....

 

Nobody expects big savings when they go to a park and eat so they eat what sounds the best at the time and pay the listed price. Those that can't or won't pay that much plan ahead and picnic in the parking lot or hit up the local McDonalds.

 

Just about every marketing class I have attended in college has preached how it is imperative for a business to establish a loyal relationship with consumers during a time of economic crisis. I see this move as a turn-off and a step backwards toward achieving that goal
The brunt of the crisis has passed for the most part. Last year the parks had some great deals at the gate and it helped bring people in. During the high point of the crisis you didn't see baseball games discounting beer or food or concerts slashing ticket prices. It's just the nature of the business and for the most part it works.
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Yup, a B&M type invert. The coaster looked kind of like an orange color, and seemed to be showing a fly by while the actors were standing there, and also showing the part of the coaster that seemed to be at the end that would circle around to slow the coaster before finish. Hopefully someone else will see it and capture it. They did show some actual ValleyFair coasters as well, I was just shocked when I saw that invert. Possibly the one in Knotts.. it was a very short segment so didn't have a lot of time to try to figure out which one.

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^It was most likely Silver Bullet at Knotts. If you YouTube CP commercials, you will see that Silver Bullet is used in many of them as well. I recall seeing Ghostrider in a Valleyfair commercial last year (or the year before) and also a close-up of riders on Silver Bullet.

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