Valleyfair - Shakopee

Twin Cities Suburbs
Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » August 5th, 2016, 12:58 pm

$300,000 Permit filed for a "star flyer ride"
https://epermits2.logis.org/permits/per ... r=SH084910

This is a StarFlyer, assuming the name of the permit means they're getting a StarFlyer, as opposed to some other model of ride that they're naming Star Flyer. It's consistent with Valleyfair's teaser about "reaching new heights".
Image

Originally all Cedar Fair parks were to have Windseekers, but well-publicized mechanical problems put a stop to further purchases. Of note, Windseeker and a coaster called "Nitro" at Six Flags Great Adventure are the only rides that have ever freaked me out, not even Kinga Ka, a 400 foot launched coaster. Cedar Fair bought Windseekers and Six Flags bought StarFlyers (named "SkyScreamers") by them. It's the same concept of a mammoth take on the swings, Windseeker uses steel beams wheras StarFlyer uses chains, and Windseekers are equipped with spectacular LED lighting displays.

There's two rumors, one is that it's a used 100 foot model that Cedar Fair picked up on their picking trip around Europe, and two that it's a new construction 200 something foot model. Some Starflyers go up to 300 feet but that's above the height limit at Valleyfair.

Silophant
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Silophant » August 18th, 2016, 12:27 pm

Joey Senkyr
[email protected]

RailBaronYarr
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby RailBaronYarr » August 18th, 2016, 1:59 pm

I did one of these when I happened to be in London on a day off during a work trip a few years back. It was right by the London Eye in a temporary little fair setup. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/03/ ... 1562ab.jpg It was fun, and I really liked the views you got while up in the air for a sustained period of time.

Korh
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Korh » June 24th, 2023, 10:49 pm

I've been down a weird rabbit hole of theme park essays and videos for some reason and buried in it was apparently during the freeze event a few months ago the general manger of the park mentioned to a few creators that attended that Valley Fair is most likely going to get a new coaster in 2025 or 2026 for the parks 50th anniversary, and no their not tearing down Steel Venom or Excalibur to make room (apparently the later is getter/has got a fast lane).

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » June 27th, 2023, 8:49 am

Forgot I had started this thread when I posted my thoughts of this year in the Shakopee thread...

As for the creator visit, I saw that too.

It's now been 16 years since we've gotten a coaster. Speculation has that this is due to Cedar Fair's financial issues related to absorbing Paramount Parks and and the pandemic combined with their stated focus on "family" attractions, at least apart from their flagship park as well the bean counters rather than the visionaries being in control of the company. If they can get 30% of the attendance of a new coaster at 10% of the price by adding a new family flat ride or a new festival, that's what they're going to do. And speculation is the Haunt was cancelled due to the crime explosion amoung wild, out-of-control juvenile gangs lately making it too risky to put on, and too expensive to insure and provide security for.

The creators asked both questions, and FWIW the official answer is that the current park infrastructure can't handle the crowds a new coaster would generate or that the Haunt generates and that they're looking to upgrade it in the next few years.

--------------------

A few years ago I participated in a online focus group. You could tell what management was hoping the answers would be

Question: What new food and beverage offerings would prompt you to make more visits to the park?
Answers: Coaster! Coaster! Coaster!

Q: What new Midway games would prompt you to make more vistits to the park?
A: Coaster! Coaster! Coaster!

Q: What new family attractions would prompt you to make more visits to the park
A: Coaster! Coaster! Coaster!

Korh
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Korh » June 27th, 2023, 11:29 pm

It might just be nostalgia talking but I wouldn't mind Valleyfair expanding family attractions. Specifically renaming planet snoopy to camp snoopy and adding something that isn't just a kiddy flat ride since while I was like 7 or 8 when MOA lost the peanuts branding, I still have some strong memories from it and getting jealous of some of my cousins who got to go on things like the mighty axe and screaming eagle.

Although having seen versions at the other cedar fair parks, they all kinda of pale in comparison to the MOA one.

pjknight01
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby pjknight01 » June 28th, 2023, 6:16 pm

I was recently at Carowinds which is sister Cedar Fair park, but WAY larger. I don't think Valleyfair is going to get a 325ft giga coaster anytime soon. I was surprised to see their kiddo area named Camp Snoopy and felt very much like what the MOA had so I think Valleyfair can switch the name, and maybe expand it.

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » June 29th, 2023, 10:03 am

Do kids nowadays even care about Peanuts, or is the idea that the theming is targeted at nostalgic adults, who are the ones taking their kids there?

My hunch is Thunder Canyon will be the next ride to dissappear.
1) It's old.
2) There's been some high profile incidents involving old raft rides
3) The growth of water parks has depreciated the allure of "get wet in your street clothes" type rides in general. Most people would rather go to Soak City and get wet in their swimming suits.
4) Because of the above, there's been a trend in the industry to remove them.

Tom H.
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Tom H. » June 29th, 2023, 1:44 pm

3) The growth of water parks has depreciated the allure of "get wet in your street clothes" type rides in general.
This is 100% a con against these types of rides (for me at least), not even a diminishing allure. A family member of mine rode it once, somehow unaware that it was a get-wet type ride, and was absolutely miserable in wet denim for the remainder of the day.

Korh
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Korh » June 29th, 2023, 5:26 pm

Do kids nowadays even care about Peanuts, or is the idea that the theming is targeted at nostalgic adults, who are the ones taking their kids there?

My hunch is Thunder Canyon will be the next ride to dissappear.
1) It's old.
2) There's been some high profile incidents involving old raft rides
3) The growth of water parks has depreciated the allure of "get wet in your street clothes" type rides in general. Most people would rather go to Soak City and get wet in their swimming suits.
4) Because of the above, there's been a trend in the industry to remove them.
You can argue the later because that might of been the reasoning even back when MoA first opened since iirc Charles Schulz connection to MN is why 555 reached out to the Knotts Family first for just the rights to the characters but later to help actually built the park instead (although snoopy himself might still be popular enough as a mascot since there are still parts of the world that still really like him).

As for Thunder Canyon, I can see it because it and the wave kinda suck if it's not a hot day. Although oddly I've been watching some park influencers talk about both vallyfair and nickelodeon universe and quiet a few weirdly think Paul Bunyan's log chute is the best ride in the mall and one of the best of it's type of ride in the country.

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » June 29th, 2023, 8:47 pm

I was at an event back in the mid 90s where Valleyfair was rented out overnight. As soon as we got in, one of the people we were with thought it would be a good idea to go on the Wave while wearing a heavy cotton shirt and jean shorts, and needless to say her clothes didn't dry out the entire night. Also, it's rather unpleasant if you sit down on Wild Thing or whatever and the person before you was soaking wet.

Weirdly, log flume rides have their fanboys. There was some whining from them when Valleyfair removed their log flume for that "silly" wave pool back in 2008,

My vote for the best ride at Nick Universe would be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shell Shock, one of only two Gerstlauer Sky Flys in North America (the other one is in Waterloo, Iowa of all places). Amusement park rides where the rider has some agency in the experience rather than just being locked to enjoy the view are rather few.

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » November 2nd, 2023, 11:21 am

Cedar Fair and Six Flags merging
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/02/us-them ... -deal.html

Sounds like Cedar Fair will technically be the surviving company and take the Six Flags name and the new board will have 6 from each. New headquarters will be in Charlotte, with the old Cedar Fair headquarters in Ohio mantaining some administrative staff and former Six Flags headquarters in Texas shut down.

It should be interesting considering the different corporate cultures and emphasis, with outside their flagsip parks Cedar Fair going more into cheaper family rides and entertainment while Six Flags continues to build screamers for teens. The Bay area is the only place they have parks directly competing and California's Great America is probably on borrowed time anyway as they don't own the land under it. Wonder if some lesser parks like Valleyfair may be sold to reduce debt. Otherwise we might eventually have Six Flags Valleyfair.

Tom H.
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Tom H. » November 2nd, 2023, 11:34 am

Wonder if some lesser parks like Valleyfair may be sold to reduce debt. Otherwise we might eventually have Six Flags Valleyfair.
You obviously have a much better understanding of the industry than me, but when you say "may be sold", do you mean sold to another operator, or the land sold / redeveloped and the park shut down?

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » November 2nd, 2023, 12:01 pm

I doubt the land under Valleyfair is worth more than the park, so they'ed presumably sell it to another operator. Cedar Fair considered selling Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun back in 2009 to reduce debt following their acquisition of Paramount parks, but ultimately did not at the time.

The three recent precedents for parks shutting down entirely are Six Flags Astroworld, where the value of the land was percieved to be inflated due to the location, Geuga Lakes which got overbuilt for the market as it was originally two parks competing with each other, and was in turn competing with with Cedar Point, and Six Flags New Orleans which was destroyed by Katrina.

Selling off assetts to reduce debt following an merger also happened in 2007 after Premiere Parks bought and took the Six Flags name, where they sold off seven amusement and waterparks to a company called PARC Management. (And it's interesting this will be the third legally seperate company called "Six Flags")

I don't have any concrete information regarding Valleyfair, just throwing it out as a possibility due to being in line with what businesses do, Valleyfair obviously being one of the lesser parks in the chain, the possibilty has been raised before, and half the new board will be from Six Flags which doesn't have the nostalgia for Valleyfair that Cedar Fair board does (it was their first expansion after Cedar Point).

Mdcastle
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Re: Valleyfair - Shakopee

Postby Mdcastle » December 21st, 2023, 7:58 pm

Saw a report on the site formerly known as Twitter that "Lakeshore Landing" was razed and there's that perennial "B&M Invert" rumor is popping up again for 2026. This was the former Dinos Alive ticket booth / gift shop, after it sitting vacant for a few years they tried renting it out last year as a party room, although it was rather small and detached from the main picnic area and it's hard to see why you'd want to have your picnic in an enclosed building on a nice summer day. The close to two dozen times I was there last summer I never saw it being used.

I was out at the "Great Pumpkin Fest" a few times. While no Valleyscare it was still fun to be out with the park all decorated, and some of the adult rides were almost vacant. Renegade was a walk-on, which I had never seen before at any time. The former "Chateau Du Damme" was rethemed as "Enchante Soiree at the Chateau", a sort of interactive drama where audience members "helped" the actors get the ingrediants together for a magical spell. While waiting in line we were told to remove our gloves and mittens, which seemed like a strange request, but OK. At the last scene, they turned on a black light, told us to look at our hand to see if we were the "Chosen One", and a girl with UV ink on her hand got the honor of putting the last ingrediant into the spell pot.

I wondered how they had done the trick and wondered if she was a plant, but then I realized they wouldn't have asked us all to take gloves and mittens off if that were a case. Then I figured it out, a couple of scenese before an actor took the hands of an audience member and did a few dance steps. The cast member had smeared ink on her hand beforehand so it would rub off on the hand of the audience member.


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