urbanMSP

There's been rumors going around since this spring, but now it's official: The (former Pepsi-Cola) Imax theater is a goner. Fire department will conduct practice burns followed by demolition in a few weeks.
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/229543431.html

This isn't surprising. Valleyfair's waterpark is, shall we say, lacking compared to modern standards, and after knocking down the flume a few years ago the Imax is the next logical direction to expand it. And the Imax is 30 years old and probably needs remodeling and updates to the mechanical and technological systems if they wanted to keep it.

This a few weeks after the announcement of "Route 76", replacing the go-karts with a new small roller coaster and an antique auto ride, and moving the Tilt-a-Whirl and Scrambler to the area.

Considering they are owned by the same group as Cedar Point, I don't know why we have so few options for rollercoasters when Cedar Point had 8 or more and we are lucky to have about 4 that are worth the thrill.

According to Wikipedia, Valleyfair has 8 roller coasters (1 of which is a kiddie coaster), and Cedar Point has 16 (two kiddie coasters). Given that Cedar Point is 364 acres to Valleyfair's 125, this seems about right. Cedar Point is almost three times as large, and has twice as many coasters.

One issue is there's height restrictions due to the Flying Cloud Airport. I guess it's never been determined if it applies to the whole property of just the central area. But even if they can't build the next Top Thrill Dragster they could at least buy a couple of second-hand used coasters. Valleyfair is a yawn-fest, but Cedar Fair won't invest much in it because attendance is so low, and attendance is so low because it's one of the worst of the national chain parks.

It is that vicious circle. Nothing to make people want to come and spend money, so they don't invest in the park so attendance drops more as they find other parks that they can take trips to. Kinda like sports teams here in this area. Will not spend money to get people to want to be interested in their product and then piss and moan that that can't make money. No one going to pay money to see a losing team, and no one is going to waste their money on an also ran amusement park when there are better options for the money out there.

Hey, at least they're in Shakopee, land of 10,000 business subsidies, in case they ever need a break.

Hey, at least they're in Shakopee, land of 10,000 business subsidies, in case they ever need a break.

When does Shakopee go broke?

It's interesting that they chose to relocate the Tilt-a-Whirl for the second time, if they shift the WIld Thing queue and demo a few food stands and a set of restrooms there'd be a medium sized area opened up next to the waterpark, although it would be behind the wave pool building and to connect it they 'd have to take out a row of the cabanas that they can never seem to rent. Seems like teenagers don't rent "luxury suites".

I'd speculate that the Corkscrew and Excalibur may be removed eventually. Corkscrew uses up a lot of prime land and no one rides Excalibur since it's way back in the park, and old Arrow coasters are rapidly biting the dust since Arrow is long out of business and it's getting hard to maintain them.

I sincerely hope they don't take out the Corkscrew. That's such a smooth coaster and a classic!

I sincerely hope they don't take out the Corkscrew. That's such a smooth coaster and a classic!

That is one of the few rides that is worth going to Valley fair for.

I don't know if the low attendance is from people choosing to go to other amusement parks, as there aren't any around here besides the one at MOA, and the nearest better one is six and a half hours away. I think our state's outdoor culture plays a big role as well compared to other states, what with cabins, camping, boating, and all that stuff being major pastimes here compared to other places. Granted, the park itself is mediocre, but I think even a good park would have a tougher time here compared to elsewhere.

I'm probably not their demographic, but it's been over 10 years since I've gone. My kids are dying to go so I'll probably break down and go next year. I just remember the lines being horribly long, the food was awful and expensive.

I think one of the distinct disadvantages with Valleyfair is our weather; they only get 5 months of operation to make it or break it. At that point why would they invest a lot in new rides? The profit margin has to be REALLY slim.

A season pass is worth it if you only go twice. I'd go after work on hot days just to sun myself and take a swim in the waterpark, but I probably live closer than most members here, it's less than a half hours drive for me, and I do shopping and visit my parents in the area to so I generally combine trips. I only stay a few hours so I don't buy outrageous food.

As far as the weather- really only parks in places like Florida are open more than five months- even with nicer weather it's not worth it with the teens back in school. If you exclude Disney and such which are a whole different story, 2 of the 3 best parks are both in cold northern climates- Cedar Point and Six Flags Great Adventure (with Six Flags Magic Mountain being in sunny California). Maybe there's a lack of things to do around Kansas City, but the metro area is smaller and they have two decent sized parks there, Worlds of Funs is better than Valleyfair and Oceans of Fun being light years ahead of Valleyfair Soak City. Of the three I've only been to SFGAdv, I planned a trip to the NE coast to include it.

As far as Arrow coasters- Shockwave and it's twin the Great American Scream Machine were underappreciated- just the massive height and speed with the loops was something that's still hard to find, but they bit the dust like a lot of other old Arrrows.

Shockwave is gone? I rode that beast!

Yep, Shockwave kind of went down before it's time, unless SFGAm wants to build structured parking which is probably too spendy they have to pull down a ride to build something new. Several Six Flags parks got B&M flyers, and they were going to pull down the Whizzer, but people cried because it was a classic, so they took down Shockwave instead hoping to sell it (Valleyfair should have bought it). GASM lasted a lot longer, but finally was demolished because of increasing maintenance and parts availability issues.

So Challenge Park is completely gone then eh? No golf, karts, or bumper boats, is the ripcord still there?

Ripcord is still there- the last vestige of Challenge Park. Golf mountain was taken out because it wasn't ADA compliant, and bumper boats have been gone a few years.

The new park map is out, and it doesn't include Hydroblaster.

No great loss there. All the other non-waterpark water rides start and end in the same place, so there can be cubbies to put your phone and wallet into. But to ride Hydroblaster, you pretty much have to have someone in your group that doesn't want to go.

Any plans for a new coaster anytime soon?