Valleyfair 6-16-2011

My wife, 14 year old son and I were on the way to Yellowstone and added a few days in Twin City area to the itinerary. One of my goals is to visit as many parks as possible. Although we had fun at Valleyfair, it was not one of the best parks we have been to. They didn't offer anything that you couldn't find a better version of elsewhere.

The possible exception to that- Renegade. My main reason for going was to ride Renegade and I wasn't disappointed in that regard. That was a very fun ride with just the right amount of intensity. It was walk on at park opening so we got the front seat. I was amazed when I got a look down that first drop - incredibly looking and just as fun to ride. We were disapointed with the ride restraint system. It was literally a gut buster. It shoved straight into the gut. My wife, who is something like 100 pounds overweight and carries it mostly around her waist, was unable to ride because the thing was just pushing down on her stomach too hard. We have been to many amusement parks and this is the only time that has ever happenned to her.

For some reason, Mad Mouse and Excalibur weren't open at park opening. That was frustrating. So we went on High Roller. Boy did that thing seem rickety. We got stuck on the brakes at the end before the platform for about 10-15 minutes. When we got off, an employee offered to take us directly to Wild Thing to make up for it. As we approached, we noticed that it was stuck on the lift hill, so she changed it to Renegade. That was the overall feel of the park - in serious need of some TLC. Things weren't open or weren't running properly. The food was the usual overpriced Cedar Fair junk. We like buying the whole pizza. Doesn't feel like you're getting ripped off quite as bad and it tastes pretty good. Wild Thing - fun but a bit rickety feeling at times (the chain sounded awful). Too intense for my wife and son to do a repeat ride. That didn't bother me cause I wasn't incredibly impressed (I don't like Magnum that much either). Mad Mouse was the exact same ride as at our homepark (MIA). Which is good, because we like it. We all enjoyed Excalibur. You have to ride it twice before you feel like you've ridden a full coaster though. Thunder Canyon was a pretty good canyon ride. Riptide - the HUSS top spin - was incredibly intense. Both the motion and the complete soaking by water geysers in the face. Recommended only for the most hardcore thrillseeker.

We actually ended up taking a break for a few hours from the park to go to Como Park zoo and that ended up being the highlight of the day. Nickelodeon Universe was also more fun with a better ride selection. So we did Valleyfair open to close and had a good time, but not as much fun as we have had at other parks.

Friendly advice, decil76... You'll get more replies to this post if you edit it into easy to consume paragraph breaks. :)