Valleyfair!

I had been to Valleyfair! (yes, like Jeopardy!, the name includes an exclamation point) before, so I was there mainly to get some new credits since my last visit. I was on a tight schedule so it was basically once around the park then out (as a result of this, there are no pics from this day, either). I started out with Steel Venom. It's near the front of the park near Challenge Park. On my last visit many years ago, I recall Challenge Park being in the parking lot, a separate entity from the park itself. It is now gated within the park, making for a rather unshaded awkward peninsular stretch of midway. Steel Venom, being a shuttle coaster, can only run one train max, so I wanted to get it out of the way. Turned out to be a good call because I got on fairly quickly and checked it off the list. I was also pleasantly surprised to find I not only fit in the train, but could do so with very minimal assistance.

After a considerable walk, I decided to check off their Mouse coaster next. These things are also usually capacity nightmares and with a mostly unshaded queue on a very warm day, I didn't want to have to deal with it for long. This installation had a bit more oomph than I was expecting, but rest assured that when the brakes hit, they worked just fine. :/

Renegade was the main attraction, representing the second of four new wood coasters on this trip. I took the time to ride twice (once in front, once in back). Now I grant you, these were early-in-the-day rides without the benefit of warmup time, but I have to say, I don't really see much in this ride. It may not quite be the "nothing" coaster that Saunders makes it out to be, but I do agree with him that it's probably not a "destination" woodie for anyone. If the GCI way of building coasters is your thing, get thee to Missouri instead (but more on that in a future report). I thought there were some pleasant Kentucky Rumbler-esque moments to the ride, but there was nothing remarkable about it. It's kind of like when movie critics think a film isn't severely flawed, but has nothing particularly noteworthy to it either--just bland, you know. One thing I will say is that the ride has a nasty vibration to it that I was not expecting. This is a GCI coaster that's only three or four years old, running GCI trains no less, and it's already getting rough? You've got to be kidding me. This isn't a ride that tries to pack a lot in like Thunderhead, it should stay smooth as glass. Given Cedar Fair's track record, it kinda makes me fear what Prowler will ride like in a few years.

I remember actually liking Excalibur on my last visit, but I had no desire (or time) to walk the rest of the way to the very back of the park, so I skipped it. I did work in a ride on High Roller. Still really enjoy the trains, but what's up with the brake halfway through? It really put me in the mindset of the Hersheypark Comet in terms of "huge potential wasted by a mid-course brake."

My last ride at Valleyfair! was on Wild Thing. I rode near the back when it was new so I tried near the front this time. The layout is really uninspired with a turnaround that wanders far too much to be entertaining. And once again, a mid-course brake is killing a ride. There's a nice series of bunny hops at the end of the ride that would be really fun, but the train's speed gets trimmed so much that it's just a frustrating return to the station.

Park operations were midling--nothing spectacular, but nothing piss-poor either (though single train op and limited seat selection on High Roller was more than a little irksome). Being located outside Minneapolis and being as unremarkable a park as it is, I suspect it will be another very long stretch before I return to Valleyfair! Of course, a third woodie by Gravity Group or a second hyper as good as Phantom's Revenge or Behemoth could change that, but I'm not holding my breath.