Valleyfair
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| Valleyfair | |
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 Valleyfair logo |
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| Location | Shakopee, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Address | One Valleyfair Drive Shakopee, Minnesota 55379 |
| Website | http://www.valleyfair.com/ |
| Owner | Cedar Fair Entertainment Company |
| Opened | 1976 |
| Operating season | Daily Memorial Day through Labor Day, some weekends in May and September. Also, Valleyscare in October. |
| Area | 125 acres (0.51 km²) (0.5 km²) |
| Rides | 75+ total
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Valleyfair is a 90 acre (0.5 km²) amusement park located in Shakopee, Minnesota, USA and is currently the largest amusement park in the Upper Midwest United States. It has over 75 rides and currently operates 8 roller coasters, one of the most popular being Wild Thing. The park also has a water park, White Water Country Waterpark, located completely within the park.
The park opened in 1976 and was originally themed as a Coney Island-styled turn-of-the-century amusement park, which leads to some jarring contrasts with modern-style rides like the steel roller coasters Corkscrew and Wild Thing.
The park is owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Valleyfair and Cedar Point are the two original Cedar Fair parks and the Fair in the Cedar Fair name comes from Valleyfair.
Valleyfair’s normal operating season runs daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day and some weekends in May and September. There is also a "Valleyscare" event near Halloween.
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[edit] History
Valleyfair! opened in 1976 featuring 20 rides and attractions on 26 acres, with the roller coaster High Roller being the main attraction. In 1978 in an effort to increase investment capital for continued park expansion, Valleyfair was acquired by Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and placed under the management of Cedar Fair Limited Partnership. The park continues to grow every year with new rides and attractions. Since 1976, Valleyfair has invested over $96 million into the park, and today the park has over 75 rides on 90 acres of land. [1]
[edit] Attractions
[edit] Roller coasters
Although not as well-known a "coaster park" as some other parks like Cedar Point, Valleyfair does have many popular coasters and is known widely for them.
- High Roller - Wooden Out & Back (1976). An ACE Coaster Classic.[2]
- Mild Thing - Steel Kiddie Coaster. (1976) Hershell. This classic Little Dipper was renamed and repainted to match Wild Thing in 1996.[3]
- Wild Rails - Steel Wild Mouse. (1979) (decommissioned 1998) Schwarzkopf. Formerly known as the Wildcat and operated at Cedar Point from 1970-1978.[4] Relocated to Jolly Roger Amusement Park in Maryland.[5]
- Corkscrew - Steel Looping (1980). Arrow Dynamics Features three inversions, including a loop and double corkscrew.
- Excalibur - Hybrid Wood-Steel (1989). Arrow
- Wild Thing - Steel Out & Back (1996). Morgan, D.H. Features a 207 ft (63 m) lift hill with a 198 ft (60 m) drop and the longest stretch of negative-G track in the world.
- Mad Mouse - Steel Wild Mouse (1999). Arrow Dynamics
- Steel Venom – Steel, Inverted, Launched (2003). Intamin AG
- Renegade - Wooden (2007). Great Coasters International, Inc. It features include a twisting first drop, a near-ground high-speed S-turn and a high-speed station fly-by. The ride is 3,113 feet (949 m) long and 104 feet (32 m) high, with a 91-foot (28 m) drop.[6]
[edit] Challenge Park
Challenge Park is located on the southeast corner of the amusement park. Challenge Park is a separate charge attraction and requires Valleyfair admission to participate in activities. Challenge Park features four different attractions: RipCord, Adventure Golf, Go-Karts and Bumper Boats.
[edit] White Water Country Waterpark
White Water Country is a water park located within Valleyfair. It is a no-additional-charge attraction open to all Valleyfair visitors.
[edit] Valleyscare
Valleyscare is a Halloween event put on by Valleyfair starting in 2006. The first event featured 3 indoor haunted houses, one indoor/outdoor haunted house, and one scare zone. The following year (2007) the haunt expanded with one more scare zone. It has been confirmed that there will again be a 2008 Valleyscare Halloween Haunt.
[edit] Accidents
On September 3, 2007, the ride Xtreme Swing experienced a fire in an electrical junction box. There were no injuries, and the ride reopened several days later after the problem was fixed and the ride successfully tested. [7]
18 people were injured on the Wild Thing on May 21, 2006.
[edit] See also
- Excelsior Amusement Park – a park that operated in the region from 1925 to 1973
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.valleyfair.com/public/information/history.cfm ValleyFair Park Information
- ^ ACE Coaster Classic Awards
- ^ Mild thing | CoasterGallery.com
- ^ Wild Rails | Coaster Buzz
- ^ Factsheet | Roller Coaster Data Base
- ^ Coming to a Valleyfair near you: A new wood coaster | Shakopee Valley News
- ^ wcco.com - Ride At Valleyfair Closed After Fire
[edit] External links
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