Valleyfair Brings Amusement to Minnesota

Thrills. Chills. And a waterpark. What more do you need on a summer day? Icecream or beer? Yeah, they have that too. Valleyfair is Minnesota's number one amusement park. Located in Shakopee, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Valleyfair has excellent rides, games, entertainment, and it's own water park.

Valleyfair covers 90 acres and has over 75 rides and attractions, including the 3.5 acre Whitewater Country Waterpark (included in admission!). Admission for 2007 is $35.95 for adults and $11.95 for children and seniors. You can also get a starlight admission (after 5 pm.) for $17.95 for adults and also $11.95 for children/seniors. Children under 2 are always free. Starlight admission is a great way for people who would like to go on many of the rides, but don't really care for all of the live entertainment or water rides. It's also a great date night for teenagers or adults alike! You can also purchase a two consecutive day Valleyfair pass for $45.95 for adults and $16.95 for children/seniors. It's perfect for the folks who would like to spend one day on the rides/games/entertainment, and the next day at the water park. Parking is $9 for the whole day this year. Oversized vehicles are $12.

If you like rides, Valleyfair will not disappoint you. It has the areas best roller coasters. The roller coasters they feature include the High Roller, the Corkscrew, Steel Venom, Excalibur, and the new rollercoaster for 2007, Renegade. Renegade is Valleyfair's new wooden rollercoaster. Though I have not ridden it yet, there is a real time player on their website where you can get a glimpse of what it would be like to ride it. It looks like a thrill! The High Roller roller coaster is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters around. It dates back to 1976. It's age itself gives you a thrill; it gets a little more rickety each year which ups the fear factor. The corkscrew is a nice steel coaster that loops upside down twice. Steel Venom is a few years old and is a steel coaster in the shape of a snake. You start by going forward 55 mph, then you go back on it's "tail", back and forth. It is a fast ride and one of the most scary rides at Valleyfair. The Wild Thing has speeds of 74 mph and the first drop is 207 feet! This steel coaster is very smooth and perhaps the "grand daddy" of coasters at the park. The twin cities even features a radio contest where riders ride the coaster non stop for a few days in order to win a car! The Excalibur is another wooden and part steel coaster, which originated in 1989. It's top speed is 54.5 mph.

Valleyfair has many other rides other than roller coasters. Some of my favorites include the Wave, which is a big log flume like ride that simply goes up a hill of water, and races down another hill of water, getting you and everyone surrounding you soaked! It's great for the hottest of days at Valleyfair. There is a bridge where spectators watch the ride and get soaked as the log comes crashing down the hill. Another fun ride is the Power Tower. This ride exists at many other parks by other names. It's simply a ride where you sit attached to a tower, and the tower either raises up very fast, or goes up slowly and drops you very fast. Either way, the view at the top is incredible and worth the ride. You can see the land all around the park for miles, and it is green and luscious. The Enterprise has the gondolas placed all around the ride. You sit in an individual seat, and they swing out and spin in a circle. It's a fun ride, and pretty tame, but maybe not after a beer or two. The hydroblaster is a totally dark waterslide which guests slide down in a two person raft. Be careful on this one with weights. I once went on this ride with my much lighter relative (a child) and we got stuck for about 10 minutes in the middle of the ride. It was scary, to say the least. Flume is your typical log ride, which has a 50 foot drop at the end. You will also get wet on this ride, though maybe not as much as the Wave. Thunder Canyon is another water ride that takes you on rafts through rapids. You will definitely get wet on this ride! You go through several water falls.

Valleyfair also has many kids rides and classic "fair" rides, such as mini roller coasters, mini trains, boats, mini "power tower", planes, bumper boats, ferris wheel, go carts, and a mild roller coaster called "Mad Mouse". They also have tilt a whirl and the scrambler, among many others. Child, teen, adult, or senior, there are rides for everyone at Valleyfair.

Valleyfair also features live entertainment each year. The Galaxy Theatre features a musician/comedian, the Gazebo Stage features the show "Let's Groove", which is a show with a variety of high energy songs. The Benchwarmerz band strolls around the park playing music, and the Amphitheatre has African Acrobats. If you like IMAX shows, there is an Imax show featuring Dolphins.

Valleyfair has a number of different fast food restaurants on site, including hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries, smoothies, and baked goods. Recently they also put in a chinese food place. If you want something relatively inexpensive that will seriously fill your stomach for 2 days, try their huge frozen yogurt cone. It's massive!

One of the best parts about Valleyfair is the water park, dubbed Whitewater Country Waterpark. The waterpark is included in your price of admission, which rocks. The waterpark is a great way to cool off on a hot summer day. It really is the perfect size. It's not huge, but you don't need a huge park because there are so many other things to do at Valleyfair. There is a lazy river which wraps around the park, 5 water slides at Panic Falls (2 straight and 3 curvy-slow, fast, faster), a raging rapids water ride (single riders on tubes), a child's park with a mini lazy river, and the Hurricane Falls, where several riders ride on a large tube together on a water slide. The Raging Rapids and the Hurricane Falls are my favorite rides; the rush of water and speed of the rides make them thrilling! The waterpark includes locker rooms, lockers to lock up your swim stuff, money, etc, and a shop that sells swim suits and sunscreen. There are also plenty of icecream snacks for sale at the waterpark. Get there early if you want a beach chair, though, as those fill up fast.

On your way out of the park, there are several different shops featuring Valleyfair souvenirs. So if you need a tshirt that tells the world you rode a scary roller coaster, they probably have that.

If you love amusement parks as much as I do, Valleyfair is worth it. It's a summertime ritual for me; I go at least once a year. In fact, I used to work there, in live entertainment. It was a fun summer.