VALLEYFAIR
Shakopee, Minnesota (Abbreviation: VF)
Cedar Fair L.P.
 Park News - (8/11/2024) You may recall seeing the incredible footage from earlier this summer when Valleyfair had to close off sections of the park due to flooding in the area, that completely submerged the park’s Thunder Canyon river rapids ride as well as putting sections of two roller coasters under the water.
While they were able to reopen the coasters very quickly, the Thunder Canyon rapids attraction has remained closed all summer. A Screamscape reader reached out to the park to get an update and was told that the attraction ‘will remain down for the season due to the flooding damage.”
(7/11/2024) According to a news report, the flood waters have receded and Valleyfair has already reopened their main parking lot as well as the Renegade and Excalibur roller coasters. The Thunder Canyon rapids is still closed, but they expect to have it reopened later this week.
(6/29/2024) Valleyfair is a park we haven’t heard too much about lately, especially as many have been wondering how one of Cedar Fair’s more forgotten parks may find itself even more on the back-burner once the corporate merger with Six Flags is completed on Monday, July 1st. While the park hasn’t been on the news radar much lately for new rides… there was one other thing that would periodically put the park on the news radar… flooding.
That brings us to the issue at hand today, as the rising waters of the Minnesota River earlier this week caused some flooding issues at the park. A report from the local news posted Wednesday includes insane aerial footage of the park, which was still open, but forced to close Excalibur, Thunder Canyon and Renegade due to the flooding. The footage is quite stunning, as you can see that the lower sections of both roller coasters are completely submerged under the rising waters that overtook the western end of the park. Thunder Canyon is just completely gone, with the exception of the lift hill and station, it looks like the entirety of the river rapids ride has been overtaken. Meanwhile, as the chopper flys over the eastern side of the park, you’ll also notice that almost the entire parking lot has also flooded, and yet… the park is open. The solution was to park guests at a dry lot off-site and shuttle everyone to the park on buses.
Twistermc.com visited the park on Friday and posted several pictures showcasing the state of things. They report that the parking lot is still submerged, and that the park is currently using a temporary entrance set up near Delirious, as the main entrance was still not accessible. The views reported from the coasters is said to be unreal, as there are signs of water flooding in everywhere, amid an active effort to sandbag and pump-back the water out of the park areas to keep things going. Despite it all, the vast majority of the park is still open, with the exception of the rides already mentioned, contained within the flooded western section of the park.
One final update just this morning... Valleyfair has confirmed that due to the still present floodwaters, the park will postpone their planned Forth of July Fireworks show, and will instead reschedule the big show to take place sometime later in the season.
(4/2/2024) As just as expected, Valleyfair has confirmed that ValleyScare will be returning for the 2024 season, featuring new and remodeled haunts, scare zones, live shows and more.
(4/1/2024) Valleyfair is expected to make some kind of announcement on April 2nd, and based on the little hints they’ve been dropping over the past week or so, the best guess is that the park may be confirming the return of their ValleyScare Halloween Haunt event. Last year the park opted out of the long-running spoopy Halloween event to focus all their efforts on a kid-friendly non-frightening event, similar to what launched over at California’s Great America.
If the loss of ValleyScare really hurt the park’s fall attendance numbers, then it would be a no-brainer to bring it back in 2024. Certainly ValleyFair hasn’t been doing themselves any favors in recent years by not adding major new attractions, so it would make sense that the loss of the haunt may have just been the final nail in the coffin to drive the thrill-seeking demographic away entirely.
Stay tuned!
(5/14/2023) I’m not quite sure what is going on, but a post on Twitter mentioned that some clearing was now taking place at Valleyfair between the Renegade wooden coaster and Thunder Canyon rapids. Anyone know more?
2024 - Nothing new has been announced at this time.
2025 - New Project - (11/7/2023) According to a post on Twitter, the old Landshore Landing building at Valleyfair has been demolished. The building used to serve as the entrance and exit gift shop for the park’s version of Dinosaur’s Alive. The post also mentions a local rumor claiming that Valleyfair may be preparing for a B&M Inverted coaster for 2025, but this remains to be seen. But clearly, they are preparing this site for something which is good news, as the park has been waiting some time for a new attraction. I believe the last new ride added was Delirious, way back in 2018.
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