Post by wolfblood on Jul 27, 2009 2:05:11 GMT -8
Hey there everybody, a couple days ago I returned from my trip in Minnesota. I was able to hit Valleyfair! and Nickelodeon Universe, so I might as well put a TR of them.
Valleyfair!
This park is probably one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks, it has a very nice collection of rides and unlike some parks which have been turned into a concrete jungle by CF, this place has plenty of shade and landscaping.
I have to say I hit this park at a very good time, down in Minneapolis there were major thunderstorms rolling through. Which pretty much scared a lot of people away, however they didn't roll through the park so I was able to hit all the major rides multiple times before it even started to get busy later in the day.
Now for the reviews of the coasters.
Wild Thing (Chance Morgan Hypercoaster)- This was a pretty good hyper, I had some nice airtime in the front and back rows...and the figure 8 turnaround pulled off some nice speed. I have to say this is a great front row coaster since at the top of the lift it actually slows down before going over, and it's downright freaky to look down and not see the downward track! Though the back is still great since your pulled right over it very suddenly.
Renegade (GCI Twister) This was my first GCI coaster, and I have to say this is one of my favorite woodies now. The trains are very confortable and the ride is just plain bizzare and wicked, the first drop is an S-Curve which provides some very interesting forces. The front row was good, though the back provides one of the most intense "pulled over the top" moments out there. Due to the S-Curve first drop, your hit with a pop of airtime and slammed mid-air into the side of the car.
Steel Venom (Intiman Twisted Impulse) This was a funky coaster, but really fun none the less. The launches are really fun, and the roll on the front spike is pretty cool. The ride is also pretty devilish by catching the train on the back spike during one part of the ride.
High Roller (Classic Out and Back) This was a simple but fun out and back woodie, it has some nice retro trains and delivers some nice pops of airtime.
Mad Mouse (Arrow Wild Mouse) Normally with most wild mouse coasters it goes into the "Been on one, you've been on them all" catagory...but I have to say I really like Arrow's version since it's just so funky. The upper portion of the ride was not braked at all, so there were some great laterals. But at the bottom portion, the turns are banked unlike other wild mice. The finale is a bizarre "trick track" section which rapidly banks off left and right. It was very strange, but I liked it a lot.
Excalibur (Arrow Hybrid (Wood supports/ Steel Track) This is probably my least favorite coaster, the Arrow Mine Train cars are not the best thing to use for this coaster...I first rode in the back and my back was given a harsh readjustment. The second time I rode in a non wheel seat and the ride was slightly less rougher. But overall the ride is really short and mostly rough and painful.
As for the normal rides, I went on the Xtreme Swing (S&S Giant Swing), Power Tower (250 ft S&S towers) and RipTide (Huss Floorless Top Spin), Looping Starship (It's from Intamin, and the restraints are pretty tight on the body).
While I couldn't stay the whole day since my Dad wasn't feeling well, I did enjoy the park. I do feel it is one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks.
Nickelodeon Universe
In the middle of the Mall of America, this is the largest indoor theme park in the US. This was my first time there, and the only other indoor theme park I've been to was the Adventuredome in Las Vegas.
To compare both parks, I can say there really is no comparison...Nick Universe is way better then Adventuredome in every way possible.
-Nick Universe has a much better selection of rides
-Due to the roof letting in natural light, everything looks normal unlike Adventuredomes which makes everything look an odd pink.
-Nick Universe is much cleaner and better looking then Adventuredome, which last time I went looked rather dirty and run down.
...finally, over at Nick Universe the little kids I saw were with their parents. Unlike Adventuredome which is pretty much a daycare center where the parents buy the wristband for their kids and let them run rampant in the park.
Now that the Adventuredome bashing is over, here's the review of the rides at Nick Universe.
Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge (Gerstlauer Eurofighter) This was my first Eurofighter, and this is certainly short but sweet. The first drop is pretty nuts and it pulls some nice forces in the loop and heartline roll. It was also fairly smooth so that's always a plus.
Avatar Airbender (Intamin Halfpipe) This was a pretty nutty coaster, your pretty much launched back and forth on the track while the circular cars your sitting in spin around depending on the weight. The car does get insanly close to the edge of the track (which is pretty much touching the roof above).
Fairly Odd Coaster (Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster) This is a really fun spinning coaster that interacts with several other attractions. With the right weight involved you can spin pretty dang good. For the best spinning, have all the heavy weight on one side of the car.
Pepsi Orange Streak (Zierer/ Tivoli custom) This is the parks original coaster, it features a very long train that spirals around the park and interacts with various attractions such as going through the log chute. It's a very nice family coaster.
Now for the rides, the first one I gotta talk about is the Log Chute. This is a log flume that has plenty of surprises, it's surprisingly long, it has two drops and it has a Paul Bunyan theme...compleate with animatronics and it's own soundtrack! It's pretty neat that inside the ride they have two giant animatronics of Paul and Babe the Blue Ox. Another nice surprise is you don't get very wet on it at all, the reason why is the logs are specially designed so you only get a light misting. (Which is understandable due to it being an indoor park in the middle of a mall.)
As for the other rides, the park has a nice selection. There's the classic Falling Star (Danny Phantoms Ghost Zone), The Splat- O- Sphere (A little tower ride that gives nice pops of airtime), Jimmy Nutron's Atomic Collider (If you've been to the Puyallup Fair, it's the Inferno). They also have a Ghost Blasters dark ride, it's a bit small...but still a nice shooting dark ride. Though I have to give props to their waveswinger, since unlike most others...there's a row of chairs that face backwards. I can certainly say, it's very bizarre riding a waveswinger backwards...especially since you keep spinning outward during the ride!
One of the new attractions is The Flying Dutchmans Ghostly Gangplanks. This is a unique upcharge attraction, it's pretty much a ropes corse. Your put in a harness, and your attatched to a guide rope which is put into a track which let's you safetly explore the corse. It has several levels which have various obstacles you can traverse, some are pretty easy such as planks of wood in a simple straight line.
Others are much harder, such as a single rope where you walk across like a high wire...while there are blue ropes hanging overhead for help and support, I was actually able to traverse the whole rope without any help from the blue ropes.
The whole attraction is pretty fun, and if there's an obstacle that looks too hard...you can easily skip it since there are multiple pathways you can take. Though if you do go to the highest level, you can pretty much walk out on a lone plank which extends away from the corse and over the park below, and then grab onto two ropes which let out a horn.
Overall, the park is really nice. It has a great selection of rides and it's very close to a lot of nice resturants when you need to eat. (Ruby Tuesdays and Bubba Gump Shrimp are always good choices.)
Valleyfair!
This park is probably one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks, it has a very nice collection of rides and unlike some parks which have been turned into a concrete jungle by CF, this place has plenty of shade and landscaping.
I have to say I hit this park at a very good time, down in Minneapolis there were major thunderstorms rolling through. Which pretty much scared a lot of people away, however they didn't roll through the park so I was able to hit all the major rides multiple times before it even started to get busy later in the day.
Now for the reviews of the coasters.
Wild Thing (Chance Morgan Hypercoaster)- This was a pretty good hyper, I had some nice airtime in the front and back rows...and the figure 8 turnaround pulled off some nice speed. I have to say this is a great front row coaster since at the top of the lift it actually slows down before going over, and it's downright freaky to look down and not see the downward track! Though the back is still great since your pulled right over it very suddenly.
Renegade (GCI Twister) This was my first GCI coaster, and I have to say this is one of my favorite woodies now. The trains are very confortable and the ride is just plain bizzare and wicked, the first drop is an S-Curve which provides some very interesting forces. The front row was good, though the back provides one of the most intense "pulled over the top" moments out there. Due to the S-Curve first drop, your hit with a pop of airtime and slammed mid-air into the side of the car.
Steel Venom (Intiman Twisted Impulse) This was a funky coaster, but really fun none the less. The launches are really fun, and the roll on the front spike is pretty cool. The ride is also pretty devilish by catching the train on the back spike during one part of the ride.
High Roller (Classic Out and Back) This was a simple but fun out and back woodie, it has some nice retro trains and delivers some nice pops of airtime.
Mad Mouse (Arrow Wild Mouse) Normally with most wild mouse coasters it goes into the "Been on one, you've been on them all" catagory...but I have to say I really like Arrow's version since it's just so funky. The upper portion of the ride was not braked at all, so there were some great laterals. But at the bottom portion, the turns are banked unlike other wild mice. The finale is a bizarre "trick track" section which rapidly banks off left and right. It was very strange, but I liked it a lot.
Excalibur (Arrow Hybrid (Wood supports/ Steel Track) This is probably my least favorite coaster, the Arrow Mine Train cars are not the best thing to use for this coaster...I first rode in the back and my back was given a harsh readjustment. The second time I rode in a non wheel seat and the ride was slightly less rougher. But overall the ride is really short and mostly rough and painful.
As for the normal rides, I went on the Xtreme Swing (S&S Giant Swing), Power Tower (250 ft S&S towers) and RipTide (Huss Floorless Top Spin), Looping Starship (It's from Intamin, and the restraints are pretty tight on the body).
While I couldn't stay the whole day since my Dad wasn't feeling well, I did enjoy the park. I do feel it is one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks.
Nickelodeon Universe
In the middle of the Mall of America, this is the largest indoor theme park in the US. This was my first time there, and the only other indoor theme park I've been to was the Adventuredome in Las Vegas.
To compare both parks, I can say there really is no comparison...Nick Universe is way better then Adventuredome in every way possible.
-Nick Universe has a much better selection of rides
-Due to the roof letting in natural light, everything looks normal unlike Adventuredomes which makes everything look an odd pink.
-Nick Universe is much cleaner and better looking then Adventuredome, which last time I went looked rather dirty and run down.
...finally, over at Nick Universe the little kids I saw were with their parents. Unlike Adventuredome which is pretty much a daycare center where the parents buy the wristband for their kids and let them run rampant in the park.
Now that the Adventuredome bashing is over, here's the review of the rides at Nick Universe.
Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge (Gerstlauer Eurofighter) This was my first Eurofighter, and this is certainly short but sweet. The first drop is pretty nuts and it pulls some nice forces in the loop and heartline roll. It was also fairly smooth so that's always a plus.
Avatar Airbender (Intamin Halfpipe) This was a pretty nutty coaster, your pretty much launched back and forth on the track while the circular cars your sitting in spin around depending on the weight. The car does get insanly close to the edge of the track (which is pretty much touching the roof above).
Fairly Odd Coaster (Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster) This is a really fun spinning coaster that interacts with several other attractions. With the right weight involved you can spin pretty dang good. For the best spinning, have all the heavy weight on one side of the car.
Pepsi Orange Streak (Zierer/ Tivoli custom) This is the parks original coaster, it features a very long train that spirals around the park and interacts with various attractions such as going through the log chute. It's a very nice family coaster.
Now for the rides, the first one I gotta talk about is the Log Chute. This is a log flume that has plenty of surprises, it's surprisingly long, it has two drops and it has a Paul Bunyan theme...compleate with animatronics and it's own soundtrack! It's pretty neat that inside the ride they have two giant animatronics of Paul and Babe the Blue Ox. Another nice surprise is you don't get very wet on it at all, the reason why is the logs are specially designed so you only get a light misting. (Which is understandable due to it being an indoor park in the middle of a mall.)
As for the other rides, the park has a nice selection. There's the classic Falling Star (Danny Phantoms Ghost Zone), The Splat- O- Sphere (A little tower ride that gives nice pops of airtime), Jimmy Nutron's Atomic Collider (If you've been to the Puyallup Fair, it's the Inferno). They also have a Ghost Blasters dark ride, it's a bit small...but still a nice shooting dark ride. Though I have to give props to their waveswinger, since unlike most others...there's a row of chairs that face backwards. I can certainly say, it's very bizarre riding a waveswinger backwards...especially since you keep spinning outward during the ride!
One of the new attractions is The Flying Dutchmans Ghostly Gangplanks. This is a unique upcharge attraction, it's pretty much a ropes corse. Your put in a harness, and your attatched to a guide rope which is put into a track which let's you safetly explore the corse. It has several levels which have various obstacles you can traverse, some are pretty easy such as planks of wood in a simple straight line.
Others are much harder, such as a single rope where you walk across like a high wire...while there are blue ropes hanging overhead for help and support, I was actually able to traverse the whole rope without any help from the blue ropes.
The whole attraction is pretty fun, and if there's an obstacle that looks too hard...you can easily skip it since there are multiple pathways you can take. Though if you do go to the highest level, you can pretty much walk out on a lone plank which extends away from the corse and over the park below, and then grab onto two ropes which let out a horn.
Overall, the park is really nice. It has a great selection of rides and it's very close to a lot of nice resturants when you need to eat. (Ruby Tuesdays and Bubba Gump Shrimp are always good choices.)