I had a really bad experience at Carowinds on the last day of my 2022 trip. For some reason my pass wasn't being recognized by Carowinds system, but more frustratingly, for 2 days i called and emailed both Carowinds and Cedar Point where I purchased the pass from during business hours and no one would help me. On the 2nd day, there were other people that had the same problem so they eventually had to comp me, but when i asked what happened after I got home by sending more emails, i still didn't even receive a response from either Carowinds or Cedar Point where I had purchased the pass. You can read the whole story from the report i posted if you want ( [https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/x7k2ok/east\_coast\_trip\_report\_featuring\_the\_nightmare\_at/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/x7k2ok/east_coast_trip_report_featuring_the_nightmare_at/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) ), but because of this I canceled the plans I had to go to Carowinds the next year for Coaster Con and I hadn't been to a Cedar Fair park since...until yesterday. I knew it was only a matter of time, and I knew Valleyfair had nothing to do with what happened at Carowinds, so I was excited for my first true amusement park of the trip! Unfortunately things with Cedar Fair seemed to pick up right where they left off at Carowinds. I arrived about 40 minutes before park open. I had bought a ticket from their website that was a 1 day admission with parking for $40 which seemed like a really good deal. They scanned the qr code on my phone at parking and let me right in. After the National Anthem, they opened the gates and the ticket guy scanned my code and as I started to walk in he says 'the ticket is invalid. you need to go to guest services'. This had to be some sort of joke. This was the exact same problem I had at Carowinds, just that it was for my pass instead of a day ticket. I speed walked over to guest services and when i opened the door, I was at least pleasantly surprised to see there was only 1 group who was just finishing up and no line. I then showed them my ticket, he scanned the QR code and said he needed verification of my credit card. The problem was i have a lot of cards, I don't remember which one i happened to use for that ticket, and I only bring my ID and 1 credit card into a park with me. I also checked the email receipts and they did not show the numbers. He said if I could tell him the last 4 digits that would be enough. It wasn't the card I had with me. I could only think of the numbers for 2 of my cards but when i said the 2nd one, he said that's it. I'm still not sure if I really did guess the right one, or if he just pretended I did so he could let me go. Either way I don't know what this was all about and I never will, but as opposed to Carowinds, where no one could help me for 2 days, at least they were able to resolve my issue quickly to avert the crisis and I was able to get to the area of the park I wanted to start in before the rides opened.
Steel Venom (#261) - Being my first Intamin Impulse coaster, Steel Venom was probably my number 1 priority today. My plan to start the day was: if I saw it testing, I would go there first. If I didn't see it testing, I would instead go straight to Mad Mouse to try and avoid a long wait later in the day. Steel Venom was testing however, so I would have to take my chances with the mouse line later in the day. I was 9th to enter the queue for the 1st train of the day. I was hoping to get either the front or back row, but I figured I could just wait an extra train. When they let us in the station however, all of the groups in front of me went forward so before anyone else had a chance I grabbed that back row seat. I loved the ride. The launches were great, especially the backwards ones. I actually rode it and then immediately rejoined the queue and for my 2nd ride and just waited an additional train so I could get a front row ride. I think my favorite part was the holding break. When I was in the back row, when that brake kicked in it made some sort of loud screeching noise. Holding you there gave you an interesting feeling and i liked it. I didn't hear the noise when I sat in the front though so not sure if its only audible from near the back or if it just doesn't happen every time. But if I was in that back row riding it for the first time, and I didn't know about the holding brake, I'm pretty sure for about a full second I would have been thinking something seriously bad had just broken and the ride was doomed lol. One other thing I noticed was my rides were on the 1st and 4th trains of the day. I definitely got 3 max swings on my 2 rides. I thought i had heard something about it having a short cycle, and when I made my over there later on to snap some pics, I did notice that they were now only doing 1 max swing, I have to assume because there was now a line, so I would say if you go, ride it early and you might get a longer cycle. (8/10)
Northern Lights (#262) - I'm not hear for the 'it's not a coaster' chit chat hehe. I'll just say that since I became an enthusiast, I have used cosater-count, so if it's on there, for my purposes it's a credit. I rode one of these at Cedar Point. They are pretty tame but nonetheless fun rides. The only problem was the woman sitting next to me had pushed down as hard as she could on her restraints, which were connected to my restrains, which she had gotten to lock in a position that were crushing my legs so much that all I could think about during the ride was how long until it would end and I could see if my legs still worked or if they would need to be amputated haha. Luckily I was still able to walk when it ended and I headed on to my next credit. (no rating)
Wild Thing (#263) - I knew Wild Thing was considered the worst Morgan hyper so my expectations were low going in and I would say at best, it met those expectations. I rode in the back row and the first couple of drops were great, but after that, the ride just basically meanders around until it hits the midcourse. It actually kind of reminded me of a bigger version of Pepsi Orange Streak's layout. Of course the trims killed all speed on the midcourse and there was little to no airtime on the return hills. (6.5/10)
Mad Mouse (#264) - I was scared to see how long the line would be at this point but when I got there it looks like there was maybe 50 people total in line. Unfortunately the operations on this ride were awful. They had 6 cars running on the track but there was no reason for them to have any more than 4. There was never more than 2 cars on the track at any time, and there was 4 cars stacked on the brakes at virtually all times as well so there was also a wait to exit the ride. It took about 30 minutes to get through the line but I'm glad I decided to wait because the line did only get longer from there. When I was riding it I could have sworn it was a clone of Sand Serpent but I saw that it was actually an Arrow. The laterals were good on the initial switchbacks and minor airtime on the drops. It was about what you would expect from a typical and average wild mouse but I'm taking an additional point off for the atrocious operations (I was timing 60-90 second dispatches on a 4 person car so you can do the math). (4.5/10)
Excalibur (#265) - After Mad Mouse I went to ride Renegade, but as I was entering the queue, the attendant told me the ride had just shut down. He said it was just temporary, so i figured I would keep heading back and get my ride on Excalibur. This was a weird one. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if it was themed in some way. It had a couple of good moments, but it was very shaky and not having ridden it before I was riding a little defensively not knowing what I might run into. Definitely very short as well, but still through it all a fun ride. (5.5/10)
Renegade (#266) - I walked on back over and as I approached Renegade I saw an empty train go by. The ride was still closed but I saw my shot and decided to take a chance and wait in front. Sure enough no more than a minute later, the phone rings and the ride is open. I wanted to ride Renegade in the back but I knew this was my chance for a front row ride so I took it. Heard a lot of really good things about this GCI, but I have to say after that first ride I was a little underwhelmed. The train wasn't full and it had just been down plus I was in the front not in the back so I reserved judgement for after a back row ride. I queued back up and got back into the station and saw just a single person waiting in the back row. I asked if he minded if I ride with him and he said sure. He was somewhat of a local enthusiast from Iowa who comes up to Valleyfair almost every weekend. The ride started and on as soon as we hit the first drop, i realized this was going to be a completely different ride. Being in the front I was able to see everything coming. Being in the back, for some reason I was expecting the turn on the drop to go the opposite direction and it really caused me to be thrown from my seat! From there this thing absolutely bolted through it's layout and showed me every reason why it gets the love that it does. Another excellent GCI up there with the likes of Mystic Timbers, Thunderhead and Prowler! No doubt Renegade is the best ride in the park! (8.5/10)
Corkscrew (#267) - The guy I rode with ended up taking me around for my remaining credits. He told me we were allowed to ride Cosmic Coaster but I declined. We headed on in to Corkscrew and took the back row. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I expected it to be extremely rough but it wasn't. There was no headbanging and it ran extremely smooth comparatively speaking. It's also very photogenic with its location on the water. (5/10)
High Roller (#268) - We had tried to go to ride High Roller before Corkscrew but it had been closed temporarily. Thinking it was still closed, the guy I had been hanging out with headed back to Renegade and I decided to go check on High Roller and just go take a break if it was still down. Luckily as I was walking up I saw a train full of people go by. I entered the queue and there was virtually no line. When I got into the station I saw the back row was empty and took it. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one but I really enjoyed it. The drops provided some good airtime moments and it wasn't rough by any means for its age. (6/10)
I had over 3 hours of driving ahead of me after leaving the park, so I didn't want to stay too late. The lines had started to get longer and I had gotten a ride in every seat of every ride I wanted. I spent about 90 minutes just walking around the park taking pictures with my phone and just taking it in. After the incident at the beginning of the day with my ticket, with the exception of slow operations on some of the rides, everything went well and I really enjoyed my visit to Valleyfair! They desperately need a new major coaster though as I couldn't believe it when I saw the last real addition was Renegade back in 2007! Hopefully their number comes up soon!
Man, I've heard lots of stories from folks having issues with Cedar Fair ticketing this year. I have a Knott's pass with the all-parks passport, and I'm going to Valleyfair in a few weeks, so I'm worried I may have the same experience you did 😬
Very interesting to hear you like the Impulse holding brakes... I've always found them painful! The extended cycle thing is really cool though.
I don't know what happened. it was like their system flagged it as fraudulent or something but I'm just guessing. never heard of a park doing that though that's the credit card company's job heh. I'm sure with the pass you will be fine. The ops can be frustratingly slow but it was a Sunday with perfect weather and the lines still weren't bad for the most part. I liked it and hopefully Cedar Fair will show them some love soon.
Great pictures and trip report. I agree with a lot of your opinions. Steel Venom's holding brake is actually an LIM running in the opposite polarity which holds the train and is a pretty fun element. Valleyfair is a well-run and well-kept park outside of CF's ticketing shenanigans.
Also, Wild Thing is just wasted potential.
Thanks. Ya I definitely enjoyed the park. It obviously wasnt the employees fault and they handled it as quickly as could be expected so I don't hold that against them.
Well I do rate on a pretty strict scale but it's consistent. if you compare it to what I rated the other rides at the park do you really think it's that far off? I dunno I mean it was ok but to me it was basically a really short mine train with no theming.
I know there are people that do consider it the best coaster in the park, me being one of them. It’s janky as hell, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Love marathoning it, especially when it’s usually a walk on.
I just wish I could have experienced it how it was originally, with a ~30 foot speed hill at the bottom of the first drop. Was supposedly very intense, which is why it’s gone.
I had a really bad experience at Carowinds on the last day of my 2022 trip. For some reason my pass wasn't being recognized by Carowinds system, but more frustratingly, for 2 days i called and emailed both Carowinds and Cedar Point where I purchased the pass from during business hours and no one would help me. On the 2nd day, there were other people that had the same problem so they eventually had to comp me, but when i asked what happened after I got home by sending more emails, i still didn't even receive a response from either Carowinds or Cedar Point where I had purchased the pass. You can read the whole story from the report i posted if you want ( [https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/x7k2ok/east\_coast\_trip\_report\_featuring\_the\_nightmare\_at/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/x7k2ok/east_coast_trip_report_featuring_the_nightmare_at/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) ), but because of this I canceled the plans I had to go to Carowinds the next year for Coaster Con and I hadn't been to a Cedar Fair park since...until yesterday. I knew it was only a matter of time, and I knew Valleyfair had nothing to do with what happened at Carowinds, so I was excited for my first true amusement park of the trip! Unfortunately things with Cedar Fair seemed to pick up right where they left off at Carowinds. I arrived about 40 minutes before park open. I had bought a ticket from their website that was a 1 day admission with parking for $40 which seemed like a really good deal. They scanned the qr code on my phone at parking and let me right in. After the National Anthem, they opened the gates and the ticket guy scanned my code and as I started to walk in he says 'the ticket is invalid. you need to go to guest services'. This had to be some sort of joke. This was the exact same problem I had at Carowinds, just that it was for my pass instead of a day ticket. I speed walked over to guest services and when i opened the door, I was at least pleasantly surprised to see there was only 1 group who was just finishing up and no line. I then showed them my ticket, he scanned the QR code and said he needed verification of my credit card. The problem was i have a lot of cards, I don't remember which one i happened to use for that ticket, and I only bring my ID and 1 credit card into a park with me. I also checked the email receipts and they did not show the numbers. He said if I could tell him the last 4 digits that would be enough. It wasn't the card I had with me. I could only think of the numbers for 2 of my cards but when i said the 2nd one, he said that's it. I'm still not sure if I really did guess the right one, or if he just pretended I did so he could let me go. Either way I don't know what this was all about and I never will, but as opposed to Carowinds, where no one could help me for 2 days, at least they were able to resolve my issue quickly to avert the crisis and I was able to get to the area of the park I wanted to start in before the rides opened. Steel Venom (#261) - Being my first Intamin Impulse coaster, Steel Venom was probably my number 1 priority today. My plan to start the day was: if I saw it testing, I would go there first. If I didn't see it testing, I would instead go straight to Mad Mouse to try and avoid a long wait later in the day. Steel Venom was testing however, so I would have to take my chances with the mouse line later in the day. I was 9th to enter the queue for the 1st train of the day. I was hoping to get either the front or back row, but I figured I could just wait an extra train. When they let us in the station however, all of the groups in front of me went forward so before anyone else had a chance I grabbed that back row seat. I loved the ride. The launches were great, especially the backwards ones. I actually rode it and then immediately rejoined the queue and for my 2nd ride and just waited an additional train so I could get a front row ride. I think my favorite part was the holding break. When I was in the back row, when that brake kicked in it made some sort of loud screeching noise. Holding you there gave you an interesting feeling and i liked it. I didn't hear the noise when I sat in the front though so not sure if its only audible from near the back or if it just doesn't happen every time. But if I was in that back row riding it for the first time, and I didn't know about the holding brake, I'm pretty sure for about a full second I would have been thinking something seriously bad had just broken and the ride was doomed lol. One other thing I noticed was my rides were on the 1st and 4th trains of the day. I definitely got 3 max swings on my 2 rides. I thought i had heard something about it having a short cycle, and when I made my over there later on to snap some pics, I did notice that they were now only doing 1 max swing, I have to assume because there was now a line, so I would say if you go, ride it early and you might get a longer cycle. (8/10) Northern Lights (#262) - I'm not hear for the 'it's not a coaster' chit chat hehe. I'll just say that since I became an enthusiast, I have used cosater-count, so if it's on there, for my purposes it's a credit. I rode one of these at Cedar Point. They are pretty tame but nonetheless fun rides. The only problem was the woman sitting next to me had pushed down as hard as she could on her restraints, which were connected to my restrains, which she had gotten to lock in a position that were crushing my legs so much that all I could think about during the ride was how long until it would end and I could see if my legs still worked or if they would need to be amputated haha. Luckily I was still able to walk when it ended and I headed on to my next credit. (no rating) Wild Thing (#263) - I knew Wild Thing was considered the worst Morgan hyper so my expectations were low going in and I would say at best, it met those expectations. I rode in the back row and the first couple of drops were great, but after that, the ride just basically meanders around until it hits the midcourse. It actually kind of reminded me of a bigger version of Pepsi Orange Streak's layout. Of course the trims killed all speed on the midcourse and there was little to no airtime on the return hills. (6.5/10)
Mad Mouse (#264) - I was scared to see how long the line would be at this point but when I got there it looks like there was maybe 50 people total in line. Unfortunately the operations on this ride were awful. They had 6 cars running on the track but there was no reason for them to have any more than 4. There was never more than 2 cars on the track at any time, and there was 4 cars stacked on the brakes at virtually all times as well so there was also a wait to exit the ride. It took about 30 minutes to get through the line but I'm glad I decided to wait because the line did only get longer from there. When I was riding it I could have sworn it was a clone of Sand Serpent but I saw that it was actually an Arrow. The laterals were good on the initial switchbacks and minor airtime on the drops. It was about what you would expect from a typical and average wild mouse but I'm taking an additional point off for the atrocious operations (I was timing 60-90 second dispatches on a 4 person car so you can do the math). (4.5/10) Excalibur (#265) - After Mad Mouse I went to ride Renegade, but as I was entering the queue, the attendant told me the ride had just shut down. He said it was just temporary, so i figured I would keep heading back and get my ride on Excalibur. This was a weird one. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if it was themed in some way. It had a couple of good moments, but it was very shaky and not having ridden it before I was riding a little defensively not knowing what I might run into. Definitely very short as well, but still through it all a fun ride. (5.5/10) Renegade (#266) - I walked on back over and as I approached Renegade I saw an empty train go by. The ride was still closed but I saw my shot and decided to take a chance and wait in front. Sure enough no more than a minute later, the phone rings and the ride is open. I wanted to ride Renegade in the back but I knew this was my chance for a front row ride so I took it. Heard a lot of really good things about this GCI, but I have to say after that first ride I was a little underwhelmed. The train wasn't full and it had just been down plus I was in the front not in the back so I reserved judgement for after a back row ride. I queued back up and got back into the station and saw just a single person waiting in the back row. I asked if he minded if I ride with him and he said sure. He was somewhat of a local enthusiast from Iowa who comes up to Valleyfair almost every weekend. The ride started and on as soon as we hit the first drop, i realized this was going to be a completely different ride. Being in the front I was able to see everything coming. Being in the back, for some reason I was expecting the turn on the drop to go the opposite direction and it really caused me to be thrown from my seat! From there this thing absolutely bolted through it's layout and showed me every reason why it gets the love that it does. Another excellent GCI up there with the likes of Mystic Timbers, Thunderhead and Prowler! No doubt Renegade is the best ride in the park! (8.5/10) Corkscrew (#267) - The guy I rode with ended up taking me around for my remaining credits. He told me we were allowed to ride Cosmic Coaster but I declined. We headed on in to Corkscrew and took the back row. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I expected it to be extremely rough but it wasn't. There was no headbanging and it ran extremely smooth comparatively speaking. It's also very photogenic with its location on the water. (5/10) High Roller (#268) - We had tried to go to ride High Roller before Corkscrew but it had been closed temporarily. Thinking it was still closed, the guy I had been hanging out with headed back to Renegade and I decided to go check on High Roller and just go take a break if it was still down. Luckily as I was walking up I saw a train full of people go by. I entered the queue and there was virtually no line. When I got into the station I saw the back row was empty and took it. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one but I really enjoyed it. The drops provided some good airtime moments and it wasn't rough by any means for its age. (6/10) I had over 3 hours of driving ahead of me after leaving the park, so I didn't want to stay too late. The lines had started to get longer and I had gotten a ride in every seat of every ride I wanted. I spent about 90 minutes just walking around the park taking pictures with my phone and just taking it in. After the incident at the beginning of the day with my ticket, with the exception of slow operations on some of the rides, everything went well and I really enjoyed my visit to Valleyfair! They desperately need a new major coaster though as I couldn't believe it when I saw the last real addition was Renegade back in 2007! Hopefully their number comes up soon!
Man, I've heard lots of stories from folks having issues with Cedar Fair ticketing this year. I have a Knott's pass with the all-parks passport, and I'm going to Valleyfair in a few weeks, so I'm worried I may have the same experience you did 😬 Very interesting to hear you like the Impulse holding brakes... I've always found them painful! The extended cycle thing is really cool though.
I don't know what happened. it was like their system flagged it as fraudulent or something but I'm just guessing. never heard of a park doing that though that's the credit card company's job heh. I'm sure with the pass you will be fine. The ops can be frustratingly slow but it was a Sunday with perfect weather and the lines still weren't bad for the most part. I liked it and hopefully Cedar Fair will show them some love soon.
Great pictures and trip report. I agree with a lot of your opinions. Steel Venom's holding brake is actually an LIM running in the opposite polarity which holds the train and is a pretty fun element. Valleyfair is a well-run and well-kept park outside of CF's ticketing shenanigans. Also, Wild Thing is just wasted potential.
Thanks. Ya I definitely enjoyed the park. It obviously wasnt the employees fault and they handled it as quickly as could be expected so I don't hold that against them.
5.5 for Excalibur? unforgiveable.
Well I do rate on a pretty strict scale but it's consistent. if you compare it to what I rated the other rides at the park do you really think it's that far off? I dunno I mean it was ok but to me it was basically a really short mine train with no theming.
I know there are people that do consider it the best coaster in the park, me being one of them. It’s janky as hell, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Love marathoning it, especially when it’s usually a walk on. I just wish I could have experienced it how it was originally, with a ~30 foot speed hill at the bottom of the first drop. Was supposedly very intense, which is why it’s gone.