Coaster Community

So one of my buddies and I decided early last week to make the 7ish hour trek to the Twin Cities to hit up Valleyfair and Nickelodeon Universe for the weekend. We headed out on Friday night, and finally arrived at our first destination (MOA) at about lunchtime on Saturday. Note to self: do not ever venture north the weekend before the Sturgis Harley rally. Finding a hotel was damn near impossible. Between expensive rooms, sold out hotels, and the wasteland that is northern Iowa, we didn’t get a place to crash until about 2am. We were thisclose to just passing out in a parking lot somewhere.

Anyway, we made the obligatory laps around the Mall of America and marveled at how ridiculously huge it was. Considering I hate malls, I couldn’t wait until we finally could hit Nick Universe. Once we got in, the first thing I realized was that I absolutely hate the point system. I just wanted to buy enough points to ride the rides I was looking forward to. But we had to buy their point “plans.” It was not cool. I only had two rides I really wanted to hit, so it was irritating

I had been to the theme park at MOA once before, back when it was Camp Snoopy about 10ish years ago. Needless to say, I couldn’t remember much about it. I was impressed by the “new” Nick Universe though. It was colorful, clean, and looked like great place to spend a day if I was with a family or younger kids. It was fun.

Anyway, we beelined to Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge, which had about a 15 minute wait. I didn’t have my hopes up for it, as I’ve heard lackluster reviews for both it and the similar Mystery Mine at Dollywood, but I found that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The first drop was awesome, I think all rides should have vertical drops. The zero-g roll had tons of hang time, and was pretty cool as well. It was a bit jerky at times, but nothing too unbearable. Not “great,” but tons of fun.

Next was the other ride I was looking forward to, Avatar Airbender. I don’t know whether I should consider this a coaster or flat ride, but regardless, it was awesome. There were great visuals and I was surprised at how forceful it was. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think I liked Spongebob better though.

After Avatar, we donated our remaining points to a little kid and hit the road to Valleyfair. The original plan was to do some night riding there, then hit the remainder of the park on Sunday morning. We got there earlier than planned on Saturday though, and were able to squeeze in the whole park with plenty of time left over on Saturday.

The first thing at VF that stood out to me was that it was very similar to Cedar Point. Everything from the entrance to the midways to the rides reminded me so much of the Point, which is not bad at all (sue me, I like the “CP-style” theming). Valleyfair does show its age though, it’s not kept up as well as CP or even the other parks in the chain that I’ve been to. It was still nice, but just not quite as nice as I expected. The thing that impressed me most was how efficient the staff was, they didn’t mess around while dispatching trains. But I do hate how they let riders just throw their crap on the platform while they ride, I don’t know how many stuffed animals and drinks I accidentally kicked when I tried to get off the rides.

Corkscrew was the first ride, and about a two train wait. Nothing spectacular, but decent for what it does. Clearly another ripoff from Cedar Point, but just not as cool as CP’s version.

High Roller was the next coaster, with about a 15-20 minute wait. It was pretty much what I expected, a gentle out-and-back woodie. Nothing to write home about.

Wild Thing was coaster number three, and naturally I have to compare it to Mamba. This is an unfair comparison because it is a pretty fun ride, just not as fun as its little brother. The second hill was a pleasant surprise in the front of the train, with plenty of floater airtime, and the turnaround was pretty fun too, but trims killed the second half of the ride. Got two rides in on the day, one in the afternoon and one at night.

Up next was the ride I made the drive for, Renegade. During the day it has about a 30-45 minute wait. Following recommendations, the first ride was in the back row. The first drop was just great, and the ensuing camelback, turnaround, and more camelbacks were awesome. The whole first half of the ride was a blast. It lost a bit of steam once it crossed the road back to the little jaunt around/through the station, but all in all, I loved it.

Not wanting to wait that long for Renegade again, we headed to the back of the park to hit Excalibur. Only one train running made for about a 15 minute wait. I had no idea what to expect from this ride, so I was just hoping it wouldn’t hurt too bad. It was moderately fun, but nothing special. Plus it’s ridiculously short.

After Excalibur, we decided to take a break and left the park to get some food and find a hotel (which was once again quite an adventure). After IHOP and some time at the crappy little hotel we finally found, we went back to VF around 10:00pm.

We hit Steel Venom first, which had about a 15 minute wait, and it was fun as expected. The more I ride impulses, the more I like them. Beats the hell out of a Boomerang or any other type of shuttle ride.

Did a night ride on Wild Thing and got in the queue for Renegade by 11pm. Over the next hour, we got four more rides in on Renegade: one in front, and the rest in the back.

Renegade at day was awesome, but Renegade at night was absolutely freaking spectacular. The first half was just insane. I wish it didn’t lose some speed during the second half, because the first half is as good as any coaster out there. Renegade is easily my second favorite woodie, and it’s somewhere in my overall top ten. I would love to have something like this nearby… are you listening Worlds of Fun? 

Anyway, they kicked us off Renegade and we had to call it a night. Overall, both Nickelodeon Universe and Valleyfair were a good time, and night rides on Renegade alone were totally worth the drive from KC.