Valleyfair and other Twin Cities stuff

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Jonathan
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Valleyfair and other Twin Cities stuff

Post by Jonathan »

I'm not gonna do the standard photo TR thing this time, because there are too many photos (283) to choose from, and I know when I do that most people don't even go look at the other pictures. Check out all the pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/sets/ ... 364880931/

Friday I flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul and got in around 9:30 in the morning. Everything went all to hell immediately, as National Rent-A-Car refused to give me the discounted rate that had been accepted and approved on their own website, and suggested that I just rent from someone else. So, all the discounts and stuff that I could have used weeks earlier went out the window, and I ended up spending much more money than I had planned. While I'm sure any rental company would screw you over given the chance, in this particular situation it was National, so I would recommend never using National, especially if you have a discount or contract code. Worst customer service ever.

From there I went to the Mall of America, aka one of the more overhyped tourist traps in America. It's definitely big, and the amusement park is kind of neat and I suppose the aquarium in the basement, but there are no stores here that you won't find anywhere else. It's the same old big chain stuff. The amusement park is in the middle of construction as they convert it into Nickelodeon Universe for next year, so unfortunately Pepsi Ripsaw was closed. This was not a surprise, though, as I knew it would be long before I went. I didn't know how cool it looked, though, and wish I could have ridden it. The only ride I did was Timberland Twister, the Gerstlauer spinner, which was fun and spun a lot more than the one at Worlds of Fun. I rode twice as the first time we got stuck on the brake run and the other people in the car with me complained, so we got a comp ticket. Lunch was at Famous Dave's, a local BBQ chain that had some really good food for a decent price.

My hotel in a lot of ways made up for the rental car disaster. I used Priceline's bid your own price service, and got the Sheraton in Bloomington for $45 a night. It was a very large 20 story hotel with a convention center attached, complete with indoor pool, workout room, restaurant, comedy club, business center, lounge, and nice rooms. From there I went on to Valleyfair in Shakopee for the first night of the park's Valleyscare Halloween event. This was part two of everything going all to hell. It is a common sight for park's to have signs out front listing what rides will be closed that day. This was the first time I have seen one that said "The following rides will be OPEN today". There are eight coasters at Valleyfair, and two of them were on the list. Two. On the bright side, those two were Renegade and Wild Thing, the best rides in the park, and once I got inside I found a surprise in that they also opened Mad Mouse. So, in combination with the rental car and the park Cedar Fair-ing me, I'm already in a bad mood, and when I took my first ride on Renegade it wasn't running that great. Fun, but nothing special. I guess I should have expected this because the coaster had not been running all week, and I was one of about 4 people on the train.

The good news is that the evening could only go up from there, and it definitely did. Everyone always says Wild Thing is the worst of the Cedar Fair Morgans, but I thought it was easily the best. Maybe it was just running faster at night, but it had pretty good airtime and the mid-course was very lightly trimmed. Mad Mouse is a great Arrow mouse without a lot of braking. Xtreme Swing was a lot of fun; I would love to see one of those near me. I only did a couple of the Halloween things; the 3-D circus one was pretty good, but they charged $1 for the 3-D glasses (Cedar Fair-ed). Right as I was getting back to Renegade for night rides they closed everything down due to lightning. About an hour or so later the rides reopened, and Renegade had warmed up to say the least. Complete madness over the first half of the ride, and the rides I had that night rivaled some of the best I've had on Thunderhead. Incredible coaster.

Saturday morning I went to the Sculpture Garden and Minneapolis Institute of Arts. I was told that High Roller and Steel Venom would be open at Valleyfair, so I returned to the park for a couple of hours. I didn't expect to bring North Carolina weather with me, but sure enough, it was a record temperature that day, reaching the upper 80's. The junior coaster at the park was also open, but adults cannot ride. Steel Venom is your typical Intamin Impulse, which I pretty much hate. The spiral beats my head up, and the holding brake is basically the dumbest idea anyone has ever had. High Roller is a classic woodie in great shape with its original trains and white paint. It was a lot of fun and really smooth, but there were two terrible trim brakes on it that killed what I think would have been fantastic airtime. Still a fun ride, though. Renegade was still running well; I guess it just needed to warm up after sitting idle all week. I think I would put it 5th on my favorites list behind Voyage, Thunderhead, Hades, and Phoenix, so clearly I really loved it.

Next I drove back into Minneapolis and checked out the University of Minnesota campus for a little bit before heading into St. Paul. I had dinner at Great Waters Brewing Company, which was really good, and then went to Tom Reid's for a little bit (a must for hockey fans). The Xcel Energy Center is a gorgeous arena in downtown St. Paul. A few years ago ESPN named it the best sports venue in the country, and it is definitely nice. It reminded me in a lot of ways of the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena. It's a pure hockey arena (the Timberwolves play at Target Center in Minneapolis), so hockey themes and decorations are everywhere. The only complaint I have is that it was impossible to find the escalator to the upper level. My tickets were on the front row of the upper deck, and the sight lines all appear to be quite good. The Wild have sold out every game in their history, many of which to well over capacity (standing room), and it was filled again for this one. It was an entertaining game, and the Wild won 3-2 with a third period comeback. Eric Belanger, who played for Carolina last year and couldn't score to save his life, had a goal and an assist. There was a party and fireworks over the Mississippi after the game. I went back into Minneapolis to see the city on a Saturday night, then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday I had to return the rental car early (just another part of that big fiasco), so I returned the car, went through security and put my bag in a locker at my gate, and then took the light rail from the airport into town. The light rail system is really efficient and inexpensive, and it was no problem getting into the center of downtown. I spent the afternoon downtown hanging around and ate at Hell's Kitchen, which was worth the hour I had to wait for a table. The ricotta cheese and lemon pancakes were basically one of the greatest things I have ever tasted. After a laid back afternoon, I took the light rail back to the airport, and flew back to reality. Overall, I have to say the Twin Cities is a really nice place. I could easily see myself living there if it was about 500 miles to the south. Not sure how much I would enjoy the sub-zero temperatures, but it would be great to play hockey on a frozen pond.

Don't forget to look at the pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/sets/ ... 364880931/
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AMartin777
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Post by AMartin777 »

Great TR Jon. Sounds like you had a great time despite the rental car mess. That statue of Herb Brooks is scary. :shock:
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tomizzle
Chicken Of The Sea
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Post by tomizzle »

You should have come to CP with us!
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