Valleyfair Family Amusement Park Reviews

A very fun place to go with friends or family. Fun rides good food too.

Insane rides for every adrenaline junkie :) the place is very clean. I suggest go during the week than weekends. Less people and easier to get around during the week.

Can we just talk about the smoking area's for a bit? This should be a smoke free park, if we cannot bring food in (something necessary through out the day) then you should not be allowed to bring cigarettes in (something not necessary). The smoking area along the fence that backs right up to the Dinosaur exhibit and when the kids play in the fossil dig area you can smell it coming through, we have had to leave more than once because of the smell, my son even had to use his inhaler because of it. Please make this place smoke free, and don't allow those ridiculous vapes either, people blow it right into anyone's face as they walk by.

Haven't been here in years now I know why! From the moment I walked in I felt like the blonde girl was discriminatory. It was our first visit since I bought my pass online and I instantly regret it. They don't make you feel welcomed at all. I took my kids to the snoopy plane ride where an autistic child in front of us was denied entrance because he was a cm above height! This was supposed to be a happy place instead we felt like we were walking on eggshells. They retrain their staff on sensitivity training. Instead of hiring teenagers that act like their above everyone, they need to hire actual adults that care about customer service.

I just went there for the first time in years. I went on Wild Thing, XTreme Swing, The High Roller, the Corkskrew and Renegade. We felt so sick we had to leave. Renegade is seriously crazy

Bait and switch tactics on pricing from online to gate.

This is my home park, i live about 30 min away, I love this park, its always clean and nice and i have great time with friends, Valley Scare is always fun, the water park is fun as well, the only thing they need is a new roller coaster, Cedar Fair is giving almost every park a new roller coaster, especially Cedar Point (yes i know its the flagship park but they get a new one nearly every damn year) yet Valley Fair gets a Larson Super Loop, woooo..... Come on all these parks are getting great rides like Steal Vengeance, Twisted Colossus, Hangtime, Railblazer, etc. and we get an old Fair ride... Its a great addition, but its been now 11 years since we got our last roller coaster, Renegade which is an amazing ride non the less! But we need something new to make this park stand out more like a B and M invert or Rmc, or even and Intamin ride. Hopefully in the next coming years we will see something great come to valley fair, hopefully something replacing Dinosaurs Alive when the contract is up ;)

My two oldest boys had fun at Valleyfair. There are a limited amount of rides and activities for children under 48"tall. I recommend waiting until your child is at that required height to go. One of the favorite rides of the day was the Wave. The Wild Thing, the North Star and the Corkscrew are also really fun.

It was fun, but I found myself underwhelmed, and ready to leave earlier than planned. My favorites were Renegade, Xtreme Swing, and Wild Thing, in that order. Everything else was plainly underwhelming. One huge upside to other parks is the food. They bring in food trucks you can order from instead of a food court, though they do have the traditional burger and fries joint. The food trucks host a wide array of cuisines, from vegetarian to bbq, and at reasonable prices. I felt like most of the park is geared toward a younger demographic, so its great for kids. I would've given it a 5 star if I was <12 years old.

Do I really need to explain why it's so great? We live in the cities, so we got a pass this year and the kids qualified for a free preschool pass! It was awesome to go whenever this summer andres's definitely made it worth it! It's expensive otherwise, but definitely worth a once a year trip, especially if you have older kids and can enjoy the rides with them!

Music is not upbeat and fun for kids..its always sassy music and annoying. Its ok to be sassy at times but the whole time your there as a parent waiting its awful. Rides are great. Food too expensive for families

Had a BLAST at Valley Fair! Visited on the fourth Saturday of May and it was pleasantly not that crowded! Lines for rides were minimal. My 8 year old and 3 year old LOVED the rides and the experience overall (as did my husband and I)! When we first arrived, I needed to speak to someone in Customer Relations. Annie , a team lead, was TOP-NOTCH in processing my request and making my family and I feel like valued guests. She gave us "1st Visit" buttons since this was my family's first time at the park. From the moment we walked into the park to our exit, our day was hassle free and full of fun. All the employees we interacted with were pleasant and knowledgeable. I loved the diversity and inclusion. The park was very clean and well maintained. I felt safe and comfortable. Kudos to Valley Fair for that.

Just a couple of recommendations:

NEVER PAY FOR ADMISSION AT THE GATE
Check the website out for deals and packages. That can save you some . Also, check with your employer- a lot of companies offer their employees discounted tickets to local attractions including Valley Fair...

BUY THE ALL DAY MEAL PLAN ($35)
You get an entree and side every 90 minutes. The meals alone cost about $13-$15 each if you were to eat as you go. It's worth it! Especially for families... See the photo I uploaded for the meal options...

BUY THE UNLIMITED DRINK SOUVENIR CUP ONLINE ($13)
Free refills every 15 minutes. Again, so worth it when drinks are $5 each... A family can share one refillable drink all day. Plus, it's in a nice reusable plastic cup with a straw and lid and you can bring it back on other visits and pay $1 to fill/refill. There are no lids and straws for the disposable drinks. It's a no brainer if you ask me...

BRING EXTRA CLOTHES AND SHOES
You will more than likely get wet on some rides. Extra clothes are nice to have in tow- as well as both a pair of sandals and sneakers per person. The nice thing is that you can leave them in your car and go get them if necessary. You get hand stamped for readmittance if you should need to leave. Towels are also handy!

PAY FOR PARKING IN ADVANCE ONLINE
It's a couple of dollars cheaper- but hey, every dollar counts and you could use the money saved to pay for games inside the park...

Overall good experience but $17 dollars to park and $15 for a locker is a bit much.

Valley Fair is the most disappointing amusement park I have ever been too. The line for Wild Thing took 45 minutes. The ride for Power Tower took 2 hours. No exaggeration. If you weren't aware, someone ran a marathon in less than that time recently but we only moved 100 feet. The amount of people with fast passes meant only 2 people from the regular line could go each time. They had 2/3 the 3 towers open even though they knew this would be a busy night. Don't try calling their park support, they won't do anything for you except say sorry. You'd think with how high the attendence numbers are, they could afford to pay more staff. I plan on never returning to Valley Fair. That doesn't matter to the park owners though as they can keep scamming enough people to make money. Do not go here.

You have to go at least once. Thrill rides and water park

Great amusement park, good for family gatherings, moderately affordable. But the customer service could be better, but still highly recommend.

Lots of variety, lots of fun!! Highly recommend "Fly over America" !!

I've gone a few times with no issues. But today a friend and I went after 4 for the twilight rates. What they didn't tell us when we bought the 38 dollar tickets was they were shutting down all the rides. We walked around for almost a hour with all the rides shut down due to a storm warning. We talked to someone in management for maybe 15 minutes before they would refund us. It is stealing taking someone's money for rides when you know they won't be able to go on any rides. The staff in the park said everything was shut down every 15 minutes and when I talked to a supervisor they said that some rides were up, and that we had been told at the gate. I guess I'm delirious from the sun or something. I might have gotten my 38 dollars back, but that didn't cover the gas and parking and wasted time I delt with.

Very disappointed with the way things have gone at this establishment. Seems management may not fully understand that their demographic is family and their attraction is whole family fun - get it straight with security and figure providing for your demographic - other parks do it so collaborate with them if you need help.

***Update***
Alena and Jocelyn from the park reached out to me immediately. My money was refunded. Thank you very much! We'll definitely be back!

Very disappointed with customer service at this park. I attempted to order tickets online on Saturday 5/27. The application kept going offline when I was at the checkout portion of the purchase. I called the park twice. The man on the phone stated he could not help me with online purchases, but assured me that if I did not receive an email confirmation, the purchase did not go through. He said we would have to buy tickets at the park. This was at 11AM. We arrived at the park and bought tickets. When we left the park at closing (10pm), I noticed an email that had been sent at 5pm. It showed confirmation of my online ticket purchase for 4 NONREFUNDABLE tickets for 5/27. So, I paid twice to get into the park for 4 people. Since online sales are NONREFUNDABLE, I'm stuck with the payment. The email should have arrived immediately after my purchase. It was sent 6 hours after my purchase. They totally ripped me off. They know i did not use the online tickets, but will not refund. Several other people in line were having trouble with their online ticket sales as well on Saturday. Hopefully they didn't get double charged like I did.

Awesome..fun,rides,and great food and entertainment!!

Its an amusement park, very much what you should expect from one. Good rides but too much waiting to get on, food and drink too expensive, worth doing occasionally, much better when someone else pays.

I always have a fun time here. It's busy, but lines tend to move quickly in comparison to other parks I've been too. Just try to look for deals on tickets or food/drink wristband packages ahead of time so that way you don't spend a fortune in the park.

Season passes are a must, We go a couple times a month. LOVE the new water park Joey loves the wave pool and lazy river.

Awesome! Thanks to RE/MAX Woodbury who bought out the park for the day! It was super fun for the kids (virtually zero lines)! Re/Max is a great place to work!

Waterpark is a must on a hot day! If you go on a weekday, no Fast Lane tickets needed. And if you need to rent a locker, do it in the waterpark area so you can go in and out of it all day long with no extra fee.

Don t go there. Enforces social distancing. Unfair.

The gate prices are reasonable considering what you are getting...but the Fast Price prices are absurd. That being said...if you search around you can find some decent food deals. The 2 Hot Dogs and Fries Basket was a good deal for my 2 kids and the perfect amount of food when split up. Coasters were great as usual...always surprises me that even being there for 10 hours...Valleyfair has a TON to offer and we could of used more time.

Great fun but a gets a little expensive! Add drinks & food & there goes the entertainment budget for the next couple weeks. It would be nice to see the ticket prices go down some.

Was a great day! Helpful and fast staff when getting a ticket.. great rides! A+++

Valley fair is a lot of fun, but it can get pretty pricey. I suggest going during a time they are doing a promotion that makes it cheaper, and try to plan for a day that s not super sunny, as it gets hot!

To get in it was a little pricey but that's with all amusement parks. It cost a lot more at the door then online. Getting in can take some time or be very fast doing on the time of day and date. Security is usally easy going. The stores are a little expansive for food and soviners. A lot of the rides like wild thing and a few others were really fun, some others were a little boring but can be great for beginners. The water park open during the summer is really fun with the wave pool, lazy river and fast water slides and has something for everyone easily accessible from the main park. Overall a great time.

every thing is great and they have a good deal for the season cards ,the services are amazing , and the employees very nice for the communication

I have been going to Valley Fair for 29 years and love it. There is something to do for any ages. I especially like to go to the water park i.e. lazy river followed by a nice nap and a swim at the wave pool. Rides are great. my kids have so much fun

we bring plenty of towels and swimsuits. we bring food in a cooler and eat in the parking lot. make sure to bring water bottles

Always a fun time, gold season passes allow us to visit multiple times per month, avoiding the busy days and that means less waiting in line, however it's a great opportunity to chit chat with my son while enjoying the day together. No phones, no distractions, just good conversation and thrilling rides!

The bathrooms weren't the cleanest, our youngest would have liked to buddy ride a few more rides with our group but over all we had a blast!

we had a good time, lots of walking for us older kids.
But one thing - they had no place to recharge your phone. So of course everyone hated that as their phone slowly died and AND NO MORE PHOTO'S!!!!!

All the rides except for High Roller felt safe and secure. Food prices are high but it's a big fair so I didn't expect them to be priced fairly. Costly to get in especially with Fast pass but a good experience.

October 27, last weekend of year. Well over half the rides are closed. No problem. I understand that. Pumpkin festival with Peanuts gang? Where are the peanuts? Not here. LAME. 80 bucks plus 17 for parking for a grandpa and a 4 year old. Never again.

Amazing place to spend an entire day! Amazing for kids

Great place to drop a paycheck lol. Very fun and family friendly. Bring a cooler with food and drinks and eat in the parking lot. A regular soda is over $5

I've been to Valleyfair multiple times over the past couple of years. Something I've come across more than once unfortunately is inappropriate behavior of workers. Most notably, these workers "hitting on" friends of mine. This can really give a negative overtone to the entire trip. Which is unfortunate because the rest of the staff is very good at their respective jobs. Also, it's just a shame that the actions of these workers can cast such a shadow over the splendid time you can have at the amusement park. I hope Valleyfair recognizes this and improves the quality of their staff.

expensive, everything over price. needs more exciting rides getting boring.

One of the better parks in the Cedar Faire chain. Needs a new adventure ride!

I didn't like the creeps especially the screaming witch lady!! Respond if u see this witch lady

So much fun and fun for the whole family! The water park is awesome!

I just recently went by myself and my experience was good but could have been a lot better. I bought the fast pass for the first time and it was great but kind of felt cheaped our when the water slides in soak city doesnt have the fast lane. Also you really need to post before entering a ride the minimum amount of peope needed on the ride a few time i climbed up the stairs to find out i couldnt go on the ride.

Comming here for 40 years. Better than disney anywhere.

Tickets are pretty high priced but they aren't so bad you couldn't afford it. Food around the place isn't so badly priced. Lots of choices to eat and rides are fun. Lines aren't too terrible. Water park is lots of fun. Mostly a lot of rollar coasters and a water park.

I love to go to vallyscare in October. Unlimited rides and haunted houses! The bad part are long lines and expensive, not great food.

It's always really fun to go. I really wish there were some more rides that kids ages 8-11 would enjoy more.

Great place but the food and drink prices are ridiculous. They also have a stupid policy about not making change at any vendor you must purchase something

Great park. Ride turn around times were slow compared to other parks. Food prices were high too.

I have enjoyed this park since 1976 when they first opened. Lots of fun rides and the water park is awesome.

Just Valleyfair in general is fun. I like how the staff, albeit young are not like some kids maybe at their jobs and looking at their phones constantly. They work hard and are attentive, which thank God! No one really crabby or acting annoyed with doing the same thing over and over all day long.
I would say that if you are using the friend and family ticket day, do not make the friend or family member be forced to wait outside the location until they arrive to the park. I had everything I needed from my friends ID pass and she was 10 minutes out, daughter had to use the bathroom and she was forced to wait until the season pass holder arrived ti go in.

We are a family of four. One of us is too short to ride steel venom and power tower. Other than that we could all ride all of the rides. We purchased Fast Lane Passes for all four of us. We all enjoy rides. The first time I went to Valley Fair I was five years old, I have been there a few times since, now I am 38 and my wife and I brought our kids. We went on a Thur in the second week of August, on the day we went the park was open from 10am to 10pm. We arrived at 1015am and left at 10pm. Tickets, Fast Lane, Food and Parking we were in $550+ for the day. We have done Wilderness WI Dells, Great Wolf Lodge Bloomington, Disneyland Anaheim all in the last two years. We also camp at State Parks, National Parks and KOAs. I am not sure we will return to Valley Fair, they seem to be doing plenty of business without us, so I doubt it matters to anybody involved in the oversight of the place. I think 3 stars is generous. It was a lot of money for a mediocre experience, but the kids had fun, the memory is what counts.

Parking was easy at 1015 am, we were very close to the front gate. We sat in a long line to get through security. Luckily I was able to sneak 6 Nature Valley Granola bars in to the park by having them in my pockets.

Then we sat in a long line to enter the park and have our tickets scanned. We had printed paper copies of our tickets. I saw multiple people having trouble trying to get the bar codes on their phones scanned.

Then we had to stand in another long line at the gift shop to get our Fast Lane wristbands. The guy in front of us in the gift shop had the meal plan, he was told he has to go stand in another line at a food vendor to get his meal plan tickets.

Rides are ok. There are many spinning rides, ICK. Power Tower, Steal Venom are still good. North Star was cool. Wild Thing is getting less smooth and more jerky every year, still fun. I remember when it was new, it just glided. The other coasters will give you a concussion and break your neck. Especially Renegade, which we did ride three times. It is like the roughest freight train you could imagine. The intense shaking is as thrilling as the ride itself. Fast Lane was fun, its good to walk on to rides, no lines. The day we went was pretty slow, we still avoided 20-30 min lines all day at every ride with very few exceptions. I would not do it any other way.

Customer service is hit or miss. Definitely not Disney. The entire park is run by a bunch of untrained teenage brats on their work abroad summer vacation. Some are nice and interested in doing a good job, some are rude and indifferent. Incompetence can make for some long lines with concessions here and there. Like I said, hit or miss depending on the individual. Overall no one really cares about your experience one way or the other. Patience and thick skin goes a long way.

Bathrooms are horrible, everywhere.

Food is crazy expensive and overpriced, also it is barely passable quality. Glad I didn't do the meal plan. We ate what we wanted when and where we wanted and spent about the same amount of money as the add on to our tickets would have been. Two meals, three pops and one round of dipping dots we were in about $130 for food for the day. My granola bars were helpful in keeping spirits up in between meals.

I thought the water park kind of sucked. Wave pool was small. If you want a tube in the wave pool you need to pay extra money. Lockers were expensive and so junky they were difficult to operate requiring staff to open ours as it would not open like it should. There is a line for the lazy river, you go around once, then you have to get out and go stand in line again if you want to go again. The two biggest speed slides are good slides, very smooth.

Extra money to rent tubes in water park, extra money to go through dinosaur world which we did not do, super expensive food and drinks, minimal shaded seating, poor customer service, jerky rides, filthy bathrooms, broken lockers. This was my $550 experience. Have fun! :)

Fun fun place to hang out at. Prices are alittle out rageous but fun!! Also, they need better security watching all the hooligans budging in line...better watch out if you say something youll get a group of 10+ wanting to fight you. LOL.....hahah. teach these kids RESPECT!!!!

Hope you have the best day ever! It's fun but catering to mainly season pass holders has definitely changed the place since I was a kid. Just doesn't feel as great as it used to. Caricature artists out there are fantastic though ;)

One of the best places on Earth. Always have a blast there

This was the second year that my wife and I have purchased season passes for ourselves, and we definitely get our money's worth out of them. This year we also purchased the food plan, and while it gave us an excuse to head over there more often than we did the year before, I don't know that I'd buy it again. As much as we like going to Valley Fair, we love roller-coasters, the food is flat-out awful, as is the service at most of the food stands in the park. Seriously, how can you screw up pizza? Particularly at a stand that is dedicated to pizza, Mama Chetta's Pizzeria. Well, they managed to do that here. Seriously the most awful, bland pizza I've ever had. With the food plan you get two slices, and I tried it twice thinking that maybe the first visit was a fluke. Nope, seriously so bad I threw it out without even finishing a single slice. And they do have three capability to make decent pizza, they serve it at another stand, Chicky and Pete's, but you can't get it on the meal plan there.The taco's aren't terrible, but you don't get enough to really call it a meal. The burgers, at any of the stands, are hit or miss, usually a miss because the service is seriously so bad that the food often sits under the warmers until one of the disinterested employees steps away from planning what they're going to be doing after work long enough to help out a customer. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that the food at this park just genuinely sucks! I'm writing these details because it is my hope that their management might see this and attempt to address the issue. They have videos playing on TVs while you wait in line, and one has a (Cedar Fair chef, that's right a chef! LOL!) explaining that they try so hard and offer such fine cuisine that their hope is that people will come for the food and stay for the rides. This is just laughable, at least at Valley Fair it is.
Just once, I'd love to see a manager walk in, to Coasters especially, while they're busy, and witness first-hand just how bad the service is, and how little the employees seem to care, and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Okay, just one last rant and I'll stop, because I really do like the place for it's rides, hence the 4 stars.
What is up with the lifeguards in the water-park? The head-bobbing, constantly scanning the water, method is just creepy. Ice never seen this method, or the militant presence at any other waterpark. Did Cedar Fair have an incident that requires this? I feel bad for them, their job has got to be a mind-numbing nightmare, and it just makes me feel uncomfortable being there.
That's all, I love the place, I'll probably buy the pass again next year, not so sure about the food plan though.
Be sure to check out Renegade, it's the best ride in the park.

My kids and I live this place! The food is over priced but we always pack lunches or dinner and eat hem in the parking lot hen go back in to the park because you are NOT allowed to bring outside food in. I would definitely get a season pass. I pays for itself in 2 times. We also have the season cup that we can get filled every time we go as many times as we want. I also bring an empty water jug and fill it there. This is our favorite place to go.

Wonderful. I do hope they continue to add attractions though. Some of those have been there for almost 20years.

Super fun had a great time. We bought the season passes for 87 bucks each great value and comes with 20 percent off food and clothing toys in the park pays for its self in two visits and includes free parking which is 17$ alone. Lots of rides great water park

Had a lot of fun. Recommend the water slides. Get the fast pass

Its Really Good The Food Is Slow And The Lines Are Bad And The Food Is A Little Too Pricey My Friend And I Went And It Was Great!!!

It is so fun I love it I have a gold pass and we are going on the 3 of July if u are in the twin cities come and check it out good roller coasters. And if u are living thare bye a pass your hole family will have fun go on the wave if u want to git cooldown and the water park is so fun you should come check it out it's so fun 10/5