Explore Minnesota with Valleyfair

I was so excited to be able to join Explore Minnesota this summer to enjoy some sites here in the state. One of the places my boys had never been was Valleyfair. It’s an awesome amusement park I remember going to as a little girl when we visited my grandparents one summer.

This was my boys first time going and I was excited to watch them enjoy the day! I wasn’t sure how they’d do on the rides since they aren’t exactly adventure seekers!

But, I have quite the tale to tell!

We got there and as I was getting all my stuff into my little strap purse, the boys walked ahead of me. I went back to the van to grab a baggie for my phone.
Now, I have no problem with my boys walking ahead, they're 13 and 9 along with their friends.

I get to the entrance, the kids all had their tickets. I walk through...and NOTHING. No boys. I stood there for a minute scanning the area and I text Buddy's friend. No response. I text Doodle, no response. The only thing I can think of is they've gone to the Wild Thing to start the day off.

I'm FUMING at this point. My boys have NEVER been there before. In their ENTIRE lives I have NEVER allowed them to just leave me. We hadn't talked about a meeting time, when we were going to go on certain rides, who was going where...nada! As I get to the Wild Thing, Buddy and his friend are coming off the ride. I was pissed. I was like, "where's your brother?" Buddy..."I don’t know."

HE DIDN’T KNOW!!!

So i flew off the handle. How could he just leave me in the first place and what makes him think it's ok to just leave his NINE year old brother in this huge park with his friend?

We sat at the entrance for another 45 minutes me texting Doodle constantly on his ipod. What I wouldn't learn for 2 more hours is that there's only one tiny spot in the ENTIRE park that has wifi. I had the boys sit there with me for 45 min and then just told them to go ride the rides since there was nothing we could do, but wait.

I'm texting both boys moms and apologized to the one mom for swearing because I was so upset. the other mom and I kept texting back and forth. The park has nothing really set up to find kids other than to look out for them and radio other security people a description of the lost child(ren). I couldn't decide if we should search the park or just stay put. I stayed there for almost 3 hrs. Buddy and his friend wanted to eat so we went out to the van while they ate. Right before we went out we separated and went 2 different ways to cover the park.

I screamed like an insane person when they dropped us!

FOUR hours after we entered the park, the boys wander by me sitting at the entrance. I had come unglued on the older boys hours before so I had nothing left in me. I was an emotional basket case. I KNEW they were just having fun, but my boys know better. At least I thought they did.

I made sure they knew I was upset and that what they did was irresponsible and inconsiderate. Never once did it cross Doodle's mind that he should check in or anything. Mind boggling to me. I'm still flabbergasted at the entire situation.
I pretty much did nothing the entire time. At the end of the night I ended up going on 3 rides after being there for 8 hrs. What a miserable day to what was supposed to be fun and amazing. =(

That being said, my boys all had a great time. I got a few photos at the end of the night instead of pictures from the whole day. I guess I could’ve taken photos of random people walking into the park.

I got to go on a ride with each of the boys, Buddy wanted to hear me scream. lol I got to watch them go on a few rides and as we were getting ready to leave, big storm clouds came in and started raining right after we left!

I wasn’t sure how the younger boys did on the rides, but it sounded like they’d gone on pretty much every ride they came across. When they were walking by me at the entrance, they had just ridden the The Wave (a log ride). They were sopping wet.

As you can see futher above, I rode the power tower with Buddy’s friend/our neighbor kid. I kinda panicked when we got to the top. He was just sitting there, pleased as pudding. He watched the whole way up. I peeked quickly twice. when they dropped us, I screamed! lol Man that was awesome!

Both boys wanted to go on the Corkscrew roller coaster. Buddy just wanted to hear me scream. I’m a screamer on rides for sure because I’m always positive I’m going to die. =) So, even though I’d already gone on the Corkscrew with Doodle and screamed, I did it for posterity with Buddy.

Then…the neighbor boy mentioned Steel Venom and Doodle said he wanted to go. I was like, “Yah sure, no problem,” believing fully that at some point on our walk to the ride, Doodle would change his mind. Maybe when he actually SAW the ride. Nope, he still wanted to ride it. smh (smack my head)

The ride goes so fast, they literally are a blur! Yes, that is the ride going between me and the boys waiting!

I couldn’t believe he went on it, but he thought it was awesome. This is the ONE ride I’ve avoided each time I’ve gone and I have no desire to even get on it! It got super dark after this ride and all 4 boys wanted to ride the Scrambler one last time. It was the last ride we all went on that day!

Through October the park is open on specific days. You can find more about days and hours by visiting them online. ValleySCARE starts at the end of September so it would be a fun (yet scary) time to visit!

*I received 2 tickets to visit Valleyfair from Explore Minnesota the others I paid for. All opinions expressed are my own and never influenced by the company.