Valley Fair Amusement Park With Amusement Rides

Visiting Valley Fair Amusement Park in Shakopee Minnesota is a great way to spend the day with the family. The park covers 90 acres and includes a water park with a wave pool. Admission to Valley Fair also gives access to Challenge Park, an area with some additional thrill rides for additional fees. Valley Fair has recently made some changes and improvements that will provide fun for the whole family. Here are some highlights of 3 different areas of the park.

1. Soak City Water Park

2. Challenge Park

3. Planet Snoopy

Soak City Water Park

This addition to the park was built on 7 acres inside the park, near the IMAX theatre. This fun water park includes an enclosed area for kids less than 5 years of age. This fenced area includes a small version of the lazy river, a splash pool and a small water slide. It is perfect for toddlers and younger kids.

Soak City also has a lager lazy river ride for older kids and adults. For those looking for a bit more thrill there are three water slides: Panic Falls, Hurricane Falls and Raging Rapids.

A new addition in 2011 is the wave pool. This area is extremely popular and the waves in the pool get quite large, much larger than those at the Water Park of America. Inner Tubes are available for rent to ride in the wave pool, but they are not required. There are also cabanas available for rent. The water park is generally open until about 8:00, rather than the 10:00 that the park is open. Soak City is a wonderful place to take a break from the park and get refreshed on a hot afternoon. Swim suits are required and towels are not provided.

Challenge Park

Challenge Park is an area inside of Valley Fair that is designed for those who are looking for even more thrills. There are three attractions in this area and they each require an additional fee. The attractions are:

1. Go-Karts - Starts at $6.00 per person per session

2. Ripcord - Starts at $24.95 per person

3. Adventure Golf - starts at $6.00 per round

The Go Karts require drivers to be 54" tall. Riders must be 44" tall. The course is ¼ mile long with many turns to navigate

The Ripcord allows guests to experience a fall similar to skydiving from 180 feet in the air. Riders must be 48" to ride

Adventure Golf is 18 holes of miniature golf in a beautifully landscaped course. There is no height requirement for this activity.

These activities are all together next to the popular Steel Venom ride.

Planet Snoopy

The younger guests may want to visit the new Planet Snoopy area. This area has Peanuts themed rides for kids who are under 54" tall and not yet ready for the larger thrill rides in the rest of the park. Planet Snoopy has such rides as Peanuts Road Rally and Sally's Swing Set. Each ride has its own requirements for height listed at the entrance so check the sign if there are any questions.

Other Rides

There are many other rides and shows throughout the park. Each ride has any restrictions on age or height posted prominently at the entrance. The park can be a little confusing on where entrances to specific rides are located and there are few unexpected dead ends. Pick up a map at the entrance and use it to help navigate through the park.

If the line for a specific ride is long take a quick look around as there are usually several ride entrances grouped together. Another ride may not have such a long line.