Valleyfair/Minnesota question

[medford]

Figured this is as good a place as any.

My wife and I are heading up to Wisconsin around the 4th to visit her cousins/aunt and uncle. We were planning on a long weekend west of Madison, then figuring out something else to do with the week following.

So one of the things I thought of was heading up to Minnesota, taking in a twins game, going to the Mall of America and perhaps spending a day at Valleyfair.

Any recommendations for Valleyfair? We'll have our 6 year old with us, who so far loves The Beast, Racers, etc...should be able to get on Banshee this spring and likely Diamondback, Flight of Fear, etc... later this summer if he's not already at those height requirements. Don't know if he'll enjoy those as much as he does The Beast, he rode Vortex 2 seasons ago when he first hit 48", but never asked to get on last season (don't know if that was just 'cuse) or if he grew a fear of loops over the winter 2 seasons ago. Our Daughter will be 3, has never been on anything that requires more than a 36" height requirement, but should have access to all of that this spring. Looks like they have a decent kids area.

Any recs for Mall of America? My wife has been years ago, I've never been. Is it worth the trip? Looks like there is an aquarium and many things to do outside of "shopping" anything in particular we should look for?

Additionally, thought about maybe heading over to "the Field of Dreams" site. Doesn't look like that is too far out of the way from where we'll be in Wisconsin. They have some sort of "legends" type game on Sunday afternoons. Has anyone done this before and think its worth the time?

Anything else out that way that anyone would recommend that I haven't thought of?

TIA.

[The Interpreter]

The three parks in the Wisconsin Dells area are worth your time. Given the ages of your kids, I'd not miss Little Amerricka...there's a lot there for kids that age and it's a fun little park. The two in the Dells itself, Mt. Olympus and Timber Falls Adventure park are also worth exploring...and a lot closer to Madison than Valleyfair! or the Mall of America.

[medford]

thanks terpy I thought about the Dells, my wife went there with her cousins when our son was about 2.

[jbeast]

My family stopped by Field of Dreams on our last trip out to to see my parents in Clear Lake Iowa this past summer. As a huge fan of the movie and baseball in general, it was well worth the couple hours we spent there before heading back to Cincy. The kids had a blast. We played catch, participated in a game on the field with a bunch of new friends, took a ton of photos in the cornfield and around the farmhouse and came back with some great memories and fun souvenirs also.

[medford]

thanks.

[Steph88]

I haven't been to Valleyfair, sadly, but I have been to some of these places!

I took a trip to Minneapolis one October for an honor society thing in college. It was really cool, it's fun to walk around outside downtown, and if it's raining or something you can pretty much get anywhere without going outside because all the buildings are connected by these cool hamster-tube like things. The whole downtown is like a big mall in itself! I stayed at the Crown Plaza and it was just the coolest! You can catch a train to Mall of America, which is pretty awesome. It has its own amusement park right inside! They also have the American Girl store there, your daughter may not be old enough to be super interested, but maybe! They have a Lego store there, which both kids would probably have a blast at.

I've been to Milwaukee and Madison a few times. Madison has some really gorgeous lakes. There's a couple of cruise companies if you want to spend a couple hours on the water. They have dinner cruises and things like ice cream social cruises that the kids might like.

The Dells have some cool stuff. I honestly didn't get to do much when I went, we were only there for like half a day, but they have this really nice horse & carriage ride where you can see the rock formations and stuff. It was pretty interesting, and the horses are beautiful. They also have stuff like Ride the Ducks.

Have a safe trip, and have fun!

[Rustbucket]

Wisconsin Dells is a way to go. It is about 3 hours + to go to Mall of America and Valleyfair! If you visit Minneapolis, also visit Fort McCoy near Tomah, WI. It is a nice treat.

Valleyfair! is not what I would call a must visit park, but Wild Thing and Renegade are quite enjoyable. Visiting Mall of America is good. Some of the flats at Mall of America are really good. There is a Gerstlauer coaster called "Rock Bottom Plunge" I liked.

Like Interpreter said, Mt Olympus is a better park for coaster fans. They have 4 really nice wooden coasters. I love Hade 360 and Zeus. They have fantastic air time. I even like Pegasus. Opa is a spinning wild mouse that I did not care about. Do not for get to go ride Avalanche at Timberfalls around the corner from Mt Olympus. This is another good wooden coaster.

[Tuskin]

I went to college in Minnesota and have been to the Mall of America many times. I would say for your kids age the park inside the Mall of America will be perfect for them. You have 4 stories of stores to explore, and a Lego store made entirely out of Lego's which is something you do not want to miss. I highly recommend it. They built a TMNT ride there a few years back which, being a turtle maniac, I was very upset was not built when I was going to college. The log flume ride is a blast and ranks as one of my favorites.

[Oldiesmann]

If you like water parks, Noah's Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells should be worth checking out. It's got glowing reviews on TripAdvisor and regularly appears on various "top 10 waterparks" lists.

[jcgoble3]

a Lego store made entirely out of Lego's

WHAT. I MUST SEE THIS.

*adds it to his bucket list*

[Rustbucket]

You can also check out Lego Land. My kids loved it when we went there in 2000. DC, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York blocks built with Legos. Those were really nice.

[homestar92]

I don't want to be that guy, but since proper use of trademarks is part of the TOS and all, I feel I should share this screenshot from the LEGO (which is always written in all-caps, BTW) website a few years back that would appear if you tried to access it by typing in legos.com. The same disclaimer also once appeared in the back of every LEGO catalog.

(image found on a StackExchange discussion at http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/556/can-anyone-find-a-photo-of-the-lego-bricks-not-legos-insert )

[jsus]

Legos of mes!

LEGOs of me Eggos?

[coasterfanatic83]

The Lego Store in Times Square NYC was impressive. 8 ft. Statue of Liberty and multiple other huge constructions. It was actually pretty ridiculous.

[medford]

thanks for all the pointers.

I've talked things over a bit with my wife, I think we're leaning towards Minnesota, though I've always wanted to go to the Dells, I think my wife was at Noah's Ark 5 years for her aunt and uncles anniversary. Definitely one of the water parks in the Dells. Perhaps we'll hit up Mount Olympus (we're not hugely into water parks, though I have a feeling at some point our 6 year old son will force us into KI's water park) rather than Valley Fair. I think we want to take in a baseball game, I haven't checked the Brewers schedule, but I know the twins are in town. The LEGO store is definitely a place we'll hit while in Minnesota.

There doesn't appear to be must thought behind hitting up Valley Fair. Its not like its on my bucket list, the only reason I'd be going is b/c I was already up in that area. If we skipped it, I doubt anyone would be terrible upset. Is it worth the time/money to spend a day at Valley Fair, or will I leave "wanting more" with kids that are vastly familiar with Kings Island? I don't expect it to offer the variety and entertainment that KI does, but I don't sense a lot of praise for the park in general. Perhaps the silence is deafening, or perhaps its just silence b/c its just "ok" take if you're in the area for something else, leave it if it would require a special trip.

So, if I'm on the path of heading up to Minnesota for a twins game and Mall of America, aside from possibly Valley Fair, is there anything else in that area worth checking out? Based upon stuff with her family, I think the side trip to The Field of Dreams isn't going to work out, it would require us to leave a bit earlier on Sunday that we would like, and it doesn't seem like attending on any other day as just a single family would be quite as good. Anyhoo, I'm currently working on Friday - Sunday morning with her family in western Wisconsin, shooting up to Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, spending somewhere b/w 2-3 days there, then heading south and possibly hitting Mount Olympus on the way back to SW Ohio.

[medford]

So a bit of an update, with the wife preganent, we were going to skip out on either Valleyfair! and the Dells, figuring she wouldn't be able to ride anything and would have to spend most of her time in kiddie land with our now 3 year old daughter.  Its what she does on all of our trips to KI this year, but those are mostly 4-5 hour trips in the evevnings, broken up by dinner, just enough time to enjoy Planet Snoopy with our daughter while I take our older son to the rest of the park, and I figured a whole day of it would be a bit boring for her, so we'll find something else to do.  Anyways, unknown to us, one of her Cousins that we were going to see in Wisconsin had plans for Valleyfair! while we were going to be in Minneapolis.  My wife decided she'd rather join them there and alter our plans in Minneapolis, so we made the short venture over from the Mall of America Area on tuesday.  Fun park, a bit smaller than KI, a handful of great rides and some OK ones as well.  I'd definently recommend it if you were in the area.  Other than that, Mall of America is neat, but not worthy of a trip alone.  We didn't get to hit the aquarium, and skipped out on the Nick area and rides since we were heading to Valleyfair! the next day.  Some "unique" stores, but many identical or similar to what you can find at most large urban malls in America.  Took the lite rail from MoA to Target Field (route starts at MoA and ends right outside Target Field, making the trip a breeze) and would recommend a similar route for anyone thinking of heading up the area as well.  Target Field is nice, good food offerings, expensive like every other major league park.  Didn't get to experience anything else in the area with the late addition of Valleyfair! but enjoyed the short sidetrip to Minneapolis.