Valleyfair opened on May 25, 1976, in Shakopee, Minnesota, with 20 rides spread across 26 acres. Nearly five decades later, the park has grown to 90 acres and now anchors the Twin Cities’ amusement scene as the largest theme park in the Upper Midwest.
The park’s coaster lineup grew steadily from its original wooden centerpiece, High Roller, through additions like the looping Corkscrew in 1980, up to the towering hypercoaster Wild Thing in 1996 and the wooden Renegade in 2007. In 2026, Six Flags sold Valleyfair to EPR Properties as part of a seven-park, $331 million deal, with Enchanted Parks taking over day-to-day operations while the Valleyfair name and season pass benefits carried on unchanged.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Shakopee, Minnesota
- Opened: May 25, 1976
- Operator: Enchanted Parks (owned by EPR Properties)
- Size: About 90 acres
- Roller coasters: 8
- Tallest coaster: Wild Thing – 207 ft tall, 196 ft first drop, 74 mph (D.H. Morgan Manufacturing, 1996)
- Water park: Superior Shores (formerly Soak City)
The Ride Experience
Wild Thing remains Valleyfair’s signature ride, a hypercoaster standing 207 feet tall with a 196-foot first drop that was reportedly shaped by FAA height restrictions tied to the nearby Flying Cloud Airport. Riders hit around 74 mph across more than a mile of track, and the coaster was among the five tallest in the world when it debuted in 1996.
Older attractions still hold their own alongside the newer steel: High Roller, a wooden coaster dating to the park’s 1976 opening, and Corkscrew, an Arrow Dynamics looping coaster added in 1980, give the lineup a sense of history that few Midwest parks can match. Steel Venom, an Intamin Impulse coaster added in 2003, and the wooden Renegade round out the park’s eight-coaster roster.
Superior Shores and Beyond
Beyond coasters, Valleyfair’s included water park, rebranded from Soak City to Superior Shores in 2026, offers a wave pool, lazy river, and multiple slide towers, with a new slide complex replacing the original 1983 Panic Falls body slides that same year.
The park’s 2026 ownership change to EPR Properties/Enchanted Parks was billed as a continuity move: existing season passes, multi-park access, and pricing were honored through the transition, keeping the Valleyfair name on the gates for the foreseeable future.
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Valleyfair FAQs
When did Valleyfair open?
Valleyfair opened on May 25, 1976, in Shakopee, Minnesota, starting with 20 rides on 26 acres.
How many roller coasters does Valleyfair have?
Valleyfair operates eight roller coasters, including the wooden High Roller, the Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew, and the D.H. Morgan hypercoaster Wild Thing.
Who owns Valleyfair now?
In April 2026, Six Flags sold Valleyfair to EPR Properties as part of a seven-park deal, with Enchanted Parks taking over as operator while keeping the Valleyfair name and existing season passes intact.
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Photo: Chad Davis from Minneapolis, United States / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.