From Dolphin Shows to Roller Coasters: A Look Back at the Last 45 Years with Tom Suel

Valleyfair has developed an extensive history over the last 45 years. It has grown, developed, changed, removed rides, built rides, all while creating memories for an entire community. The park has been a staple of our Minnesota community, and it is rare to find someone who has seen it all. That's exactly what we were looking for when we finally convinced our Maintenance Director, Tom Suel, to sit down in front of a camera and share some of his favorite memories.

[@budtbum]

At 1:21 to 1:26 is the "climbing castle". As a kid that was my favorite playground on earth... Very few pictures of it exists (that I know of). There were soft punching bags at the bottom that you can see in the video. The attendants would let one or two of us at a time run through at full speed, banging the bags all around- that was a blast! Then climb the cargo net to a couple slides, or take the ladder in a tube to the upper levels for the taller curly slide... 40 years later, that still sticks in my head. Probably would be considered "too dangerous" by todays standards, which is too bad... But Valleyfair should find some more pictures of that- it would be a great thing to post!

[@EPiche09]

Thanks for making this such a fun, well maintained park.

[@theglitchesstarthere6818]

so cool

[@StormChasingVideo]

Do you have a license for my content that is being used in this video?

[@AmazingElevatorsandClaws]

Uh oh!

[@jackstender5669]

Sad that u didn’t ask him about future plans :(