Valravn reviews

I like funky B&M hang time. Thunderbird's last inversion does it even better than Valravn.

For sure. Banshee is quite enjoyable as well.

Looking at live feed from Colorado. three B&M sunset. dive out of the big Immelmann looks directly at the old Jet ride as you pull out of it....that was intentional. wish I could ride, Pulling up on that control on the jet ride was killer. You could plan on the dive attack on the little control booth, and pull up hard just after.

What?

Wait, let me try.
jo linn is in Colorado looking at CP's cam and can see 3 big B&M coasters shining in the sunset. jo linn notes that the pull out after Valravn's immelman points directly at the former location of CP's Satellite Jets ride and is certain that was an intentional bit of placement. Then jo linn gets nostalgic for a ride on Satellite Jets, remembering the joystick control and how much fun it was to dive bomb the control booth, pulling up hard afterward. I believe jo linn recognizes similarities between the two ride experiences and wishes they could ride the Jets one more time.

Did I mention jo linn is in Colorado?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDzNA39Vvc

Thanks Mac, for the clarification in terms we could understand. LOL!

Who's had success on asking politely for front/back?

From what I've heard, just about no one.

Me. There was no issue at all whatsoever. And the crew has become very efficient. 60 second dispatch interval. They kept that line moving. This is as of 2 days ago

The only time Ive had any success in requesting a specific row has been first thing in the morning for early entry. Other than that, rows have been assigned. Crew has been very efficient. The first and third rows are great, so of course, I feel like I always get stuck in the 2nd row.

So my girlfriend and I made our newly annual trip (as of last year) to CP last week for 3 days, and made it a point to ride Valravn first thing during early entry. We ended up getting the front row end seats (i forget which side) and were both blown away. The first thing I noticed was just how steep the lift hill is...that in it self was pretty unnerving to me for my first time on it. It felt a bit steeper to me than Millennium Force, but that could just be a mental thing. The view from the top was awesome, and the anticipation that builds while actually waiting for the train to STOP before the dive was great. This was my first dive coaster, so I wasn't sure how it would "feel" but I loved it. It really did feel like a fast freefall when it first breaks free. After that, the next best part was the extreme weightlessness feeling during the large twist-corkscrew type thing. The second drop was weird, it seemed like everytime we rode it it slowed down a different amount. Once, it seemed like it barely slowed down. Not sure what that's about. We got to ride it 5 times throughout our trip, both front and back twice, and once in the middle. The front clearly has better views and is more exciting visually...but i'm pretty sure I liked the way the drop "feels" more on the back row. I felt like I was kind of hanging in the air while being pulled down instead of falling forward. We closed our trip out with one more ride on Valravn in the front at night before we headed back to the hotel. I'm giving it an 8.5/10 I believe. Still not as fully exciting as Millennium Force...but it's not too far off when you consider the whole package with the views and atmosphere. ( I think I have strange coaster tastes however, I LOVE Rougarou and that doesn't seem to be too well regarded. )

It took me a couple of times to ride Valravn before it "grew" on me. The view at the top really is the best in the park IMO. The one thing I have noticed that no one has really brought up is that Valravn doesn't actually STOP you at the top. Rather you very VERY slowly advance forward down the drop until the chain disengages. Thought that was interesting.

^My friend claims Griffon has a full stop. I've never been on it, though.

On a partially unrelated note... I'm slightly annoyed by the new restraints... they keep you from experiencing airtime. (But at least these ones are a bit looser than Gatekeeper's.)

As for requesting seats, I believe they'll take a request if you ask for a blank row... like if they're filling the second row and you want the third, I think you have a pretty good chance of riding in that row.

Your friend is mistaken. All the dive coasters have that chain that rolls the train slowly until it eventually runs out.
It's pretty ingenious. It looks like a dead stop and feels like a dead stop unless one pays very close attention.

^Ah. Maybe Valravn just advances faster because it holds for a shorter time before running out of chain (AFAIK, Griffon holds you longer.)

Although it would probably be bad for the ride and borderline unsafe for riders, I've always wondered how Valravn would feel in "test mode" (AKA no mechanical trims on - flopping over the drops with the only trim being the mag brakes on the MCBR.) I wonder what the second drop would be like? Maverick-like, or just plain unsafe?

Also, again, I don't like the vest restraints :P.

(But the ones on Valravn are still better than GK's - GK's vests still take much more force to push up than Valravn's.)

Just got back from a trip. They're in fact being a bit crazed regarding seats. I got up with my group to the turnstile and said I have a group of 6 and we wanted to wait in the front. I even said I know there's a big line for the front and would wait back to let a bit of people go in front of us to get everything filled for awhile. She was so adamant and even like spoke over me saying "go to row three." Karma though was prepared, as someone else on her crew came up with a few people who were were part of a VIP tour or had line skips or something and were able to get right on, they took that row and filled the train, so we remained behind the turnstile. Then a platform rotation happened during that cycle, and the next op had no issues with my request, he was pretty chill. However, she ended up rotating to Load 1 and promptly stapled my whole group...

The crews need to realize, it's a damn seat. Yes it shouldn't matter where we sit, but it really kinda does. If someone wants the front, who cares, let em sit there if you can put em there or have em wait. We're all adults with some level of comprehension. This was just flat out ridiculous though.

But it's ok Kim, you can staple us all you want. I def had a giant smug grin on my face as you stood in front of me checking a restraint. Almost akin to:

Where did you get that photo? That car drives on the 'wrong' side to what most of the world does. It is a right hand drive like you see in England, not a left hand drive...

Sorry, I am really observant! :P

^ Dude, it's from Top Gear, a British TV show.

CP FLYIN said:

Sorry, I am really observant! :P

You're *something* alright, and it's not good.

I requested the front today and had no issues, as always just depends on the attendant. The ride is growing on me as well, I've realized you need to sit in the front to get the real experience. The views are amazing and the queue area always impresses me.