Valravn reviews

Go Intamin said:

No, like a B&M rattle. The second drop has a pretty bad one.

What does that even mean?

That the ride kind of vibrates or bounces, it's really bad on gatekeeper, and is usually on B&M coasters.

I've never experienced that on any of their rides, except for maybe Hulk, which had been in bad shape for a few years.

I noticed a bit of vibration when sitting in the outer seats on Valravn. I have also experienced it on almost every coaster whose train's width extends out beyond the footprint of the track... B&M, Intamin, Arrow or otherwise. It's not usually enough to ruin the experience of the ride, though there have been a few exceptions.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7. Fortunately, I won a Fast Lane ride for it and walked right on. I can't see myself riding it again unless the line is under 20 minutes. I would rather ride Gatekeeper or Rougarou. After the first drop, there isn't much fun to it.
I'm sure some will find it fun, I just find it a shame that they waste the speed of the first drop to nearly stop you before the second.
My favorite thing about Valravn is how nice of a job they did with the midway for it. Hopefully they do more like this when they install new attractions.

I rode Valravn on Saturday during the afternoon. Luckily I had one of the social box fast lane passes from last year. Even though I had that, the wait was still a solid 45 minutes. At one point it went down for 10 or so minutes. The queue looks unfinished (what's the secret btw?). The arched parts of the walls looked like they are supposed to have some sort of wall art at some point. I hope they will anyways... otherwise it will continue to look awkward.

Aside from that, it was okay. Maybe now in my top 5... maybe not. Like Zoug said, I can't see myself riding it unless the wait is 45 mins again or less. It seems uneventful because I can't remember much details to share as I'm writing this. I did like the station but I was assigned to the back row which barely feels like it hangs over the edge on the lift. Its gigantic, which is good in some cases, but it also seems to block the skyline when walking down the midway or coming from the Rougarou/Millenium area back toward the front of the park. I did like how close it was and how it interacted with the midways.

I'll try and ride it again and attempt to sit closer to the front, maybe I will change my mind. Overall a 6 or 7/10

After 10 laps yesterday I can easily say that this is the best front seat ride on the planet. It is very old school B&M, far from force less. The visuals are absolutely amazing. Still coming down from just how amazing this thing is.

10 laps?!? Did you have Fast Lane Plus or did the lines significantly drop from the 6-10hr waits everyone was complaining about last weekend?

I rode three times this weekend - twice Saturday night when it opened back up around 9:15 after having been closed for hours. We walked by and talked to the guy at the gate (there was about 20 people standing in line, hoping) and we decided to go try to find some food. We got out onto the midway and I saw test cars running and we doubled back and they were letting people into the line. So we rode it with a 3 minute wait.

We decided to get back into line after that, but since they were only running one car, we ended up in line for about an hour. We got 2nd row both times and I think it's a lot of fun. It's certainly not scary, not even the drop. I find Millennium to be far scarier. But it's absolutely fun.

My daughter played Plinko on Sunday and won a fast lane, so we used it over there and they let us go in the front, which was amazing. But yeah, it's kind of like Gatekeeper for me in that it's fun, but not really scary.

One train operation for the brand new ride that just opened last weekend? Yay! I love things that make sense!

Yesterday they only had two running, and someone asked Tony Clark why on twitter, and he said "Because we have to make sure all trains are full." There was a 105 minute wait for the ride. Filling more than two trains at a time was NOT going to be a problem.

Got my first ride today, front row, great ride! Only slight downer was it didnt open until 9:30, but perhaps the cold temps had an effect last night. The amount of bitching in line was hilarious.

Overall good first visit of the year and I have only been here 3 hours!

I got my first ride on Valravn yesterday. The wait was under two hours most of the day dwindling down to an hour as the day went on. Definitely a ride to wait to ride in the evening like Raptor. I thought I would just give some pros and cons for the ride instead of writing so much.

PROS

• Tons of floater airtime
• Glass smooth
• The restraints were noticably more comfortable than Gatekeepers (GK is better now but still not as comfortable).
• The forces were consistent and strong.
• The area looks great.
• Despite all the complaining, the operators were as efficient as they could be. There would have been stack with 3 trains today.

CONS

• No vending machines in line (I know its petty).
• I don't really understand the colors with Rougarou right by it. I think it would be better with a mix of gold and purple (also not really a big deal).

Overall the ride was a great addition to CP that really helps to tie the park together. While the experience is not as good as say Millennium Force I would say it is a close second and that the coaster is unique to the park. While I tend to like Intamin's rides better (when they run that is), I like the decisions the park has been making with Gatekeeper and Valravn. Both rides are visually stunning and provide different experiences as compared to other rides in the park. I would not be surprised if our next ride is a B&M flier (I'd rather have a RMC though).

And seriously guys, quit complaining about the wait times. What are you expecting? Its a large new coaster at one of the best amusement parks in the world. The lines for TTD and MF were much larger when they opened. You can't build a 30 million dollar coaster and expect it to run smoothly in the first few days. It will get better just like it always has in the past.

Also get on Blue Streak if you can, it is running great.

Standby line was about an hour but I splurged as I went alone yesterday and got fast lane plus which meant I only had a station wait.

Rode it a couple of times Friday Night, both were in the front row.

Great visuals. Ride experience is very comfortable, but compared to my rides on Shiekra I didn't get the 'OH Sh**' freefall feeling on the first drop due to the vest restraints. Maybe I need to try the middle or back row before I make that comparison.

I wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for the ride, unless I was taking a first time rider on. I'm definitely glad to have one of these close to home.

I went into the park today for lunch and rode it. Wait time was only 15 minutes and people were buying fast passes. Rode Valravn and got one of my meal plan meals and went back to the office. Life is great near the Point in the summer.

When was the wait only 15 minutes? It was consistently 2 hours today. It was still an hour wait at closing time.

Got 11 rides on it during the 10 hours the park was open on Monday, May 16th. It was my only trip to CP this year, so we went with Fast Lane Plus. For those that haven't been there yet, there is separate line for FL that places you right at the station. The FL line does not merge in with the regular line, like it does on Gatekeeper or Millennium. Although it certainly benefited me, in my opinion, they take too many people from the FL line. By riding so many times, I got a pretty good sample and from what I saw, the FL riders make up about 1/3 of the trains on Valravn.

As for the ride itself, there isn't much more that I can say that hasn't been said before but I thought the ride was awesome. Of my 11 rides, I was assigned the front row 8 times, which like others have said, is the best front row experience in the park. I have NEVER heard so much cussing on a roller coaster as I did on Valravn. It is an intense experience like no other when the train hangs you over the first hill. The second and third rows on the train have a place to rest your feet (do I dare call it a footrest?) but the front row does not. Where riders can ground themselves in the second and third rows by pushing down on their feet (which for me made myself feel more secure), it is not an option in the first row. This makes the front row just that much more intense. Also, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason regarding the MCBR. Some times it would merely slow the train down but momentum would continue, similar to Raptor, but other times the train came to a near complete stop before going down the second hill.

One additional item of note is that CP now scans the bar code on the Fast Lane wrist bands when you enter the queue and when you exit the queue onto the platform. I asked the Ride Ops what that was about and they said they weren't sure. I imagine there are a number of things they could do with this information, including seeing the average wait time for FL holders, track how many rides FL holders are riding, see which rides are most popular, etc. They may also be checking for counterfeit wristbands, I'm not sure.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

Ride experience is very comfortable, but compared to my rides on Shiekra I didn't get the 'OH Sh**' freefall feeling on the first drop due to the vest restraints. Maybe I need to try the middle or back row before I make that comparison.

That's an interesting observation. To me, that is the best part of Sheikra, that moment in the first row when you are held over the drop. It's interesting the restraints take away from that on Valravn. But it also sounds like Valravn is a better overall ride experience than Sheikra.

Can't wait to get up to Ohio and check it out in a couple of weeks!

They don't take it away. Rob is just full of something. :) I've been on both, and Valravn wins, no contest. I just wish it was the closer of the two for me.