Valravn reviews

I think they should just completely fill every third train with fast lane. It keeps the lines moving at the same pace, but allows equal opportunity for all rows.

^ Wouldn't that mathematically make the Fastlane half the standby wait? Not exactly front of the line access...

No. The opposite. The standby line would move twice as fast, but fast lane gets the shorter overall line.

I was wrong. FastLane would have half the capacity of the standby line. How long each wait is depends totally on demand.

I rode Valravn twice in the month of May, and so far I can't get enough of it. The drop is the best drop in park. The only thing that I wish they could have done was make it longer. Still a great ride, but I still like Rougarou slightly more. However, I will keep experimenting with it. For a grade, I give it an A-.

I have only rode the last row (on the end), but my thoughts:

1) The ride is massive (obviously). I can feel the size of the train and the huge, sweeping elements the designers sought to produce.

2) Great suspense and speed on the approach and drop. I really liked how they managed to make it 'just' tall enough to obscure all of the nearby ground elements and truly make it appear its you and the lake.

3) The zero-G roll has fantastic hang-time

4) Air-time hill was designed correctly (unlike GateKeeper, where you get no air whatsoever).

Overall, I enjoyed the ride. Rides like MF (sleek trains and pure speed) is my forte, but I can hang with this.

Side note: I noticed a lot of guest illnesses in my three trips to the park on this ride. More specifically, two back-to-back protein spills within maybe 15 minutes at best. Needless to say, I exited the line after the second accident.

Maybe the ride ops will use this as a learning experience - don't stack the trains, get the pukers off right after their ride ends ;)

Gatekeeper has plenty of airtime on the airtime hill, though I always sit in back. Perhaps it is not as good in the front of the train.

Yeah, as a fellow back row junkie (on GK anyway), I was going to say anyone who doesn't think GK doesn't have any airtime is utterly delusional. Given how much is in the rear, can there really be "no air whatsoever" in the front? Certainly not in my experience, as I've sat in front once or twice.

I beg to differ. GK is pretty forceless to me tbh.

I never said GateKeeper was "forceless", I was saying the 'pop' before the break run (mirrored to Valravn's layout) is forceless on GK.

Gatekeeper has some serious positive G's at the bottom of both drops, and I absolutely love the wing over and half loop twist back out of the inversion towards the on-ride photo - it is so disorienting! During my last ride, even the dive loop turnaround back to the station surprised me.

As for the rattling and weird noises from the trains.....I'll bite my tongue.

One thing I hate hearing is how some people use the phrase "boring and mild" to describe B&M coasters. I don't see much of it here, if at all but I see it mostly in Facebook comments. I just came back from Carowinds and Intimidator and Fury both pack a good punch. Fury is my new favorite coaster now over MF. Valravn is overall a good coaster, but the main highlight is the first drop, which is the point of a dive coaster. Anything after that is just a bonus.

magdrag95 said:

...I was saying the 'pop' before the break run (mirrored to Valravn's layout) is forceless on GK.

Yeah, that little hill doesn't provide too much airtime. I thought you were talking about the big airtime hill (following the Immelman) not having any airtime.

The "rattling and weird noises" from the trains are not weird at all. I think what you are referring to is the clanking of the anti-rollback dogs as they raise and fall back down due to airtime or moments of negative Gs. People, these are roller coasters. A little bit of turbulence and bumpiness makes for a more fun ride. Most don't want a forceless ride, then don't expect it to be silky smooth like cruising the highway with your windows up. I still put Magnum up there as just about the best ride in the park.

Honest review of Valravn.
Got 6 rides on it yesterday day and night. Every row.
My honest opinion. I'm not impressed. After the first drop the coaster is extremely mediocre. The front has the best visuals in the park but when it comes down to it, im riding this for thrills not to see a cool view. Myself and our group give it 5 out of 10. The second hill is almost pointless because they slam the brakes on before the drop. Hope the rumors of RMC for meanstreak are true because CP needs to step up their thrill factor. Gatekeeper and Valravn were both very mild coasters in my opinion. They are ok, but I would not wait more than 20min for either one. While sixflags and some of the smaller parks have been building some pretty unique and extreme coasters the past few years. I love cedar point. Its by far my favorite park and I have been going here every year for 30+ yrs. But the this past year we decided to visit every single six flags, Cedar Fair and all the small parks in between. We are still in the middle of our journey, but the one thing we are starting to realize is that CP coasters although many, are not all that extreme anymore. If they are going the mediocre family coaster route now I guess we gotta deal with it. I understand everything cant be of maverick and dragster intensity. But from what im personally experiencing by traveling around North America to all these parks is that many of the other parks are building some balls out intense rides. Thats what our group is personally drawn to. Valravn is a nice addition to the park but I feel it would have fit better at one of their smaller parks and not the flagship location.

I was able to go on a mini marathon on Valravn in the morning and at night yesterday at Coastermania, getting in a total of 17 rides. I love the ride, i think it is a good addition to CP's line up, especially with the way it interacts with the midway and how the whole area looks. For anyone who hasn't been yet, let me make this perfectly clear; this ride is MASSIVE. It is also a fantastic looking ride at night. However, on my next visit I probably won't ride it more than a few times. The more and more I rode it, the more "meh" it felt. In my opinion, great coasters get better and better with each ride, but Valravn didn't to me. The ride does have so pretty good moments especially in the last row. Both drops on the last row are forceful and provide some airtime, but you'll sacrifice smoothness for this. The back seat is pretty darn rough. I like Valravn, but I wouldn't wait more than 30 mins for it.

I sure hope all these negative reviews keep the line short for me. I have not been on it yet but I'm fairly certain that I will love it because B&M is perfection. There is so much more to a coaster than intensity. I love grace and visuals just as much as speed and airtime. Maybe that is why I was not very imppressed by i305. Gatekeeper is all around better than i305 IMO.

DjTimmay said:

The second hill is almost pointless because they slam the brakes on before the drop.

Uh, you know the radius of the curve on that drop is at most like 30 feet, right? You do know what happens if you take that at high speed?

We are still in the middle of our journey, but the one thing we are starting to realize is that CP coasters although many, are not all that extreme anymore.

Neither are Six Flags'. You're just not used to them.

DjTimmay said:

If they are going the mediocre family coaster route now I guess we gotta deal with it. I understand everything cant be of maverick and dragster intensity. But from what im personally experiencing by traveling around North America to all these parks is that a lot of these other parks are building some balls out intense rides and thats what our group is personally drawn too.

It's debatable how "balls out" the rides you are talking about actually are, but that really isn't important. What is important to Cedar Point is that the ride is a crowd pleaser that most people enjoy riding and are not afraid to ride. That is what fills hotel rooms.

What we need is the great Werner Stengel to design another coaster for CP. I'll tell you what, his designs are some of the most intense I've ever experienced.

New aged B&Ms are not a thrill in my honest opinion. Smooth, YES. But high speed and thrilling (with the exception of Fury), NO. I also agree that Valravn is not impressive in terms of thrill. It's a very good looking ride though. But anymore, I'm not quite "excited" like I once was for new B&Ms unfortunately.

Finally got to ride in the front. I enjoyed it. It's a nice ride and nice addition to the park, but I agree it's not really anything that new.