Valravn - Cedar Point Record Breaking Coaster Opens in 2016

Nothing quite gets the heart racing like a new roller coaster, and nobody does them better than Cedar Point - America’s Roller Coast.  In 2016 Cedar Point will open Valravn - their 18th roller coaster and the 5th over 200 feet tall.  Designed by leading roller coaster manufacturing firm Bolliger & Mabillard , Valravn will be a dive coaster and set 10 world records including the tallest (223 feet), fastest (75 mph) and longest (3,145 feet) dive coaster ever.  This will be Cedar Point’s first all-new roller coaster built since GateKeeper opened in 2013.  Continue reading for more details, photos, and video of a simulated ride.

Rendering of Valravn roller coaster, courtesy of Cedar Point

From Cedar Point’s Press Release:

Cedar Point will change the Lake Erie skyline once again with over 3,400 feet of thrill ride innovation when it introduces Valravn (val-rey-vuhn), the world’s tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster, in 2016. Valravn is the regal king of birds, swooping in to conquer all other dive coasters on the planet with its powerful and intense maneuvers, massive structure and immense ride vehicles. Valravn will become the 18th coaster to take reign at The Roller Coaster Capital of the World and will claim its rightful place among other record-breaking roller coasters at Cedar Point.

Rendering of Valravn roller coaster, courtesy of Cedar Point

Rendering of Valravn roller coaster, courtesy of Cedar Point

Riders on Valravn are carried more than 20 stories up to the top of the coaster’s 223-foot-tall first hill. Once there, the train is held perilously over the edge of the first drop for approximately four seconds, giving anxious guests unparalleled views of the park before free-falling a record 214 feet at a completely vertical, 90-degree angle, reaching a top speed of 75 mph!

Valravn then flips its passengers upside-down through a 165-foot-tall Immelmann, a fighter jet-like maneuver that takes the train into a half loop, then a half roll before traveling in the opposite direction. The train then approaches another drop zone – but there’s no stopping this time as riders plunge 125 feet down at a near-90-degree angle once again, twisting and turning upside-down two more times, once through a dive loop and then through a 270-degree roll before completing its epic journey over 3,415 feet of tarnished copper and silver steel track.

Rendering of Valravn roller coaster, courtesy of Cedar Point

Valravn will shatter an astonishing 10 WORLD RECORDS when it debuts next summer, including:

1. Tallest dive coaster (223 feet)
2. Fastest dive coaster (75 mph)
3. Longest dive coaster (3,415 feet)
4. Most inversions on a dive coaster (three)
5. Longest drop on a dive coaster (214 feet)
6. Highest inversion on a dive coaster (165 feet)
7. Most roller coasters taller than 200 feet at one amusement park (5)
8. Most rides at one amusement park (72)
9. Most steel roller coaster track at one amusement park (52,125 feet/9.9 miles)
10. Most roller coaster track at one amusement park (60,110 feet/11.4 miles)

Valravn is also the signature 100th roller coaster designed by the imaginative coaster minds at Bolliger & Mabillard in Monthey, Switzerland, and will feature ride vehicles never before seen on a dive coaster. Riders will sit eight-across on one of three, 24-passenger floorless trains, featuring tiered seating as well as comfortable over-the-shoulder restraints with interlocking seatbelts, much like those on the park’s GateKeeper wing coaster. Valravn can accommodate approximately 1,200 riders per hour and guests must be 54 inches or taller to ride.

Keep checking this site for all the announcements of new attractions coming in 2016.  For more family travel news, reviews, and trip reports, be sure to follow Adventures by Daddy on twitter and “like” our facebook page too.