Valravn Set to Smash Records as it Screams Over Cedar Point

Cedar Point announced today that Valravn, the park's first dive machine roller coaster will be coming to the park in 2016. This marks the park's 18th coaster and it's the first time one of these coasters is being built outside of a Busch Gardens park in North America and they're definitely upping the ante with the latest from Bolliger & Mabillard with this one. It will be the tallest, fastest, and longest of its kind anywhere in the world, fitting for B&M's 100th coaster.

The new coaster, named after a supernatural raven from Danish folklore, will be located where there the Good Time Theater once stood and offer plenty of new thrills for all who seek to tame the insanity. Just what can we expect from the newest shrine to thrills to grace Cedar Point's skyline? Well, here's the breakdown.

Riders will be arranged in an 8 across seat arrangement as they rise 220 feet before plummeting 214 feet back down to earth and reach speeds 75 MPH. You'll go through 3 inversions over the length of the 3,415 foot long course.

It not only features the world's tallest immelman inversion, standing at 165ft but it will bring the over 200ft club up to 5 total for Cedar Point as well.

Stay tuned as we get more information on this breaking announcement!

And now for the official POV from Cedar Point!


And for those looking for something a bit different, a Panoramic POV!


Here's a couple more pictures of the coaster from Cedar Point:

Baron 1898 Goes Vertical at Efteling

Well, it hasn't been too long since our last update, but the folks at Efteling are moving ahead and things are starting to get really interesting with the construction of Baron 1898. We've already covered what the ride is all about before, but now the question of just how close to the concept art the ride will look has been answered.

Holy crap.

Yep, that deserves it's own special little line there. Why? Well, the work has been progressing well and so far it looks like things will be extremely close to the concept art shown above. This is gonna be one helluva coaster to see once it's complete. Okay, enough rambling, let's get on the most recent set of pictures straight from the folks at PlarkPlanet.nl!

First up, a look at the queue and station building, gotta say, coming along really nicely here and definitely gonna be the nicest station house out there by a long shot.

B&M Dive Machine Coming to Cedar Point in 2016?

Well, it would appear that the rumors are circulating something fierce on this one thanks to a memo that was leaked/uncovered by the Sandusky Register. It would appear that a communication from the famed Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) coaster design firm is firmly hinting at a new coaster coming to Cedar Point in 2016.

So, just what is in the uncovered document? Well, it would seem like one of the design firm's dive machines will be coming to the park. At a price tag of around $15mil, it does seem like a likely fit and the park already has a healthy stable of coasters from B&M, as do many Cedar Fair parks around North America.

One of the things that makes this rumor a little more concrete is that the area the park has currently marked for redevelopment isn't that large. By design, most dive machines are compact in nature thanks to steep lift hills and their typical 90 degree first drops, allowing for a much smaller space to be utilized by them.

Given the fact that demolition has started on the Good Time Theater, the area around it could be a good fit. This is in spite of a couple of other rides in the area. I'm sure that they could work around them if they wanted or possibly go in other directions with the layout as well.

Interestingly enough, the proposed ride from B&M also included specs as well. According to the report, the coaster would feature a height of 223 feet with a total length of 3,625 feet and a top speed of 80 mph.  The ride will feature several elements including a vertical drop in a tunnel, an Immelmann, a 270-degree roll, a banked curve, a “looping,” an Immelmann with a half-roll exit, a second drop, a camel back and a spiral with a total of four inversions.

If those stats are anything to be believed, it would not only make it the tallest and longest coaster of its type in the world, but also with the most inversions and tallest. The tallest currently, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Griffon at 205'. The only other coaster of its kind in the United States is Sheikra at Busch Gardens Tampa.  Curious what it's like to ride one of these beasts? Got ya covered from our ride on Griffon earlier in 2014.


Now, this is only one proposal the park is looking at for 2016, and we won't know for sure if this is exactly what's coming, but it would make sense if they wanted to get another record breaker for the Cedar Fair family of parks.

Stay tuned for more info out of Cedar Point and what could be coming in the future and everywhere else across the globe right here and follow us on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Facebook for all the latest!

Efteling's Baron 1898 Dive Coaster Construction Update

It occurred to me while I was about to start on this update that we hadn't covered this ride at all from it's announcement through now. Sure, there was some speculation quite awhile ago when we were still figuring out where all the track at B&M's fabrication plant in the state of Ohio was going, but the announcement for this one came and went.

image via Screamscape.com

Good news is, that according to Screamscape.com, track for the new coaster has appeared on the lot and should soon be making its way across the pond. Either way, we missed it, so now to make up for lost time because that concept art is just way too awesome not to talk about.

I'm not a huge steampunk aficionado, but that design is probably one of these coolest and well thought out stations and opening lifts for a coaster I've seen out there. Really, if it even looks remotely close, just viewing this one from a distance is gonna be pretty awesome. Judging by the videos below, it seems they're going to nail this one too.

Anyway, Baron 1989 was announced way back in October so we're a little late. Let's get back up to speed some here. This dive machine, built by famed Bolliger-Mabillard, will feature a 37.5m (127ft) vertical drop down into a mine shaft element. Seating on the trains will be arranged six across, similar to Krake at Heide Park. Other than that? Not a clue. So far the folks at Efteling have been mum on the other elements that ride will include.

image of Witte Wieven via Wikipedia

However, we do have a bit of back story for the ride, which is definitely interesting. Riders will "play the part" of miners that work for, Gustave Hooghmoed, the greedy and vile owner of the mine. Why are you there? Well it seems that Gustave has a little problem with Witte Wieven, the ghostly "Wise Women" of Dutch Mythology. They've sent warning to the workers and Gustave that they should not take gold from the caverns of the mine.

Turns out the works ran away scared, and likely for good reason. However, you're in luck, and have now been volunteered to go down there.

Track Completed, Testing to Begin Soon for Gardaland's New Dive Coaster?

Well, there's still no official announcement from the folks over at Italy's Gardaland on their newest coaster, a B&M dive machine. That said, it hasn't stopped construction one bit and by the looks of things, everything has been finished up now for a few weeks. Pretty quick work on this one! Almost as fast as Holiday World's Thunderbird, also a B&M coaster. Makes ya wonder, right?

Anyway, here's a bit of video, from Airtimers.com, of the final piece of track going to into place and a whole slew of construction photos after it from the folks over at Roller Coaster Revolution.


And now...the pictures. First up is one of the first shots of the actual trains that will be in use. Definitely in the testing phase here as the water dummies can easily be seen strapped into the seats. Going to bet that they've either started testing or are getting ready to do so very, very soon.

Image via Themeparks.it

Now for the construction pics! Again, we're kind of not in Italy, but the folks at Roller Coaster Revolution are, so thanks to them everyone else can get a glimpse of what's been going on.

Gardaland Dive Coaster Hype at Full Throttle

Construction of Gardaland's newest coaster, what is heavily believed to be a B&M dive machine, is underway and they're not wasting any time getting the word out there that something is coming. Not only is there a whole teaser website set up for the new coaster, but they've been tying it into displays in the park as well.

The display, pictured left, was empty for a while but that didn't last long. Once the teaser site went up, there was a strange orange glowing crater inside the structure as well as two uniformed staff standing outside of it. Weird, huh?

Now, this does make a lot of sense given what was shown in the video on the site in the form of a fake news report talking about some kind of otherworldly disturbance appearing over the park.

There's actually three videos, one of them going back to the beginning of the park's construction and the weird crater showing up then. Then, in the newer newscast, some kind of giant rift in the sky can be seen, taken from a "German tourist's cell phone". You can catch the videos here, if you don't understand Italian, there's a slider at the top for English subtitles.

Since then, another video has surfaced on the site as well. This one interviewing people who spotted yet another sighting of the strange vortex in the sky with hints that this happened back in the '70s as well and reports of seeing the beams of light coming from it as well.

Since we know it's a B&M coaster, the hints being given are a bit obvious at this point but it's still fun to follow along with the clues and all that. Then again, we have no idea what the ride will be called or it's theme and size either really. So, that's still a good mystery to try and solve. Stay tuned for more updates out of Gardaland and their new coaster for 2015!

Gardaland 2015 Coaster Construction Update

Two weeks ago we reported on the possibility of a Bollinger and Mallibard Dive Machine coaster coming to Gardaland in 2015.

Well, new pictures have surfaced of the construction and it definitely appears that is indeed the case. The white track that appears in the photos is definitely B&M track and has recently been spotted at the Clermont Steel Fabricators plant in Ohio.

Just what elements, style or other details of this new coaster coming to Italy are unknown at this time.

Here's a look at just what I'm talking about in regards to the track that's shown up in the park over the past couple of weeks, courtesy of RollerCoasterRevolution.eu:

You can see more pictures of the site on RCR's website here.

With more track showing up at the park regularly and construction soon to start going vertical, it's only a matter of time before some kind of announcement comes out of the officials at Gardaland so stay tuned!

Gardaland Building a B&M Dive Coaster for 2015?

Italy's Gardaland Resort is definitely building a new coaster for 2015 and from all accounts out there, it looks to be a B&M Dive Machine coaster. This would be the park's second coaster from B&M as they already have a wing coaster, Raptor, in the park.

While nothing has been formally announced from the park other than a cryptic question mark that appears on the park map, the folks over at Themepark.it have uncovered permits for the new ride. The biggest news about them? The plans are labeled as “Attrazione “Dive Coaster”". If anything, that's pretty convincing stuff. That and the teaser image looks and feels like a Dive Coaster as well.

Interestingly enough, this one would be going right behind where their other B&M, Raptor, sits. According some rumors, this could even have a similar look and style that of Alton Towers' "The Smiler" at that. I'm a little skeptical there as there's not much known in that department as of yet.

Regardless, construction has begun on the new ride with land being cleared and we expect an official announcement to be made soon in regards to just what this new B&M Dive Coaster will be like. For those unfamiliar, check out Sheikra at Busch Gardens Tampa and Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg...or the original, Oblivion. at Alton Towers. If it truly is the case (and it looks like it) coaster fans in Italy are in for a treat!

Here's all we have to go on, let the speculation commence!